Fatal Wild Child (5 page)

"I'm asking you to marry my daughter. Where is the insult?"

"You should ask Gabrielle that question."

"You find my daughter objectionable to look at?" her father pressed.

"I'm leaving now."

The door opened further. Gabrielle slid quickly along the wall, away from the door.

Seth stepped out of the door.

"My offer still stands," her father called after him.

Seth turned back to face him. Cold anger flickered in his eyes and his jaw was flexed. "It can stand until the earth stops revolving. Your million dollars is quite safe."

Then Seth's gaze shifted to the side and found her. His chest lifted, as if he drew a sharp breath. "Gabrielle," he said softly.

Darlene stepped around him. "Mr. O'Connor?" She was holding a coffee cup in one hand and had a bunch of files tucked under her other arm.

"I'm done here," Seth said, taking the coffee cup from her. "I believe Mr. Sherborne will see you now." He opened the door for Darlene, ushered her in and shut it behind her. Then he dumped the coffee cup on the side table that stood next to the study door and moved quickly to stand in front of Gabrielle.

"You heard," he said simply.

She nodded. She could see the anger in his eyes, still. "It could have been worse," she said softly. "What if he'd dangled ten or fifteen million instead of a paltry one million? How much harder would you have found it to walk away from that?"

Seth shook his head. "It wouldn't have made any difference at all. Don't try to make light of this, Gabrielle. It's your life he's trying to sell."

"It's yours he's trying to manipulate, too," she pointed out. "I've had twenty-eight years of it. You had five minutes of it. I tried to warn you, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did." He smiled and she saw the anger disappear. "Your father really is a master power player, isn't he? No wonder you've been at odds with him for so long. I'm beginning to understand some of the stories behind the headlines, now."

"This is unusual, even for him," Gabrielle hurried to add. "My father is a political player, but this is...this really takes the cake, Seth. I've never known him to do something this shameless."

"Perhaps he has no limits when it comes to his daughter?" Seth suggested.

"His other daughters, perhaps. Not me," Gabrielle said sadly. "That's part of the vast tracts you don't understand about me and my family, Seth. He just sees this as a quick way to off-load a trouble-prone daughter onto some poor schmuck with a knack for saving her ass."

He stepped closer to her and his big hand cupped her jaw. "I don't know much about your family. You're right there. But I think you're wrong about your father."

His heat and scent stole into her senses and she was glad she was already leaning against the wall, for she had to lock her knees and prop herself against the weakening wave of lust and wanting that washed through her. She lifted her head to look up at him.

"We'll see," she managed to answer.

"You changed into your own clothes," he murmured. "Is this what you normally wear around here?"

The little skirt and silk stockings and the satin camisole were a thousand miles away from the yoga pants and jeans she had been schlepping around in the cabins away from the prying eyes of the media. She had put them on because she had known she would see Seth again. He had already seen her at her dowdiest. The stilettos were high enough that she reached his shoulder, but she still had to lift her chin to look up at him.

"I...er...yes," she lied.

His smile warmed and the expression in his eyes grew hot. "I like it," he said. His hand dropped to the camisole. His fingers barely grazed her skin, but it made her gasp. With a brush of the tips of his fingers, the top button of the camisole fell open, revealing most of her cleavage.

Her heart was thundering against her ribs. "Seth," she whispered.

He leaned closer still. She could feel the heat of him radiating against her. The brush of his jeans against her ankles sent weakening waves of pleasure up her legs.

Gabrielle wanted him to press against her and pin her against the wall. She almost moaned with the need to feel his weight against her.

Seth’s lips were next to hers. His gaze locked with hers. "Your father has made it impossible for me to stay here," he said softly.

She clutched at his wide shoulder, as cold fright tore through her. "No, Seth...you have to ignore him. If you let him influence your behavior in any way at all, you're letting him win."

"If I stay, Gabrielle, you're not going to know why."

She gripped his shirt, bunching it in her fist. "I'll figure it out for myself. You said it yourself, Seth. You'll bleed for me. Right?"

He detached her fist from his shirt, uncurled her fingers and kissed her palm, his blue eyes looking into hers. "For enough money, even blood can be faked, Gabrielle. As a movie star, you should know that."

"Former movie star," she said, her lips stiff, her heart squeezing to what felt like a painful, slow stop.

He let her hand drop. "I'm sure I'll be seeing more of you, Gabrielle Sherborne. Have a nice life."

He turned and walked away. Gabrielle watched his back as he went, stunned. It was the first time a man had ever walked away from her and she didn't know what to do.

In the end, she did nothing. She sank down to the carpet, her legs folding like an accordion so that she was scrunched against the wall. She wrapped her arms around her legs and could feel her heart banging against her knees.

Seth hadn't even kissed her...so why did this hurt so much?

She was still sitting there some time later when the study door opened and her father stepped out, with Darlene in tow, her Blackberry glued to her ear. Cameron Sherborne halted at Gabrielle's feet, looking down at her, frowning. He at least didn't pretend to not know why she was there.

"I can't explain to you why I did it," he said simply.

"Did the fact that it might hurt me make you hesitate even for a second, Dad?" she asked him.

"Truth? No, it didn't."

She let out a hot, hurting breath. "God, this family..."

"Where did Captain O'Connor go?"

"
Captain
O'Connor?"

"Your guess was right. He's military. Highly decorated. Darlene—"

Darlene, while still talking on the phone, lowered the briefcase she was carrying, deftly hooked a file from the briefcase and handed it to her father. Her father dropped it beside Gabrielle. "Don't read it before you go to bed. You won't sleep. And burn it afterwards. I promised him we'd keep it in the family."

"Polite of you," Gabrielle said sourly.

"I hope you invited him to the dinner tomorrow?" her father continued.

"He's gone, Dad. You drove him away. Congratulations."

"Gone?"

"As in, he won't be back." Finally, she felt something shift in her. The aching mass in her chest swelled, bubbling up to tighten her throat. She felt the tears falling, but made no move to wipe the scalding track marks away.

"You're a real prince, Daddy. The one guy in the world who just might have wanted me for me and you managed to drive him back into the Rockies where he came from. You've really done it this time. Bravo."

Chapter Four

Seth found he was racing down the curves from Jasper a touch too fast even for his skills, which made it fast enough that the Mounties would probably slam him in a holding cell for the night...if they could catch him in the first place.

He eased up on the gas and consciously loosened his grip on the steering wheel. He tried to flex the tension out of his shoulders.

The mass sitting in the centre of his chest and gut he'd have to deal with when he wasn't driving. That wasn't tension. That was something else and he was afraid to probe it right now. The resulting shock would be unpredictable.

Normally he could ride out shock. He was trained for it. But all the usual techniques weren't working. Deep breathing, centering the mind. Focusing on the task at hand, gathering facts, off-loading the emotions.

Deliberately, he tried again to deal only with the facts, but this time he reached right back to this morning, when he had got out of bed. Normal routine. Normal day, he'd thought then.

Gradually, he felt his heart calm. His breathing settled down. Cross-country skiing along the foothills. Crisp air. Sun on his face. Then...something had spooked him. Fact.

Then the Mustang out of control.

River. Gabrielle. Her father. One million dollars.

No...there was something else.

The car. Something in the car.

Gabrielle's voice: "...if there's one thing I regret out of this whole day, it's the loss of my camera and laptop."

Seth brought the truck to a halt in a tourist turnout, thinking it through, coupling up facts unmarred by emotions. His conclusions chilled him in a way the river water that day had not even come close to succeeding.

He pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number from memory. The response at the other end was curt and sleepy.

"You'd better be dying."

"I'm in need," Seth said briefly.

"I'm listening."

"You still got all that winter diving gear in your garage?"

"Happen to have, yeah."

"Tanks full?"

"Yep."

"Think you could load it up and head to Jasper National Park right now?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"Nope."

"The police or the RCMP can't handle it?"

Seth hesitated. "It's a family matter," he said at last, but the lie rested heavily on him. The truth was, he wasn't sure what he was getting into here. He was riding on suspicions, half-formed theories and a growing dread that Gabrielle's tumultuous years weren't as far behind her as she thought.

"You used to be a better liar, Seth."

"It's been a long day," he said truthfully.

"I'm on my way."

Seth sat back in his seat, relief trickling through him. Soon, he'd start getting some answers. Edmonton was only three hours away, if you stayed within the speed limits. Tony wouldn't.

* * * * *

Tony Peterson was retired Canadian Navy, and a former JTF2 member. He pulled his SUV up beside Seth's truck at two-thirty-five in the morning. He was unshaved but alert. He looked at the fast flowing river. "You weren't kidding. Brief me." And he headed for the back of the SUV, swinging his keys.

Seth gave him a breakdown of the situation and his theory. He left nothing out. Tony and he went back a long way and the guy deserved to know what he was getting into.

Tony whistled a long low note as he hauled out the heavy gear. "So apart from the quixotic gesture of grabbing the lady's camera and notebook, you're really just going on instinct?"

"Something made me duck for cover this morning," Seth said calmly.

"Geese farting?" Tony said with a grin, thrusting a leg into one of the dry suits. He sighed. "Never known you to get antsy over nothing, Captain, so we'll play it your way."

"Seth," Seth corrected. "We're on civilian turf, remember?" He grabbed the other suit.

* * * * *

Ninety minutes later, they had their answer. The gear was packed away in the back of the SUV and they sat in the front, looking down at the explosive incendiary device they'd pulled off the brake line.

"Guess your guts win again," Tony said. "You must have heard this exploding—heard it bounce off the mountain walls. That's what made you duck. Few seconds later, when her brake fluid had all drained, she lost her brakes and went flying past you."

Seth nodded. It fitted with the events has they had happened.

"Someone was trying to kill her. Or seriously hurt her," he said. "That just leaves why."

"Have you ever seen anything like this before?" Tony asked, poking at the device with his forefinger. "It's the weirdest wiring I've ever seen. Slick. Damned slick. Not a centimeter too much. Very professional, man. Usually family jobs like this, they use way too much. They're full of anger, passion, some sort of emotion. Not thinking very clearly. They over-wind."

"I know someone who might be able to tell us something about it," Seth said. He took pictures of it with his phone, while Tony held it at all angles. Then he dialed the number from memory. There was no danger of waking Felix. He kept very early hours.

Felix answered with his usual clipped single word greeting and Seth identified himself swiftly.

"Felix, I'm going to send you some photos. See if you can recognize the handwork. Can you drop everything and look at them straight away?"

Felix knew he was on vacation after sick leave and hesitated for a fraction of a second. "For you, Captain, I will," he said.

"Thanks," Seth said and disconnected. He selected the photos and sent them to Felix's email address, then relaxed back against the door. "Thanks for doing this, Tony. If it helps, I hope I never have to call on you again."