Against the Odds (15 page)

Another nonanswer.

“It’s a fairly rare occurrence,” Trace continued. “Which puts
my thinking on the same track as yours.”

“Even with the guy in jail for the helo crash, my instincts are
telling me there’s more happening here than coincidence. I’d rather err on the
side of caution and find out if there’s someone who wants Sabrina dead.”

“You any closer to figuring that out?”

“Maybe. According to her uncle’s will, if she dies within two
years after she inherits, her three cousins get the property. I’ve got their
names. I may need some help from Sol but I want to dig up a little preliminary
information first.”

“You got her stashed somewhere safe?”

He didn’t hesitate. Trace was a man he trusted with his
life—and Sabrina’s. “My house. I don’t know how long I can convince her to stay
without having to lock her up and toss the key, but it gives me a little
time.”

Trace chuckled. “Sounds as hardheaded as my wife.” Alex didn’t
miss the affection in Trace’s voice. “Let me know if there’s anything else you
need.”

“Will do. Thanks, buddy.”

The phone went dead.

Since Sabrina was sleeping, he headed for his study, sat down
at his desk and turned on his computer. He needed to find out as much as he
could about Robert, George and Priscilla Eckhart. If he turned up anything that
looked interesting, he would hand it over to Sol to dig deeper.

Alex set to work.

Sixteen

D
ressed in a clean, lightweight yellow
sweatsuit, her hair still damp from the shower she had so desperately needed,
Rina walked out of the bathroom next door to the guest bedroom, her neck brace
once more in place.

She’d awakened half an hour ago, a little disoriented at first,
then remembering that Alex had brought her home with him. After the night of the
benefit when she had given in to her weakness and allowed him into her bed,
staying in his house was the last thing she wanted. But she wasn’t a fool and
Alex was right. Until she knew for sure the car accident had been just that, she
needed to stay somewhere safe.

Feeling better than she had since the wreck, she wandered
downstairs. There was no one in the living room or kitchen.

Continuing down the hall, she found Alex working at the
computer in his study. He looked up as she walked in and flashed one of his
winning smiles. Rina ignored a little flutter in her stomach when his dimples
appeared.

“You look better,” he said. “Not so pale.”

“The nap helped and the shower felt great. I hope that was
okay.”

“I invited you here. As long as you stay, it’s your home,
too.”

She arched a russet eyebrow. “Invited? More like demanded.”

His smile flashed again. “Demanded in your best interest.”

“I suppose.” She wandered closer, looked over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?”

“Just a little preliminary checking on your cousins. I realize
you don’t want to believe they have anything to do with the bad luck you’ve been
having, but...”

“But what?”

“Well, let’s take your cousin George. He’s a high school
dropout, moved to San Antonio and took up welding. He makes a decent living but
he’s got three kids and a wife to support.”

“That doesn’t make him guilty of attempted murder.”

“No, but he could definitely use the money.”

“Who couldn’t? Oh, that’s right, you already have more than you
need.”

He ignored the remark. “Then there’s Priscilla. She still lives
in Uvalde. She’s had two husbands and she’s single again. She’s got a couple of
kids and she’s been picked up twice for drunk driving.”

“A person would have to have money to hire someone to sabotage
a helicopter or disable the steering on a car. Priscilla’s a waitress.”

“When enough money’s involved, deals can be made. That being
said, let’s take a look at Robert. Robert lives here in Houston. He owns a
company called R. T. Eckhart Development. Before the real estate bubble
collapsed, he was extremely successful. He had a big name in construction, built
subdivisions and commercial buildings. Now half his properties are in
foreclosure and the construction business is on its ass.”

“I haven’t seen Bob in a couple of years, but he’s smart and he
could probably figure a way to hire someone to do it. But...I don’t know...I
just can’t imagine him being that ruthless. Or any of the others, for that
matter.” And she hated the idea that maybe Alex was right and one of them had
enticed someone to do the dirty work for a share of the profits. Profits that at
this point still had not been confirmed.

Feeling another shot of weariness, she sank down in the chair
next to Alex’s desk. “The more I think about it, the more I think maybe I was
wrong. They arrested that man in Rio Gordo. They said he was a disgruntled
employee.”

“One of your cousins could have hired him.”

“Then hired someone else to sabotage my car?”

“I don’t know, maybe. I just know I don’t like the way this
lines up. Stay here a few days and give me a chance to see what I can come up
with.”

She didn’t want to. She didn’t trust herself where Alex was
concerned. Tonight she’d be sleeping in a room just down the hall from his.
She’d be remembering what it was like making love with him, fighting not to give
in to temptation and join him in bed.

She couldn’t do that. She couldn’t risk getting more deeply
involved with him. Couldn’t risk falling in love with him. And after the time
they’d spent in the desert, after finding out he was a far better man than she
had believed, it was a very possible risk.

“Just a few days,” he repeated. “If it looks like it’s all just
coincidence, you can go home.”

She thought of the sleepless nights, the hours she’d be
spending in his company. Then she remembered how terrified she had been when the
chopper went down. How scared she’d been when the eighteen-wheeler nearly
crushed her little Toyota beneath its heavy wheels. She remembered the sound of
grinding metal and shattering glass. Remembered how close she had come to
dying.

Rina closed her eyes, took a deep breath and gathered her
resolve. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll stay.”

* * *

Sabrina still tired easily. For the next two days, Alex
didn’t press her to do more than nap and relax on the sofa in the family room.
The first night he’d ordered pizza. Last night, he’d called out for Chinese. She
had eaten a little better, finishing her egg drop soup and some of the chop
suey, but she’d pretty much ignored everything else and gone to bed early.

Alex had stayed up late, trying to tire himself out enough to
sleep. With Sabrina just down the hall, the nights were torture.

He’d had a weight room installed in the downstairs bedroom.
Yesterday, he’d gone in for a lengthy workout, hit the punching bag until his
shoulders ached, worked on the Tai Chi he practiced with a trainer whenever he
got the chance, then watched the late, late show before heading up to bed.

Even so, he spent a restless night filled with erotic dreams:
heated images of making love to Sabrina. In the morning, he’d awakened with a
raging hard-on, swore an oath at women in general and especially the one down
the hall, pulled on his swim trunks and headed outside to the pool. He did laps
for half an hour before returning upstairs to shower and dress for the day.

He was grumpy when Sabrina joined him downstairs in the
kitchen. “Sleep okay?” he said a little snidely as he took in the faint smudges
beneath her eyes and her soft, sleep-rumpled red curls and thought of how
soundly she would have slept if she’d invited him into her bed.

“I don’t sleep well in strange places,” she said, which could
have been true, but he preferred to think she’d suffered the same fate he
had.

As she padded over to the coffeemaker sitting on the counter
and poured coffee into the cup he’d set out for her, he tried not to notice her
small bare feet, the pretty little toes with their frosted pink polish, the bare
legs that disappeared beneath the hem of her short pink robe, but a twinge of
desire slipped through him.

“I need to go into the office for a while,” he said. “You be
all right here if I leave you alone?”

“Of course.” She took a sip of coffee, made a little sighing
sound in her throat that made him think of sex and grit his teeth.

“There’s cereal in the pantry, eggs and milk in the fridge.
I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

He showed her how to set the alarm after he left then headed
into work, taking the printouts on her cousins he had made off the computer last
night.

Annie was behind the front desk when he stepped through the
door. “You got a call from that sheriff up in Rio Gordo,” she said. “He wants
you to call him back.”

He took the message Annie handed him. “Thanks.”

“You takin’ good care of our girl?”

“I’m doing my best.” He started walking again.

“You know that property she inherited?”

He stopped and turned. “What about it?”

“You don’t think someone’s trying to kill her to get it? Stuff
like that happens, you know.”

Alex smiled. “I think you missed your calling, Annie. Maybe you
should have been a P.I.”

She grinned. “Maybe so. Think about what I said.”

“Oh, I will.” He sat down at his desk and phoned the Rio Gordo
sheriff’s office. One of the deputies put him through to Sheriff Dickens.

“I got your message,” Alex said. “What’s going on?”

“Got some bad news,” Dickens said. “We released Martin Gilroy
this morning. Turns out he’s got an alibi for the night before the crash.”

“You said he was caught on video.”

“He was, but that was during the day and he was in a different
part of the airport. Gilroy was doing some cleanup work for Mesquite Aviation.
He was working with a couple of other guys who swear he never went near the
chopper that day.”

“Maybe he went back that night.”

“Yeah, that’s what we figured. Turns out, he was sleepin’ with
some married gal who finally came forward. Took some punches from her old man
over it. He’s a long-haul trucker, out of town all week. Gal says Martin was
with her all that night.”

“You believe her?”

“You’d see her face, you believe she was tellin’ the truth. She
knew what her husband would do. Says he’s the reason she didn’t come forward in
the first place.”

Alex softly cursed. “Which puts us right back to square
one.”

“That’s about it. I’ll keep you posted if something else comes
up.”

“Thanks.”

They were back where they’d started. Only now it was possible
the same man who had fouled the engine on the chopper had plenty of time to
return to Houston and destroy the steering on Sabrina’s car. He would have had
the mechanical know-how, and if the money was good enough, the motive.

Alex picked up the printouts and headed into Sol’s office.
Seated behind his desk, the kid took off his dark brown horn-rimmed glasses and
set them next to his computer, raked a hand through his too-long hair.

“What can I do for you, Peaceman?” Alex’s navy call sign.
Justice of the Peace.
Pilots always came up with some
crazy name to call each other. Sol had stumbled across the information on the
internet, nosing around where he shouldn’t have been the way he usually did.
Aside from Joe McCauley, Sol was the only one who called him that anymore.

“I need some info, Sol.” Alex set the printouts down on the
kid’s desk. “Robert Eckhart, his brother, George, and his sister, Priscilla.
They’re Sabrina’s cousins. If something happens to her, they’re next in line for
the property she inherited.”

Sol picked up his glasses and shoved them up on his nose. “Two
accidents, both of which could have been fatal. Could be she’s got a problem.
I’ll check it out.”

“Thanks, kid.” Alex left the office. It was past time they
talked to Sabrina’s mother, found out who she’d told about the trip her daughter
planned to take to Rio Gordo.

He hadn’t told Sabrina the cops had come up with nothing
conclusive on the car. He hadn’t wanted her to use that as an excuse to leave.
He’d have to come clean today—at the same time he told her whoever had destroyed
the chopper could have taken out the steering on her car.

He wasn’t looking forward to the conversation.

* * *

It was the middle of the afternoon by the time Alex got
home. He wandered through the house looking for Sabrina, but she wasn’t in the
kitchen or the family room. He started toward the stairs, then spotted her
through the sliding glass doors, floating on a blow-up mattress in the swimming
pool. Her neck brace was gone, her fiery, chin-length curls wet and gleaming. A
pair of sunglasses shaded her eyes, and all she was wearing was a little yellow
string bikini.

His groin tightened. He wanted to pull those strings and toss
the suit, take a long, slow look at what was underneath, lick the wetness off
her skin. He wanted to hear the water lapping against their bodies as he took
her right there in the pool.

He inhaled a deep, calming breath. Instead of going outside,
stripping naked and joining her in the water, he went upstairs, changed into his
swimsuit and shoved on a pair of wraparound shades.

Take it easy,
he told himself as he
returned downstairs and slid open the sliding glass door leading out to the
terrace.
She’s probably still hurting.

She looked up as he approached. He couldn’t see her eyes behind
her sunglasses, but he could almost feel her gaze sliding over his chest before
she smiled. He pulled off the wraparounds, tossed them onto a table beside the
pool and dived into the water.

The sun had done its job and the pool was bathtub-warm. He
scissor-kicked up from the bottom and surfaced beside the air mattress.

“Enjoying the water?” he asked, running a hand through his
hair, slicking it back from his face.

“It’s wonderful.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Much better. I took off the brace. The doctor said if my neck
felt all right, I could.”

He must have been staring. She glanced down at her skimpy
bathing suit, then slipped a little self-consciously off the air mattress into
the pool and sidestroked toward the shallow end.

Alex followed, moving closer, until they were standing
face-to-face in the waist-deep pool. She looked so tempting he wanted to eat her
up. “So you’re feeling okay?”

“Yes, I... Yes...”

It was completely private in his backyard, the high fence,
wide, leafy trees and grassy lawn giving him the seclusion he wanted. It was one
of the reasons he had bought the place.

Her eyes remained on his. She was breathing a little faster and
so was he. He reached out and gently cupped her cheek. “I’m going to kiss you,
Sabrina. I really need to.” He didn’t say more, just pressed his lips to hers
and savored the sweetness. She tasted like chocolate, and mint iced tea, smelled
like sunshine and fresh air. Her skin was soft and moist beneath his
fingers.

For an instant, she kissed him back and he deepened the kiss,
his tongue sliding into her mouth to tangle with hers. When her small hands
pressed against his chest and she pulled away, it was like a sharp knife slicing
his insides.

“Alex, we...we can’t.”

“I’ll stop if I’m hurting you. Am I?”