Читать книгу Forbidden Territory & Forbidden Temptation: Forbidden Territory / Forbidden Temptation - Paula Graves - Страница 18

LILY FELT AS if she’d gone mad. “You watched her?”

The little girl nodded. “I know you can’t always be here, so I check on her sometimes to make sure she’s okay.”

Lily’s mind reeled, threatening to suck her back to reality. She forced herself to stay calm, let the vision hold her in its gossamer web. “Who are you?”

“Mama calls me Gina, but I don’t think that’s my name. She’s not really my mama, you know. My real mama’s dead.”

Lily noticed the little girl was almost transparent, unlike Abby. She wasn’t actually in the same room, Lily realized. She was somewhere else.

But where?

“I can’t stay much longer.” The girl began to fade.

Lily reached out, wondering if she could touch her. “Wait, Gina! Are you sure Abby’s okay?”

The girl’s image rippled. “Yes.”

Before Lily could move, the dark-haired girl was gone.

Lily slowly turned back to Abby. The child’s eyelids had stopped fluttering and her soft, snuffling breath was even and deep. Relief trickled through Lily as she watched the child’s peaceful slumber, until the fog began to swirl around her, drawing her back to the doorway.

She reached out to stroke Abby’s cheek again before the door in her mind closed, hiding the child from her sight.

Emerging from the fog, Lily sat upright in the bed, hugging herself with trembling arms. The face of the dark-haired child remained etched in her mind, pale, heart-shaped, and so, so sad.

She shivered. Who was this solemn little girl?

* * *

BLUE MOONLIGHT BATHED the bedroom. The little girl blinked as she emerged from the haze to find herself huddled in bed.

She looked around quickly, just to reassure herself that she was back in her own room. She clutched Mr. Green more tightly to her, rubbing her cheek against his threadbare fur. Straining her ears, she listened for Mama. But the house was silent.

She pulled the covers more tightly around herself and stared at the cracked ceiling. She knew something was wrong with her mother. In her little-girl wisdom, she also knew Mama’s trouble had something to do with her.

Mama called her Gina, but that wasn’t her name. She was Casey. She had vague memories of someone calling her name. “Casey, baby, come here.” The voice was deep. A man’s voice. She liked the way it sounded, a little gruff but tender.

She knew the voice belonged to her daddy, but she barely remembered him. Only Mama, for just about as long as she recalled. The fuzzy memories that came at night, memories of being held in Daddy’s strong arms, were little more than dreams.

Sweet dreams.

Nestled under the covers, Casey felt sleep creeping up on her. She closed her eyes, picturing Lily, the nice lady who was taking care of Abby. Casey smiled in the dark.

That smile carried her softly into sleep.

* * *

LILY OVERSLEPT, WAKING with bright morning sunlight slanting through her bedroom window. The digital alarm clock read seven twenty-five. She was going to be late for work.

She sat up quickly, gasping as pain rocketed through her entire body before settling in a hot ache in the back of her neck. Okay, work was out.

She reached for her phone and called Carmen Herrera’s office number. “Carmen, it’s Lily. I’m so sorry, I overslept and I haven’t even had a chance—”

“Lily, thank God you’re okay!” Carmen interrupted. “Lieutenant McBride called me this morning to let me know about the accident so I could arrange for a substitute for your classes. He said you were a little banged up.”

Lily glanced at her reflection in the dresser mirror. Shadows circled her eyes, almost as dark as the vivid bruises slanting across her shoulder and chest where the shoulder belt had left its mark. “I’m a little bruised and sore, but I should be fine by Monday. Thanks for getting someone to fill in.”

She hung up the phone and eased her sore legs over the edge of the bed. Jezebel glided in from the hall and wrapped herself around Lily’s ankles, meowing.

“I bet you’re hungry, aren’t you, Jezzy?” She put on a bathrobe and hobbled down the hall to the kitchen, wondering if McBride had already left for the office.

But he was waiting in her kitchen, the morning paper spread out in front of him, a mug of steaming coffee sitting to one side. He looked up when she entered. “The nice cat has been fed. The psycho one refused to eat anything I gave her.”

Lily glanced at the four open cans of cat food on the counter, her lips curving with amusement.

She picked up the tuna, Jezebel’s favorite, and emptied it in one of the cat bowls. Jezebel went straight to it and started eating.

“Spoiled brat,” McBride murmured.

“Thank you for calling in for me.” Lily poured herself a cup of coffee and joined McBride at the table before taking a sip. Strong and hot, the coffee burned going down, making her eyes water.

“I figured you’d be too sore from the accident to deal with a bunch of eight-year-olds.” His gaze dropped to her throat. “Do those bruises hurt much?”

“Not too much.” She lifted a hand to her neck. He was being too nice to her. It made her feel self-conscious.

“I hope you don’t mind, but I found your sisters’ phone number in your address book and called to let them know you’d been in an accident. I talked to the one named Rose.”

Lily bit back a smile at the look on his face. Two minutes on the phone with Rose had probably confused the hell out of him. Her ebullient sister was Lily’s polar opposite.

Her smile faded. It hadn’t always been that way.

“She said she would be here before noon.”

Lily frowned. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

His expression became shuttered. “She insisted. Besides, I’ve got to get out of here soon—I have a meeting at nine. I’ve called for a patrol to come by your house every thirty minutes, just in case there’s any trouble.”

She set her coffee cup down, her stomach clenching. “Are you expecting trouble?”

He gave her a considering look. “You tell me.”

Ah, there was the McBride she knew. Suspicious by nature. “I didn’t imagine the phone call from the kidnapper. You heard him. You also saw that car run me off the road. Unless you think I arranged that, too?”

His only answer was a slight narrowing of his eyes.

“Because it makes so much sense to risk life and limb on the off chance that you left Andrew Walters’s hotel room right after I did, and took the same detour I took.”

“Well, you do claim to be a psychic,” he pointed out.

“I don’t claim to be anything.” She picked up her coffee cup and took it to the sink, emptying the dark liquid down the drain. She’d had about all she could take of McBride and his coffee for one day. “All I’ve ever said is that I see things other people don’t.”

“Potato, potah-to,” he murmured in her ear.

She turned and found him inches away. “What do you want from me?” Her own voice came out soft as a whisper.

His half smile faded. “I want you to stay away from Andrew Walters. His life is turned upside down, and he’s clinging to anything that’ll make his world stop shaking. Including you.”

“What are you suggesting?”

“Walters thinks you can find his daughter. That makes you the most important person in his life right now.”

Lily frowned, not liking what he was implying. “Look, I know you didn’t like finding me at Mr. Walters’s hotel, but I assure you—”

“What do you think will happen to Walters if you don’t deliver Abby in the end?” McBride asked.

A flicker of uncertainty ran through her. What if she couldn’t? Was she giving the man false hope?

“You’re telling Andrew Walters that his little girl is all right, that there’s still a chance he’ll find her again. Do you really know that?” McBride edged closer. “What happens if tomorrow we find Abby’s body in a ditch somewhere? How much harder is that going to be for the man?”

Her throat tightened, his soft words painting vivid pictures in her mind. “Stop it.”

McBride suddenly looked tired. “I don’t mean to hurt you, Lily. But there are too damn many odds against her.” His voice was so flat and faraway, she hardly recognized it. “So please, don’t give Walters any false encouragement. Okay?”

“Am I supposed to pretend I never heard of Abby Walters?” Tears blurred Lily’s vision. “She’s a scared little girl who saw her mommy die, and now she’s all alone with two very bad men. I won’t abandon her in that dark place.”

McBride took a deep breath. “Then come to me instead of Walters. Tell me about your visions.”

Wariness flitted through her. “Tell you?”

“I promise I’ll look into everything you tell me.” He looked queasy, but his gaze remained steady.

“Mr. Walters expects me to stay in touch.”

“I’ll tell him you’re part of my investigation and you’ll be reporting to me now.” McBride took a step back. “Deal?”

She licked her lips, realizing that he’d just played her—and that it had worked. She would do what he asked. “You won’t ignore what I tell you?”

“I’ll follow every lead you give me.”

She put her hand over her mouth, wondering if she was making a mistake. But when she dropped her hand, it was to say, “Okay, it’s a deal.”

The look of satisfaction in his eyes made her immediately regret giving in so easily. But she quelled her doubts; she could always break her end of the deal if he broke his.

She released a pent-up breath. “So what do I do, call you if I have a vision? And I guess you’ll want me to write down everything I see, right?”

He seemed flummoxed by the question, as if he hadn’t quite thought past manipulating her into staying away from Andrew Walters. Beneath the confusion, a darker emotion burned in his narrowed eyes.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Yes, write everything down.”

Lily pushed her hair back from her face. “Is this going to be a problem for you?”

He lifted his gaze to meet hers, his expression shuttered. “No. No problem.”

She studied his face, trying to figure out what he was thinking. He could hide his emotions as well as almost anyone Lily knew, although he couldn’t quite cover up the dark place inside him. It roiled, black and deep, just under the surface.

He took a step toward the doorway. “I should go. I need to head home and change.”

She walked him to the door, leaning against the jamb as he took his jacket from the coat rack. He paused next to her, turning to meet her uplifted gaze.

“Call if you need me.”

Heat bloomed deep in her belly. “I will.”

He leaned in, and she rose on her toes to meet him halfway, as if drawn by a microscopic thread, the pull of his body intense and powerful. She curled her hand around his neck and brushed her lips against his. She’d expected combustion, but instead, the sweetness of the kiss washed over her in a river of warmth. She relaxed, giving in to the velvety caress of his mouth on hers.

When he gently broke away, coldness seeped into the marrow of her bones.

McBride stepped back onto the concrete stoop, gathering his coat around him to ward off the chill. Lily closed the door, needing the distance, the barrier between them.

But she remained there, her cheek against the door, long after she heard his car drive away.

* * *

ROSE ARRIVED AROUND TEN, laden with an overnight case, bran muffins and a thermos. “Iris sent buckbean tea.” Rose hugged Lily. “You okay? McBride said you got a little banged up.”

“I’m fine.” Lily took the basket of muffins from her sister and led her inside. “My car’s totaled, though.”

Rose dropped her bag on the floor by the sofa and followed Lily to the kitchen. She glanced at the two coffee cups in the sink. “So, this McBride—is he cute?”

Lily put the muffins on the counter and gave her sister a warning look.

Rose bent and picked up Delilah, who had wound herself in a knot around her legs. “Hello, gorgeous.” She rubbed the cat’s ears until Delilah purred like a motor-boat. “Iris would’ve come, but she’s almost figured out some mix of bat’s wings and eye of newt that’ll relieve menstrual cramps in half the usual time, and far be it from me to stand in the way of such a miracle.”

Lily pulled the plastic wrap off the basket and picked out a couple of muffins for herself and Rose. “Put my cat down and pour us some tea.”

Rose poured two cups and joined Lily at the kitchen table, moving aside the newspaper McBride had left folded on the table. “So really—who is this McBride and why did he spend the night with you?”

Heat rushed up Lily’s neck and spilled into her cheeks. She touched the edge of the newspaper at her elbow, trying to hide her reaction. But the paper only reminded her that McBride had sat here reading this paper only a few hours earlier, looking sleepy and disheveled and utterly irresistible.

“Ooh, Lil, you’re blushing!” Rose leaned forward, her expression eager. “Spill it!”

Lily gave her sister a stern look. “McBride’s the head of the task force investigating Abby Walters’s abduction.”

“Ooh, and you’re working with him? Because of your visions?”

“Kind of.” Lily caught her up with all that had happened since they’d spoken on the phone the night before.

Rose’s eyes widened with horror. “Someone ran you off the road? McBride just said it was an accident.”

“I don’t know who it was or why he wanted to hurt me,” Lily admitted. “It doesn’t make any sense—the kidnapper who called me the other day seemed to want me to give Andrew a message. But maybe I spooked him when he realized I’d seen him hit Abby.”

“Have you had more visions since then?”

“Yeah. A really strange one.” Glad for a sympathetic ear, Lily told Rose about the second little girl who’d appeared in her visions of Abby. “It was so strange. It was like she’d been watching Abby and me.”

Rose’s eyes glittered. “Creepy!”

“It didn’t feel creepy, though,” Lily said. “At first, maybe, but after that it seemed sort of sweet. How she’d been watching over Abby.”

“You think she knows Abby?”

“I think she’s connected somehow. Maybe a cousin or something. Something about her looks familiar.”

“Why would Abby’s cousin come to you in a vision?”

Lily shrugged. “I’d love to ask Andrew Walters about the little girl, but I promised McBride I’d stay away from him.”

Before Rose could respond, Jezebel jumped from the counter onto the kitchen table, knocking over Lily’s tea.

“Jezzy!” Rose jumped up to avoid the liquid spreading toward her.

Lily shooed the cat away and crossed to the counter to retrieve a roll of paper towels to mop up the mess, while Rose grabbed the newspaper off the table to keep it from getting wet.

When Lily dumped the soaked towels and returned to the table, she found Rose gazing at the paper, a strange light in her eyes.

“What is it?” she asked.

Rose turned the paper around, showing Lily a front-page photo of McBride and a couple of detectives Lily didn’t recognize, manning phones at police headquarters.

Rose pointed to McBride. “This is McBride, isn’t it?

Lily nodded, chill bumps rising on her arms. The picture caption didn’t identify him by name. “How’d you know?”

Rose’s grin split her face from ear to ear. “Sugar, he’s the man you’re going to marry.”