Luck of the Draw, page 26
The word big was like letting off a bomb in the room. Amethyst erupted. “Big?” She looked around for something to throw at the psychiatrist. She picked up the bottle of hot sauce and would have hurled it at him if Rance hadn’t grabbed her wrist. She shot daggers at her husband with her eyes as he pried it from her fingers without a word.
“Psychoanalyze your patient, Doctor, and leave me to hell alone,” she spat as she settled back in her chair.
“Does anyone want dessert?” Garrett asked.
The room filled with a dense, brittle silence. Amethyst pushed her plate away and got awkwardly to her feet. “You all act so sanctimonious.” She let out a laugh. “Do you know why my mother asked me to stay at a friend’s house that night? She said she and her husband wanted to be alone.” Her voice broke. “She sent all the staff home early, even Ruth who always stayed the night during the week. She thought I didn’t know what was going on, but I did.” Her gaze raked the room, hesitating on Neal, then Benjamin, then finally Alistair.
Alistair got to his feet. “I think that’s enough.”
Her stepsister smiled and shifted her gaze to Joslyn. “She was cheating on your father. I was upset with the marriage at first. But we finally had a nice place to live, money, my own room and while he wasn’t my father, Horace was nice to me. He said he wanted me to think of myself as his daughter. His daughter.” Tears began to stream down her face. “Even if he loved you more, I loved him. But my mother was going to ruin it all, just like she always did.” She began to cry. “We could have been happy, all of us, but Thea Louise couldn’t keep her panties on.”
Rance rose from his chair to gently take her arm. Joslyn could hear her own heartbeat, the room had gone so deadly quiet.
Surprisingly, Amethyst let him help her out of the dining room. Joslyn could hear the woman’s heart-wrenching sobs as she and Rance left. After a moment, Neal rose, tossing down his napkin and standing for a moment as if to say something. But he apparently realized there was nothing he could say and left.
“Monica, I think I’ll pass on dessert,” Alistair said. “But thank you both for a lovely dinner.” He left, and Benjamin joined him, leaving only Billy, Garrett and Joslyn to stare dumbstruck after them.
* * *
“WELL, THAT WAS PAINFUL,” Billy said of the dinner as the three of them began to clean up the kitchen together. “And enlightening.” They all half laughed uncomfortably.
Garrett turned to Joslyn. “Did you know any of this?”
She shook her head, looking shocked by the revelation. “Remember, I was five. But this is the first time Amethyst has ever said anything like that about her mother.”
“I wonder if it’s true,” Billy said. “If Thea Louise was meeting someone that night at the house...”
“Where was Horace?” Garrett said, finishing the thought as he turned to Joslyn. “And what about you? Wasn’t there a nanny or someone to watch you?”
She shrugged. “I suspect I’d already been put to bed for the night. It isn’t like my stepmother could have sent me off to a friend’s for a sleepover.”
With the kitchen clean, they moved into the lounge. Garrett poured them a much-needed drink from the bar while Billy stoked the fire. “This puts a whole new spin on things,” he said. “I wonder if the police ever knew about this.”
“If it’s true...” Joslyn didn’t finish.
Billy nodded as if they were all thinking the same thing. “Amethyst seemed to think her mother’s lover was someone in the room.”
“Makes sense,” Garrett said. “Apparently the family doctor and lawyer and friend were around all the time.”
“What was she suggesting? That one of them killed my stepmother?” Joslyn asked.
“Sounded like that might have been where she was headed, but it could have just been the alcohol talking,” Billy agreed. “I suppose your father could have come home, caught them, a fight ensued...and it escalated to a tragic confrontation. Or Amethyst could have gotten one of her brother’s bats and...” He didn’t bother to finish.
She shook her head. “I’ve never seen them for what they are more than in these surroundings.”
“They’re just uncomfortable,” Garrett said, hating that he was making excuses for them. “And they’re all thrown off their game.”
“Which is good,” Billy said. “If one of them came here with a plan, he or she is no doubt revising it. They were probably expecting a hotel like the one at Old Faithful so they could merely sneak down the hall and do the deed. Getting to you here is going to take some imagination and planning abilities. Are you sure they have any?”
He was joking, but it was a good question. What if all of this was a waste of time? What if the would-be assassin had already given up? Garrett could only hope and said as much.
“You know, I thought I wanted to know which one of them I had to fear,” she said. “But after that meal with them, I realized that I have no desire to ever see any of them after my birthday. Except Alistair. I can’t cut him off completely. I’ve felt like he was the only friend I had.”
Garrett’s heart broke for her. Poor little rich girl. He promised himself he’d change all of that. If they lived past midnight.
* * *
IT WAS LATE by the time Dorothea got the call from a friend who worked at the fire department where the ambulance and EMTs were dispatched.
“It’s Sid,” the woman told her. “He was hit by a car.”
The words didn’t make any sense at first. Hit by a car? She’d been asleep and now reached over to turn on the lamp by her bed. “Sid?”
“I knew you’d want to know. He was taken to the hospital.” Her friend seemed to hesitate.
Dorothea sat up in the bed, knowing she was about to be hit with even worse news.
“It’s serious,” her friend said.
She tried to catch her breath. The word serious and hospital registered like a clanging bell inside her head. “Thank you.” She hung up and climbed out of bed, looking around for her coat, too panicked to think clearly. Sid. Not Sid.
Snatching up her coat, she realized that she was wearing pajamas. Her gaze went to the clock next to her bed. It was only a little after ten, but late for her. She was still trying to make sense of it as she stumbled to her closet for something to wear. It didn’t matter what, she told herself. She just couldn’t go to the hospital in her nightclothes.
She grabbed a sweatshirt and jeans, found undergarments and pulled them on with trembling fingers. Sid. Serious. Hospital.
Her mind screamed that this couldn’t be happening. Not now. Sid was going to retire in the fall. They had a date Friday night. He was taking her to a nice restaurant. She was going to buy a special dress. Eleanor was convinced he was going to propose during their dinner.
She felt a sob rise in her throat and tried to swallow it back as tears burned her eyes. With trembling fingers, she pulled on her clothing, anxious to get to the hospital.
The knock at her door made her start.
“Dorothea?”
Shade. Someone must have called him as well. Montana was like a small town and they had a lot of friends here. He’d come from his part of the sprawling ranch house where they all lived seasonally down in the valley.
“I’m almost dressed.” Her voice broke.
“You heard.”
She couldn’t answer. Her throat had closed as tears ran down her face. Sid. Serious. Hospital.
After a few minutes of fighting to get clothing on, she wiped her tears and opened her door.
Shade stood there, a big, strong cowboy she could depend on. He said nothing. He didn’t try to tell her that everything was going to be all right. He knew better than to think he could comfort her with empty words. “I’ll take you” was all he said as he led her out to his waiting pickup.
* * *
JOSLYN SAW SUCH love and understanding in Garrett’s eyes. His gaze was an excruciating deep blue that ignited that old fire inside her. Soon they would be alone upstairs. His look said he was through holding her at arm’s length. Tonight they would finally be together again.
Billy seemed to notice the different kind of tension in the room. He looked at the time, finished his drink in one gulp and said, “I should get going. If you need me, call.”
Garrett didn’t pull his gaze away from her. “Thanks, my friend. For everything.”
“No problem.” She felt the PI glance at them as he backed toward the exit. “I’ll check in tomorrow. In the meantime...” Whatever he planned to say, he must have decided neither of them was listening anyway.
She heard the door close behind him. Without a word, Garrett moved to it and snapped home the lock. He hadn’t had a chance to fix the broken window next to it, but he’d cleaned up the glass and secured a board over it.
Turning to her, he said, “Would you like to race me upstairs?”
Joslyn laughed. When she spoke, her voice was husky with desire. “What do I get if I win?”
“The same thing you get if you lose but the winner reaches my bedroom first.”
She smiled. “Then I want to win.” She turned and ran for the stairs. He was right behind her, his boots thundering up the steps, the two of them laughing as they reached the landing and ran down the hallway to his suite. She reached his door first. Out of breath and laughing, she turned to face him.
He stepped to her, cupping her waist in his large, rough tanned hands. “Joslyn.” That one word said it all. She could hear the timbre of his desire and his disbelief. Neither of them had thought it was possible that the two of them would ever see each other again, let alone have the chance to make love.
Now within moments they could be naked, locked together in the throes of passion after all these months apart. Excitement seemed to fill the air as he pulled her to him and kissed her deeply.
At first she thought it was the pounding of her pulse in her ears. But just when Garrett was opening his suite upstairs, his lips never leaving hers, he froze as if to listen and then swore.
Someone was banging on the front door of the lodge.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
IN THE GLARE of the porch light, a tall blond man was still pounding on the front door of the lodge. “It’s my stepbrother, Peter,” Joslyn said, sounding surprised and disappointed as the two of them made their way down the stairs.
Garrett frowned over at her, realizing that her disappointment was twofold. He hadn’t completely written Peter off as a suspect but he’d hoped that his not showing up meant he wasn’t interested in her money. And now here he was. On top of that, he’d interrupted them. “I thought he wasn’t coming.”
“He must have changed his mind.”
They reached the door together. As he unlocked it, he took in the man’s appearance. Agitated. But that could just be because they hadn’t opened the door quickly enough for him, Garrett thought.
Then he looked past Peter Wilmington to the expensive black sedan he’d arrived in. The front right of the vehicle was smashed in, the hood dented and in the porch light he could see something dark. Blood?
“Bloody hell,” Peter said, looking shaken. “I had no idea this place was at the end of the earth on top of a mountain full of wild animals.”
“What happened?” Garrett asked, looking from Joslyn’s stepbrother to the damaged car and back.
“I hit a damned deer. Ran right out in front of my rental car. I was almost killed.”
Garrett wondered about the deer. He couldn’t stand the thought of it lying injured beside the road. “Do I need to go down the road and take care of it?”
“It’s dead.” Glancing past them, Peter said, “But I’ll take a drink.” Garrett stepped aside as the man pushed his way into the lodge. “You do have alcohol up here since you bloody hell have no cell phone service.”
He was going to tell the man to help himself but he need not have bothered. Peter made a beeline for the bar and was already pouring himself a glass full of bourbon by the time they closed the door.
The man downed the drink and poured himself another. Garrett saw that his hands were shaking.
* * *
“I THOUGHT YOU couldn’t make it,” Joslyn said, sounding sorry that Peter had shown up. Clearly she had already ruled him out as an attempted murderer.
Peter seemed to have calmed down some after his second drink. His gaze locked on Joslyn. “I wasn’t going to come. But it’s your birthday party, right? Although I have to ask why you couldn’t have thrown it somewhere less...isolated.” He smiled then and stepped to her to kiss her cheek. “I didn’t want to miss your birthday. You are finally free of everyone. That’s cause for celebration.”
She smiled. “Not quite. I still have...” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “Over an hour to go. Then you can wish me a happy birthday.”
“On some god-forsaken mountain top, huh?”
“Why not? It’s beautiful here.”
“And this is the hero cowboy I keep hearing about?” he asked.
“Garrett Sterling, my stepbrother, Peter.” The two men shook hands.
“Your cabin isn’t ready, but can be quickly enough,” Garrett said.
“A cabin?” Peter echoed. He glanced toward the stairs. “Where are you staying? Isn’t there room here?”
Garrett had readied just enough cabins for the group he knew was coming. He hadn’t planned on Peter so the bed in another cabin wasn’t made up yet. But she knew he wasn’t about to let the man stay just down the hall from them.
She could also tell that he didn’t want to leave her alone with Peter, but she signaled that it was all right. “Peter, you’ll be in cabin five. I’ll leave the outside light on so you can find it.” He turned to Joslyn. “Lock up after your brother leaves,” he said and she nodded.
“Are you hungry?” she asked her stepbrother when Garrett still hesitated. “I can get you something to eat while Garrett checks your cabin.”
“Check it for what? Bears?” Peter demanded, clearly only half joking.
“I just need to make sure it meets your standards,” Garrett said.
Her stepbrother let out a bark of a laugh. “Good luck with that,” he said under his breath as he finished his drink and turned to Joslyn. “Something does smell good.”
“Come into the kitchen and I’ll dish you up a plate,” she said. “I’m glad you came.” It wasn’t quite true and yet she’d always liked Peter. She couldn’t say love. He’d been eleven when she was five, so by the time she was in junior high school, he was in college. But he’d always been kind to her.
She hoped that hadn’t changed as she led him into the kitchen.
* * *
DOROTHEA LOOKED UP expectantly from where she sat in the hospital waiting room. She’d hoped it was the doctor with news about Sid. But she was happy to see Will and Poppy come through the door. She rose to let Will engulf her in his strong arms.
“How is he?” Will asked as he held her.
She shook her head, unable to speak for a moment around the sob caught in her throat. “He’s still in surgery.” Poppy rubbed her back and asked if she knew what had happened. She shook her head again.
The door to the waiting room opened and Shade came in with two cups of vending machine coffee. Dorothea stepped out of Will’s arms to take her coffee. She cupped it in her hands, needing the heat to defrost her chilled body. She was so scared and yet she didn’t dare voice her fears that they might come true.
“Do we know any more about what happened?” Will asked.
“Hit-and-run,” Shade said and offered Poppy the coffee. She shook her head and stood next to Dorothea to put her arm around her. “Ward’s looking into it.”
“Ward?” Will swore. “I can’t understand how this could happen in Whitefish. Has anyone heard from Garrett?” When no one spoke, he said, “He probably doesn’t even know since the last we heard, he’d kidnapped a woman and was on the lam. I tried his phone. It went straight to voicemail.”
“Sid was worried about him, but now Sid—” Dorothea said as the door opened and Dr. Bullock stuck his head in the door. They all turned to him. She felt her heart in her throat and said a silent prayer.
* * *
JOSLYN STUDIED HER stepbrother as he devoured the pulled pork sandwich she’d made him. They were sitting at the end of one of the tables in the dining room. He seemed oblivious to her and everything else, eating as if he couldn’t recall his last meal. His earlier agitation seemed to have either been dulled by the two drinks he’d consumed or the food.
“So what’s up with you and the cowboy?” he asked after finishing the sandwich and wiping his hands on the napkin.
“I’m in love with him.”
Peter quirked a brow. “I find that hard to believe.”
“Why?”
“You can do better,” he said bluntly. “Once you have your birthday and get your inheritance, men will be beating down your door. You can have anyone you want.”
She sighed and sat back. “Because I’m coming into a lot of money? So I can buy myself a more appropriate husband like Amethyst did?”
He snorted at that. “Rance is an imbecile. Believe me, she regrets marrying him. I would just hate to see you make the same mistake.”
Joslyn shook her head. “Garrett isn’t a mistake. And anyway, I’m not keeping the money.”
He scoffed at that. “You’ll change your mind when the time comes.”
“No, I won’t. At the stroke of midnight, all of it goes automatically to the charities I’ve chosen to support.” Unless she died before then, but she didn’t say that. Didn’t want to think it.
