Repressed (Deadly Secrets) (12 page)

If you only want to be friends, then why did you wear this supersexy outfit?

Sam frowned, mentally cursing her subconscious.

“Sam?”

She turned at the sound of Will’s voice and realized Will and Jeff were heading her way. Leaning toward Pearl, she said, “It was great to see you. I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Good to see you as well, dear.” The older woman laid a hand on Sam’s arm before she could step away. “Oh. I wanted to tell you how sorry I was to hear about that nasty business out near your place. I sure do hope we get some news soon. If you hear anything, be sure to let me know.”

Pearl wandered off to another group, but just the mention of the body in those woods sent Sam’s anxiety inching up all over again.

“Hey.” Will took her arm and moved in for a hug. “Don’t let that old biddy ruin your night. She’s just looking for gossip.”

Sam hugged him back. “I’m not.” Though inside she was. She was afraid she knew exactly whom they’d found in those woods—everyone in town did, they were just too afraid to say the name out loud.

Turning toward Jeff, she hugged him too, taking in his crisp black slacks, white dress shirt, and Armani jacket. “Hey, you. All set for your big announcement?”

He smiled, perfect white teeth against tanned skin, his short, dark-blond hair expertly styled as if it didn’t dare fall out of place. Jeff Kellogg was as calm and poised and professional as always, and she had no doubt he was going to get elected simply based off his presence alone. “You know me. I’m always ready for the cameras.”

Sam didn’t agree with all of Jeff’s politics, but she knew it would be a boon for this town to have something good to talk about instead of something bad. And sending one of their own to the Senate would put Hidden Falls on the map. Every business owner in town was contributing to his campaign in the hopes it would help their bottom line.

“I, for one, can’t wait to hear your speech,” Sam said. “And I know my mother would have wanted to hear it as well.”

“Any bites on the house?” Will asked beside her.

Sam sighed. “No. Not yet. I’m still doing some of those repairs the realtor said would make the place irresistible.”

Will grabbed a beer from a passing waiter’s tray. “Well, if you need any help, you know where to find me. I’m happy to lend a hand.”

Sam’s stomach tightened, and her gaze immediately shifted to Ethan on the other side of the room, speaking with David Burke and several others. Will’s offer was nothing but friendship, but he wasn’t the one she wanted lending her a hand—doing repairs or not.

“I still say there’s something familiar about that guy,” Kenny Saunders said.

Sam dragged her attention away from Ethan only to realize Kenny had joined their conversation. He stood across from her, between Will and Jeff, but Sam’s back tingled just the way it always did when he was near. Tonight, at least, he’d combed his hair and was wearing slacks and a white dress shirt, even if it was wrinkled and rolled up to the elbows. “Which guy?”

“McClane.” Kenny nodded toward the group where Ethan stood. “I know I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

Will had said the same thing. And Pearl. Sam looked back at Ethan, deep in conversation with Principal Burke. Three people recognizing him was more than a coincidence. Had he passed through town once before and not mentioned it to her?

Will brushed a hand down Sam’s back, angling her back toward their group. “I’m sure he’s just one of those guys who has one of those faces.”

Kenny took a long pull from his bottle and snorted. “I don’t know, man. I’m just sayin’. Strange things have been happening around here lately. The stuff at Sam’s house, the break-in at the school, that body up in those woods. McClane’s new. Who’s to say he doesn’t have something to do with it all?”

Will shot Kenny a warning look and tightened his hold on Sam. “For all we know, that was a vagrant up in those woods. And the stuff at Sam’s house was teenagers, nothing more.” He glanced down at her. “You haven’t had any more trouble lately, have you?”

Heat seeped from him into her where they touched, but it wasn’t the good heat. It wasn’t Ethan’s heat. And Sam fought the urge to pull away. If she did, it might upset him, and she didn’t need any more drama tonight. Especially when her head was suddenly swimming.

Could Ethan somehow be involved with everything that had happened lately?

No. That was ridiculous. He hadn’t even come into town until the day her room had been ransacked. He hadn’t been here when her house was vandalized. There was no way he could have locked himself and her in that supply closet, and he certainly hadn’t been in Hidden Falls when that person in those woods was killed. The remains they’d found had been buried for a very long time.

“No.” Sam hated that she was even entertaining the idea Ethan was somehow involved. Kenny was just trying to throw her off. For all she knew, he could be the one causing problems as of late. “Nothing. Everything’s been fine recently.”

“Good.” Will’s hand slipped down to her waist and gently squeezed, then released. “You be sure to let me know if it isn’t, though.”

Sam stiffened, but forced herself not to pull back. She was grateful for Will’s help. He’d been a good friend to her since she’d been back. And he was just being a friend now.

Friend . . .

As the three men launched into a conversation about Jeff’s campaign, Sam’s thoughts rushed right back to Ethan, and she turned to watch him across the crowded room once more. Heat gathered in her belly when she remembered the way he’d looked at her in the entry of her mother’s old house. Heat and need and a burning desire she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to contain much longer.

Because she didn’t want to be friends with Ethan no matter what common sense told her to do. She wanted more. She was just deathly afraid of the fallout when he learned her darkest secrets.

CHAPTER EIGHT

All Ethan wanted to do was escape.

Standing in the Kelloggs’ great room, surrounded by several of Hidden Falls’s finest, all he could think about was making a break for the verandah and bumming a cigarette from another guest.

David Burke had introduced him around, and even though his mind was one giant tornado, Ethan had managed to catch a few names. The gray-haired woman to Ethan’s left, Dot Appleton, owned a local bookstore. The bald, middle-aged man beside her, Lincoln Jenkins, ran the newspaper. Burke’s wife, Cynthia, the bleach blonde aerobics instructor, stood to the principal’s right, eyeing Ethan like fresh meat.

He seriously didn’t want to be here. Why had he agreed to this nonsense? And why the hell wasn’t his brain working? He couldn’t even think up a pithy excuse to get out of the monotonous conversation.

Dot grasped his arm, startling Ethan out of the exit plan swirling in his mind, and looked up with wide gray eyes. “Oh my goodness. You’re the one who found the body, aren’t you, Dr. McClane?”

Shit. There went his anonymity in this backwater town. And his plan for a quick break. “I think ‘body’ is a questionable term considering the circumstances.”

“Terrible discovery,” Jenkins said, tapping his finger against the glass in his hand. Ice clinked in the bottom. “Whole town’s sick over it.”

Wrapping a hand around her neck, Cynthia shivered in a way that made her breasts jiggle in the extremely low-cut top. A move Ethan knew was planned. “Just makes me ill to think a dead body’s been up in those woods all this time.” Her voice lowered. “You know, people are saying it’s Sandra Hollings.”

Dot’s lips pursed. “Serves her right.”

“Dot.” Jenkins’s sharp gaze darted in her direction.

“Oh, hush. You and I both know that woman was the devil.” Dot glanced at Ethan as if she were confessing a terrible secret. “You’re not from around here, but let me tell you, the devil’s just what she was. Why, she was a teacher up at the high school, a teacher who had one thing on her mind, she did. Caused all sorts of trouble in this town. Flitting around with another woman’s husband, flaunting herself in front of those boys in class. I’m not the only one who was happy to see her go.”

“Now, Dot,” Burke said, slipping an arm around his wife’s waist. “That was a long time ago.”

“Long time ago.” Dot huffed. “I have a memory like an elephant, I do. I remember what that woman was like.” She glanced up at Ethan again. “We were all thankful when she disappeared. Especially poor Will over there.”

“Chief Branson?” Ethan glanced across the room, his interest suddenly piqued. But when he caught sight of Branson standing with an arm wrapped protectively around Samantha, his stomach clenched.

He didn’t want Branson’s hands anywhere near Samantha, but he couldn’t go over there and warn her off the guy without explaining what he knew. And doing that meant opening up a part of himself she wasn’t ready to see.

“His daddy was the one she’d taken up with,” Dot said. “Henry Branson was mayor of Hidden Falls at the time. There was a big scandal when it all came out. Cut that family in two, that evil woman did. Why, Eileen Branson committed suicide over it.”

Will’s mother? Ethan looked back down at the older woman.

“Dot.” Jenkins sent her another warning glare.

“Can’t say I was sorry in the least to see that Hollings woman leave,” Dot went on, ignoring Jenkins.

“I thought someone said she went back to Seattle?” Ethan asked.

“She did,” Cynthia replied. “But she came back. Alan Kendall saw her at the gas station, what, six or seven months after she took off?”

“Something like that.” Dot waved a hand, then leaned closer to Ethan. “Alan’s not always the best with details.” She tapped her head. “But he’s sure he saw her. None of the rest of us did, but I, for one, tend to believe him.”

Jenkins frowned. “Let me get this straight. You think she left, came back because she missed the place, and then someone killed her? Why would she come back? You already pointed out that no one in town liked her. That’s a little out there, even for you, Dot.”

Dot’s lips pursed when she turned toward Lincoln. “I don’t know why she came back, but I’m sure she did. She had her talons in the Branson family, that’s for sure, and she was none too happy about leaving in the first place. She was practically forced out of here. I think someone murdered her, that’s what I think. Someone who was sick of seeing what she’d done to those people, to this town, for that matter.”

“Oh Lord.” Burke rolled his eyes. “We’re all suspects now.”

Ethan’s gaze drifted back toward Samantha, still standing way too close to Will Branson for his taste. If what Dot Appleton said were true, then Sandra Hollings hadn’t been missed when she’d left Hidden Falls. And the Branson family had reason to see her disappear forever.

“Well, I don’t really know what to believe,” Cynthia said, drawing Ethan’s attention back to her and her heaving breasts. “It just creeps me out knowing someone died up there. Especially since that’s the same forest where the Raines boy was murdered. What if the same person killed them both?”

Every muscle in Ethan’s body contracted.

Dot waved a hand in a dismissive gesture. “That was a completely different situation. They caught the juvenile delinquent who drowned poor Seth. Some whacked-out kid from the city. Why politicians think good country folk should be responsible for rehabilitating scum like that is beyond me.”

Dot’s words echoed through Ethan’s mind, but the tightness growing in his chest was all that held his focus.

“It was a pleasure to meet you all,” he managed, interrupting Dot midsentence as she went on about the problem with social services programs in the United States. “If you’ll excuse me.”

“Certainly.” Dot folded her hands over her small purse. But as he stepped away, Ethan heard her mutter, “Interesting fellow, that Dr. McClane. What do you know about him, David?”

Ethan wanted nothing more than to grab Samantha and run, to get as far away from this house and its inhabitants as possible, but he couldn’t. Because he wasn’t about to make a scene for her. There was still just enough preteen fear in him, though, to push him right out the patio door toward freedom and fresh air.

His heart pounded in his chest. Sweat slicked his skin. Clenching and unclenching his hands at his sides, he wove through the crowd on the verandah and cursed his stupidity for agreeing to come to this party. In his desperate attempt to spend more time with Samantha, he’d ruined their entire night. And his plan hadn’t even worked, had it? She wasn’t anywhere near him. She wasn’t talking to or flirting with or touching
him
. She was with Branson. And Kellogg. And Saunders.

He moved past potted trees lit up with twinkle lights and groupings of people chatting and drinking on the verandah. Beyond the balcony, snowflakes wisped through the air, landing without a sound on the grass below. Heaters were strategically placed to keep the area warm, but Ethan didn’t need heat. He needed a dark corner where he could pull himself together before he gave in to the urge and ran.

He finally spotted it. Just past the last heater. A space at the end of the deck where he could be alone with his thoughts. Bracing his hands on the railing, he looked out at the darkness and drew in steady breaths.

“You look like you could use a friend.”

Shit. So much for being alone with his thoughts.

He turned to find Margaret Wilcox slinking toward him, her black silk sheath dress clinging to her body, contrasting with her milk-white skin and blonde hair. She held one arm wrapped around her waist, while the elbow of the other sat perched on her hip, cradling a smoldering cigarette.

“Smoke?” she asked.

God, yes. Right now.

“No.” He cleared his throat because it sounded way too desperate. “I quit.”

One side of her blood-red lips tipped up as she moved closer. “Pity.”

She took a long drag on the cigarette, then blew smoke all over his face. Ethan closed his eyes and breathed deep, ingesting as much nicotine as he could to keep from snatching it out of her grip.

“Self-control is overrated, Dr. McClane.” Her voice dropped to a raspy whisper. “It’s so much more enjoyable to be wicked.”

He was not turned on by this woman. She smelled like a crowded bar, probably tasted like a dirty ashtray. There were reasons he’d quit smoking; most notably, he didn’t find
this
attractive anymore. So why wasn’t he moving back?

Because he was desperate for a hit. And right now he didn’t care how he got it.

Her fingertips grazed the sleeve of his jacket, and he opened his eyes. Fine lines fanned out from her eyes at this close distance. Her skin was sallow and rougher than he’d originally thought. She hid it well with makeup, but she couldn’t change the effects of years of smoking. She looked older than he remembered from school, worn . . . used.

“Why don’t you let me give you a tour of the house? I’m sure we could find ourselves a nice, quiet spot to sit and get acquainted.” Her finger slithered up his arm. “I could let you . . . probe . . . the inner recesses of my mind.”

Ethan nearly laughed.
Not in a million years.

“Ethan?” Samantha’s voice rang out to his right. “I’m ready to leave.”

Ethan looked her way, and when he saw her backlit by the warmth from the house, her curly dark hair falling around her shoulders and her lithe body wrapped in that sinful jumpsuit, the tightness in his chest eased.

“I am too.” He stepped away from Margaret. “Really ready.”

Margaret drew another long breath from her cigarette as Ethan moved around her. “Sam.” The word was punctuated by a wave of smoke. “There you are. I’d almost forgotten you were here.” She glanced at Ethan and grinned. “We weren’t talking about you in the least.”

“I’m sure you weren’t.” Samantha looked toward Ethan. “I’m ready anytime you are.”

“Leaving before the big speech?” Margaret waved her cigarette. “Jeff will be so disappointed.”

“Actually,” Samantha lifted her brows, “he read me the speech privately when we were talking earlier. But I’m sure you’ll enjoy it when he reads it for everyone else. Good night, Margaret.”

Samantha turned and headed back into the house.

Ethan drew in a deep breath as he watched Samantha leave then looked back at Margaret. “Thanks for the hospitality.”

“Anytime.” Margaret puffed on her cigarette again and sent him one last lusty look. “We’ll finish this some other time,
doctor
.”

Not if he could help it.

Samantha was already halfway through the great room by the time Ethan caught up with her, and one look at her tense back told him she was ticked.

He waited while she said good-bye to David Burke, did the same, and followed her toward the front of the house. Thankfully, Branson, Kellogg, and Saunders were nowhere to be seen, but at the moment he barely cared. All he could focus on was the fact that Samantha’s shoulders were tight as a drum and she refused to speak or even look his way as they retrieved their coats and moved out the front door.

Shit. She thought there’d been something going on between him and Margaret.

“Samantha.” He handed the valet his ticket when he reached the bottom step and waited while the man hurried off before he turned to her. “That wasn’t what it looked like.”

Snowflakes dotted Samantha’s hair and cheeks and nose. “It was exactly what it looked like. She had ‘wanton slut’ written all over her, and you fell right into her trap.”

A wisp of panic spread beneath Ethan’s ribs. He reached for her arm. “I’m not interested in Margaret Wilcox.”

“Do I look like an idiot? I know you’re not.” The valet pulled the car to a stop in front of them. As soon as he popped the driver’s side door, Samantha tugged free from Ethan’s grip and rounded the hood. “And I hate to burst your bubble, Ethan, but she doesn’t want you, she’s just using you to get at me.”

The valet sprinted around the car to grab the door for her. More confused than before, Ethan watched her climb in and tried to figure out what was going on.

She wasn’t the least bit jealous? He’d been jealous as hell when he’d seen her standing with Branson. Wanted to punch something every time he pictured the guy sliding a possessive arm around her waist as if he owned her. And just the thought of her alone with Jeff Kellogg, getting a private reading of his speech, made him see red.

He waited for the valet to come back around, handed the guy a tip, and climbed into the driver’s seat. Had he missed something? Misread her? Sure, she’d pulled away from his kiss in the woods, but he’d thought that was because of Grimly. And tonight, she’d worn that sexy jumpsuit for their date. But had the outfit been for him? Or someone else? Someone at the party? A knot formed in his belly when he thought back to the way she’d leaned into Branson. And in a whir he realized she hadn’t greeted Ethan with any kind of affection like that when he’d arrived to pick her up, just a smile.

The BMW’s headlights bounced along the slick pavement and reflected off tree trunks lining the long drive. While they’d been inside, the snow had picked up, and a fresh layer of white now covered everything, even the road. Reality trickled in as he gripped the wheel. If he didn’t get out of Hidden Falls soon, he might not make it home tonight.

That was all he needed after this horrendous day. To get stuck here one more night. He turned onto the highway. Snow barreled toward them. The windshield wipers snapped back and forth, filling the car with a rhythmic
whup, whup, whup
as he licked his wounded pride and reminded himself he’d walked right into this one. Samantha Parker had told him point-blank that she wasn’t interested in any kind of relationship. And he hadn’t listened.

“I cannot stand that woman.” Beside him, Samantha rested her elbow on the windowsill and rubbed her forehead. “I swear to God she’s got horns underneath all that hair. Did you see her? Oh my God. Did you see her? Her husband is just inside, and she’s practically throwing herself at you out on the verandah. And there were reporters there. My God, she is the biggest slut I’ve ever met.”