Earthbound Angels Part 1: The Heartthrob Fallen Celestial Stories Collection (17 page)

Graeme had a special gift of sorts but his was
more about finding people. Simon's gift could tell him if someone
was lying or not. But Simon wasn't here so he would just have to
mull this over on his own.

As he looked at the very beautiful woman sitting
across the desk from him, he saw no sign of deception from her. Of
course, she had had several years to practice looking sincere, but
he just didn't feel that was happening here.

At last, he spoke.

"They never found out who killed your mother,
then?" he asked.

"No," Kiara answered. "I followed the news
closely ever since the day it happened. If they did find someone, I
never heard about it."

Graeme nodded thoughtfully. He would need to
check into that more carefully because it changed things. Without
knowing who killed Renee, he couldn't possibly know who to trust,
which meant that he couldn't simply hand Kiara and Ronan over to
the Graves' brothers until he knew more.

Now, he had to decide how much he should tell
her about why he was hired to find her. He supposed the truth was
the obvious answer but he would make some conditions for now.

As if she was reading his mind, Kiara spoke up
once more.

"Now you know my story," she said. "You said
that you had something to tell me."

"You're absolutely correct," he replied. "I'm
going to tell you everything, but what you've just shared with us
about your past changes things a bit."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I mean that you and Ronan may still be in some
sort of danger even now. So I'll tell you what's going on, but
you've got to promise me that you and Ronan will remain here in my
home until I've sorted it all out."

"Honestly, I can take care of myself as well as
Ronan," Kiara all but snorted. "You can't do something like this!
This is a free country!"

"Kiara," Dreama said. "Please don't take this
the wrong way. I know that you've been through a lot and that it's
difficult for you to trust someone. But Graeme has only your best
interests at heart; yours as well as Ronan's. You can totally trust
him. He's not telling you that he wants to hold you and your
brother prisoners here. He's saying that he wants to make sure that
both of you are safe before he starts telling anyone that he found
you."

Kiara looked a little nervous. "I don't mean to
sound ungrateful, but how do I know we'll really be safe?"

This time, it was Holli who spoke. "Dreama and I
have both been through some kind of serious stuff and, even though
we didn't know it then, Graeme was playing a huge part in helping
us. So please, just give him a chance to see what's going on before
taking off out of here, okay?"

Suddenly, the defiant look left Kiara's face and
she actually looked a bit ashamed.

"Damn," she said softly. "I'm so sorry. All of
you have been so kind to Ronan and me, and then I go back into
street mode just because you want to protect us. What you must
think of me!"

"What we think is that you've come through a
very difficult time," Hollianne said. "In fact, 'difficult' is
probably too tame of a word to describe your experience. You're
actually doing much better than I would be. You can ask my husband,
Erick, when you meet him. He'll tell you what a mess I was when he
met me. Actually, he invented a job for me in order to help
me."

"A job. And then he's now your husband?"

"He started to protect me from the first moment
he saw me," she said. "Oh it's a long story, but if you want to
hear about it someday, I'll be happy to tell you. Anyway, Kiara, I
promise you that you can trust Graeme. Besides, if you just really
aren't comfortable staying here with him, you and Ronan can always
come to our home. Dreama was staying with us until she and Simon
got together but she's living with him now since they got engaged.
We've got plenty of room and tons of security."

"You know," Kiara began in her soft, husky
voice. "That won't be necessary. I'm feeling very embarrassed and
ashamed of myself for the way I reacted. Graeme, if you really want
Ronan and me to stay here and you feel that it's necessary, then
we'll stay. Besides, we really don't have anywhere else to go."

She said that last part with a bit of a short
sad laugh. These words and accompanying sound ripped through the
room causing Graeme, Hollianne and Dreama to feel little tears
ripping in their hearts. It also made Graeme more determined than
ever to find out what was exactly going on.

But now, he needed to explain to Kiara just what
she was faced with.

"OKAY," GRAEME SAID. "You said that you never
knew who your father was or who Ronan's father was. Does that mean
you never had a single hint?"

"No, none," she replied. "I got curious once and
went digging through my mother's important papers. I actually found
my birth certificate along with Ronan's, but the father was listed
as Unknown. So it didn't actually help."

"I see. Well, what you need to know is that
you've got an extended family. In fact, it was one of your
half-brothers who hired me to find you. He didn't seem to know much
about you and didn't seem to know anything at all about Ronan. The
reason he wanted me to find you is because your biological father
has recently passed on."

"My father? Are you sure?" Kiara looked a little
lost and stunned. "And he's died, too?" she asked in a small
voice.

"Not only that but there's a great deal of money
involved in the estate and you've been left a significant portion
of it."

She was still looking at him. "Do you know how
he died?"

Graeme noted that she didn't even seem to hear
about the money. "No, Kiara, sorry I don't. I can find out, if you
want," he said gently.

She looked still dazed as she looked down at her
hands again, then she seemed to gather herself together. Her
shoulders squared and she looked back at him again. "What else was
it that you're saying?"

"I am saying that a huge part of your father's
estate has been left to you. Obviously, this would allow your
lifestyle to change considerably. However, I found it strange that
no one else knew about your existence until the reading of your
father's will."

"What is my father's name?" Kiara asked.

"Yes, his name is Richard Graves. His son and
your half-brother, Jefferson Graves, is who hired me. I've had some
time to dig into their background a bit and discovered that there
are actually three sons. There's Jefferson, Elliott, and Bradley.
Those would be your half-brothers. I've only met with Jefferson so
far, but I'll need to meet with the rest of them before I willingly
turn you over to them."

"Graves.... That name sounds a little familiar
to me," Kiara mused. "But it just may be something I read or saw
somewhere."

"It's possible," Graeme agreed. "The Graves name
is pretty well-known around here. But you're sure you never heard
it from your mother?"

"Pretty sure, yeah," Kiara replied.

"Okay, well, either way, I won't be letting on
that I've found you. That makes it certain that you'll remain safe
until I've had some time to look into this. Are you okay with
that?"

"Of course," Kiara replied without hesitation.
"I'll do as you say."

By the time this meeting concluded, it was late
and starting to get dark outside. Dreama and Hollianne both hugged
Kiara before they left and assured her once more that she and Ronan
couldn't be in safer hands than Graeme's.

Then, with a promise to check in on her the next
day, both women hurried off to have dinner with their men.

Graeme showed them out, and Kiara went in search
of Ronan. She didn't ordinarily like to leave him on his own for
very long at a time, but he didn't need to be a part of this
horrific story.

The game room wasn't hard to find as she just
followed the sound of a video game's music. Pausing in the doorway,
she watched her little brother deftly playing the video game he had
chosen. A small smile touched her lips.

He never got to have any real fun anymore
because of the way they had been living. Even if it turned out that
Graeme's intentions weren't the best, this was still better than
the alternative.

Kiara felt rather than heard Graeme come up
behind her.

"He's so happy," she said without even turning
around. "Thank you for this."

"I should be thanking you," Graeme replied. "I
forget just how big this place is until there are no people in it
except me. My housekeeper and her husband are on vacation right now
but you'll meet her soon enough. I've got a feeling she's going to
be very pleased about this turn of events."

"She is?" Kiara asked. "Why?"

Graeme looked a bit uncomfortable, but he
replied. "Stella has been trying to find the perfect woman for me
for a very long time. She'll see you being here as a very hopeful
challenge."

The wry tone in Graeme's voice made her
laugh.

"She's going to love having Ronan here to spoil,
too. Don't even try to talk her out of it, either. Your pleas will
fall on deaf ears."

"You know, it's been a long time since anyone
has spoiled him except for me. It will probably do him a lot of
good."

As Graeme stood near her, watching Roman, too,
he reached out and squeezed her shoulder gently.

She knew what the gesture meant, but Kiara was
stunned when her body responded to the touch. An electrical current
zipped through her body, reaching her lower belly and putting a
curious weight there that could only mean one thing.

She wasn't that ignorant to know what it meant.
It has been a long time since she felt attraction to a guy. What's
different now was that it had been a youthful infatuation then.
Now, she's an adult. And her body could feel the difference.

Oh wow,
she thought. She looked back up at Graeme, hoping
nothing on her face showed what's going on inside her. Graeme was
staring at her strangely.

Then he smiled.

That weight in her lower belly dropped.

"Why don't we go in and see if Ronan is hungry?
I'm sure his lunch wore off a long time ago."

Kiara tried to smile, too, but her face has
already turned away when she nodded.

And together, they entered the room.

~ ~ ~
~

Untouched

When Abby's best friend goes missing for more
than 24 hours, she fears the worst. Upon calling the police, a
detective comes to meet her. Opening the door she sees an old
friend, Ethan, who has come to help her solve the case. Together,
the flames are rekindled as they search for her missing friend and
what fate has befallen her.

Wrong
Number

Devon wakes up to the news that her husband was
involved in an accident that left his wrecked car at the bottom of
the river, with no body to be found. Followed by a series of
mysterious phone calls asking for Dan that send chills down Devon's
spine, she knows something just isn't right. But the worst is yet
to come...

* * *

Get these author books from your favorite
retailer.

Finally!
Devon thought as she sat down on the couch in her
new apartment.

Moving was never easy, but she had done it so
many times now that it was becoming somewhat of a routine. However,
this time it was different. She wasn't going to be moving again in
the near future, if ever. It had taken a while to save the money
she needed, but now she had her very own book shop. Even better,
her spacious apartment was right over the shop, which meant that
she had everything she needed conveniently within reach.

The first order of business had been to get her
belongings moved into the apartment. Tomorrow, Devon would begin
unpacking boxes and stocking the shelves of her shop with the help
of Janina, the girl she had hired to help her. Together, she hoped
that they would be able to get most of it all done within a couple
of days. She really wanted to have her grand opening by the end of
the week. Saturdays were usually excellent days to hold them
because people would be looking for something to do on the
weekends.

Devon had planned it all out beautifully. She
did her research and found that this tiny coastal town on the east
coast would be the perfect location for her book shop. Crystal Cove
was small enough to be quaint, but large enough that tourists
visiting nearby beach resorts would be able to find it easily
enough. In fact, tourism was a large part of the town's income.
When she found Crystal Cove, it boasted one casual dining
restaurant, one fine dining restaurant, a Victorian bed and
breakfast as well as a small but elegant inn. There were other
necessary businesses in town but there was no book shop. That's
where Devon came in.

She was going to be selling all sorts of books.
There would be sections for romances, mysteries, occult, research
materials, and even a children's section. That was going to be set
up as a story time area. Her favorite part, though, was in the back
of the shop. That's where Devon would be offering Tarot readings in
a private and specially decorated area. No one had to know that her
information came from sources that had nothing to do with the
Tarot. She had been playing that off for years so that people
didn't become afraid of her and her abilities.

Well, Devon thought. I can't just sit here
daydreaming. I've got to get busy. Her electricity, water, and
landline phone were all turned on and she could now stay here. The
movers were due to arrive in a few hours to bring in her furniture.
One thing at a time, she thought. She got up and started to do some
cleaning and measuring so that she would know where she could put
what.