Touched by Lightning [Dreams of You] (Romantic Suspense) (31 page)

“How did you find us?” she asked, nearly sagging into the neutral stranger’s arms.

“A Ulyssis Garcia called us from the marina.”

“Is he all right?” both Nikki and Adrian asked simultaneously.

“We radioed the hospital to pick him up.”

During the ride back to shore, the authorities kept them both busy questioning them and checking their health. She told them to radio to the police that Devlin was in the wine cellar as they listened to her breathing. They couldn’t hear any water in her lungs; she didn’t tell them she’d been face down in the water for more than ten minutes. She could still feel that tingly connection when Adrian had spoken to her as she was about to die, and the way his breath filled her lungs.

She took a breath, grateful to breathe, to be alive. She couldn’t bring herself to meet Adrian’s eyes from across the room, the man who had saved her life. Her heart felt as if it had shattered into a thousand pieces.

The last person on earth Adrian wanted to see when the Coast Guard docked stood waiting for them: Detective Sloan. Ulyssis had explained what he could, but Sloan still regarded Adrian with suspicion. Adrian didn’t care at the moment. He couldn’t take his eyes off Nikki as Sloan pressed forward and asked her questions. Her arms were wrapped around herself, and she was shivering beneath the brown blankets the Coast Guard had given them.

More than anything, Adrian wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her, but she had already stabbed him in the heart when she’d moved out of his embrace on the dinghy. She didn’t know who to trust anymore. Jack had made her doubt, and Adrian's own lies sure hadn’t helped.

“Please come with me, Mr. Wilde,” a young, uniformed man said, nodding toward the barrage of flashing red and blue lights beyond.

Adrian numbly complied. He couldn’t be under suspicion of murder anymore, but he had fled the authorities and taken a hostage.

The police station was a mass of confusion. Reporters clamored like ants all over the entrance, but the officers pushed their special party right through.

One man shouted, “Mr. Wilde, did you have anything to do with the explosions?”

A woman called out, “Were you after Nikki Madsen’s money?”

When they walked into the bright lights of the station, Adrian turned to the man at his right. “How is Ulyssis Garcia?”

“He’ll be okay. The knife went into his shoulder. He’ll be in pain for a while, but he’ll live.”

Adrian watched Sloan usher Nikki into his office and close the glass door behind him. She looked like a rag doll, her long hair tangled about her face. Maybe she was just in shock. Maybe—Adrian shook his head. No, it wasn’t anything like that. She didn’t trust him. Yet, no anger bubbled to the surface, no regrets.

The young officer led Adrian to another room, one without windows. “Detective Sloan will be in to speak with you in a few minutes. Can I get you anything? Coffee? Soda?”

“How about a cigarette?”

“Sure.”

The man disappeared for a moment before returning with one cigarette and a pack of matches, then left Adrian alone. He rolled the cigarette in his fingers, then raised it to nose. It didn’t appeal to him anymore. He dropped it and watched it roll off the edge of the table. A few minutes later, Sloan walked in. Adrian noticed a trace of smugness on the man’s face, but he was too numb to let it bother him.

Sloan took a seat across from Adrian. “So why don’t you tell us your version of the story, Wilde?”

Adrian leaned back, crossing his arms in front of him. The jacket one of the cops had loaned him only kept in the dampness that emanated from the sweater, but he wasn’t cold anymore. Not on the outside, anyway.

“You want me to start at the beginning, or after I left you at the hospital?”

Sloan’s lips curved upward. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?”

Adrian didn’t relish telling this man about his visions, but he supposed Nikki probably had already mentioned them. What did it matter anyway? He started with the visions, then the photograph, and moved forward from there, omitting the intimate details.

When Adrian was finished, he asked, “Disappointed I didn’t do it?”

Sloan crossed one leg over the other, smoothing out the cuff of his pants. “I wanted the find the murderer, Wilde. It was nothing personal. There’s still the issue of taking the nurse hostage. Not to mention assaulting two officers.”

Adrian stiffened. “I’d do it again if I had to.”

“Yeah, well. She’s not pressing charges. In fact, she even confessed that she helped you out.” Sloan’s mouth twisted into what could almost be considered a smile. “As it’s my discretion on whether to charge you with that, I’ve decided not to pursue it.” Sloan stood, and Adrian knew that was as close as the man was going to get to apologizing. “You’re free to go.”

Adrian followed Sloan out of the room. His eyes searched for Nikki before his mind could tell them not to. She was hunched into a ball in one of the chairs, talking to another officer. Adrian moved closer to the room.

Sloan stepped up next to him. “Don’t go in there.”

Anger flared for a moment, reminding Adrian that something was still alive inside him. “I need to talk to her.”

Sloan placed his hand on Adrian’s shoulder. It wasn’t a restraining touch, but one to emphasize a point. “She doesn’t want to see you. Give her some time. She’s been through a lot.”

Adrian stood there for several minutes, his body rigid. He couldn’t feel her, couldn’t connect. She didn’t look in his direction. Once again, he was helpless to comfort her, to take her away from the hell that plagued her.

He pounded on the glass, startling her into dropping her coffee. “Nikki! Talk to me.”

She shook her head, turning away from him.

That dismissal killed him. Still, he said, “I’ll be in town for another couple days. I don’t want to leave without talking to you.”

“You’re only making it worse.” Sloan’s grip on his shoulder tightened. “For now, you’re going to have to let her go.”

Let her go. The words ached inside Adrian. Maybe that was his purpose in her life, the reason behind their connection. Save her. Set her free. The bitch of it was, along the way he’d fallen in love with her.

CHAPTER 20

Nikki stood in front of the headstone in the cemetery. The cool breeze swirled around her heavy skirt, but her sweater and stockings kept her warm. Sunshine streamed through the trees, spotting everything with light. Her clothes smelled new, something she hadn’t experienced in too long. The allowance the trust fund had provided had been building up for two years, and when the mess was all straightened out last week, Nikki had taken some of the money and rented a small apartment in Ft. Lauderdale. Buying clothes, makeup, it all seemed so foreign to her. Actually walking into a nice store, being looked at with respect, not scorn. It had sent her head spinning.

So she was taking it one step at a time. Coming back to Palm Beach was the biggest step. Before that morning, she hadn’t talked to anyone from her past, except the family lawyer. She had stopped in to see Ulyssis a few hours before, and he had gathered her in his skinny arms and told her how glad he was to see her. It had felt good to be held, though it reminded her of other times, other people…

She’d had a week to sort things through, but nothing was clear yet. She knelt down and put the bouquet of roses and carnations on the small grave marker. Engraved on the marble was Maudine Whittaker. Nikki had never known Maudine’s last name. She had thought about giving her a fancy headstone, but that wasn’t Maudine’s style, so she’d kept it small and simple. Like Maudine herself.

“Maudine, I’m sorry everything worked out so horribly. Sometimes I think that you’re actually better off now. I know that’s a terrible thought, but you were so unhappy. I hope you can forgive me for that, and for everything. I only wanted to help you. You know that, though, don’t you? You were my only friend down there on the streets. I’m going to miss you.”

Nikki bowed her head and said a silent prayer for Maudine’s soul. Please give her mercy, dear Lord. She was a good woman, in her own distorted way. Maybe if someone had loved her, she would have been okay.

Nikki walked over to her mother’s gravestone. It was the first time she would see it in two years. Blossom’s stone was larger and more elaborate than Maudine’s, more appropriate for her mother. Picking out that stone had been the hardest thing in the world to do.

“Mother,” she whispered, tracing the edges of Blossom’s name. “Dad.” Her father’s gravestone sat next to Blossom’s. They had each other, at least.

“Mother, Adrian...Adrian once told me that you were probably proud of me, even if you didn’t show it. The thought was preposterous, but I’ve had a lot of time in the last week to do some thinking. I do remember times, things you said...maybe you were proud of me, in your own way. I’m going to believe that, because it’s all I have. I wish we could have gotten along better, but we were two totally different people. And you know what? We were both okay.”

When Nikki knelt to place the second bouquet on her mother’s grave, she gave a startled gasp. A fresh bunch of yellow roses lay in the grass. She turned around and her breath caught in her throat. Devlin stood there.

“I saw you over there as I was leaving,” he said quietly.

She was surprised to feel none of the fear that always accompanied her thoughts of Devlin. He looked much older than she remembered, and yet his faint smile reminded her of happier times. He should hate her for blaming him all this time, for hiding from him.

Her voice was barely above a whisper; all her emotions were clogged in her throat. “These are yours?” She nodded toward the roses.

“Yes. I’ve been leaving a bunch here every month since she died.”

“I—I haven’t been here in two years. I was too afraid…” She looked up at him, ready to encounter the bitterness he must surely feel toward her.

“Of me,” he finished for her, but there was nothing hostile about those words. “Don’t cry, Nikki.”

She didn’t realize she was crying, but the wind made the track of her tear cold. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too. It was a misunderstanding.”

He lifted his arms toward her, and nothing felt as right as moving into them. The years of fear and anger melted away as he squeezed her tight. Life was still scary, but maybe she would be all right. If only the huge empty ache inside her would go away. Some of it had been for Devlin, and some for Maudine. She didn’t want to think about the rest.

When they finally parted, she smiled. “We have a lot of catching up to do.”

“Yes, we do. I don’t even know you anymore. Maybe I never did. You were always so different from me. I think you were more mature than I was, and you were the younger one. Maybe that’s what made me treat you so mean.”

“It doesn’t matter. That’s all in the past. I made a terrible mistake, and I almost lost my brother over it.”

He took her arm and tucked it beneath his. “Speaking of mistakes, what about Adrian?”

She looked at him, her heart twisting inside her. “What do you mean?”

“Have you spoken to him yet?”

She shook her head, too quickly. “No, I can’t.”

“He came to see me before he left for New York.”

Somehow she knew that’s where he’d gone to. She’d purposely waited past those couple days he’d said he would be in town and then driven past the rented house in Palm Beach. The shelter was finished now, but she hadn’t the guts to go inside. In any case, Adrian’s car wasn’t at either place, and the other day there was a minivan with Virginia plates parked in front of the house.

“What did he say?”

“He loves you, Nikki.”

She couldn’t keep the startled look from her face. “He said that to you?”

“He didn’t have to. I could tell. He told me how he’d come here for you, to save your life. He was happy you were going to be okay, but funny...he looked sad.”

The pictures she’d tried so hard to keep at bay flashed through her mind like a movie: Adrian building a sandcastle, being held in his arms, making love in the bed, in the shower…

“But he’s gone now,” she said, more to herself than to Devlin.

“He said you knew where to find him.”

It was all so confusing. Did he really love her? Or was he lost to her? She remembered most of all the hurt on his face when she wouldn’t come into his arms in the dinghy. He’d risked everything to save her. Even taking a nurse hostage. She knew now that Adrian had nothing to do with the explosion, had never consorted with Jack. She was having a hard time separating the sinister lies from the benign ones.

“He asked me to take care of you.” Devlin laughed softly. “As if my little sister ever needed someone to take care of her.”

No, she didn’t need someone to take care of her. Having someone there, standing by her, that would be wonderful. She turned to him. “I’ve trusted with my heart and been lied to. I’ve feared with my soul and been wrong. I don’t know what to feel anymore.”

He tilted his head as he studied her. “I’ve had trouble liking myself, much less loving someone else. But I’m pretty sure, even without any expertise in the matter, that you love Adrian.”

“Yes,” she answered without thinking. “A lot. I think. I know. Oh, I don’t know.”

Devlin smiled at her confusion. “There’s only one way to be sure. Go to New York and talk to him. I’ll go with you if you want.”

A shiver assailed her at the thought of going to New York, of seeing Adrian again. A good shiver, and a scary one, too.

“I have to go alone, if I go.”

“You do what you have to. You’ve been doing that for a long time now anyway.”

Nikki stood at the door, her hand poised to knock. It had taken her a week to gather the courage to come to New York. Not helping her nerves, a woman had authorized her entrance into the building. What kind of situation was she walking in on? Adrian had every reason to move on with his life like she could not. She took a deep breath. It could be the cleaning lady, too. No matter. Nikki was there, and she wasn’t leaving until she straightened things out with Adrian. If he was involved with someone else, or if his feelings had changed, then she would accept that and leave. But not until she apologized, and most of all, thanked him for saving her life. He had freed her, and reunited her with Devlin, too.