What Belongs to Her (Harlequin Superromance) (24 page)

John took the cup of coffee Jay offered and looked from DI Garrett to Jay and back again. Never before had he felt so sure he was doing the right thing. Never before had he met two people who seemed so right together. A quiet yet palpable tension emanated between DI Garrett and her husband. He couldn’t help wondering if the inspector realized Jay didn’t take his eyes off her for more than two minutes at a time.

John inwardly smiled. He was confident Kyle’s money would be spent in the right way once he left it in their capable hands. He took a sip of his coffee and then placed the cup on the low table in front of him. He leaned his forearms on his thighs. “I want to give you every penny of Kyle’s money.”

“Why?”

“Why?”

He grinned as DI Garrett’s and Jay’s voices joined, their disbelieving gazes not that dissimilar, either. He started again. “I want to give you Kyle’s money—”

“Why?”

“Why?”

“Do you always echo each other? Or is it the prospect of anything of my father’s coming into your hands bringing on this weird phenomenon?”

DI Garrett scowled at him and then Jay. “Is this guy insane or is it me?”

Jay shook his head and turned to John. He sat on the sofa, moving up close to where Cat was perched. He put his cup on the table and slid his hand onto the inspector’s thigh. She appeared oblivious, and John guessed there weren’t many times when these two were together and not in some sort of physical contact.

Ignoring the pull in his chest that felt far too much like longing, John flicked his gaze to Jay’s. “Are you saying no?”

Jay frowned. “Why would you want to give us Kyle’s money?”

“It makes complete sense. I want you to be the executors to his entire estate. I will give you power of attorney to every penny. There will be more when his houses are sold.”

DI Garrett crossed her arms. “Why would you even think I want anything to do with Kyle’s immoral earnings? You know I’m a cop, right?”

“Everything he has left after the police seized what he owed, is now his...or rather, mine. You and I both know their origin can’t be proven, no matter what we might think. I want you—” he looked at Jay “—to use them to help the people at the center. Use the money to open more all over southwest England, if possible.” He grinned. “It will fill me with more satisfaction than I could possibly tell you to know that after all the wrong Kyle has done throughout his years in Templeton, he’ll leave this earth having done something irrevocably good.”

Jay looked at his wife and their eyes met, identical frowns furrowing their foreheads.

When seconds passed with neither of them speaking or even looking away from each other, John pressed on. “You’ve read through the paperwork. Liam’s told you it’s all perfectly legal and aboveboard, right?”

Jay shifted forward on the sofa and dragged his eyes from the inspector’s. “Of course, but why us? You know how we feel about Kyle.”

John lifted his shoulders. “It’s because of those feelings that it makes complete sense it should be you and DI Garrett ensuring this money is used the right way. Simple.”

They shook their heads.

“You’re insane.”

“You’re insane.”

John laughed as DI Garrett and Jay glared at each other as though it was the other’s fault they kept saying the same thing. Satisfaction wound a warm knot in John’s stomach. It felt good being there and giving Kyle’s money to the woman who put him in prison and the man who obtained his damn crack house to make it a drop-in center.

“So...is it a yes or no?” He raised his eyebrows.

They searched each other’s faces before they turned and grinned. “It’s a yes.”

John wasn’t surprised when they answered in unison.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

S
ASHA
STOOD
IN
the doorway of the Funland office and stared out into the deserted fairground. Since its reopening a week before, she’d waited for a sense of coming home to whip through her...but it had yet to come. For days she’d avoided John’s phone calls and his intermittent arrivals at her apartment. She’d ignored his incessant ringing of her doorbell, knowing seeing him or speaking to him again would just be too painful.

No matter how strong her yearning to talk to him, she stood firm.

Yet, her enforced separation was futile.

Another week had passed since he’d left Templeton, and her heart still lay heavy with a strange sense of bereavement, equal to that of when her grandfather died. She couldn’t sleep or eat. Concentration and focusing on even the most menial tasks had disappeared the moment she walked away from John’s car the last time she saw him.

Now it neared midnight on the eighth night since he’d gone, and she was lonelier than ever.

The last group of giggling, screaming and undoubtedly drunk teenagers had lumbered past her through the gates an hour before, oblivious to her presence. Much the same as she’d been oblivious to the cruel, heartbreaking aftermath of turning away from the most wonderful man she’d ever met.

Sasha turned back into the office, slamming the door behind her. She’d made her decision. John had laid himself bare to her and told her he was hers if she wanted him and she’d refused him.

She dropped into her chair. She was entirely alone. Funland was hers to do with as she pleased without having to answer to Kyle, Freddy or anyone else. So where was her excitement? Where was her passion and fire to get on with things and start making her dreams for the place come true?

“God damn it.”

She slapped her palm onto the desk as frustration at her stupid, yearning heart and its unerring need to punish her. Her gaze fell on the two envelopes that sat on her desk, tormenting her. The buff-colored envelope contained the deed to the fair, all signed and sealed with her name emblazoned at the top. She’d squealed with delight when she opened it and then cried when she opened the second envelope that now lay next to it. The second envelope couldn’t be more different than the first. This one shone in all its tempting red-and-white glory, was significantly flamboyant...and contained a ferry ticket.

The letter that accompanied the ticket was in her apartment trash can, ripped to a million pieces so no one would ever see the blot of her tears blurring John’s words. He’d left Templeton...and in his words, “would never come back.”

He’d left, but not without pleading with her one more time to come with him and leave Funland and her pain behind. Left, but not without telling her his address and enclosing an open-ended ferry ticket out of the Cove, should she ever change her mind.

She swiped at her cheeks. Who did that? What sort of person gave another human being an open invitation to be with them, when the human being in question had so resolutely rejected them?

A person like John Jordon.

Her heart ached to go to him; her mind told her to stay exactly where she was and work on obliterating the evil that lingered in every inch of Funland since that fateful summer. Her heart beat for John; her mind burned with Matt Davidson.

She stared blindly through the windows toward the darkened fair. All day long the lights had seemed too bright, the rides and music too loud. Where was her joy in it? Where was the burning need to be there? It was as though it had packed up and slipped into John’s suitcase when she wasn’t looking.

“I have to do this, God damn it.” She pushed away from the desk and marched into the kitchen.

She filled the kettle and flicked it on, gripping the counter in an effort to steady the thundering pain in the very center of her chest.

So many people wanted her to leave Funland and all it entailed. Her grandfather, her mother, John...even Kyle, but if she did that, her molester had won. He would have taken the only thing she’d ever loved and destroyed it, right along with her self-worth.

Sasha reached for a cup in the cupboard and her hand froze around the handle.

The only thing I’ve ever loved is the fair...the only person I’ve ever loved is John. Am I wrong to stay here? Am I sacrificing the man I am meant to spend the rest of my life with for a place a monster violated the day he violated me?

“What am I doing?” she whispered. “God, what have I
done?
”

A sharp and powerful panic stole the air from her lungs and set her heart pounding. She turned and stared around the kitchen as if seeing it for the very first time. She stared at the counter on the opposite side of the room, her heart racing. Right there he’d made love to her, taken her body and heart in a single moment in time. Right there, her world had shifted and she fled from John and his power, blaming and lashing out, fearing what this new feeling toward someone else meant.

Trembling, she marched from the kitchen into the office and snatched up her cell. She punched in Leah’s number.

“Hey, you.” Leah’s delighted greeting came down the line. “Long time, no hear.”

Sasha swallowed against the dryness in her throat. “Listen. I’ve got something to say and I want you to hear me out. Once I’m done, don’t hold back.”

Silence.

“Leah?”

“I’m listening.”

“John. John Jordon...” Sasha fisted her hair back from her face. “I love him. I love him more than I’ve ever loved anyone...except you.”

“Good save. Go on.”

“He wants me to leave Templeton. Leave Funland. Leave and be with him. He’s given me the fair. For nothing. It’s mine. He’s also left me an open-ended ferry ticket to join him anytime in Bridgewater.”

Seconds ticked by, and Sasha’s heart picked up speed. She gripped the phone. “Well? What do you think?”

Leah’s exhaled loudly. “What are you asking me exactly?”

Frustration bit hot at Sasha’s cheeks. “What do I do?”

“Hmm...”

“Leah...this is serious.”

“I know.”

“Then tell me what to do!”

“You really need me to do that?”

“Yes. I’m dying here.”

“Go, you moron.” She laughed. “Go, now. The guy loves you. He wants you. You have nothing here but years of bad memories at Funland. Go make some new ones. Come back and visit, but hell, lady, the man is sex on legs with a heart bigger than the damn Cove. He
loves
you.”

Sasha grinned, her heart near bursting from her chest. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Will you be okay?”

“Will I be okay?” Leah laughed. “I’ll be fine and dandy. I’m going to hunt me down my own John Jordon, just you wait and see.”

Sasha laughed. “I love you, Leah Dixon.”

“I love you, too. Not get out of here. Send me a postcard.”

“I will.”

“Good. See you soon. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” Grinning so widely her cheeks ached, Sasha snapped her phone closed and grabbed her bag from the back of her chair. She stuffed the envelope containing the deeds to Funland into her bag, followed by the envelope containing the ferry ticket, before snatching up her keys. She locked her desk and headed for the door. Locking it securely, she marched through the dark and abandoned fairground and walked through the side gate and out into the open.

Replacing the padlock, she gave it a final tug and dropped the key into her bag. With her chin lifted, she unlocked her bike and straddled it, her long-awaited feeling of coming home now burning bright and clear.

* * *

S
ASHA
ENTERED
HER
apartment, tossed her keys onto a side table and ran into her bedroom. She snatched down a suitcase from the top of her wardrobe and yanked open drawers, tossing clothes inside before hurrying back to her wardrobe and throwing in anything she could get her hands on.

Once the case bulged with clothes and shoes, she raced into her bathroom and filled a bag with toiletries, hysteria stirring a laugh from deep in her chest when she haphazardly grabbed some sanitary towels. Had she lost her mind? She laughed out loud. Yes, and it felt amazing.

Tension hurtled through her, but it was excited tension rather than the heavy dread she’d been carrying around since she was twelve. She’d waited her entire life for John to find her; she could wait a few hours more to be with him...God willing, forever.

The continual doubts that he would still want her after her treatment of him continued to badger her conscience. Did she deserve such a man after she’d shown him how single-minded she could be? Did he leave Templeton on the ferry, shrugging off their relationship as a bad experience and one never to be visited again? No. He’d pushed a ticket through her mailbox. An open-ended ticket to share his life’s journey.

She might be too late to begin the adventure with him at the starting line, but she’d take the first available ferry in the morning and catch him up at the next available stop.

* * *

J
OHN
STARED
,
UNABLE
to believe what he was seeing. He blinked. Then blinked again. He turned to his class of eleven-year-olds, his throat dry. Their young faces were turned to the apparition smiling through the square of glass in the classroom door.

He swallowed and beckoned Sasha inside.

The way she tentatively pushed open the door and crept inside sent his heart leaping into his throat. He’d never seen her look so unsure about anything. He could only guess what this was taking for her to do this...to come to him.

The strength of his students’ wide-eyed stares burned into his temple, but he couldn’t take his eyes from her. Dressed in blue jeans and a simple, white V-necked T-shirt, John didn’t think he’d ever seen her look more stunning.

Her luscious, thick, waist-length hair was loose and glorious about her face and the yearning to bury his face in it was stronger than ever before. She threw a hesitant glance toward the kids, the soft tap of her ballet flats loud in the rare silence of the room. His gaze dropped to the visitor’s pass swinging from a lanyard around her neck. He’d find out later how she managed to convince the school receptionist to let her in. Right then, he didn’t care. She was here.

She came to a stop a safe two-foot distance from him and lifted her eyes to meet his. “Hi.”

“You’re here.” Somehow the words broke from his tongue. “You’re actually here.”

She smiled. “I am.” She glanced toward the kids again. “Do you think we could talk outside for a moment?”

“Are you here to stay?”

“Yes.”

“Forever?”

“Yes.”

His heart beat a painful tattoo in his chest and his arms yearned to hold her, but he had to be sure she meant it. He had to be sure before he laid himself open to more pain when he hadn’t recovered from the current agony ripping through him. He couldn’t be abandoned. Not again.

He nodded and turned to his kids. “I want you to read through the first two pages of chapter five of your textbooks. I’ll just be outside, so keep the noise down.”

They stared at Sasha rather than him, one by one blindly reaching for their books, varying expressions of curiosity and envy on the girls’ faces and varying expressions of prepubescent lust or disinterest on the boys’. Biting back a smile, John turned and gestured toward the door. “We can talk in the corridor.”

A flicker of unease swept across her gaze before she turned and walked out ahead of him.

He shut the door behind them and the expected wave of excited chatter, screeching chair legs on tiles immediately ensued. With his hand at the base of her spine, he steered her to the last of the windows looking into the classroom to give them as much privacy as possible, without entirely obscuring his view of his class.

Her gaze locked on his, and it dawned on John, he was already hers for the taking, regardless of what she had to say or the brevity of his intentions to not get hurt more than he already had been.

“I’m sorry, John. I’m so sorry.” A single tear escaped and slid onto her cheek.

He reached out and brushed it away with his thumb. “What happened to change your mind?”

“I woke up.” She lifted her hand to his face, her dark, dark eyes boring into his. “I woke up from the nightmare. I’m here. I’m back in charge of my freedom again. I love you.”

He turned his head and placed a kiss in the palm of her hand before lowering it and holding it tightly between them. “I love you, Sasha, but you have to be sure about this. I can’t...”

“You won’t hurt anymore.” A choked cry escaped her, and she gave a wobbly smile. “I promise. No more hurt.”

He smiled and blinked back the tears that burned behind his eyes. He stole his hands to her slender waist and pulled her close. “No more hurt for either of us. Ever again.”

She laughed. “Deal.”

Relief and love surged through his body and into his heart with such ferocity, John abandoned all thoughts of his kids for a single moment and hungrily covered her mouth with his. She was his...in heart, body and soul, Sasha Todd had come to him...as he would have soon to her.

The roar of applause and stamping of feet from his classroom forced them apart. They both glanced through the window at the beaming faces of his class before erupting into laughter. Sasha wiped the tears from her eyes. “I’ve found exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

He stole his arm around her shoulders. “Welcome home.”

Her grin was so wide, John didn’t know what else to do but kiss her again...and again.

* * * * *

Keep reading for an excerpt from IN HER CORNER by Vicki Essex.