Private North

  Dalton seemed to be absorbing what I’d said and then shook his head. “I’m just too damn tired to wrap my mind around all the shit that went on here today. Hopefully my dad can help sort things out tomorrow.”

  Chapter 19

  The day before had been a seemingly endless nightmare but waking up tucked securely against Dalton’s naked chest helped wipe away some of the bitterness from the day before. Long dark lashes still shaded his cheeks and he snored softly. Even though the room and quilt were warm, I scooted closer to him.

  He groaned quietly but didn’t open his eyes. “You do understand that there will be consequences from you wriggling against me like that?”

  I squirmed against him again. “Yes.”

  He grabbed hold of my waist and pulled me on top of him. He reached up and tucked a long strand of hair behind my ear. I gazed down at him. Everything about him made my heart ache.

  “I’m glad you didn’t go to France, Sugarplum.”

  I thought about all the awful stuff that had happened, but landing in Dalton North’s arms had outweighed all the bad. “Me too.”

  His hands caressed my naked back and I leaned down and kissed him. The ring of his cell phone made us both sigh with disappointment. I rolled off of him and he reached to the night stand for his phone. “Hello.”

  I could hear a deep voice responding and for a brief moment my pulse raced, wondering if everything was all right at the hospital. His calm reaction assured me all was fine.

  He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. “Is that right? That is amazing. I mean the guy was obviously a pro the way he slipped out of here without a trace. He’s going to be one disappointed thief when he opens his sack.”

  The person on the other end said something else and Dalton laughed.

  “Keep it for evidence as long as you like. Besides, it belongs to the university. I don’t know that much about it except that it’s priceless, so you might want to put it somewhere secure. I’ll let my dad know. He’ll be glad to hear.” Dalton hung up and laid back down next to me.

  “Did they catch the guy?”

  “Nope, but they found the arm band.”

  I propped up on an elbow and looked down at him. “You’re kidding? Where? How?”

  “Apparently, our clever, highly skilled artifact thief had a hole in his sack or whatever he used to carry off the jewelry. The police are pretty sure he used some kind of a portable zip-line to leave the house without prints. There’s a half-frozen stream just past our backyard. They noticed the thin layer of ice on top had been crushed by feet but there were still no prints. But halfway across the yard, he dropped the arm band. An officer found it sticking up in a small mound of snow.”

  “Great. One happy ending after a day full of bad ones.” I flopped back down and cuddled against him. “Have they told your dad? He’ll be relieved.”

  He started nuzzling my neck. “No idea.” His mouth trailed down to my breasts. The phone rang again. “Really?” he said with frustration.

  He looked at the screen and sat up. “Hey, Dad. How’s Ethan?”

  Dalton smiled. “That’s good to hear.” He glanced at me. “He’s hungry and flirting with nurses.”

  “What do you mean who am I talking to? It’s August. Yes, she’s still here. Hey, Dad, did the police call you?”

  “They called me. They didn’t catch the guy, but the jerk dropped the bracelet in the snow as he fled.”

  I heard no response through the phone. Dalton’s brow creased. “Dad, are you still there?”

  This time the professor’s unintelligible words floated through the phone in what sounded like a quiet measured tone.

  “They found it in a pile of snow. I guess the guy dropped it as he zip-lined across the yard.” Dalton pointed at the phone and shook his head, apparently confused by his dad’s reaction. “Are you there, Dad?”

  There was a sharp, loud response.

  “You almost sound pissed. All right, you’re not pissed. Well, you definitely don’t sound happy. We’re going to get dressed and head over to the hospital. See you in awhile.” He hung up and stared at the phone. “That’s it, I’m sure of it now. My dad has lost his damn mind. He basically shrugged off the news about the armband being stolen, and now I tell him it’s been found, and he practically has a heart attack.”

  “He’s been through a lot.”

  Dalton lifted a brow. “There you go again.”

  “I know, sorry. Can’t help myself when it comes to your dad.” I threw my legs over the side of the bed and I stood and walked over to the dresser. “I guess we should get dressed.”

  The bed creaked as he stood. He walked across the room and his arm went around my waist. He pulled me against his chest. He lowered his mouth to my ear and ran his tongue along it. “Or not.” His hand smoothed up my stomach to my breasts. He kissed my neck and shoulder and I wilted against him.

  “My knees weaken the moment you touch me,” I whispered.

  He trailed his mouth down my back while his fingers teased my nipples. He straightened and turned me around to face him. “And my knees grow weak at the sight of you,” he whispered against my mouth. He lifted me into his arms and carried me back to the bed. There was a measured urgency in our movements. Until now we’d wanted each other so badly, our self-control was always smashed to hell by our needs. He lowered me back onto the pillows and straddled his legs over my thighs. He combed his long hair back with his fingers and stared down at me with that green gaze that made me blush all over. He leaned down over me and pushed the hair from my face and then he kissed me gently but with so much emotion my throat ached and tears burned my eyes. He lifted his face. He wiped an escaped tear away with his thumb.

  “Everything all right?” he asked.

  My hand went around his neck. “Everything is too right.” I spread my thighs open beneath him and he knelt between them. “Still promise that you’re never going to let me out of your sight?”

  He rubbed his thumb across my bottom lip and then he leaned down and kissed me. “Never.”

  Chapter 20

  “Maybe your dad doesn’t want me to go to the hospital.” I leaned over the kitchen counter and nibbled on a piece of toast. “He seemed surprised that I was still here.”

  “No, I think he was more surprised that it was so early and that you happened to be sitting right next to me.”

  “Oh,” I said somewhat confused by what he said and then it hit me. “Oh.” I blushed. “Now maybe I don’t want to go.”

  He pulled on his coat. “Yes, you’re going. I told you I’m not going to let you out of my sight.” He picked up a folder from the kitchen table. “I picked up the insurance papers. I realized we never actually got them back to the hospital.” He walked back over to me with some degree of ease.

  “I think you’re walking better without your walking stick.”

  “I kind of noticed that. Maybe I was depending on it too much. I wasn’t giving my bad leg a chance to get stronger.”

  The police car was still parked at the top of the driveway. Most of the blood had soaked into the ice and now only a pale circle of pink remained but the memory of Ethan lying there would last forever.

  Then an idea hit me. “Let’s stop at your mailbox on the way down.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  “Ethan was waiting for a package from Veronica when he rushed outside. My woman’s intuition tells me the package is going to be just what he needs today.”

  Dalton pulled up to the mailbox and I hopped out and reached inside. The package was a large envelope. The meticulously scrolled name and address on the outside assured me my intuition was not wrong.

  We reached the hospital and I was relieved to be walking into the general entrance instead of the emergency room. “Who are we going to vi
sit first?” I asked.

  “Ethan.”He answered without giving it any thought. Dalton seemed in no hurry to see his dad. His patience had been worn thin by his inconsistent behavior. And it was Ethan who’d truly gone through a trauma.

  Ethan was sleeping as we walked into his room. The light blue walls of the room seemed to make him look even paler than he’d looked lying out in the snow and his normally neatly combed hair stood in every direction. He looked nothing like the smooth, confident grad student who floated around the university hallways.

  Dalton’s throat moved up and down as he stared down at his brother. They’d not spent much time together during the past few days, and the time they had spent had been somewhat contentious, but Dalton’s face showed just how close they really were.

  Ethan stirred and then grimaced in pain as he moved. He opened his eyes for a second and stared up at Dalton and then shut them again. “Hey, Buddy,” Ethan said weakly.

  “Hey,” Dalton said quietly.

  Ethan’s eyes opened again. “These drugs are fucking amazing.”

  Dalton smiled. “You don’t need to tell me.”

  Ethan chuckled weakly. “No, I guess not. Hey, Bro, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry for what?”

  “Everything. I don’t know. Just everything.” His words were slightly slurred, and his eyelids dropped slowly before opening again. He turned his head to focus on the other figure standing in his room.

  “Hey, there’s that cutie pie, Auggie,” he said. He lifted his hand and attempted to touch Dalton, but the intravenous tubes and drug high made it a difficult task. “She is awesome, Ton. Don’t do anything to fuck this up.”

  I walked closer. “Ethan, I brought that package you were waiting for yesterday.”

  It took him a minute to process what I’d said. “You did?” There was a slight tremor in his voice as the whole thing seemed to be coming back to him. And, for a second, I regretted bringing the package. I hadn’t thought about the fact that it would drum up the entire fateful chain of events.

  He reached for the button on the side of his bed and pressed it. The mention of the package seemed to have sobered him some. The top half of the bed lifted, and he held his breath until a wave of pain passed. He stared at the package in my hand.

  “I can take it back home, Ethan. You can open it there. I just thought you might—”

  “Please, Auggie, bring it here.”

  A moment of pure terror passed through me as he reached for the large envelope. What if it was bad news? What if Veronica had returned some precious gift Ethan had given her? I knew nothing about her and my intuition might have been completely wrong.

  Ethan stared at the front of the envelope and rubbed his finger over the handwriting on the label. Then almost as if he was pulling off a bandage, he flipped it over and ripped it open. He reached inside and pulled out a handwritten letter and a second envelope. He opened it and pulled out two plane tickets. He read the tickets and looked up at Dalton and me. “They’re tickets to Mexico City. She knows I’ve been dying to go there.” He took another deep breath and opened the letter. My intuition had not failed me. Dalton motioned toward the door with his head. We left Ethan alone with his letter.

  “Do you think your dad is still in a room?” I asked.

  He shrugged. “Don’t know. He was this morning, but he was waiting to be released.” He pulled the folder of insurance papers out from under his arm. “Let’s take this to the admittance office first. I’m just not in any hurry to see him at the moment.”

  The clerk glanced up from her work and smiled brightly at Dalton. “Hi, my brother, Ethan North and my father, Thomas North, were admitted here yesterday, and I believe you needed some insurance paperwork.”

  The clerk looked puzzled as she took the folder from Dalton’s hand. “Let me pull up their files, but I don’t think we needed anything.” She rolled her chair to her computer and tapped away on the keyboard. She stared at the computer monitor a moment and then rolled back with folder in hand. “We didn’t need anything. Your father had his card with him when they brought your brother in. That was all we needed.”

  Dalton stared hard at the folder for a second. “Thank you,” he said. “Can you tell me my dad’s room number?”

  She glanced at the screen. “The doctor signed his release, but you might still find him in room 203.”

  Dalton turned and walked away as if he’d completely forgotten that I was with him. His shoulders were rigid and as I caught up to him I could feel the rage shooting off of him in sparks.

  “Everything all right?”

  He looked down at the folder in his hand. “No.” It was obvious his leg pained him, but he strode with purposeful, angry steps down the hallway to his dad’s room. I quickly went through what had just happened at the admittance office to understand why his mood had changed so drastically. Professor North had sent me to his home to fetch insurance papers that he really hadn’t needed.

  Pieces of the day began to come together in my head, but the obvious conclusion that kept creeping into my thoughts was too horrid to consider.

  We reached the room, and I hesitated, thinking I should stay out in the hall. But then I willed myself in behind Dalton. I had to know the truth.

  Professor North looked even worse than he had the day before. A large bandage crossed his forehead, and he looked much older sitting in the hospital chair with his head in his hands. He glanced up with watery eyes as we stepped into the room. Even in his weary state, it didn’t take him long to notice Dalton’s face.

  “Dalton, is everything all right? Is Ethan—”

  “Ethan is fine. No thanks to you,” Dalton said coldly.

  “Dalton, I’m not in the mood to deal with you this morning. I need to go home and shower. Then I’ll drive back here myself.”

  “How long have you been planning all this?”

  Professor North stiffened. “What are you talking about?”

  “Question was simple. How fucking long have you been planning this?” Dalton threw the insurance folder at his dad, who flinched as if he’d thrown a fist at him. The papers fluttered to the ground.

  Professor North’s gaze flitted anxiously to the door as if he expected people to be standing in the hallway eavesdropping. “Take me home, Dalton. Here’s not the place. I’ll explain things there.”

  “Can’t imagine what you could possibly say that would explain any of this except if you finally admit that you’ve lost your fucking mind.”

  “Maybe I have, Son.”

  Chapter 21

  The inside of the car was colder than the frosty world outside and more than once I thought it would have been more pleasant to walk home through the snow. And by home I meant back to my quiet, little apartment. It sounded far more inviting than going back to the North house where it seemed there would be an explosion of tempers.

  Both men kept their anger capped as we pulled up the road toward the house. The lone police car had gone for now. The entire ride home I’d tried, without success, to decipher exactly what had taken place, and the professor’s level of involvement, Professor North, my favorite professor. It had to have been heartbreaking to happen upon the discovery of a lifetime and then be forced to turn it over to someone else, but never would I have expected my most beloved professor, the intellectual, confident man who’d taught me about the ancient world and its boundless treasures to be diabolical. None of it made sense.

  We were not two steps inside when Dalton flung words at his father’s back. “Was the gunman part of your plan or an ugly coincidence because I’m finding it hard to swallow that you would trade Ethan’s life for a fucking gold bracelet?”

  I momentarily considered scurrying off to my room but thought better of it. If things had transpired the way it now seemed they had then I had been used as a
pawn in the professor’s plan. I needed to know everything.

  The professor pressed his hand against his bandage as if the stitches pained him, but it was entirely possible the move was made to garner sympathy. He lowered his shaky hand and looked past Dalton toward me. I made it clear that I was staying.

  “Ethan grabbed my coat and red scarf. He was not supposed to get shot. I was.”

  A stunned quiet swept through the entryway at the professor’s bizarre confession. Even he seemed shocked by it.

  “We needed it to look legitimate.” Professor North turned and headed to the living room. “I need to sit down. The room is spinning.”

  We followed. The hearth was cold and dark and the Christmas tree looked wilted and lonely beneath its decorations. Professor North nearly collapsed onto the couch cushion. His hand went to his head again, but Dalton had no compassion for him. He sat across from his father on the hearth and glared at him.

  “I was to stand in front of the stone post and wait to be shot in the arm. Then while Ethan headed to the hospital with me, Auggie was to go inside for insurance papers and then follow in her own car. That was the original plan.”

  My heart froze in my chest. I felt sick to my stomach.

  Dalton nodded. “I guess my arrival really fucked up those plans.”

  Professor North seemed to finally gain enough courage to look my way. “They were under the strictest orders not to harm you in any way. But I needed a witness, someone to show them where the arm band was.”

  My throat was dry. “Even though he already knew.”

  He dropped his gaze. “Yes. I’m afraid you were just there as a witness to the robbery. I’m so sorry.”

  “You’re sorry?” Dalton asked sharply. “You’re not sorry. You’re fucking insane. You risked her life, and you almost lost Ethan, Dad. All for some meaningless artifact. Who were these people, anyhow?”

  He shook his head. “Well trained experts from another country. I won’t tell you more than that because it would put your life in danger. They are long gone . . .without the bracelet. That was just a grave mistake made by the man who carried it off. I’m sure he’ll pay for that mistake with his life.”