The beach was white and sandy and April got a strong signal on her cell phone. She spent most of the day on the phone with various departments back in New York. The work was keeping her mind off Richard and how to get back in his room. She was unsure where he was and couldn't take the chance of trying to get inside again so soon. He could find her there – again. This time she would have no explanation for her presence. The nail falling out of her door and changing the number, plus her previous visit was a convenient lie, but it was a lie.
April still wondered if she'd convinced Richard to believe her. She was usually so sure of herself, so positive in her decisions, but with him it was like her logic deserted her.
And that kiss.
How could she let him kiss her like that? How could she kiss him like that? How could she let an imposter take such control over her body and emotions? But he had and she had. April turned from her pacing and looked at the sky, as if the heavens could answer her chaotic thoughts. The truth was, no one could do anything. The kiss happened. It was a fact. They'd both participated in it. She couldn't recuse her feelings. She couldn't deny that what she felt in Richard matched the riotous emotions in herself.
"April, are you listening?" Josie spoke through the ear buds April wore.
"Yes, I'm listening." She paused. "I don't have any other comments. I'll see you in the morning."
The two rang off. April pulled the earbuds out and frowned. She'd had them in so long, removing them hurt. So did her shoulders. She was wearing a sun dress and now that she was no longer concentrating on the call and trying not to allow thoughts of Richard and that devastating kiss to distract her, she realized her shoulders and arms were burning. She'd been in the sun too long.
Again she frowned, then gathered her belongings and started back to the Eden Paradise House.
April was lathering suntan lotion on her shoulders when she noticed something out of place. In the bathroom mirror, she could see part of the room behind her. April stopped and went to the door. Did she leave her dresser drawer open? It wasn't like her to do that. She was very careful with furniture, especially this furniture that was old enough to be antiques, but not maintained as well.
She stepped into the room. Crossing to the dresser, she slowly pulled the drawer open. Her clothes, that had been folded neatly, were slightly out of place. One shirt was caught between the top of the drawer and the top of the dresser. The other items had been shifted to one side.
She jumped back from the dresser as if it could bite her. Someone had been in her room. April looked around. There were subtle differences. The end of the bedspread near the wall was pulled sideways, causing a wrinkle. She knew the maid had straightened it to the point of perfection. In the closet, one of her shoes lay on its side. She'd straightened them this morning to reach the sandals she had on her feet.
"Damn," she cursed. Her eyes darted from the bed to the wall that separated her room from Richard's.
He'd searched her room!
***
April was waiting for Richard when he returned to the guest house. It was the middle of the day, and she'd had time to transition from seething to mildly angry. As she spied Richard getting out of his car, she met him in the parking lot.
"We need to talk," she said and kept moving toward the beach.
"About what?" he asked, catching up with her.
When they were out of earshot of anyone, she turned to face him. "You didn't believe me, did you?"
"What? Believe you about what?"
"About your room."
"My room?"
"Stop repeating what I say. You've been in my room."
He stepped back as if she'd hit him.
"You think I've been in your room?"
"Who else?" She glared at him. "You decided that since you'd found me in your room, you would retaliate and go through my things. Did it satisfy you?"
"April, I have not been in your room. I've never even been to the third floor."
"Third floor?" The words reverberated in April's head. "My room isn't on the third floor as you well know."
"Last night the clerk–"
"The room had mold in it. I was moved to room twelve on the second floor."
His eyes widened as if he was truly surprised. April didn't believe him for a minute. He had to be a good actor and if he realized she would find out, he'd certainly have a cover story ready. Hadn't she had one when he discovered her in his room?
"I promise you, I was never there."
"Then if it wasn't you, who would have reason to go in my room?"
"Are you certain it wasn't just the maids cleaning up?"
The maids was only one maid. She'd done the entire house as far as April could tell. "She's never left my room that way before. Everything from my clothes in the dresser drawers to the bedspread had small differences that weren't there when I left. So I ask, did you find what you were looking for?"
"I wasn't looking for anything. And I wasn't in your room. I was under the impression that you were above me–on another floor."
April stared at him. His voice sounded truthful. She wondered if it was just that she wanted to believe him. But how could she? He hadn't told her the truth from the very beginning. He was not Richard Steele. That she knew for a fact.
"Well, if you did, there was nothing for you to find. But I guess you know that now."
April turned to leave. Richard grasped her arm and turned her back to him. His hand was hot on her sensitive skin. Still she jerked it away unmindful of the pain her sunburn produced.
"Aren't you blowing this a little out of proportion?" Richard asked. "Was anything taken?"
She'd found nothing missing, only that someone had touched her things, violated her space. "That's not the point."
"It isn't," he agreed. "The point is that someone came into your room without your permission and looked through your things. Doesn't that sound familiar?" He looked at her pointedly.
"I explained that. And I never looked through your things."
"But your explanation isn't the point," he shouted, his anger evident even in his stance.
April stared at him with no comeback. After a moment, she said, "I think the best thing we can do is to stay clear of each other for the rest of our lives."
"That's a long time," he said. "Shall I also wipe my memory of ever meeting you too, like the memory of you wrapped in my arms?"
April gave him a withering look and turned away. She was practically running when she got to her room. Slamming the door shut, she leaned about the rough wood and forced herself to keep from crying. This trip was a mistake, but one she had to take. Everything in her life was riding on her finding that case and destroying its contents. Who knew she'd encounter someone like Richard Steele or whatever his real name was? And who knew he'd be able to manipulate her emotions to the point that she'd forget everything except the strength of arms that held her as if she was the most precious thing on the planet?
***
Room twelve. The information processed in Richard's brain like a nuclear explosion. Room twelve was next to his room. The numbering system for guest quarters baffled him, but he didn't delve into them when he was researching the Eden Paradise House. The knowledge that April was no longer across the hall from him, but only a wall away shot heat through him as had holding her and kissing her until he could barely stand.
He'd watched her walk away, refusing to follow her. If he did, they'd surely end up on the floor never mind the bed in his room. She was angry. He was angry. And anger could fuel more than a dislike for another person. He knew it could spark the best make-up sex in the world. And he'd already experienced enough of the taste of her to want more.
A lot more.
Turning away from the guest house, he walked several feet, pulled out his cell phone and dialed. Agent Tanner Farland answered on the second ring.
"I didn't expect to hear from you so soon," Tanner said in lieu of a standard greeting. The two of them had met only an hour ago.
"I just had a talk with April Quinn," Richard told him. He left out that she did most of the talking and it wasn't a discussion, but more an accusatory speech.
"Has something happened?" Tanner's voice went from friendly to all business. Every bit of the happy opening was erased from his tone.
"Did you have her room searched?"
Richard didn't think so, but he had to ask. If Tanner had done it, there would be no telltale remnant that anyone had been in her space.
"No," he replied. "Someone has been in her room?"
"She was moved last night after an incident with a key that opened more than one door. I've discovered that the room I thought she'd taken was changed to a different room."
"Why is that significant?" Tanner asked.
"If you didn't search her room, then there's someone else looking for the same thing we are."
Tanner didn't say anything for a long moment. Richard knew he was formulating something, deciding on the next move.
"Was anything taken?" Tanner replied.
"I don't know. She said not and I didn't get the impression that there was a theft."
"Any idea who might have wanted to go through her things?"
Richard shook his head as he spoke. "Not a clue. But I'm going to find out."
Disconnecting the call, he headed for the guest house, knowing each step that took him toward his room was a step closer to the woman next door. From the beginning, everything about this case had been confusing. First his father was rumored to be involved with a woman, and then he'd disappeared. If April had been that woman, she'd have been way too young for his father. He couldn't imagine it. Didn't want to imagine it. And she hadn't been there when his father died. There were no reports of him being with a woman or a woman being at the scene.
And she'd come to him with the accusation that he'd searched her room. What could anyone else want that she had? He wanted something definite, but her presence at the guest house was unexpected. He'd come because the place was being destroyed and he needed to see what he could find out. Discovering Mason Echoes' daughter in residence was a shiny new apple, but was it a perfect apple or a wormy piece of fruit?
Richard reached the building and went straight to his room. He listened for movement through the common wall. He heard nothing. When this building was constructed, they used thicker walls. He heard nothing. That made him both satisfied and sorry.
The Eden-Paradise House was built seventy-five years ago and named for Helen Eden Paradise and Lionel Paradise, two retirees from Vermont who vacationed in Florida. After several years of coming to Barefoot Bay, they built the house as a permanent vacation home. Helen only spent one winter in the house. She died of a heart attack on the train en route the second winter. Lionel, distraught at the lost of his wife, never again set foot on the place. He gave it over to a management company, allowing them to rent it out. Three years after Helen's death, he sold the place and it was turned into a guest house. It's been a guest house ever since although there have been several owners, the last of which have done little maintenance and time and hurricanes had taken their toll on the place.
Mason Echoes had been a frequent visitor here during what Richard thought had to be the heyday of the place. After the devastating hurricane and the build up of Barefoot Bay, he came and stayed at the guest house with his daughter. April's image flashed in his mind, but not as the child on the photo in his file, but as the vibrant woman with soft brown hair and the ability to throw his entire world into chaos.
He should have continued thinking of her as the young child in the photo. That was impossible now, especially after he remembered them on the floor in his room, the way their bodies fit so perfectly together. And the kiss, that soul-destroying kiss that had him aware of the promise her mouth offered.
Yet someone had been in April's room. He turned and faced the place where she now slept. Was she there now? Was she still angry?
It was time to find out.
***
The knock on her door startled April. She checked her face in the dresser mirror. The glassr was old and most of the silver on the back had worn away leaving it freckled and spotted. Even with the flaws, April could see her face was flushed. Quickly, she splashed some cold water on it before going to the door after the second knock.
"What are you doing here?" The words were out before April could stop or even think about them.
Richard didn't answer her question before coming into the room and closing the door. April stepped back unsure of what he wanted or why he was now standing in front of her.
"Nice room," he said, looking around.
"It's exactly like yours," she said.
"Not exactly, it's the opposite of mine."
Gaining her footing and bracing her shoulders, April stared at the man who had her heart racing. "I'm sure you didn't come here to check my sleeping arrangements." She wished she'd put that another way, since both of them looked at the bed.
Richard took a step forward. While April didn't move, her stance and expression must have stopped him.
"I came to see if you were all right and to ask about our previous conversation."
"You searching my room?"
He waited a beat before answering. April wondered if he was controlling his anger.
"I have not been in this room before. I want you to know that I would never violate you or anything you own." He paused a moment, letting his words since in.
He said he wouldn't violate her. Did she hear more in that sentence than was said? The words without permission seemed to hang in the silence. Or were they only in her head? Was that what she wanted – to have him make love to her? Of course, she did, she told herself with an honestly she hadn't previously admitted. Since she'd seen him on the beach with the little boy, she'd known there was something inside her that reached out to him. Even now, when all her instincts told her to stand clear, she wanted to rush into Richard's arms and bury herself there.
Only her guilt kept her from moving. While Richard said he would not violate her or her things, she'd already tried to violate his. And she knew she would do it again. She had to get that chest out of room six.
"Is that what you came to tell me?" she asked. "If so, I apologize for accusing you." She wanted him out. The space was becoming smaller by the minute.
"Was anything taken from the room?" Instead of accepting her apology and leaving, he asked another question.
April shook her head. "Everything appears to be here," she said. "My computer was locked and I have several levels of security in order to get into it." She wanted him to know that in case his declaration of innocence wasn't the full and complete truth.
"Why would you think someone wanted to look through your things? Could there be something they were looking for and maybe. . .didn't find?" He'd hesitated on the last two words.
"I can't imagine anything. I have clothes, and my computer. They didn't even take the machine. It was like. . ." She stopped.
"Like what?" he prompted.
"Like they just touched everything, moved some things around."
"What about jewelry?"
April had some expensive pieces, some so expensive they were kept in a safe at her house, but she had none of them with her.
"No," she shook her head. "I have only the earrings I'm wearing."
Her hands were free of rings and she hadn't been wearing a necklace when she rushed out of the office. In her haste to pack, looking for jewelry to match her clothes was the last thing on her mind. She could almost hear the question in Richard's mind about why she had no other jewelry with her. Most women packed rings, necklaces, and more than one pair of earrings. April refused to explain.
"Have you checked to see that your home hasn't also been searched?"
That thought had not occurred to her. She was so sure the intruder had been the man standing across from her asking the questions.
"I haven't, but I'm sure my home is fine."
"You're positive of that?"
"I am." April would know if anything had happened at her house. "I have a state of the art security system and while I live alone, my cleaning crew isn't due for another few days." Other than them, no one else had access to her house except Josie whom she trusted. "If anyone went to my house, I'd receive an alert on my phone." She glanced at the dresser where her cell phone lay. "Nothing has come."
Richard nodded as if approving her protective ability. April hadn't forgotten she was a single woman living alone. She was also a very wealthy woman, a prime suspect for someone who might want to steal from her. Was that what it was, someone seeking to steal from her? And when the thief found nothing, he or she left the room? But the computer was there. Why wouldn't a common thief take the computer? It too, was state of the art and very expensive. It didn't contain much of anything that was incriminating. April stored all her important documents in the cloud. And while a hacker could get into anything they wanted, it was unlikely a common thief could get into her system.
When she looked at Richard, the word common wasn't anywhere in the dictionary she used to describe him.
"Is that all?" April asked.
Richard nodded.
April didn't know what to say. He didn't turn to leave. The moment between them stretched to an uncomfortable silence. She wasn't sure if she should believe him. There were too many inconsistencies. If he had searched her room, what was he looking for? And why leave behind such obvious evidence that he'd been there?
April dropped her head, looking at the scarred and bare floor. Then she looked up at him. "Thank you for being concerned about me," she finally said.
"Maybe you should think about leaving."
"Why?"
"Obviously someone wants something from you. If they didn't find it when they searched your room, the next obvious course would be to get the information from you."
April's hand went to her heart. Breath caught in her throat.
"Why would anyone want me? I have no idea what they could have been looking for. And although they were looking for something they must be assuming I brought it with me. At home, I'd probably be more vulnerable."
"You just said you have a state of the art security system. I'm sure your office is equally protected."
"You think I'm in danger?"
"It's a possibility." He took another step toward her.
Again April held her ground. "I won't. If there's someone who wants something from me, they're not likely to stop looking until they find it. So it doesn't matter where I am."
"Be reasonable," Richard implored.
She was being reasonable, April told herself. "This puts you in danger too."
"How so?"
"It's no secret that you and I have spent time together. Anyone in the house or anyone observing our movements has seen us together. If they are looking for something, they may believe I've told you what it is. And that makes you just as much a target as I am."
Obviously Richard had not thought of that. The fact that he thought about her and her safety made April feel warm all over. But the warmth was flushed out and cold replaced it when the impact of her own words registered.
Unconsciously, she took a step toward him and within seconds the two were in each others arms, clinging to each other as if imminent danger was about to burst through the door.