Sometimes he'd bark out an order or a veiled insult, but she barely listened because her senses transformed whatever brusque words he was speaking into the ones he really meant.
I want you.
And she wanted him back. For sex, she told herself. Only for sex. Nothing more. No intimate entanglement, no exchange of feelings, only sex.
When her body grew so hot she feared it would burst into flame, she made herself think of other things: her growing friendship with Kristy, Edward's excitement as he told her about his day, and the Kennedy chest.
Each night she walked to the notch at the top of Heartache Mountain and gazed down at the house where she had once lived. She had to get inside so she could resume her search for the chest, but she couldn't take the chance that he'd be there. He hadn't said a word about the missing key, and, with the drive-in opening just two weeks away, she could only hope he'd forgotten about it. Surely he would have said something if he hadn't. She wanted to scream in frustration. If only he'd go away so she could get inside.
Nine days after the night she'd first broken into his brother's house, she finally got the opportunity she'd been waiting for.
He came up to her as she was fastening new chrome knobs to the storage cabinets in the snack shop. Even before she heard his footsteps, she caught the scent of pine and laundry detergent and wondered how someone who did manual labor always managed to smell so clean.
"Ethan and I have business to take care of. I'll be away for the rest of the afternoon, so lock up when you're done."
She nodded and her heart raced. While he was occupied with his brother, she could finally get into the house.
She finished her job in record time, then drove to Annie's cottage where she fetched the key from its hiding place in the back of her dresser drawer and set off down the mountain. By the time she reached the bottom, a light drizzle had started to fall.
The full skirt of the housedress she was wearing that day, a worn pink cotton printed with turquoise squiggles, grew damp, along with her heavy shoes and the tops of her socks. She took them off in the laundry room so she didn't leave any telltale tracks and proceeded barefoot up the stairs of the silent house.
She searched the nursery first, firmly repressing all those nostalgic pangs that made her want to curl up in the old rocker that still sat by the window and remember the feel of Edward's downy little head at her breast. When she didn't find the chest there, she headed for her former bedroom.
This room had changed more than any other, and as she gazed at the high-tech equipment positioned on a modern, L-shaped work station near the window, she wondered about Dr. Jane Darlington Bonner, Gabe's physicist sister-in-law. Was she as happy with her marriage as she'd looked in the magazine photo?
She made a quick search of the room's closet and bureau, but found nothing. The large bottom drawer set into one end of the work station was the only other place to look, but the idea of going through a stranger's desk seemed more an invasion of privacy than anything else she'd done. Still, she had to know, so she slid the drawer open, then drew in her breath as she saw the chest tucked inside.
She felt its contents shift as she took it out. Her breath quickened as she lifted the small hinge and saw a stack of multicolored computer diskettes lying inside. She withdrew them and placed them in the bottom drawer, then tucked the chest under her arm and rushed for the stairs. She felt light-headed with relief. As soon as she got the chest back to the cottage, she could search it, even take it apart if she had to.
Just as she hit the top step, Ethan Bonner pushed open the front door. She froze, but it was too late. He spotted her immediately.
His expression grew stony. "Adding larceny to your other sins?"
"Hi, Ethan. Gabe sent me over to pick this up."
"Did he?"
She forced herself to smile as she came down the steps, her feet bare and her damp skirt clammy against her legs. Nothing was going to make her give up this chest. "Don't ask me why he wants it. I'm just the hired help, and he doesn't tell me anything."
"Maybe he'd explain if I asked him."
"Oh, that's not necess-"
"Gabe!" Ethan tilted his head toward the front door, which he'd left open. "Come in here, will you?"
Panic rushed through her. "That's all right. I can talk to him when I get back to work." With a jaunty wave, she tucked the chest higher under her arm and made a dash across the cold marble floor for the back of the house.
Ethan caught her before she crossed the foyer and grabbed her by the arm with more force than was necessary for a man of God. "Not so fast."
Gabe appeared in the doorway. "Eth? What's going-Rachel?" For a moment, he stood frozen. Then he came inside and closed the door behind him. "I wondered when you were going to use that key."
"You gave her a key?" Ethan said.
"Not exactly. Let's just say I knew she had a spare."
He had set her up, and that made her furious. "If you knew I had it, why didn't you say something? And what are you doing here, anyway?"
The fact that she'd gone on the attack when she was clearly in the wrong seemed to rob Ethan of speech, but Gabe simply shrugged. "Cal said Ethan could take the dining-room table for the community room at church. We were loading it into the truck."
His eyes drifted downward over her damp pink dress, mud-splattered calves, and bare feet. She told herself it was the chill that turned her skin to gooseflesh. She regarded him accusingly. "You said you had business. This isn't business. This is moving furniture!"
Gabe said nothing, but Ethan had finally recovered. "I don't believe it. Are you actually going to stand there and let her attack you? She's the one who broke into the house!"
"Sometimes it's easier to give Rachel a chance to unwind before you try to talk to her," he said in his low, toneless voice.
"What's going on between you two?" Ethan's face grew redder. "Why are you even listening to her? She's a liar and a con artist."
"And those are her good points." Gabe gestured toward her feet. "Lose those sexy shoes of yours?"
"I didn't want to track mud."
"Considerate."
Ethan broke away and headed for the phone. "That's the box Jane uses to store her computer diskettes. I'm calling the police. There's been something strange about Rachel showing up here right from the beginning."
"Don't bother. I'll take care of her. Hand over the chest, Rachel."
"Stuff it."
He arched one dark eyebrow. "Take the truck, Eth. I've got the tarp over the table so it won't get wet."
"I'm not leaving. After everything you've been through you shouldn't have to put up with this, too. I'll take care of her."
Once again little brother had jumped in to shelter big brother. Rachel gave a snort of disgust.
Ethan heard and whirled to confront her, his expression indignant. "What?"
"Tragedy doesn't make people helpless," she pointed out. "Stop coddling him."
That seemed to shock even Gabe. He had never spoken to her about his loses, although he must have known Kristy would have said something to her by now.
Ethan's hostility had developed a cold edge. "What right do you have to comment on anything between my brother and me? Gabe, I don't understand this. I thought she was just working for you, but…"
"Go on, Eth."
"I can't do that."
"You have to. Remember you're on the town council, and, if you actually witnessed someone getting murdered, you'd need to report it."
"I don't think you should be alone with her," he said flatly.
"I won't be alone." Gabe gave her a thin smile. "I'll have Rachel's screams to keep me company."
10
Ethan left the house reluctantly. Rachel realized that all she needed was a few minutes alone with the chest, a few minutes to look beneath the lining or find the secret compartment and she could go.