In Her Secret Fantasy (18 page)

“Changeover?”

“Money for drugs.”

Chrissy frowned as they broke through the trees to the cliff top. “Then he’s collecting evidence…” She stopped scanning the empty beach below and swung round on Glenn. “We need photographs!”

He stared at her. “I was thinking of saving the guy’s arse, but if you want to take pictures, go ahead.”

“In there,” Aidan said as one of the thugs shone a torch right on the cave mouth.

Len thrust one arm into it. “It’s too narrow,” he said. “You’d never get a rucksack in there.”

Aidan sighed as the enforcer seized his collar. “I took the stuff
out
of the rucksack. Push your arm through the narrow passage.”

Len let out a grunt. “I’ve got something!” He emerged with a wrapped parcel which he held out like a prize.

The enforcer released Aidan’s collar. “The rest,” he snapped, jerking his head at one of the thugs who stepped forward and put the parcel in his briefcase while Len brought out more packages of the same size.

While the loading went on, Aidan tried not to glance around him. He bloody hoped Davidson was here, and there were certainly times towards the end of their slog back along the beach that he’d been sure he heard the faintest rush of foot on sand, sensed human presence beyond his unsavoury companions. It may have been wishful thinking. Either way, he couldn’t string this out much longer. It was almost finished, and he was almost free.

He hoped. He could still wind up dead before the end of the night.

“There, that’s it,” Len said, drawing his arm out of the cave with some relief. The thug by the briefcases—he’d filled three to bulging point by now—nodded to the enforcer.

“And the rest,” Aidan said.

They all looked at him.

“That’s it.” Len stared at him, scowling. “We’ve counted it all in.”

Aidan looked at the enforcer. “May I?” he asked politely.

The enforcer’s eyes narrowed, then he nodded, but his gun was back at the ready, and Aidan was pretty sure it followed him across to the cave.

Len breathed, “I’ll cut you in. Just shut it, okay?”

Aidan smiled and stuck his hand into the cave. Len stepped back, trying not to look worried. The rest of the parcels were difficult to get hold of. Aidan got his finger to one and dragged it free, then another. He dropped them both in the sand beside the briefcases.

“There are more, but I’ll need a stick or something to get at them.”

The enforcer frowned uncomprehendingly at Len. “Why is there more than we gave you? Do you have another supplier? Our deal was exclusive.”

Len drew a breath that wasn’t quite steady, possibly realizing, finally, that he was no Mr. Big. But he hadn’t given up hope of weaselling his way out of trouble.

“No, no, the heroin is all from you. We just…expanded it.”

“We being Len and
your
local man, James Black,” Aidan explained. “They’re old partners in crime. You probably didn’t hear, not living here, but four people have died recently from contaminated heroin.”

The enforcer’s jaw fell open. For the first time that night, he actually looked funny. “You contaminated our heroin?”

“No, no,” Len denied hastily. “Just added a few bits and pieces to eke it out. Seemed like a good idea—make half as much money again. We were going to cut you in, of—”

“Cut us in?” the enforcer exploded. “Fuckwit, we are
businessmen
. If people die from our product, their suppliers go elsewhere. They don’t need the heat. Plus, they spread the word that our product is bad. We businessmen lose, which is something we do not tolerate. How much of this shit is out there?”

“Just the last shipment,” Len said desperately. “I used the money to buy Haines out of the line. I can do it better for you from up here. If you want the product left alone, I’ll leave it alone.”

“Fucking right you will.”

The enforcer snapped furious fingers, and this time a hard briefcase made its appearance. The holder opened it to reveal a lap top.

“First,” the enforcer uttered, “you pay.”

The moment of truth. If Davidson wasn’t here…

Something moved in at the cliff. A light flickered, but no one paid any attention. All guns were trained now on Len, who, with shaking fingers, was accessing his account.

Now, Davidson, would be a really good time…

“It’s through,” the thug announced.

Fuck.

“Good,” the enforcer said. “Destroy that shit. It’s going nowhere.”

The laptop case was shut with a contented snap. The enforcer turned on Aidan with new geniality. “You are a crazy son of a bitch.”

“Please don’t say you like that.”

The enforcer laughed. “I do. Fuck with me again, and I’ll kill your family. Shoot me this moron, and you have our business.”

“I haven’t got a gun,” Aidan said. He hesitated. A weapon in his hands might save his life. On the other hand, he was well outgunned in this company, and if Davison was here, Aidan needed to be playing it straight.

He sighed. “Besides, I’d rather arrest the bastard.”

The enforcer slapped Aidan’s back hard enough to hurt. “Crazy fucker.” He swung his gun on Len, who threw up his hands in terror.

“Why don’t you leave him to me?” Aidan suggested. “I won’t shoot him, but I’ve a few bones to pick.”

For an instant, it hung in the balance, then the enforcer lowered his arm. “Knock yourself out, crazy man. I’ll take care of Black. My people will be in touch.”

Fuck and fuck and fuck.
No bloody Davidson. His one hope now was for the police to catch the limousine. Which meant he had to leave his phone with the enforcer to be tracked. And in a chase, who knew what could happen to the evidence? The computer, the drugs could all disappear, and he hadn’t so much as a photograph to prove their existence.

Not the most successful operation of his career.

“Let’s go,” the enforcer said, waving one imperious hand around his people, including the thug Aidan had landed on, who was now, rising groggily to his own feet, a thick trickle of blood down one side of his face. No way had Aidan got their numbers down to something he could deal with single-handedly and unarmed.

The South American gaggle moved together, pocketing such weapons as had been on display. But quite suddenly there was more movement, more people, seeming to loom out of the darkness, spreading out around the group on the beach who halted, totally gobsmacked. Beams of light flashed straight into their eyes, blinding them. Hands and elbows raised in vain attempts to block it.

“You’re surrounded. Nobody move,” commanded a harsh male voice from above the cliff. Aidan knew the voice, but it wasn’t Davidson’s. “Lay down the bags and the weapons, very, very slowly.”

“Do it,” Aidan breathed. “I’m on it.”

The enforcer gave the order, and there were several muffled thuds as bags and weapons hit the sand. Aidan promptly picked up the laptop case.

“Glenn! It’s the filth!” said a very Glasgow voice in a stage whisper. It can’t have meant much to the South Americans, who’d just have seen reinforcements careering over the sand from the direction of the village. To Aidan, it meant, hopefully, that actual firearms had arrived on the side of good.

None of the bad guys moved. The enforcer turned his head very slightly, as if, belatedly, having his doubts about Aidan. Aidan ignored him, as another movement caught his eye. Len, creeping around the cliff in the direction of the big house.

Of course Len knew exactly who the voice on the cliff belonged to—Dougie—and was well aware that “filth” was unflattering slang for “police”. He hadn’t given the game away because he knew he stood a better chance with Glenn and Co. than with the South Americans.

Aidan backed away, brushing against someone he thought was Charlie the painter, judging by the quiet voice that murmured, “All right?”

Once past, Aidan lunged towards Len, but he was too late. Someone else ran behind him, shoving him face-first into the cliff and twisting his arm up his back.

“No, you bloody don’t.”

Chrissy. Bloody hell, it was Chrissy! His heart seemed to explode with pride and fear in almost equal measure. Len, realizing who his captor was, flexed his muscles, about to turn nasty. Aidan had no idea if she could deal with that, and no intention of risking her any further to find out.

Arriving at full tilt, he kneed Len in the back and snatched the howling figure from Chrissy’s hold. Over Len’s shoulder, he met her gaze and held it. Only now did the fierce determination in her eyes turn to fear.

Aidan began to smile. He knew exactly what he wanted.

“Wait a minute,” came Davidson’s voice nearby. “Who the hell are
these
guys? Him, I know. Glenn bleeding Brody. Okay, you’re
all
going back inside.”

“No, they’re not,” Aidan said, tearing himself away from Chrissy to stamp up to Davidson, dragging Len with him. “They’re with me. I asked for their help in case you didn’t make it on time. And if they hadn’t been here, you’d have no arrests.”

“Plus,” Chrissy said coldly from beside Aidan, “walking on the beach doesn’t break their parole conditions.”

Davidson, dragging one harassed hand through his hair, glanced from her to Aidan and around the hive of arrest activity on the beach.

“Suppose not,” he agreed.

Aidan smiled and shoved Len at him. “Here’s Mr. Big.”

Davidson snapped cuffs on Len, who looked more stunned than anything else. Avoiding Glenn’s contemptuous glare, he twisted around as Davidson hauled him away, and frowned at Aidan.

“You set me up,” he said wonderingly. “You’re still a cop. You’re still a bloody cop.”

Aidan’s lips quirked. “No, I’m not.”

Chapter Seventeen It was light when Chrissy woke next morning, which told her she was late. Not surprising since she’d been up most of the night. She sat bolt upright in bed before she remembered Glenn had declared a holiday for anyone who wanted it. He’d asked Izzy to man the phone so Chrissy could sleep in.

And she had. It was nearly eleven.

Kneeling on the pillow, she pulled back the curtain and gazed out at the familiar rain misting the hills and the sea, almost obliterating the village from her view. She smiled, because despite the heart-pounding anxiety of last night, there had been the encounter on the boat with Aidan, and the mutual understanding that they should be together.

When the bad guys had all been disarmed and cuffed and the evidence collected, they’d walked back along the beach to the village together: the police and their prisoners, the Ardknocken House lads, Aidan and herself. And while the police were filling their van with bad guys, Aidan had simply turned to her and kissed her in front of everyone.

“I have to go to Oban, sort out evidence and paperwork. I’ll come over in the morning.”

“Okay,” she’d said breathlessly. “Um, if you want evidence, we might have some more.” She’d taken her phone from her pocket and handed it to him. “Photos.”

Aidan’s lips had quirked in the way she’d grown to love. “You’re amazing, do you know that?” And he’d kissed her again, more slowly this time.

“Do I get a snog too?” Archie had interrupted with interest, holding out his phone. Four of the others had been beside him, all offering their phones.

“Hell, yes,” Aidan had said. “But you’ll never know when it’s coming. Thanks doesn’t seem to cover this.”

“You’re all right,” Dougie had said casually. “Just be careful, eh? My wee girl’s picture’s on there too, and I’d rather keep it.”

And so Aidan had left with a bag full of phones to add to his evidence. And Chrissy had climbed into the shared people carrier and driven back up to the house with warmth, relief and curious happiness in her heart.

It was still there as she gazed out at the rain. Aidan was coming today. She jumped out of bed and almost ran through to the bathroom to shower.

It was only as she was dressing that she registered the note on her bedside table, scrawled across a scrap of envelope.

Gone to Glasgow x
.

The disappointment was like a bucket of cold water. She yearned to see him again, just to talk. Not necessarily about the future. Now the heat was off, they could relax, take the time to know each other better… And make love. A lot of love.

Swallowing her impatience, she finished dressing and went downstairs to track down some coffee and breakfast. Jim was in the kitchen, preparing a delicious-smelling lunch with the help of Thierry and Gerry, who were labouring while asking questions.

“All right, Chrissy?” Jim greeted her with a grin. “Bit of an adventure last night, eh?”

“A bit,” Chrissy agreed, pouring herself some coffee. “Thanks, guys.”

Dougie wandered in from the back door and winked at her. “Saved your man for you.”

Annoyingly, she blushed, but managed to say, “Aye, you did. I’m going to be saying thanks for a long time.”

“Nah,” said Dougie. “He’s all right. For the polis.”

Chrissy stuck her tongue out at him and walked out of the kitchen and along the hall to her office.

Izzy sprawled behind the desk, gazing out at the rainy view. “Hey, you’re up,” she observed. “Dan MacDonald says he’ll start on the field next week. Margaret Dunn’s signed up for the computing workshop, and Louise is going to do woodwork!”

“Fab. They’re trickling in.” Chrissy set her mug on the desk and threw herself into the vacant chair.

“Mrs. Dunn said she’s talking her husband into the art class. Morag might do that one too.”

“Morag wants to do all of them. I think she might be bored. Did you bring that note up to me?”

“No.” A smile flickered across her rather beautiful face. “
He
did. Aidan. I was going to wake you, but Glenn just sent him up. You could have knocked me down with a feather.”

A warmth that was part excited and part soft and fuzzy seeped through her at the thought of him gazing at her while she slept. She wished he’d woken her. She wished he’d climbed into bed beside her…

“Anyway,” Izzy continued, “he came back a couple of minutes later, said you were still asleep but he’d left you a note.”

Chrissy grimaced. “
Gone to Glasgow
. Doesn’t give much away, does he?”

“Nature of the beast,” Izzy murmured.

Chrissy shifted in her seat and reached for her mug. “He’s like no one else I’ve ever met,” she admitted.

“He has something,” Izzy agreed.

Chrissy refocused on her. “It must have been like that for you when you met Glenn.”

“More so. I didn’t want anything to do with anyone who’d ever broken the law.”

Chrissy lifted one eyebrow. “Are you saying there’s hope for me?” she asked lightly.

Izzy appeared to consider, regarding Chrissy with her head leaning to one side. “Glenn sent him up to your room. He obviously believes it’s a done deal.”

“So did I, up to a point, at least. So what’s he doing in bloody Glasgow?”

Izzy shrugged. “Work?”

Resignation? Did this mean he’d come back tonight? The strength of her longing took her by surprise all over again.

Izzy leaned forward. “Chrissy. You’re worth coming back to. Never doubt that.
He
knows it.”

But she’d pushed him too fast because she saw time slipping away from them. He was more troubled than Izzy knew, and where he was concerned, Chrissy wasn’t sure of anything.

Aidan didn’t come that night, or the next. Louise, encountered in the post office on the third day of his absence, didn’t mention him. She was too busy telling Chrissy about the mobility scooter that would enable her mother to go out on her own again, and the nurses who would come in twice a day to help her father.

“Don’t forget your staff,” Chrissy reminded her. “Did you speak to Aidan about that?”

“Oh yes, he’s quite happy. So’s Mum. We’re looking at names together. Thanks for giving me that push, Chrissy.”

Unexpectedly, Louise hugged her, and questions about Aidan dried up in Chrissy’s throat.

When it was dark, and she’d given up all hope of him coming that day either, Chrissy walked down to the beach, trying to exhaust herself so she’d stop thinking. The fact that he hadn’t called depressed her. If he had any intention of coming back, wouldn’t he have kept in touch? Of course, the police still had her mobile, but he could have phoned the house. She suspected she’d just joined the ranks of his exes who littered the village from his teenage years.

And she cared too much. Damn but she did.

Halting in the sand, she threw back her head to try to stop the stupid tears. It didn’t help, but since it was dark and she was alone, she let them come. Then, when they slowed, she walked the few feet down to the sea and splashed cold, salty water over her face. At least the shock did her good.

She rose, drying her face on the end of her scarf, and walked on until she came to the ruined cottage Aidan had pointed out to her as once being his ideal home. After a brief pause, as if drawn by the desire to wallow, she walked up to it, climbing the few broken steps from the beach and through what must have been a little garden. She could feel the stone of a path beneath her feet, well hidden by weeds.

Finding a few upright stones that might once have formed a wall, she sat on them and admired the view across the sea. It was colder tonight—there was meant to be snow tomorrow—but she didn’t move. There was something soothing about just sitting here, breathing in the salty sea air.

Until a footstep crunched sand against stone, and she jerked around. She nearly said his name as a male figure loomed out of the darkness and stood beside her. But it wasn’t Aidan.

A tall, well-built man, dark rather than fair.

“Sorry,” he said, his voice low, pleasant, almost…seductive. “I didn’t mean to startle you. You just looked so unhappy sitting there alone.”

She shrugged. “I’ll get over it. I’m not the end-it-all type.” She made to stand up, since he was a stranger. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him in the village before.

But, unexpectedly, he sat beside her on the wall, leaving a respectable distance between them, and it seemed rude to walk away immediately.

“Good,” he said, “because there’s always hope. I’m living proof. I’d almost given up on you when you cried seven tears into the sea.”

Seven tears? Seven tears wept into the sea would summon a selkie lover, according to Aidan. She felt her mouth fall open as she stared at the man beside her. His eyes seemed very dark, liquid and kind of…round, like a seal’s.
Oh, bollocks!

“Okay, so you’re asking me to believe you’re a selkie, summoned by my moment of weakness down at the water?” she mocked.

“You know I am. You talked to him about us. And now I’ve come to take away your pain, to give you some of the happiness you deserve.”

She licked her lips, still gazing at him with fascination. “Are you for real?”

“Very, very real,” he said. He leaned nearer, and her breath caught. He smelled of the sea, of man. Aroused man. And all her physical longing for Aidan surged up, heating her body. This man was strong and handsome. He wanted her. His eyes were naked with a lust that should have frightened her. Perhaps it would have, had it not been for the softer glow behind that somehow spoke of affection, even though he didn’t know her. A handsome stranger who’d make love to her, drive into her aching body and pleasure her, make her forget one man’s neglect in the passion of another…

“He didn’t come back,” she whispered.

The stranger paused, not drawing away but coming no closer either. “Men are fickle,” he observed. “The pain will pass, and you’ll find another.”

She closed her eyes. “I don’t want another. I want Aidan. The really stupid thing is, I’d rather have this pain for him than even look at anyone else. Is that love, Mr. Selkie?”

He didn’t laugh at her. His eyes seemed to have fixed on hers, unblinking, although she was almost sure he no longer saw her. “Yes,” he said slowly, “yes, I suppose it is. Partly, at least. My wife loves him too.”

“Your wife…” The selkie of Aidan’s teenage wet dream? The naked woman from the beach and the boat. “I’m sorry.”

“I could have loved
you
. We could both have been happy for a time, she with him, I with you.”

“How could you be happy with me when you love her?”

He smiled. “We have large hearts. My love for her doesn’t die when I love a human woman. And she always comes back to me, and I to her. It’s been this way for centuries. But he rejected her, as you rejected me. And she grieves.”

“While still loving you?” Chrissy asked cautiously. Somewhere, she couldn’t quite believe she was having this conversation, buying into the whole selkie myth, even worrying about them.

“She’s my wife,” he said sadly. “But he’s special to her. She’s never gone back to a human before.”

“Aidan was especially troubled. Maybe that was the draw.”

His eyes came back into focus. “As are you.”

“I was,” she admitted. “I’d had some trauma in my life, and I was lonely. And suddenly he was there. Everything I’d ever wanted, everything I didn’t even
know
I wanted until I realized he wasn’t coming back. I’ll have to wait for him, I suppose.” She scowled. “Your wife can’t have him.”

Another sad smile curved his rather beautiful lips. “As I can’t have you?”

“Exactly,” Chrissy said. “Tempting as you are.” She smoothed her brow. “Your wife is unhappy. Isn’t it your job to make women happy?”

He opened his mouth and closed it again. “Yes,” he admitted eventually.

She nudged him and stood. “Then go and make your wife happy. All the best, Mr. Selkie. Whether you’re real or not.”

He laughed, and rose to touch her cheek. “You’re a strange human,” he observed and walked away.

She watched him turn right, away from the village towards the area beloved by the seals. In the distance, she could see the big rock where the two seals had so frequently lain. She thought something moved on it. His wife, she hoped, waiting for him.

“Either I’m insane or the world is,” she muttered.

“Not you,” said a familiar voice that made her jump and spin around, her hand to her throat.

“Damn it, Aidan, stop doing that!” But her heart thundered not from startlement but because he was
here
, large and solid as he moved towards her over the stones and weeds. And from fear of what he might say, that too.

She scowled. “Were you there all the time? Did you put him up to that?”

Aidan shook his head, coming to a halt just in front of her, not touching. “I saw you with him from the beach. I thought at first it was one of the blokes from the house…though I’m relieved you sent him away. Not sure I can compete with a selkie lover. You said you trusted me.”

“I trust you to do the right thing and to catch the bad guys—even if you might need a bit of help occasionally due to the slowness of rural police.”

“But not to come back to you?”

She slid her gaze free. He wouldn’t be talking like this, surely, if he’d come to say good-bye… With difficulty, she said, “I don’t know if it’s the right thing for you to do, to be with me.”

“It feels like the right thing to do.” He moved, taking her hand, and her fingers jumped in his and clung. “I missed you.”

She swallowed. “I missed you too.”

“I went to Glasgow, confirmed my resignation. And knocked back the private security firm who’d offered me a job.”

Her heart leapt again, with as much fear as hope. “Oh, Aidan, that has to be for
you
, not for something you think I want. If you resent—”

He lifted his free hand, placing his forefinger over her lips. “It
is
for me. Although I won’t deny you were an influence. You were right. I’d be crap at body-guarding.”

“I didn’t say that, exactly.”

“Well, you implied my skills were…otherwise. I thought about that. I thought about it a lot. I even wrote down a list of what they were and what I could do with them. And that’s why I was away so long. I met up with a few people and made a few arrangements, and the result is, we’re going to start our own security firm based in Glasgow. Business security, home security, personal protection, a bit of old-fashioned private detection. Whatever there’s a call for, one of us should be able to handle it.”