Lucky Charm

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

DEREK COULD BARELY BREATHE as he watched the burning building. Finally, he caught sight of Gabrielle along with Kayla being helped out of the bar by a fireman.

Coughing, she made her way toward him, throwing her arms around his neck. “Oh, my God! You’re okay, too.”

He shut his eyes and squeezed her to him, all the while, thanking God that she was safe. Everyone he loved was safe. Now he just had to keep them that way.

“What happened?” he asked.

She dropped to the ground, sitting cross-legged on the grass.

He and Hank knelt beside her.

“After we got separated, I was heading out when I heard Kayla scream. I turned and saw a beam had hit her. The fire wasn’t surrounding her, so I ran to get her. It just got harder to get out.” She shook her head, obviously still overwhelmed. “I have to check on Kayla.”

Derek glanced over at the waiting ambulance. “She’s with the paramedics. She’s awake and talking, so you can relax here for a few minutes first.” He stroked her hair as she breathed in and out, pulling herself together.

“My bar!”

They turned at the sound.

George was pacing right beside them, clearly distraught.

Gabrielle eased herself to her feet, her legs trembling as she stood. Derek kept his arm around her shoulder as she walked up to the older man.

“George? It’ll be okay.” She offered lame words of support. There was nothing else she could do for him.

He turned to her, looking older than he had just half an hour before as his beloved bar burned behind him.

“You mean, my family bar.” Elizabeth Perkins appeared, as if out of the blue. She had a dazed look in her eyes and a red gasoline can in her hands.

Gabrielle blinked, certain she was imagining the image, but the woman and the red can in her hands remained.

George narrowed his gaze. “What are you talking about?” he asked, staring at the mayor’s granddaughter in disbelief.

“You mean, Seth never told you he couldn’t get the financing to turn your old bar into a nightclub?” Elizabeth asked.

George shook his head.

“He told me. In bed. I knew Seth would come in handy one day. He knows everyone and everything that’s going on. I didn’t think his pillow talk would be so helpful, but it was. Of course, I suggested to my grandmother that we lend him the money. Owning this bar was an important step in cementing power in this town.”

Elizabeth’s tone indicated her plan had been long-standing and well-thought-out even if the blank expression in her eyes showed everyone that something inside her had snapped.

“My son wouldn’t touch your family’s dirty money,” George spat.

“Why not? He touched me.” Elizabeth laughed. She’d obviously intended her words to be sultry, but the sound came out high-pitched and deranged.

Gabrielle winced while George glanced around, desperately looking for his son. Gabrielle caught sight of Seth beneath a tree, staring at the burning building with utter shock and pain on his face.

Gabrielle had no doubt Elizabeth was telling the truth.

George turned back to face her. “Let’s say he did borrow money from you. That would explain all the times he defended your grandmother and let her hold her holiday party at the Wave. That doesn’t make it your bar.”

A satisfied expression eased her lips upward in a nasty smile. Gone were all vestiges of amiability covering her true personality. Gone was any trace of sanity. “It does if the payments haven’t been made. And they haven’t.”

“He wouldn’t let me see the books.” Tears filled George’s eyes.

Gabrielle couldn’t watch his pain. She strode closer to George, intending to walk him away.

Derek, meanwhile, walked up to Elizabeth. “What is that in your hands?” he asked, although with the woman reeking of gasoline and waving the can around as she spoke, the answer was obvious.

“It’s her new perfume. Eau de Gasoline,” Hank said in disgust.

Elizabeth shook her head. “Do you people think you can stop me?” She gestured wildly, poking herself in the chest. “My family founded this town. My grandmother owns you all. I’m her successor. My name gives me power. Just look at all the generations of Mary Perkins there have been, and the things that they have done. I dare you to defy me.”

“That’s enough!” The mayor stepped through the crowd and approached her granddaughter. “Not another word,” she said to the young woman, obviously looking to protect her from her own insanity.

But it was equally obvious it was too late.

The police edged closer. “Elizabeth Perkins?”

“Mary Elizabeth,” she shrieked back at them.

A uniformed officer stepped forward. “Mary Elizabeth Perkins, you are under arrest for arson,” he said, and then read the woman her rights.

“That’s okay, darling, Grandma’s right here. I’ll take care of everything.”

Roger, the only officer Gabrielle knew, wedged himself between Elizabeth and the mayor. “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you’re under arrest, as well,” he said, gently grasping the mayor’s arm.

“For what?” Mary asked, assuming a haughty “I own you” tone Gabrielle hadn’t heard from her before now.

“Bribery. Theft from the police Evidence Room. And whatever else the district attorney comes up with,” he said, then read the mayor her rights, as well.

“Nonsense,” Mary spat. “I’m the mayor!”

“Which doesn’t make you exempt from the law,” Derek said, facing the woman who had been the bane of his family’s existence, at least in this generation. “Apparently you feared Richard Stern so much you must have panicked.” And Richard had managed to inform the police.

“We have proof you paid someone to steal evidence. We have an eyewitness,” Richard said.

As people surrounded her, the other woman began to shrivel into the old, frail woman she really was. “There was no bribery involved. I had no intention of exposing the photograph,” Mary said. “I only wanted to scare Richard into not running in order to protect his fiancée, but I never got the chance.”

“Then who sent me the note asking for money?” Sharon asked, stepping out of the shadows.

Gabrielle wanted to applaud her friend’s bravery. She didn’t have to. Richard was beaming enough for them both.

“Did you really think I was going to let the fact that age was softening you prevent you from winning, Grandmother?” Elizabeth tried to shrug off the police, but they held on tight. “I found the photo. I discovered the history behind it. I put the blackmail into motion. I thought the mousy librarian would go crying to her fiancé and beg him to drop out of the race. When she didn’t make the first drop, I realized maybe she was cockier than I thought and I stepped up the game. This is my town,” she said, hysterically. “Mine!”

“Grandma, Beth, come on.” Lauren Perkins, Mary’s other granddaughter whom Gabrielle had met in the mayor’s office, stepped forward and put a hand on her grandmother’s shoulder. “Let’s just go with the police. We’ll sort things out when we’re alone.” Her voice shook as she spoke, but she took control, instructing the police to take her family to the station and end the public spectacle.

The officers complied, but before they reached the police cars, George came running forward.

“Why?” he asked. “Why burn down my building? I have to know.”

“You’re as foolish as your son!” Elizabeth, her hands cuffed behind her back, said. “Isn’t it obvious? I burned down the building for the money. I’ll call in the loan for lack of payment and it’ll be mine.”

“You’re pathetic,” George spat.

“You all thought you could ignore my grandmother. Making that documentary and treating her as if she didn’t exist. But that film needs to include my grandmother, the mayor. Mary Perkins. That name means everything in this town. Instead you interviewed that sniveling man who thought he could take the job that belongs to my family. Mine.” Her eyes were wide, bulging, her insanity clear.

“Take her away,” Lauren insisted, her eyes filled with tears.

“Not yet. I have one more thing to say,” Elizabeth said. “You!” She turned her glare on Gabrielle.

The blood drained from Gabrielle’s head as she met the other woman’s icy stare. Maintaining her composure, Gabrielle wrapped her hands around her arms to stop the shivering and refused to show fear. Derek stepped up from behind and eased her against him, supporting her with his strength.

“Do not think you can undo the curse with one of your pathetic books. Everyone in this town knows the curse exists. And you’ll know it again when your life falls apart.” Elizabeth laughed again, the sound slicing through Gabrielle’s heart.

Derek squeezed her tighter.

“Not a chance.” Gabrielle stood up to the other woman. “Your family’s days of spreading fear are over. Whatever you wanted in life, you destroyed other people to get it. That’s your power, not some old, unproven curse. It’s over now. You’ve been exposed.”

Elizabeth shrieked, but before she could act, the police pushed her into the car. Her grandmother had already been taken away.

Lauren shot Gabrielle and the rest of the crowd an apologetic, sick look before following the police into the last remaining vehicle.

Gabrielle squeezed Derek’s hand. She couldn’t help feeling sorry for the young woman who, until now, had no idea what her own sister and grandmother were capable of.

As things calmed down, Gabrielle tried to remind herself both Mary Perkins and her granddaughter were insane, yet Elizabeth’s words chilled Gabrielle despite the summer heat. Elizabeth obviously meant to scare Gabrielle into not writing her book, but her words, if dissected, could go much deeper, to include her relationship with Derek. Her entire future was at stake.

She looked back at the Wave. The firemen had finally begun to get the blaze under control. The bar was basically destroyed. The ownership and insurance issues would have to be sorted out later. But the harm done by Mary Perkins and her granddaughter would be much harder to contain.

Gabrielle glanced at Derek, the man she loved, and prayed they wouldn’t become part of the other woman’s collateral damage.

“HELLUVA DAY,” GABRIELLE said as they walked into Derek’s house at last.

Exhaustion pummeled at Derek, settling in his bones.

They’d dropped Hank off at his house after stopping by to assure Uncle Thomas everyone was in one piece. The fire and Elizabeth Perkins’s breakdown and the mayor’s arrest was the talk of the town.

For Derek, coming off the argument with Marlene, and the idea of losing Holly fresh in his mind, today had been draining in ways he still couldn’t come to terms with.

“Who could have guessed that Elizabeth Perkins was determined to carry on her grandmother’s evil legacy?” he said.

“More like family insanity.” Gabrielle shivered. “Although Lauren seemed refreshingly normal. I hope she’s okay.”

Derek nodded. “I hope so, too. Thank God nobody was badly hurt in the fire.”

“The paramedics said Kayla didn’t have a concussion, just a nasty bruise.”

Derek was still struck by how close he’d come to losing Gabrielle. The minutes he’d waited for her to come out of that building had been the longest of his life.

She tossed her bag onto the couch.

The couch, Derek thought, where they’d made love. He didn’t think he’d ever forget. The memory would live with him forever.

Even if she couldn’t.

“Derek?”

“Hmm?”

Gabrielle walked over to him. She had no makeup on, her hair was a mess and her face was streaked from tears. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on.

“We need to talk,” she said.

Everything inside him rebelled at the notion. As long as things between them remained unspoken, they could go on as they were. But the moment they talked, this life they’d created, the illusion, came to an end.

But she was right.

It was time.

“Mary Perkins’s reign of terror is over. The police will sort through what she caused and what damage Elizabeth did, but it’s over. She can no longer claim her family’s curse over the Corwins gives her power. She’s been exposed as a fraud.” Gabrielle’s eyes flashed with the fire he so admired.

Despite the day she’d had, she maintained the spunk and determination that was a part of her.

“Hopefully people will feel freed,” he said, because he did agree with her. People who’d been blackmailed, bribed and hurt in Mary Perkins’s quest for power would feel vindicated.

“Do you?” She perched her hands on her hips, clearly challenging him. “Do you feel freed?”

He exhaled long and hard. “I feel relieved.” He chose his words carefully. “I’m relieved you’re not in danger anymore. I’m glad your plan to push Mary Perkins out into the open worked. But do I feel freed from the curse? Not really, no.”

A muscle worked in her jaw. “Why am I not surprised?” she asked sarcastically, her anger simmering just below the surface.

He understood. He did. He was angry at Fate, too. But he hadn’t lied to her. He’d never once made her a promise for more than today, and he’d never denied the fact that his family’s history played a role in the choices he made.

“Mary Perkins tormented people by preying on their weakness. Those people are freed. But me? The men in my family? Nothing that happened today changes the fact that for generations, every male who has fallen in love loses in unfathomable ways.” He drew a deep breath. “And, as an added bonus, not one of the women who’ve been involved with a Corwin man has escaped unscathed. Look at what nearly happened to you today. Because you were writing about my family. We are cursed,” he said clearly.

“That is such bull. How has the curse kicked in for you? It’s not as if you’ve said you love me, Derek. I doubt you’d even let yourself think it. So how does what happened today fit into the curse?” she asked, obviously frustrated.

He groaned, unable to argue with her logic. But logic wasn’t ruling his decisions. Fear and past evidence was. “Even if it doesn’t, I can’t take the constant fear that something awful is going to happen to you because of me. I’m not going to let you be hurt.”

She cupped his face in her hands, refusing to let him pull away. “Then don’t walk away from me.”

He swallowed hard, fighting not to respond to her plea, to keep his distance when everything in him rebelled against it. “I have to.”

“Make no mistake, Derek. If I leave this house today, it’s you walking away from me. Not the other way around. I don’t believe in curses, but if there is one, I believe our love is much more powerful.”

Her heart was in her voice and her eyes.

His heart filled every time he looked at her. “I’ve seen the history. Hell, I’ve lived it. I’m not tempting Fate.” He couldn’t.

Like his daughter, Gabrielle was too precious.

“That’s your final decision? Despite the fact that I love you with everything inside me?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Not despite the fact that you love me, Gabby. Because you love me.”

FOR THE FIRST FEW DAYS after the fire, Gabrielle kept herself busy with work. She had lost her man, but she was determined to write her book. Even if she’d failed to prove to Derek that circumstances, not curses, dictated the course of one’s life, she still believed it herself.

Like Gabrielle, Kayla wasn’t about to let the fire prevent her from continuing her story, which had grown in scope since Mayor Perkins’s arrest. Kayla wanted to continue working in Stewart and Perkins, so instead of moving home, she returned to Mrs. Rhodes’s inn for the duration of filming.

It wasn’t easy to stay in town and no longer be with Derek, but Gabrielle powered through. She’d be back at her big, lonely apartment in Boston soon enough. After five days, Kayla declared she had enough interviews and footage to go forward. She packed up her crew and returned to Boston.

Freed up from the constant camera presence, Gabrielle headed for Sharon’s house with a bottle of wine. Though she’d spoken with Sharon since the fire, they’d agreed not to hang out until they could have a girls’ night-no men and more important, no camera crew tagging along.

Sharon’s parents were at the movies and they had the family room to themselves. Sharon put the DVD of Ocean’s Eleven on television, satisfying Gabrielle’s George Clooney fix while giving Sharon her fill of Brad Pitt.

Half a bottle of chardonnay later, Sharon raised her glass in a toast. “To handsome men.”

Gabrielle grinned. “To handsome men who know how to treat women.” She clinked her glass against Sharon’s.

“To fictional men,” Sharon said with a wistful sigh.

“What’s going on? I thought with the threat to Richard’s campaign over, things between the two of you would be back on track.” Gabrielle took a sip of her wine.

Sharon stretched her legs out in front of her and wiggled her toes. “I think my toes are numb,” she said, laughing.

“Quit avoiding the question.”

Sharon shrugged. “You’re assuming things were ever normal. I told you, I don’t think he really knows me. I felt so lucky a good man would want to marry me, I let him think I’d become this docile, fragile female.”

Gabrielle frowned. “I thought that’s why you bought the lingerie at Victoria’s Secret. To show him the real you.” She nudged Sharon’s feet with hers. “What happened?”

“He’s been working nonstop. Or he’s been avoiding having the big discussion. I’m not sure which.”

Gabrielle raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you think it’s time you found out?”

Sharon downed the last of her glass. “You know what? I think you’re right. I’ll be right back.” She stood and ran upstairs.

Sharon was gone for a while. Whatever she had planned, Gabrielle figured the wine had put her up to it. But Sharon did need to face Richard once and for all.

Sharon came back down the stairs wearing the teddy she’d purchased on their shopping trip and a pair of high-heeled sandals.

Gabrielle’s eyes opened wide. She jumped up from her seat on the floor. “Where are you going dressed like that?”

Sharon opened the hall closet and pulled out a light trench coat and pulled it on, wrapping the belt tight around her waist. Then she grabbed her car keys. “To show Richard the real me.”

Gabrielle reached out and snagged the keys from her hand. Neither one of them were in any shape to drive. “I’ll call a cab to drive me home and we can drop you off along the way.”

She hoped her friend had better luck during her upcoming conversation with Richard than she’d had with Derek.

THE EFFECTS OF THE WINE had started to wear off in the cab. Now, standing on the doorstep, Sharon shivered and pulled the trench coat tighter as she rang the doorbell once more, waiting for Richard to answer. The light in the upstairs room told her he was home. She couldn’t, wouldn’t back out now. Richard would love and accept her or he wouldn’t. At least she would know.

Finally, he opened the door, startled when he realized she was waiting on the other side. “Sharon!”

“Hi.” One hand gripped the top of her coat collar. With her free hand, she waved.

“What are you doing here at this hour?” he asked, concerned.

“Can I come in?”

“You don’t need to ask. It’s your house, too.” He pushed open the door and let her inside. “Which begs the question, why didn’t you use your key?”

“I didn’t want to scare you half to death. You weren’t expecting me.”

He nodded. “Can I take your coat?”

“Not yet.” She clutched it closer.

He had on an old pair of gray sweats and nothing else. His chest and his feet were bare.

“I got you out of bed, didn’t I?”

He narrowed his gaze. “Honey, you’re acting really odd. Is everything okay?”

She nodded. “You’ve been acting odd, too,” she said, taking his opening. “With Mary out of the race, you’re running unopposed. You should be freer than ever and yet you’re not available.” She swallowed hard. “At least not to me, and I want to know why.”

He strode across the room, placing distance between them. “For the same reasons you’ve been uptight around me, I guess.”

“The picture? It turned you off? Showed you things you didn’t want to ever imagine?”

He shook his head. “It showed me things I couldn’t bear to face. I hate what that bastard did to you. It just reinforced what I’ve felt all along. That you’re special and precious and you need to be treated gently and with care.”

“That’s not what I want. Not what I need. It’s not even who I am,” Sharon said, pulling at the ties that held her coat together. Her hands were trembling as she worked to free the buttons next. “You seemed to want a politician’s wife, a perfect china doll. I was so grateful you wanted me after everything that had happened, I would have become whatever you expected.”

Tears fell from her eyes as she admitted the most painful thing of all. “But that’s not me. This is me.” She finally shrugged off the coat and displayed the sexy lingerie she’d bought just for a reveal like this one.

He sucked in a startled breath.

Silence greeted her.

“This is me, Richard. I don’t want to be treated as if I’m made of fine bone china. I want to know what it’s like for you to want me. I need you to be so turned on that you can barely think.”

He exhaled. A low groan escaped from the back of his throat. She took it as a good sign and stepped forward, trying to ignore the fact that her legs shook and her body trembled.

“I thought you were avoiding me. Then I worried that you wouldn’t want me if you knew I wanted, needed more than you’ve given me so far.”

His eyes darkened. She hoped it was desire she saw in those depths. “Not want you?” he asked in a gruff voice she barely recognized. “I go to sleep wanting you. I wake up missing you. And when I’m with you, I’m so afraid you’ll shatter, I can’t do anything right.” His body was tense.

But she wasn’t ready to touch him yet. “And now that you know I let you believe I was some fragile flower? Now that you know I’m not…I’m over the past, over what Tony did to me. I’m just a woman who wants you. What happens to us now?” she asked him.

He slid his finger beneath the strap on her silk teddy, then suddenly yanked hard, tearing the soft fabric. The garment slipped, exposing one breast.

Her nipple puckered beneath the cool air, but she didn’t rush to cover up.

“You don’t realize it, but before those pictures resurfaced, I saw glimpses of the real you. I knew you were still getting over your past and I was happy to give you the time you needed. Then, suddenly, you reverted.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know you were being blackmailed, but I knew something had changed. So I backed off even more. I was giving you time.”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t want time. I just want you.”

“Thank God. I want to know the real you and I want you to know the real me,” he said in a husky tone. Then, slowly, tantalizingly, he lowered his head until just his breath hovered over one tight nipple.

“And then?” she asked on barely a whisper.

“Then we get married as planned,” he said, enclosing his mouth around her.

And that was just the beginning…