Seductive Knight (19 page)

Gawain’s cock pulsed.
Lord have mercy.

“I’d better stop.”

“Why?”

“I’ll save some for later.”

“We can buy more.”

“I know, but I shouldn’t pig out like this when I couldn’t even share anything with Nanni and Ema.”

“They’ll get their share. Miss them?”

“Very much.”

“Don’t worry. You’ll see them soon.” As soon as the words left his mouth, sadness hit him square in the chest. He didn’t want Alex to leave. Ever.

He was fucking doomed.

When he heard the sound of Bors’s truck, he closed his eyes and let out a sigh. He wasn’t in the mood to entertain right now. All he wanted to do was be alone with Alex, but Bors’s visit, he knew, was important. His brother must have unearthed more information. His presence here meant his investigation was moving forward, which also meant getting closer to finding the truth about what happened at the Rose’s house. If Bors solved the case soon…

Gawain met Alex’s gaze. She seemed unexcited about the prospect of talking to Bors.

“Hey, you okay?” He reached up to touch her cheek.

“Yeah. I’m just kind of afraid to hear what questions he has for me or what else Bors found out about my family.”

“All families have dirty laundry in their baskets, if that’s what you’re worried about. Did I tell you Kirsten is here, too?”

“Really?” Alex’s face lit up.

“Yup.” He took her hand and placed it palm down on his chest. “She’ll make your ears ring with her constant talk about her designs. Just so you know.”

“I don’t mind.”

“She’ll eat your candies.”

“We can share.”

Sitting up, he cupped her chin and then captured her mouth with his. In between kisses, he said, “Bors will eat everything. Including the strawberries, and he’ll lick the wrappers.”

“Again, we can share,” she breathed.

Gawain snaked his hand between her legs, then cupped her heat. “I like sharing, too. But not you. You’re mine alone.” He rubbed her pussy through her jeans. “I love everything about you.” Gawain nuzzled Alex’s neck, kissing the soft skin before taking a little bite of it.

“Gawain…”

“We’ll run upstairs. They can raid the kitchen while waiting.”

Alex giggled. “You’re so bad.”

“Damn. I want you.” He was about to unbutton Alex’s jeans when the doorbell rang. “Too late.”

“Answer the door.”

“I should.” With a loud sigh, he stood up and went to get the door.

As soon as the greetings were done, Bors and Kirsten fought for the bags of chocolates. Alex wasn’t far behind. She smiled with her teeth covered with chocolates and pretended to ask what was wrong. Among the four of them, they nearly devoured all of the candies and strawberries within minutes.

“So, Alex. How is your stay here so far?” Bors asked while fighting for the last strawberry with Kirsten.

“Fabulous! Today we went to the Pancake Haus for breakfast and lunch. I practiced driving and went shopping for junk foods. Gawain has been seeing to my needs.”

“I’m sure.” Bors grinned.

Gawain shook his head at his brother. He knew how Bors’s mind worked. He leaned back on the sofa and stretched his arm on the back with his hand touching the back of Alex’s neck. He played with the fuzzy hair on her nape that he wanted to kiss.

“Bors, you dripped juice on my skirt,” Kirsten whined.

“You call that a skirt? Jesus, whoever made that should be shot.”

“What’s wrong with my skirt?”

“That little piece of scrap is no wider than the band of my jockstrap.”

“Eww!” Kirsten punched Bors, who anticipated it and flexed his arm.

“You can’t hurt me, froggy.”

“Whatever. Hey, Alex. I want to show you my shop. I have clothes that might fit you. New, not used, but in need of a new home. Are you busy tonight?”

“She is.” The answer came so quick even before Gawain could process it.

“I am?”

“Yes.”

“Gawain, you can’t monopolize her. She’s my friend, too.”

“I know that, princess. I just don’t want to share her right now.” Gawain grinned when Alex scowled at him.

“You, too?” Kirsten rolled her eyes. “In case you haven’t heard, Alex. These boys guard their women like a hawk. Nice, but sometimes so annoying.”

“We protect our own. A Knight’s vow,” Bors said.

“I, I don’t belong to—”

“Yes, baby. You do.” Gawain massaged Alex’s neck.

Kirsten gave Gawain a sly smile. “You haven’t met Addie. Lord, she’s drop dead gorgeous. Like you.”

“We’ll be at Bors’s crib to join you guys.”

“Fantastic! Gawain said you could be an Olympic swimmer.”

Alex raised a questioning brow at Gawain.

He shrugged. “You said you’re good.”

“I can swim, but not as good as the Olympic athletes.”

“Same difference.”

“Not at all.”

Alex looked so flustered, he couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. “Just agree.”

“Okay, now that we got that kissing out of the way, bring your bathing suit Saturday. It’ll be a beautiful day for a swim. That is if Gawain lets you swim.”

“Bathing suit? I-I don’t have, uhm…”

Gawain exchanged glances with his sister. He smiled when she picked up on his silent message.

“You know, Taylor has been bugging me to go shopping. Can you go tomorrow, since my dearest brother wanted you for himself today?”

“We can all go.”

“Gawain—”

“I have to agree, Alex,” Bors said with a straight face. This time, he was no longer playful, but serious enough to wipe Alex and Kirsten’s smiles. “We can’t let you go out without one of us, which brings us to the reason why I’m here.”

Gawain felt Alex stiffen. He hated whoever altered her life, whoever gave her a nightmare while she was awake. It hurt Alex and he wanted it to go away. Or at least make it not so unpleasant. Damn it.

“What’s your question?”

Gawain saw the surprised look on Kirsten’s face when Alex talked with an accent, but she didn’t comment on it.

“Not a question, really, but I want to talk to you about your inheritance. According to my dad, even though you’ve been gone for a long time, everything that Clayton had left is still under your name.”

“My grandma and aunt didn’t inherit?”

“They were mentioned in Clayton’s will. Both received some money. But what belonged to your parents is still yours.”

“Even when Mom and I have been gone for eleven years? We could have been declared dead.”

As a habit, Bors used the coffee table to rest his booted feet. “There are several criteria for declaring someone dead by assumption. One is unsuccessful search for that person. Alex, no search or diligent searching was done to declare you dead. As soon as Baskerville is better, he’ll meet with you and talk about your parents’ assets.”

“Do you think my parents’ money has something to do with what happened that night?” Alex shook her head. “To this day, I really don’t know how much my parents are worth. Mom never told me. All I know is that we hada big house good for hide and seek.”

Bors smiled. “Baskerville will tell you all about that. Your parents left you a sizable amount of money, which leads us back to why we can’t let you out of our sight. Jealousy could be another motive for planting the man in your house.”

“Oh, dear.”

Gawain gently urged Alex to lean on him. “It’s alright, hon.”

“I know I asked you this already, but do you remember anything else about what you heard that night that you haven’t told me?”

“No.”

“Aside from us, who else knows that you’re back?”

Alex glanced at Gawain. He nodded and then gently squeezed the base of her neck.

“Luke Williams. He’s a friend I’d met when I was fifteen. He was doing his mission at the time.”

“Mission?”

“He’s a Mormon.”

Gawain listened. They hadn’t talked much about Luke. He was interested in finding out more about him.

“Every year, he would visit us on the island. When he learned about Nanni wanting me to get a good education, he brought me all kinds of books. He was the one who helped me get my online degree. Nanni and Ema are my family now, but since the death of my mom, Luke had become my connection to the world that I used to know. We’d speak in English, talk about the places I still remember. He’s my reminder of who I am.”

Her accent was getting thicker and thicker. Gawain noticed Kirsten was on the verge of tears while listening. He looked at Bors. He wanted to stop his brother’s questioning, but he knew they must do this.

“Did you tell him about the reason why you and Molly lived on the island?”

“He knows everything. I called him two times since I’ve been here. I left messages on his phone, Including where I’m staying. When he was in the Philippines, he promised to find some information about my family, our house. Everything that he could find, he’d let me know. I trusted him.”

Bors nodded. He didn’t show any emotions at all. To others, he might just look to be thinking, but to Gawain, and even to Kirsten who glanced at him, they knew Bors had already planned his next move.

“You don’t think he’ll go to the police, right, Bors?”

“No. Even if he went to the police, there is nothing for the police to go on. You and Molly weren’t declared missing, Clayton didn’t report finding a dead person in your house. Nothing was missing in your home. As far as the police are concerned, nothing happened that warrants investigation.”

“So weird,” Kirsten commented. “Clayton didn’t involve the police when Alex and Molly disappeared. To protect Molly’s already tarnished background. Molly took off with Alex because she thought she killed someone. However, no sign of struggle happened in the house, and no dead body either. Alex’s grandma and aunt now live in the Rose’s house. They also didn’t file a police report about Molly and Alex. What’s more, they didn’t look for Alex. Now, why would a naked stranger go to the Rose’s house while Clayton was gone?”

Gawain watched Kirsten tap her fingers on her chin. His sister, like the rest of the Knights, was aware of what happened with the Roses. But he didn’t think she was really paying attention. He looked at Bors. His brother was grinning. Gawain remembered Bors once said that sometimes the outsider could see a better picture, thus the reason why their dad would always ask them to listen to his cases.

“Someone must have hired that man to go to the Rose’s house,” Kirsten continued. “Whoever they were, they knew things went badly that night and rescued that man. Perhaps the man wasn’t alone. Bors, they could even have been in the house. Or the man who lost consciousness after Molly bashed him in the head, woke up, and asked for help. Now, if I’m right that someone hired the naked man, the question is why. My take? Someone wanted the Rose’s marriage destroyed. The evil plan could have been for Clayton to catch Molly with that man. Another question. Who would gain the most if the Rose’s marriage was destroyed?”

“Grandma Lucrezia and Aunt Frieda? Or there could be others. Like Dad’s friends who talked bad behind Mom’s back.”

Kirsten sighed. “Bors will help find out. Whoever is responsible, he’ll flush him or them out.”

“Good summarization, princess. Didn’t know you were paying attention.”

“Because you forget I have brains, too, Bors.”

“What? How could anyone forget that, snot? You’re a fucking Knight. Of course you have brains.”

“Ho! Big bro just complemented me. You heard that, Alex. Bors said I have brains.”

Just like that, Alex’s frown disappeared. “Brains and beauty,” she said.

“Ah, thanks, Alex.”

“Well, I think we should go, princess.”

“Okay. I’ll come back tomorrow, Alex. We’ll go shopping!”

While Alex and Kirsten talked about their plans for the next day, Gawain followed Bors to the door. “That was a quick interview.”

“Enough for now. I don’t want to overwhelm her.”

“What’s up?”

“Princess is spot on.”

“Lucrezia and Frieda?”

“Clayton never suspected those two and told Baskerville to spare them from questioning because he didn’t want the women to think that he didn’t trust them. Besides, Lucrezia and Frieda are set. So why would they try to hurt the Roses because of money, right? There wasn’t any reason to.”

“Until now.”

“They are the only two who stand to gain, bro. The Rose’s case is full of dead ends. No evidence, no sign of foul play. The supposedly dead man Alex mentioned, I believe was really there. Maybe, if Kirsten is right, Lucrezia and Frieda might help us shed light on that part of the story. Listen, bro. Alex trusts her friend Luke. I don’t. The fact that Luke hasn’t returned Alex’s call raised a red flag to me. He knows everything. Maybe he really means to help Alex find answers to her questions, but I also hate to think what he’ll do with the information Alex gave him.”

“Fuck.”

Chapter Thirteen

Luke waited until the Mercedes Benz pulled out of the circular drive, then turned left. Every Friday, the driver would leave at seven in the morning with his golf bag in the car. Sometimes he’d come home at ten at night, but most of the time almost midnight. He watched it disappear around the corner.

Time to move. I can do this.

It had been a week since he began watching the house where Alex grew up. If you could call it a house.

A red brick house with ivy growing on the outside façade. Two tall chimneys stood on each side of the house. He really liked the two white pillars on the front entry. But what commanded his attention was the two narrow rectangular windows. The house was the kind that he dreamed of owning. Interestingly, the home didn’t have a gate. He looked at the other houses. None had the electronic gate millionaires usually have to protect them from unwanted visitors.

Luke started his car and drove onto the circular drive. He had just turned off the engine when the front door opened. A maid in uniform stood outside waiting.

What, is her job to look out the window and see who is coming?

Luke got out of the car, made sure his tie wasn’t crooked and then pasted a smile on his face. The maid just looked at him.