Confer, Lorelei - Deadly Deception (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

Dave shook his head, picked up his notebook, and reviewed his notes. He would have to remain as objective as possible throughout this investigation. He started making note cards and putting them on his work board—searching for the connection he was determined to find somewhere.

Chapter 20

Isabella took her time going down the stairs, peering over the banister viewing the family room. Wyatt’s open laptop with a blank screen sat in the middle of the large desk immediately to her left at the bottom at the stairs. She knew she shouldn’t touch it, but like a kid in a candy store she couldn’t resist. She reached out and touched the space bar on the keyboard. The screen lit up. Her eyes grew larger as she saw her name, a picture ID, current home address, and all her pertinent information right there in front of her.

Oh my God! He knew. He’s known since earlier this morning anyway. All the printed pages on the table, that’s what they were—my identity.

After all the questioning Wyatt and Dave had put her through and they had known all along. He had already verified her name and identification on some special database he had access.
So much for unlisted phone numbers and privacy.
She quickly closed the laptop.

Sitting on the desk beside the laptop, she noticed an ornate polished gold frame. Wyatt and a beautiful young woman looked out at her from inside, their arms wrapped around each other, each smiling into the camera. She picked up the picture and studied it closer. Wyatt’s smile in the picture made his face light up, and he appeared soft, even loveable. Not the rough and hardened man she saw this morning during the questioning episode. She wondered if the woman was a wife, or girlfriend, maybe a past lover, and about what would it take to get his face to light up like that when he looked at her.

He stood beside her before she had even heard his footsteps on the stairs. She stuttered, “Is-is this picture of your wife?”

While gently touching the picture she had forgotten she still held in her hands, Wyatt looked at her soft face.

“No, no wife. That’s my sister, Amy. She lives in
New York
.”

She looked down at his hand touching hers. Fire flamed across her fingers where his touched hers. She looked into his face, saw his eyes searching hers. His eyes became a darker blue, showing an almost undeniable hunger. She felt a tingling in the pit of her stomach, something she hadn’t felt before, and knew she didn’t want it to go away. Her heart stirred, and her knees trembled. She couldn’t think. She felt giddy and scared. She took a ragged breath as she felt her face redden in a blush.

* * * *

Wyatt looked into her eyes and felt he could see her very soul. He saw sadness but also passion and wariness. She
should
be wary considering how she’s been treated by men. He wanted her to trust him. He wanted her to want him. He wanted her.

What? I hope I didn’t say that out loud. Please tell me I didn’t say that out loud.

He felt his pants tighten as most of the blood in every part of his body flowed to his erection.

The shrill ringing of the phone brought him back to the present. He took the picture from her hands, his hand gentle but firm. He glanced around for the phone. It had been right beside his laptop, but he couldn’t find it, his eyes still locked on hers. She remained standing, her hands outstretched as if still holding the framed photograph.

“I-I better get that. It, it might be Dave with some news.” He turned to put down the picture and searched in earnest for the phone.

Wyatt spoke in the phone. “Everything’s fine. I just need some downtime. I want to spend some non-thinking time in front of the tube… Okay, talk to you soon… Love you too. Bye!”

While talking to his sister, Wyatt watched Isabella walk across the room, and found it hard to concentrate on his sister’s words. He heard something about flying down for the day.

He wanted to be alone with Isabella to get to know her better, much better. He saw her looking out at the patio and then toward the woods, probably looking for whomever may be out there looking for her. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end imagining her danger.

Hanging up the phone, he crossed the room and reached Isabella in three strides. “Move back.” He put his hands on her shoulders and gently moved her away while picking up a remote on the table at the end of the couch. After touching a button, the blinds closed, dimming the light in the room.

“Why did you do that?”

“Think about it. If you can see the woods from here, then whoever may be in the woods can see you, right? Do you want to be seen?”

“No, of course not. This is awful!” She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her arms. “I’m trapped again and not even able to look out a window. I just spent more than a week of my life in the same place. Standing still.”

Wyatt chuckled. “But I bet the company wasn’t as good-looking as I am.” When she didn’t respond, he continued. “And the accommodations weren’t as nice either.”

She looked at him a moment and then smiled. “Yeah, you’re right, I’m sorry.”

When he saw her smile, he coughed, losing his breath. “You have a very pretty smile! You should do it more often.”

* * * *

Isabella felt a goofy rush to her head, embarrassed. She didn’t quite know how to react or what to say about a compliment from a man like him. Most men seemed to have one thing on their minds: how to get in her pants.

She finally said, “Thank you if you meant that as a compliment, but no thanks if you’re trying to get me into your bed like most other men.”

Wyatt’s eyes turned as dark as flint as he became acutely aware of her.

She tensed under his scrutiny, and her senses became heightened.

“Listen, honey, I’ve had lots of women and have never been forced to give a compliment to any one of them to get anything I’ve wanted. Sex, sleeping together, making love, whatever you want to call it has always been and will always be something a man and a woman mutually agree on. And most important, and get this straight, I’m not like ‘most other men.’ I don’t believe a woman ‘belongs’ to anyone except herself and let’s just leave it at that.”

Isabella ran her hand through her hair while watching him. She moved to sit at the other end of the couch farthest away from him.
Just so we’re both straight on that subject,
she thought to herself while she watched him fumble around with the newspaper. Finality. The conversation had ended.

* * * *

Wyatt walked over to the desk, picked up the paper, and settled into the recliner. Fuming and fussing, he shook the paper open.
Sure I have flaws, but I’m also a man. A very capable and considerate man.

He leafed through the sections of newspaper until he found the business section. He put the rest of the paper down on the couch and started reading. He had been interviewed a few weeks ago about the growth of his company and about how he had been able to employ many men and women of the community who otherwise would be unemployed. He was anxious to see what really ended up in print. He found the article and had settled down to read it when the doorbell rang.

When the doorbell rang, Isabella inhaled an audibly ragged breath. He put a finger to his mouth indicating not to talk and whispered, “Stay here, I’ll see who it is.”

He started up the stairs with frequent glances back at her. Taking two stairs at a time, Wyatt quickly reached the front door. He peeked out the side door curtains but couldn’t see very much other than a police car was parked in the circular drive at the front of the house. He retrieved his .38-caliber snub-nose pistol from his ankle and stuck it into the back waistband of his jeans, turned to the front door, and opened it with caution.

“Good morning, Officer. Can I help you?” Wyatt asked.

“Good morning, sir,” the officer said while trying to look past Wyatt. “Just wanted to come by this morning and make sure everything is okay.”

“It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it? There are probably lots of people out and about playing, picnicking at the park, right?”

The officer looked Wyatt up and down. “Yeah, I just came from there. Nice weather like today you want to enjoy the great outdoors.”

Wyatt thought the officer at the door looked familiar, but he didn’t recognize him. He studied his badge and memorized his number while they talked. “It sure does. Thanks for coming by.”

“You have a good day now,” the officer said as he turned to walk to the car.

Wyatt closed and locked the front door, then found a loose piece of paper and pen in the table drawer in the foyer. He wrote down the badge number he had committed to memory and thought it odd the officer didn’t introduce himself. Maybe Dave had been too vague about the reason for the extra patrols and a rookie, wanting to gain some extra points, thought he needed to go the extra mile by making a personal appearance. Anyway, he would check with Dave when he called later.

He watched through the small slit in the dining room blinds as the patrol car drove down the driveway to the street. He saw the guy look into the woods, first one side and then the other.

Wyatt found a trembling Isabella sitting on the edge of the couch when he returned to the family room. She had a wild, desperate look on her face, and his heart stirred, his chest tightened.

He crossed the room to the couch and sat down beside her. He didn’t know what to say or do. He spoke softly to her as if to a small child. His mind was clouded by questions without answers.

* * * *

When Joe got back to the park, he saw someone had broken the back door window. He didn’t notice anything missing as he glanced inside, so he pulled the keys from his pocket, unlocked the door, and left.

He drove to a chop shop he had found late last night. The owner had shown an interest in some of the van parts, and he needed the extra bucks the owner would be willing to pay him for them.

Chapter 21

“Everything’s fine. You’re safe and don’t have to worry about anything. It was just a patrolman making his rounds, making sure we’re safe. Dave said he would ask for extra patrols, remember?”

She looked up at him. His eyes full of understanding and compassion caused her to feel dizzy. Her eyes filled with tears. She tried to blink them back but they streamed down her cheeks.

Wyatt reached up and wiped a tear from the side of her cheek. She reached for his hand and stared into his eyes. He was so strong and street-wise, making her feel pampered and protected. He could be her knight in shining armor, but could she trust him to protect her from himself? Her chest tightened with strangling emotions as she searched his face.

He lowered his mouth to hers, gently touching her lips with his. She couldn’t have been prepared for the onslaught of emotions racing through her by the consequences of being kissed by him. Her breath flew from her lungs as his mouth devoured hers. She shuddered at the razor-sharp jolt of awareness exploding through her. Her insides became knotted with emotions she knew nothing about, had never experienced before.

Incapable of thinking, let alone remembering her name or where she was, she returned his kiss, running her fingers through his thick, dark hair. It felt so soft, just like his lips, except they were so hot. She moaned when he deepened the kiss, running his tongue along her lips, into her mouth.

She pulled him closer to her with her hands on his shoulders. He wrapped both his arms around her closing her within his heated cocoon. He ran his hands up and down her back, moving along her side to her front, and reached for her breast. He rubbed the nipple back and forth with his fingertips and it quickly became aroused and erect.

Isabella felt on fire, heat flaming from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. She trembled, and her breathing was uneven. Wyatt’s hands and lips touched her, leaving a trail of burning embers everywhere on her already-too-hot skin. His hands were in her hair, caressing her neck, shoulders, up her back and her breasts. Her breasts were already sensitive from when he had squeezed her nipple, and she became overwhelmed with pleasure. Isabella quivered and moaned.

When he began pushing up her top, she grabbed his hands. “No, don’t, don’t, stop. This is wrong. We can’t do this. It’s not right.”

Wyatt looked at her and held up his hands, palms open, to her. “You’re right. You’re right. I’m sorry.” He moved back to the other side of the couch and picked up the paper.

Isabella wrapped her arms around herself, trying to gain back the warmth that had just left her feeling barren, empty. Her heart pounded in her ears, thumped in her chest, her breathing heavy and erratic.

The room was quiet except for the crinkling of newspaper.

Chapter 22

Isabella couldn’t concentrate on reading the newspaper. In her mind, she kept replaying how Wyatt’s lips felt on hers. She shook her head to clear it of those unwanted thoughts and put the paper aside. Wyatt was looking very comfortable, relaxing in the recliner with his feet propped up.

Isabella cleared her throat. “What’s she like?”

Wyatt looked up from the paper. “Who?”

“Your girlfriend. That’s who you were talking to on the phone, right?”