Читать книгу Suspicions - Cynthia Eden - Страница 10
ОглавлениеMark rushed out of his house, his bare feet flying over the wooden porch. The alarm was still blaring up ahead, a security measure he’d put in after a psychotic SOB had torched his stables a few months back. The jerk had been trying to get at Brodie McGuire and Brodie’s girl, Jennifer, and the fire had been set to lure them both into a trap.
No one will use me again.
He could see some of his ranch hands already running toward the stables. There was no sign of a fire, but something had sure set off the alarm.
The whole ranch was wired with state-of-the-art security, courtesy, of course, of the McGuires. He’d been watching the security feed when he’d first seen Ava pull into his drive earlier that night. Ava already knew the code to get past his gate, and he’d watched her, stunned to see her back at his place. Especially since her brothers had told him to stay away from her.
“Ty!” He yelled for his foreman because he had just come from the back of the stables. “Are the animals all right?”
Ty Watts hurried toward him. “Looks clear, Boss.” Ty was close to Mark’s age, with dark hair and dark brown eyes. “I didn’t see anyone out back, and the men are in there with the horses now.”
But something had set off the alarm—something or someone.
“What the hell do you think...?” Ty began. Then he let out a low whistle. “Sorry. Didn’t realize company was here.” His gaze was directed over Mark’s shoulder.
Mark glanced back and saw Ava. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders. Under the lights that had flashed on with the security system, she appeared even more beautiful as the harsh glare lit up her body.
She was running toward Mark, clearly coming from the house.
In the middle of the night.
“Like that, is it?” Ty murmured.
Mark cut him a killing glare. “Yes,” he told him flatly. “It is.”
“What’s happening?” Ava asked, her voice husky as her breath heaved out. The woman even sounded like sin right then. He’d had her beneath him moments before. His hot dreams had been about to become reality, and then—
The alarm had been a cold shower. A hard wake-up that had stopped him from making a terrible mistake.
Would it have been a mistake? Or would it have been the start of an addiction I couldn’t end?
“Something set off the sensors at the rear of the stables, ma’am,” Ty told her, his Texas accent rolling beneath the words. “After the recent fire, Mark here didn’t want to take any chances with the horses’ safety. Those sensors go off if anyone gets too close during the night.”
A few more ranch hands came out. “Clear!” one of them shouted.
“Could have just been some animal checking out the place. Maybe a raccoon,” Ty said. “It could even have been a coyote.”
Ava was staring straight at Mark. “Do you have cameras set up back there?”
“No, not there,” he said. “Not yet, anyway. The cameras are all connected to the main house and to the main road that led to the ranch.”
“What if I led someone here?” Ava asked as she stepped closer to Mark. “What if I did this?”
“Nothing happened,” he told her flatly. “You didn’t do anything.” He nodded toward Ty. “Have the men search the grounds just in case. We don’t want to leave anything to chance.”
Ty nodded and turned away. A few seconds later, Mark heard Ty barking orders to his men. Mark wanted to go and join the search, too, but he needed to make sure Ava was safe. “I thought I told you stay inside,” he said as he leaned in toward her.
“I don’t always stay where I’m put.” Her voice held a distinct edge. “If there was a threat out here, I didn’t want you facing it alone.”
Ava...riding to his rescue. And some folks thought she was weak? Those folks didn’t know her at all. “I just wanted you safe.”
She stared up at him. “Are any of us ever really safe?”
With her past, yes, she’d wonder that.
“I want to help, and I don’t intend to help by hiding inside your house.” She straightened her shoulders. “If you’re searching, then I’m going with you.”
“Ava...”
“I...can’t wait in there alone.” Her voice was stark. “Don’t ask me to.”
He understood. He offered his hand to her. “Stay with me every step?”
Her smile flashed. “Of course. That’s how I keep you safe, right?”
She had a gorgeous smile. One that winked dimples on each side of her mouth. He hadn’t seen that smile of hers in a long time. He’d missed it.
The same way he’d missed her.
Ava put her hand in his.
* * *
FROM HIS HIDING PLACE, he watched Ava McGuire and Mark Montgomery cross the paddock. Ava was making a huge mistake. She couldn’t trust Mark, not for an instant. She needed to realize how dangerous he was to her.
Mark had been keeping secrets from Ava for years. He’d been lying to her. And now she was going to turn to the man for help? Wrong move, Ava. Wrong.
In fact, that move could prove deadly for her.
Ranch hands were scrambling around, checking on the horses, trying to make sure they were all safe. Mark stayed beside Ava every moment, but he didn’t think it was because he wanted to protect her.
You just want her.
In many ways, Mark Montgomery was just like his old man. When he saw something that he wanted, he took it, not caring at all for the consequences. Or for the shattered lives that he left in his wake.
Mark wanted Ava, so he thought he’d take her.
That won’t happen.
Ava wasn’t going to be destroyed. The Montgomerys had already wrecked enough lives. Maybe it was time for Ava to learn the truth about her so-called hero.
He slipped back into the shadows.
Maybe it was time for everyone to learn the truth.
* * *
THEY SEARCHED THE PROPERTY but found no sign of an intruder. Mark headed back to the house with Ava by his side. She seemed tense next to him, and he knew she had to be exhausted. They’d spent at least an hour out there because—
Because I wanted to make sure the jerk who has been harassing Ava didn’t follow her to my home.
He shut the door behind them and set the alarm. “You should try to get some sleep.” He wasn’t touching her right then. Probably a good thing because the more he touched, the more he wanted.
I had her in the bed beneath me. Her breast in my hand. In my mouth. She was moaning for me. Ava wanted me.
And he’d been about thirty seconds away from taking the woman he wanted most.
He turned away from her.
“You’re not going to talk about it, are you?” Ava asked him.
He locked his jaw. “The alarm went off. Maybe it malfunctioned. Maybe someone was here. I don’t—”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him around to face her. “I’m not talking about the alarm. I’m talking about us!”
He tried to unclench his back teeth. “There isn’t an us.” Even though he spent too much time thinking about her. Even though he wanted to strip her right then and get her back on a bed once more. Even though—
“Why not?” Ava asked. Her eyes were big. Her gaze so deep. “Don’t you want me?”
Wanting her sure wasn’t the problem. He cleared his throat. “The age...difference between us is—”
“Bull.”
He blinked.
“So you’re a bit older than me. I’m not some kid. I’m in my twenties. I’ve got a graduate degree. I support myself.” She waved the age difference away. “My brothers have dated plenty of women who are older and younger than they are, so don’t give me that baloney. We’re both legal.”
“Your brothers...they are my friends.”
She exhaled. “Are you sure about that? Because Davis told me just a few months ago... He said you weren’t the man I thought you were.”
And Davis had been acting odd around him ever since Detective Shayne Townsend had died. Mark didn’t know what was happening, but the McGuires had definitely put the freeze on him.
“But I don’t really care what Davis thinks about you. I want you.”
Then she leaned forward, trying to wrap her arms around him.
He stepped back.
Hurt flashed across her face.
“Ava...”
“You were kissing me like a desperate man earlier. Like you didn’t need anything more than me in the whole world.” She shook her head. “Now you back away from me? Why?”
“Because I don’t want to hurt you.”
A faint line appeared between her brows. “You wouldn’t! You never have. You’re the one who has always been there for me. Never judging, just accepting. You know all of my secrets.”
“But you don’t know mine, Ava.” And that was the problem. He’d shielded her from that part of his life. Did the very best that he could not to taint her image of him.
But Ava didn’t know the things he’d done. Ava didn’t know about the dark core inside of him and, for her sake, he hoped that she never did.
Ava had always looked at him as if he were some kind of hero. He wasn’t. He was about as far from hero material as a man could get. If she knew the things he’d done, Ava would never let him so much as touch her again. And that’s why she won’t ever know.
“Go to sleep,” he told her because he had to put some distance between them. He couldn’t be that close to Ava and not feel her sensual pull. “It’s been a long day.” He walked away from her.
* * *
AVA STARED AFTER MARK, narrowing her eyes. He was seriously just walking away? She wanted to scream at the man. Finally, finally, they’d been close. The desire had been burning between them. There had been no barriers. Nothing at all holding them back, and now—
Now he was pulling away.
It won’t be that easy, Mark.
She headed back toward the guest room. Sleep wasn’t going to come for her, not then. Adrenaline spiked her blood, and if she slept—well, she wasn’t in the mood to deal with a second nightmare. No way.
Ava pushed open the door to her room. It was dark inside. Pitch black.
Ava hesitated. She’d been sure that she left the lights on when she ran out earlier. The lights had been blazing. She’d dressed as fast as she could and then rushed out after Mark.
And I didn’t turn the lights off.
She glanced back over her shoulder. “Mark?”
It was just like before. Small things. Things that most people would overlook. But after a while, those little things had started to add up.
Ava pulled in a deep breath. Then her hand slid out, moving along the wall near the door. Her fingers touched the light switch. She flipped it on, fast, and illumination flooded the room.
The bed sheets were still tangled. Her purse was on the chair in the right corner—just where she’d left it.
The windows appeared to be closed and still locked.
She crept forward. Her body was tight with tension and fear. They’d searched the perimeter for the prowler, but maybe they hadn’t found the intruder because he hadn’t been outside. He’d been inside. The ranch house had been empty. It would have been the perfect time for the guy to sneak in.
No, I must be wrong. I left the lights off.
She bent and searched under the bed. Nothing was there. The closet was empty. She turned toward the bathroom. The door leading to the bathroom was shut, too. Ava tried to remember...
Did I leave it open or closed? She inched forward.
Open?
Another step.
Or closed?
* * *
DO NOT GO back to her. Do not. The chant echoed in Mark’s head, but his body wanted to turn around and go after Ava. She’d just looked so hurt.
And he’d never wanted to hurt Ava. He wanted to protect her. To keep her safe, always.
Why did he screw up so much when she was around?
Snarling, he turned and marched toward his bathroom. The door was partially shut, and he shoved it open. He flipped on the light—
The glass mirror was shattered. And letters were carved into the wall next to the broken mirror—rough letters that looked as if they’d been made with a shard of that broken glass.
Stay away from her.
“Ava!” He roared her name even as he whirled around and ran from the bathroom. The creep hadn’t been outside. He’d been in the house. He’d drawn them out, maybe even set off the alarm deliberately so that he could get access to the home. “Ava!” Mark was in the den now and running fast. His heart thundered in his chest. He had to get to Ava, to see her. Had to—
She ran out of her room. “Mark?” Fear flashed on her face.
“He was here,” he snarled as he grabbed her shoulders. “Someone was in my home.”
She shivered before him. “I...I know.” She pointed toward her door. “My light was off. I think he was in my room.”
The sick joker might still be in there. Mark pushed her behind his back and ran to her room. The covers were tousled, and he had a flash of Ava in that bed, with him.
So close...
Until that jerk had come and sounded the alarm.
Her bathroom door was shut. Was the guy in there? Waiting for her?
“Be careful,” Ava whispered. “I was just about to go in there...”
Forget careful. If someone was waiting in her bathroom, Mark would tear the guy apart. Mark kicked open the door. It slammed back into the nearby wall.
He saw the broken shards of the mirror on the floor. Just like in his bathroom. Words had been left behind for Ava, too. Only these words...
Don’t trust him.
“We need to search the whole house,” he said, voice flat and hard. “The video cameras were running, so we must have caught the bastard.” He turned to find Ava behind him. Her gaze wasn’t on Mark, though. It was on the message the intruder had been left behind.
The guy was trying to play games with them, but he was about to realize... Mark was an enemy he didn’t want.
No one threatens Ava on my watch.
No one.
* * *
THE HOUSE WAS searched from top to bottom. Every closet. Every corner. There was no other sign of the intruder.
Ava’s hands were shaking as she watched Mark pull up the video feed from his surveillance cameras. This was the first time the stalker had actually left any kind of message for her.
Don’t trust him.
Did the stalker really think she was going to listen to him? She trusted Mark completely. He’d protected her on the worst night of her life. She’d never turn away from him.
“There he is,” Mark muttered.
She leaned over his shoulder and...sure enough, she saw a man slipping out of the house.
The guy on the video feed was wearing a black ski mask. And as soon as she saw that ski mask, Ava lost her breath. For a moment in time, she wasn’t standing there with Mark, looking at a computer screen. She was back at her old home, hearing the thunder of a gunshot and rushing toward her house. Her father was standing in front of the window.
Run.
And a man wearing a black ski mask was lifting a gun.
“Ava! Ava!”
She blinked. Mark was in front of her, breath heaving. His arms were around her and he was holding her tightly. Get your control. Don’t break in front of him. Not in front of Mark. He was one of the few who didn’t think she was already broken beyond repair. “He...followed me from Houston.” She thought of that drive. The darkness. The stretching interstate.
All that time, she thought she’d been leaving him behind, but he’d been with her every step of the way. Had he watched while she’d packed up? Had he been there? Every moment?
Now she’d brought him to Mark’s door. No, into Mark’s house. “I’m sorry,” she whispered, and she pulled away from him. Ava started walking toward the front of the house. Her steps were slow but certain.
“Ava!”
She didn’t look back. She’d never wanted to bring danger to Mark, but now she’d put him right in the center of this thing—whatever it was.
But that black ski mask...that wasn’t just a coincidence, was it? Was the guy trying to tell her something? Was he one of the men who killed my parents? Because those two men had been wearing black ski masks that night.
She reached for the front door. Mark caught her hand and pulled her back against him. Ava tried to break free of him, but he just held her tighter.
“What are you doing?” Mark demanded as she turned in his arms.
“Leaving you.”
He flinched.
“I thought that was obvious.”
“Why?” He seemed to grit out that one word.
“I’m not going to have you threatened because of me! I won’t do that to you!” She owed him more than she could ever repay. Danger wasn’t what he deserved.
“He left me a message, too.”
Her breath caught.
“The fool told me to stay away from you.”
He’d been intimately close to her before the stalker had come calling on them.
Mark’s blue eyes glittered down at her. “That’s not going to happen. The last thing I’m planning to do is leave you on your own. He wants you to run away. He’s trying to put a wedge between us so that you’ll be out there, vulnerable, and he can close in on you.”
Ava winced. “But what about you?” She hadn’t considered the risk to him when she’d driven to his ranch, seeking shelter for the night.
“I can handle anything this guy wants to throw at me.” He said the words with such grim certainty. She wanted to believe him.
But, once upon a time, she’d thought another man could handle any threat that came his way. Then her father had died. He’d died protecting her, and in that moment, she’d vowed—no one else will ever suffer for me.
“I want to leave,” she told Mark softly.
He shook his head. “No way, baby.”
It was the first time he’d ever used any kind of endearment with her. He probably didn’t even realize he’d done it. The word didn’t mean anything to him, but it had her body warming.
“Yes,” she said as she gave a faint nod. “I’m not going to let him hurt you. I’ll call the cops. I’ll get my brothers involved.” Because this situation couldn’t be hidden from them, not any longer. They would go into their extreme mode—she had no doubt of that—but she needed to tell them. A strange man had followed her, broken into Mark’s place—he’s just getting worse. More dangerous.
A faint beeping sounded then, coming from Mark’s study. His computer. He didn’t let Ava go. His fingers curled around her wrist, and he pretty much pulled her back to the study. She stared at the screen there and saw the black SUV that was pulling up to the ranch’s gate.
“You don’t have to tell them,” he said as her brother Davis’s tense features came into view. “I think they already know.”
* * *
“WHAT IS MY SISTER doing at your house—” Davis stalked into the den and headed straight for Mark “—in the middle of the night?”
Mark stood his ground. Ava thought about running for the door—leaving them both.
Instead, she cleared her throat. “It’s actually getting pretty close to dawn now.” Davis’s green gaze cut to her. She shrugged. “So that’s more like morning, not the middle of the night.”
He growled. Davis did that. He growled a lot. Once he’d had a much better sense of humor. Then he’d gone off and become a SEAL. Their parents had died—and Davis had locked down his emotions. Hard. Now there was pretty much just one setting for her brother...ice.
“How did you know I was here?” she asked him.
“I didn’t, not until I saw your car outside.” He huffed out a breath. “I was coming by because we’re helping to monitor Mark’s security system, and when I saw there was some trouble out here earlier, I figured I’d better check it out.”
His words just weren’t ringing true to her, and Davis hadn’t looked her in the eyes while he’d been talking. When Davis lied to her, he never looked her in the eyes.
You’re fine, Ava. No one thinks you were involved in what happened to our parents.
He’d been looking right over her shoulder the first time he’d fed her that line of bull. She’d wondered then...had her own brother thought she was involved? Or had he just already heard the rumors that folks were spreading around town?
“Are you sleeping with my sister?”
Now that had her eyes flying toward Davis. Her brother was big—as big as Mark. They both had the same broad shoulders and golden skin. But Davis’s hair was dark, longer, and his features were rougher than Mark’s.
Instead of answering Davis, Mark glared at him. His hands were fisted.
Ava leapt between the two men because it sure looked as if they were about to come to blows. “Stop it!” Ava ordered. She turned her own glare on Davis. “Mark is my friend, okay? One of the few who stood by me over the years.” There had been plenty who turned their backs on her. Folks who actually bought into the story that she’d either planned—or helped to commit—the murder of her parents. “So back off!”
Davis narrowed his eyes, eyes that were a darker green than her own. “What happened here tonight?”
She hesitated.
“Tell him, Ava,” Mark urged her gruffly. “Your brothers will track down that maniac.”
Exhaling heavily, she nodded. “Someone...someone has been stalking me.”
Shock shot across Davis’s face. “What?”
And she told him everything. From the pictures that had been moved to the cops who hadn’t believed her. She told him about how she’d packed up her bags and driven fast to Mark’s house...because—
“Why him?” Davis demanded. “Why did you tell him and not us?” He sounded hurt, and that was certainly the last thing she’d wanted.
“I had no actual proof that anyone was doing these things, not until tonight.” She pushed back her hair, suddenly feeling very, very weary. The adrenaline high was sure starting to wane. “Then he left those messages here for us.”
“What messages?”
“In my bathroom,” Ava confessed.
“And mine,” Mark added.
Davis’s gaze assessed her. “You were sleeping in the guest room.”
She nodded. Davis took off, heading down the hallway. In minutes he was back. His eyes immediately locked on Mark. “Did you get the same message?” he asked. “One telling you not to trust my sister?”
Ava glanced over at him. Mark shook his head. “No. Mine was different.”
Davis vanished. She figured he’d gone to read the message for himself.
“What did it say?” Her voice was quiet.
His expression unreadable, Mark murmured, “He told me to stay away from you.” His eyes glittered down at her. “That isn’t happening.”
Footsteps pounded—Davis was coming back. Fury was etched onto his face. “Based on what you’ve said, the stalker’s events are seriously escalating! I’ve seen twisted stuff like this before. Too many times, and it doesn’t end well. A man gets fixated on a woman...” His gaze snapped to Mark. “And he can’t let her go.”
Beside her, Mark tensed.
Then Davis was glancing back at Ava. “You’re lucky that you weren’t in that room when the guy broke in. Maybe he wouldn’t have used that glass just to carve a message on a wall. He might have tried carving into you.”
She held her ground. “You think I don’t know that?”
Mark swore. “Stop it, Davis. You don’t need to scare her.”
Right. She was already scared plenty, with Davis adding to her terror.
But Davis fired back, “Maybe she needs to be scared. These incidents have been going on for weeks, and she didn’t tell us. She’s lucky she isn’t already dead.”
Ava flinched.
Mark surged toward her brother. “Don’t.” His voice was low and lethal. “Don’t you tell her—”
“Ava is my sister. What is she to you?”
Mark’s turbulent stare jumped to her. She thought of the kiss they’d shared in the guest room. Of how very close they’d come to sharing something else, too.
“Ava is—” Mark began.
“He’s my friend,” Ava said, her words clear and strong. She didn’t know what else he might prove to be to her, but on that point, Ava was certain.
Davis opened his mouth to say something else, probably to launch some kind of attack at Mark, but she wasn’t in the mood for that. “He was wearing a ski mask.”
Davis’s brow furrowed.
“A black one.” She inclined her head toward the study area. “One of the video cameras caught sight of the guy leaving, so now we know—”
“He’s big, probably about six foot one, maybe six foot two,” Mark said. “Fit. And far too familiar with my home.”
Because he’d just walked right in the door.
“We should get the cops out here,” Davis immediately said. “Get them to run a fingerprint check and use their crime-scene team.”
Mark’s shoulders tensed. “He was wearing gloves in the video, so I don’t think the guy left any prints behind. And after our last experience with the cops, I wasn’t exactly chomping at the bit to get them here again.”
Our last experience. She knew just what he was talking about. For years, the McGuires had been friends with Austin police detective Shayne Townsend. Most of the cops had seemed to give up hope of ever finding the men who’d killed their parents, but Shayne had kept working the case.
Or so they’d all believed.
But when Brodie and his girlfriend had come under attack, they’d all learned the truth about Shayne. The police detective had accidentally killed an unarmed teen years ago, and he’d been covering up the crime ever since. He’d been blackmailed into breaking the law.
And maybe even blackmailed into covering up the identity of the men who’d killed her parents?
That was sure what some of her brothers suspected.
“You never know who you can trust,” Davis murmured, his head cocked as he studied Mark. “And who you can’t.”
There was something in his voice that put Ava on edge.
“We’re calling the cops,” Davis said. “And I’ll want to talk with your men.”
Ava shivered a moment, thinking about how close that unknown man had been to her.
Mark pulled out his phone. Spoke quietly.
Davis closed in on her. “Don’t trust him.”
“Right, I saw the message on the wall. I got it—”
“This message is coming from me.” His gaze slanted quickly toward Mark, then back to her. “I don’t know what you think is happening between you two, but there are things going on you don’t know about.”
Her back teeth clenched at that. She didn’t know about those things only because her brothers liked their secrets. “He’s your friend, too.”
“I don’t know what he is, not right now.”
The whole situation was insane. “He saved me that night.” She’d never forget her first sight of him. Terror had filled her, and then—Mark had been there.
Davis exhaled on a rough sigh. “Right before Shayne Townsend died I asked him who killed our parents.”
Her heart stopped before pounding again in a double-time rhythm. “What did he say?”
Mark was off the phone. And he’d—he’d closed in on them. “Yeah,” Mark said, voice roughening, “what did he say, and why didn’t you tell us before now?”
A muscle flexed along the line of Davis’s jaw. “I didn’t tell you because I know how Ava feels about her friend Mark.”
She hated the stress he’d just put on that word. “You’re friends, too—”
“Montgomery.”
“What?” Ava exclaimed. “I don’t understand—”
“The last word he said was...Montgomery.” Davis turned his attention on a still-as-stone Mark. “So I have to wonder...why did Shayne use his last breath to name your family? Unless...the Montgomerys are responsible for the murder of our parents.”
She hadn’t thought the situation around her could get any worse. But it just had—so very much worse. Because as she stared at Mark, Ava could have sworn that she saw guilt creep across his face.
