Dancing with Deception (21 page)

Jess
wondered over to the window to watch the sun disappear into the water. “They’ve all been protecting me. Four years later and I haven’t been on a boat ride, haven’t dated, went shopping.” She sighed so sadly it tore at Rebecca’s heart. “I’ve lived my life like a prisoner to my fears and haven’t wanted it any other way.” She turned and faced Rebecca. Her eyes were bright, chin thrust up. “Until now.”

“Jess.” What could she say? I’m sorry you were traumatized when you were still an innocent child? She’d never even got her first kiss. She thought of all Jess had missed, all she had given up. Only one question came to mind. “Do you want to go shopping?”

Chapter Twelve

Gideon’s thoughts were in turmoil. While life continued to move at a slow tread, his heart was running a marathon. The last time he’d lost his heart, it had been to his baby sister some nineteen years ago. No one and nothing else had ever threatened to take it since.

Until Rebecca.

While he and his brother loaded the boat with wood from their supply run, his mother and father were taking care of their tab. Since it had taken better than half a day to pick up and load supplies, Gideon was ready to be home.

His mother was more relaxed today and he knew the reason for it. Rebecca had volunteered to stay behind with Jess. He remembered seeing the new light that had been in his sister’s eyes when Rebecca said she’d rather stay with Jess and his heart had simply plunged.

He held back because he knew that behind Rebecca’s confident facade was a bruised and wary heart. He wasn’t sure she would believe him if he told her he was in love with her.

She was holding a part of herself back. With a normal affair, he wouldn’t have cared. But it angered him every time she held herself away from him. She’d told him about her childhood and he ached for her. But she hadn’t told him how it made her feel. The pain was there as obvious as the color of the sky. But her feelings were her own. For now.

They tied the wood down and jumped from the pier into the boat they used to ship their equipment and supplies back to Avery. She was a sturdy boat with three years of hard tugging behind her. They had christened her
Aphrodite
because she was strong and capable.

Gideon appreciated strong and capable, and it brought him back around to Rebecca Channing. She was damn strong. He saw it in the way she was with Jess, the way she saw right at the beginning that Jess was fragile. He knew his sister would open up to her. She hadn’t met anyone new in four years. He worried at first how she would react when he brought Rebecca to the island. He would never have guessed they would have become best friends.

While the boat sliced through the water toward Avery, he listened to his parents chatting behind him. He’d never really noticed– or paid attention to– their deep affection for each other. It was something that had just always been there. Rebecca had never had that and it broke his heart. She was so easy to love yet held that part of herself away. He knew she was afraid of being hurt. He’d just have to prove to her that he was sticking. Or, that she would have to stick.

They could get married. Hell, wasn’t it about time he settled down anyway? He could give his mother those grandbabies she always bugged her two sons about. They could be happy together, he knew. He’d just have to convince her.

“What’s my second born over there brooding about?”

He smirked and turned to his mother. “Colin broods. I contemplate.”

“Doesn’t it get us to about the same place?” Colin smoked lazily.

“Maybe.”

“So, what is my second born contemplating about?”

“About asking Rebecca to marry me.”

It was completely silent on the boat for a humming two seconds. Then three vibrant voices shouted
“what!”
at him.

“I tell them I’m proposing and they say
what
to me,” he muttered.

Rose rushed forward and cupped her son’s face in her hands. “Oh, Gideon. I’m so happy for both of you.” She kissed him then held on when his arms came around her.

“Congratulations, son.”

“Thank you, Dad.”

“Does she know about this?” Colin asked with a mile-wide grin on his face.

“I haven’t asked her yet, smartass.” Hadn’t even told her he loved her, he corrected to himself. “You guys can’t say a word. Clear?”

“Oh, we won’t spoil it!” Rose kissed him again. “But I have to tell Jess.”

“Tell her to keep a cork in it.”

“I am so excited!” Rose did a happy dance on the deck of the boat. “How many grandbabies are you going to give me?”

“How many you want?”

“That’s what I want to hear.” She grabbed his face again and just as Gideon expected, tears began to pour from her wide, green eyes. “I love you, Gideon.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

“Let us know when she says yes. We’ll have a little engagement party. Nothing big,” she added at Gideon’s wary glance. “I’ll make roast and potatoes. We can buy some good wine.”

“Sounds like a plan.” But Gideon’s stomach clenched. With everyone counting on him now, what if she turned him down? He brooded about it until they docked, unloaded, then walked into the quiet house.

Too quiet.

“Where are they?” Rose wondered aloud. She picked up a piece of notebook paper from the kitchen table and read it to herself.

“What is it?” Gideon asked when tears gathered again in her eyes.

“Jess went to town.” She looked up into her family’s stunned faces. “She went to town with Rebecca.”

“You look like a fashion model in those jeans. I hate you.”

Jess grinned at Rebecca’s reflection in the mirror. “They
are
on sale.”

Rebecca sipped at her bottle of water and nodded. “You should get them. And a pair of those.” She pointed at the four inch ice-pick heels in electric blue on the display table.

“I would never wear them. And I would break my ankles trying to walk in them.”

Her initial nerves had passed. Rebecca saw the tension slowly seep out of her as they walked down the crowded streets of Pelee. After four years of being a prisoner to her own fears, Jess had set herself free. After a cup of coffee, a pretzel, and a fast trip to the bathroom to vomit from her racing nerves, Jess was just fine.

She paid cash for the jeans and smiled prettily at the clerk. “Thanks so much.”

“Have a wonderful day.”

“I am.” She turned to Rebecca as they walked out of the store, a bag in each hand. “Oh, I really am. Thank you so much.”

“No problem. It’s been torture shopping with you. Really such a bother.”

They grinned foolishly at each other as they walked down Main Street. The sun was setting casting everything in shadows. Street lights flickered on. Rebecca carried her shopping bags wondering if Rose would like the ruby scarf she’d bought her. They matched the ruby blazer Jess had picked out for her perfectly.

“This is so much better than shopping online.”

Rebecca smiled at Jess. “Cheaper, too. No shipping costs.”

“There is that.” She stopped at a vender and bought a large soda and a bag of cookies. Rebecca shook her head at the offer for one and they continued down the street. “And I got to try everything on before I bought it. I love my new boots.”

“They’re hot.”

“Yes, and I never would have thought of glow-in-the-dark toe socks. How amazing is that?” She giggled. “Everyone should have a pair.”

“Can you imagine your brother’s in them? Or your dad?”

They both laughed and rounding the corner, ran straight into Gideon and Colin.

“Oh.” Jess slapped a hand over her mouth. “Speak of the devils.”

“What are you doing?” Gideon eyed his sister suspiciously, then Rebecca who carefully wiped a grin off of her face. She couldn’t quite get the image of him wearing glow-in-the-dark toe socks out of her head.

“Shopping.” Jess laughed. “Isn’t it great? Rebecca took me shopping.” Then her laugh turned into a sob. All three of them rushed forward. Rebecca had the impression that both of her brothers would have tucked her under their arms and ran with her back to the island.

She wanted to curse herself. She should have known it was too much for Jess. Four years alone and then getting thrown into a crowd of people. What was she thinking?

Before any of them could convince Jess to come back to the boat, she was laughing again. “I’m sorry. It’s just so great.”

She threw herself into Rebecca’s arms.

“Thank you, thank you. Thank you!”

Rebecca hugged her back while her heart thumped painfully in her chest.

“I’m going to head home, now. I got some things for Mom. She’s home?”

“Yeah. I’ll take you back with me.” Colin wrapped an arm around Jess, then tugged at Rebecca’s hair. “See you guys at home.”

Gideon was painfully silent as the seconds ticked by after Colin and Jess left. His expression had become more unfathomable the longer they stood there. If he was mad at her for bringing Jess to town, she couldn’t tell by his face.

For lack of anything better to do with her hands, Rebecca shoved them in her pocket. “We brought the speedboat.”

“Saw it at the dock.”

“Oh.” Why wasn’t he saying something? “I can rent a boat to come back in if you want to go. There are a couple things I want to do.”

“Then we’ll do them. Which way?”

She gestured back the way they came. She’d wanted to go alone to just be alone so she could sort out her rampant emotions before they swallowed her whole.

She walked briskly back toward the throng of people hoping Gideon wouldn’t try to engage her in conversation. She let out an audible sigh when he touched her shoulder to stop her in front of an old brick building with a sign in the window announcing it was for sale.

“She told you.”

It wasn’t a question but Rebecca nodded. “She wanted to leave the island. And she didn’t want anyone else to know because she didn’t think she would go through with it.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because you guys are her safety net. She knew if she saw any of you, she’d lose her courage. So we left a note, and we came here to shop. She talked to people, bought some clothes, and we had coffee. And she had fun.” She was defending herself and felt utterly ridiculous when he just stood there smiling. “What?”

“I’m glad you were here for her when she took that step.”

“You are?”

Instead of answering, he closed the gap between them and covered her mouth with his. His hand swept up to cup the nape of her neck as he held her to him. Her head spun deliciously and the familiar taste of him soothed her. “Very glad. Thank you.”

Her world tilted a little and they started walking again. This time he took her hand in his. She was falling so fast, she thought as they continued down the sidewalk. She couldn’t even pinpoint now the exact moment she began to fall for Gideon Avery. Maybe it was when they’d made love in the sunrise for the first time. It could have been before that—on the boat ride where they’d made pictures in the clouds.

She’d never been in love before. And she wasn’t entirely certain love was the name for what she was feeling now. How would she know?

She did know, however, that the longer she stayed on Avery, the more close she’d be to finding out that answer. And if she were to find herself in love with him, would she survive when it was all over? She didn’t want to know, couldn’t stand to know. A new kind of panic shot through her. She stopped suddenly on the side walk and waited for him to turn around.

“When I go to class on Friday, I’m going to stay home.”

“No.”

“At a friend’s, then.”

“No.”

“Gideon—”

“Don’t fight me on this. Those creeps are watching your house so that means they’re still in Cleveland.” A look of determination crossed over his face. “You’re not going to be safe anywhere except on Avery.”

“What if I gave them
The Dance
?”

“You’d break your promise?”

That gave her pause. On one hand, the thought of turning into a liar like Austin Channing made feel sick. On the other, by hiding the painting, wasn’t she enabling him—helping him steal again? “I’m starting to think that’s not so important anymore. I gave that painting to my father a long time ago. He used me for this con. He knew what would happen if he did, and still he used me. If I gave it up, this would all end.”

“So that’s what you want to do? Give them the painting, then go home.”

No.
“Yes. I need to go on with my life.”