GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (12 page)

“Hello
?”

The bottom dropped out of her stomach. It wasn’t Sam’s voice on the other end.
Beth was so unprepared
to hear
a woman answer she couldn’t think what to do
.
She must have dialed wrong
.
“I’m
sorry;
I think I have the wrong number
.
I was trying to reach Sam Travis.”

“This is the Travis residence.”

She squeezed her eyes shut
.
“Is
…
is he available?”

“Just a moment, I’ll check
.
May I ask
who is
calling?”

Beth faltered
.
Was this his wife
?
His girlfriend
?
“Yes, tell him it’s Miss Sweeney.”

“I’ll go get him for you, Miss Sweeney,” the woman said.
 

She heard the woman put the phone down
.
She didn’t know why she was protecting him by saying her name was Miss Sweeney, making it sound more like a business call
than a personal one
.
She clutched the phone to her ear and after a few minutes, heard the tapping of shoes against a hardwood floor.

“I’m sorry Miss Sweeney, Sam is in the shower
.
Shall I have him call you back
?
”

“No,” Beth said numbly, “it’s not important.”
 

She turned her phone off
.
Even if he did call now, she wouldn’t answer
.
It was almost nine o’clock and he had a woman in his house while he was taking a shower
.
It couldn’t have been clear
er
that he had no intention of calling her
.
Even worse, tonight Sam would be sleeping with another woman
.
She picked the wine bottle up, took two big gulps and went back out to the deck, no longer trying to hold back the tears.

 
 
 
 
                                                         *
**

Sam went out the back door, quickly crossing the short distance to Maggie’s bungalow
.
Maybe she had a way to reach Virginia
.
When he rapped lightly on the door, he could hear the sharp click of her flats hitting the hardwood floor and smiled to himself
.
He always knew where Maggie was in the house because of those silly flats she wore
.
When the door opened, she stepped out on the porch, looking surprised to see him.

“I’m sorry to bother you so late
,
Maggie.”

“It’s no problem
.
I was going to go back up to the house in a few minutes anyway to tell you about the phone call.”

Sam’s heart leapt in his chest
.
“Who was it?”

“She said her name was Miss Sweeney, but when I asked
whether
she wanted to leave a message she said it wasn’t important.
”
Maggie looked at him worriedly
.
“The reason I wanted to tell you anyway was because she sounded so
…
sad.”

“I was afraid of that,” he said, feeling a great deal of that sadness himself
.
“I messed up big time tonight, Maggie
.
I had a date with Anne
…
Miss Sweeney, and I was supposed to call her
.
I think I left the card with her number in my jeans but when I came home to get it, Virginia had already taken them
.
I checked the pockets but didn’t find anything so she must have pulled it out, but I can’t find it anywhere
.
When I tried to reach Virginia, I didn’t get an answer.”

“You won’t get an answer either
.
Virginia left this afternoon to visit her mother in Iowa
.
She won’t be back for a week and I’m afraid I don’t have her mother’s number.”

Sam’s shoulders slumped
.
That was it then
.
He didn’t think he’d be able to get Anne to listen to him long enough to explain and even if she did, it would sound like a tall tale.

“Sam
?
Are you okay?”

He shook his head
.
“Not really, Maggie
.
Anne is
…
she really means a lot to me
,
and I’m not sure she’ll believe what happened anyway.”

“Did you look in the phonebook?”

“Her home phone is unlisted and so is her cell phone
.
I’ve only called her twice so I don’t remember the number
.
I should have memorized it,” he said despondently.

“Sam, did you call her from your cell phone?”

“Yes, why?”

“Because your phone log holds the last ten numbers you dialed
.
If you haven’t used your phone much today, it may still be there.”
 

He gave her a big hug
.
“Maggie, you’re a genius!”
 

He left her there with a bewildered smile on her face and raced back to his room
.
He’d tossed the phone on the bed and when he retrieved it, he saw there was a message waiting for him
.
Sam listened to the message first, his stomach twisting painfully when he heard the soft, sad tone of Anne’s voice
.
He pulled up the dialed calls log and was elated to find the number still stored there
.

Before calling her,
Sam
carefully wrote the number on a pad of paper
.
Feeling more than a little anxious about how she’d respond, he hit the dial button
.
After four rings, her service clicked on stating she’d turned her phone off
.
Sam swore under his breath
.
He had no doubt she’d done it to avoid his call.

He stood there,
r
acking his brain for a way to reach her
and finally hit on an
idea
.
It was a long shot, but with any luck at all, he might be able to get her address
.
Sam had a friend who was a homicide detective in the Malibu area
.
If he could get Jake to pull her driver’s license, maybe
there was
still
a chance to make things right
.
He dialed Jake’s home phone, briefly explaining the hot water he
’d gotten himself into
.

“What do say, Jake, can you pull up a phone number or address?”

“
If her number is unlisted, chances are she requested no disclosure on the address too, which means I’m legally bound to honor her request.
”
At Sam’s unhappy groan, Jake offered him an alternative
.
“Let me make a few calls
.
Even if I can’t give you her address, maybe there’s a store or gas station or even a business close by so you c
an
narrow it down to a few houses
.
You’
ll
have to knock on a couple of doors, but you might luck out and find her.”

“Thanks, Jake
.
I’ll owe you big if it pans out.
”
Sam hung up and waited impatiently; less than ten minutes later, Jake called back.
 

“You know we’re skirting the law on a technicality, Sam, but here it goes
.
She lives on a pretty big stretch of property
.
The nearest neighbor is over a mile away
.
But I had my buddy at the station check out nearby businesses and he says her house is just across the freeway from the old Santa Monica Drive
-
In
.
They don’t play movies there
now
, but you can’t miss the screen
,
even from the highway.”

“You’re a lifesaver, Jake
.
Anytime you need a favor,
you got it.
”

Sam hung up with more hope than he’d had all evening
.
He hopped in his truck and headed for the highway
.
This time of night, he should be at Anne’s house in twenty minutes
.
He only hoped she wouldn’t slam the door in his face when he got there.

A
little after ten o’clock
,
Sam finally spotted the entrance to the beach house across from the outdoor theater
.
A huge wrought iron gate stood open and he frowned, feeling even worse
.
Anne must have left it open
,
thinking he was going to be there for dinner and forgot
ten
to close
it
.
He followed the paved driveway toward the beach and pulled up to the house
a few minutes later.

He
stared at it for a moment, a sudden sinking feeling washing over him
. I
it couldn’t possibly belong to Anne
.
Property like this would have cost a million dollars or more, depending on how much land she owned around it
.
Of course, it was possible she’d inherited it
.
It wasn’t until he got out of his truck that he spotted her red sports car.
 

Sam’s spirits lifted considerably
.
At least he had the right house and his beautiful Anne was inside
.
He walked around the house to the front door and rang the doorbell
.
All the lights were off inside
. S
he must have gone to bed
.
He rang it several more times before deciding she either didn’t hear it or was ignoring it
.
If she was sleeping soundly enough and didn’t hear it, maybe he could find her bedroom window and wake her
.
He’d probably scare her half to death, but he wasn’t about to leave now when he was so close.

Sam circled to the back of the
house
where an open deck faced the ocean. He didn’t notice the prone figure until he drew closer
, and for several minutes he simply stood there
,
enthralled by the vision she presented
.
Anne
was
sleeping on a lounge chair,
her
auburn
curls
blowing gently around her face from the lazy breeze
.
The moon was almost full
,
and the delicate features of her face were bathed in its soft light
.
She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen
.

He took the few steps leading up to the deck and sto
pped
next to
her chair
.
Even in the dim light he could see that she’d been crying
.
There were
smudges of
mascara beneath her eyes
that had snaked twin trails over her cheeks and
her eyelids were red and swollen
.
Sam’s heart ached for what she’d gone through and the betrayal she must have felt.

He squatted
beside
the chair
with the intention of waking
her
but
hesitated
when
he spied the bottle of wine
next to
her chair
.
He knew from their long weekend together that Anne didn’t drink much
.
Even with their meals she’d only lightly sipped at her wine
.
She’d laughed and confessed she was too easily intoxicated and thought it was best not to drink at all
rather than chance making
a fool of
herself
.

He picked the bottle up and shook it to see how full it was
.
Judging by the feel of it, Anne
had
downed more than half the bottle
.
How
desperate
had she been to drink that much
?
Sam shook his head
.
Somehow, he
would
make it up to her.

He reached out
,
caress
ing
the soft skin o
n
her cheek
before gently shaking her shoulder
, but she never even stirred
.
He stood
,
and after a moment of indecision,
leaned down and scooped her up in his arms
.
Her head fell against his shoulder and a soft moan escaped her lips, but still she didn’t wake
.
The poor little thing was going to have one hell of a hangover, he thought as he carried her through the sliding glass doors
.

Sam
paused
for a moment to let his eyes adjust to the darkness of the house
, cradling her closer to his chest and pressing a kiss to her forehead
.
He had no idea where her bedroom was but there was a hallway to the left so he took it
. 
The first room was a study,
and
then came a cozy room with lounge pillows and recliners facing a huge big
-
screen television
.
The house was spacious and had the same sweet scent of Anne herself.
 

He pa
u
sed
at the first bedroom he came to but decided it
was probably a guest room because it seemed too small to be
the
master bedroom
.
The last door at the end of the hall opened into a much larger bedroom
, which
Sam felt sure this was Anne’s
.
He made his way to the
huge four
-
poster bed and eased her onto the soft mattress
then doubled back
to close the sliding glass doors
.
With that done, he glanced around appreciatively at the simple but expensive furniture
.

Interesting that Anne, who was the sheer essence of femininity, would choose to furnish her home with large, masculine antique pieces.
The bed, the massive armoire in her room, the elegant china cabinet…they were
reflections of Anne, of her beauty and inner strength, her self-confidence. The confidence he’d helped crush tonight,
Sam
thought ruefully when he spotted the table she’d obviously taken such loving care to set. 
How
could he even begin
to make up for all the disappointment she’d suffered
on his account
?

With a
heavy
sigh, he followed the hallway to Anne’s bedroom
and found her
in the same position he’d left her in
. Apparently, she’d
consumed enough wine to
induce
a deep sleep
because she was limp as a rag doll while he gently removed her clothes and tucked her between the sheets.  Having resolved not to let her out of his sight until he dug himself out of the dog house, Sam quickly stripped off his clothes and crawled under the blankets with her
.

Moving
to the center of the bed
,
he gathered her close to his body, his heart surging with an unnamed emotion when she mumbled his name in her sleep
.
When Anne’s arm crept across his chest, Sam covered her hand with his and closed his eyes, a contented smile playing on his lips.
He didn’t know how she was going to react when she
woke to find
him in her bed, but it didn’t matter
.
He had her in his arms again and
had no intention of letting her go.

A
fter his frantic search for Anne’s number
,
seeking Jake’s help
, and then worrying whether it was the right address, Sam
felt as if he’d put through a wringer
.
But w
ith Anne locked securely in his arms,
the pent up tension ebbed away
and
he quickly dozed off.
S
ometime in the
night
,
he was roused by
the sound of Anne’s
distressed
voice calling his name
.
It took him a minute to realize she was still
asleep
and that the
dampness on his shoulder was tears
.
His chest squeezed
like a vice
.
What had he done to her?

“Anne
?
Baby, wake up.
”
He brushed the damp hair away from her face
,
the small, strangled sob that rose from her throat nearly br
eaking
his heart
.
“
C
ome on
,
honey, wake up.
”
He heard her draw in a sharp breath
and
then
the feel of
her delicate hand
tentatively
mov
ing
across his chest.

“Sam?”

He laughed softly
.
“Were you expecting someone else?”
 

She
tipped her head back
, although she didn’t speak right away. In the darkened room, her face was little more than a silhouette.  Even so, enough moonlight filtered through the blinds to make the tears on her cheeks shimmer in its soft glow.

“I waited for you,” she whispered hoarsely, “but you never called.”
 

The pain in her voice sliced clean through him.
“I’m so sorry,
Anne.
I lost your card
.
I
called
your office but you’d already gone
, and spent the next couple of hours trying to
figure out a way to find you
.”

Anne
’s spine went rigid. She
tried
to pull away, but he
refused to loosen his hold on her
.
“
I called, Sam.
”
Her voice was flat, emotionless
.
“A woman answered
.
She
…
she said you were in the shower
.
A woman answered,” she repeated
and
then went silent.

“Anne,
honey, that
was only Maggie
.
She lives in the cottage behind my house.”

“But she answered your phone
…
”

“Sweetheart,
it’s not what you think.
Maggie takes care of me.
She…
”

Beth pushed against him, a jagged pain ripping through her chest
.
“I don’t want to hear about your women
!
Let me go,” she cried angrily.

“No,
” Sam flat refused. “
You don’t understand
.
If you would stop fighting me, I could explain.”
Ignoring his pleas, she continued
to
struggle against him. Out of sheer desperation,
Sam rolled on top of her and grabbed her wrists, pinning her arms above her head
.
“Hold still and just listen for a minute,” he said firmly
.
Anne stopped
squirming,
but she was breathing hard and he could
almost see the mutinous thrust of her chin.
“Maggie does my cooking and housekeeping
.
She’s fifty-two years old and has been with me for fifteen years
.
Honey, she’s like
family
to me
.
I swear it’s the truth.
Anne
?
Please
say something.”

Suspicion was evident in her clipped tone.
“If you lost my card, how did you know where I live
?
My address isn’t listed in any directories.”

“I have a friend in the police department
.
I was desperate to find you so I asked him to help me out.”

“I don’t believe you
.
Even
the police wouldn’t give out my address.”

“He didn’t exactly
give
me your address
.
He gave me the address of the old Santa Monica Drive
-
In and told me to watch for cars when I crossed the street.”