Flirtation (14 page)

“Right, okay. But it didn’t work out that way, did it? And now we need help. EJ’ll help us. Come back with me, Ronny. It’ll be okay,” she pleaded.

“I’m not goin’ anywhere, and you aren’t, either! I’m not going to get blown into the cops by my own sister!”

She stood frozen in the darkness, disbelieving what she was hearing. What would he do? Drag her along? Just like Lou’s men did?

“Ronny, I love you, but I’m sorry, I’m not going with you.”

“Fine, have it your way, but I’m outta here, and don’t you dare—”

He was cut off when he hit the ground with a solid thud as she grabbed the walking stick and jerked it away. Charlotte winced, tears stinging her eyes, but she wiped them away. She was going to do what was best for Ronny, and for herself, even if it hurt him now, it might save him later.

“What the hell? Ow!” He struggled to stand, searching the ground for another source of support,
but found nothing, his bad leg collapsing beneath him as he fell again on the uneven turf.

His voice was loud, belligerent. “You’d do this to me? To your own brother?”

“What about what you did to me? Doesn’t that count?”

“I had good intentions, I wanted a better life for us. You are just going to leave me here crippled in the woods so you can go snuggle up with your cop after you help him arrest me!”

Charlotte shook her head, regret and pain choking her. In the darkness of the woods, she saw now what she never managed to see before in the clear light of day, because she’d wanted family of her own so badly. So much she’d given up her own self-respect to have it. Maybe she couldn’t see her brother’s selfishness sooner, but she was getting a good dose of it now, and thanks to EJ, she had the confidence to deal with it.

“I still love you, Ronny, but I don’t have to put up with this. You did a bad thing, and you have to take responsibility for it.”

She turned away, leaving him alternately cursing and begging as she started walking back toward the house. As she got closer, she could see lights flashing through the trees, and there was a massive crunching of footsteps through the forest. Her face ached where she’d been hit, her eyes were blurred with tears, and branches swiped her bare arms as she
marched forward. They would find her, and Ronny, in a minute, so she just kept walking toward the light.

EJ
WAS GOING
out of his mind. Where was she? They’d stormed the place with everything they had, and the surprise had been to their advantage. But while Lou Maloso and his goons were already on their way to a federal holding tank, there was no sign of Charlotte or her brother, save the bloodied and broken bonds they’d found in the garage. His stomach lurched to think that blood might be Charlotte’s.

They’d been there for an hour already, and the search teams were heading into the woods. They’d be bringing in dogs soon. That was never good. Everything was in chaos as agents and cops from everywhere crawled all over the house and grounds like ants, ambulances appearing out of nowhere with sirens screaming, and the media was sure not to be far behind.

But his thoughts were only on Charlotte. He wanted to go out and plow through the trees himself, but it was better to stay out of the way and leave the professionals to it—he would wait here, wait for her to come back. He didn’t plan on moving from this spot until he knew something, though he was afraid of what he might come to know. More afraid than he had been, ever, of anything.

He didn’t realize he hadn’t moved a muscle in several minutes until Sarah and Ian approached him,
concern written plainly on their faces, their tones trying to bolster him.

“Hey, man, this was good work. Put away some major figures and with the evidence they’re turning up in that house, none of the guys are going to see the light of day anytime soon, especially Lou Maloso.”

Sarah kicked at the dirt. “Not to bring up a sore subject, but won’t his, uh, associates, be looking to even the score? If…when we do find Charlotte, shouldn’t she go into witness protection?”

Ian shook his head. “Typically, no. EJ’s friend Jennie seems to think we got the remaining core of Maloso’s men here, and the other stragglers will find work with other bosses, who are always anxious to take over new territory. They could care less if Maloso is out of the way. Though she can have witness protection if she wants it.”

“But we can’t find Charlotte.” It was all EJ said, looking toward the woods, and Ian and Sarah exchanged worried looks, also afraid of what the final news might be, but then shouts went up, and lights flashed on out in the woods.

Heart in his throat, EJ walked toward the spot where all the commotion gathered.

And he saw her. Her face was bruised, tearstained and pale, but she was walking on her own with a search crew officer on either side of her, and when she raised her eyes to meet his, he started breathing again.

“Charlotte.”

He stepped forward, tightly gathering her up to him. The men around them backed off. Ian and Sarah stood on the sidelines, grinning like fools.

“Charlotte.” It was all he could do, to hold her and say her name, reassuring himself that she was really there, alive and whole.

His.

“Oh, EJ. I knew it was you, I told Ronny, but he wouldn’t come…” Her voice was trembling, but it was the most beautiful sound he’d ever heard. EJ loosened his hold a little to look down into her face.

“Ronny is alive? He’s out there?”

She nodded, her eyes so sad he couldn’t bear it.

“He just wanted to escape, but he’d h-hurt his leg and couldn’t walk…I took away his walking stick, and he fell. He wouldn’t come back to face up to what he did, but I think they’ll find him any minute now. He couldn’t have g-gone t-too far. I told him you’d help, but he wouldn’t come back with me, so I left him th-there…”

“Oh, baby, I’m so sorry you had to go through this.”

“It’s okay. I’m okay. I mean, I’m sad about Ronny, but this is for the best for him, too, I think. He doesn’t think so now, but maybe later, he’ll see…”

EJ made soothing sounds, reassuring her that he was sure that was all true as he walked her back toward the front yard of the house, where an ambulance had been parked since they got there. Handing
her over gently to the medics who helped her up into the ambulance, he looked back over his shoulder to see that she was exactly right. The search team had reemerged from the woods with a beaten and lame Ronny in tow.

Charlotte was inside the ambulance, and couldn’t see, but he smiled at her, patting her arm.

“Wait one second, darlin’. I have to see to something.”

He stepped back to the ground, walking toward Ronny, intercepting him before they made it to the ambulance. He looked at the officers on either side of Ronny who held him up, and nodded.

“Ronny Fulsom?”

The bruised man looked up, worn down and exhausted, but EJ couldn’t find it in himself to really feel sorry for the man. Not after what he’d put his sister through.

“I’m Detective Ethan Beaumont.”

“Yeah, what? You the cop who’s messing with my sister?”

If the man hadn’t been so beaten, EJ would have been tempted to do it himself, but he clenched his fists, and managed a dangerous smile.

“You should know I’ve become rather fond of your sister, and I’m damned sure she doesn’t deserve what’s happened to her all because of you.” EJ stepped a little closer, lowering his voice, and the smile vanished.

“If you weren’t already broken to bits, I would be happy to do the job myself. But seeing as you are, regretfully, probably going to end up as my brother-in-law, and Charlotte, being the soft-hearted person that she is, still hopes that you can be a real brother to her someday, I guess I’ll have to settle for just arresting you. But let me tell you this…”

He took one step closer, nose-to-nose with Ronny’s bloodied face, the other man’s eyes wide. EJ felt Ian’s hand on his shoulder, warning, and he shook it off. He was perfectly in control.

“If you ever cause your sister one moment of pain again, I will make sure to return it tenfold. No doubt your sister will have some kind word to say, or maybe you can testify against Maloso, something that may end up softening your sentence a bit, but if you ever treat her badly again, you’ll deal with me, and that will make your time with Lou look like a walk in the park. Are we clear?”

Underneath the dirt and grime, Ronny paled and lowered his eyes, and EJ stepped back, letting the officers take him to the ambulance, where the officer on his left continued reading his rights.

EJ turned to head back so that he could ride to the hospital with Charlotte, and ran smack into Ian and Sarah, who stood side-by-side, arms crossed, grinning at him like they’d just won a million bucks. All Sarah said, as she hit him solidly in the chest, was, “So he’s going to be your
brother-in-law, huh? Interesting addition to the family.”

EJ shot her a look and walked past, though he smiled as he closed the distance between him and Charlotte.

C
HARLOTTE POPPED THE TOP
of the canned lemonade and held the coolness against her still-sore cheek. Thankfully her cheekbone had only been badly bruised and not fractured, so she didn’t require surgery. But it still hurt quite a bit every time she tried to open her mouth too far. Unless EJ was kissing her; that didn’t seem to hurt much at all.

It was still uncertain, whatever was between them. It had only been two days since the confrontation at Lou’s, and she’d spent the better part of the day in between asleep with the pills they’d given her for pain. So there hadn’t been any talk, though his eyes and kisses spoke volumes. She wondered if that would change after she told him her news. She hadn’t been able to get the nerve up to tell him yet.

But she’d woken up this morning, at EJ’s home, in his bed—alone—ready to start getting her life back together. He’d taken her there from the hospital, and left a note on the counter that he’d be back later that afternoon—he had a meeting about the arrests.

She needed to find out Ronny’s court dates, and get him a lawyer, though a court-appointed attorney was probably the best they were going to do. She hadn’t forgiven Ronny, not by a long shot. But he was her brother, her only family, and she was willing to stick by him and help him be the man he could be, if he were willing to try. And if that didn’t happen, well, she’d cross that bridge when she came to it, but for now, she at least felt like she was seeing things more realistically.

She stopped on the sidewalk and faced the doorway of the community center thrift shop. It was time to face the music about the dress, but as difficult as this was, Charlotte was glad to finally be able to deal with it. She just hoped Phoebe was still there, and hadn’t lost her job. If she had, Charlotte fully intended to speak to the manager and make sure she did her best to get the girl’s position reinstated.

Chin up, she walked through the door and headed directly to the desk, hoping to see Phoebe’s friendly face there.

Instead, there was an older woman, a cool-looking and much less friendly appearing brunette. It must be Sharon, Phoebe’s boss. The woman looked up, meeting Charlotte’s gaze.

“May I help you?”

“I—I was looking for Phoebe.”

“She’s in the back room, just a moment.”

Charlotte nearly melted in relief—at least the girl hadn’t been fired.

She flipped through some items on the racks, and heard a delighted squeal of welcome as she turned to find Phoebe walking toward her with a big smile. Charlotte found herself wrapped in a huge hug and it made her feel even worse. Phoebe was obviously glad to see her, probably because she expected the dress would finally be returned. She took a deep breath and just said what she had to say.

“Phoebe, I am so sorry about the dress—”

The young woman drew back, and looked at Charlotte in amazement.

“Are you kidding? I mean, I was a little frazzled the morning you didn’t show up, but I understand completely and I’m just so happy to see that you’re okay!”

“You are?” Now Charlotte was confused.

“Yes, I got the note from Mr. Beaumont, saying you’d had an accident and the dress we’d lent you had been ruined, but he had another identical one that was brand-new sent immediately to replace it.”

Charlotte was frozen in shock. EJ had replaced the dress. But he had never said a word…of course, if he had, she would have argued. She preferred to pay her own way, but in the case of the dress, she just breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

“I didn’t know—he must have meant to tell me and forgot. You didn’t get in trouble? I was so worried.”

Phoebe slung an arm around her shoulders and walked with her out the front door where they could stand in the sunshine and chat in private.

“Well, Sharon wasn’t thrilled with me loaning the dress out—but she couldn’t be too mad because it was replaced, and then some. The new dress went for big dollars in the auction, She chewed me out a little, but that was it.”

“Well, I’m sorry that happened. I really was the one who should be chewed out.”

“Those are terrible bruises on your face—you must have been in some accident. I’m glad to see you’re up and around.”

“Oh, thanks. Yeah, today is my first day out. I’m still a little woozy.”

Phoebe hugged her again. “Well, you met one amazing guy. He’s the one you got the dress for in the first place, to go to the Isle, that’s him, right? He’s the one who replaced the dress?”

Charlotte smiled. “Yeah, that’s him.”

“Wow. Sounds like a fairy tale.”

Charlotte nodded, thinking about how the original Grimm fairy tales had been scary stories with hard lessons, as well as a happily-ever-after, and while she and EJ had surely experienced the scary and difficult parts, she wondered about the happily-ever-after. And hoped.

“Well, I should be going. I’m sorry again about the dress, but I’m glad it worked out okay.”

“You still owe me a tarot reading, remember,” Phoebe teased, winking.

“Absolutely. You just say when. You can have as many as you want, whenever you want.”

“Cool!”

Waving goodbye to Phoebe, she strolled down the sidewalk, and all she could think about was seeing EJ, and thanking him for replacing that dress.

EJ
AND
S
ARAH
sat at the long board table with Ian and about a dozen other law enforcement officials going over the arrests and events of the past few days, and all EJ wanted to do was get the hell out of there and go home to Charlotte.

He liked the sound of that, and he wanted to make it a permanent arrangement. He knew when he’d awakened that morning next to her, as she slept peacefully beside him, that she was the woman he wanted to wake up next to for the rest of his life.

Now he couldn’t wait to get home and tell her that. He glanced at his watch impatiently as the meeting dragged on, thankfully interrupted by the ring of someone’s cell phone, and everyone searched their pockets, but Ian said. “It’s me.”

EJ knew what the call was as he watched the color run out of his friend’s face. Ian clicked the phone shut, stood and declared the meeting over with.

Sage was on her way to the hospital, in labor.

Congratulations and back-slapping went all
around the room, but Ian was already out the door, with EJ and Sarah not far behind.

“Ian, wait, we’ll drive.”

Racing to the parking garage, the elevator opened and the three of them nearly plowed Charlotte over as they pushed forward. EJ steadied her and pulled her back into the compartment as they headed to the cars.

Ian looked completely shell-shocked, and Sarah was staring at him helplessly, unsure what to do. EJ just laughed out loud, so full of joy at the moment he couldn’t keep it inside. Charlotte looked at them all like they were nuts, and he leaned down and kissed her for it.

“Sage is having their twins now. We’re going to the hospital,” he offered by way of explanation, watching her face light up as she crossed the small space to Ian and hugged him tightly. EJ watched as she placed a palm on either side of his face, as if they were age-old friends, and told him that everything was going to be just fine.

EJ loved her so much he felt like he was going to explode if he didn’t tell her, but the doors opened, and they all burst from the elevator, running to the car and directing Ian into the passenger’s seat, whether he liked it or not.

When they hit the street, two squad cars were waiting with lights flashing, and they escorted them to the hospital. EJ grinned in the rearview mirror at Charlotte, who sat in back with Sarah, and she
grinned back. Within minutes they were at the hospital entrance, and Ian’s door was open and he was out almost before EJ had stopped the car. EJ, Sarah and Charlotte went to find parking, and Sarah shook her head.

“I hope those babies waited for him.”

“He’ll feel much better once he gets up there, one way or the other.”

“These are his first, I take it?” Charlotte asked, trying to catch up.

EJ nodded. “Ian was married before and his ex-wife had a bad miscarriage. He’s been scared to death on some level that he could lose them again, or lose Sage. I know how he feels, to some extent.” He caught her eyes in a meaningful glance in the rearview as he pulled into a space, but she looked away, making him frown.

“Well, let’s go see how the new dad is doing.”

Finding maternity was a challenge, but eventually they got there, but there was no sign of Ian. A nurse told them everything was fine, but they had just moved on to delivery. It wouldn’t be too long now, before they would have news.

Sarah was on her cell to Logan, knowing he would want to be there. For the moment, there wasn’t anything they could do but wait. And pace, as was traditional.

But EJ had things to say, and now seemed as good a time as any. He excused them for a moment, lead
ing Charlotte down the hall to an empty room, and asked a nurse if he could use it for a private conversation. The pretty RN was charmed, and agreed.

“EJ! What are you thinking? We have to get back down there, Ian could be back out at any second—”

He stopped her with a kiss that took them both over for several seconds, their emotions running high and their passion for each other spiking to match. EJ drew back, looking down into her face intently, running his finger lightly along the bruises on her cheek.

“I died a thousand deaths when they were looking for you in those woods.”

Her face softened, her gaze locked on his. “Me, too. When they took me, I thought I might never see you again.”

“I love you, Charlotte. I want to marry you, if you’ll have me, as soon as is humanly possible.”

“What?” It was all she could think to say, and stood staring dumbly at EJ, who suddenly sank to one knee, and was staring up at her, his heart in his eyes.

“Will you marry me, Charlotte? I should have a ring, and we’ll go out to dinner, back to the Isle, and I’ll do this again, right, but I can’t wait. I need to know now if you’ll be my wife.”

Charlotte was overcome, and simply sank to her knees, too, grasping his other hand.

“EJ, before I answer that we have to talk about something.”

His brow creased in a frown, but he nuzzled her face gently with his lips. “Whatever you want.”

Charlotte tried to speak, but the intense emotions of the last few days, hell, the last week, finally caught up with her and she dissolved, leaning into EJ and just sobbing for all she was worth. EJ rubbed her back, his tone apologetic.

“I’m sorry, honey, I’ve been so impatient. You don’t have to answer now. You can take your time, I just want to be part of your life, and have you in mine, we don’t have to get married right now if—”

“Nothing happened.”

He looked at her blankly, shaking his head.

“What do you mean?”

“When we forgot to be careful? Nothing happened—I’m not pregnant.”

EJ drew back, a shocked kind of realization on his face. “You think that’s why I’m asking you to marry me?”

Charlotte shook her head in the negative, more tears spilling.

“You replaced the dress!”

It took him a moment to catch up, but then realized what she meant.

“Yes, I know. I knew you were worried about it, and didn’t want the clerk to lose her job. I also knew you would argue with me if I told you. I didn’t mean to interfere, I love you just the way you are. I was just wanting to…help.”

“No, it was a wonderful thing to do. No one has ever done anything so thoughtful for me before. Everything is upside down, and I didn’t plan to have a baby, but then I fell so much in love with you, and I started to love the idea of carrying that little baby around, and last night before they could give me pain medication they had to do a test when I told them there was a chance, and then they told me it was negative, and I was s-so…s-sad…and then I found out you replaced that dress, and I was so touched. I needed to see you right away.”

The tirade ended in even heavier tears, and EJ pulled her into a tight embrace, rocking her back and forth until she calmed down, kissing her hair and smiling. When the tears had reduced to hiccups, he drew back, studying her face, his voice patient.

“Charlotte, do you love me?”

He kissed her softly.

“Yes.”

“Do you want to have babies with me and fill all those empty rooms in my family home? To have a future with me?”

He kissed her again, more deeply, licking the salty tears from her lips.

“Oh, yes.”

“Then, please, once more, will you marry me?”

She met him full-on, their passion exploding as they lowered to the floor, laughing against each
others’ lips as she responded from the deepest well of her heart.

“Absolutely.”