Thunderbolt over Texas

Eight

It took Sydney the entire next morning to convince Cole they needed to split up. But she finally sent him to some antique dealers across town, freeing her up to walk to city hall.

Hunched over a microfiche reader in the bowels of the building’s basement, she discovered Irene Cowan had paid taxes on a little house at Risotto Beach for ten years running. But Irene’s trail disappeared in the early eighties. She could have started renting, or she might have moved away.

Sydney moved on to utility records. But she found nothing new. Then, two hours later, just when she was sure she’d hit a dead end, it occurred to her to check marriage licenses.

She moved to the State offices upstairs. There, finally, she had another lead. Irene Cowan had become Irene Robertson. She and her husband had paid taxes in Oceanside for a further fifteen years. Then they’d died in a car accident in the mid-nineties.

But they’d raised one son, Rupert Cowan. And according to the Oceanside Gazette, he’d graduated from Edison High School and won a small scholarship to Southwestern State Fashion Design College. The Southwestern State alumni newsletter revealed that he’d received his degree then taken a job in New York.

Then Google picked up a local fashion show from last year in Miami. Rupert Cowan’s company, Zap, had been a contributing designer.

It was a break. A huge break.

Rupert could be in Miami.

Sydney needed to get there just as soon as possible. She began formulating a plan. She’d approach him the way she approached any other potential seller. Not on the phone, not with a letter, but in person. She needed to see his expression, gauge his mood, his interests, his weaknesses.

This was the most important antiquity purchase she’d ever make. She was doing it step by careful step.

Her heels clicked on the floor of the cavernous, marble foyer while she dialed Gwen’s number.

“Hello?” Gwen answered.

“I need you to send us to Miami.”

“Sydney?”

“Yeah. It’s me.”

“What’s in Miami?”

“I can’t explain, but you need to give us some kind of a lead for Miami.”

“Whoa. A false lead?”

“Yes.”

“What’s going on?”

“You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important.”

“You’ve got something. What’ve you got?”

“I’ve got a name,” Sydney admitted.

“Who? Where? How?”

“I can’t tell you that. It would give away a confidence.”

“You have someone else working on this?”

“It’s, ah, complicated.”

“I’m reasonably intelligent.”

“I know.” But Sydney couldn’t tell Gwen. She couldn’t tell anybody Rupert’s name. She’d given her word to Grandma.

“So, what exactly is it that I’m doing here?”

“You’re sending us to Miami.”

Gwen’s tone hardened. “That’s not what I meant.”

Sydney sighed, not sure how to answer.

“So, what? I’m window decoration?”

“Right now. Yeah.”

Gwen’s voice rose, her exasperation coming through loud and clear. “You mean I can stop calling in favors from Edinburgh to Rome?”

“Yes.”

“Sydney!”

“I didn’t know until this very minute. I swear, I just found out-”

“Fine.”

Sydney felt like crud. “I’m sorry.”

Gwen’s voice was flat. “Call me if you need help.”

“I will. And, Gwen?”

“Yeah?”

“I’ll tell you what I can later. But this is important.”

“I hear you.”

“I’ll call you from Miami.”

“I’ll be asleep.” Gwen disconnected.

Sydney snapped the phone shut and pushed open the glass door.

Out on the wide, concrete staircase, she swore under her breath. Gwen was a good friend, and a consummate professional. Maybe it would be safe to tell her…

Sydney trotted down the steps, rubbing her thumb over the keypad of her phone, trying to decide how much she could afford to tell Gwen. As she ran through the facts, Grandma’s stricken expression flashed through her mind. Sydney heard her own heartfelt vow, and remembered her determination to do right by the woman.

Good friend or no good friend, she knew she’d take the secret to her grave.

“I gotta ask myself…” came a familiar, mocking voice.

Sydney blinked the world back into focus and stared directly into the face of Bradley Slander.

“…what does the Oceanside City Hall have to do with our little search?”

A cold wave of fear momentarily paralyzed her.

“This is the best one yet, Sydney.” He chuckled. “Come on, tell ol’ Bradley what you’ve got.”

“Nothing.” She gripped her phone, cursing herself as she increased her pace in an effort to get him away from the building.

She frantically cataloged her movements over the past few hours. Had she covered her tracks? Would the clerks remember her? Had she written anything down? Tossed evidence in the wastebasket?

How could she have been so careless as to let Bradley sneak up on her? He could have overheard her phone call to Gwen. He might already know about Miami.

“We can go fifty-fifty,” he said, pacing along beside her.

“Get lost.”

“Now, that’s just rude.”

Sydney stopped on the sidewalk and turned to stare at him, a horrible thought crossing her mind. What if he’d talked to Cole’s grandmother? What if he’d gone to the ranch, lied about who he was and pumped the family for information.

“If you’re so damn good, why do you need me anyway?” she asked, fishing to see how much he knew.

He moved in closer. “Because we’re a team, Wainsbrook. It wouldn’t be near as much fun without you.”

“You mean, you don’t want the entire profit?”

His beady eyes narrowed. “Yeah, right. You don’t think for one minute I’m going to find it.”

“Frankly,” said Sydney, with what she hoped was an unconcerned toss of her hair, “I don’t think either of us is going to find it.”

“They why are you wasting your time?”

“It’s my time to waste.”

“What’ve you got?”

“I’ve got a missing brooch.” She waited, hoping his ego would force him to give out his own information.

“We know the age of the fake,” he said.

“Of course we do.” She waited again.

“We know it’s the Erickson family.”

Sydney nodded, concentrating on keeping her expression neutral. Had he talked to Grandma? Had he been to Texas?

“You talked to them?” asked Bradley.

“I’ve got Cole Erickson with me now,” she admitted. Maybe if she focused on Cole, Bradley wouldn’t realize Grandma was of any significance.

If Bradley was surprised that she volunteered Cole’s name, he didn’t show it. He probably chalked it up to his superior interrogation techniques, thinking he had her right where he wanted her.

“He the guy on the phone?” Bradley asked.

“Yeah.” Sydney gave a long sigh, trying to appear tired and vulnerable. “He hasn’t given me anything. You want to give him a try?”

This time, Bradley did eye her with suspicion.

She hoped she hadn’t overplayed her hand.

Then he grinned, reaching out to touch the bottom of her chin. “Not.”

Relief shuddered through Sydney. By sheer force of will, she didn’t brush his hand away. Instead she raised her eyebrows in a question.

“Don’t want to make him nervous.” Bradley chuckled. “I think he’s got the hots for you. Not a good idea to bring him face-to-face with his competition.”

She nearly choked on that one.

Bradley moved in closer, dropping his voice to an intimate level. “Why don’t you talk to him? I can come up with a few questions for you, and you can tell me what he says, hmm?”

Sure didn’t take much for the man to think they’d joined forces. “Okay.” Sydney agreed with a nod. If Bradley focused on interrogation questions for Cole, he might just stay out of city hall wastepaper baskets.

Bradley snaked an arm around her waist and she forced herself to remain still.

“Don’t be afraid to get persuasive,” he whispered, his hot breath irritating her skin.

What? She was supposed to break Cole’s legs?

“You know what I mean.” Bradley rubbed his knuckles up and down her arm. “Flirt a little. Give a little.”

Sydney tightened her jaw and swallowed hard against her scathing retort. “Right,” she said instead.

“That’s my girl.” He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Cole watched with disbelief as an overpolished, ridiculously urbane-looking man kissed Sydney right there on the sidewalk. He gripped the steering wheel and everything inside him clenched to stone. He reached for the door handle, intent on ripping the jerk’s head off, but a horn sounded behind him.

He looked up to see the light had turned green. Then he glanced back at Sydney. She was smiling at the man, their posture intimate and telling. Cole’s nostrils flared and he stuffed the transmission into First.

No wonder she’d been so anxious to get rid of him this morning. She had something going on the side, and he was in the way. Whether this guy was a lover or a secret contact, her interests obviously weren’t those of the Erickson family.

Cole wasn’t about to sit still for that. Miss New York’s plotting days were over. He was taking over as of right now. He was calling up the best PI firm in the country and putting them on retainer until the job was complete. Sydney could get the hell out of his way.

He pulled into the hotel underground and parked the car. Then he grabbed an express elevator and stomped his way down the hallway. He’d call Kyle, see if his brother had come up with any leads from the neighbors. Then he’d call Joseph Neely and get some PI firm recommendations.

Kyle didn’t have any new information, so Cole moved on to Neely. Five minutes later he was armed with a list of the top-ten firms.

“Cole?” Sydney’s voice wafted through the connecting doorway.

He picked up the phone, planning to start with the L.A. firm.

Her footsteps sounded on the carpet behind him. “You find any… What are you doing?”

He turned to look at her lying, cheating, beautiful face. “Better question is, what are you doing?”

She glanced from him to the phone and back again. “I’m looking for the Thunderbolt.”

“Find it?”

“Uh…no.”

“Find anything new today?”

She shook her head.

“Nothing at all? Nothing interesting?”

“Cole?”

That was it. She’d blown her last chance.

“I’m calling P.I. firms,” he said, punching in the last few numbers.

She took a step forward, but something in his expression made her hesitate. Smart woman.

“Why?” she asked.

“Amber and Associates,” came the voice on the telephone.

“I’m interested in hiring a private investigator,” said Cole. “I need to find some missing jewelry.”

Sydney moved around the bed, stopping directly in front of him. “Don’t.”

He ignored her.

She shot a telltale glance at the disconnect button.

He covered the mouthpiece. “Don’t even think about it.”

“I’ll put you through to Dean Skye,” said the receptionist.

“Thank you,” said Cole, warning Sydney with his eyes.

“Hang up,” she insisted.

“No.”

“Why are you doing this?”

“So I can find the Thunderbolt.”

“We are finding the Thunderbolt.”

Cole scoffed out a sound of disbelief.

“Cole!”

“Dean Skye speaking.”

“Mr. Skye,” said Cole, ignoring Sydney. “I have a situation involving-”

Sydney’s hand shot out.

Cole grabbed her wrist. But he was too late. The line went dead.

He squeezed. “What the-”

She winced and he immediately let her go.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he bellowed, slamming down the receiver.

“You can’t do this.”

“Yes. As a matter of fact, I can. It’s my brooch. It’s my problem. You don’t even need to be here.”

“But-”

“You’re dead weight, Sydney. Go home.”

She blinked. “I don’t understand. What happened?”

He’d seen her in the arms of another man. That’s what happened.

And he knew in that instant that he couldn’t trust her. He also knew she was under his skin. He’d spent one single night in her arms, but there was no denying the acid spray of jealousy that burned through his body.

He was making decisions on emotion here. He had to send her away before he did something really stupid and compromised his family.

“Cole?”

“I know your little secret.” He spat the words out.

All the color drained from her face. Her green eyes went wide, and her arms went slack by her side. “How…”

Well, if there was any doubt at all left over, that reaction sure confirmed that he’d seen what he’d thought he’d seen.

Cole sneered. “I saw you kissing him. Hugging him-”

“Who?”

“The guy on the sidewalk.”

“Just now?”

What the hell kind of a question was that? “Yes, just now. How many guys did you kiss today?”

“You mean Bradley?”

“I don’t know his name.”

The color was coming back to her face. Now she looked more confused than scared. “You called in a P.I. firm because you saw Bradley Slander kiss me?”

“I called in a P.I. firm because you spent the afternoon with Bradley instead of doing your job.”

“I was with him for two minutes.”

Cole snorted. “That must have been disappointing. And, by the way, if that was Bradley Slander, he sure hasn’t been scorned yet.”

“You think I was having sex with him?” Her question ended in an incredulous shout. Then silence took over the room and she stared at him with impressive indignation.

Okay, if her reaction was anything to go by at this point…

“You kissed him goodbye,” said Cole.

She paced across the room. “He kissed me. On the cheek. In public.”

“You didn’t exactly slap his face.”

“I didn’t exactly kiss him back, either. He’s smart, and he’s unpredictable. I just wanted him to go away.”

“I saw what I saw,” Cole insisted, but his voice was losing conviction.

“You saw him kiss me on the cheek, because that was all he did.”

“You didn’t have to smile.”

“I was gritting my teeth.”

Cole swallowed, allowing that he might not have connected the dots in precisely the right formation.

“Cole, I spent the afternoon researching the Thunderbolt. And I’d slit my wrists before I’d sleep with that man.”

Something relaxed inside Cole. Bad sign, he knew. But there was nothing he could do about it.

Her eyes burned an emerald fire as she moved closer. “And I’m insulted that you jumped to that conclusion. Just because I slept with you-”

“I’m sorry.”

“-doesn’t make me-”

“I’m sorry.”

She took a breath. “You’re a cad, you know that?”

He nodded. “I’m a cad.”

She poked him in the chest with her index finger. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself.”

He nodded again. “I am.”

She poked him, and this time he captured her hand.

She looked up into his eyes and her voice softened. “I’m a very reliable person. I could get references.”

“I don’t need references,” he whispered.

She searched his expression. “Then what do you need?”

What did he need? He needed to be sure that emotion wasn’t overriding reason when it came to her. He needed to know she was on his side. He needed to know she didn’t have an ulterior motive.

She sighed into the silence. “Once, just once, do you think you could give me the benefit of the doubt?”

“Yeah,” he answered. “I will.”

“Good.”

He inhaled the scent of her hair and something primal rose up inside him. She might not have been interested in Slander, but Slander was sure as hell interested in her. Cole felt an overpowering need to stamp out the other man’s taint.

He needed to hold her, to kiss her, to remind himself that he was the one she’d made love with. It might be an over-reaction, but the blood of pillaging Vikings pounded through his veins. Ericksons took what they wanted, and Cole wanted Sydney.

He wanted her bad.

He bent his head, bringing his lips down onto hers. He forced himself to keep his arms by his sides. She could step away if she wanted. He wasn’t holding her, but he wasn’t holding back, either. He was going to kiss her until she told him to stop.

But she didn’t step away, and passion crested within him. His hands went to her hair. How he’d missed its satiny texture. He cradled her head, taking a small step forward, his body coming up against hers, her heat flaring against his skin.

“I missed you,” he whispered, the words almost painful. “I missed you so much.”

Had it only been a week since they’d made love? It seemed like an eternity.

“I missed you, too,” she sighed, her soft body snuggling into the hollows of his own. “I know you’re marrying someone else…”

“And I know this is just business for you…”

Their kiss deepened. He wished he could absorb her, keep her, bind her so tight she’d never touch another man. Never look at another man.

He plucked at the buttons of her blouse, needing to feel her satin skin once more.

Her blouse fell open and his fingertips skimmed their way over her stomach.

He covered one lacy cup, filling his hand with the weight of her breast. Her nipple poked into his palm and he wanted to rip off her clothes then and there. She wasn’t going near another man. Ever. Ever!

He didn’t care that it was only business. His hand convulsed around her breast, and the other went to her buttocks, dragging her tight against his body, leaving no question about the strength of his desire.

“Cole,” she moaned, her body going lax.

He wrapped an arm around her waist, supporting her slight weight.

“What you do…” she groaned.

“What you do,” he muttered back.

She wound her arms around his neck, holding him tight, her lips searing his skin.

“Cole, please,” she gasped.

“Anything,” he said. “Anything.”

“We have to go.”

“Huh?”

She stopped kissing, released him, her breath coming in short gasps. “We have to go to Miami.”

Cole felt as though he’d been bucked off and hit the dirt sideways. “What?”

“I found out… Gwen called… We need to go to Miami.”

He stared down at her open blouse, her lacy bra, the creamy breasts that mounded up like ambrosia. “Now?”

“Now. Bradley’s here. We can’t waste any time.”

Cole pulled back, irrational anger bubbling up at the mere mention of Bradley’s name. “Is that what you call this? A waste of time?”

She closed her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh. “Don’t.”

Fine. Forget it. They’d drop everything and fly across the country to play hurry up and wait. “Sure, we’ll go to Miami.”

“You think I want to stop?”

“Just say it-you’re stopping, aren’t you.”

She tightened her jaw, bringing her hands up to her hips. “Cole Nathaniel-”

He froze at the intimate sound of his middle name.

“-I want you more than I’ve ever wanted any man in my life. And if I had my way-”

“You want me?”

“Yes.”

“But we’re leaving?”

“Yes! Bradley’s going to stake out the hotel.”

“But, you definitely want me.” Suddenly life didn’t seem so bleak. Miami was only four hours away. They could be there before morning. Nothing to do before the antique stores opened up…

She shook her head. “Yes, I want you. Should I make up a sign or something?”

“And you’ll still want me in Miami?” He’d take it in writing if she’d give it to him.

“Not if you don’t shut up.”

Cole grinned. “Shutting up now.”

“Good. Grab your bag.”

“Should I call a cab?”

“No. Let’s duck out the back way and catch one a few blocks down.”

He gave her a squeeze. “It’s sexy when you go all secret agent on me.”

She shot him a look of impatience. “Want meter is going down.”

“Shutting up again.”

“Good thinking.”