GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (23 page)

After packing the few items she’d brought with her and checking out,
Beth
left
the hotel
in an upbeat mood. With the current
assignment
all wrapped up,
she
w
ould
be able to
take a few days to spend with Sam before
taking
on another case
.
Everything would have been just perfect if she wasn’t still worried about the note she’d received at the office.
 

I
 
lost my home because of you
.
Was it a threat?

On the ride to Sweeney Enterprises,
Beth pulled out her cell phone to call Sam
and
was disappointed when
it went right to
voicemail
. She
left a message to let him know she
would
be at the office
for the rest of the afternoon
.

Vic looked up in surprise when she walked in toting her luggage
.
“Moving in?”

“Moving out
.
I didn’t want to stay at the hotel another night
.
I just want my own bed in my own house with my own little piece of the ocean.”

“I thought you were going to stay at Sam’s house for a while.”

Beth narrowed her eyes suspiciously
.
“How did you find out about that?”

Vic shrugged nonchalantly
.
“Sam told me.”

“Since when have you two become such good friends
?
And what gives either of you the right to decide what I will and will not do
?
I’ve got a good mind to refuse his offer now.”

Vic leaned back with a smug expression
.
“It wasn’t an offer, doll face
;
it was a royal command
,
and as you pointed out, Sam doesn’t take no for an answer.”

With an indignant flip of her head,
Beth stomped off towards her office
.
“I should never have introduced you two.”
 

Vic’s laughter followed her, raising
Beth’s
level of irritation
a few more notches
.
She shut the door soundly behind her and dropped the suitcase
next to
her desk
.
She sat there for a moment trying to collect her thought
s
when her eyes wandered to the stack of unopened letters on her desk
.
Personal and confidential, no doubt, she thought with a heavy sigh
.
Beth sifted through the envelopes and froze when she came across one with no return address
.
Her hands shook as she slit the top and pulled the single
sheet
of paper out.
 

I lost the people I love because of you
.

Was it Stockton
?
And if it
was
Roger Stockton, was he trying to scare her
?
If that was his purpose, it seemed to be working quite nicely
.
Beth tried to steady her shaky hands as she folded the paper so she could p
lace
it in the drawer with the first note
.
She opened the top drawer
and
stared in dismay at the empty space where the letter should have been
.
She glanced at the door and knew beyond a doubt that Vic had taken it
. A
nd if Vic found the letter then he’d probably already told Sam about it.
 

Beth leaned back
in
her chair
.
I
nstead of
the
nice quiet evening
she’d anticipat
ed
having
with Sam, the only thing she
was likely to get
was a stern lecture
.
This time, she stuffed the letter in her purse
and
then proceeded to open the
rest of the mail
.
Afterwards, s
he made several calls and took the few that Vic sent back to her
.
By the time she finished and
glanced at the clock,
Beth
was surprised to see it was twenty minutes past five
.

Vic usually stuck his head in at five o’clock to
let her know
he was leaving
. With a twinge of guilt, Beth decided
the clipped way she’d spoken to him earlier and the firm closing of her door had deterred
Vic
from his usual routine
.
She
was just about to give Sam call when her door
swung
open and Vic
swept into the room with
Sam right behind him.

“Let me guess,” she said dryly, “you heard about the success of my last assignment and have come to help me celebrate.”

Sam’s stony expression told her he wasn’t pleased
with
her glib attitude
.
Vic shut the door and stood off to the side with his arms crossed, looking just as
reproachful
.
When Sam dropped the letter on
her
desk,
Beth braced herself for the double lecture
that was undoubtedly to come
.

“Do you want to explain why you chose not to tell either of us about this?”

Beth didn’t even look at the paper
.
She remained in her seat, her eyes shooting daggers at Vic
.
“I didn’t tell Vic because he’s suddenly switched loyalties
,
and I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think it was anything to worry about.”

Sam’s jaw flexed
.
“You know damn well
there’s
something to worry about
as long as
Stockton
is
still wandering around out there
.
Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“I hardly think it’s as serious as that,” Beth protested, forcing herself not to look at her purse where the other letter
was
stashed.
 

“You don’t know that,” Vic said sharply.

Beth was
shocked by the harsh
tone of his voice
.
They were both genuinely angry
with
her
,
which only served to get her dander up.
 

“And neither of you knows that it is,” she replied icily
.
She stood and pushed her chair back
.
“Look, it’s
my
decision whether I divulge the contents of a letter marked
personal and confidential
.” She
glanced pointedly at Vic.
 

Sam ran his fingers irritably through his hair
.
“Damn it, Anne, how are we supposed to watch over you when you keep things like this from us?”

Her
temper instantly
flared
.
“I don’t recall asking either of you to watch over me
!
I’m not five years old, for God’s sake.”
 

“Then quit acting like it,” Sam said in a deep, biting tone.

A stab of pain twisted through her stomach
.
She just stared at him, too hurt to say anything.

Vic took a few steps towards her
.
“Why are you being so stubborn about this, doll
?
You know we’re just worried about you.”

When she didn’t say anything, Sam gave her a strange look
.
“Has there been another one, Anne?”

For a
fraction of second
her
mutinous expression
wavered
.
Beth quickly recovered, but Sam was irritatingly perceptive and picked up on it.

“Where is it
?”
he
demanded
.

“I
don’t know what you’re
…
”

“Where is it
?
”
he
repeated, a dark storm brewing
behind his eyes

“Fine
.”
Grabbing her purse,
Beth
pulled the letter out
and slammed it down on the desk,
then
turn
ed
away from
them to stand in front of the window
.
She heard Sam’s low growl
a
long with a muttered oath from
Vic
as they read the note together.

“
Beth, t
his isn’t a joke,” Vic rebuked.

“I know,” she
replied
softly, still keeping her back to them.

She didn’t want to see the anger and disappointment in either of their faces and could only imagine Sam’s struggle to hold his temper in check
.
She hadn’t even realized how much the letters had rattled her until she’d seen how much it upset them.
 

“What if someone had sent a note like this to me
?”
Vic asked
.
“Wouldn’t you want me to come to you with it
?
Wouldn’t you worry about me and be
angry
if you found out I’d kept it from you?”

Beth let out a
ragged sigh
.
“I guess I didn’t think it out very well.”

“That’s the understatement of the year,” Sam snapped, still shaking with anger
.
“Is this it, Anne
?”
He waved the paper in front of her
.
“Or is there another one you’re
not telling us about
?”

“No,” her voice wobbled, “that’s it.”

Sam glanced at Vic
,
who nodded,
apparently believing
her
.
“I want to know immediately if you get another one.”

Beth had taken
all
of Sam’s bullying that she intended to.
“Why don’t you just pop by in the morning and open the mail yourself then
?”
she
asked
bitterly.

“Don’t push me, sweetheart
…
”

S
quaring her shoulders, she
turned to face him
.
“I want to go home now.”

Vic
shot a nervous glance from
one to the other
.
“I think it’s time we all went home,” he
ventured
diplomatically
.
“Beth, honey, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
 

When they were alone, Sam took a step towards her, his expression softening
.

“Don’t
.” She
moved away from him and picked up her purse
.
“I just want to go home.”

“Do you have enough clothes or do we need to stop by the beach house?”

Beth stared at him in disbelief
.
“I’m not going home with you!”

Sam’s face hardened again
.
“Like hell you aren’t!”

“You can’t force me to go with you,” she ground out
.
“If you don’t want to take me to the beach house, I’ll
take my car and drive myself.
”

Sam’s long legs
closed the distance between them
before she could back away
.
“You’re coming home with me
.
It’s not a question and it’s not an option
;
it’s a fact
.
Now, do we need to stop at the beach house to pick up more clothes or not?”

Beth was angrier than she could remember being in a
very
long time
.
He was being a dominating ogre and she didn’t like it one little bit
.
Unfortunately, her traitorous body didn’t seem to get the message that she was seething right now because it responded
in
the same
manner
it always did whenever Sam was near.
With steely determination, she t
amp
ed
down the flame of desire to prevent her from doing something stupid like throwing herself in his arms or begging him to kiss her.