Sin With Cuffs (8 page)

“But she
could
take care of herself.”

 “I had no idea that she meant it when she said she’d die before she was placed into a home,” Vicki stated and blinked twice.

Holly’s mouth fell open. Her disbelief tangled with anger. She was afraid to speak for fear of what she’d say. For years, Vicki had stepped on everyone and anyone around her. Holly had no doubt that her mother wanted Grandma placed into a nursing home for personal reasons. More than likely, Vicki thought she’d benefit financially. Unfortunately, everything would be Vicki’s now—the house, the belongings, anything valuable. Holly didn’t care about anything except keeping her grandma’s journal.

The car pulled into the narrow drive leading into the cemetery. Once it stopped, Holly quickly opened the door and climbed out. She had a hard time catching her breath through the sobs that threatened to break free. Never would she allow Vicki to see her cry. It’d give the woman too much pleasure.

The breeze swept across her face and she was grateful for its soothing coolness. Closing her eyes a moment, she breathed in deeply, and exhaled slowly. The scent of honeysuckle, her grandma’s favorite, lingered in the air.

“What is
he
doing sniffing around here?” Vicki complained in a whisper. “And why the hell is he coming this direction?”

 Holly opened her eyes and saw Liam walking toward them, each stride authoritative and self-assured—the definition of masculinity. The white uniform shirt did nothing to hide his toned arms and the black pants accentuated his muscular legs as he moved. His eyes were on her and she relaxed, finding support in the dark pools. Sweat beaded between her breasts, but she resisted the urge to fan her face. “He was a good friend to Grandma,” Holly murmured.

Vicki planted a satin-smooth smile on her ruby red lips. “Well, if it isn’t the Chief Ryan,” she crooned. Holly threw up a little in her mouth as her mother laid a fake finger nailed hand on Liam’s arm. It reminded Holly of a snake slithering over its prey.

Liam shrugged off the touch. “I’m sorry about your loss, Ms…”

“Oh, it’s Belmont now. James and I are married. Maybe you didn’t hear the news?” Vicki chuckled.

“Of course. Doris told me you’d married a man from the south. Nice to meet you James.” The two men shook hands. James nodded and smiled, but said nothing.

“It’s nice that you took time out of your day to pay your respects,” Vicki said.

“Doris was a good woman. She’ll be missed.” Liam brought his gaze to Holly and her heart fluttered.

“Thank you. It’s been very difficult.” Vicki dabbed the corners of her eyes, but she’d lost her audience.

“How are you Holly?” Liam asked.

“I’m okay.” What more could she say? She couldn’t tell him she wanted to touch him, to fall into his arms.

“If you need anything, just let me know,” he offered.

Although his words were probably meant for Vicki as well, Liam didn’t remove his eyes from Holly. She could think of a hundred things right off the top of her head that he could do. Good thing he couldn’t read her thoughts. The delightful contemplations kept her going, she believed. “I’ll certainly let you know.” Holly wanted to thank him again for staying last night, but she didn’t want her mother to have a panic attack, so it was best to save that juicy information.

Liam moved on and Holly’s gaze naturally followed him. His ass was as tight as ever. She looked around just in time to see Vicki getting her eye share of him too. For a woman who seemed to hate the man, Vicki sure did seem interested.

“He’s all grown up and quite the man,” Vicki said as she dug into her purse, pulled out a paper and used it as a fan.

For the first time, they agreed on something.

CHAPTER SIX

HOLLY SHIFTED IN the leather chair in front of Brigham Mason’s desk. He was a seasoned man with a scraggly beard, black tee and jeans. He deceived people with his casual appearance, but Holly knew the spry man knew the law like the back of his hand. Grandma once told her that Brigham could be trusted with a million dollars of someone else’s money.

“I’m sorry about your loss, ladies. Doris was a fine woman. I can vouch for that,” Brigham said, looking over the top of his reading glasses.

“Yes she was. We will both miss her.” Vicki squeezed Holly’s arm as if to reinforce the statement.

Holly remained quiet. The dankness rocketed. Holly found her interest wandering to the abstract painting hanging on the wall above Brigham’s head. The red and blue stripes reminded her of blood dripping on ice. The longer she stared the more she could see the beads of crimson falling and splattering.

“Let’s get started then.” Brigham’s deep voice brought her attention back to the matter at hand. He thumbed through a folder and pulled out a thick document. “As you both know Doris hired me to prepare her will. Much of the information is minor and I’ll get right to the topic of interest for you both.” Vicki cleared her throat and tapped her designer heels as if the anticipation killed her. “When Doris’s husband passed away, he had a life insurance policy, which she inherited. She invested all of it in stocks. Over the last twenty years, she has saved every dime earned and had a bank account worth three hundred and fifty thousand. She gave fifty thousand to local charities and left the remaining amount to—” Holly could have sworn she heard Vicki swallow, “—you Holly.”

Holly wasn’t sure if it was the moan that came from her mother or the astonishment of Brigham’s words that made the room spin.

“What?” Vicki said. “But, I’m her daughter.” The words sounded like an accusation.

Brigham nodded. “Yes, I understand that.” He didn’t even spare Vicki a look of apology. “Do you understand, Holly?”

No, she didn’t. She hadn’t thought of how much her grandma was worth or how much she’d saved. “I—I’m not sure.”

Vicki turned her heated gaze directly on Holly. “You’re not sure?” Her voice reeked of resentment.

“Let’s continue,” Brigham shook the papers as if to gain their attention again.

“Yes, let’s do,” Vicki muttered.

“The house was free of any mortgages or liens. The house is left to Holly as well.”

“What?” Vicky popped up out of her seat. “This is ridiculous. How is this possible?” In one moment, all of the procedures of plastic surgery went down the drain. She looked her age, older maybe. “I don’t believe for a second that she left Holly everything.”

“Have a seat, Mrs. Belmont. She did leave something to you.” Brigham’s voice was calm, as if he’d expected Vicki’s enraged attitude.

“Fine,” Vicki said coldly. Tension fled her face as she sniffed and took her seat again.

“For you Mrs. Belmont, Doris left her antique collection of porcelain clowns.”

Vicki’s mouth dropped and a sound of horror escaped her, as if she released a demon. Her mouth snapped shut and her skin paled. “How dare that old woman make a mockery out of me. She was a senile old bat.”

Holly kept her gaze on Brigham across his cluttered desk. For her, her mother’s temper tantrum was nothing new, yet he too remained as cool as a cucumber as he lowered the papers to his desk. Reaching into the open top drawer, he pulled out two business-sized envelopes.

“Doris’s health was ailing over the last year, but I assure you her mind was very much intact,” he said. “She came in a few months ago, made revisions on her will and asked me to give you these letters upon her death.”

Vicki stared at her envelope. Holly took hers, seeing her name scrawled across the white paper. Her grandma was the only one who ever put a heart after Holly’s name. “Do we need to read these now?” Holly asked.

He shook his head and scratched his bearded chin. “No. In your own time.” He laid Vicki’s envelope at the edge of his desk. “There are a few details we’ll need to go over together, Holly.” Vicki didn’t take the silent invitation to leave. “I’ll need to speak to Holly alone,” he said to her.

With an expression of cold, slanted eyes and pursed lips, Vicki got up. Holly felt sorry for her mother, yet it was hard to feel compassion for someone who only looked out for herself in whatever situation. Holly knew this would be another wedge in their relationship.

* * * *

Liam parked on the street in front of the office of Brigham Mason and turned off the ignition just as Holly walked out the front door. He watched her walk down the walkway, her head down, seemingly unaware of her surroundings, and honked the horn. She looked up and he waved, but her forced smile told him what he’d already guessed; the meeting was a disaster.

She came to the window and he rolled it down. “How did it go?” he asked.

“About as fun as a stroll through hell,” she said.

“That good, eh?”

“Yeah, that good.” Her frown deepened.

“I’ll buy you a cup of coffee.” Staying clear of her had been the plan, but unfortunately, staying away was the last thing he wanted.

“Sure,” she answered without hesitation.

“Betsy’s serves a mean cup of joe. You want to jump in and I’ll drive you over?”

“I have my car,” she said.

Yeah, he knew she did. “I’ll bring you back.”

She crossed around the front of the SUV and climbed into the other side. “Is this legal? You know, having a passenger in your car?” He watched her examine the dash as if she wanted to test drive it.

“I
am
the chief.”

“Big man on campus now, huh?” She laughed and he swore the sun got brighter.

“More like the man that has the gun but no one to shoot.”

“You’d always wanted a gun when we were kids,” she said.

“I had a gun.”

“It was a BB gun,” she reminded him. “And you were afraid to shoot it.”

“I was thirteen. Trust me, I have complete confidence in using my gun now.” He shrugged.

“I’ll have to take your word for it unless you want to show me one day.”

Her statement was loaded and his cock twitched in awareness. He might have control over the gun in his holster but he certainly didn’t have the same power over the one in his pants. Sliding the car into gear, he pulled onto the street. He needed to drive before he repeated last night’s kiss. That’d give townsfolk something to talk about.

A few minutes later, they walked into Betsy’s Diner. The place was empty and they chose a corner booth, then ordered coffee. He looked at Holly across the glossy white table and raised an eyebrow, her frown was back.

When they were kids, they came here every day. Back then, she was always smiling and coming up with clever ways to make him laugh. He missed those days. With the scowl she wore, he had a feeling she had a story to tell.

“You want to talk about the meeting at Mason’s?” he finally asked.

She seemed distant. “Grandma left me everything.”

“And that’s cause for a bad day?”

“I guess I’m a bit shell shocked. You were friends with her. Had she told you she planned this?” Her eyes searched him.

“No. She only told me she hoped you’d come back home to stay. It appears you decided that before she gave you the house.”

“Vicki wasn’t pleased,” she said.

His stomach twisted. He didn’t like Vicki. The woman was a devious witch waiting to practice her evil on any poor bastard that came along. “I already knew she didn’t like it.”