The Bachelor Pact (83 page)

The group had bickered about where to put the tree at first, then how much to cut off the bottom. She’d finally stepped in to settle the dispute and now the tree stood by the picture window that offered an impressive view of the pool and intracoastal waterway.

In another corner, seventy-year-old DeEtte, one of the quilters of the bunch and the leader of the Silver Sneakers, taught a group how to make Christmas ornaments from the seashells they’d collected on their morning walk.

Flora, a spry eighty-year-old who suffered slight memory lapses and constantly forgot her teeth, filled candy jars with red and green M & M’s, placing them around the room while Billy and Nelda, the couple who’d been married so long, erected a manger scene on the front lawn.

Lucy spied the table where several Secret Santa gifts waited to be picked up. Since most of the residents were on a budget, she had instigated a ten-dollar limit on presents. So far, the group had loved their surprises and were constantly whispering, wondering who’d drawn their name.

Their five o’clock cocktail hour began, and Sue, a smart real estate saleswoman, passed out holiday martinis complete with peppermint chips floating on top. Lucy flipped her ipod to a Christmas playlist and snapped pictures as the group decorated the tree.

“Tomorrow morning we start practicing for our holiday talent show,” Lucy said. “Start thinking about what you want to do. We want everyone to have a part.”

“I don’t have a talent,” Ellen said.

“Yes, you do,” Nancy, a woman who dyed her hair blue said. “You can sew.”

“That’s perfect,” Lucy said. “You can make the costumes and sets!”

Moon sat down at the piano and began to pick out
White Christmas
.

Inez, a seventy-year-old who was proud of her two new hips, passed out jingle bells, and they all joined in and began to sing.

Mae sidled over to Lucy. “You know what, hon. There’s a secret Santa gift over there with your name on it.”

Lucy tensed. “But I didn’t put my name in the stocking.”

Mae shrugged. “Maybe you have a secret admirer.”

Lucy’s stomach fluttered. Emmet used to leave her little presents all the time when he’d been stalking her.

Lord help her. Surely he hadn’t found her here.

Dad blast it. Lucy was two-timing him.

Reid surveyed her bedroom again, stunned. Sure, he hadn’t exactly proposed to Lucy or bought her a ring, but he thought things had been going well.

How could he have been so wrong?

Lucy was fun loving and flirty and had been a dancer in Vegas, but would she really hop from his bed to another man’s?

His cell phone buzzed, and he checked the number. Sophie.

Maybe she knew what was going on. He quickly punched connect. “Sophie?”

“Reid, have you heard from Lucy?”

“No. Have you?”

A tense heartbeat passed. “No. I’ve left several messages but she hasn’t returned my calls.”

Worry knotted his belly. Sophie sounded anxious, not a good sign. “I’m at her apartment now,” Reid admitted. “I dropped by the house to surprise her with a Christmas tree when she returned, but she’s not here. Although it looks like she has been.”

“What are you talking about?” Sophie said.

“The kitchen stove was warm, and Lucy’s underwear is strewn all over her bed. There are two wine glasses by the bathtub with a bubble bath waiting, too. A
fresh
bubble bath.”

“Are you sure?” Sophie asked.

Reid scrubbed a hand over his chin. “I’m not making this up. It looks like she’s been entertaining. There are damn flower petals floating in the bath water.”

“I don’t understand,” Sophie said. “Lucy wouldn’t cheat on you, Reid.”

What other explanation could there be?

Sophie’s soft sigh echoed back. “Maybe she let a friend stay at her apartment.”

Reid considered that possibility. “I suppose she could have, but there isn’t a car here.” He walked through the room, checked the bathroom, then looked inside the closet. Shoes were scattered on the floor.

Odd. Lucy prided herself on her shoes and kept them in the shoeboxes or the little gloved cases the boutiques wrapped them in as if they were gold.

His gaze scanned the closet again. A pair of black lace panties lay on the floor, torn in the crotch.

“Reid?” Sophie asked.

“I don’t see a suitcase. If a friend is staying here, wouldn’t they have brought an overnight bag?”

“Probably,” Sophie said, sounding worried.

“And Lucy’s closet…it’s a wreck. Her shoes are everywhere.”

“You’re right. Something’s wrong,” Sophie said. “Let me call you back in a second. I’ll call her agent and see where she’s staying.”

Reid breathed deeply. “Good. I’ll feel better if I know she’s safe.”

Because if she wasn’t here or hadn’t loaned her place to a friend, someone had broken in, pawed through her clothes and made himself at home.

A siren wailed in the distance, and Reid decided to look around downstairs. Maybe Lucy had left a notepad with the name of her hotel.

His phone buzzed again, and he punched connect. “Sophie?”
“Reid, Lucy’s agent said he never called her for an audition.”

Reid heaved a sigh. “Then she’s dumping me.”

“We don’t know that,” Sophie said. “Besides, if she was, she would have told me. And she’s not returning my calls either.”

Now he was worried. The siren wailed closer, and he jogged down the stairs.

“I’ll call you if I hear from her,” Sophie said, then the phone went dead.

Just as Reid reached the foyer, the front door burst open and a roly-poly policeman rushed through the door, his gun drawn. “Police, don’t move.”

Reid froze and threw his hands up in surrender. What the hell?

A noise sounded from the kitchen, footsteps pounded, and another officer barreled around the corner, his gun drawn. “You’re under arrest!”

Reid swallowed hard. “What’s going on?”

The officer grabbed his arm. “Turn around and spread ‘em.”

Reid choked back a curse as the officer shoved him against the wall.

“Why are you arresting me?” Reid asked as the cop frisked him.

“Breaking and entering for starters.”
“I didn’t break in, my girlfriend lives here.”

“Yeah, right,” the officer growled.

“It’s true,” Reid said. “Just call her and she’ll tell you.” Of course, she’d have to answer the damn phone first.

“Shut up and walk to the car,” the second officer snapped. “You can tell it all to the judge.”

Cop one frowned. “Not that it will do any good, buddy. Stalking a woman is serious stuff.”

“Stalking?” Reid asked. “I’m not stalking Lucy, I’m in love with her.”

“Uh-huh,” Roly-poly muttered. “We’ve heard that before.”

“It’s true,” Reid said. “I love Lucy.”

“Yeah,” cop two said. “Stalking all right. Poor woman.”

Poor woman
. She was off auditioning in L.A. with God knows what kind of hunk of an actor, maybe even playing touch-feely between the sheets, while he was being arrested for trying to surprise her with a Christmas tree.

“Please,” he said, vying for calm. “You have to listen, let me explain.”

“You can explain what you did to Lucy,” cop one said as the second cop raced up the steps. “Where is she?”
“I told you; she’s in L.A.,” Reid said between clenched teeth.

“Right,” cop one said as he twisted his arm. “Listen, buddy, we’ll go easier on you if you just confess.”

“Confess to what?” Reid barked.

“To stalking and kidnapping,” the cop said.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Reid said. “I’m telling you, Lucy is my girlfriend and – ”

“You are sick,” cop one muttered beneath his breath.

What? Reid’s shoulders snapped back as the guy pushed him toward the door. “You’re making a mistake.”

Cop two rushed down the steps, his jowls jiggling. “Nothing upstairs. But it looks like the freak has been wallowing in her underwear on the bed.”

“I have not,” Reid bellowed.

“Shut up, you pervert,” cop number two growled. “I hate your kind. You probably can’t even get it up.”

Panic mingled with anger making Reid want to spit. But common sense kicked in and warned him that wouldn’t be a good idea.

Then cop one dragged Reid onto the front lawn where blue lights twirled against the darkness. “You’re going to be sorry,” he muttered as the officer shoved his head down and pushed him in the back seat.

“That sounds like a threat,” cop two mumbled.

“Damn right it does,” the other cop said. “Let’s add threatening an officer to the charges.”

Reid gritted his teeth as the officer slammed the car door. Dad blast it, he’d keep his mouth shut until he reached the police station. Then he’d demand his phone call and figure out what the hell was going on.

And why these bozos thought he was stalking Lucy.

Emmet pressed the boa over his mouth to stifle a laugh as the police car roared away.

Did that bastard really think Lucy loved him when she belonged to Emmet?

At least the cops had taken care of the smuck. Obviously hammerhead didn’t know where Lucy was or he would have called her to verify his story.

A stroke of luck for
him.

Except he still had no idea where Lucy was.

He slipped from the closet, Lucy’s boa wrapped around his neck.

He had to find her before the cops realized they had the wrong guy.

He grabbed his phone and sprawled on her bed, draping her underwear over him.

“The police must have alerted Lucy,” he told his friend when he answered. “I think she left town. I need a trace on her phone.”

“Are you sure you want to go that route?”

“Just do it,” he said impatiently.

His buddy made a clicking sound with his teeth. “All right. You should know something by tomorrow.”

Emmet ended the call, then found a local reporter’s name from the newspaper on the table and called the number. A young woman named Jewel. She was probably hungry for a story.

“I have an anonymous tip,” he said. “Police just arrested a stalker at the home of Lucy Lane.”

“Who is this?” Jewel asked.

“I don’t want my name mentioned, but I witnessed the arrest myself. The man’s name is Emmet Roach. He escaped prison and broke into Lucy’s house.”

“Thanks,” Jewel said. “I appreciate the information.”

“Good, I’m sure Miss Lane wants to know she can come home for Christmas.”

He dropped the phone in its cradle, then closed his eyes and imagined being with Lucy.

She’d wear the red lace teddy trimmed in white lace, the one he’d put in her stocking. He’d dress like Santa Claus and pretend to come down the chimney, then they’d strip, and he’d dribble eggnog on her belly and lick it off.

Then they’d make love on the floor in front of the fireplace.

Everything would be perfect. They’d get married and welcome the new year as man and wife.

Yep, Santa was finally coming to see him this year. It was going to be a jolly, jolly Christmas and a happy new year!

Chapter 5

Reid struggled to remain calm as he was fingerprinted, processed and tossed into jail.