"Yes, yes, I'm fine. It was—"
"You're bleeding." Every other thought in his head vanished. "There's blood on your hands."
"I fell." She dropped her head onto his shoulder. "It was so dark, and I couldn't see." Fighting tears, she held on to him as Fred whined at their feet. In an abrupt change of mood, she pulled back, pushing at his chest with her sore hands. Her damp eyes sizzled. "Are you crazy, chasing after him that way? I told you he had a gun. He could have shot you."
"He damn near shot you," Sloan retorted. "And didn't I tell you to stay inside?"
"I don't take orders from you," she began.
"You're both alive," Lilah commented. Flashlight in hand, she strolled toward them. "I could hear you arguing from the end of the driveway." The light shot across papers scattered in the road. "What's all this?"
"Oh, God, he must have dropped some." Amanda was already down on her hands and knees, gathering them up.
"Must've been when Fred bit his leg." Far from pacified, Sloan bent to snatch up a paper before it blew away.
"Fred bit him?" Amanda and Lilah said in unison.
"Good and hard from the sound of it." It was a small but sweet satisfaction. "We might have had him, too, but he had a car stashed down the road."
"And he might have shot both of you," Amanda retorted.
"Excuse me." Lilah felt she was doing her part by shining the light so they could see to find papers. "Who is he?"
"Livingston," Sloan told her, then added a string of curses. "You'll have to get the details from your sister."
"Inside," Lilah suggested. "The rest of the family is in an uproar." "You called the police?"
"Yes." Right before she'd rushed out of the house, barefoot, to chase her sister down the graveled driveway. When Fred stopped to perk his ears then give a long, ululant howl, she laughed. "And I'd say they're on the way. Fred already hears the sirens."
Because her arms were full, Amanda pushed the papers into Lilah's arms, then began to pick up more as they started back. "He didn't get everything," she muttered, then thought of that moment in the storeroom when the air had changed. "I knew he wouldn't."
At the door of the house Suzanna stood, a slim gladiator, armed with a fireplace poker. "Is everyone all right?"
"Fine." Amanda let out an exhausted breath. "The kids?" "In the parlor with Aunt Coco. Oh, honey, your hands." "I just scraped them."
"I'll get some antiseptic."
"And some brandy," Lilah added, before laying the papers on a table in the hallway.
Twenty minutes later, the story had been related to the police, and the family was left alone to absorb it. Sloan paced behind the sofa while the Calhoun women huddled together.
"We had that—that thief to dinner." Coco glared into her brandy. "I baked a chocolate souffle. And all the time he was plotting to steal from us."
"The police will shoot him," Alex piped up. "Bang! Between the eyes."
"I think we've had enough excitement for one night." Suzanna kissed the top of his head. Less sure of himself than he wanted to be, Alex slipped a hand into hers and held tight.
"He got most of the papers." With a sigh, Amanda reached for the pile she'd tossed onto the coffee table. "I hope Fred took a good chunk out of him."
"Good boy, Fred." Lilah cuddled the dog in her lap. "I don't think they'll do Livingston—or whoever he is—any good. He's not meant to find the emeralds. We are."
"He won't get the chance," Sloan said grimly. "Not with the security system I'm putting in." He shot a look at Amanda, daring her to argue, but she was staring at one of the papers.
"It's a letter," she murmured. "A letter from Bianca to Christian." "Oh, my dear." Coco leaned forward. "What does it say?" Amanda read,
"My love,
I'm writing this as the rain continues to fall and keeps me from you. I wonder what you are doing, if you paint today in the gloomy light and think of me. When I'm alone like this in my tower, separated from the reality of my duties, I let the memories sweep over me. Of the first time I saw you, standing on the cliffs. Of the last time I touched you. I'm praying for the sun, Christian, so that we can make more memories. I cannot tell you how you have changed me, how much more my eyes see, now that they see with my heart. I can't imagine how empty my life would have been without this time we had together. I know now that love is very rare, very precious. It is something to be cherished and held on to tightly while too often it is smothered, or brushed carelessly away. Remember, even when our time together ends, I will hold your love. It will live in my heart long after that heart stops beating.
Bianca."
Coco let out a long, dreamy sigh. "Oh, how much they must have loved each other."
"Yucky," Alex said sleepily, and rested his head on his mother's breast.
Amanda smoothed the letter out, hating the fact that it had become crumpled. "I guess she never got the chance to send it to him. All these years it's been mixed up with receipts and account sheets." "And tonight we found it, not Livingston," Lilah reminded her. "Luck," Amanda murmured.
"Fate," her sister insisted.
When the phone rang, Amanda was the first up to answer. "It's the police," she said, then settled back to listen. "I see. Yes, thank you for letting us know." She hung up, blowing out a disgusted breath. "Looks like he got away. He didn't go back to the BayWatch for any of his things, or he slipped in and took what he wanted and left the rest."
"Do they think he'll come back?" Alarmed, Coco patted her chest.
"No, but they're going to keep an eye on the house until they're sure he's left the island."
"I imagine he's halfway to New York by now." Suzanna shifted the drowsy children on her lap. "And if he comes back, we'll be ready for him."
"More than ready," Amanda agreed. "They have an APB out, but...I guess that's all that can be done for tonight."
"No." Sloan crossed the room to her. "There's a little more that has to be done." He nodded to the rest of the room as he pulled her toward the doorway. "You'll excuse us."
"They might, but I don't," Amanda told him. "Let go of my arm."
"Okay." He did, then nipping her by the waist, hauled her over his shoulder. "It's always the hard way with you."
"I will not be slung around like a sack of potatoes." As he climbed the stairs, she wriggled, trying for one clear shot with her foot.
"We left some loose ends before you stormed off to go tangle with an armed robber. Now we're damn well going to tie them up. You like straight talk, Cal-houn, and you're about to get some."
"You don't know what I like." She slammed a fist into his back. "You don't know anything."
"Then it's time I found out." He kicked open the door of her room, stalked over and dumped her onto the bed. When she scrambled up, fists raised, he shoved her down again. "You sit where I put you. So help me, we're going to have this out once and for all."
Amanda stunned them both by covering her face with her hands and bursting into tears. She couldn't stop them. Everything that had happened in the past few hours reared up to set off an emotional jag that knocked her flat. On an oath, Sloan stepped toward her, then away, then dragged a helpless hand through his hair. "Don't do that, Mandy."
She only shook her head and continued to sob.
"Come on now, please." His voice gentled as he crouched in front of her. "I didn't mean to make you cry." Lost, he stroked her hair, patted her shoulder. "I'm sorry, honey. I know you've been through hell tonight. I should have waited to start on this.'' Cursing himself, he rubbed her arm. "Look, you can hit me if it'd make you feel better."
She sniffled, drew in a hitching breath, then clipped him hard enough to send him sprawling. Through a veil of tears, she studied him as he dabbed at his mouth with the back of his hand.