Sea Panther (Crimson Storm) (28 page)

R
obert flipped
the data stick he found in Kimberly’s valise between two fingers and sat at the
desk in his cabin on
Sea Panther
. Although he wanted to respect her
privacy, he couldn’t. He plugged the thumb drive into the laptop and opened the
file manager program. The system listed several file folders. He scanned the
list for any titles with the word
offshore
in the name.

“Ach, there it is.” Maylock Global Offshore Transaction.

He clicked on the file folder. Sub-folders appeared.

Rubbing his jaw, he mulled over the hunch. The hairs on the
back of his neck had stood on end whenever Kimberly spoke about her ex-fiancé
Jason Reedman. Each time, Robert had all he could do to keep the panther down.
The vampire had wanted to create a blood bath. At first, Robert thought he was
stricken with male jealousy and the panther’s need to stake its claim.

After a couple conversations since his return from the past
with his good friend and Kimberly’s ex-client, Sal Romano, Robert felt certain
his screaming intuition was correct.

A list of documents populated the screen. He scanned the
titles as he scrolled through the list. The answer was there somewhere. He’d
bet his newfound freedom on it.

He clicked the find icon and typed the name Jason Reedman.
Robert would let the search program locate the files he believed to be there
within the business buzz of contracts and correspondence.

Twenty-four hours later, he had the evidence needed. He
clicked Print and the machine hummed. Fifty-eight pages would be enough to
clear Kimberly’s name and indict the bastard who’d hurt her.

She had possessed the incriminating information without
realizing.

Robert slipped the mound of printed-paper into a brown
clutch folder, flicked the attached elastic, and dropped the bundle into his
briefcase.

“Dinghy is waiting.” Colin stood in the doorway.

“How did you know I was ready?”

“Heard your war cry from up on deck.” Colin grinned.
“Figured you found what you needed to get our lass out of trouble.”

“The bastard will pay.” Robert raised his gaze to the
claymore and the two antique cutlasses hanging on the bulkheads. Reedman should
consider himself lucky they were unable to meet in the past.

“Robert?”

“Aye.” He nodded at Colin. “Time to correct the wrong done
to Kimberly.”

Robert grabbed the briefcase and followed his first mate out
of the cabin, through the salon, and ascended the companionway stairs. He
rubbed his chest. Without Kimberly,
Sea Panther
seemed empty.

Topside, the lads jumped up from where they lounged on
cockpit benches and slapped his palm with excited high fives. Timothy glanced
at the briefcase. “Did you find enough evidence to put the SOB behind bars?”

Robert smiled. “Aye.”

John grinned and slapped Timothy on the back. “Told you so.”

A steady breeze blew salty air along the river, jingling
rigging on
Sea Panther
and the other sailboats docked in the New Jersey
marina. A short boat ride across the Hudson, a meeting with the DA, and Robert
would see the charges against Kimberly dropped.

“You gonna bring her back?” Davey asked.

“Damn right.”

* * *

“I don’t want to pressure you into a decision. It’s only
been a short time since the charges against you were dropped.” Kimberly held
her breath and waited for Mr. Romano to finish speaking. “The job is yours if
you want it.”

She still marveled over the unexpected turn of events. A
week ago, the prosecutor’s office did a one-eighty and dismissed the charges
against her stating new evidence had surfaced. The unexpected turn of events
also baffled her lawyers.

“Kimberly, are you still there?”

“Your offer is very generous,” she said, hedging. She bit
her lower lip and switched the phone from one ear to the other. Was she ready
to go back to work?

She needed money. She needed time.

“Take your time. Think about the opportunity. You can give
me an answer next week.”

“Thank you, Mr. Romano. I don’t—”

“You used to call me Sal.”

“Thank you, Sal.”

“That’s better. My wife and I are hosting a party on
Saturday night for a friend who’s been away for a while. I’d love for you to
join us.”

“I don’t know if—”

“Sylvia would enjoy your company.”

“All right, then. I’ll come.”

“Good. We’ll see you at eight and please think about
accepting my job offer.”

“I will. Thank you.”

Kimberly hung up the phone and stared out the window.
Red-orange oriental poppies fronted an evergreen hedge in the garden. She’d
been back for three months and all she could think about was Robert. She rubbed
her extended belly. The precious life growing within her womb would always
remind her of his love.

“Hey. Can I borrow your blue sweater?” Sarah asked as she entered
the living room of the apartment they now shared.

Kimberly twisted to face her sister.

Sarah rushed to her. “What’s wrong? You look horribly pale.”

“Mr. Romano offered me a job and invited me to a party.”

“Super.”

“I don’t think I can—”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know if I’m ready.” She lowered her gaze to the oak
floor.

“Oh, Kimberly, you have to start living your life again.”

“I know.”

“Go to the party. Take the rest as it comes.”

* * *

The high-speed private elevator hummed as it ascended the
forty-eight floors to Sal’s penthouse apartment. It jolted to a stop, and
Kimberly patted coiffed hair. Why had she agreed to come to the party?

She didn’t want to be here. She wasn’t ready to face people
yet. Especially people who knew her before the scandal.

Her host met her at the door. “I’m glad you decided to join
us.”

She followed him through the foyer and into the large chrome
and black leather decorated living room. Surprised to find the room empty, she
scanned the modern art on the walls. Cubism—probably Picasso’s—not to her
liking.

Kimberly suppressed the urge to fidget. She hadn’t expected
to be the first to arrive.

“I asked you to come early so I could reintroduce you to a
friend.” Sal grasped an elbow and escorted her toward the windows.

Who? A man sat on one of the leather sofas with his back to
them. The room wasn’t completely empty after all. Hairs rose on her arms. She
sensed something familiar about the man. An unexpected tingle of hope sped her
heart rate. It couldn’t be possible. Could it?

The man rose and slowly twisted around to face them. The
breath shot from Kimberly’s lungs with a powerful whoosh. Oh my God. The room
swam, and she swayed.

“Are you all right?” Sal grabbed an arm to steady her.

She attempted to speak, but no words left her suddenly dry
lips. She nodded.

“I’ll leave you two alone then,” he said though his voice
sounded as if he spoke from a great distance.

The man who looked too much like Robert rounded the sofa to
stand in front of her. It hurt to look at his cropped tawny hair, cinnamon eyes
filled with something she couldn’t fathom, and firm square jaw. The thin scar
across his cheek. She turned away.

Kimberly chewed at the edge of her lower lip and gazed out
the floor to ceiling windows. The Chrysler and Empire State buildings towered
over the rest of the cityscape and she tried to use them as a ground. Damn, her
eyes burned. She pinched them shut.

“Look at me, lass.”

That voice—so familiar. She couldn’t look at him or she’d
collapse into unstoppable tears. He spun her around and held her by the upper
arms.

“Are you happy I’m here or do you wish I never came into
your life?”

“I never expected to see you again.”

“Tell me you are glad to see me.”

She tossed off his hold, and Robert dropped his arms.
Kimberly placed a palm on her belly bump as if she could protect the life
within from her tumultuous emotions. A roller coaster ride with peaks of joy
and free falls into fear.

“Why won’t you look at me?”

“I’m afraid you’ll disappear.” She kept her chin tucked. She
couldn’t look at him.

He gently raised her chin with a fingertip. “Please,
Kimberly, let me see your eyes.”

“How is it you are here? I saw Séaghdha—”

“I’m sorry you had to witness that.” Robert gave a sad
smile. “But your blood healed me. I am as mortal as you.”

“Thank God.” She hiccupped on a sob and tossed arms around
his neck. “I was heartbroken when I got zapped back and you weren’t with me.”

“I knew I would find you again.” His lips crushed hers in a
toe-curling kiss. When the kiss ended, he clung to her. “You are my destiny and
I yours.”

They dropped onto the sofa and ignored the sounds of the
other arriving guests.

Kimberly held his hand, unwilling to let go. “Somehow when I
hit my head I was pulled into the time portal. I must of thought of Sarah and
the beach where we used to hang out ’cause that’s where I was dumped. How did
you get back through the time warp?”

“We sailed my ship into the Triangle and lowered the
longboat. I went adrift in it. After my men set a course for Jamaica, I rowed
to what I believed were the coordinates of the portal. A storm blew in and
tossed me about then I got sucked into the vortex. A cruising motor yacht found
me in the water clinging to a piece of wood. I spent a month in a hospital
before remembering who I was and what needed to be done.

“You were ill?”

“Aye. Out of my mind with fever.” He raised their joined
hands and kissed hers. “I called Sal. He helped me get home. I hired a firm to
investigate your ex-fiancé and—”

“But why—”

He held up a hand. “I couldn’t tell you I was back until I
cleared your name. I didn’t want to give you false hope if the hunch was
wrong.”

“You’re the one who got the charges dropped?”

“Aye. They arrested Jason Reedman this morning. I found the
evidence on a data stick in the valise you left at my house in Florida.”

Kimberly felt a knife sharp pain in her chest. Jason’s
betrayal cut deep. But when she gazed into Robert’s loving eyes, moisture
spilled from hers. This man sitting beside her, loved her, would cross
centuries to be with her.

“Robert, there is something I need to tell you.”

“What, love?”

“We’re going to be parents.”

His eyes slipped to her belly. When he raised his gaze, a
broad smile crossed his face and his eyes glowed.

“I couldn’t be happier.” His lips brushed hers in a gentle
kiss.

“I love you,” she said.

“And I will love you forever.” Robert held her hand over his
heart.

* * *

A half hour later, Robert sipped champagne wishing Kimberly
would hurry. How long could one woman take to powder a nose?

“Whatcha doin here? This ain’t no Halloween party. How’d you
get past the guards downstairs?” one of Sal’s boys shouted.

The muffled response got lost in the noise from the chatty
crowd.

“Who the fuck do you think you are? You. Can’t. Come. In.
Here.” Each syllable, spoken with a heavy Italian accent, escalated in anger.

Sounded like there would be a fight. Robert craned his neck
to see what caused the disturbance near the entrance to the penthouse. A
Hollywood actor regaling admirers with stories of a recent trip to Venice
blocked Robert’s line of vision.

Sal’s bodyguards, always on alert, went into action. One
whisked his wife away while the others muscled through the crowd toward the
door.

More words fired off in the heavy accent. Robert searched
the crowd for Kimberly. She exited the powder room where she’d gone to wash the
tearstains from her face when the other guests began arriving in earnest. She
lifted a hand in a finger wave.

“He’s got a gun,” a woman screamed.

Kimberly’s head swung toward the commotion by the door. One
of the bodyguards leapt from the crowd and tackled her. Their limbs tangled as
they fell. Robert lunged forward.

The pop of a gunshot added to the noisy commotion. Panic
twisting his gut, Robert kicked a table of hors d’oeuvres over in an effort to
reach Kimberly. She waved him off.

Another of Sal’s bodyguards exchanged punches with the
gunman. When the bodyguard went down, Robert grabbed the hooded man, swung him
around and punched him in the stomach. Guests cheered him on. Fists flew.

After several punches, Robert pulled the rubber Dracula mask
off the man’s head and exposed the battered visage of Dino Rizzetti, the hit
man who had chased after Kimberly and shot Robert while in panther form.

“Who hired you?” Robert shook the bastard by the shoulders.
The hit man spit blood and a tooth. Robert raised a bruised fist as if to hit
the bastard again. “Tell me.”

“No more.” Rizzetti held up a hand. “It was JR. Jason
Reedman.”

Kimberly gasped. Robert flipped his gaze to her. Her hand
covered her mouth and she stared back through wide eyes. Other than that, she
looked healthy. Thank the good Lord the shot missed her.

Sal approached with a couple of policeman. The cops took
Rizzetti away in handcuffs.

“Thank God that’s over,” Kimberly said.

“Aye. Now I can take my wife home.”

“To
Sea Panther?
”

“Aye. Forever and always.” He drew her into his arms and
kissed her with all the love burning in his heart.

One year and six months later

W
ith a silver
tray laden with three champagne flutes in hand, Kimberly swept though the
French doors onto the tile terrace. Robert and his sister stood near the
bougainvillea-draped railing overlooking the tropical garden.

“Don’t bite any of my guests tonight,” Robert admonished
Raven. “’Tis Madelina’s first birthday and you wouldn’t want her to be
traumatized.

His sister smiled brightly, hand poised on Robert’s sleeve.
Fangs slipped over red-painted lips as she leaned into him. Alarm clenched
Kimberly’s heart. Raven had never shared the details of her imprisonment by
Séaghdha. Did her inner goodness remain? Would she hurt Robert?

Raven laughed softly and kissed her brother’s cheek then
glanced at Kimberly. “I’ll behave. I promise.”

Kimberly released a silent sigh and handed them each a glass
of champagne before placing the tray on a nearby table.

“A toast to the future.” Robert held out his glass. In turn,
she and Raven clinked his flute with theirs.

“I’ll regret drinking this later, but it’s delicious.” Raven
smiled. “When do you set sail again?”

Kimberly exchanged a conspiratorial glance with Robert.

“Not until after the
bairn
is born,” he said.

Raven’s eyes glistened. “Another baby?”

“Aye. A boy. Our heir.”

“Heir? And what about our daughter?” Kimberly put hands on
hips and glared at her husband. “She’s our first born.”

“Can’t we have two heirs?”

“You really are an ancient.” She rolled her eyes and stroked
Robert’s cheek.

The love shining in his gaze warmed her heart and even
though they weren’t alone, she stretched up on tippy toes and planted a hard
kiss on his lips.

When she pulled away, his sultry expression promised
pleasure for later.

“Shall we drink to the future generation?” Robert held up
his flute. “May they be free—”

“To freedom.” Raven raised her glass. “And to Séaghdha’s
demise.”