Kristin Hardy Read online

  That was all.

  Through the glass window at the front of the shop, she watched the early winter twilight fade into darkness. It was time for the evening commute, time for people to start flowing onto the Chilton common for the annual lighting of the town’s Christmas tree. It was the first official shopping night of the season and they’d get plenty of business from it. That was what she needed to focus on, not her problems.

  Not a pair of dark, unsettling eyes and a voice that sent something shivering through her.

  The bell at the door jingled. She glanced up to see a face she recognized from that nightmare day Bradley had left: John Stockton, the federal agent investigating Bradley.

  She blinked.

  “Evening.” He stepped across the flagstone floor of the shop, looking around approvingly at the vases of arranged flowers, the hanging plants, the gardening gear, the gift shop.

  “Aren’t you a little far from your turf?” she asked.

  “Not so you’d notice,” he said equably. “I live in Stamford. You’re on my way home.”

  “I’m not inside your jurisdiction, though.”

  “My jurisdiction’s wherever it needs to be. I’m not a cop. Nice place,” he added, looking around. “I hear your mother started it a few years back.”

  “After my family lost our money. You forgot to add that part.”

  “No.” He looked at her steadily.

  “I see. So I have motive, is that it?”

  “You tell me.”

  “I don’t steal. Besides, I’ve got a job and a trust fund. I don’t need to.”

  “If you say so.”

  “Maybe it’s time for me to get a lawyer.”

  He shrugged. “If you like. I’m just here to say hello. You’re not under arrest. Yet.”

  “Have you found Bradley?”

  He stopped to look at a display of sun catchers. “No, again. Your fiancé’s good at laying low.”

  “Ex,” she corrected.

  “That’s right. Ex. You heard from him?” He turned his gaze on her.

  Flat. Skeptical. The same way he’d looked at her in the interrogation room. “Not a peep. Did you talk with his family?”

  “I’m putting my money on you.”

  “Then you probably already have my phones tapped and people watching me. If Bradley calls me, you’ll know.” She finished hanging the mistletoe and walked back behind the checkout counter. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

  “But maybe you do.”

  Her stomach tightened. “What’s it going to take to convince you that I wasn’t a part of this?”

  “Vilis Skele,” he said.

  Keely blinked. “What?”

  “Vilis Skele.”

  “I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about.”

  “Who. He’s a Latvian arms dealer. Does a lot of business in the Middle East. Lives here part-time, mostly to simplify his business dealings.”

  “Oh, sure, I guess lots of Latvian arms dealers do that.”

  “Particularly when they’re getting money laundered.”

  And now she saw it. “You mean, Bradley—”

  “Laundered upward of two hundred million for him over the past year and a half,” he finished for her. “That we know about, anyway. It could be more. He could be a cottage industry for all we know. Slick operation, by the way. He set up LLCs for Skele, some of them clients of Alexander Technologies, some of them vendors. Some of them clients and vendors for those LLCs. Skele sent in money from the client LLCs and got it back through payments to the vendor LLCs.”

  “Maybe they’re real.”

  His gaze hardened. “You, of all people, should know that’s not true. You’re on the boards of several of them. Skele means slice in Latvian,” he added conversationally. “He’s slit the throats of twelve men that we know of.”

  Keely groped for the chair behind her. An arms dealer? “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Sure it does. Your Bradley got in deep enough while his father was still alive to arrange for some, shall we say, high-interest financing?”

  “A loan shark,” she said numbly. “You’re talking about a loan shark.”

  “Bingo. Papa died and Bradley starting siphoning off money from the corporation, but he couldn’t do it fast enough. Then he met Skele at a high-roller game in Atlantic City. I’ve got the dealer who introduced them. They got very cozy, she tells me. The dates correspond with the incorporation dates of most of the LLCs.”

  “I’m not a part of this.”

  “Enough, all right?” Stockton’s voice rose. “This isn’t just embezzling and SEC violations you’re looking at anymore. This is the big leagues and anyone involved is going to go away for a long time. You could go away for a long time. Unless you cooperate.”

  “I’ve told you…”

  “And I don’t want to hear it anymore,” he broke in. “Your boy crossed the line. He’s going down and he might just take you with him if you don’t watch it.”

  “This is harrassment. You don’t have a shred of evidence apart from my name on some boards.”

  “I’m just asking a few harmless questions,” he said. He started away then turned back. “Oh, and one other thing. If your ex is holding on to money for Skele, the man’s going to come looking for it. And I wouldn’t want to be the one there when he does.” Stockton slid a business card on the counter and turned to walk out the door. “Call me if you change your mind and want to talk.”

  The door closed behind him, leaving the shop silent, except for the roaring in her ears.

  Arms dealers. Money laundering. Prison time, Keely thought, staring blindly at the workbench before her. What in the name of God had Bradley done?

  When the door opened to admit a trio of customers, she gave them an automatic smile and prayed that they wouldn’t need anything, because she just didn’t think she could cope just then.

  The front door jingled again. “Hi, Keely.”

  Keely glanced up to see Lydia sailing in.

  “Sorry I’m late.” The redhead hurried to put her purse away. “Melly threw up all over herself and I had to change her for the babysitter. Roy’s working late,” she explained, tying on an apron.

  “I have to go out for a minute,” Keely said distractedly, neither noticing nor caring about the perplexed glance Lydia gave her. Air. She needed air. If she stayed in the shop one more minute she was going to suffocate.

  Or start screaming and never stop.

  She was out on the sidewalk before she knew it, not registering the cold, not hearing the greetings. She just let herself be carried along with the others who were drifting toward the common, laughing and joking, without a care in the world.

  A week before, she’d been like them, happily moving through her days. Whatever fleeting unhappiness she’d felt over Bradley seemed a trifle, in retrospect. What she’d had seemed an idyllic existence.

  Even if it had been a lie.

  It was almost dizzying, Keely thought as she took a breath. How could Bradley have done it? Stealing was bad enough, but he’d begun dealing with bottom feeders. Dangerous bottom feeders. If your ex is holding on to money for Skele, the man’s going to come looking for it. And I wouldn’t want to be the one there when he does.

  Her chest tightened and she inhaled again. Across the common, the garlanded Christmas tree rose from the snow-covered ground. Disgrace and legal problems were one thing. Physical threats were another. She’d never thought Bradley would take chances with true criminals. She never in a million years would have guessed that he’d embroil her and his mother.

  What if the money was still out there? What if the dealer did come looking, and she had no better answers for him than for the police? She doubted “I don’t know” would carry much weight with a killer.

  She tried to take a breath but it seemed as though all oxygen had been sucked out of the air. The gay sounds of Christmas carols seemed to come from very far away. For a moment she stopped, swaying, g
asping helplessly. Spots danced before her eyes.

  “Sit,” a voice ordered from behind her. Hands came down on her shoulders and eased her onto the wrought iron bench behind her. “Put your head between your knees and cup your hands together over your mouth.”

  “But—”

  “Just do it.”

  Keely obeyed. Slowly, her breathing deepened. The terrifying breathlessness abated. After a few minutes, she stirred.

  “Easy. Take it slow,” the voice said. Lex’s voice. When she straightened, he was sitting beside her. “Better now?”

  She nodded and smiled wanly. “Yes, thank you.”

  “You were hyperventilating. What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Not a ghost. I—”

  Lex stared. “What the hell are you doing out here in just shirtsleeves?” he interrupted.

  “I didn’t think about it,” she said vaguely, realizing all of a sudden that she was freezing.

  He stripped off his jacket and put it around her shoulders. “You’re nuts. Let’s get you inside.”

  “I’m fine,” she muttered.

  “You’re turning purple. Although I suppose it’s better than sheet white, the way you were a little while ago.”

  She swallowed. “I had some bad news.”

  “Tell me,” he said.

  She never expected him to be nice. He sat next to her, solid and strong. She could feel the heat from his leg next to hers. Somehow, it made it easier to talk. “It’s about Bradley. The federal agent just stopped by. John Stockton. They think Bradley…”

  “What?”

  She shook her head. It was so impossible to believe. “They think Bradley was laundering money for an arms dealer,” she finished in a rush.

  “An arms dealer?” Lex repeated incredulously.

  “I know. I can’t believe it, either, but Stockton says they’ve got proof. Bradley gambled himself into a hole and went to a loan shark. After your father died, he started embezzling from the company and laundering the money. And then he met the arms dealer.”

  “Great. Now he’s in the laundry business. How much did he wash?” Lex asked.

  “Two hundred million, they think.”

  He whistled. “Five or ten percent of that would be a nice chunk of change. Enough to pay off most of what he took from the company. Or to stay gone for a good long time.”

  Which would eliminate her main hope of exoneration. Keely rose and began to walk blindly toward a small stand of birches, Lex following. “I don’t know what to do. Everything’s just coming at me at once. And every time I turn around, it just gets worse.”

  Across the common, people were gathered about the tree, listening to the elementary-school chorus sing about decking the halls. They weren’t worried about their lives falling apart. They weren’t worried about being in danger. They were safe, content, the way she had been. She swung around to face Lex. “Did you mean it about working together?” she demanded.

  He didn’t answer right away. The lights around the edge of the common threw his cheekbones into sharp relief and gilded the tips of his lashes. “I don’t know. You didn’t seem to think it was such a good idea earlier today.”

  A smuggler, Bradley had told her. He had that rough, slightly lawless look that made it believable. A man who took what he wanted, did what he wanted, regardless of the rules. Her pulse began to speed up. “I’ve changed my mind.”

  “You’re desperate.”

  “Does it matter?”

  He didn’t answer. He stepped closer, close enough that the white puffs of their breaths mingled. Around them, tiny white lights flickered in the birches, like fireflies. Out by the tree, there was a burst of applause. The chorus swung into “Merry Christmas, Baby.”

  It didn’t make sense and Lex knew it. Sure, if she’d been any other woman, he’d have kissed her without a thought. Hell, who was he kidding? If she’d been any other woman they’d have long since been past kissing and onto finding out just what they could do for each other in bed. She wasn’t just any woman, though. There was more at stake here than just satisfying his curiosity. A smart man would steer clear.

  And even as he thought it, he found himself pulling her into his arms.

  She was surprised at first, pliant against him, her lips parted so that he could feel the breath shuddering out. He tried to be gentle, God help him. But he could feel her move in the beginnings of response, he could taste her.

  So he let himself savor that soft mouth of hers, the secret flavors beyond, feeling her slight curves beneath his jacket.

  It only made him want more.

  With a nip of teeth, a slick of tongue he tempted them both. When her head fell back, allowing him access to the soft underside of her jaw, he moved to the milk pale column of her throat, feeling the mad beat of her pulse against his lips. Beneath the cool facade was a real woman, silky and warm. The soft catch of her breath had him tightening.

  He wanted way too much to be kissing like this out in the open. It had been an experiment, but he had to stop. There was too much impatience, too much hunger built up. If he didn’t watch it, he’d take it too far. They were in public, he reminded himself. Time to stop. But he couldn’t prevent himself from taking one more taste, and one more. And one more.

  And then her arms came up around him and she turned avid and eager and wanting in his arms and he wasn’t thinking about ending it anymore.

  He wasn’t thinking about anything but her.

  They didn’t feel the cool of the air. They didn’t hear the strains of “Holly Jolly Christmas,” soft notes of the woodwinds floating sweet and quiet through the night. There was just the slide of lip against lip, the stroke of fingers against hair, the suppressed sounds of hunger.

  There was only two.

  If he’d asked, Keely would have said no, but he hadn’t asked. He’d taken. And it intoxicated her as nothing else ever had. The demand in his touch, the urgency in his taste had her pressing against him, fighting for more, more.

  His hands slipped inside the jacket, sliding over her. And that mouth, that dangerous, delicious mouth was clever and persuasive against hers. She wanted more and she found herself taking, shifting her head to find a new angle, pressing against him to better feel his touch. Now, it was she who was impatient, she who demanded.

  She who was standing at the doorway to a whole new world she’d never dreamed of.

  Behind them, there was a collective gasp as the tree was switched on, as though the entire town had inhaled at once.

  The entire town.

  They jolted apart turning to stare at the source of the noise, and the applause that followed. A hundred yards away, the tree blazed with color. The figures of the townspeople were silhouetted against the light. Only here in the little grove was it dim and quiet.

  Shaken, Keely stared at Lex. The adrenaline, the energy, still ricocheted through her system. Her lips still felt like they were vibrating with sensation. She didn’t know where the hunger had billowed up from, only that it was nothing like anything she’d ever experienced with Bradley or any other man.

  But this wasn’t Bradley or any other man, this was Lex, the brother most likely to be arrested, who had had her twisting and clawing at him like a wanton. If there was any man in the world she had less business kissing in the dark, she couldn’t come up with one offhand. And she had zero desire to think about the fact that he’d taken her so far with just a kiss.

  “I must be out of my mind,” she muttered, and without another look, began striding back toward the shop.

  “Keely, wait a minute. We have to talk.” With a few quick strides he was beside her.

  “Forget it. I’ve got to get back to work.” And she didn’t want to be around him for another minute or God knew what she’d do.

  She began unbuttoning the coat, sliding it off her shoulders as she walked quickly along. “Here’s your jacket.”

  “Keep it, you’re freezing.”

  “No.”
Because wearing it was a bit too much like having his arms around her. She swung around to face him. “Look, you want to talk? I’ll talk. I’m going to work with you because someone’s going to go down for this arms-dealer thing. Stockton was almost salivating. If there’s any chance we can find something by pooling our resources, then I’ve got to do it. But that’s all I’m going to do with you, got it?”

  Lex studied her as though he’d never seen her before. “You like laying down the law.”

  “And you’re not big on rules. Well, deal with it, champ. Right now, all I want to focus on is clearing up this mess Bradley’s left. Maybe we can help each other on that, but you’ve got to figure out what you want.”