Heart of Gold (13 page)

She had painted the room a rich shade of cream and accented it with pristine white and deep red. Many of the captain’s personal possessions had been used as decorative pieces, including his brass-bound sea chest, which now served as a storage place for extra blankets at the foot of the bed. Adjacent to the bedroom was a luxurious bath, and beyond that was a small, comfortable sitting room. Faith was certain this suite would quickly become a favorite with patrons of the inn.

Deep in thought, she wandered around the bedroom tucking potpourri sachets into drawers, wondering what to do about Shane. When the bedroom door swung open and he stepped inside, her heart squeezed painfully at his expression. He was definitely back to being guarded and wary. Her gentle lover had vanished, slipped behind his cold wall of isolation.

“So,” he said, his gaze roaming the elegantly appointed room, “this is where the infamous captain spent his nights.”

“Yes. I think he still does.” She managed a small laugh at the sharp glance her statement earned her. “Things get moved around in this room without my help.” She motioned to a small, perfectly horrible, oil painting of a ship that hung above the dresser. “Twice I’ve taken that down and put it in the attic. Twice it’s been back hanging on that wall the next morning. I’m told the ship in the painting was the captain’s favorite.”

Shane scowled at both the painting and the implication, and began prowling around the room, taking in every detail of the walls and floorboards.

Faith watched him with weary amusement. Ever the skeptic, she thought with a dying smile. He was skeptical about everything—love included. In fact, it was probably at the head of his list. She had taken hope for a few moments this morning at the breakfast table when he had reached out to give her support. Shane’s concern for her had overridden his deep-seated sense of caution, but his guard had quickly slipped back into place.

Now he flipped the light on in the closet and walked in, running his fingertips along the newly painted walls, pressing gently. Faith rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned a shoulder against the doorjamb. “Shane, you’ve been over every inch of this house. There are no secret passages.”

“I’m just doing my job.”

“So you keep reminding me,” she muttered, unable to keep the bitter edge from her voice.

He turned and looked at her, his gray eyes stormy. “It’s best if we both remember why I’m here.”

“You’re right, of course,” Faith said, her voice suddenly tight with unshed tears. She pushed herself away from the closet door and went to stand by the table where her sachet supplies were neatly laid out. She stared down at the squares of lace, bits of satin ribbon, and dish of fragrant rose petals and lavender, unable to work up the strength to touch any of it.

She didn’t have any right to hurt, she thought. Shane had warned her he couldn’t get involved. But to be perfectly honest, she had to admit the romantic in her had never quite accepted that. All along she had secretly believed giving him her love would unlock his heart and free him to love her in return.

Would she never learn?

Shane swore under his breath and left his search to follow her. He stood behind her, staring at the rigid set of her slender shoulders, willing himself not to touch her. “Faith, I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I know,” she whispered, reaching down deep inside for a scrap of strength and wondering when that well was going to run dry. “I’m a big girl. I knew the rules going in. You don’t have to worry about me. I told you I didn’t expect promises. Please don’t let what I said this morning ruin what time we have together.”

“You didn’t ruin anything,” he said thickly, not surprised that his resolve was crumbling. He could no more keep from touching her than he could keep from breathing. His hands came up to cup her shoulders, his fingers gently rubbing at the tension in her muscles. “It’s just … more complicated now.”

“I’m sorry,” she murmured automatically. Immediately she wanted to take the words back. What did she have to be sorry for?

“No,” she said angrily, turning to face him with dark eyes blazing. “I’m tired of having to apologize. I love you, and I won’t feel sorry for it. If that makes your job or your life complicated, that’s just too darn bad.”

Shane swore—more at the conflict within himself than at Faith. His professionalism was being torn to shreds because of his attraction to this woman. The frightening thing was that a part of him didn’t give a damn. Arguments chased each other around in his head. All the while he stared down at Faith’s heart-shaped face, the defiant expression she wore. Slowly logic receded until all he could focus on was the lush bow of her mouth and the heat of desire glowing inside him.

Faith trembled as Shane’s hands tightened on her shoulders, his fingers biting into her flesh, burning her through the fabric of her cotton sweater. The look he wore was primitive, almost savage. His eyes held a silver light that seemed capable of boring straight through her. A muscle in his strong jaw flexed as he lowered his head toward hers.

“You make me crazy,” he said, his voice little more than a growl.

Then his mouth was on hers, taking, plundering, and Faith could hear nothing but the blood pounding in her ears. The heat that flared between them burned away everything but desire. She surrendered to it immediately, melting against Shane’s big hard body, her hands going up to clutch at his broad shoulders. She welcomed the thrust of his tongue, drinking in the taste of him.

For Shane arousal was instantaneous. The truth was it had never left him. Even after a night of making love with her, he wanted more. Desire had not been burned out; he had simply banked it, and now it flared up full force, searing him with an inner heat that demanded release.

He swept a hand down the curve of Faith’s supple back to cup her bottom, his fingers kneading her soft flesh and gathering up the fabric of her gauzy cotton skirt. Lifting her, he pulled her hips to his, pressing her against the hard ridge of his masculinity. A deep groan rumbled up from his chest as Faith ran her leg up the outside of his thigh and squirmed to get even closer to him.

The shrill ring of the telephone brought them both back from the edge of sensual oblivion. It was on the tip of Shane’s tongue to tell Faith to let the damn thing ring, but he caught himself at the last instant and stood her away from him.

This could be the call that would break the case. The case was why he was there.

Faith went to the table beside the bed, trembling so, she thought it was a wonder she couldn’t hear her knees knocking together. It was simply amazing the way that man could sap the strength from her. Amazing and exciting. And frightening. Taking a deep breath, she tried to clear her head before she picked up the receiver.

“Keepsake Inn. Faith Kincaid speaking.”

“Hello, Faith.”

Fear shot through her like a bolt of lightning at the sound of the too-familiar whisper. She jerked around to face Shane, pale and wide-eyed, her heart pounding. His face grim, he came forward and took her free hand, his strong grasp offering her support and comfort.

“Have you seen the error of your ways?”

Trying to draw strength from Shane’s steady gaze, Faith swallowed down the knot in her throat and said, “I’m going to testify.”

“That’s a bad decision, sweet. You know I’m watching you, don’t you? You and your darling daughter. You wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to little Lindy, now would you?”

Faith’s stomach rolled over at the thought of this faceless monster even knowing about Lindy. It was hard enough that this ugliness should intrude on her own life, but for it to touch Lindy in any way … she couldn’t bear the idea.

“I could take her and kill her. I could take her anytime I want.”

Abruptly it was all too much. The tension that had been building over the course of this terrorism crested with the power of a tidal wave, sweeping Faith’s control away. “Stop it!” she screamed into the phone. “Just stop it! Leave us alone!”

She slammed down the receiver, her face wet with tears as she turned and was met by Shane’s solid form. She sagged against him like a rag doll as he pulled her into his embrace, his arms banding around her like steel.

“What did he say?”

“Lindy,” she said between choking sobs. A fresh wave of fear surged through her. She tried to push herself away from Shane, but he held firm. “Please,” she begged, struggling in his grasp. “I have to see Lindy.”

Shane released her. Matthews would have the conversation on tape. It seemed much more important at the moment to let Faith go to her daughter. He followed her down the grand staircase, anger rolling in his gut. When he got his hands on the bastard who was doing this to her …

“Lindy!” Faith called, running down the hall to her daughter’s bedroom. Terror slammed into her anew when she found the room empty and silent, the only movement the curtains stirring in the breeze. “Lindy?”

Her questioning call was met with ominous silence.

“Lindy!” she yelled, panic clawing at her as she recalled the words
I could take her and kill her
. The fear that exploded inside her was absolute and all consuming and more terrible than anything she had ever experienced or even imagined. Her child was missing.

She nearly screamed when Shane’s hands closed on her shoulders and he gave her a shake. “Faith, calm down,” he ordered.

“I can’t find Lindy,” she choked out, her eyes wild. “Shane, I can’t find my daughter. He said he’d kill her. He said he’d kill my baby!”

Shane called on the cool professionalism he was known for. “We’ll find her, honey. She’s probably playing in some other part of the house or out in the yard. He can’t get to her here.”

“He said he’d kill her,” Faith repeated, anguish tearing her apart inside. How could anyone be so vicious as to hurt an innocent child? “She’s just a baby.”

“We’ll find her,” Shane promised. “He can’t get to her, Faith.”

They searched the house. Faith, Shane, Agent Matthews, and Mr. Fitz went over every inch of the sprawling mix of structures that made up the inn. They found no trace of Lindy.

Shane’s anxiety grew as they moved outside and went through the outbuildings on the property. Sweet, trusting Lindy. If that monster or some accomplice of his had somehow slipped through their security and gotten close to her, she would never have thought to be frightened.

The search party met on the lawn on the north side of the house. Fitz tugged anxiously at his gray beard. Matthews looked grim. Faith was on the verge of hysteria. Shane took her in his arms, needing to comfort her and not giving a damn about what his fellow agent would think.

“We’ll find her,” he said, half shouting to be heard above the wind and the sound of the sea crashing against the beach below them.

The beach.

His heart pounding, Shane bolted for the edge of the cliff and the wooden steps that snaked down it. He hit the beach running, sand kicking up behind him. Frantically his eyes scanned the area. For the first time in a long, long time he started praying, praying that Lindy hadn’t fallen over the cliff or wandered too close to the surf and been swept out by the treacherous waves this coast was known for.

Then he spotted her. He stopped in his tracks, air sawing in and out of his lungs like hot razors. Lindy sat in the sand, half-hidden behind a boulder, playing happily with her herd of plastic dinosaurs. Her ever-present doll was propped up against the rock, watching the proceedings with one eye stuck shut. She danced her dinosaurs around a lopsided sand castle, all the while singing at the top of her lungs “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

Relief rolled over Shane with all the power of the waves that were crashing against the shore fifty feet away, leaving him so weak he nearly went down on his knees. Lindy looked up at him suddenly, and a smile lit up her pixie face like a sunbeam.

“Hi, Shane! Did you come to play with me?”

He couldn’t answer her for the knot in his throat.

Faith ran across the sand, her legs feeling like lead, her lungs on fire. She pushed past Shane and dropped down in the midst of the dinosaurs, scooping her daughter into her arms. Sobbing, she hugged Lindy until the little girl squirmed.

“Oh, baby, you’re safe!” With a shaking hand she brushed at her child’s silky red-gold curls. “I was so scared!”

Lindy’s lip quivered as she looked at her mother. “Don’t cry, Mama. I don’t like it when you cry.”

Faith tried to smile and laugh, but in the end all she could do was hold her baby close and let go of all the tears fear had built inside her.

“I could have lost her.”

Faith sat on the edge of Lindy’s bed, watching her daughter sleep, running her fingertips over her child’s hair. Hours had passed since the crisis of the afternoon, and still the fear lay just under the facade of her calm, threatening to erupt at any second.

She felt as if something had shattered both inside her and around her. The last of her sense of safety had been fragmented. Through all of this hideous business the one thing Faith had clung to was the knowledge that she would always have Lindy. Now that too had been snatched away from her.

She’d been forced to realize that Lindy could be taken away. In the blink of an eye her child could be gone. It hadn’t happened today. Today Lindy had simply taken herself to the beach. But that didn’t mean it wouldn’t happen in the future. Faith could still hear that evil silky voice promising to kill the most important person in her life—her child. A shudder snaked through her body and tears welled up in her eyes yet again.

“I love her so much,” she murmured brokenly. “I’d die if something happened to her.”

“She’s all right, Faith,” Shane said softly. With a gentle grip he took her arm and drew her up from the bed and gathered her close against him, not bothering to wonder where all this tenderness was coming from. “We’ll make sure nothing happens to her. She’ll have a full-time babysitter from now on. And tomorrow you’re having a fence installed with a locked gate at the top of those steps.”

Faith looked up at him, her expression so bleak it nearly broke his heart. As the tears slipped past her dark lashes and spilled down her cheeks, she said, “I’ve never been so scared.”