Ladd Haven (27 page)

Pushing through the door, Delaney was
struck by a wave of cold air. Chilling the perspiration on her
naked arms, it quickly swallowed her whole. Nick glanced up, papers
in hand. As he held her in his gaze, his demeanor cooled several
degrees. Could he sense the results of her meeting with Gavin? Was
she that transparent?

Rather than going to him, she hovered
near the indoor fountain. Its water gurgled and splashed, dropping
delicately from one tiered basin to the next. Instead of calming
her, the sound irritated. Nick neared and drew her off to the side,
near a pair of lounge chairs. Neither sat. Lowering his voice, he
asked, “Well, how’d it go?”

“
Horrible.”

“
Horrible?”

“
Yes. Gavin has arrested
Troy and won’t listen to my side of the story. Thanks to you and
Malcolm, he thinks I’m some kind of conspirator against him, not to
mention he’s falling for that con artist of an ex-husband of mine’s
bull crap—”

Nick grasped her shoulders.
“Slow down. You’re not making any sense. What do you mean,
conspirator
?”

Delaney flipped her face up to meet
his, a whorl of emotion funneling through her. “Because you and
Malcolm didn’t tell him about the warrant out for Jeremiah’s
arrest, the one he had to learn about from his police chief, he
thinks I withheld evidence from him. Information that could have
helped him nab Jeremiah.”

“
But he did get Jeremiah,
arrested him and held him for the Vegas DA.”

“
He doesn’t see it that way.
He thinks you should have told him what you knew so that he could
have brought Jeremiah in on his own, without the direction of his
boss.”

Realization registered in his eyes.
“And be the hero.”

“
Exactly.”

Casting a glance around the lobby,
shadows formed beneath the line of his dark brows, and Delaney felt
as though he were moving his forces out of sight, going
underground. She placed an arm to the muscular round of his
forearm. “Nick? What are we going to do? I can’t let Troy be
charged for something he didn’t do. I mean, he did hit Jack but
only under duress. If he’s charged with assault and battery, it
will stay on his permanent record.”

“
We’re going to fix
it.”

“
How? Troy’s parents are
working against us.”

“
How so?”

“
By letting him sit in jail!
They think it will teach him a lesson.”

Nick raked a hand through his hair,
waves of brown clipped short and neat. He looked at her in
astonishment. “Don’t they understand the circumstances? That he did
the right thing?”

“
I told them, but they’re
angry. Upset.”

“
How the hell do they
think
you
feel?” he
erupted under his breath.

“
It’s complicated, Nick. The
Parkers are good people. They raised eight kids and only one has
caused them any trouble.”

“
That one being
Troy.”

“
Yes. But he’s a good kid.
This time he’s caught up in bad circumstances that are beyond his
control.”

Nick pulled the cell phone from his
pocket. “I’m going to bail him out.”

Relief swept through her. “Thank you. I
don’t want to fire him, Nick. He helped me, and he’s back on the
mend with Casey. I don’t want any of this to interfere with his job
here.”

“
Who said anything about
firing him?” he asked, dialing as he spoke.

“
So that means you
won’t?”

“
It means I intend to clean
up this mess so that a firing isn’t warranted.”

“
How?”

“
I’m calling
Lanny.”

Lanny, his attorney, the man
Nick and Malcolm went to for anything and everything legal. “But
isn’t he a corporate lawyer? What does he know about criminal
law?”
Criminal law
.
Troy was no criminal—he was a defender, a protector! Visions of
Jack’s assault trickled in. The man had pointed his gun at her yet
Troy was the one sitting in jail. A wave of nervous energy tumbled
in her gut. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t fair!

“
Lanny will put us in
contact with the best criminal lawyers in the country,” Nick said,
holding the phone to his ear. “We’ll have Troy out and free of
these charges in no time with a few of our own to file.”

“
Against Jack? But I told
you, Gavin doesn’t believe me.”

“
Well, we’ll have to make
him believe you.”

“
How? It’s not like Jack is
going to confess.”

“
Don’t be so sure about
that.” Into the phone, he said, “Nick Harris. I need to speak with
Lanny right away.”

“
Nick,” she urged worriedly,
“you can’t jeopardize the hotel by beating a confession out of
him.”

“
I don’t intend to.” Then to
his lawyer’s office, he replied, “Have him call me on my cell. Tell
him it’s urgent.”

Watching him end the call, Delaney
wasn’t convinced. Nick wasn’t the type of man to let others handle
his business for him, not when it came to revenge. Hadn’t he flown
to South America to exact his revenge on Jillian Devane? Rather
than call her father and gather his information, he’d personally
flown to Brazil to meet with him in person, in the
flesh.

Flesh.

Beating.

“
I’m going to get Troy,”
Nick said, “and then I’m going to settle matters with
Jack.”

“
You can’t handle Jack on
your own. You need law enforcement involved. It has to be
legitimate.”

Nick said nothing, casting his
attention to the front desk. Delaney turned, surprised to see
Malcolm emerge from the office. The two men shared a glance. Behind
the black of Nick’s gaze she could see a thousand thoughts
swirling. The lines in his face had deepened, hardened. Whatever
Nick’s plan, it wasn’t going to be pretty. Distracted by a couple
crossing the lobby, a blonde couple who appeared Norwegian or
Swedish with their fair skin and naturally rosy cheeks, urgency
clawed at her. Once again, Delaney was consumed by the surreal
turns her life was taking. First Felicity learned the truth,
cursing her mother’s decisions, and then Jack’s attack, Troy’s
arrest and Nick’s promise to “fix it.” It was too much. Nick was
unpredictable. “Settling matters” with Jack could mean any number
of things.

“
I want you to go to the
stables,” he said to her, pulling her into a hug. “Take your mind
off this business and let me handle it from here, okay?”

Cheek pressed firmly to his chest,
Delaney soaked in the feel of him. She trusted Nick but feared the
circumstances might prove beyond his control. Jack would taunt and
bait and try to lure Nick into a compromising position.

“
I’ll let you know when I
have something concrete.” Nick kissed the top of her
head.

She nodded dutifully. Did she have a
choice?

Chapter Twenty-One

“
Please, Casey,” Annie
pleaded. Clipped to the edge of the sofa in their apartment, her
daughter sat resistant to reassurance of any kind. She wouldn’t
eat, wouldn’t drink, wouldn’t listen to reason. She wouldn’t do
anything but wait for Troy’s phone call. Annie didn’t like the
situation any more than Casey, but there was honestly nothing they
could do.

“
He said he’d call. But he
hasn’t! I have to go to him!”

“
We have to wait for Nick to
take care of things.”

“
Troy’s in jail—his parents
won’t bail him out! How can I just sit here and do
nothing?”

Annie hated the panic in her daughter’s
voice. She was losing control—understandably so—but it couldn’t be
good for the baby.

Brightly dressed in a blend of green
and blue and swipes of eye shadow to match, Ashley Fulmer stepped
in. Her rhinestone-studded wardrobe felt wildly out of place in the
fluster of upset, but Ashley only did bright and glittery, and this
morning was no exception. “Now calm down, darlin’ before you come
apart at the seams. Mr. Harris is going down to bail him out and
he’ll be home by lunchtime. There’s no sense in your going,
too.”

“
What if he can’t? What if
the police won’t let him go?”

“
Bail only takes money,
darlin’ and Mr. Harris has it spillin’ from his
pockets.”

Casey’s gaze darted between the two.
She didn’t trust them. She didn’t trust Nick. She didn’t trust
anyone at the moment. Annie couldn’t blame her. No one had told
Casey about what happened between Jack and Delaney. Why shouldn’t
she think they were holding back from her now?

“
What if he can’t prove Troy
is innocent? What if no one believes him?”

“
He will. Delaney said
Nick’s lawyers will fight and Troy will be cleared of these
charges, you wait and see.” Ashley exchanged a solemn glance with
Annie, communicating a concern that went beyond the pregnancy. She
was worried about Casey’s past. High strung on a good day, she had
taken to drugs in the past and Ashley feared that if Troy were
found guilty of the charges and sent to prison, Casey would skate
off a cliff. Annie couldn’t refute the notion.

Annie squeezed Casey’s hand. “Nick will
take care of it, sweetheart, you’ve got to trust him.” Delaney said
as much when she called this morning, though Annie still couldn’t
believe Gavin was defending Jack. Everyone knew the history. It
wasn’t a secret. But when Candi said Jack’s and Gavin’s mothers
were close, Annie hadn’t realized she meant closer than two kernels
on a cob! It was ridiculous to think they would collaborate to
protect a criminal like Jack but they were. “They’ll call us as
soon as they know something. Worrying about it now won’t
help.”

Casey stared at her like a frightened
cat, a kitten dangling from an electrical line over a pool of
water. Just when Casey allowed herself to believe the future was
bright and happy, Troy could be ripped from her life and sent to
jail. “I’ll ask Cal when I get to the salon, okay?” Annie had to
work, the schedule stacked from open to close. She didn’t want to
leave Casey alone which is why she called her godmother. Ashley
would stay with Casey and keep her calm.

But still Annie was
concerned for Casey’s health and the health of the baby. She
couldn’t shake what the doctor had said about stress.
Stress is a killer. You must make sure she keeps
it to a minimum
. Easy for him to say. He
wasn’t living the nightmare!

Drawing her purse close to her body,
Annie looked to Ashley. “I’ve got to go.”

Ashley nodded and walked with her to
the front door of the apartment. “Go on. I’ve got it covered
here.”

Her heart looped around Casey, Annie
murmured, “I wish I didn’t have to leave. It doesn’t feel
right.”

“
You have to do what you
have to do. You sittin’ here isn’t gonna wind the clock any faster.
We’re gonna hear when we hear and that’s all there is to
it.”

“
But she needs
me.”

“
And so do your employees.
You’ve got a job to do so get to it. And try to relax, darlin’.”
Ashley inched closer. “You’re wound up tighter than a possum on a
freeway.”

Annie blinked. Staring into blue eyes,
lashes heavily coated in mascara, she asked meekly, “Can you blame
me?”

“
No, but it’s not helping
anyone.” Ashley rubbed a hand up and down her arm. “You’ve got to
stay strong for the child. She needs you to be calm and steady not
unraveling like a ball of quilt yarn.”

Everything she didn’t feel. “You’re
right. I’ll try.”

Ashley whittled her gaze to a
fine-tipped point. “You’ve got to do better than try. There are
people dependin’ on you.”

“
I will.” Annie nodded
dumbly. “I will. Will you talk to Ida?” Ashley and Ida went way
back. Her sister was married to Booker’s first cousin. It was
possible she could talk some sense into her and in turn, get Ida to
convince Gavin to settle this mess.

“
I told you I would and I
will, first chance I get.” Ashley ushered Annie toward the door.
“Now git. You’ve got responsibilities waitin’ on you.”

Annie was already running behind, but
she couldn’t shirk the entire morning. It was true. People were
waiting on her, clients included. “Thank you.”

“
You don’t have to thank me.
We’re family. It’s what we do.”

Family. A word growing by leaps and
bounds in Annie’s world. With one last glance to Casey, Annie was
determined her daughter wouldn’t suffer because of Jack Foster or
Troy. She was determined the incident with Delaney would not serve
to ruin her child’s and grandchild’s lives.

Casey sniffled, the sound tugging at
Annie’s heart. Taking a step back into the living room, she said,
“Sweetheart, I’ll call you the minute I know something.”

A bleary-eyed Casey nodded.

Annie accepted Ashley’s kiss and hug.
Swathed in a rush of heavy perfume, she allowed herself to be
pushed out the door, a reluctant call to duty weighing on her
mind.

“
Call us, you hear anything,
okay?” Ashley asked. “We’ll be fine until then.”