The Pregnancy Plot (Brothers In Arms: Retribution Book 2) (4 page)

“Although I already hired you, I still want to do a background check on you.” After months of being on edge, how had she allowed Jase to lure her into feelings of security already? She still needed to remain vigilant. Simon could be anywhere.

“Check away.” He thanked Theresa for the beer and took a swig from the bottle. “My life’s an open book.”

She wished she could say the same. Keeping her pregnancy a secret from Jase and everyone else in town was silly. They’d find out soon enough. She ran a finger along the inside of her tight waistband. Like in about two days when she made the switch to maternity clothes. She’d already done a little shopping in Seattle on her way to the island.

Theresa delivered their platters of fish-and-chips and conversation came to a dead halt as they busied themselves with lemons, vinegar and tartar sauce.

Nina bit into the crispy coating of the fish and closed her eyes as the salty, tart tastes flooded her mouth.

“I think this meal alone is worth coming all the way out here for.” Jase swept a French fry through a mountain of ketchup on his plate. “Is this why you returned to the old homestead?”

“Mandy’s fish-and-chips?” She laughed. “Yeah, that’s it.”

They finished their meal and split the check. How had Jase known that’s exactly how she’d wanted to handle it? If he’d insisted on paying, it would’ve felt too much like a date—and it already felt too much like a date.

When they hit the sidewalk, she thrust out her hand. “You’re coming by tomorrow to go over the necessary repairs, right?”

“Sure.” He took her hand but didn’t release it. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

“Car?” She raised her eyebrows. “I’m not in LA anymore. I walked over here.”

His grip tightened on her hand. “Really? I’ll walk you home, then.”

As her eyes traveled over his shoulder to take in the dark curve of the sand dunes that marked the turn toward the B and B, she said, “That’s not necessary,” but her voice didn’t hold the conviction she’d wanted.

Would Simon track her down here? If he wanted to speak with her, he should just approach her like a normal person. But Simon hadn’t been normal the past few times she’d seen him—not normal at all.

He shrugged. “I don’t mind the walk.”

“It
is
a nice walk.”

They turned together and after two blocks the sidewalk ended in sand. He put his hand on the small of her back. “Be careful.”

She appreciated Jase’s solicitousness, but she didn’t understand it. Why was he so attentive? It was almost as if he knew about her pregnancy.

She stole a sideways glance at his perfectly chiseled profile.
Idiot.
Maybe he did know she was pregnant. Just because she hadn’t made the switch to maternity clothes yet, it didn’t mean people couldn’t tell. That woman in the elevator at the doctor’s office knew. She was pretty sure Carl and Dora Kleinschmidt knew.

She cleared her throat. “You never did tell me why you chose Break Island for your writer’s retreat.”

“Do I have to explain?” He spread his arms. “It’s isolated, beautiful, but has just enough tourists for some serious people-watching for inspiration.”

“I thought you were writing a fictional account of your experiences in Afghanistan—not many soldiers here to study.” Unless Simon was lurking around the corner.

“They don’t have to be soldiers. Human nature is human nature.”

A bush rustled beside them and a gust of wind showered them with grains of sand.

Then a figure stepped onto the path in front of them and a voice came out of the night. “Home at last.”

Chapter Five

Nina stiffened beside him, and Jase’s own muscles coiled as he sprang in front of her, blocking her from the stranger on the path.

A low laugh gurgled from the woman’s throat. “That’s our Nina, always has a man to protect her.”

Nina placed a hand on his arm and stepped beside him. “Are you stalking me, Lou?”

Instead of diffusing his concern, the fact that it was Nina’s stepsister standing in front of them blocking their path heightened it. Lou had put a hole in Nina’s boat, and even if Nina had been convinced the act wouldn’t have resulted in her drowning, he didn’t trust this woman anywhere near Nina.

“Stalking?” She took in the bay with a sweeping gesture. “I’m just enjoying the night like everyone else.”

“Have you been working on Dad’s boat by any chance?” Nina squared her shoulders and locked eyes with her stepsister, whom she topped by a good five inches. In hand-to-hand battle, he’d put his money on Nina any day—except she was pregnant.

“Moi?”
Lou crossed her hands over her heart. “I haven’t touched
my
dad’s boat, and don’t go calling him
Dad
like he’s your dad or something. Your dad took off a few months after you were born, having the good sense to dump you and Lori while he could.”

“Hey.” Jase curled his hands into fists and took a step forward. “Don’t talk to Nina like that. I don’t care who you are.”

“And I don’t care who
you
are.” Lou put a hand on her hip, her gaze raking him from head to toe. “Who
are
you?”

“This is my...my handyman, Jase. He’s going to help me fix up Moonstones.”

What had Nina been about to call him? Handyman sounded so impersonal.

Lou leveled a finger at Nina. “That B and B should be mine and you know it. That’s why you left it so long after my dad died. You felt guilty about inheriting it.”

“We both know what would’ve happened to Moonstones if Dad had left it to you. Dad knew it, too. You would’ve sold this place so fast and used the money for God-knows-what. I can get it up and running again, and I have no problem sharing the profits with you if there are any.”

“None of that matters. I don’t want the piddly profits from some mom-and-pop business.” Lou sliced her hand through the air a little too close to Nina’s face for his comfort. “I could’ve used the money. You didn’t need it with your stuck-up interior designing job in LA. Why did you give up all that to come back here anyway?”

Jase studied Nina’s face as she formed an answer. So, her stepsister didn’t know about the pregnancy, either, but he didn’t blame Nina for not telling her. Lou had nut job written all over her.

In the end, Nina shrugged. “Moonstones needs some TLC. Dad and Mom loved the place.”

“My dad had this dream before he met Lori, before he left my mom for her.”

Nina sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “We’ve been over and over this, Lou. I’m sorry that happened, but it has nothing to do with us.”

“It does now because Dad disinherited me for you. I always hoped Lori would die before Dad because I thought Dad would cut you out. Lori did die first, but Dad cut me out anyway.” Her laugh sounded just this side of hysterical. “So, you gypped me out of my inheritance
and
my father.”

“I’m sorry about that, too, Lou. They were the loves of each other’s lives. You and I both know they loved each other more than they loved their daughters.” Nina crossed her arms over her stomach. “Sometimes life just works out that way.”

“Oh, you can be generous because you got the goods after Dad kicked off.”

“Lou, baby? Lou, you out here?”

The slurred words came out of the darkness, along with a shuffling gait.

What now? As if all this family drama wasn’t enough.

“Over here, Kip.”

A lean man with tousled sandy hair came up from the beach, listing to the side as he scrambled up to the path. The stink of stale beer came off him in waves.

He staggered to Lou’s side and draped a heavy arm across her shoulders.

“This is my stepsister, Nina, the golden child. Nina, this is Kip, my partner in crime.”

Keeping her feet rooted to the ground, Nina leaned in with an outstretched hand. “Good to meet you, Kip, but Lou doesn’t need a partner in crime.”

Ignoring the proffered handshake, Kip hacked and spit into the sand dunes. “Just a figure of speech.”

Nina nodded in Jase’s direction. “And this is Jase.”

Jase held up one hand. He had no intention of shaking with Kip. The guy might topple over on him in a drunken free fall.

Nina continued to pretend this was some normal social gathering.

“Where did you and Lou meet?”

“In a bar.” Kip pulled Lou in for a sloppy kiss on the side of the head.

“I meant—” Nina rolled her eyes “—what city?”

“Portland.” Lou brushed a sandy lock of hair from Kip’s eyes. “I’ve been living in Portland.”

“Are you staying here now?”

“Just in town at one of the dumpy fishermen’s motels.” She clicked her tongue. “Don’t worry, little sis. It’s not going to be permanent. I have some business to settle.”

Jase studied Lou and Kip side by side through narrowed eyes. The only business he could imagine these two settling is a drug deal. That, or harassing Nina.

He took Nina’s arm. “We were just on our way back to Moonstones.”

“And we were on our way back to the bar.” Kip tugged on Lou’s hand. “Come on, baby. Let’s finish gettin’ our drink on.”

The other couple squeezed past them on the path to make their way back to the town. Once again, Jase caught a strong whiff of booze. Had Kip bathed in it?

When Kip and Lou disappeared into the night, Nina let out a long breath. “I can’t believe she’d hook up with someone like that.”

“Seems to me old Kip is just her type.”

She pulled her jacket around her body. “Lou needs help, professional help. I don’t understand people who refuse to seek therapy and medication when it’s glaringly obvious to everyone around them that they need them.”

“I’m not sure. I’ve heard the drugs flatten out your personality, and people don’t like that.”

“Some personalities need flattening.”

“Lou sure holds a grudge, doesn’t she?” A bird, probably an escapee from the sanctuary, shrieked above them and Nina jumped.

“Where’s her mother?”

“Lou’s mom has been through a couple of husbands already. She could be anywhere, since she pretty much washed her hands of Lou, too.” She kicked at a rock with the toe of her shoe. “One thing Lou did have right is that her father left her mother for my mom.”

“That’s not your fault.”

“Lou instinctively knew the score when she was nine years old. She hated me and my mom from the get-go.”

“Nine is old enough. Did your stepfather prefer you to his own daughter?”

“Not really—he preferred my mom and my mom preferred him. I was a lot easier to deal with than Lou, and Dad knew she’d sell Moonstones as soon as she could and then drink up, snort up and shoot up the profits.”

The road curved in front of the disputed B and B, and a glimmer of light from the quarter moon spilled across Nina’s disabled boat.

“Lou denied sabotaging the boat.”

Nina snorted. “Did you think she’d admit it? She’s never fessed up to a single misdeed in her life.”

“You have a complicated life, Nina.” He opened the latch of the broken gate and ushered her through with a sweep of his hand.

“You have no idea, Jase.”

He held his breath as she moved past him, her light fragrance tickling his nose. Would she tell him about her pregnancy? Open up about Simon?

She climbed the two porch steps and turned to face him.

He held her gaze, ready for her confidences. Not that he’d be sharing any of his own—revealing his identity was not part of his assignment—yet.

“You know that proposal you made over dinner?”

He blinked. Not what he’d been expecting, but he’d go with it. “About moving in here?”

“Yes. Still interested?”

“Sure.”

“Good.” She turned and shoved open the front door of the B and B. “Because I want you to move in—right here, right now.”

* * *

T
HE
THRILL
THAT
rushed through his body better be for the assignment and not the woman. She’d done a one-eighty and ditched her previous reservations. Had Lou spooked her?

“Why the sudden turnaround?”

“Do you see it that way? I told you I’d consider it after doing a background check.”

“And now you don’t need a background check?”

“Now I’ve seen Lou and the company she’s keeping.”

“Do you really think Kip is helping her? The dude seems barely capable of a coherent thought.”

“I’ve seen his type before. Lou’s been with this type before—they egg her on and use her because they think she has some money coming. They encourage her in her wild schemes.”

“He scares you?”

“They both do. Did you see his eyebrows?”

He raised one of his own. “I didn’t notice.”

“They were lighter than his hair.”

“Is that supposed to be some sign of evil or something?”

She pinched his arm. “He gave me the creeps.”

“Okay, I defer to your creep meter, but if you want me to move in tonight, I’m going to have to go back to my motel and get my stuff.”

“I’ll take you back in my truck. You can start some repairs tomorrow and write whenever you want.”

“And run interference between you and Lou and Kip. Is that it?”

“If you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all.” He came here for that express purpose—to run interference for Nina Moore—not that she knew it.

“Hold on and I’ll get the keys to the truck.” She left him standing at the door while she ran to the kitchen and snagged a set of keys from a hook.

The driver’s-side door of the truck protested when he opened it for her. “Is there anything at Moonstones that’s
not
falling apart?”

“No, and that includes the current owner.” She hopped onto the seat and slammed the door.

He climbed in beside her. “If it’s too much for you, Nina, why don’t you go back to LA? Lou seemed to think you had it made there.”

“Lou?” She adjusted her mirror. “You believe anything Lou says?”

“Does that mean you
didn’t
have it made in LA?”

She bit her lip before starting and once again he expected confidences.

“I liked my job, had plenty of clients and left a lot of friends there, but this island has something...”

“A dilapidated B and B and crazy family members.”

He didn’t know why he was trying to encourage her to return to the big city. It would be so much harder to watch her there, and what possible excuse could he offer now for turning up in LA?

She laughed and he liked the sound. She needed to laugh more—for the baby.

“With your help, Moonstones won’t be dilapidated for long and hopefully Lou will be on her way, taking her low-life companion with her.”

“Once she finishes her important business.”

She swung the truck onto the road leading to town, a smirk twisting her lips. “I’m afraid her important business is getting me to cough up some money.”

“Will you? Have you ever?”

“I’ve given her a few bucks here and there, but that only seems to encourage her. Honestly, I do it out of guilt.”

“Because your mom stole her dad away from her mom? That’s ridiculous.”

“I know it is. I just know how it feels to lose a parent.” She glanced at him. “You heard Lou. My dad abandoned me and my mom when I was a baby.”

“For another woman?”

“I have no clue, but my mom raised me alone until Bruce Moore came into her life.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “A baby needs two parents, don’t you think?”

He licked his dry lips. “It’s optimal.”

As if sensing something in his tone, she turned to him. “Have you ever been married? I’m assuming you’re not now because, well, you don’t wear a ring and I can’t imagine your wife being okay with you escaping for a few months to write.”

“I am not now, nor have I ever been married.”

“Children?”

“None that I know of.” He didn’t feel like talking about babies right now—hers or his.

Nina nodded once. Then she wheeled into the space in front of his motel room and threw the old truck into Park. “Do you need any help packing up?”

“It’ll take me five minutes.” He jumped from the truck and five minutes later with his laptop tucked under his arm, he tossed his duffel into the back of the truck.

When he climbed into the passenger seat, Nina was texting on her cell.

“Everything okay?”

She held up the phone. “Still putting the finishing touches on a client’s house in Malibu—job from hell.”

“You should be able to do right by Moonstones with your expertise.”

“Yeah, but I need a clean palette to work with, not a place falling down around my ears.”

“That’s where I come in.”

It took her three tries before the engine cranked to life, and she looked over her shoulder before backing out of the space.

“How’d a soldier and a writer wind up being handy with a hammer and saw?”

“I learned everything from my grandfather. He liked working with his hands, even after...” He tugged on his ear before the truth came spilling from his lips. “Even after he got old.”

He didn’t need to clue in Nina that his grandfather had been a self-made millionaire and that his father had expanded the family fortunes and gone into politics. That reality wouldn’t mesh with Jase Buckley’s.

“Do you mind if we make a stop before heading back to the B and B? I need to pick up a couple of things.”

“There’s a drugstore on the main drag, a few doors down from Mandy’s.” She swung the truck around in a U-turn and rumbled back down the main street of town.

When she parked, he grabbed the handle of the door. “You coming with me?”

“Sure.”

As they walked inside the brightly lit drugstore, the clerk behind the register called out, “You have ten minutes until closing.”

“We’ll make it quick.” Jase nudged Nina with his elbow. “Toothpaste.”