Harlequin Superromance September 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: This Good Man\Promises Under the Peach Tree\Husband by Choice (77 page)

Chantel had suggested taking Caleb to the beach.

“If Smith is out there, he'll see you with me and assume that you've moved on. That would put you and Caleb out of any possible danger.”

Maybe. Or maybe Smith would think he was like him and having a little fun on the side. Maybe their presence on the beach would be an open invitation.

Or maybe he didn't want to go to the beach with anyone but his wife.

He spent the entire day in front of the television with his son, instead. They alternated between football and Disney movies and ate peanut butter sandwiches.

* * *

“T
HANK
YOU
SO
much for my party.” Maddie's thick-tongued words tripped out of her mouth with excitement a full four hours after her surprise as she stood, arms filled with presents, at the gated entrance to the pool area. Maddie and her sister-in-law, Lynn, were two of the last to leave, having insisted on helping clean up.

“You're very welcome,” Jenna told the woman. “I'm just glad I've had a chance to get to know you and share in your most special time,” she said.

“Well my most special time is in bed with Darin,” the woman said, her expression completely serious. “We get to sleep with each other every night and I still can't believe it sometimes,” she added.

Lynn smiled a knowing smile, and Jenna wished she'd gotten to know the nurse better in her time at the Stand.

“Well, I'm glad you liked the party,” Jenna said.

“I did.” Maddie juggled her presents and nodded her head. “I was
sooo
surprised, wasn't I, Lynn?”

“Yes, you were.” The affection in Lynn's voice warmed Jenna at a time when she wasn't sure she'd ever feel warm again.

“And Darin will be
sooo
surprised, too, won't he?”

“Yep.”

“But you didn't tell everyone that the party should have been for you, too.”

Jenna looked to Lynn, not sure how to respond. Didn't Maddie understand that this had been a
baby
shower?

“No, I didn't because we wanted you to have your own party,” Lynn said. “You and your baby deserve a party all your own.”

“Oh, so then next Saturday we can have another party for you and your baby all alone?”

The consternation on Lynn's face surprised Jenna almost as much as Maddie's comment.

“You're pregnant?” she asked.

Lynn glanced down and when she raised her head, her face was red. “Well, yes, but Grant and I weren't going to tell anyone yet. Not until I'm a little further along. We didn't know that Maddie knew.”

“Darin told me,” Maddie said, grinning from ear to ear. “He heard Grant whoop and holler in your bedroom and went to see why but you were talking in a funny voice and so Darin thought you might be naked and so he just listened and then he told me what he heard.”

Jenna knew that Lynn and her husband lived together with his brother and Maddie—and Lynn's three-year-old daughter from her first marriage—in the big bungalow at the back of the property.

She'd wondered at the time how Lynn did it. Taking on a handicapped couple expecting a child.

But as she listened to Maddie, as she saw the warmth in Lynn's gaze, as she stood there with the two of them she was more envious than she could ever remember being.

This was family.

And a family of her own was all she'd ever wanted.

It was something she was never going to have if she didn't convince Steve Smith that he had to let her go.

* * *

C
HANTEL
COOKED
BREAKFAST
Sunday morning. Max awoke to the smell of bacon, climbed out of bed alone, feeling more like himself than he had since Meri left.

Meri was gone because she'd chosen to leave. And as her husband who'd promised to love and cherish, to honor and protect, he was going to see that Steve Smith was no longer a threat to her. And then he'd take his son and get on with his life.

The words sounded good in his head before his feet hit the floor.

He wasn't as sure of them fifteen minutes later when, Caleb in his arms, he walked into the kitchen to see the sexy blonde in jeans and a braless tank top, whisking scrambled eggs over his wife's stove.

“Diane called,” she said. The words were accompanied by a look that had him doing a ninety degree turn. Grabbing a toaster pastry from the shelf, he sat Caleb on the living room floor, unwrapped the pastry, gave it to the toddler cold and untoasted, turned on the television and was back in the kitchen in less than a minute.

“What'd she say?”

“Cause of death wasn't the car accident.”

“What was it?”

“She had a brain bleed due to a severe blow to the head. She was dead before impact. And that was why she crashed. Not because of blood alcohol levels, which was what they blamed the accident on the first time around.”

Forensic science at its best. And unless you were some type of celebrity, or the suspected victim of a decorated cop, there probably wouldn't be access to it.

“The coroner ruled it a homicide,” Chantel said. How a woman could look so sexy making an announcement like that Max would never know.

And that was probably why he'd never been able to get as close to Jill in several years of marriage as he had with Meri on their first date. Because, like Chantel, Jill had a certain hardness about her, a skin grown thick enough to shield her, the result of having to observe some of life's uglier moments.

She hadn't really needed him.

And Max needed to be needed.

“Does this mean there's a warrant out for Smith's arrest?”

“Yes.”

“In Nevada only?”

“National law provides for an arrest in any state if a perp is wanted on criminal charges. He'll have to be extradited to be tried, but that's not going to be a problem.”

He couldn't believe it. The nightmare was finally going to be over.

Lightheaded, bemused and completely disoriented, Max picked up the gorgeous blonde in his kitchen and kissed her full on the lips.

After which he dropped her to her feet and wanted to die.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

J
ENNA
LEFT
The Lemonade Stand for the last time Sunday morning while Lila was off the property and her housemates and Renee were at the private, nondenominational church service held in the theater in the main building.

She signed out, so no one would think she'd been abducted. And left a note for Lila, thanking her for her hospitality and included a check for ten thousand dollars. It wouldn't go all that far at The Lemonade Stand, but it was as much as she had in her personal account. She wouldn't spend money she shared with Max without his permission.

When this was all over, she'd be dead. Or she'd have access to her joint account with Max.

There was another note for Carly and Latoya, with a personal message for each, and a third one for Renee.

She begged the older woman to have the strength to love her son with the tough love he needed. And told her that she considered her one of the only true friends she'd ever known.

As she sneaked out the gate, and slipped away, taking only the purse she'd come in with, and the prepaid cell phone, she sent up a prayer that Yvonne would heal. And remain strong.

That Maddie would have a healthy baby.

That her young client who stuttered would overcome his speech disorder.

And that if anything bad happened to her, someone would find the diary she'd left hidden underneath her mattress—she didn't want it found too soon—and give it to Max to save for Caleb.

She'd left instructions to that effect on the first page of the diary.

If she made it through the next few days, she'd come back to The Lemonade Stand to thank everyone in person and collect the diary.

In tennis shoes, jeans and a black pullover, she walked for several miles in the morning coolness. Not hiding anymore. If Steve found her, all the better.

Ending up at the beach—not her and Max's beach, but another public beach with cliffs that jutted out into the ocean—hadn't been part of her plan, but it wasn't outside the plan either. She needed a place well away from The Lemonade Stand. Well away from Max and Caleb.

She picked a place in the sand and sat down. Pulled her cell phone out of her bra, and dialed a number she knew by heart. A private number that Steve gave out to very few people and had forwarded to whatever cell he carried.

“Meredith?” He answered on the first ring.

She'd known he would. And the familiar sound of his voice still sent cold chills down her spine and brought bile to her throat.

“Yeah, Stevie, it's me.” Thanks to him she had the strength to play this through.

“I wasn't sure you got my message.”

The note on her van. He'd told her to call. That was all. Nothing else. No overt threat.

But the note had been enough. She'd heard the threat inherent in it. Just as he'd known she would.

They'd been best friends. Lovers. They'd told each other all of their secrets. They'd known each other better than anyone else had ever known either of them.

And he'd betrayed her confidences. Used them against her in the most vile way possible. In the name of love, he'd taken every beautiful thing she had to give and turned it into a twisted mass of fear-based choices.

She wanted to do the same to him but was glad she couldn't. Glad that she wasn't a vile person, too, in spite of the hell he'd put her through.

“Are you still in Santa Raquel?”

“I can be. In an hour, tops. Where should I pick you up?”

She told him the name of the beach. Described her location. And then sat in the sand, watching the waves. And waited for him.

* * *

A
WARRANT
FOR
a man's arrest was fine, but didn't do a whole lot of good if they didn't have the guy.

Max heard Chantel on the phone Sunday morning, and gathered that some kind of bulletin had gone out in both Nevada and California to alert law enforcement that an arrest warrant had been issued, that he was a former cop and a licensed private detective who would probably be armed, and to be on alert.

He was wanted for murder and was to be brought in, no questions asked.

He was considered dangerous.

Max figured he and Caleb would lie low for the day.

* * *

T
HE
BEACH
WASN
'
T
CROWDED
, but there were enough people around that Meredith blended in. Some were in suits, braving the cool temperature to swim in the water. And some, like her, were fully dressed, just enjoying the fresh ocean breeze.

Conversations floated in and out of earshot. An occasional squeal pierced the air. The waves created a white noise that might have relaxed her on another day. In another life.

Meredith took many deep breaths. Enjoying the salty tang of the ocean air. Gazing at the horizon and knowing that the possibilities were endless. Even today. Anything could happen.

And there was always someone stronger than the strongest human. Hope and faith and joy. Those weren't things man could control. Or take away. You had to give them away.

She wondered when she'd done that.

And still, the water, the endless, endless water comforted her.

She didn't hear him. But she felt his presence behind her long before he sat down and sidled up to her in the sand, his legs sliding along the outside of hers, his chest to her back, his arms around her ribs.

Did he remember breaking them?

“I feel your heart pounding, my dear, sweet Meredith.” His voice was low, gravelly. And different, too.

Missing something.

“I'm excited to see you,” she said, though she didn't know why. She wasn't. And his thinking so wasn't part of the plan.

“You've missed me.”

“Of course.” In the way you missed a deadly disease when you'd been cured. Always remembering that it had been there and fearing that it might come back.

“It took longer than I expected for you to call.” He gave a squeeze to her midsection. Not so much that it hurt. But she remembered the pain. And drew breath from the part of her that knew not to feel anything.

That girl inside her who'd been born one day long ago, while she'd been standing, bleeding and broken, but feeling nothing, at the side of the highway, desperately trying to get back inside mangled steel.

“I had to take care of some things.”

“The boy.”

“He's been out of my life for weeks now.”

“Two and a half to be exact.”

“You've been watching me.”

“Of course, my love. You knew I was.”

“I saw you.”

“A few times.”

“You let me elude you.” She understood that now. She'd escaped Steve's clutches over the past few weeks because he'd allowed her to.

So he could enjoy the hunt.

“I knew I had you,” he said. “You've been mine since the day I walked into my sweet sister's house for your graduation party and saw you standing there looking so beautiful and sexy and shy in those black leggings and long shirt that looked like a dress. They're back in style now, did you know that?”

She did. But she didn't wear clothes like that anymore. She didn't wear anything that would attract attention to that which was not available.

“I see women everywhere that remind me of you. Sometimes, I have to admit, I help myself to them. Just for a sip.”

He'd been helping himself to women as long as she'd known him. She just hadn't known that about him back in the beginning. He was letting her know, now, right up front, that he wasn't going to stop seeing other women. Not even for her.

He covered her breast with one hand and she didn't push his hand away. He had to believe he was the one in control until they were someplace private. She'd known the plan wasn't going to be easy.

Or safe.

“You've always come back to me,” she said now, cramming as much of her as she could into the persona she had to play.

“Just as you always come back to me, love.”

“Not always, Steve.” If she overplayed it too much he'd be on to her. “And I wouldn't be here now if you hadn't threatened me.”

“My sweet Meredith, you do me a disservice. I don't threaten. And besides—” his head lowered until his lips were nuzzling her neck as he spoke, “—with you I don't have to threaten, do I, love? You need me just like I need you. Deep down. Where the secrets sleep but never go away.”

“I don't need you, Steve.” If she'd agreed, he'd get suspicious.

“You do or you wouldn't be here.”

“I don't want to need you.” She had to be enough of herself, enough of what he'd be expecting, to keep him calm. And she had to focus on the horizon, the waves, the same ocean that had welcomed her and Max and Caleb to her shores every Sunday.

That was her strength. The ocean. Those memories.

Her impetus and motivation for putting her life in the hands of the devil himself.

“Now that, I believe. You don't want to need me, but you do.” He squeezed her breast, nipped her on the neck and pushed his groin up against her backside.

No way in hell, buddy.
She'd die because of him, but she was not going to have sex with him. That was not part of her plan and was never going to be.

“Come on, let's get out of here,” Steve said. “I want you all to myself. At least for now.”

Meredith stood with him and when he laced his fingers through hers, she let him lead her up the beach.

She had no idea where he was taking her, but figured it didn't really matter.

As long as it was private.

* * *

C
HANTEL
CAME
CHARGING
in the front door just before noon on Sunday, her expression pinched and about as serious as he'd ever seen her. Including the day Jill was killed.

Moving Caleb from his lap to the couch beside him, he said, “Watch TV, son,” and followed Chantel to the kitchen.

“What?” he asked, standing in front of her barefoot and in sweats. “Has he been arrested? Is it over?”

“Meredith is gone, Max.”

He stared at the woman he'd kissed and then run out on. He hadn't seen her again until she'd knocked on his door twenty minutes later and told him breakfast was ready.

Her actions indicated that she was willing to respect his privacy. To accept his need to pretend that nothing had happened between them. At least until Steve was caught and Meri was safe.

“She left where she'd been staying this morning. And you might as well know now, she was at a shelter for abused women.”

Oh, God. Okay. Calm. Calm. Calm. “What about the unmarked cars watching the place?”

“They were watching for Steve, for someone trying to break in, not someone leaving. Or she somehow slipped by them. I don't know. At this point, we believe she was running from Smith all along....”

“Wait, who's we? And why? And how do you know she's gone? A shelter, Chantel? And you didn't tell me? Which shelter? I called the director of The Lighthouse. They hadn't heard from her.”

“They wouldn't have told you at that point if they had.”

“Sure they would. We all know each other. I help with the fund-raisers and...”

“And everything changes the second your wife becomes a resident,” she said. She was leaning against the counter, her arms wrapped around her without a hint of softness anywhere.

“So that's where she's been all this time? At The Lighthouse?”

“No. She's been somewhere else. A unique, private place. But where she was doesn't really matter at this point. She's gone. She left notes indicating that she wasn't coming back.”

“Notes?”

“For the director and some of the residents.”

That was so Meri. To care for those around her. And to leave them?

“She's never run from a shelter before.”

“We don't think she's running anymore.”

Max needed to sit down. He was a strong man with healthy muscles. They just weren't holding him up well. He swayed a moment and found a counter with his backside, letting it bear his weight.

“The Santa Raquel police force put out a missing person's alert on her, though technically, she's still considered to have left on her own.”

“The entire police force is looking for her? That's bad, isn't it? They think she's in danger. Serious danger.”

“Don't you?”

He didn't want to think. He wanted to get in his car, go find his wife, bring her home and lock her inside with him and Caleb. For the rest of their lives.

“Maybe she's on her way home,” he said. “Did anyone think of that? It's not like Smith could waltz in here and get her. You said police have been watching the place and if she was at a shelter there'd be security and cameras and every cop in two states is aware of an arrest warrant out for him.” Why wasn't she thinking of all of these things?

“She left three hours ago. She'd have made it home by now. And if you want to know the truth, I'd been hoping, all the way here, that I'd walk in that door and find her sitting here with you two. I was going to give you hell for not calling to let me know she was home, and then enjoy your apology....”

The scenario was a good one. He wanted it.

She was telling him something else, too. She was ready to join him in welcoming Meredith back into his life if that was what he wanted. She wasn't holding him to whatever promises she might have hoped for in his kiss. “Maybe she stopped someplace. A store. To pick something up. Meri liked to plan moments, you know like themed dinners to celebrate little things. So, yeah, she's probably hard at work on some kind of homecoming thing. She'd do it up big, thinking she owed me an explanation or an apology....”

Or was it him thinking that?

Chantel's brown eyes softened for the briefest moment and his stomach started to churn in earnest. “There's more, isn't there?”