Holiday Illusion (10 page)

“I really wish you'd reconsider. That house has a superior security system. The neighborhood is gated. You're much safer there than going out on your own. We're all safe there. I'll even hire extra security if it'll make you feel better.”

“Lucas! They got us out on the ocean, remember? They can approach the house from the water. No. I just can't.”

Jaw clenched, lips tight, he didn't say anything more. Instead, he put the car in gear and pulled out of the parking lot, heading for Standing Wave Highway toward North Carolina.

 

How could he convince her to stay? What would it take for her to realize she had to have some kind of help? And not necessarily Justin's. If the man wasn't the one who'd betrayed her, then he'd said something to someone who couldn't be trusted. And if that was the case, she was truly on her own, unable to turn to the organization she'd once worked for.

And there was no way he was going to allow her to bear this burden alone. He'd be there for her, see her through this. Convincing her to let him was going to be an exercise in stubbornness on his part. He thought out his strategy, trying to come up with an argument she couldn't refute.

While he thought, he drove on auto pilot, heading down the hill that would lead them home. He pressed the brake, then scooted around the slower moving car in front of him. “I meant what I said, Anna. I'm in this with you to the end. You're going to have to have help, someone you can trust.”

“I never said I didn't trust Justin.”

“No, you didn't
say
that.”

She glanced at him from the corner of her eye then let out a disgusted huff. “Stop reading my mind, Bennett.”

“It's not mind reading, it's simply knowing how you think.” Which was scary for him as he'd never had that kind of…connection with a woman before. Oh, he'd dated, even had one serious relationship with a woman his father had deemed suitable for him to marry. But he'd come to his senses before his one out-of-character attempt to please his father had completely wrecked his life. Then Lance had died…

“Lucas, you're going kind of fast, you want to slow down?”

Lucas snapped back to the road, his attention momentarily distracted by his thoughts. “Oh, sorry.”

He pressed the brake.

Nothing happened.

Frowning, he pressed harder.

This time the pedal went to the floor.

“Uh-oh.”

Anna's head swiveled to look at him. “Don't say that. I hate those words. Why would you say ‘uh-oh'? No, don't tell me.” She held up a hand forestalling his explanation. “I don't want to know. I've had too many uh-ohs in the last forty-eight hours. No more uh-ohs okay?”

“Are you done?”

She groaned. “What is it?”

“We don't have any brakes.”

I
mmediately, she turned serious, her face losing color. She swallowed hard. “Oh, I didn't know it was that kind of ‘uh-oh'. Tell me what to do.”

“Hold on tight and pray.”

“I don't suppose the gas tank would be close to empty or anything, would it?”

“Nope,” he yanked the steering wheel to the right, the road sloping downward, the car gaining speed.

“Emergency brake?”

“Already tried it, not working.” He pumped it so as to prove his point.

“Can you throw it in Park?”

Without glancing her way, he said, “Not without scattering the transmission all over the highway and possibly losing control of the steering. I've got it in the lowest gear, but it's not doing me much good on this downhill stretch. I'm wondering if someone tampered with the car.”

Scenery whipped by even faster. Fortunately, even though they were going downhill, there wasn't much traffic and he could see a good distance in front of them. The bad news was, about three miles ahead, there was a busy intersection with a traffic light. They were on a downhill stretch on an otherwise pretty flat road. Once they were through the intersection the road would switch to more of an uphill grade and the car would slow, possibly even stop, but first they had to make it though that intersection.

“Call 911 and warn them I'm going to be coming through that intersection and they need to have someone there to stop the traffic. If the light's green, great. If not…” He whipped into the next lane, around a slower-moving vehicle.

“Uh-oh.”

Anna looked up from getting her phone and gasped. “Go around them.”

Gritting his teeth, Lucas watched the two semis ride side by side, blocking both lanes. He couldn't go to the left because of the dividing rail. If he went to the right, he'd be right on the edge, running up onto the sidewalk and possibly into one of the stores lining the road or—worse—a pedestrian. He laid on his horn, blasting the warning he was coming up behind them.

Either they didn't hear him, or they ignored him.

With the distance closing fast, Lucas had a decision to make. Anna kept her cool on the phone with the dispatcher. And still Lucas blared the horn.

 

If they got out of this alive, she was leaving. Because of her, Lucas was now a target. The two trucks didn't move even though Lucas still laid on the horn. Congestion waited a short distance ahead and the road showed no signs of leveling out. Anna had relayed their desperation to the operator, and about a minute later, a highway patrol car came barreling up behind them, blue lights flashing.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught sight of a car pulling up to a side street just ahead—then inching forward. Horror gripped Anna as she realized the car was going to go for it and pull out in front of them.

“Lucas, watch out!”
Please, God, please, God, don't let them pull out.
Lucas muttered under his breath as the car zipped out into the middle of the right-hand lane. He wrenched the wheel, steering the car into the left lane, tires squealing at the sudden direction change. The digital speedometer read seventy-six. The speed limit was fifty-five.

Anna breathed a sigh of temporary relief as they flew past without a collision. The patrol car kept up, the blue lights causing other cars to take note. Just as Lucas was about to close in on the tail of one of the semis, it put on a burst of speed. The other one slowed, and Lucas slipped in between to pull in front of the slower-moving truck. Maybe the officer behind them had gotten one of the truck drivers on the radio. Anna didn't really care how it happened, she was just glad it had.

“Ma'am, are you there? Ma'am?”

Anna dimly realized she still held the phone to her ear and the 911 operator was still on the line. “I'm here. But we're almost to that intersection.” Her cell phone beeped. She looked at the screen. Justin. He'd have to wait.

“There's should be a patrol car there soon. He's about a minute away.”

“Yeah, well, so are we. He needs to be thirty seconds away.”

“He's working on it. Can you see the light?”

“Not yet.” A memory hit her. “Lucas, if you can get through this intersection, the stores and sidewalks end and it becomes open fields. You might be able to get off the highway and into one of those fields.”

“Yeah, I remember.” White knuckles glared at her from their grip on the steering wheel. Lucas's body shouted his intense concentration as his eyes flicked from side to side, mirror to mirror. “So pray me through this intersection.”

Anna's eyes widened as she took in the crowd they were coming up on. Three patrol cars sat off the highway and out of the way. Two patrolmen held up traffic. Lucas's palm hit the horn again. The lane was clear except for one car and another patrolman who was frantically waving it out of the way. And then they were closer, closer. Lucas whipped around, barely out of the way and they shot under the red light without incident. Anna wilted against the seat.

“It's not over yet. I need an uphill grade to slow us down some before I try getting off the highway.”

She picked up the phone. The operator still waited. “We're through the intersection.”

The road slanted upward, and the speedometer dropped to seventy, then sixty-five, slowing on down to finally hit thirty. Cars buzzed around them. The two patrol officers caught up with them, giving them an escort to the side of the road, away from the traffic and onto the grass. They bumped and bounced a short distance until Lucas put the car straight from Drive into Reverse then Park.

And then they were still.

And Anna just sat there.

 

Lucas blew out a breath. Adrenaline still pumped through his blood, but he knew when it wore off he'd want to sleep for a week. Looking over at Anna, he noticed her empty stare. She hadn't moved since they'd rolled to a stop. Hadn't said a word or blinked.

“Hey.” He reached over and took her ice-cold hand in his. “You okay?”

At first she didn't answer, then without looking at him—or blinking—she said, “No. I'm mad.”

She didn't look mad. She looked almost catatonic.

“Okay.” He pondered what to say then looked into her eyes. What he saw there made him feel almost sorry for whoever was after her. He'd seen Anna upset, afraid, angry, in the spirit of worship, joyful, hurting for a sick child, but never this—this tightly leashed rage that needed a place to explode.

Yet when she spoke, she spoke with slow, measured words, her tone frigid. “I'm really, really mad.”

He cleared his throat. “Yeah, I can see that. So what do you want to do about it?”

Sucking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes then let the breath whistle from her lips in one long soft puff. When she opened them, the rage still simmered in their crystalline blue depths, but he could also see her thinking.

She said, “You know, I've been scared. Terrified to come back here.”

“But?”

“I don't think I'm scared anymore.” She said it thoughtfully, as though it surprised her to be able to admit that. Lucas wondered if she was in shock. Then she looked at him again and he didn't see any signs of shock, just sheer determination and bulldog stubbornness.

 

Finished with
yet another
police report, Lucas had dropped her at the front entrance then driven back to the garage to park
yet another
rental car out of the way until he could return it tomorrow. Unsure who to trust, Anna refused to call Justin with this latest incident. It seemed someone knew her every move and she was tired of it, tired of putting people she cared about in danger. Her mind made up, Anna fully intended to go straight to her room to pack and vacate the premises. On her way through the foyer that led to the staircase, she noticed the name on the invitation lying innocently on the side table. The envelope had been opened, the invitation in plain sight, there for anyone to read. So she read it.

 

You are invited to a celebration/charity auction

celebrating the homecoming of

Shawn de Chastelain

To be held at the home of

Shawn and Sherry de Chastelain

Saturday Night, November 22nd

7:00 p.m.

A buffet will be served

Come prepared to raise money for abused children

Bids start at a minimum of $5,000

Goal: $5,000,000

RSVP

 

So, he was out of jail. And trying to sweep everything under the rug with a good deed. As if a charity auction would wipe away the memory of his crimes. She snorted. Of course the Bennett family would be invited. Thomas Bennett was a longstanding member of the upper class, involved in local business and charities. And Godfrey was just as influential since moving in and taking over parts of the business and starting a successful business of his own with his wife.

Her phone chirped again, indicating a missed call and she remembered Justin beeping in on her when she'd been on the phone with the 911 operator. He'd probably been calling to let her know de Chastelain had been released.

The anger she'd felt only a couple of weeks before ripped through her again, then faded to the background of her mind as a plan started formulating. She glanced at the invitation again. The party was just a little over a week away, the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Anna realized she'd just found her way into the de Chastelain home.

She'd probably need the actual invitation—or at least a good copy—to get through the gate and into the house. Glancing around to make sure she was alone, she palmed the invitation and slipped it into her back pocket. Surely, somewhere in this house, there was a printer to make a copy on.

The door slammed and she jumped, whirling to see Marybeth Ferris, Lance's fiancée, enter the foyer. The woman stopped short as though surprised to see Anna standing in the foyer. Snapping golden eyes narrowed, a slight smile lifted the corners of red-tinted lips. “Hello. Anna, right?”

“Yes.” Anna offered a smile of her own. “Can I help you?”

“Do you really think you have a chance with him?”

Anna let the shutters fall over her eyes, her expression carefully neutral. She pretended ignorance. “Excuse me?”

“So that's the way you want to play it.” Her top lip curled. “Well, let me fill you in on a few facts, darling. Lucas is all his father has left. Trust me when I say the man wants grandchildren and I'm the woman to give them to him.”

Anna ignored the invisible knife that pierced her. There was no way this woman knew she was incapable of having children, so she waited for the real reason behind the confrontation. Marybeth stepped closer. “He wants grandchildren with the right blood flowing through them. I come from the right family. I'm the one Thomas Bennett wants his son to marry.”

Meeting the woman's gaze, Anna held her ground. “Has anyone asked Lucas what he wants?”

A cold smile flickered. “Lucas wants reconciliation with his father. Which woman do you think his having a relationship with is going to help further that?”

Sighing, not in the mood for this, Anna waved a hand. “Look Marybeth, I've got better things to do than fight over Lucas. He's a big boy and can take care of himself…and his father. I'll leave that to him. You've got no worries from me right now.” Especially since her plan included not seeing Lucas anytime in the near future. He might wind up hating her, but at least he would be alive.

Surprise danced across Marybeth's features and she backed up a step, as though Anna had completely taken her aback, sucking the wind from her sails. “Well—” she cleared her throat “—I'm glad that's settled.”

“Glad what's settled?” Lucas stepped from the kitchen into the foyer.

Startled, the women turned to face him. Marybeth immediately pasted a smile on her perfectly made-up face. “Nothing, darling, just girl stuff.”

Anna felt the hurt run through her, not because of the smile Lucas sent back to the woman, but because of the fact she was going to have to leave him just when Lucas had started showing interest in becoming a Christian, and was opening himself up to the Lord. Which would allow the possibility of a relationship beyond friendship for the two of them.

Only he wanted children and she couldn't give him that. She silently warned herself not to forget that. As if. She smiled weakly at them and said, “I'll just be upstairs.” Packing.

Without another word or a backward glance, she hurried up the stairs to her room.

And stopped. The door to her bedroom was cracked.

She'd left it shut.

Had Maddy gone in to clean and straighten up even after she'd left the woman explicit instructions not to? Not that she had anything to hide, but old habits died hard. She didn't want anyone in her space. And someone had been in it—or still was.