TWENTY-ONE.
The warm sand baked the soles of Claire"s bare feet. Ric-or more likely the waitstaff-had thought of everything for the picnic, right down to the red-and-white checkered tablecloth she spread out on the flat rock. The basket contained thick roast beef sandwiches, potato salad, coleslaw, apple chips, and blueberry pie.
"I didn"t get much breakfast, and I"m ready for lunch." She sat across the tablecloth from Ric and dug into the food with gusto.
The roast beef was tender, and the horseradish had a pleasant bite on her tongue. She eyed Ric, who was staring at her with an intense gaze that made her squirm. She left the last bite of the blueberry pie on her plate. "I"m done. What a great lunch, though. Blueberry pie is my favorite."
"I tried to pick things I knew you would like." He took her plate and ate the last of her pie, his gaze on her face the whole time.
She found his expression a little creepy. It was way too proprietorial, like a shark looking at dinner. She curled her fingers into the warm sand to ground herself and took strength from it. She needed to get this over with so she could relax. She reached for her satchel. "Did you review those figures I gave you the other night?"
"I did." He reached over and twirled a lock of her hair around his finger. "You are most beautiful today, my dear." His voice was husky. "I have been looking forward to this time alone."
"Um, Ric. I really want to hammer out an agreement between our companies. Were you in favor of the dollar amount?"
His hand left her hair and stroked down her arm in a long, sensuous stroke. "Your skin is so soft." Leaning over, he pressed his lips to her neck.
His hot breath wafted over her face and neck. She froze as she evaluated her options. He"d brought her out here for something very different than talking about the merger. If she rebuffed his advances, would he walk away from the deal?
As his lips moved closer to her face, she suppressed a shudder. Putting her hand on his chest, she twisted her face away. "Don"t, Ric. This is business."
"One can mix business and pleasure. It"s the best kind of merger." His thick voice was m.u.f.fled by another attempt to pull her closer.
She scrambled back away from him on the tablecloth. "I"m not interested in that kind of merger, Ric."
He made another grab at her arm, but she managed to get to her feet. She s.n.a.t.c.hed up her satchel and held it across her chest. "Let"s talk business, please."
He got up and planted his feet wide. His nostrils flared as he looked her over. "I find I am not much interested in discussing the business merger with a woman as cold as you."
His stance with his arms crossed over his chest told her all she needed to know. "Then I suggest we get back." She didn"t wait for an answer but bent over to put everything away.
When she heard his steps retreating, she breathed a sigh. Let him go pout awhile on the boat. They weren"t far from the hotel dock, an hour or so by boat. He"d get over his snit and be willing to discuss business when he realized she wasn"t about to sleep with him to broker a deal.
The sputter of the engine caught her by surprise. She jerked around and saw the boat, sails down, moving out to sea.
She ran to the edge of the water and waved her hands. "Hey!"
He glanced at her briefly, and she recoiled at the venom in his face before he turned his back and steered the boat out to open ocean. The picnic basket slid from her slack hand. He couldn"t just leave her here. She waved her hand and shouted again, but he never turned back around. After a few minutes, the boat was just a speck in the distance.
She turned back around and looked at her situation. The trees began twenty feet from the water"s edge and grew thicker as the land began to soar up a slope. Was it possible to walk out of here to a road? She had a compa.s.s on her phone, but the hike wouldn"t be pleasant. At least she had her cell phone. Luke had a boat, though she cringed at the idea of telling him what had happened. He"d be ready to take Ric out.
Sighing, she reached into her purse for her phone and looked at it. No bars. She turned around and stared at the forest. She had no choice but to try to walk out, at least until she got a cell phone signal.
The hotel lobby was quiet when Luke stepped in. Only one woman, dressed in a navy skirt and white blouse, manned the reception desk. No one was at the concierge desk when he pa.s.sed either, and the scent of lemon wax hung in the air.
Luke approached the front desk to ask the receptionist to ring Claire"s room. When there was no answer, he thanked the clerk and turned toward the restaurant. Maybe he could find someone in her family to see if they"d heard from her. He"d told her he"d call at four so they could make plans for dinner, and she hadn"t answered any of the four times he"d tried. It was five now, well past time when he should have spoken with her. He couldn"t quell his unease.
He stepped into the wide hall, and the elevator doors opened. He"d still been in the lobby when Claire left with a woman earlier, and he saw the same woman coming out of the elevator with a man who looked so much like her they had to be siblings. She wore a brightly colored sundress, and her dark hair was twisted atop her head. The man wore such an arrogant expression that Luke wanted to punch him. He looked dressed for dinner in light-gray slacks and a navy jacket.
"Excuse me." The man tried to step around him.
Luke blocked his move. "Ric Castillo?"
"That"s right. And you are?"
"Luke Rocco, a friend of Claire"s. I"ve been trying to get ahold of her for over an hour. Do you know where she is?"
"Check her room."
The woman glanced up at Ric. "She didn"t answer when I knocked either. When did you see her last?"
Ric"s jaw jutted out. "Stay out of this, Francisca."
He tried to go around Luke again, but Luke stepped into his path again. "You know where she is, don"t you?"
Ric pulled his cell phone from the pocket of his slacks. "I will call hotel security if you don"t move out of my way."
The woman frowned. "I want to know where she is too, Ric. You"ve been odd ever since you got back this afternoon." Suspicion glimmered in her eyes. "You made a pa.s.s at her and she turned you down, I suspect. Is that why you have been simmering with rage? What did you do to her?"
"I did not do anything to her," Ric snapped. "She was fine the last time I saw her."
Luke narrowed his eyes at Ric. "And where was that?"
"On the beach at Dead Man"s Cove. She seemed to prefer it to my company."
The woman"s mouth gaped, and she punched him in the arm. "Ric Castillo, I cannot believe this, even of you! What kind of man leaves a woman stranded on a beach?" She looked at Luke. "Would she be about back to the hotel by now if she walked?"
Luke curled his fingers into his palm and wished he could smash in Ric"s smug face. "There"s no way she can walk back to a highway. The high tide will wash out the little strip of land connecting that part of the land from the mainland in a couple of hours. I need to get to her. What time did you leave her?"
Ric glared back at him without answering. Luke glanced at the woman. "Any ideas since the silent caveman isn"t talking?"
"I saw my brother at about two without her." She cast a troubled glance at the man. "Seriously, Ric, what were you thinking?"
Ric"s hands curled into fists. "This is none of your business, Francisca."
"It most certainly is. This merger would be good for Castillo Aviation, and you may have ruined everything with your raging libido. Do you have to make a pa.s.s at anyone in a skirt?"
"Be quiet. You"re making me look foolish," he hissed.
His sister put her hands on her hips and lifted a derisive brow. "You do not need any help looking foolish. You can do that all by yourself."
Luke stepped between them. "You can argue later. What stretch of the beach did you leave her on? There are two sides to the cove."
Ric shrugged. "I took the boat in by a funny-looking tree with big, gnarled branches."
"I know it." He had never wanted to hit someone so badly in his life. The man seemed not to understand what he"d done. "I think you"d better pack up and get off this island. I wouldn"t want to be in your shoes when Claire gets back. She"s not one to take this, you know."
"I can handle Claire Dellamare," he said with a curl of his lip.
Francisca gave her brother such a hard shove he reeled back and his arm struck the wall. He straightened and rubbed his arm, but she punched him again. "You should leave now, Ric. Claire will go straight to her dad. How do you think he will react? And you will be lucky if our father does not toss you out on your ear for such behavior. Never have I been so ashamed of you. And that is saying something." She shoved him again. "Go. Now." She pointed at the elevator, and Ric shrugged, then hit the Up b.u.t.ton with a defiant stab.
The elevator doors opened, and Ric stepped inside, then turned. "She deserved it," he spat out.
Luke started toward him but the doors closed. He stood with his hands clenched into fists. "You"ve got some brother, Miss Castillo."
"Call me Francisca. I am ashamed of the Castillo name about now." Her bewildered expression cleared and she held out her hand. "I am pleased to know you, Luke. Go bring Claire home so I can apologize, even if my brother will not."
"I"ll do that." Luke hurried for the doors. As he ran for his boat, he prayed she"d have the sense not to try to go through the woods. She could easily get caught by the tide.
TWENTY-TWO.
The brambles caught at Claire"s legs and left long b.l.o.o.d.y scratches on her skin as she fought her way through the shadowy forest. Gnats attacked her face and eyes, and she batted at them before checking her cell phone again. Still no signal. Maybe at the next rock she could get one bar. The more she"d trekked in this wilderness, the more she was ready to do battle with Ric when she saw him. Even his father would be livid.
Her ribs ached, and she wanted nothing more than a gla.s.s of iced tea. She"d been forging her way through the brush for several hours, and she had no idea how far she was from the highway. Probably hours yet in this kind of terrain. Early tendrils of fog hung in wisps through the tops of the evergreens. She broke through the tree line and stopped in her tracks. The tide was quickly washing out the path she"d intended to take. Would she have to wait until low tide to reach civilization?
A wave made her retreat farther back in the trees. Now what? The water came closer and began to push her toward a hillside. She couldn"t go back the way she came. She felt out of breath, but she was going to have to climb that hillside.
A wave washed over her foot, and she scrambled up the hill. Her chest burned with the exertion, but she gritted her teeth and put one foot in front of the other until she finally stood on the top. From this vantage point, she could see the forest marching along the rocky coastline. A shiver went down her spine at how isolated she was out here. The ocean lapped at the stones. If only she had a boat or some way to travel by water.
Luke had surely missed her by now. She squinted at the sun glaring in her face and saw a boat heading toward the cove. Had Ric come back for her? She could only imagine Francisca"s reaction when she found out her brother had abandoned her on a deserted beach. Claire eyed the rock face. Could she climb down to the beach from here since the way she"d come was cut off by water now? The slope wasn"t that bad, and there were plenty of tree roots for hand and foot holds. If she were in tiptop shape, she wouldn"t hesitate, but the dull pain radiating through her ribs gave her pause. She sidled closer to the edge and looked closer.
She peered up at a dark hole about fifteen feet below her in the rock face. The thought of a cave made her shudder at what might be inside. Bats and spiders, most likely. She squinted and thought she saw something brightly colored. A sc.r.a.p of material or clothing? The bright-red material enticed her forward.
It seemed an easy climb down. She could rest on the cave ledge, then get down the rest of the way. She grabbed hold of a heavy root and shook it. It seemed st.u.r.dy enough. She kicked off her flip-flops and slid her toes down to rest on an even stouter clump of roots. Bit by bit, she crept down the slope with the wind buffeting her until she was three feet above the cave.
There was a ledge outside the opening. Holding her breath, she kicked off from the face of the rock and let go. Her feet landed on the soft dirt, and she fell to her hands and knees facing the cave opening. As she hit, she caught a whiff of something rank and decaying. The wind whipped around her in a nearly deafening whistle. Wrinkling her nose, she grabbed her cell phone and turned on the flashlight app, then shone it into the opening. Her gaze traveled over the heap that seemed to be a pile of clothing until the light landed on tangled blond hair.
A squeak escaped her mouth and she backpedaled. One foot reached for the next step and found nothing but air. She pin-wheeled forward and grabbed at a rock in time to avoid plunging over the edge. Her heart thumped against her sore ribs in a painful staccato. She sat up and felt the world tip as her head spun. She quickly bent her neck and drooped her face forward until the spinning stopped, but she couldn"t erase the vision of the body she"d just seen. There was no mistaking death in the greenish-gray cast of the woman"s skin.
Could it be Jenny? She thought she recognized that blond hair. Shuddering, she lifted her head and inched toward the opening. She had to know for sure. Her hand shook as she aimed the light into the opening again. This time there was no doubt of the corpse"s ident.i.ty. Jenny Bennett, the hotel"s front desk clerk.
Claire turned off the light and checked her phone. Still no bars. She turned and looked down at the beach. The boat was closer now, near enough to make out that it wasn"t Ric returning for her, but Luke"s older and st.u.r.dier boat. Of course. Who else would rescue her except Luke? She couldn"t wait to learn how he"d found her. Maybe he"d forced the truth out of Ric. The thought made her smile.
It didn"t matter how he"d found her. Nothing mattered except that the one person she most wanted to see had come when she needed him. But she had to get down from here. The next part of the trek looked more dangerous. Maybe she should stay here until she got Luke"s attention. He might have a rope or a climbing apparatus that would help. She watched him drop anchor a few feet offsh.o.r.e, then jump over the side and wade to sh.o.r.e.
He cupped his hands and shouted her name, though she could barely hear him with the wind whistling around the cave opening. She waved and shouted, but he didn"t seem to hear. She looked around for something to attract his attention and saw a large rock. It was all she could do to push it over the side. It rolled and thudded down the side until it landed at the bottom.
When he turned to see what had caused the rock to fall, she waved and screamed as loudly as she could. Luke shaded his eyes with his hand and looked her way. She jumped up and down, waving her arms.
He waved back and walked to the bottom of the cliff, then cupped his hands. "Claire, are you all right?" His voice faded as the wind whipped his words away.
She pointed at the cave and shouted back down to him. "I found Jenny."
His face changed as he caught her words. "Dead?"
She nodded. "I"m not sure how to get down. Do you have a rope?"
"I"m coming up." He jogged back to the boat and returned with a rope slung over his shoulder.
She couldn"t wait to get away from the way Jenny"s dead eyes seemed to look accusingly her way. Shuddering, she crossed her arms over her chest and watched him inch his way up the rock face. As he neared, she crouched over the edge, then he hauled himself up to stand beside her.
Without thought, she practically fell into his arms. He held her close, so close she could smell his skin, salty with perspiration. The sensation of his heart thudding under her ear and his comforting embrace around her made her want to burrow closer. Why did he affect her this way? The firm and sure way he held her drained the jitters out of her. She clung to him until she gathered her composure and stepped back with her arms to her side.
His expression held such a flicker of tenderness that it gave a hitch to her next breath. She turned back toward the cave to break the invisible connection between them. "Someone had to have hidden her body there, but what a ch.o.r.e to drag it up here."
He looked back out over the sea. "I"m going to secure the body for Beau, and then I"ll get you down from here."
Luke shone his small flashlight into the darkness of the cave. The stench made him hold his breath. When he saw Jenny"s body, his gut clenched and he fought nausea. Claire hovered close to his side and clutched his arm with cold fingers.
He focused the light on Jenny. "The body appears intact. I don"t think she was in the water. The fish would have gotten to her by now. Someone put her here." Flipping off his light, he pulled Claire out of the close, fetid cave. She huddled next to him, and he put his arm around her, pulling her against his side. "Are you okay?"
She nodded. "Ric told you where I was?"
He curled his free hand into a fist. "Only with persuasion. His sister cornered him too. She"d been trying to call you, and he told her you were in your suite. She knocked, but you didn"t answer so she was suspicious. I bet he"s already headed out of town. I suspect your dad will be outraged at his behavior."
She took his fisted hand in hers. "Thanks for rescuing me, Luke. I should have known you"d find me. You"re my hero."
She could have died out here. Hugging her, he looked down the rock face. "You"re not home free yet, honey. We have to get down now."
"We could climb back to the top and walk down."
"That would take hours, and we"d miss our romantic dinner."
Her dimples came and went. "I think we"re already going to miss it. We"ll be lucky to get to the beach by sundown at eight."
"You have a point." He released her to reach down and grasp the rope he"d brought up, then looked around for a place to tie it on. A st.u.r.dy tree root seemed the best choice, but he didn"t entirely trust it. Looping it through, he tested its strength. "I think this will do. You think you can climb down or do you want me to lower you?"
She hesitated. "Normally I"d say I could climb down, but I"m pretty wiped out and my ribs are hurting. I can try, though."
He shook his head. "Better to let me just lower you, then. I"m going to make a harness. I may only be able to get you about five feet above the sand, but you shouldn"t get hurt by jumping from there."
Knotting the rope, he fashioned a harness. "When you"re ready to let go, just tug on this end and it will pull free. Got it?"
"Got it." She leaned over and brushed her lips across his cheek. "Let"s go."
He touched the warm spot where her lips had been, then dropped his hand back to his side. Her time here was drifting away too fast. Once she unraveled the mystery surrounding her disappearance, she"d go back to her life in Boston, and he"d move on with his role at the cranberry farm.