“That's right” Her skin smelled like the air high on the cliffs – laced with the sea and wildflowers and hot summer sunlight. “I also asked you here so I could get my hands on you again. We'll just take one thing at a time.”
“I don't want to get involved.” But even as she said it, her mouth was moving to meet his.
“Me, either.” He changed the angle and sucked on her bottom lip. “This is just – oh – chemistry.” Her fingers tangled in his hair.
“You bet.” His rough – palmed hands slipped under her shirt to explore. “It can't go anywhere.”
“It already is.”
He was right about that, as well. For one brief moment she let herself fall into the kiss, into the heat. She needed something, someone. If she couldn't have comfort or compassion, she would take desire. But the more she took, the more her body strained for something just out of reach. Something she couldn't afford to want or need again.
“This is too fast,” she said breathlessly, and struggled away. “I'm sorry, I realize it must seem as though I'm sending you mixed signals.”
He was watching her eyes, just her eyes, as his body pulsed. “I think I can sort them out.”
“I don't want to start something I won't be able to finish.” She moistened her lips still warm from his.
“And I have too many responsibilities, too much to worry about right now to even think about having...”
“An affair?” he finished. “You're going to have to think about it.” With his eyes still on hers, he gathered her hair in his hand. “Go ahead, take a few days. I can afford to be patient as long as I get what I want. And I want you.”
Nerves skittered along her spine. “Just because I find you attractive, physically, doesn't mean I'm going to jump into bed with you.”
“I don't much care whether you jump, crawl or have to be dragged. We can decide on the method later.” Before she could think of a name to call him, he grinned, kissed her then stepped back. “Now that that's settled, I'll take you up and show you the portrait.”
“If you think it's settled because you – what portrait?” “You take a look, then tell me.”
He led the way up into the loft. Torn between curiosity and fury, Suzanna followed him. The only thing she was certain of at the moment was that since she'd met Holt Bradford again, her emotions had been on a roller coaster. All she wanted out of life was a nice smooth, uneventful ride.
“He worked up here.”
The simple statement captured her attention and her interest. “Did you know him well?”
“I don't think anyone did.” Holt moved over to open a tilt – out window. “He came and went pretty much as he pleased. He'd come back here for a few days, or a few months. I'd sit up here sometimes and watch him work. If he got tired of me hanging around, he'd send me out with the dog, or into the village for ice cream.”
“There's still paint on the floor.” Unable to resist, Suzanna bent down to touch. She glanced up, met Holt's eyes and understood.
He'd loved his grandfather. These splotches of paint, more than the cabin itself, were memories. She reached a hand out for his, rising when their fingers linked. Then she saw the portrait.
The canvas was tilted against the wall, its frame old and ornate. The woman looked back at her, with eyes full of secrets and sadness and love.
“Bianca,” Suzanna said, and let her own tears come. “I knew he must have painted her. He'd have had to.”
“I wasn't certain until I saw Lilah yesterday.”
“He never sold it,” Suzanna murmured. “He kept it, because it was all he had left of her.”
“Maybe.” He wasn't entirely comfortable that the exact thought had occurred to him. “I've got to figure there was something between them. I don't see how that helps you get any closer to the emeralds.”
“But you'll help.” “I said I would.”
“Thank you.” She turned to face him. Yes, he would help, she thought. He wouldn't break his word no matter how much it annoyed him to keep it.
“The first thing I have to ask you, is if you'll bring the portrait to The Towers so my family can see it. It would mean a great deal to them.”
At Suzanna's insistence, they took Sadie as well. She rode in the back of the pickup, grinning into the wind. When they arrived at The Towers, they saw Lilah and Max sitting out on the lawn. Fred, spotting the truck, tore across the yard, then came to a stumbling halt when Sadie leaped nimbly out of the back.
Body aquiver, he approached her. The dogs gave each other a thorough sniffing over. With a flick of her tail, Sadie pranced across the yard. She sent Fred one come – hither look over her shoulder that had him scrambling after her.
“Looks like love at first sight for old Fred,” Lilah commented as she walked with Max to the truck. “We wondered where you'd gone.” She ran a hand down Suzanna's arm, letting her know without words that she knew about the call from Bax.
“Are the kids around?”
“No, they went into the village with Megan and her parents to help Kevin pick out some souvenirs before they leave.”
With a nod, Suzanna took her hand. “There's something you have to see.”
Stepping back, she gestured. Through the open door of the truck, Lila saw the painting. Her fingers tightened on her sister's.
“Oh, Suze.” “I know.”
“Max, can you see?”
“Yes.” Gently he kissed the top of her head and looked at the portrait of a woman who was the double for the one he loved. “She was beautiful. This is a Bradford.” He glanced at Holt with a shrug. “I've been studying your grandfather's work for the past couple of weeks.”
“You've had this all along,” Lilah began.
Holt let the accusation in the tone roll off him. “I didn't know it was Bianca until I saw you yesterday.”
She subsided, studying his face. “You're not as nasty as you'd like people to think. Your aura's much too clear.”
“Leave Holt's aura alone, Lilah,” Suzanna said with a laugh. “I want Aunt Coco to see this. Oh, I wish Sloan and Mandy hadn't left on their honeymoon.”
“They'll only be gone two weeks,” Lilah reminded her.
Two weeks. Suzanna struggled to keep the smile in place as Holt carried the portrait inside.
The moment she saw it, Coco wept. But that was only to be expected. Holt had propped the painting on the love seat in the parlor, and Coco sat in the wing chair, drenching her handkerchief.
“After all this time. To have part of her back in this house.”
Lilah touched her aunt's shoulder. “Part of her has always been in the house.”
“Oh, I know, but to be able to look at her.” She sniffled. “And see you.”
“He must have loved her so much.” Damp eyed, C.C. rested her head on Trent's shoulder. “She looks just as I imagined her, just as I knew she looked that night when I felt her.”
Holt kept his hands in his pocket “Look, sentiment and seances aside, it's the emeralds you need. If you want my help, then I need to know everything.”
“Seance.” Coco dried her eyes. “We should hold another one. We'll hang the portrait in the dining room. With that to focus on we're bound to be successful. I've got to check the astrological charts.” She got up and hurried out of the room.
“And she's off and running,” Suzanna murmured.
Trent nodded. “Not to discredit Coco, but it might be best if I filled in Holt in a more conventional way.”
“I'll make some coffee.” Suzanna sent one last glance at the portrait before heading for the kitchen.
There wasn't so very much Trent could tell him, she thought as she ground beans. Holt already knew about the legend, the research they'd done, the danger her sisters had faced. It was possible that he might make more of it, with his training, than they had. But would he care, even a fraction of the amount her family did?
She understood that emotional motivation could change lives. And that without it, nothing worthwhile could be accomplished.
