Holiday Illusion (9 page)

As she was wheeled from the helicopter, grogginess grabbed at her. Then the medicine kicked in and darkness closed over her.

T
wo days later, Lucas woke to see his father peering down at him. “So, you cheated death again.”

Lucas groaned. Did he have to deal with this now? He'd just given his statement to the police and didn't feel like adding any more stress to his day. He closed his eyes then peeked. The man stayed put. Okay, he was going to have to deal with him.

“Hello, Father. The survival instinct is strong—and I think God was…merciful and knew I wasn't ready to face Him just yet.”

“Ah, so you got religion out there?”

Lucas flinched, the same sarcastic words he spoken to his father only a few days ago returning to haunt him. Instead of firing back, he paused then said slowly, “I believe there's a God out there, and I'm taking the time to talk to him a little.”

Surprise flickered on the older man's features. He seemed to be at a loss for words. Lucas chuckled to himself. Well, well, would wonders never cease?

His father reached out, touched his hand briefly before pulling back. Gruffly, almost grudgingly, he said, “Thought I was going to lose you. That I was going to have to go through another one of those awful periods of waiting to identify your body—or at least wait an eternity for another DNA match. Thanks for having the decency to spare me that.” After the explosion, the only thing forensics had found of his brother's body had been a tooth. They'd had to live through the agonizing ordeal of waiting for what they already knew…the DNA matched that of Lance Bennett.

Shocked, Lucas could only stare up at this man he called Father. Never could he remember the man being so open about his feelings. The stoic look was gone, and a rare vulnerability shone through so briefly he wondered if he'd imagined it.

The door to his room opened. Thomas's expression went blank, returning to his usual stern countenance, but Lucas smiled as he welcomed his cousin. “Godfrey, you didn't have to come all the way out here. How are you?”

Godfrey looked angry, worried. “I think that should be my line, don't you?”

Lucas shrugged. “I've been better, but at least I'm alive to talk about it.”

“Leave it to you to bring excitement back into our lives.”

“Excitement I can do without.” His features hardened. “Did they catch the guys in that chopper? Anna saw them bail out at the last minute and some kind of speedboat picked them up. I'm sure if the guys in the helicopter had failed, the guys in the boat were supposed to finish the job. I'm also sure the helicopter crashing sent them all running. They knew someone would be there pretty fast.”

His cousin shook his head. “They got away. Ted saw the whole thing. He called it in and gave as much detail to the cops as he could. Anna gave her statement this morning. The police will try to salvage what they can of the helicopter, but it's in pieces at the bottom of the ocean.”

Anxiety flitted across his chest. He wanted to see her, her smile, touch her cheek. “How is she? They told me she was all right and recovering from some hypothermia, but should be back to normal soon with some rest.”

“Same thing they told you about your own stubborn self, if I remember correctly.” Mark Priestly had his head stuck around the door. He gave a furtive glance behind him then turned to Lucas. “You've got a visitor.”

Anna, Lucas thought, his heart accelerating, eager to see her.

His surprise was genuine when Mark stepped aside to allow the woman his brother had planned to marry to sweep through the door. He gaped. “Marybeth Ferris? What are you doing here?”

She pulled to a quick halt, staring at him. Lucas cocked his head to the left studying her, wondering why she was here, what she was up to now. A French-mani-cured hand covered her lips. One perfectly arched eyebrow nearly started a new part at her hairline. “I…I'm sorry. It's just—” she swallowed hard “—you look…seeing you…”

Taking pity on the shell-shocked woman, Lucas quirked a half smile and said, “It's okay, Marybeth, I know it's got to be unsettling to see me. I think the last time we saw each other was Lance's funeral, right?”

She nodded, gathered her composure, greeted Godfrey then shot a glance at Thomas Bennett. The man cleared his throat. “Good to see you, Marybeth.”

“And you, sir.” Her eyes never left Lucas even though she spoke to his father. Fully recovered from her initial shock of seeing Lucas and absorbing that although he looked exactly like the man she'd once loved, he was an entirely different person, she gave a sultry half smile, resting a hand on Lucas's forearm. “I've been waiting a long time for you to come home, Lucas.”

Dread crept up Lucas's stomach. Uh-oh, Marybeth's presence wasn't unplanned, of that he was sure. But surely it hadn't been his father who…He watched as his father stepped to Marybeth's side and slid an arm around her shoulders. Lucas felt the searing heat of that blue gaze singe him as his father unblinking, unbelievably, said, “Lucas, I asked Marybeth to come. I've told her that you two would have my blessing if you decided to get married and provide me with a grandson.”

 

Anna stopped, her hand on the door to Lucas's room. Shock, not to mention hurt and anger, rippled through her as she caught Lucas's father's last few words. Lucas and another woman? He'd never mentioned anything of the sort and she'd never even entertained the idea that he might have someone here. She was puzzled. Was he that good an actor? She never would have guessed he'd been toying with her, building a relationship only to have it mean nothing to him because of the woman in this room.

Hand still resting on the door, she debated her options. Did she want to go in there and face the fact that Lucas could very well belong to someone else? Not that he belonged to
her,
of course, but if she walked in that room, she could find out there never would be anything between them. And yet…she should probably give Lucas the benefit of the doubt, let him tell her what was going on. She pushed open the door and slipped inside. Inside the room, she saw Lucas still hooked up to an IV, a tall blond standing beside him, her hand resting comfortably on his arm. A rush of sickness curled in her stomach. Looking into Lucas's eyes, she silently questioned him with raised eyebrows. Lucas, looking extremely uncomfortable and very glad to see her, cleared his throat. “Marybeth, I'd like you to meet Anna Freeman. Anna, this is Marybeth Ferris. She was Lance's fiancée before he died.”

A smidgen of relief spread through her as she nodded to the woman, yet still, she knew what she'd heard standing outside the door. Thomas Bennett approved of a relationship between this woman and Lucas. From his reaction the other morning at breakfast, he obviously didn't consider Anna's blood blue enough. That hurt, but she brushed it off.

Godfrey spoke. “Hello, Anna. Glad to see you're none the worse for wear after your little swim.”

“Thank you, Godfrey. It was a lot more excitement than I'd bargained for, but I'm very thankful everything turned out all right. The police came by my room and I gave them a statement, so I guess there's nothing left to do but wait and see what they come up with.”

Godfrey said, “They're working on pulling up the pieces left of the boat and the helicopter. But I wouldn't hold out much hope for any evidence. Both were pretty much destroyed. At least that's what one of the officers said.”

Eyes narrowed, Lucas said, “You can bet I'm going to do all I can to find out who's trying to get you, Anna.”

At this statement, warmth and fear slid through her veins. There was no way she was going to let Lucas, an excellent doctor but with no skills in dealing with criminals and the like, try to track down a killer. That was her job. She had the training. She just had to get over the fear that crowded her throat every time she thought about doing it. Unconsciously, her hand moved to her abdomen.

Lucas noticed and asked, “Are you sure you're all right?”

She jerked her hand away, smoothed it down her jeans and forced a smile. “Sure. I just need to figure out what to do. Who to call for help.” She really didn't want to call Justin until she had figured out if he was the one who had betrayed her by letting de Chastelain know she was back in town. But she needed help from someone, as she was—once again—in over her head.

Thirty minutes later, Lucas was unhooked from all of his wires and they'd been discharged faster than Anna had ever experienced with a hospital. No doubt thanks to Lucas's father. Or maybe it was because Lucas was a doctor himself. He knew how to work the system.

Ted was waiting to take everyone home, but Lucas said, “I want to stay at the hospital and visit Paulo.” Shooting a questioning look at Thomas, Lucas asked, “Could I get a car delivered?”

Surprisingly enough, Thomas graciously agreed after repeated assurances that Lucas felt up to driving. Godfrey had driven his own car and offered to walk Marybeth down to hers. She pouted about it, clung to Lucas's arm and beseeched him with her eyes.

He ignored her and Anna hated the sweet relief that flowed through her. She shouldn't feel so territorial about a man who would most likely never be hers. The ping of grief that pierced her nearly made her gasp. Refusing to study it, Anna instead tried to figure out what had gone wrong, and who she could call for help. And decide whether to confront Justin now or wait until she felt better.

Desperate to get away from the hospital before anything else happened. Anna decided to think it all out on the way home. After a brief visit with Paulo they headed down to the parking garage. Lucas called and asked his father where to find the car. Godfrey had volunteered to ride in and help Ted deliver it as he had a dinner meeting and would just have Ted drive him home when he was finished. The car sat like a sleek cougar waiting to unleash restrained power.

Laughing, Anna teased, “The VIP lot. Must be nice to be such an important guy.”

Lucas flipped his phone closed and stuck it in his back pocket. He slanted her a glance and a mock scowl. “That's my father's doing, not mine, I assure you.”

“I know, Lucas, you don't have to defend yourself to me.”

They climbed into the car. Lucas buckled his seat belt but didn't start the engine. “You're thinking about leaving again, aren't you?”

Mentally, she groaned. How did he do that? “Lucas, I've put you in danger several times now. Even though we've hired a guard to watch his room now, I don't think I can come back to the hospital anymore, either. Not even to see Paulo. I've been attacked here twice and felt threatened once.”

“I understand. I think that's probably a wise decision.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. Paulo's okay. Ella's with him. It's you we need to focus on.”

“There can be no ‘we' right now, Lucas. I need you to leave me alone and let me do my job. Worrying about you is just adding to my stress.”

Lucas looked away for a moment. “Who do you trust, Anna?”

“What?”

“Who do you trust? Do you trust Justin?”

Chewing her lip, she studied the sky outside. It looked like it was going to rain. Great. She sighed. Did she trust Justin?
Could
she trust him? He was the only one who knew where she was. The absolute only person she'd been in contact with who had anything to do with her past. Of course, she'd been in the FBI office and someone could have possibly recognized her, but it wasn't likely. Plus the threats had started before then. She finally said, “I don't know. I've talked to him for four years and I've never had a problem. Then again, I never told him where I was, either, taking extra pains to keep my location untraceable. I didn't tell him where I was in the beginning simply because it seemed…safer that way and I just continued that pattern over the years. And I knew as soon as I used my passport, he'd know about it.”

Blowing out a breath, she said, “I just don't get the vibe that he wants me dead. What I'm thinking is that maybe he trusted the wrong person. It could be that he told someone in the department I was back and either
that
someone is a traitor or that someone told another someone.” She glanced up at Lucas. “You get the idea.”

“I suppose that's possible.”

“I just can't imagine that de Chastelain would have someone staked out to watch the airport for the past four years just waiting for me to come home. I mean, I could have flown into any other state then taken a bus or a train. Of course, if he had a line on my passport like Justin…”

“True.” Lucas started the car, ready to get the drive back to North Carolina over with. “So, what are you going to do? Are you going to call Justin or not?”

“I suppose I owe him the chance to explain—if he can.”

“You don't owe him anything if he's trying to kill you.”

“But what if it's not him? Sure, all the evidence points toward him right now, but what if it's all circumstantial? What if I blame him, don't turn to him for help and it's not him?” She rubbed her aching eyes. “I'm tired. I need to go back to your house, pack, and find a place to stay. I can't put you or your family in any more danger.”