Secrets and Seduction: 5 Romance Novels (11 page)

“Nick. Nick?” Brian shook him.

“Yeah? Her pulse is steady.”

Brian thrust some material at him. “Nick, take these blankets and put one around her and the other around yourself.”

“She’s not cold. I’m not either.”

“Your breathing is rapid and shallow, and she needs to be protected from the Jaws. Can you do this?” Brian spoke slowly like he was talking to a child.

“I’m not helpless.”

Nick covered Marisa, using the action to probe gently for injuries. Not finding any obvious broken bones, he went back to breathing with her.

“Nick?” A woman’s voice. “Nick?”

He turned his head to find Marisa’s mother pale and wide-eyed. He gave a start to see so many people watching from a few feet away.

“Her pulse is steady.”

“She will live?”

“I don’t see any broken bones, Anjelita. I don’t know if she’s injured.”

“She has never been in an accident before. All these bad things happening.” She crossed herself.

Nick had thought the same thing; only it had begun with his dad’s death. “I won’t let her die.” It was a stupid, rash promise he couldn’t possibly keep, but he’d die trying.

Anjelita’s eyes filled. “Thank you.”

And just like that he felt like a hero, with nothing but a lie. But it hadn’t felt like a lie. In fact, Marisa’s pulse felt stronger under his fingers.

The noisy Jaws of Life halted further conversation. Finally, Marisa’s door was opened. Nick leaped from his seat and barreled around the car.

“Nick!” Brian shouted.

But then Nick remembered how to be an EMT, how to protect an accident victim from further trauma, how to probe for injuries. As he worked alongside the Watkins Glen paramedics, Marisa groaned.

Her eyes fluttered open. “What happened?”

“You were in a car accident,” Nick said. His legs trembled and he leaned against the car for support.

Her eyes flew to his. “The brakes wouldn’t work. Oh my God, Nick, I couldn’t stop the car!”

• • •

The Montour Falls ER staff poked, prodded, scanned and x-rayed Marisa for hours after the accident. Finally, they shook their heads, proclaimed it a miracle she hadn’t received more than a bump on the head and numerous bruises, and cleared her to go home.

Throughout the ordeal, both Nick and her mother had stayed by her side. Her mother she understood, but Nick? There was a wild look in his eyes, not one she’d ever seen before, and one she couldn’t name. He had a white bandage on his arm covering a deep scratch he didn’t know how he got, but the blood stains on both of them told her it had happened in her car.

Now that she officially had calmed everyone’s fears for her health, she realized where she was and what she had to do. It was as though fate had wanted to make sure she came here.

She swallowed and took hold of her mother’s hand. “Mamá, it’s time.”

Anjelita frowned. “Time,
mi hija
?”

“For the test.”

Her mother looked terrified for a moment, but then she nodded. “Yes.”

“What test?” Nick straightened in his chair. “I thought the doctor cleared you.”

“The DNA test. Remember, I’m supposed to have it done here.”

“Oh.” He glanced toward the nurse’s station. “They’ll be able to direct us.”

In moments, she was whisked off to a lab where a very bright-eyed technician and a Middle Eastern man in a white lab jacket waited.

The man introduced himself as Dr. Ziad Smail. “The Watkins Glen lawyer briefed me. You can be assured I’ll handle the test personally in the most expeditious manner possible.”

Nerves fluttered in Marisa’s stomach. This was it. She’d finally find out the answer she’d been waiting for.

“Whose DNA will you compare it to?” Nick asked.

Marisa’s gaze jerked to him. That hadn’t occurred to her. How would they track down the man who’d left town because her mother was pregnant?

“Watkins Glen is getting a court order to exhume Andrew Easterling’s body.”

“What!” Marisa exclaimed.

Her mother swooned, groaning, and Nick caught her, easing Anjelita gently into a chair. The technician brought smelling salts and waved it under Anjelita’s nose until her mother pushed the young man away.

“Mamá, are you all right?”

“Poor Andrew! To defile his grave like that.”

“There is another way.” Everyone in the room looked at Nick. He took a deep breath and continued. “His daughter, Carolyn Wentworth, is in the morgue. You could test her.”

“Oh, God.” Marisa covered her mouth and closed her eyes, fighting off sickness.

“A half-sister?” Dr. Smail asked.

“Yes,” Nick said.

“The father would be better, but we’ll try. If it doesn’t work, we can still exhume the body.”

Anjelita moaned. Marisa felt sick again. She should have known they’d have to compare her results to someone already deceased, but to defile Carolyn that way … She shuddered.

“Open your mouth, Miss Avalos. This will only take a second.”

A moment later, Dr. Smail whisked away with the swab clutched like a prize. And the DNA test was over except for the waiting.

“We’ll call you with the results in a day or two.” The young male technician smiled and left the room.

“In a way, I feel let down,” Marisa said. “I guess I thought I’d know right away.”

Nick took Anjelita’s and her arm and led them out of the hospital.

“How are we going to get home?” Marisa asked.

They looked at one another. They’d ridden in the ambulance with her.

“Do they have cabs in this town?” Nick asked.

“No, but they have rental cars.” The lawyer, Jantzen, detached himself from the side of the building. “I brought yours. I volunteered to play chauffeur for the woman who’s going to save the town.”

Nick had the lawyer drop him at the sheriff’s department. He didn’t want to be separated from Marisa, but she had work to catch up on and he had something important to do.

As soon as he entered the building, he spotted Brian talking to Sheriff Kehr in the sheriff’s office. He caught his friend’s eye through the office window and Brian nodded. Nick waited at Brian’s desk for the other conversation to end, tapping his foot with barely restrained anticipation.

Finally Brian joined him, settling into his desk chair with a sigh. “I heard Marisa is going to be fine.”

Nick scooted to the edge of the other chair and leaned forward. “Yeah, the hospital proclaimed it a miracle. I think it had more to do with her trying to control her car after her brakes failed. It’s terrifying to hear her tell the tale. What’d you find out about that, by the way?”

Brian frowned. “She had almost no brake fluid left. She probably went too long between oil changes.”

“Were the other fluids low?”

Brian shook his head and shrugged. “We didn’t check those.”

“Last night Marisa tripped on a child’s ball left on her stairs, but no children live in her building. I thought it was an accident, just neighbor children being careless. But after this morning, I’m not so sure.”

“Who do you have in mind as the suspect?”

“I don’t know. Does someone just want to scare Marisa, stop her from what she’s doing, or does somebody want her silenced for good? She could easily have broken her neck on those tall, narrow stairs.” A cold chill ran through Nick at the thought.

Brian lowered his voice and leaned forward. “You’re talking about premeditated murder, Nick. I know you’re burnt out from all the overtime you’ve been working. Is that affecting the way you look at things?”

Nick hadn’t seen much goodness in the past six months, but he felt he was right about this. He shook his head. “I’ve been in town for two weeks, Bri. If it weren’t so peaceful here, this place would be boring. But in the past four days a lot of things have happened. They can’t be unrelated.”

Brian sighed. “I can’t think of anyone in town I’d believe capable of cold-blooded murder.”

“It doesn’t have to be a townsperson. What have you found out about Scott Wentworth?”

Brian gave Nick a sharp look. “His business is in debt, so, yeah, he’s got a motive to push his wife in front of a train. Only why not just ask her for the money?”

“Most of her assets weren’t liquid.”

“She could have used them as collateral on a loan.”

“I don’t know, Brian. You’re the cop, not me.”

“I’ll keep digging. But, Nick, even if he killed his wife — and I’m not saying he did — what reason would he have to come after Marisa?”

Nick kept an eye on the door to the sheriff’s office. “The DNA test?”

“That didn’t come up until last night.” Brian, too, glanced at the other office and kept his voice low and flat.

“But the rumors have been here for years.” Nick matched his friend’s tone.

“A rumor isn’t a motive for premeditated murder.”

“There’s bad blood between them.”

Brian rolled his eyes. “Now that’s a motive if you’re in a gang. Scott Wentworth doesn’t seem the type to get passionate about a grudge. In fact, I’ve always considered him to be cold.”

“Marisa is in danger from someone. Two accidents in two days can’t be coincidence, Brian.” Nick felt desperate to convince his friend.

“We’re just a small department, Nick. We can’t spare someone to guard her.” Brian looked thoughtful. “You’re spending a lot of time with her. You could keep an eye on her.”

“I’m not with her when she’s at work, or when she goes home at night. What am I supposed to do, lurk in the bushes outside her apartment like a peeping Tom?” Nick’s mind conjured a vision of her stripping while he watched. His cock hardened and he had to shift in his chair to get comfortable.

“Or maybe you want me to move in with her so I can ruin her reputation more than it is already.”

Brian reached across the desk and gripped Nick’s forearm. “You’ve fallen for her, man. I warned you that you were vulnerable. Are you in love with her?”

Nick scoffed. “I’ve known her for four days. How could I be in love with her?”

“I saw how you acted this morning. A man doesn’t go crazy like that unless a woman means something to him. By the way, what happened to your arm?”

Nick lifted his forearm where the white bandage was prominent against his tanned skin. He’d pretty much forgotten about it. “I don’t know.”

“Do you remember yanking the passenger door open?”

“No.” All he remembered was the desperate need to get to Marisa.

“That metal was pretty ragged.”

“I don’t remember. What does it matter anyway?” He’d done what he had to do. He’d do the same thing again if, God forbid, she were ever in a situation like that again.

“I think if it came down to a choice between Marisa’s life and yours, you’d choose hers.”

Nick thought it entirely possible, but he didn’t say so. He hadn’t analyzed what had been happening. He’d just been living it. And enjoying it, damn it.

“Nick, you’re a hero. That’s why you’re so good at your job. And right now Marisa needs a hero. But what happens when she doesn’t need one anymore? In your current state, I’m afraid what would happen to you. Marisa won’t mean to hurt you — she’s a great woman — but she will. She’s not ready for another relationship.”

Nick gritted his teeth. “I know that.” His timing couldn’t suck any worse. Even if he gave Marisa six months or a year to get over her engagement, there’d be no guarantee a local man wouldn’t catch her eye, or that she’d even be interested in Nick. After all, he wasn’t local, she had no intention of moving, and he loved his job. He really wanted to go back to work.

“Then do yourself a favor and stay away from her,” Brian said.

“I’ll think about it.”

Brian promised to do a little more digging into Scott Wentworth’s background. By the time Nick left, he thought he’d convinced Brian that he wasn’t imagining the danger to Marisa. He would have all the fluid levels in Marisa’s car checked and call Nick with the findings.

Nick drove down to the docks so he could think about what Brian had said. If he wanted to return home heart whole, he’d walk away from Marisa now. He sat on the end of the Seneca Harbor Pier and watched the motorboats and sailboats dance gently on the dark waters of the lake. The scene was peaceful, the silence broken only by the slap of water against the wooden pier, by gulls wheeling overhead, and by voices carrying briefly across the docks. The sun baked his tight shoulders and made him glad to feel alive again.

The breeze off the deep water carried the chill of autumn. This warm spell wouldn’t last; the seasons were changing. He felt restless inside, like he wanted to change too. But he didn’t know in what way. All he knew was what he did best, and that was back in New York City.

When his cell phone rang several hours later and he heard Marisa’s voice, he still didn’t know what he should do. But he tried to heed Brian’s advice.

“In all the excitement, I completely forgot my promise to take you places to photograph,” she said.

“I understand. You’re busy.” Nick tried not to show encouragement in his voice.

“No, I mean yes, I am. But I’ve got to get away from these phone calls. People mean well and I know they care, but how many times am I expected to rehash the story?”

“You’re a celebrity. It’s the price of fame.”

“I’d really like to see Eagle Cliff Falls. Would you go with me?” There was yearning in her voice.

Nick was weak. How could he say no to the things that made him feel alive? He crumbled. “When?”

“I’ll pick you up in ten minutes. Can you be ready?” Excitement fueled her voice.

He was primed and ready to go. “Yeah. I’m sitting on the pier. I’ll meet you in the parking lot.”

“Great.”

As he leaped to his feet and headed for the promenade, he knew he couldn’t follow Brian’s advice. Marisa needed him and what they shared together as much as he needed her. He’d heard it in her voice.

• • •

On the outskirts of the town of Montour Falls, Marisa drove through a campground sparsely populated with small trailers to the base of a hillside where a narrow stream flowed.

“Eagle Cliff Falls is up there?” Nick pointed up the hill. He couldn’t imagine anything worthwhile being located in this place. The little campground looked sad and deserted.