Stirring Up Trouble (18 page)

A gasp went up and a rumble of voices sounded in the crowd. Maddie looked over in time to see Grant get up from his seat and march straight toward Lydia. “You meddling bitch!” he shouted. “Why are you on a mission to hurt everyone in my family?”

Grant's shouts were echoed by the video of him still playing on the screen.
“Circumstances be damned, you're my brother. I want to have a relationship with you. We
're family, and family is important to me.”

The film turned off. Lydia abandoned her post, casually walking out of the square before Grant could reach her. Emmett held Maddie tightly, but she tugged away from his grasp. She couldn't breathe.

“Ladies and gentleman,” Alice announced. “We've had some minor technical difficulties. Please give us a moment and we'll get the film going again.”

Someone from the crowd approached the laptop and helped Alice, but Maddie wasn't concerned about the movie any longer. Her gaze met Grant's across the lawn. There was panic in his eyes, a red flush of anger mottling his skin. It was all true; she could tell.

“Let's get out of here,” Emmett suggested, and all Maddie could do was nod. She wanted out, badly. People were still talking, looking up at Maddie and pointing as they did. She couldn't take it any longer. She took Emmett's hand and let him lead her to the sidewalk just as the sounds of
Frankenstein
returned to the square.

She thought she'd feel better once she was inside the safety of the closed bar, but it didn't help. She climbed onto one of the barstools and dropped her face into her hands. She wanted to cry, scream, and hit something all at once.

“He lied,” she said at last with a sad shake of her head. “He knew the truth and he lied.”

“Who?” Emmett asked with a frown.

“Grant. He's Mr. Honesty, yet he kept this from all of us. Or at least from me. I don't know if anyone else knows about Logan, but that's kind of a big deal. We have a brother we never knew about. A brother! Pepper's brother at that,” she added. It would take her a long time to wrap her head around all of this. Her universe was shifting in a direction she'd never anticipated. She was just getting used to the idea of Pepper as her sister-in-law. Logan as her half brother? She couldn't even imagine it.

Emmett leaned on the counter and pinned her with his gaze. “Is Grant really the one you should be upset with? I don't know for sure, but I'm thinking he probably found out because of his relationship with Pepper. In his situation, secrecy was probably the best policy if her family didn't want it getting out.”

Maddie thought about his words for a moment and realized he was right. The person she needed to be angry with was her daddy. Daddy . . . the one who spoiled her mercilessly. Who let her get away with murder. The same Daddy who bought her the bakery, who gave her a Mercedes for graduation, who paid for pastry school in Paris. He was her rock, the one she ran to when things went wrong. Even though she knew, rationally, that he was at fault, it wasn't her knee-jerk reaction to blame him for anything. She was a daddy's girl.

“Maybe he didn't know,” she said with a hopeful tone. “It's possible that Logan's mother never told my father that she was having his baby. That happens a lot, right?”

Emmett reached across the bar and took her hand. “It's also possible that he's known all this time. Your father isn't a saint, Maddie. You're old enough to know that.”

She took a deep breath and let it out. He was right. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, then a thought struck her and they flew open again. “Mama!”

She reached for her picnic basket, where she'd stored her keys and her phone. There were half a dozen astonished text messages on her screen, but she ignored them all. Someone had to warn her mother.

“Maddie,” Emmett warned. “Do you want to be the one to tell her?”

“No. But I don't want those gossiping harpies to be the ones to tell her, either. Damn Lydia. She did this on purpose.” She dialed the house as quickly as she could, hoping her call would get there before anyone else's.

“Hello? Madelyn, dear?” It wasn't her mother's voice; it was her grandmother's.

“Granny, where's Mama?”

“She's still in the Bahamas on that girls' trip.”

Maddie breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother's cell phone wasn't the kind that would work in another country.

“She gets home tomorrow. What's the matter, Madelyn?”

“Lydia slipped a video clip of Grant and Logan Anthony arguing into the movie at the library tonight.” Maddie hesitated, not wanting to tell her grandmother the truth, either. She'd had two children, but Norman was her only son, and she doted on him the way Maddie's daddy doted on her. “Apparently they were arguing about Logan being Daddy's illegitimate son.”

“Oh.”

“That's all I know. You'll have to ask Grant about the rest. I think Lydia did that to get back at the family for the incident at Ivy's concert. And maybe at me because I'm not her partner in crime any longer.”

Her grandmother drew in an audible breath and sighed. “I'm sure she had plenty of reasons in her own mind, twisted and wrong as they might be. She's always been your friend, but I've never understood why.”

“She's not my friend anymore, Granny. I'm not friends with anyone who deliberately tries to hurt my family like that.”

“Good girl.”

“The whole town knows, or will know, by the time Mama gets back from her trip. What are we going to do?”

“I'll speak with Helen when she returns. I know you love your father, dear, but I'm not entirely certain that your mother will be . . . surprised.”

Maddie was the surprised one. “You don't sound shocked, either.”

“There are very few things that happen in this family that I don't know about, Madelyn. Your father's indiscretions are among them.”

Indiscretions? Plural? She just shook her head. This was bigger than Logan, she hated to admit. Logan was just from back before her father learned to be more careful.

“Thank you for calling. I know that was difficult for you to do. No one wants to be the bearer of that kind of news. I'll take it from here. You try to enjoy your party. Good night, Madelyn.”

“Good night, Granny.” Maddie turned off her phone and let it drop into her lap. Her father was a cheater, his business rival was really his son, and, apparently, Granny and her mama knew about it the whole time. What the hell was going on with her family? And what about her best friend just turning on her like that?

“I'd offer you a drink,” Emmett said, laying his plastic gun on the counter, “but I don't think you'd take it.”

“No, but thank you. At this point, I think it would be adding more fuel to the fire instead of numbing me the way I'd want it to. If I punch Lydia in the face, I'll get arrested. And I'm not ready to face Judge Griffin again so soon.”

“I know,” Emmett conceded with disappointment, “but it'd be worth it to watch someone punch her.”

Maddie shook her head. Lydia had messed with the wrong family. “She'll get hers. I'm absolutely certain of that. She can't keep messing with people the way she does. I should've known she was up to something when she volunteered to help. She never volunteers to do anything. She just wanted access to the computer.”

“You couldn't have known what she was up to.”

“Yeah, but I know Lydia. She was my best friend. I never expected her to turn on me and treat me the same way she treats everyone else. I guess it's inevitable. Really, when I stopped being so mean to people, I guess I turned on her. I'm sure that's how she sees it.”

“People see what they want to see and use that to justify their actions. Doesn't make it true, or what they did any less despicable.”

That was true. But it didn't make it hurt any less or make her any less confused about everything that happened tonight. She did know that she was not in the mood to party. “Hey, listen, do you mind if I skip out on the party tonight? I'm not feeling very festive.”

“Absolutely.” Emmett came around the bar and wrapped Maddie in his arms. It felt so good to be there. The warmth of being wrapped in his protective cocoon made everything seem better somehow. She wanted to stay there all night, but she knew that was impossible. “I'm sorry about all this. It ruined your big night.”

“I think it still went okay,” she said, taking a step back while she still had the strength to pull away. “The movie played on. And who knows, maybe the drama and the aftermath will encourage more people to attend the next event. You never know what will happen around Rosewood.”

“I'd let you hide out in my apartment until I get off work, but it's going to be after two. You won't get much sleep with the Monster Mash going on down here.”

“That's okay. I'll be fine. I'm going to take a sleeping pill and try to forget tonight ever happened.” Rising onto her toes, she planted a kiss on his lips to say good night. He wrapped his strong arms around her, making her wish that tonight wasn't Halloween and there wasn't long hours of partying in his future. She'd rather curl up with him on the couch and lose herself in some television. Unfortunately, all she could do was pull away and look up into the big green eyes that comforted her. “You be sure to tell all those girls tonight that Han Solo is taken.”

Emmett smiled and winked. “I will.”

Chapter Eighteen

For the first
time since Maddie got back from Paris, she skipped Sunday dinner with her family. She didn't know if she could face her father—or anyone in her family, really—after what had happened last night. She didn't want to see anyone except Emmett. That's why when the text tone she'd assigned to Emmett went off, she finally picked up her phone.

“My bed is cold and lonely,” he wrote.

Her house was feeling the same way. It was also feeling like the wrong place to wait around. If she didn't start responding to calls soon, people were probably going to show up at her door. Emmett's apartment was the ideal hideaway, at least for a while.

“I'll be right there,” she responded.

Minutes later, she was across the street and sequestered in the dark comfort of Emmett's place. She crept into his bedroom and found him lying there, waiting for her. She shed her clothes and crawled into the bed beside him, letting his body heat warm her bare skin like a radiator.

“That's more like it,” he said, wrapping his arms around her waist and planting a kiss in the soft hollow beneath her ear. “How are you?”

“I'm okay,” she said, curling her head into his chest. She listened to the slow, steady rhythm of his heart and it made her feel more at peace. “Better now that I'm here.” She meant it. She felt ten times better here than she had sitting in her house alone all night. It had been a long time since someone had made her feel as comfortable and safe as she did when she was with him.

“Have you spoken to anyone?”

“No. And right now, I don't want to. It's starting to feel like you're the only person I can trust.”

Maddie expected him to say some soothing platitudes in the vein of “of course you can,” or “I'm not the only person you can trust,” but he just lay silent, holding her. Perhaps he was right and words were overrated at this point. Action was better.

“Make love to me,” she said, her hand caressing his stubble-covered jaw. “Make me forget about all that for a little while longer.”

“Absolutely.” Emmett's mouth met hers in a tender yet firm kiss.

Maddie met his enthusiasm, running her fingers through his messy blond hair and tugging him closer. She couldn't get enough of him—the rough feel of his hands on her body, the taste of his mouth and his skin on her lips. His scent lingered on the sheets and filled her nostrils as he moaned softly into her mouth. He was a feast of the senses and she was starving.

She responded instantly to his touch. It continually amazed her how quickly Emmett had learned her body. He effortlessly stroked and teased her into arousal, bringing her to climaxes faster and more often than she'd thought possible.

They came together quickly. Maddie was eager to empty her mind and feel nothing but the pleasure of being in Emmett's arms, and he was happy to indulge her. She lifted her hips, welcoming him into her body with a contented sigh.

As they moved together, Maddie realized just how perfect this moment was. No matter what else was going on in her life, this was real. This was right.

She needed to stop being afraid. She couldn't let the past ruin what she had with Emmett by making her second-guess everything. He hadn't done anything to warrant her suspicion, it was her own fears getting in the way. She just needed to admit to herself that she had feelings for Emmett . . . real feelings. And that was okay. Making one bad choice in a man didn't mean she was doomed to make them forever. Emmett was thoughtful and kind and honest. He deserved whatever love she had to give him.

Love?

Her heart leapt in her chest as she realized what she was thinking. Looking up at those green eyes she could get lost in, she pulled his jaw down to kiss him. She was worried that if she didn't, she might say the words aloud. There was a lightness in her chest, and the words threatened to bubble up out of her. She'd barely come to terms with the idea herself, so she wasn't ready to announce it to him when they hadn't been together that long. It was possible that Maddie was way ahead on the emotional curve and she needed to let the relationship develop at the proper pace.

Reaching down between them, Emmett stroked at her center, teasing her swollen flesh as he drove into her again and again. All thoughts of love and confessions, all thoughts of her family and betrayal, slipped away as she was jerked back into the here and now of her physical desires. Every muscle in her body drew taut as she bit her lip and waited to reach the pinnacle of pleasure.

“Yes!” she shouted out as she peaked, clawing at his shoulders. Soon, his own cries mingled with hers as he rocked with Maddie through the waves to the end of their release.

Exhausted and spent, Emmett collapsed. He slid to the side and shifted his weight to keep from crushing her, but Maddie didn't care. In this moment, everything was perfect, including the heated touch of his body pressing heavily against her own.

When he finally rolled onto his back, Maddie sidled up against him, resting her head on his chest. His heart was still racing from exertion and she lay there listening until it finally slowed to its usual, steady pace.

Her lids were starting to get heavy. It was late morning, hours past when she normally started her day, but she hadn't slept very well last night. She gave in to the lure of the sandman and fell asleep in his arms. She didn't know how much time had passed when the sound of Emmett's voice jerked her back to consciousness.

“It's my turn to go to work.”

Maddie whined and clung to him. She didn't want him to go downstairs. She wanted him here, all to herself.

“I know,” he said. “I don't want to go downstairs, either, but there's a big game on this afternoon. You can hide in the bar today if you want to. No one will expect to see you there. Or you can stay up here. Either is fine with me.”

She sighed and let go of him. “If you insist,” she said. He got up and disappeared into the bathroom. Knowing there was nothing she could do to entice him back into bed, she gave up and started dressing. As much as hiding out in his apartment all day appealed to her, she wouldn't. She would go home and face whatever awaited her there, now that her resolve was steeled by time with Emmett.

When she headed to the kitchen, she noticed his coffeepot on the counter and thought she'd brew a pot. He could probably use it after being up so late with the Halloween crowd.

She hunted down the coffee filters and grounds, loading a pitcher of water in the reservoir and turning it on. As it started to perk and bubble, she leaned back against the counter to wait. After a few minutes, when the last drop of coffee fell into the pot, she opened up a few cabinets to hunt for mugs. She found two and sat them on the counter, sliding a stack of papers out of the way so she didn't get them dirty.

All the paper slid easily except for one that drifted off the top. She picked it up, moving to put it on the stack, but hesitated as her eyes narrowed in on all the zeros.

It was a check for twenty-five thousand dollars made out to Emmett. That certainly wasn't pocket change or standard payment for a bookshelf in Connie Jackson's den. Whatever this was for, it was something big. Good for him. She sat the check back on the top of the pile, finally seeing the text in the memo line that her thumb had covered before.

Payment from Adelia Chamberlain, Acct#007568

That's when her blood turned to ice in her veins. She picked the check back up and examined it more closely. It was a certified check from Rosewood Bank, dated early last week. The check didn't notate what the money was for and the To: line had been handwritten in, instead of typed in by the bank. That was odd. Why would her grandmother have a check cut for twenty-five thousand dollars and leave the recipient line blank? If she dropped it, anyone could pick it up and fill in their own name. Unless she didn't want anyone to know she was giving the money to Emmett. Like Maddie.

Lydia's taunts rang as loudly in her head as though she were standing next to her in the kitchen.
“Don't say I didn't warn you if all of a sudden he's building bookcases for your grandmother or something.”

Or a cedar closet. Or maybe nothing at all. Maybe this was some kind of ridiculous pity loan that he'd managed to talk her grandmother into. Business at Woody's seemed to be doing okay, but what did she know? Emmett could have other things going on in his life that she had no clue about.

Either way, she was going to find out the truth. Her whole life men had been using her. She'd thought Emmett was different. She thought that she might really, truly be in love with a guy who might return her affections. If this check was what she thought it was, she would know for certain that she was a damn fool.

And she'd never trust her heart again.

He needed to tell
her the truth. Emmett rinsed the shampoo from his hair and continued to argue with himself on the subject. It had been hard to lay there and listen to her tell him that he was the only one she could trust when he knew that he was keeping so much of his life a secret from her. After finding out about her father, she would be sensitive to anything like that. He needed to just clear the air and make sure there wasn't anything that could come back and ruin what they had. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

He didn't know why it bothered him so much to confess the truth about who he was. He could ask her not to tell, but he wasn't sure how long it would be before everyone knew about him. She was paranoid about people just using her for her family's money, and he knew what it was like. People were always coming to you with investment opportunities or sob stories. Some people felt entitled to a share of what he had. And even the folks who didn't want or need his money would treat him differently just because he was wealthy.

Why couldn't he just stay Emmett the bartender—the easygoing, fun-to-talk-to guy?

As Emmett turned off the shower, he decided to tell her. She didn't want any more secrets in her life, so this was his chance to be honest and explain why he didn't want anyone to know. She'd understand and help keep his secret as her grandmother had, he was sure of it. He slipped out of the shower and dried off. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he walked into the bedroom, expecting to find Maddie still lying there. The bed was empty.

The scent of coffee caught his attention and his stomach growled. He traveled down the hallway and past the kitchen where he found Maddie sitting on the couch. She was hunched over, resting her elbows on her knees and staring at a slip of paper in her hand.

He took one step closer before he realized what she was holding. It was the check her grandmother had given him last week. Damn it. He didn't realize he'd left it out. He should've deposited it by now. With a sigh, he shook off his worries. That was just a segue into what he wanted to tell her anyway.

“I guess,” Maddie said, “that I shouldn't be surprised. After what happened last night, I should know that even the people closest to me can't be fully trusted. If you can't trust your own father, why should the bartender I've been sleeping with tell me the truth?”

This was what he was afraid of. “Maddie, I can explain.”

She shook her head sharply. “I don't want you to explain, or rather, I don't need you to. Lydia, of all people, told me what you were really up to two weeks ago. I didn't believe her, but given that she's a weasel of a liar, she probably recognized deception when she saw it.”

“Deception?” Emmett said, his voice rising in pitch. “You're really going to take what Lydia Whittaker said about me at face value? I can assure you she doesn't know a thing about me.”

“Apparently I don't, either.” Maddie stood up. “The man I thought I knew wouldn't use me to bilk money out of my grandmother.”

Emmett planted his hands on his hips. “You think I'm
bilking
your grandmother? That I'm playing some kind of angle on Adelia Chamberlain? Is that even possible? The woman is like a cardsharp in a white wig.”

Maddie ignored him, a frown deepening the lines of her forehead. “My granny is a good person. She'd do anything for this town and its residents. If you showed up on her doorstep like a lost puppy and told her that commissioning a woodworking project would give you the money to take me out and treat me nicely, she'd do it.”

“I have no doubt of that. But that's not what's going on.”

“Isn't it? Granny told me she'd spoken with you about putting in a cedar closet for my mother while she was on vacation as a surprise for her birthday. I'm pretty sure that's not twenty-five thousand dollars' worth of work.”

Emmett sighed. He wished that Adelia had told him she'd devised a cover story. Maddie must have pushed her about it. Did someone tell her he'd been to the house? Or did she see Adelia come by the bar to bring him the check? Either way, suspicion had been cast and he'd been unprepared.