Читать книгу By Request Collection April-June 2016 - Оливия Гейтс - Страница 87

AS PIPER REACHED THE CLEARING, the eastern sky was lightening and just the rim of a red sun could be seen peeking out over the tips of the pines across the lake. The stone arch that Angus—Eleanor Campbell MacPherson’s husband—had built lay at the far end of the garden. It was about ten feet long, eight feet or so wide and the ceiling arched to about ten feet. The fact that it had stood for more than two centuries testified to her several-times-great grandfather’s engineering and construction skills. It had even withstood a lightning strike about a month ago.

It didn’t take Piper long to find the box. The stones that concealed it in the niche were loose, as if they’d recently been replaced. By Adair, no doubt. Her older sister had been living here at the castle for more than six months. It was a good possibility she’d dug up the secret container they’d stored their fantasies and dreams in. It was about the size of a cigar box, made of metal, and it had a little padlock about as secure as one that came on a young girl’s diary.

In fact, it had, if she remembered correctly. One of Adair’s. After wiggling the box out of its niche, she sat down on the flat rocks that formed the base of the stone arch and placed it in her lap. Just looking at it jogged a few more details loose. Nell had wanted to know how erotic their sexual fantasy could be.

“No holds barred.” That had been her answer to her baby sister. And she’d been thinking about Duncan when she’d said it. It was coming back to her now. Once they’d exchanged that look while their parents had spoken their vows, she hadn’t been able to quite put him out of her mind.

She couldn’t put him out of her mind now. The chemistry between them was so strong, so primal. The stuff that sexual fantasies were made of. As she ran her hand over the box, she could have sworn the metal grew warmer. She examined the tiny padlock and saw that it had rusted through, so she removed it.

Lifting the top, she found the contents just as she remembered—three separate compartments, each holding different colored paper. Picking up the folded blue sheets on the top of her pile, she opened them.

The heading read My Fling With My Fantasy Man: Sex on Demand.

She felt her heart skip a beat. Then and now. Those were the words that said it all when she’d imagined the sexual fantasy that she wanted to bring to life with Duncan Sutherland. Oh, she might have buried the memory away, but if anything, it had just grown stronger.

At nineteen, it had described her ideal sexual fantasy period. She’d been in her sophomore year of college, and all her friends had been raving about the benefits of having a friend they could call on for sex on demand. Buddy sex was what they’d called it. It was convenient, no fuss and no bother.

Piper skimmed the first page. She’d gone way beyond what her friends had talked about. And like any good prelaw student, she’d defined her terms and embellished them as she’d argued the benefits. Sex on demand with a willing partner was simple, straightforward and didn’t require all the time-consuming trappings that went along with dating and romance. It further prevented complications from spilling over into the other more important aspects of your life—like your work, your goals, your dreams.

The “sex on demand”—she was finding that aspect on the page in spades. She recalled just how fast her pen had moved over the blue paper trying to capture all the images she’d had in her head of having sex with him anytime, anyplace and in any position. By the time she’d finished skimming the second page, her heart was racing and her whole body had heated. She’d even written about making love with Duncan in that cave he’d rescued her from.

An image of doing just that flashed brilliantly into her mind. It was followed by another—the two of them standing in the alleyway at the back of Abe’s office building. They’d come very close to having on-demand sex right on the hood of her car. Earlier that day, when they’d been in her apartment kneeling together on the floor, she’d imagined having sex with him right on that petal-strewn sheet.

She couldn’t seem to look at him without thinking, here and now.

What if she could have sex on demand with Duncan—no holds barred? The idea thrilled her.

And why not?

She pressed a hand to her heart to make sure it didn’t beat its way right out of her chest. Coming up here to the castle with him certainly hadn’t been something she’d planned on. But a girl was a fool not to take advantage of the opportunities that life offered.

Then a thought struck her and an alarm bell jingled at the edge of her mind. She shifted her gaze back to the subtitle and skimmed the pages again. Discovery—that’s what she’d come here for. And good discovery triggered questions. In this case a couple of very big ones.

The alarm bell went from jingle to clang. What if what she’d written down on these pages was influencing, perhaps even dictating, what she was feeling now for Duncan? What if the stones and the legend were playing some kind of role in making her want Duncan so badly?

She felt panic surge and shoved it down. She’d never solved one problem in her life by panicking. And it wasn’t like she’d actually kissed Duncan in the stone arch. All she’d done was lust after him—very imaginatively and in great detail.

You had to actually kiss someone beneath the stone arch before the legend kicked in. She could argue that major distinction to any jury of her peers and win.

And sex on demand with Duncan was perfect as long as it had no strings, no expectations—all the good points her college buddies had raved about with “buddy sex.” It would be the perfect arrangement for them while they were here. She could make that case to Duncan. And she couldn’t imagine him having a problem with it.

A sound, a bell jingling, had her glancing up and she saw Alba, the dog her aunt had brought home from a shelter, approaching. They’d met briefly when she and Duncan had arrived the night before. If Alba had been sent to find her, that meant that her aunt Vi was up and Duncan might already be up, too.

She folded the sheets of blue paper, carefully tucked them back into the center compartment, then set the now useless padlock back in place. Then she put the fantasy box back where it been for the last seven years. She might not have figured out what she could do about the rest of her problems, but she’d definitely decided what she wanted to do about Duncan Sutherland.

WHEN DUNCAN WALKED INTO THE kitchen, he found himself greeted by the scent of freshly brewed coffee and a warm hug from Viola MacPherson. Now she was his mother’s sister-in-law, but he would always remember her as the warm, loving woman who’d baked cookies and applied first aid on that long-ago summer when he and his brothers had spent nearly every day at Castle MacPherson while his mother researched the MacPherson family in the castle’s library.

Minutes later, he was seated at the table in the sundrenched kitchen and she was setting platters of scrambled eggs, bacon and her homemade scones in front of him. Then she poured herself a cup of tea and sat down across from him.

“Shouldn’t we wait for Piper?” he asked as she loaded a plate for him and then one for herself.

“You’ll starve if you wait for her. Eats like a bird. From the time she was a little girl, she’s been a grazer. When she finally comes in from the stone arch, she’ll go for coffee first and pick at half a scone. Then she might have a banana.”

“She’s out at the stone arch?” He was halfway out of his chair when Vi signaled him back down.

“She’s safe enough. I sent Alba to her. Our dog may be deaf, but she senses things.”

“Cam told me about Alba’s talents.” His brother’s theory about an intruder visiting the castle’s library for six months had been largely due to Alba’s barking in the middle of the night. But the security on the castle, and especially the library, had been tightened since then. And he’d taken the time to check it out last night.

“She hasn’t sensed anyone visiting the library lately, I take it.”

Vi shook her head. “Things have been very quiet here since you delivered our last bridegroom and saved the day. No lightning strikes. No bombs. The most exciting thing we have planned all weekend is a photo shoot tomorrow morning.”

As he dug into his eggs, Duncan reviewed the theory that Cam had given him, picturing it in his mind—someone sneaking in after everyone had gone to bed, making himself at home in the library and taking his—or her—time to search it thoroughly. It spoke of someone who was very patient. But it also indicated someone who had good reason to believe that he would find what he was looking for. Cam’s theory was that the intruder had been searching for the location of Eleanor’s sapphires. Then two things had happened. First, Adair had found one missing earring, and for the past month access to the library and the castle had been shut down. Not only had the intruder’s easy-come, easy-go nighttime visits been cut off by a new security system, but Cam and Daryl had installed cameras and added laser light technology to the alarm system in the library.

Whoever the intruder was, he couldn’t be happy with either development. And he was probably trying to find another way to gain access to the castle and the library. That’s what Duncan would do. So there could very well be a storm brewing from that direction.

“How long has Piper been out there?” Duncan asked as he reached for his coffee.

“Probably since first light. Although I hope she got some sleep first.” Vi sipped her tea. “From the time they were little, all three of them used to make midnight visits to the stone arch to share secrets, make plans, dream dreams. They even used to write their goals down. They buried them in a box in the stones so that they could tap into what Adair always called the ‘power of the stones.’ They used to leave from Piper’s room because they could easily climb down from her balcony.” Vi’s smile held a hint of nostalgia. “They didn’t think I knew about that part.”

“You kept pretty good track of your girls back then,” Duncan said. And she still did. When he’d called the castle last night to let Vi know they were coming, she’d already been aware of the incident at Piper’s apartment and the resulting media storm. He reached across the table and gave her hand a squeeze. “I’m going to keep her safe. And we’re going to find out who’s targeting her.”

“I know. I talked to Daryl after I spoke with you,” Vi said. “He thinks that getting her out of D.C. was a good idea.”

The instant she mentioned Daryl’s name, a pretty blush rose in Vi’s cheeks. Duncan smiled at her. “It’s always good to know that the director of the CIA’s domestic operations unit thinks I’m on the right track.”

Duncan lifted her hand to examine her engagement ring. “Daryl has good taste.”

Vi sighed. “It is lovely, isn’t it?”

“I was talking about you, but the ring is lovely, too. Have you and Daryl set a date yet?”

“First weekend of September. Adair has already put our names on the wedding schedule. Daryl flew into Albany yesterday on some kind of business, and since I’m attending and presenting at a big wedding fair at one of the malls, I’m going to join him for dinner, and then I’m bringing him back here for the weekend. He wants to be here for that photo shoot tomorrow with Architectural Digest. He’s looking forward to meeting Piper.”

“Is he worried about the shoot?”

“No. Daryl checked out the man who’s coming. Russell Arbogast is a senior editor and writer with the magazine. They’ve been running a series on Scottish castles and they want to include a feature article on the replica Angus One built of his ancestral home. With Cam and Adair both gone, Daryl didn’t want me to have to handle it alone.”

“It’s always good to have the CIA on the premises for backup.”

Vi smiled at him. “The only person who might not be a happy camper this weekend is Piper. I can’t imagine she’s taking well to the idea of being boxed in and … bodyguarded.”

Duncan sipped coffee. “I’ve asked her to help me with a case we both have an interest in. The Rose Petal Killer. We’re going to see if there’s a way we can put Patrick Lightman back in jail. The files are being delivered this morning.”

“How clever of you. It’s the perfect project for her. I can see why you’re good at your job.”

“I also told her about Cam’s certainty that the rest of Eleanor’s sapphires are somewhere on the estate.”

“Daryl and I agree with him on that.”

As he speared more bacon, Duncan asked, “Why do you think she buried one of the earrings separately?”

Vi sipped her tea. “You’re assuming Eleanor did it?”

“They were hers. And she wore them in her wedding portrait. The fact that there’s no record of them after her death argues that she’s the one who hid them. Angus died first, so that lets him off the hook unless they hid them together at some point. Cam has my mom researching the Mary Stuart connection, but that photo they reprinted in the Times article argues heavily in favor of the tradition that’s been handed down about their connection to Mary Stuart. They’re worth a fortune now. But even back then, they would have had that added value. If I had something like that, I’d protect it.”

“From what?” Vi asked.

He smiled at her. “Good question.”

With a smile, she reached over and laid a hand over one of his in a gesture that he remembered from that long-ago summer. “You’ll figure it out. That’s what you do best.”

A chime sounded, followed by muffled knocks on a door.

“That will be Russell Arbogast.” Vi rose from her chair and carried her teacup to the sink. “He wanted to bring his photographer here for a tour prior to the shoot tomorrow.”

At the kitchen door, Vi turned and waved her hands in a shooing gesture. “Go on out and check on Piper. She’s probably fallen asleep. There were mornings when I’d find all three of them sleeping in that stone arch.”

Duncan exited through the terrace doors and headed toward the garden path. He heard the jingle of a bell before he spotted Piper on the grass in front of the stone arch. The impact on his senses was instantaneous. Every muscle in his body tightened and hardened; heat flared in his center and then spun outward just as it had yesterday morning when she’d barged into her apartment, and yesterday afternoon when she’d stepped into the alley.

He had no control over the way his body reacted to her. He’d always preferred to have control where women were concerned, and he’d never had a problem before.

She didn’t even seem to be aware of him right now. She tossed a stick and then waited for the dog to retrieve it, a game that both dog and woman seemed to be thoroughly enjoying. The jingling bell hung from the dog’s neck as a precaution in case she wandered off.

There was a car parked in front of the house, a new black SUV. Aunt Vi’s visitors, he assumed. He paused beneath a trellis covered in roses and turned his full attention back to Piper. She wore comfortable-looking sweats and sneakers. Her hair tumbled down over her shoulders. When she tossed the stick, then raced with the dog to get it, her hair flew out behind her like a flag.

It had felt like silk, sliding through his fingers when he’d kissed her, and he wondered just how long he could wait to get his hands in it again. He could cross the distance to her in seconds, he thought. And once he closed that distance and touched her again, he couldn’t trust himself to stop.

He’d promised her that she would make the decision.

Not so much because he was generous or thoughtful, but because he was hesitant. Very few things made him feel that way. Oh, he made a practice of sitting back and studying all the angles of a situation before he acted. But once he knew what he wanted, once he saw the answer, he went after it.

He wanted Piper. He’d never wanted anyone as much. So she was unknown territory for him. He’d recognized that much seven years ago. The one thing he was certain of was that they were going to make love. The attraction between them was too intense for either one of them to walk away.

The problem was he couldn’t see what lay beyond that. Pursuing a relationship with her would be like plunging off a cliff into a river without knowing what would happen next.

Duncan had always preferred to know.

The ringing of his cell interrupted his thoughts. Pulling it out, he noted the ID. Mike Nelson. A glance at his watch told him that the detective had probably just arrived at his office.

“Good or bad news?” he asked.

“A mixed bag,” Mike said. “I checked out Suzanne Macks’s family. All of them, including her brother, Sid, have a solid alibi for yesterday morning. He was working the night shift at a pediatric care unit. He left the hospital at seven-thirty. Of course, he could have hired someone, so we’ll keep working on that angle. We’re still checking Macy’s stores. There are a hell of a lot of them in the area. But we’ve got a date from the sales slip, and someone may recall selling a single sheet like that.”

“And?” Duncan prompted. Mike hadn’t called him merely to report on progress. Duncan had called him before he and Piper had left her apartment last night to report the delivery of the vase of roses, and they’d left her key taped to the underside of her stair railing.

“I dropped by Ms. MacPherson’s apartment on my way into the office.”

Not good, Duncan thought. Mike lived in Maryland and a jaunt through Georgetown was not on his way.

“I figured I’d pick up the flower delivery and save a uniformed officer the trip. I got there about the time she’d be going out for her run just in case someone showed up. No one did.”

“But …” Duncan prompted again.

“Someone had visited the place before I did, and they left another bouquet of red roses in front of her door.”

“Was there a message?”

“‘Till next time.’”

Duncan let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. Whoever was after her wasn’t letting up.

“I went in to collect the delivery from last night. Different florist shop. But the messages are written in the same block letters. I’ll have someone check both stores out today. Thought you’d want to know.”

“Thanks, Mike,” Duncan said.

“Serve and protect. That’s the job description,” Mike said with a yawn. “I’ll keep you updated. You keep her safe. She’s taking a hell of a beating in the press here. Suddenly, she’s the new poster girl for setting a serial killer free. Getting her out of town for a bit was a good idea.”

Duncan was about to repocket his phone when it rang again. This time it was his boss.

“Adrienne, what’s up?”

“Just checking in. I’m assuming you and Ms. MacPherson are together and safe.”

“That was my assignment,” Duncan said.

“I’m worried. The press coverage she’s getting makes her out to be an even bigger villain than my brother. That can bring the crazies out of the closet.”

Duncan watched as an overnight delivery service truck appeared in the drive that ended at the castle doors. Piper noticed it also and then seemed to notice him.

As she moved in his direction, he filled Adrienne in on the two flower deliveries.

There were several beats of silence on the other end of the line. He could picture Adrienne in her office pacing. Thinking. He let the beats continue.

“I never asked where you were going. And I don’t want to know. Abe has already called me to find out where Piper is in case he needs to ask questions about the Bronwell trial. She hasn’t been picking up her cell.”

“Tell him to keep trying,” Duncan said.

“Tell her to keep a lid on her location. It might have been someone in Abe’s office who leaked the information that she was involved in the Lightman brief.”

As the deliveryman in the truck walked toward him, Duncan thought of how easy it might be to figure out exactly where he was. And exactly where Piper MacPherson might have sought temporary refuge. “You’re worried.”

“All the media attention could get Lightman focused on her. Find something that will allow us to put him back in jail.”

“Consider it done. I’m taking delivery on the files I shipped as we speak.” Duncan moved toward the deliveryman so that he could sign.

“Thanks,” Adrienne said.

Duncan repocketed his cell. Adrienne had come to him at her brother’s request to get Piper safely out of the way. Now she suspected someone in his office might have played a role in what was happening to her. Did she suspect Abe?

An interesting question, Duncan thought. And one he’d been trained to find the answer to.

He’d also been trained about what to do with regards to his feelings for Piper MacPherson. Considering the danger she was in—the danger she could be in—he should put anything personal on hold. He thought about that as she walked to join him on the driveway, the dog at her heels.

He could keep her safe from whoever had left the sheet and the roses. He wished he could be equally certain about keeping either of them safe from what they were feeling.