Queen of Hearts: (Family Stone #6 Shelley) (Family Stone Romantic Suspense) (11 page)

“Jess,” Shelley hissed.

“I’d ask more questions, but we’re talking about my mother-in-law-to-be.” Bliss teased.

“Cut her a break,” Ava said. “Con is freaked out by the whole thing.”

Bliss frowned. “Yeah, Jack too.” Her smile fell from her face and shadows darkened her eyes.

Shelley wondered at Bliss’s expression. She thought that Bliss had been unnaturally subdued today but she really didn’t know her future daughter-in-law that well. “Everything okay, honey?”

Bliss blinked furiously. “Of course. What could be wrong?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell us?” Shelley said softly.

“I just….” Bliss pulled her legs in to her chest in, wrapped her arms around her calves, and rested her cheek on her knees.

They all waited, sensing that something important was coming. “Why isn’t Jack taking care of your security?”

Shelley had wondered the same thing. Did it really make sense for Ric Santana to watch her? However, she didn’t think that’s what had really upset Bliss.

“And?”

“I think he’s having second thoughts,” Bliss whispered. Her words were barely audible over the rush of the bubbles in the pool.

“What?!” Jess sat up so quickly that water splashed over the edge and onto the tile floor.

“No way.” Ava shook her head violently.

Shelley curled her arm around Bliss’s shoulders. Her body was tight with tension. “Why do you think that?”

“Because he’s been really distant and distracted since we got here.” Bliss tucked her head down hiding her face from them all. “And I just can’t help but feel like maybe he’s changed his mind.”

“He’s
loco
over you.” Ava patted Bliss’s shoulder. She pressed her lips together. “I work with him every day. I know what he’s like when you’re not around. He’s not going to change his mind.”

“Gotta agree with Ava on this one. Although you do make a good point about having Ric do mom’s security,” Jess said.

“You should just talk to him,” Shelley counseled. “Ask him what’s wrong.”

“We were apart for a really long time.” Bliss sighed. “It’s possible that he’s changed his mind. Maybe now that the initial blush of lost love is over, he’s figured out he doesn’t really want me.”

Shelley hated the catch in Bliss’s voice. She didn’t for a moment think Jack was having second thoughts. But until Bliss brought it up, she hadn’t really thought about the fact that Jack could have done her security. Of course, Shelley hadn’t argued because she really didn’t want to take over Jack’s vacation time before the wedding. But maybe it was time to have a quick talk with her oldest son.

Her stomach rolled and another wave of heat flushed through her. But this time it wasn’t from arousal.

Shelley jerked as her stomach did another slosh but this time it was more like a washing machine in spin cycle.

“You okay, mom?” Jess asked.

“I—” Her stomach protested. Suddenly, she knew if she didn’t get out of this pool, she was in trouble. She shoved out of the water and sprinted for the small garbage can in the corner.

“Ric,” Ava called out.

He burst back into the room just as Shelley lost the small amount of lunch she’d managed to force down.

“What the hell happened?” Ric barked out.

Shelley continued to puke in the small can. Bile burned in her nose and humiliation swept through her. Wonderful. Was it possible to be any more embarrassed?

Ric placed his palm on her forehead.

Clammy sweat coated her skin and slicked his warm palm. “You okay,
cariña
?”

She nodded. But then a throbbing, pounding hit her head, and Shelley dry-heaved for another thirty seconds.

“That was weird. All the sudden I felt sick.”

“I hope you aren’t coming down with something.” Bliss stroked her palm over Shelley’s back.

“How sudden?” Ric asked suspiciously.

“One second I was fine and the next I…wasn’t.”

Ric stalked to the table. “Which dish is yours?”

“The salad.” Ava pointed to Shelley’s plate.

“You didn’t eat much.”

“I wasn’t that hungry.”

“You aren’t doing some stupid thing where you don’t eat before the wedding are you?” Ric asked harshly.

She wanted to take offense but she also wanted to laugh. “No.”

“You didn’t eat dinner last night and you barely ate any breakfast,” Ric said.

Shelley flushed. But this time it was from embarrassment when all three of the girls snickered, clearly recalling why she didn’t eat dinner.

“Do we really need to discuss my eating habits right now?” Shelley ducked her head.

“Why didn’t you eat?” He wouldn’t let it go.

She shrugged. “I felt a little off so I stopped.”

Ric picked up the plate using the linen placemat to keep from touching the ceramic dish and handed it to Bliss. “I need you to have Jack get this analyzed.”

Shelley’s embarrassment fled. “What?”

“Maybe there’s a reason you felt off.” Ric curled his fingers into a fist. “I think it’s time for you to go back to the room.”

Bliss, Ava, and Jess were nodding, somber looks on their faces.

“You,” she faltered then forced herself to continue. “You think my salad was drugged?”

“I’d like to get it tested.” Ric didn’t exactly answer her question. “In the meantime, you should probably go upstairs and lie down until we get a report on exactly what was on or in that salad.”

Shelley’s head spun. He really thought someone had drugged her food. Good gracious, what if someone else had eaten her salad? She needed to get away from the girls before something happened to one of them.

Ten

Ric paced the suite.

He was pissed because Shelley had been poisoned on his watch. All day, he been distracted by her. Finally in that private pool room, he kept getting preoccupied by Shelley in her demure, and frankly, what should have been unsexy, swimsuit. He’d missed something.

Fuck. He shouldn’t have let Shelley go to the spa at all.

Ric stared at the toxicology report from her lunch. Jack had been able to get the results rushed. Shelley had been poisoned. There had been traces of Tetrahydrozoline in her salad. Someone had dripped Visine, fucking over-the-counter Visine, on the lettuce. Fortunately she hadn’t eaten much so she’d only had a mild reaction to the chemical. If she’d eaten more, she’d have been in the hospital, but it most likely wouldn’t have killed her. Which just made the whole situation a little more weird.

“I’m sorry, amigo.”

Jack was slumped on the sofa, looking as worn out as Ric felt. “What the hell are you sorry for?”

After resting for the last few hours, Shelley was taking a shower, so Ric could speak freely. “I should have anticipated something like this. The entire day felt off.” He’d attributed his uneasiness to the awkwardness of the situation. Initially he’d been caught up in protecting Shelley but as the day wore on and the threat level seemed to recede, other less professional thoughts had crowded his mind.

Shelley was absolutely stunning in her conservative swim suit that was more appropriate for doing laps than lounging by the pool. He’d known he needed to get out of that room when he’d started day dreaming about him and Shelley in the pool naked and doing decidedly un-spa-like activities.

His body had heated and his cock had hardened. He needed to act like the professional he was so, at the time, stepping out seemed like a good call.

Feeling slightly trapped, Ric had used the woman complaining to exit the private room for a moment. A note in that woman’s voice had set him on edge. He wanted to see if he could catch a glimpse of her. His gaze had tracked along the ceiling to see if they had cameras in the spa’s hallway. They didn’t, but hopefully there was film of her at the spa entrance or in the reception area.

He hadn’t liked the spa’s set up. Too many unknown people who couldn’t be vetted even though they were in different rooms than Shelley. Turned out he’d been right to worry since she’d fallen ill.

Now, he flipped through the photos of all the spa guests for the day. “Any of these women, or men, look familiar?”

Jack shook his head. “No. We’ll have Shelley take a look when she’s done.”

He didn’t like the suspicions that were swirling around in his mind. Something about the whole situation seemed…off. Ransacking her hotel room. Poisoning her with a non-lethal dose of Tetrahydrozoline.

“It never occurred to me that the attacks would escalate this fast,” Jack said.

“What the fuck is going on?” Ric slapped the report against his palm. Frustration and temper crested in a wave.

“Well this definitely adds suspicion of an accomplice,” Jack commented.

Ric stared out the window at the skyline. “Yeah. While there were some men at the spa, the clientele were mostly women. Historically women were more likely to use poison than men although I’m not sure that holds true now. Plus it was only enough to incapacitate her. And we have no proof that the woman outside the private pool room was anything more than a disgruntled customer.”

Jack paced around the room. “I wish I had some idea of what the hell is going on.”

The door to the bathroom opened.

Shelley exited in a cloud of steam. Ric admired the completely unselfconscious sway of her hips. She was wearing the hotel’s thick cotton robe and he nearly swallowed his tongue.

She struck him mute when she headed straight to his side. “Are you okay?”

In his line of work, he needed a serious poker face. He never showed emotion. It was one of the issues that had come up regularly back when he’d been trying to have relationships. His girlfriends never had any idea what he was thinking. They’d complained more often than not that he didn’t share his feelings.

Shelley had picked up on his hidden distress after knowing him less than a day. That was shocking.

“I’m fine. Nothing is wrong.” Ric threaded his fingers with hers and squeezed. “I’m not going to let anything happen to you,” he said fiercely.

“Oh. I know you won’t.” Shelley disengaged their fingers.

As if his capability was never in question. She’d wiped out his frustration with four simple words. She believed he would keep her safe. Ric vowed right then and there that he wouldn’t let her down.

Her entire body stiffened, then she frowned. “Hi, Jack.”

“Shel.” Jack nodded sternly.

“We’ve got the pictures of the women and men who were in the spa while you were there.” Ric gestured at the sofa. “Have a seat and we’ll go through them.”

The spa didn’t have cameras in their interior hallways, only in the waiting room slash reception area. He’d printed pictures of all the people who had gone in and out while Shelley and the girls were getting their treatments. But unless Shelley could identify any of the people, right now it was a dead end.

Twenty minutes later, Shelley hadn’t been able to identify any single person. So the pictures were a bust. At least for now.

But she fidgeted on the sofa. Something else was going on. Ric watched Shelley closely.

“Um, Jack, I need to talk to you.” She wasn’t twisting her hands but her demeanor was one step up from a worried mother.

“Shoot.”

Shelley darted a furtive glance at Ric. “Alone.” She blinked, her lashes covering her gaze and creating a shadow over her cheeks.

Ric puffed up his chest ready to argue but Jack beat him to it.

“Listen, Shel. Ric needs to hear whatever you have to say.”

Her face flushed red. Whatever she needed to say, she was seriously embarrassed. Ric supposed he should have offered to leave the room, but after this morning, he had no intention of leaving her alone again.

“He can’t protect you if you keep things from—”

“Bliss thinks you’re having second thoughts,” she blurted out. She jumped up from the sofa and propped her hands on her hips.

Jack bunched his fists. “What?”

“Normally I wouldn’t get involved in your relationship.” Shelley said, “But she was really upset earlier.”

“She….”

“Thinks you’re reconsidering the wedding.” Shelley said softly, “You need to talk to her, Jack.”

“Why would she think that?” The true bewilderment and sense of panic on Jack’s face was a revelation. Ric had never seen his buddy so gone over a woman. He supposed that’s why Jack was getting married.

“Well,” Shelley shot an inscrutable look at Ric before shifting her attention back to her stepson.

“Come on, Shel.”

“She wondered why you aren’t doing my security.” If he wasn’t mistaken, Shelley was feeling guilty for questioning why Ric was doing her security. Not that he minded.

She mouthed, Sorry.

Ric froze. He knew why Jack wasn’t watching out for his stepmother. He was on a very private, very personal mission.

Ric exchanged a significant glance with Jack.

Shelley shifted her gaze back and forth between the two of them. “What?”

“What, what?” Jack said.

“What was that look?” Shelley directed her question to Ric already figuring out that Jack wasn’t going to say a word. But it wasn’t Ric’s secret to share. Before Ric could reply, Jack butt in. “How could she think that?”

Shelley shrugged. “You haven’t been back together that long.”

Jack shook his head.

“When you know, you
know
. It hits you right here.” Jack thumped his fist over his heart. “I need to go.”

Shelley nodded. “Talk to her.”

Ric eyed Jack. “The Visine is a dead end.” There was no way they could track every single purchase in the area and that assumed it was bought in Las Vegas. “But Con is continuing to trace emails.”

“We good?” Jack asked.

“I’ve got it.”

Shelley rubbed her palms over her biceps. “What about the dinner tonight?”

“What dinner tonight?” Rick asked.

“Family dinner,” Jack said tersely. “I didn’t invite you because I thought you’d want some of your own time in Vegas.”

Ah. That made sense. But if Shelley was going to a family dinner, there’s no way he’d let her go without him.

“I’d like to go,” Shelley said.

“How are you feeling?” Ric asked.

“My stomach is still a little queasy. But better than I was.”

“The only way I’d be comfortable with you attending is if I’m also there.” Ric refused to budge on that point.