Undercover Christmas Page 12

  “What are you doing?” Jabe demanded.

  She looked up to see Chase dialing the phone, knowing he was bluffing because the phones weren’t working. Marni had tried again earlier to reach her sister.

  “I’m calling the sheriff,” Chase said.

  “Hang up the phone,” Jabe ordered. “This is a family matter.”

  “Like hell.” Chase finished dialing. “Someone in this family is an attempted murderer, and has to be stopped.”

  “I know how to stop this,” Jabe said. “And I will, if you hang up that phone. Now.”

  Chase slowly replaced the receiver. “You’ll change your will?” he asked, his voice rough with anger or fear, probably a little of both, Marni suspected. No matter what Chase said, he felt responsible for her and the baby. He’d just risked his life for them.

  Jabe looked down at the brandy he’d poured into the glass and drained it in one swallow. “Yes,” he said, carefully putting down the glass.

  “Get Hilda and Cook to witness it,” Chase ordered. “Make sure everyone in this household knows.”

  Jabe winced, obviously still having trouble accepting that someone in the house had tried to kill Marni. His gaze met hers. He looked as if he wanted to apologize but must have realized the futility of a mere “sorry.” With weary steps, he walked to his desk and pulled out a sheet of Calloway Ranch letterhead and a pen. Slowly he lowered himself into the chair.

  The door to the library slammed open and Dayton came back into the room. “Now that Mother isn’t here, would one of you like to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “Someone in this house tried to kill Elise,” Chase said.

  “By setting her car on fire?” Dayton said. “That’s ri-diculous.”

  “Chase says the car was rigged to catch fire,” Jabe said wearily.

  Dayton laughed. “What does Chase know about rigging cars to catch fire?”

  “You forget the neighborhood where I grew up,” Chase said.

  Dayton closed his mouth and glanced over at his father sitting at the desk, pen in hand.

  “He’s changing his will,” Chase said in answer to his brother’s unanswered question.

  A vein popped out on Dayton’s forehead. “You mean to ell me you’re going to change your will because this…woman’s car caught on fire?”

  “What do you care?” Chase asked. “I’d think you’d want the will changed back because right now it appears my child would benefit”

  Dayton threw a mean look at Marni. “If she’s even carrying your child.”

  “Stay out of this, Dayton,” Jabe warned. “I’m changing my will. It’s my decision. Now all of you get out of here so I can finish and put an end to this.”

  Dayton stomped out.

  “Come on,” Chase said to Marni as he took her half-empty cup and placed it on the coffee table, then helped her up from the chair.

  “Shouldn’t you be using your crutches?” she asked after watching him take a few painful steps beside her.

  He swept them up and settled his weight on them. He looked exhausted, his face drained and sooty, and yet he was more handsome than she’d ever seen him, she thought with a stab of guilt.

  “Are you leaving the ranch?” Jabe asked his son.

  “Not until that codicil is written and witnessed.” Chase turned and led Marni out of the room.

  They took a service elevator that Marni hadn’t known existed up to the third floor. In the cramped confines, the air between them seemed to vibrate with an intimacy that took away the last of the cold she’d felt. Marni stared at the floor, unable to meet Chase’s gaze. She felt the need to say something, thank him, tell him she was sorry she hadn’t believed him when he’d told her she was in real danger, but she didn’t trust her voice. Not standing this close to him.

  The elevator door opened and she stepped off, not sure where they were going or why.

  “We need to talk,” he said and led the way to his room. She took a deep breath and followed.

  Chase headed directly to the bathroom but left the door open as he washed up. Marni felt too nervous and upset to sit. She wandered over to the window and looked down at her car, its hood blackened from the fire. It still seemed incomprehensible.

  “Once he signs the will, you should be safe,” Chase said from the bathroom doorway.

  She turned to find him drying his hands gingerly with a towel.

  “Your hands,” Marni cried, hurrying across the room to him to take them in her own. Both of his large callused hands were red. “They’re burned.”

  “They’re fine,” Chase said, pulling them back. “My gloves took most of the heat.”

  She wanted to argue that he needed to put something on them but bit her tongue. He was right; his hands were fine. She looked up at him, and suddenly she was doing something she never did.

  Chase saw what was coming. Her lower lip began to quiver. Her eyes filled, making the golden brown shimmer like rare silk. He watched as one large tear broke free and rolled down her cheek. Damn. He hated it when a woman cried. He hated it because he felt helpless. Downright clumsy. He dropped his crutches and pulled her to him, careful not to smash the baby between them as he took her in his arms. She came reluctantly, but finally surrendered to his awkward hug, bending slightly to press her face into his chest and yet keeping her baby safely away from him.

  They stood that way, him balancing precariously on his one good leg while she clung to his shirt and cried. After a moment, she dried her eyes and stepped back, her composure and confidence quickly returning. She was no wimp; he’d give her that.

  “Thank you,” she said with one last sniffle.

  He waved her thanks away. A hero he wasn’t. And if anyone should know that, it was her. In fact, just being around her made him more aware of what an ass he could be.

  He looked at her flushed face and wished—Hell, he wished she was part of his memory loss. He wished they had been lovers. He wished—He looked at her swollen abdomen. For a moment there, he even almost wished that she really was carrying his baby.

  He shook his head at his own foolishness. One moment he was absolute in his knowledge that they could never have been lovers and the next…He limped over to a chair, his casted leg aching, and dropped into it. He hoped to hell he hadn’t done so much damage to it that it would have to be reset. He couldn’t stand more weeks of immobility, not after being trapped in this cast since the accident back in November.

  “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you,” he said.

  He saw the effect of his words in her expression and mentally kicked himself for being such a jerk. But only moments before, there’d been a soft gentleness to her that made him feel protective. A vulnerability that pulled at some masculine need in him to shelter and care for her.

  She raised her chin, all pride and determination again. She reminded him of a porcupine. Prickly enough to make him keep his distance. He and every other man. Last night he’d lain in his bed thinking about the man who’d made love to her. Chase could forgive her for trying to pass off the kid as his to assure her child of a healthy financial future. What he couldn’t forgive was her letting some other man past that reserve of hers.

  He shook his head, a surge of jealousy that defied comprehension going through him, knowing it made no sense.

  “You think your father changing his will is going to make me less pregnant?” she asked. She sounded weary but there was still fight in her.

  “No, just not pregnant with my child,” he said, feeling like the heel he was. “Once there isn’t a price on this baby’s head, I’m hoping you’ll recant your story. There won’t be any reason for you not to.” He had no idea for what motive, other than greed, someone had wanted her dead. But who knew what hateful forces were housed in this old mansion. It worried him.

  As soon as Jabe finished the will and had it witnessed, Chase intended to contact the police, no matter what his father said, family or no family.

  She looked away.
“You’re that sure I’m not carrying your child?”

  He wanted to laugh. He was positive. Because she wasn’t his type. Because he was a workaholic who didn’t have time to date, let alone take four days off for a wild affair. Because he wasn’t a wild affair kind of guy. Because he would never have let a woman like her close enough.

  Right. How did he explain what had almost happened on the dining-room table? Or the way she made him feel—in spite of every reason he’d given her for why he couldn’t, wouldn’t and hadn’t felt that way about her last summer.

  Chase got to his feet slowly and went to her, forcing himself to meet her gaze, battling feelings so alien to him he wanted to blame them on his injury.

  “The only thing I’m sure of is that you and I have never made love,” he said softly. “Not yet, anyway.”

  SHE SHOOK HER HEAD, unable to speak. No, they’d never made love. She felt numb. From her near accidents. From something inside her. A regret she didn’t dare put a name to.

  For twenty-four hours she’d tried to tell herself that Chase Calloway was the father of Elise’s baby. And for twenty-four hours he’d been telling her he wasn’t.

  All Marni knew was that she wasn’t carrying Chase’s child. Or any child for that matter. Sometimes she forgot that. Sam seemed so real. Even now, it was hard to let go. He’d been her connection to Chase. Pretend though it was.

  Marni felt the warmth of Chase’s gaze wash over her.

  He reached out to thumb away tears that spilled down her cheeks.

  Was she crying again? She never cried.

  “My father should be finished with the codicil by now,” Chase said softly. “I’ll give you a ride to Bozeman.”

  She met his gaze, surprised that even with him believing he wasn’t the father of her baby, he still felt compassion for her. Now that Jabe had changed his will, there was no reason not to—and every reason to—tell him the truth. “There’s something I have to tell you first.”

  CHASE STOOD looking at her, his heart suddenly heavy. For twenty-four hours he’d been trying to convince her—and himself—that he couldn’t have fallen in love with her.

  And yet isn’t that what had happened? He’d known her less than a day. And somehow she’d gotten to him in a way no other woman ever had. No other woman ever could.

  “There’s something I have to tell you,” she repeated. ‘Maybe you’d better sit down.”

  It was almost funny. What could be worse than telling him he’d had a four-day affair with her and she was carrying his child and he couldn’t remember even one sensual, sexual moment of it? What could be worse than making him want to be that man?

  He looked at her and felt something clamp down on his guts. Stumbling, he limped to the chair and took her advice. He dropped into the rocker and tightened his fingers around the arms.

  “You’re not pregnant with my baby, are you?” he said, his voice barely audible.

  Tears welled in her eyes. She shook her head.

  Hadn’t he known that all along? So why did it hurt to hear her say it? Because he’d been playing a game with himself, pretending he was the man she described, some fool who’d fallen head over heels and spent four days making love, four days in some magical, once-in-a-lifetime world, throwing caution to the wind. A man Chase Calloway had never been, could never be.

  He looked into her guileless face. “You and I have never made love.”

  She. shook her head again.

  He tightened his grip on the chair arms. “Let me guess, we never even met before yesterday.”

  A tear rolled down her cheek and he cursed his stupid, gullible heart. He’d fallen for it. No, he thought, he’d fallen for her.

  “I’m not Elise McCumber,” she said, taking a swipe at the tears. “I’m Marni McCumber.”

  “Marni?” Same last name? The only McCumber listed in the Bozeman phone book. The sister, the one he was supposed to call when he remembered his affair with Elise.

  “I’m Elise’s sister. Her identical twin. I’m not even pregnant.” She patted her protruding stomach. “It’s a maternity form.”

  He stared at her. “Why?” It was the only word he could get out.

  “Elise is the one who’s seven months pregnant with your baby. Not me.”

  He found his feet somehow. He didn’t even feel the pain in his cast. “What?”

  “Elise is having complications and has to stay in bed until the baby is born. She talked me into pretending to be her and coming here because you wouldn’t take her calls.”

  “That was Jabe’s doing, not mine.” Not that any of that mattered. “You’re trying to tell me…” What was she trying to tell him? He waved a hand through the air, lost his balance without his crutches and sat back down in the chair hard. He didn’t even feel it. He felt nothing.

  “My twin sister, Elise, is pregnant. With your baby.” Marni fished through her purse and pulled out her wallet. She handed him a photograph of two women. Both looked like the woman in front of him.

  He stared at the photo, then at her. Identical twins. My God.

  She looked up at him. “I never cry.” With that she burst into tears again.

  Chase stared at her. “You’re trying to tell me that you came here pretending to be pregnant on behalf of your twin sister?” He should have been stunned she’d go to such lengths. But knowing her the way he’d come to in such a short time, it made a strange kind of sense. It was the kind of thing this woman, Marni McCumber, would do for someone she cared about. He cursed softly under his breath but found himself wanting to laugh out loud.

  “I had to. Elise was so upset I was afraid if I didn’t come here she would. And she can’t because she has to stay in bed. I did it for the baby.”

  The baby. “Do you really believe I’m the father of her baby?” he asked, trying to come to terms with the fact that there were two women out there who looked like this one as he got to his feet again.

  “Yes, even though you don’t remember what my sister is like.”

  “If she’s anything like you—”

  “She’s nothing like me,” Marni cried. “She has a way with men. Don’t feel bad. You’re not the first to fall for her.”

  He laughed as he closed the distance between them. Didn’t she realize how ridiculous that was? If he’d fallen, he’d fallen for her, Marni McCumber, not her twin. “You’re trying to tell me that your sister is irresistible and because of that, it proves I’m the father of her baby?”

  “Yes,” she repeated.

  “Marni.” He liked the sound of her name on his lips. He tilted her chin up so he could see her face.

  “I look awful when I cry,” she said bashfully.

  “You look wonderful all the time.” Even…pregnant, he thought “You’re the one who’s irresistible.”

  She pulled free. “Please don’t say that,” she said, looking down at the floor again.

  “You felt bad about kissing me because of your loyalty to your sister?” Chase said.

  “Of course.”

  He smiled. He respected loyalty above all else. But his smile faded quickly when he realized things were worse than he could possibly have imagined. Wasn’t it bad enough, the way he felt about this woman? And now she was telling him that he’d impregnated her sister? That he was in love with her twin? Impossible.

  “Don’t you see?” he asked softly. “I couldn’t be the man your sister fell in love with.” He took her shoulders, refusing to let her go without a fight. “The things you told me that I was supposed to have said, they aren’t me. Don’t you see? Something isn’t right about all this.” He looked into her eyes. “You sense it, too, don’t you?”

  “I want to,” she said, wiping her’tears.

  He smiled at her, cursing his memory loss. If only he could remember enough to prove to her that there was some kind of mistake. Then what? he asked himself.

  He looked into her tearful face. Hell if he knew. He was still trying to sort it out.

  And
right now he had the craziest urge to kiss her. To pull her into his arms, to hold her against him, to kiss away her tears.

  He pulled Marni to him, telling himself the last thing he was going to do was kiss her.

  But he would have kissed her. He would have held her, maternity form and all, if not for the gunshot that thundered through the house.

  Chapter Eleven

  Chase rushed out of the room as fast as Marni had seen anyone move on crutches. She stared after him, desperately trying to make sense of the sound she’d just heard. It wasn’t until the service-elevator door clanged shut that she found her feet.

  She raced down the hall to the top of the stairs. Below she could hear the hammer of hurried feet. The sound of voices raised in panic.

  “Was that a gunshot?”

  “Where did it come from?”

  “Is everyone all right?”

  “Oh, my God, no!”

  “Where’s Lilly?” The last voice was Hayes’s; he sounded more afraid than the others.

  Then a woman screamed and all hell broke loose.

  Hysterical cries and someone trying to calm her. When she reached the main floor, Marni saw that everyone had congregated outside the library door.

  No, not everyone, she realized as she headed toward them. The one person conspicuously missing was Lilly. Marni’s heart dropped to her feet as she looked into their faces. Whatever had happened, it was bad.

  Hilda sobbed into her apron while Felicia yelled at her to shut up. Hayes had his arm around his mother, both looked shocked and all Marni could think of was Lilly. Where was Lilly?

  “What is it?” Marni asked, apprehension making her tauseated. She heard the elevator door clang open. ‘What’s happened?” she repeated as Chase hobbled toward them, his face strained with worry.

  “It’s Jabe,” Felicia said to Chase as if he’d asked the question. “He’s killed himself.”

  Marni saw her own shock and disbelief mirrored in Chase’s face as he pushed his way through to the open library doorway.