Untamed (14 page)

She reentered the bedroom to find him in the bed, covered to the waist, leaning back against the headboard. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” She climbed in bed beside him.

Cam smiled at her and scooted down. “Good, then turn out the light.”

She did and then felt his hand, taking hold of her to pull her to him. Ellie snuggled up to his side, her head on his shoulder. He placed her hand on the center of his chest with his on top of it. “Go to sleep, Ellie. I’ll keep you safe tonight.”

“Thank you.” She whispered, wondering how in the world she would ever be able to sleep, feeling his body against hers. Amazingly, within a few minutes her eyes started to feel heavy.

The last thing she remembered was the feel of his heartbeat, steady and strong beneath her hand. And feeling safe.

* * * * *

Simon Dansforth gripped the cocktail glass so hard the knuckles of his hand turned white. He was not accustomed to anyone saying no to him

“What do you mean she said no?”

“Just that, sir. Goodwin called and she turned him down flat.”

“Even after the incident with her vehicle tire and the note?”

“Yes. And Marsh is with her.”

Simon considered it for a few moments. Elana Whitehorse was proving to be a bit more stubborn than he anticipated. Obviously having Detective Marsh with her was giving her more courage than if she were alone. That was a wrinkle in the plan. He’d not anticipated that she would make friends with Marsh.

Still, he couldn’t be with her twenty-four hours a day, and with the right incentive, she could be made to see the practicality and profitability of capitulation.

“Double the offer.”

“Double?”

“Is that not what I said? Double the offer. In person. Take Bookman and Dalton with you. Make sure she understands the consequences of refusing.”

“How much persuasion do you want them to use?”

“Enough to demonstrate the seriousness of the situation.”

“Make sure they leave nothing behind that will provide law enforcement with clues to their identities. This much be clean.”

“Yes, of course.”

“And it goes without saying that I must not be linked to any of this in any manner.”

Simon smiled at the pause on the line. His underling understood the implication of his words. The shell corporation making the offer on the land couldn’t be linked back to him without months or even years of investigation. He always made sure to insulate himself from any business transaction that veered from a legal path.

“Yes, sir. We have eyes on her. The moment she’s alone we’ll make our move.”

“I will await your report.”

He ended the call and leaned back in his leather chair. Soon he’d have the property in his hands, and then he’d discover the secret Whitehorse had taken to his grave.

Simon got up to freshen his drink. Michael Whitehorse could have avoided an early grave if he’d just cooperated. Stubbornness had cost him his life. Hopefully his daughter would not tread the same path.

* * * * *

Ellie’s eyes flew open. Her hand was on Cam and he had an erection. Oh hell, what had she done?
Well duh, Captain Obvious.
Somehow the dream she’d been having had prompted her body into motion.

Had she been stroking him like in the dream?

“You don’t have to stop on my account.” His voice gave her a start. Now what? Admit that she’d been dreaming about it or apologize and pretend it was an accident.

Or be honest?

She considered it for a few seconds then threw back the covers, snatched her t-shirt up over her head, and tossed it aside. Ellie climbed on top of Cam, straddling his body and then lowering herself down on him.

His arms went around her and his lips parted beneath hers. His skin was hot to her touch as her hands drifted over the strong muscles of his arms.

His lips abandoned her and moved down the curve of her neck to the hollow of her throat. Ellie felt perspiration spring to the surface of her skin as his hands traced down her back and cupped her rear. Cam captured her lips for another kiss and expertly rolled them over so that she was beneath him.

He pushed up on his hands to look down at her. “Do you want to make love to me, Ellie?”

Make love?
The question shocked her. Have sex, fuck or get it on she would have understood, but making love implied an emotional connection. She mentally cursed herself for the way her heart raced with a sudden swell of hope.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Cam smiled and kissed her slowly and gently. Ellie breathed in his scent. The very smell of him evoked a basic primal need.

She’d never dreamed that a kiss could produce such a profound reaction. Heat flowed from her mouth to her breasts then down through her belly to pool between her legs like liquid fire.

“I want to make love to you,” Cam whispered against her mouth.

Ellie didn’t trust her voice, she merely nodded, her thoughts fragmented between the desire that threatened to overwhelm and the hope that beat at her heart that there was more than just physical need between them.

Cam took his time, arousing her with hands and mouth. Her nipples grew sensitive as he suckled her then laved the tight flesh into plumpness before gathering it again into his mouth.

Ellie was starting to feel that she would go mad with need when he started working his way down her body, his tongue leaving a trail of heat in its wake.

When his mouth reached her sex, she nearly came off the bed. God almighty was he good with his mouth. Two minutes and she had her head thrown back, her hands fisting the sheets and her body quaking in climax.

In fact, she was not fully through the throes when he moved between her legs and slid inside her. That sent her careening back into a void of pure pleasure.

“Oh my god,” she whispered as the climax started to fade. “That was—“

“Just the start,” he whispered.

Something in his look unlocked a part of her she didn’t know she possessed. A need to be taken, to be loved until she couldn’t take anymore. She wound her legs around his waist, pumping against him.

Their movements became less gentle, more demanding and faster, their lovemaking more demanding and primitive. Nothing else existed but their need.

Ellie cried out his name as he once more took her over the edge and felt him take the fall with her.

Afterwards, they were both quiet for a long time. Ellie wondered what he was thinking. Did he know that this wasn’t just sex for her? Could he sense her feelings for him? And if he did, would that send him running at first light?

He pulled her close, spooning against her and despite her worries, she felt herself succumbing to sleep.

Cam had just drifted off when Ellie sat straight up in bed. “A map!”

“Wh… what?”

“It’s a map. A map.”

“What’s a map?” His brain was still in a fog.

“The paintings.” Her voice cut into his thoughts. “The lines. It’s not a puzzle. It’s a map”

“Of what?”

“That’s what I’m going to find out.”

“Now? It’s…” he picked up his phone from the nightstand. “Three-thirty.”

“I have to do this now. You go back to sleep.”

“No, I’ll get up.”

“No, really. Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you when I’m done.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Photograph everything and import the pictures into Photoshop and put everything together.”

“Oh, well… okay.”

She leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek then bounded out of the bed. He heard her in the closet and a minute later, she left the room, closing the door behind him. Cam lay in the dark thinking about it. What if she was right? Why would someone hide a map in a bunch of paintings? And a map to what?

It was for sure that he wasn’t going to figure it out right now, so he did the best thing he could do. Closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep.

Chapter Seven

Cam had just opened his eyes when Ellie opened the bedroom door. “You awake?” she whispered.

“Yeah.”

She entered, holding a steaming cup of coffee. He sat up and she handed it to him. He noticed she was wearing the same oversized t-shirt she’d worn to bed.

“You get finished?” he asked then took a sip.

“Yep.” She was fairly vibrating with excitement as she sat down beside him.

“And?”

“And I think I’ve figured it out.”

“Really? Tell me.”

“Okay, well, first I put all the images together on one canvas. I kept each one in its own layer so I could move them around and—“

“You just lost me.” Cam had no idea what she was talking about.

“Oh! Okay, hold on. I’ll be right back.” She scrambled off the bed and tore off out of the room.

He could hear the sounds of her feet as she moved through the house. The sound stopped for a few seconds then resumed. A few moments later, she was back. She rounded the bed and climbed on beside him, holding what looked like a giant tablet.

“That’s one big honking tablet.”

“Yeah.” She grinned. “It’s essentially a tablet computer. I use it for work. Anyway…”She activated the screen. “See? These are all the paintings. I took a photo of each one. And see here, on the side? Those are the layers, each photo in its own layer. See? I can turn them off and on.”

She demonstrated and he nodded his understanding. “Okay, so once I got them all on one canvas, I enhanced the lines.” She minimized the current window and opened another. This one showed all of the paintings again, but the lines that ran through each were now bold and black.

“So this is the first possible combination.”

“Okay.”

She opened another window. ”And here’s the second. I have one more. Three possible combinations.”

“So how do you know which one is the right one?”

“That was the problem! I was getting really frustrated so I propped the tablet on the kitchen counter and started fixing a pot of coffee. That’s when I saw it.” She switched back to the original image. “Look. See the horse? He’s not always facing in the same direction, right?”

“Yeah. So?”

“So what if the direction he’s facing is the direction we use?”

“Okay, but how does that connect the next one?”

“Because only one combination worked when I used the horse as the compass.”

She showed him a new image. “This one.”

Cam studied the image. Sure enough, it looked like some crazy map. “Great, but what’s it a map to?”

“That was the second problem.” She laid the tablet aside so she could turn to face him. She didn’t notice as she arranged her legs Indian fashion that she was exposing more than just her legs to his view.

Cam tried to keep his gaze on her face. It was the gentlemanly thing to do. Now if other parts of his anatomy would cooperate he’d be fine.

“So,” she continued. “I asked myself. What was important to my father? Obviously this place. And that white horse. And what’s so special about this place? Nothing that I’ve found, but obviously, there’s something because someone is trying to scare me into selling it. So, I figured it had to be a map of this property.

“I received a map with the deed so I redrew it.” She picked up the tablet and opened another window. “It’s not to scale but it’s pretty close. This is the property.”

“Okay.”

“And this…” She diddled on the tablet for a moment then turned it for him to see. “This is the property map with the painting map on top of it. I removed everything but the lines.”

Cam looked at it and sat up straighter. “Hey now. You might be onto something. Look. Right there. That’s about where the house sits and where the map begins.”

“Exactly!” She grinned.

“That’s pretty amazing,” he said with a smile. “So what now?”

“Now we get dressed and follow the map. I emailed a copy to my phone.”

“Mind if I use your bathroom first?”

“Oh no, I’m sorry. Of course. I have to get dressed anyway.”

She jumped up and made for the closet, pulling up her t-shirt over her head as soon as she opened the door. He saw her back stiffen and it dawned on him that in her excitement she hadn’t considered what she was doing— stripping in front of him. He found it amusing that despite what had happened between them she was shy about being naked in front of him.

Ellie hurriedly snatched a tank top from a small stack of clothing on the top shelf, pulled it over her head then grabbed a pair of shorts and stepped into them. “I’m just going to brush my teeth,” she said over her shoulder as she hurried from the room.

Cam grinned and watched her dash away. He got up, put on his clothes, and went into the bathroom. Just before he closed the door, he heard her call from the kitchen. “I have an extra toothbrush. It’s in the medicine cabinet.”

Cam found the toothbrush, did what he needed to do, and walked through the house to the kitchen. Ellie was standing at the counter, plugging in her tablet to an outlet.

“You want me to fix you something to eat?” she asked.

“No, I’m fine, but maybe I could get another cup of coffee to take with me?”

“Oh yes. Sure!” She poured another cup and handed it to him.

“Okay, let’s do this,” he said.

She grabbed her phone and opened the door. “Okay, so if I read this right, we need to go that way— to the stream.” She started marching and he followed.

“So I guess you don’t need me to protect you from the snakes anymore?”

She looked over her shoulder at it. “Wrong, big boy. If I see a snake, I’m liable to climb you like you’re the only tree in the jungle.”

“Thanks for the warning.”

They made it to the stream and stopped. “Okay, so we go… left. I mean west.” She said.

“Lead the way, Tonto.”

“I think maybe it’s time for you to take the lead. I’ve never been past this point.”

“Oh, those snakes again?”

“Maybe.”

“Okay, give me the map.”

They walked in silence for nearly ten minutes, following the stream. “It’s really beautiful isn’t it?” Ellie asked from behind him.

“Yeah, it is. But damn odd.”

“So you say, but maybe my father just spent his time cleaning up the woods and making a sort of park. Maybe he even put the quartz in the stream.”

“Maybe.” Cam couldn’t imagine why anyone would do something like that. Just the time alone would have been enormous, not to mention getting quartz shipped in to line the streambed. And even if he’d done all that, how in the world had the stream stayed so free of debris?

“How many acres are on the property?” he asked.

“A little over six hundred according to the information I got from the attorney.”

Cam stopped for a moment. “Okay, so best guess is that we’re probably less than a quarter mile from the line between our properties to the east. And six hundred acres is about a square mile. And we’re maybe a quarter of the way from the front line.”

“So?”

“So, just trying to figure out where on the property we are. I mean since the map isn’t to scale. That way if we find the source of the stream we’ll know about where it is and you can add it to the map.”

“Oh, okay.”

They continued walking and he noticed that the stream had started to widen a bit. He turned to look at Ellie and saw her eyes grow wide. “Look!”

He turned back around and felt a shock. A very sizable body of water glinted in the near distance. They picked up their pace and when they reached the water’s edge, he knelt down and stuck his hand in the water.

“It has to be spring fed,” he said. “Water’s cold.”

“Is that good?”

“Well, it’s damn unusual. I’ve never heard of a natural spring around here.”

“How about a fairy house?” she asked and reached for his hand.

“A what?”

She pointed and he looked toward the far end of the pond. A lush green lawn, dotted with flowering trees and flowers of every imaginable variety led to a structure.

“Whoa!”

It was, as Ellie had said, something that belonged in a fairytale. Constructed of what looked like natural hewn wood and glass, in an A-frame fashion, it had a big porch that ran around the entire structure and a stone staircase that led up from the yard.

“Come on!” Ellie tugged on his hand and started running. They rounded the lake and came to a stop at a path. The path rimmed the house side of the lake and had an intersecting path that wound through the trees and flowers and led to the house.

“This is incredible.” Ellie looked one way and then the other as they made their way toward the house.

Together they walked up the steps and onto the porch. The entire interior of the house was visible through the wall of glass that made up the exterior front wall. There was a kitchen with a big island around which were four bar stools that occupied the right side. A big wooden table with six chairs sat in the dining area in front of the kitchen, looking out onto the porch.

A big rock wall separated the kitchen from the living area. It was solid only in the area where the fireplace was housed. On either side of that were openings so that one could see from the kitchen to the rest of the living area.

That area was furnished with two deep cushioned couches, several recliners and an enormous wooden coffee table upon which stood a carving of a running horse. Ellie went to the door and tried it. “It’s locked.”

“Well, did you get keys?”

She looked at him in surprise. “Yes! Well, I mean maybe. There were three keys. One fit the front door of the house. I haven’t figured out what the other two fit.”

“Let’s go get them and see if one works.”

She looked back at the house. “Do you think this is really his, Cam? I mean, I thought he was poor. This…this is incredible.”

“Not to mention what it would have taken to build.” He remarked. “Just look at the land. There aren’t many hills in Florida so all that dirt had to have come from somewhere, hauled in or something. And there’s no road so how the heck did he get it here— not to mention the rest of the building materials?”

“Maybe there’s a road in the back.”

“Maybe. But let’s explore that after we find out if you can get in the house.”

“Okay.” She turned and started down the steps then stopped. “Uh, which way? I mean I know we go back to the stream, but after that…”

Cam chuckled. “We walked upstream for twenty-six minutes so we walk back the same amount of time then head south.”

“How do you know it’s south?”

“Because my place is to the east and we went west— so it has to be south.”

“Oh okay, so let’s go.”

They started back the way they had come, both of them quiet. Cam imagined she was as shocked by what they’d found as he. And he couldn’t make any sense of it. If Mike Whitehorse had a place like this on his property, why in the world did he live in that rundown old house on the front acres? Or had he?

Suddenly a neighbor he’d never known was a real mystery. A mystery with a beautiful daughter he was more than a little interested in.

Ellie snatched up her keys from the counter as soon as they entered the house. “Okay, I have the keys. Come on. No, wait. Let’s grab a couple of bottles of water to take with us.”

She went into the kitchen and grabbed two bottles of water from the refrigerator, handed one to Cam and opened the other. Cam opened his and lifted it to his lips then stopped.

Chugging down an entire bottle of water wasn’t an act he considered sexy, but watching Ellie tilt her head back and her throat work as she swallowed had a decidedly erotic appeal.

She finished off the bottle, put her hand over her mouth, burped, and then smiled. “Sorry.”

Cam had to grin. So much for eroticism. She grabbed another bottle then made for the door.

Despite being so much taller, he had to hurry to keep up with her. She made a beeline for the fairy house as she called it. It wasn’t until they were walking up the steps to the house that he spoke.

“Guess you’ve gotten over being afraid of the woods and all the critters.”

She looked up at him in surprise. “Oh my god, I never even thought about it! Okay, let’s see if one of these keys fit.”

The first key she tried didn’t work and he could see the disappointment on her face. She looked at him and then the other key in her hand. “What if it doesn’t work?”

“Never know till you try, sugar.”

She gave him a hopeful smile and inserted the key into the lock. It worked. This time the smile she gave him was one of excitement. Unfortunately, it faded almost as soon as it appeared.

“What if…” She looked at the door and then back at him. “What if I find something in there? Something horrible.”

“Like what?”

“I don’t know. But look at this place! I mean I know I’m not Einstein, but even I know this is strange to say the least. Florida’s flat— I mean flat. So how the heck is all this here? A big hill that slopes down to a clear lake and a stream that’s filled with rocks that you say aren’t even found here.