Sleight Mistake (Stone Investigations Book 2) Read online

  ‘We live together,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing casual about it.’

  Elijah wasn’t using his usually bold, confident demeanour. He leaned over the table and kept his hands on his lap. If he wanted to be discreet about disparaging her boyfriend then he wasn’t succeeding. ‘Do you expect it to last? He’s hardly your type.’

  ‘Of course it will last,’ she said. ‘Ryder wouldn’t let us fail.’

  ‘He’s controlling?’

  Lacie smiled. ‘He’s determined and I owe my happiness to him.’

  Just as Lacie began to think Ryder could have been right about Elijah’s motivation for arranging this meal, she saw Will coming toward her. Worried that something had happened to Ryder, she put her fork on the plate and stood up without warning Elijah she was about to.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked Will before he’d got all the way to her.

  ‘The hospital,’ he said and her heart sank into her guts, then he smiled. ‘Maternity.’

  ‘Sorcha?’ she asked and he nodded and took her hand.

  ‘It’s too early,’ Lacie said, but dipped to pick up her purse.

  Elijah was standing now too, trying to get the attention of a server, presumably to ask for the check. But she didn’t wait.

  ‘We have to get to the hospital,’ Will said and the rest of her security detail closed in around her.

  If the baby came now it would be early, but it should still be healthy, at least that was what Lacie hoped.

  Without giving Elijah the chance to say anything, she went with the men charged with protecting her and trusted them to get her where she needed to go. It wasn’t her intention to be rude or shut Elijah out, she was just in shock that this was it, this child who had already caused so many events in the world, was about to introduce him or herself.

  Having a security detail meant having transport too, Lacie found out. They got her to the hospital in quick time. Sorcha was in labour; Bruce was on his way, but this kid was coming now. Lacie held Sorcha’s hand as she breathed through the contractions. She kept Sorcha distracted during the epidural and spent what felt like hours comforting her best friend while she wept. When Bruce eventually did show up Sorcha screamed at him to get out again.

  Lacie kept her moist palm pressed against Sorcha’s and stroked her hair through every push, willing her friend on. After a seeming eternity there was a muffled croak then Sorcha’s screaming ceased and a pair of tinier lungs took over the wailing. Sorcha blinked at Lacie as she was handed this little crinkle faced kid, who was very pink and smudged with blood. There the baby was, the new life that had been responsible for so much, including Lacie’s own happiness, was here.

  ‘Congratulations, you have a daughter,’ the midwife said.

  ‘I… I…’ Sorcha held the baby who still fussed but seemed to be sleeping at the same time.

  ‘You did it, honey,’ Lacie said, swiping at Sorcha’s tears. ‘You have a little girl.’

  ‘I…’ Sorcha couldn’t form words, Lacie had never seen her this speechless.

  Lacie grinned. ‘Do you want me to get Bruce?’

  Sorcha’s saucer eyes never faltered but she nodded without focusing or speaking. Lacie kissed her temple, thanked the staff and emerged into the packed waiting space on the opposite side of the corridor from the labour suite.

  The room was full of people. Bruce was there of course, as were Sorcha’s parents, her sister, and a couple of friends. Elijah was there too with his own brother. But to her relief, her security were still here and with their cohorts including Ryder.

  When she’d come in, everyone gathered in close and fixated on her. ‘It’s a girl,’ Lacie said to them all. ‘Six pounds two ounces, all of her fingers and toes.’

  Everyone cheered and patted a suddenly ashen Bruce on the back.

  ‘Can I…?’ Bruce pointed behind Lacie.

  She nodded. ‘Just you,’ Lacie said. ‘They’re still cleaning Sorcha up.’ Bruce disappeared out of the room to meet his daughter.

  Lacie’s own exhaustion left her rooted to the spot. Elijah was the first to come to her, though she was in too much of a daze to think about what he wanted to say. ‘What a day,’ Elijah said, stopping in front of her.

  Unable to react or play it civil, her own emotions began to well up and a lump formed in her throat. ‘Ryder,’ she managed to squeak and Elijah frowned, but she couldn’t explain to him why she was suddenly so pale and shivery.

  The jubilation in the room quieted. Lacie assumed everyone noted her odd behaviour, but all she cared about was Ryder, who came to her at her request. Before he could get a word out, she fell against him and locked her arms around his body, clinging on for dear life as her own tears flooded her face. Sobbing, she hated that she was making such a public spectacle, but the whole experience had been overwhelming.

  ‘Is she ok?’ came a wary male voice.

  ‘She’s fine,’ Ryder said, stroking her hair and keeping his mouth against the top of her head.

  ‘Did you upset her?’ Rocco said with an anger in his voice that was uncharacteristic.

  She recognised Rocco’s voice, but saw nothing through her closed eyes. Ryder’s embrace tightened and Lacie didn’t want to fight it because her only chance of regaining her composure was to stay right here. Fumbling a hand in the direction of his voice, she sought out Rocco. Her hand landed on his abdomen and Rocco’s own hand took hers to hold it against him.

  The males must have shuffled off because Rocco melted away after a few seconds and Ryder walked them backwards a few steps to give them some seclusion. Lacie tucked her hands into the back pockets of his jeans and tried to slow her breathing.

  ‘Are you ok?’ Ryder mumbled into the top of her head.

  Grateful that he had been quick to reassure others that she was going to be fine, she also appreciated his condolence. Nodding, she rubbed her face up and down his torso in the process. With another couple of breaths she lifted her head so that only Ryder could see her expression.

  ‘It was beautiful. It was terrifying… promise me you won’t leave me alone,’ she said as he smudged her tears from her cheeks. Barely aware of anything except the warmth and sanctuary he offered, she needed reassurance of a different kind. ‘When it’s us, when I’m in there… don’t leave me alone.’

  ‘I promise, Baby,’ he said with an odd smile on his face.

  Lacie wasn’t in the mood to deconstruct his expression, so she nestled back into his embrace and let him hold her weight for a while longer.

  Chapter Fifteen

  It turned out to be more than a while. After Bruce emerged everyone was told to wait until Sorcha was moved to a different room. They complied and were then allowed to visit with Sorcha and the nameless infant in small groups. Sorcha requested that Lacie should stay the night. She wasn’t allowed in the room but Lacie agreed to sleep in the waiting room.

  When Lacie told Ryder of Sorcha’s request, he didn’t fuss, though his men did. Elijah hung around longer than everyone else but was defeated when it became obvious that Ryder and his men weren’t going to leave Lacie alone.

  Elijah was putting his jacket on. Ryder was in the corner by the vending machine whispering with his posse. Lacie rested her head back against the wall and let her eyes close. Her solitude was short-lived. Someone sat at her side and she knew in the same second that it wasn’t Ryder or any of his men.

  On lifting her head, she saw Elijah sitting at her side. ‘You did well today, Lacie,’ he said and leaned in to kiss her cheek. What she might have thought was an act meant to provoke Ryder, became something else when she felt the corner of a piece of folded paper poking her hand.

  Elijah leaned back and looked at her for a moment then got up and left, passing the growling S.I.S. crew.

  ‘We’ll take you downstairs for something to eat,’ Ryder said not as affected by Elijah’s actions as the men he worked for were. ‘The canteen’s still open.’ The door closed and the elite team relaxed. Ryder sauntered a few steps in her
direction and held out his hand for hers. ‘Are you coming?’

  Lacie was frozen and from the change in his expression, she’d say that Ryder noticed her discomfort. ‘Did he say something to you?’ Gabe asked, moving to Ryder’s side with the rest of the gang at his back.

  She shook her head and gripped the paper in her hand as though to prove to herself it was real. Elijah had something to say to her, in private it seemed, but the whole affair unsettled her somehow.

  ‘Dusty,’ Ryder said, crouching in front of her. ‘What is it?’

  Lifting her head from the wall, she opened her hand to show Ryder the folded paper in her palm. ‘He just gave me this.’

  ‘When? Just now?’ Ryder asked and she nodded.

  He took the folded paper from her and opened it. His men crowded in to read the message too. Lacie stayed put, unsure whether or not she wanted to know what it said.

  Ryder read it then looked over the top of it at her. ‘I don’t think I want to know,’ she murmured when she studied his features.

  ‘In the museum, what did the threat say to you when he grabbed you, when he drugged you?’

  ‘He said he knew what I was afraid of,’ she said and all of the men focused on her. ‘What?’

  Ryder turned the paper around and she read, “I know what you’re afraid of. We have to talk alone, urgently”. A phone number was scrawled on the bottom.

  ‘What are you afraid of?’ Ty asked and for once he wasn’t teasing.

  ‘I feel strange and unsettled,’ Lacie said, happy to edge her legs forward in the vee of Ryder’s squatting legs.

  Ryder handed the paper off to Gabe and came up to sit at her side. ‘I wasn’t going to leave you alone here tonight, you know that. I’ll have two of the guys stay too.’

  ‘It would be safer not to stay here at all,’ Gabe said.

  Ryder had known better than to even ask. Lacie took Ryder’s hand and rested her head on his chest when he curved an arm around her shoulders.

  ‘Graden has had alibi’s,’ Gabe said. ‘That first night, he was at the exhibition in view of most of us. But he’s involved, somehow I don’t doubt that now. Your instincts were right.’

  ‘I don’t want to be alone with him,’ Lacie said, threading her fingers in and out of Ryder’s. His fingers flexed, locking hers in place between his, as his strong arm tightened around her shoulders. ‘I don’t want to talk to him. Do you think he was…?’

  ‘What?’ Ryder asked.

  ‘Today he was very unhappy that I had security,’ Lacie said.

  ‘She’s right,’ Will said. ‘The guy was fidgeting, his eyes all over the place. He was acting guilty as hell.’

  ‘We thought he wanted to make a move on Lace,’ Ty said. ‘Just figured the guy was pissed our eyes were on them, screwing his chance to make a move on her.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Lacie sighed. ‘When Will came over to tell me about Sorcha, Elijah was trying to convince me that you and I were incompatible, that I would be happier without you. I told him straight that you were my happiness.’

  Ryder stroked her hair. ‘You guys really do tell each other everything, don’t you?’ Toby muttered.

  Lifting her head from Ryder, she observed their friends. ‘I told you I didn’t care if you gave Ryder a second by second account of my day. I meant it.’

  ‘Back to Graden,’ Gabe said. ‘He must have an accomplice.’

  ‘I don’t know who was at the cabin,’ she said. ‘There might have been more than one, I don’t know. I can’t remember.’

  ‘You definitely didn’t recognise the voice at the gallery?’ Rocco asked.

  ‘I wish I had,’ she said. ‘I wish I paid more attention to him. But… I… he was keeping his voice low, maybe he was trying to disguise it. Until he touched me I wasn’t sure what was going on and by then it was too late.’

  ‘Shh,’ Ryder said, bending his elbow at her back to rest a hand in her hair. ‘No one’s expecting you to remember anything. We’re still investigating and we’re going to stop anyone from hurting you again.’

  ‘What do we do now?’ Will asked.

  ‘Now we get Lacie something to eat,’ Ryder said, standing up and taking her with him.

  ‘If we talk to Graden now he’ll know we’ve seen the note he passed her,’ Toby said.

  Moving toward the door, Ryder didn’t respond. ‘We’re going to have dinner,’ Ryder said, trying to not-so-subtly tell his men to drop it.

  They complied and switched their attention to the door. Lacie stayed put, which brought them all to a halt. ‘I don’t hide things from Ryder,’ she said to the group. ‘And I don’t hide that fact from anyone. Elijah might think that he can pass secret notes, but I’m not going to lie to him either. He should know that Ryder’s seen the note.’

  ‘We might not want him to,’ Will said, coming back to address her outburst. ‘Keeping him out of the loop about what we know, might be our way to figure out how he’s involved.’

  ‘I don’t want any of you in danger or in any confrontation where someone could be hurt. But I don’t lie to the man I love and I don’t lie to anyone about that.’

  ‘You’re about as straightforward as they come, Hart,’ Ty said. They all smiled at her with a kind of pride that reminded her how close knit this team was.

  ‘If you have to tell Graden that I handed the note over to Ryder, then do it,’ she said. ‘I’m not ashamed of our trust. But if you formulate a master plan, make sure you clue me in on it.’ Their esteem only grew and Gabe nodded in reassurance.

  ‘When are you going to start squeezing out the sprogettes?’ Will asked, they all appreciated the subject change and began to move out of the waiting room for the journey to the canteen.

  ‘Are you kidding?’ Rocco asked. ‘If the boss is this nuts about keeping his woman safe, how many men is he going to hire to protect their offspring?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Ty said. ‘They’ll have to name one after each of us so the boss has got his work cut out.’

  ‘You expect me to carry six children?’ Lacie asked. That was enough of a shock to distract her from the possibility of one of her oldest friend’s being her stalker.

  ‘Probably more,’ Ty said, staying close. Having this group of men around her made her feel safe again and the needling helped to relax her. ‘You’ll need six boys, there might be girls in between.’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Rocco said, holding a door open. ‘Gabriella and Wilhelmina are girls names.’ He winked at Lacie who led them all in their laughter.

  By the time her group had something to eat and she got back upstairs to Sorcha, Lacie was sure that she would be back in her normal spirits. Having a baby was such a happy blessing that Lacie didn’t want any negativity visiting her best friend’s bed, so for now, she wouldn’t reveal what was going on with Elijah and his possible involvement.

  Staying the night in the hospital waiting room left them all stiff and cranky. After breakfast, Sorcha calmed a little and Bruce returned so Lacie was granted permission by Sorcha to go home.

  She was thankful for the reprieve, not just for her own sake, but for security’s sake too. Lacie hurried back to the waiting room and ordered everyone home to bed. The collective gasp of joy told her she’d been right about their wish to shower and sleep.

  When they got back to base, Ryder joined her in her morning shower. He kissed and caressed her, working more than just the soap into a lather. Being so gentle made her ache with her want for him. But this wasn’t him teasing. He drew comfort from appreciating her like this. Their intimacy was a demonstration of what they had and how much they wanted to hold onto it.

  After the water was off, he carried her through to their bed and kissed every inch of her. Making tender love to her, he savoured the chance they had to be together. If last night’s development reminded them of anything it was to not take their proximity for granted. They’d been torn apart in the past and pure will couldn’t stop it from happening again.

  They hadn’t spoken mor
e about Elijah, about the note, or about what came next but as Lacie fell asleep in his solid embrace she told herself not to worry. There would be time to worry, and to plan, but Ryder would tell her when that time was.

  For now they were together, safe at home. All threats remained outside this bed, this room, and this building. Nothing could touch them here. She’d told Elijah that this was her happiness. It was at times like this, in Ryder’s arms with the pulse of his heart under her cheek that proved her conviction. This was her protection, her heart, her home.

  When she stretched herself out of bed, the balm of sunshine was satisfying, and with a yawn she wrapped the bed sheet around herself and padded out of the bedroom, finger-combing her hair. The kitchen drew her with the scent of coffee and when she entered, Lacie found Will at the table drinking from a steaming mug and reading the paper.

  ‘What time is it?’ she asked, holding the sheet in her fist above her breasts as she headed for the coffee pot.

  ‘Fourteen twenty-one,’ Will said, leaning back in his seat.

  ‘You drew the short straw?’ Lacie asked, gulping from her newly filled mug.

  ‘Actually this is the easy shift,’ Will said, taking his eyes back to his newspaper. ‘I sit around drinking coffee making sure you don’t stub your toe.’

  Wrapping one hand around the mug, through the handle, she pressed it to the back of the hand that held her sheet. ‘I have to see Sorcha tonight.’

  ‘Are you working today?’ Will asked.

  ‘If I sit in my dome, will you come and watch me work?’

  ‘If you want me to,’ Will said, still reading. ‘But the boss told us to leave you alone up there, he said even he doesn’t watch you work.’

  ‘He doesn’t, but it’s not a request,’ she said. ‘When Ryder and I find ourselves alone, we… It doesn’t take long for—’

  Will held up a hand before she could finish. ‘We all know what happens when you two are alone… How are you feeling today about Graden and his note?’