Bad Girls Don't (27 page)

The Tivoli was saved. For now . . .

Skye wrapped her arms around her bare midriff to ward off the chill.

“All right.” Nathan’s voice was hard when he spoke to her, matching his expression. “This does it. End of discussion. You and your daughter aren’t safe staying upstairs in that apartment.”

“I agree,” Skye said. “Angel has already taken Toni to her place.”

“Great. So you’re moving to Serenity Falls temporarily.”

“Like I said, Angel has taken Toni. But I’m staying.”

“Don’t you realize how dangerous this situation is?”

“And don’t you realize how
important
this place is to me? What if you never find out who is behind all this? What am I supposed to do then, huh? Wait around indefinitely? Give up? No way!” she said fiercely. “I’m not doing that. End of discussion, to use your words.”

The fire chief came up to them. “It was definitely arson,” he said. “Good thing we caught it early, before much damage was done. It could have been worse.”

Nathan and the chief walked away from Skye, talking quietly. There didn’t seem much point in going back to sleep, so she grabbed her purse and car keys from upstairs and headed out of town to visit the llamas. Not usually her thing, but she felt the need to take a break from everything for an hour or two. Toni was safe with Angel. But Skye’s state of mind was less secure, and it was too early to talk to Owen or Algee or Sue Ellen or Lulu. They were all bound to be still asleep. But the llamas would be awake.

By the time Skye reached the Amish farm where the llamas were being boarded, the sun was up, and so was the Miller family. In deference to them, she’d pulled on a denim shirt that covered her midriff, navel ring and all.

She waved to Mr. Miller as he headed into the milking barn, then made her way to the pens where the llamas were kept. “So, Lucy, how’s the pregnancy going? I hear llamas take a year to have a baby. That sucks, huh? Bet you’re surprised to see me. Don’t worry, I’m not going to ask for your opinion on stuff the way Angel does.”

Lucy stared at her with those big dark eyes surrounded by long feathery eyelashes.

“I needed to come out here to breathe. The smell of manure may make you gag, but it really clears the mind.”

Ricky, the male llama in the pen next door, shuffled forward to greet her. “I haven’t forgotten you. I brought you both some treats.” As she shared a handful of her trail mix with the two animals, Skye tried to think who would want her out of town so much that they were willing to burn down the theater to accomplish it. Sure, in the past her auric field had interacted strongly with others’, sometimes resulting in sparks . . . but never in arson.

Ricky gave her an indignant, sideways look, obviously peeved that she wasn’t paying enough attention to him.

“You’re such a
guy
,” she said.

Which, of course, got her train of thought steaming nonstop for the Nathan-station.

“Can you believe that he actually ordered me out of my own building? Never mind. Forget it. I promised not to talk to you about my problems. I just needed a break, that’s all. I’m better now, better able to meet obstacles, setbacks, and challenges. Which is a good thing, because I have a feeling there are going to be plenty of all three waiting for me back in Rock Falls.”

 

 

On her way back into town an hour later, Skye ran into Nancy Crumpler at the Gas4Less, where the older woman was filling a Big Gulp-size cup with coffee. “I heard about the fire. Are you okay?”

Skye nodded.

“Do you have a minute?” Nancy asked. “I need to talk to you. Why don’t you come with me to the store? I don’t get any customers this early in the morning.”

Only when Skye was seated in the chair behind the sales counter did Nancy stop drinking her coffee and begin to speak. “I thought I should tell you that some of the other business owners in town are acting like asses, trying to protect their own behinds by saying the theater is a threat to them.”

“What?”

“Someone tried to burn the building down, right?”

“The fire wasn’t that big.”

“Because it was caught early. But Milton is trying to fan the flames by making dire predictions about what could have happened.”

Skye suspected Milton was doing more than just talking.

“He’s saying the entire block could have gone up in flames,” Nancy continued. “That’s got folks nervous. I certainly did what I could first thing to quell such stupid speculation. It’s just that some people are a little edgy.”

“Join the club,” Skye muttered.

“I heard you refused to move out.”

“You heard right.” Skye didn’t even bother asking how Nancy had heard. She’d learned that small towns had their own rapid communications systems that rivaled anything the Internet could come up with.

“Good for you. Stick to your guns. It’s tough being strong sometimes. Believe me, I know. When I said I wanted to move to Las Vegas to become a showgirl, I thought my parents would have a fit. They wanted me to settle down and get married. Or join the convent like my sister.”

“As a kid, it must have been tough having a nun for a sister.”

“Tell me about it.”

“How did you deal with it? Did the two of you get along?”

“Fought like cats and dogs for decades,” Nancy cheerfully confessed. “We still do, occasionally. You know what changed things for me? Finally realizing she needs me as much as I need her.”

“Why? Because your being bad makes her look good?”

“Because your relationship with your sibling is the longest relationship you’ll have in your life.”

“There’s a depressing thought.”

“It doesn’t have to be. The bottom line for me was, if I couldn’t get things right with my sister, how could I get my other relationships right? Think about it, that’s all I’m saying.”

“And I’m saying that I have enough problems at the moment without adding my oh-so-perfect sister to the mix,” Skye said. She stood and gave Nancy a hug. “Thanks for the advice, though, even if I don’t take it.”

 

 

That evening, Skye decided it was time to cleanse her living environment of the negative energy that had been accumulating recently. She’d try to do the theater later. She’d already completed a thorough cleaning and organizing of her apartment. The space-clearing ritual would help her create a healthy flow of energy, or chi, within her space.

She’d placed clean-burning, nonparaffin candles in key locations around the living room, along with rock sea salt, which attracted stagnant energy, or
sha
chi. She’d sprinkled a line of the salt across the front threshold, as well as a small amount in various critical areas of the apartment.

The next step was clapping, which stirred up stale energy. Starting at the main entrance, she began clapping with her arms outstretched. She moved slowly around the perimeter of the room. She even clapped inside the coat closet by the front door, in case any stale energy was hiding out in there.

While carefully lighting a juniper wand, she kept her mind focused on her intention to clear and energize her space. Again moving slowly, she made her way around the room, saturating the atmosphere with the cleansing smoke, making sure to include areas under the Formica table in the dining area.

Juniper was well known as a purifying herb . . .

The high-pitched wail of the smoke detector in the living room ceiling shattered her peaceful meditation. It was immediately followed by the sound of pounding on her front door and Nathan yelling, “Open up!”

Okay, not exactly the way she’d planned things.

Skye almost tripped over a candle on her way to open the door. She quickly assured Nathan everything was fine before heading for the smoke detector. It was about to make her go deaf.

Nathan went about the room extinguishing the candles. “What’s going on in here? Are you trying to set the place on fire again?”

She stood on a chair and smacked the smoke detector button with a broom handle. The detector fell to the floor with a final squeal before lying there in pieces, as if she’d murdered it. “I was clearing my space of negative energy.”

“By trying to burn it down?”

“I was practicing feng shui.”

“With the smoke detector?”

“No. The smoke detector suffered collateral damage.”

“Why aren’t you at the football game?”

“The game . . . oh, shit!” Since Skye didn’t wear a watch, she jumped off the chair, grabbed Nathan’s arm, and looked at his watch. “It’ll be almost over by now. I told the team I’d be there.”

“Relax. I’m sure they’ll understand, given the circumstances, that you weren’t able to make it tonight.”

Skye closed her eyes.

“You’re not going to cry, are you?” Nathan sounded a tad desperate.

“Shhh. I’m channeling positive energy their way.” She held out her hand in the universal command for silence. “Okay.” She opened her eyes and looked around. “I still need to ring the tinghsa bells to fully saturate this space.”

Nathan made a sweeping gesture with his arm in an invitation for her to continue. “Don’t let me stop you.”

For the first time, she noticed the sleeping bag and backpack he’d dumped by the front door. “What’s going on? What are you doing here?”

“Moving in with you. It’s the only way I can protect you.”

Who was going to protect her from
him
? From falling for him? From connecting with him at a deeper level than she ever thought possible? That was the real danger here. Not the fire downstairs, but the fire burning deep in her heart. For him.

Skye could tell by the mulish look on Nathan’s face that he expected her to fight him on this.

She hated being predictable.

So she said, “You don’t leave the toilet seat or lid up, do you?”

He blinked.

“Because if you do, the deal is off.”

He blinked again. Funny, she’d never noticed his thick, dark eyelashes before. She liked them. A lot.

“I can live by those rules,” he finally said.

“Okay, then.” Skye looked away, at a sudden and momentary loss for words. What had she just gotten herself into here?

“It would be helpful if you could provide me with your schedule.”

“I don’t even have a watch. What makes you think I have a schedule? It’s not like I live my life according to a timetable the way you do.”

“You don’t know how I live my life,” he protested.

“Because you won’t tell me. But I’m right, aren’t I? You find comfort in a schedule.”

“You make it sound like some kind of security blanket.”

“Isn’t it?”

“I have a job. I can’t just walk into the office whenever I feel like it. People need to know where I am and how to reach me.”

“People? What people?”

“Celeste, for one. My deputies. The citizens of Rock Creek.”

“So the
citizens
need to know where you are? Want me to lean out the window and let them know you’re here with me?”

“No.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“It’s not like it’s a secret. I told Celeste where I’d be, and she’s not the most discreet person. So I’m discovering,” he muttered.

“And what was her reaction to your moving in with me?”

“Why should you care?”

“I don’t
care
. I’m
curious
. A big difference.”

“It doesn’t matter what her reaction was.”

“Which means it was not a positive one.”

“That would be an accurate statement.”

“So what’s the deal with her? She jealous?”

“No way. She’s married.”

“So? I heard she dotes on you.”

“Who told you that?”

“I’ve got my sources.”

“Celeste fusses over people she cares about.”

“That must drive you nuts. Don’t worry.” She patted his arm. “I won’t fuss over you.” She moved her fingers to the buttons on his shirt, which she started undoing.

His brown eyes widened. “What are you doing?”

“Taking off your shirt. Or trying to.”

He grabbed her wrists and held them still. “Why?”

“I said I wouldn’t fuss over you. I never said I wouldn’t have sex with you.”

“You’re part of an investigative case I’m working on.”

“It doesn’t feel like you’re working on me at the moment, but that could change.” She placed his hands on her breasts.

He actually fondled them a moment before pulling away. “It wouldn’t be ethical.”

Skye took a deep breath. What was she doing? Not a minute earlier, she’d told herself that he was dangerous to her, and now here she was, trying to seduce him. And not doing a very good job of it.

Sure, she didn’t listen to other people, but she usually listened to her own inner goddess or diva, depending on what mood she was in. So what was the deal here?

Skye felt disoriented. She didn’t realize that she was backing away from Nathan until she bumped into the side of the couch.

“Don’t look like that,” he said.

“Like what?”

“Like a puppy that’s been kicked.”

Okay, that was
so
not a good thing to tell her. His offensive words snapped her right back into reality. “I am
not
a puppy!” The urge to kick him had now totally replaced the urge to kiss him. “I was just trying to teach you a lesson.”

“What lesson?”

“Not to mess with me.”

“By telling me you want to have sex with me?”

“I wasn’t serious,” she informed him haughtily.

“You have a strange sense of humor.”

“Yeah, so I’ve been told. I don’t think this is going to work after all.” She picked up his rolled sleeping bag and tossed it at him. “You should go home.”

“I’m not going anyplace.” He dumped the bag back on the floor. “But if you want to go to your sister’s house in Serenity Falls, I’ll give you a lift.”