Once again she found them standing too close, facing each other in what felt like a void of time, of space. She knew she should say good-night and move away, but she was frozen in place, unable to speak, unable to move. His close proximity to her made her feel trapped, unable to escape even if she’d wanted to.

Her heart thundered as he took a step closer to her. “I’ve wanted to do this since the moment I saw you.”

Before she could draw a breath or prepare in any way for what she knew was about to happen, his mouth covered hers in a fiery kiss that was directly at odds with the dispassionate man she’d thought him to be.

He tasted of sweetened tea and hot desire, and she opened her mouth to him as his arms wrapped around her and pulled her close.

A little voice inside her head told her this shouldn’t be happening, but it was happening and it was wonderful.

Scene of the Crime:

Return to Bachelor Moon

Carla Cassidy

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CARLA CASSIDY is an award-winning author who has written more than fifty novels for Mills & Boon. In 1995, she won Best Silhouette Romance from RT Book Reviews for Anything for Danny. In 1998, she also won a Career Achievement Award for Best Innovative Series from RT Book Reviews.

Carla believes the only thing better than curling up with a good book to read is sitting down at the computer with a good story to write. She’s looking forward to writing many more books and bringing hours of pleasure to readers.

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Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter One

“Tell me again what we’re doing checking out the whereabouts of an ex-FBI agent from the Kansas City field office?” FBI agent Andrew Barkin asked from the backseat of the car.

FBI special agent Gabriel Blankenship slowed the car as they approached the city limits of the small town of Bachelor Moon, Louisiana. “We’re doing this as a professional courtesy, because the Kansas City office asked us to.”

“A little over two years ago Sam Connelly was a respected FBI profiler before he came out here for a two-week vacation and fell in love with Daniella Butler, who owns the Bachelor Moon Bed-and-Breakfast,” Jackson Revannaugh drawled from the passenger seat. “Apparently true love won out over career climbing. Sam quit the agency, moved here and he and Daniella got married.”

“Sam not only became a husband but also stepfather to Daniella’s daughter, Macy. And this morning we received a call from the manager of the bed-and-breakfast that all three of them are missing,” Gabriel said.

“Unusual that we’d be sent out, since it hasn’t even been twenty-four hours,” Jackson observed.

“According to the manager, they’ve been missing since last night.” Gabriel kept his gaze focused on the road ahead, knowing that the bed-and-breakfast was ten miles outside of the small town.

His gut feeling was that this was all a wild goose chase, some sort of misunderstanding between the manager and the family she worked for. It was an hour and a half drive from their field office in Baton Rouge, and they hadn’t been dispatched to leave until past three that afternoon.

Hopefully they could get this sorted out and he would be in his own bed, back in his comfortable ranch house in Baton Rouge, before midnight.

He’d been surprised when Director Jason Miller had assigned two men to travel with him to check out this supposed disappearance, yet he had been grateful for the company of the men, who were not only good agents adept at processing crime scenes and sniffing out bad guys but were friends, as well.

“There.” Andrew pointed ahead to a sign that indicated to turn right for the Bachelor Moon Bed-and-Breakfast.

Gabriel made the turn, squinting against the bright hot sun. He drove on for three more miles and then turned again, following another sign leading into a lane that took them to their destination.

“Nice,” Jackson said as a huge two-story house with a sweeping veranda surrounded by large trees came into view. On one side of the B and B, a big pond glittered in the overhead sun, and on the other side, a giant carriage house looked inviting with large pots of multicolored flowers along its perimeter.

The employees must park in another area, and there must be no guests, Gabriel thought, for the parking lot in front of the house was empty. He pulled the car to a halt and shut off the engine. At the same time, the front door opened and a woman stepped out on the porch.

With the sun sparkling off her short, curly blond hair, creating a halo effect, she looked like a slender angel. Her long bare legs exposed by a pair of white shorts and her shoulders by a pink tank top, she looked like a very hot angel.

“Sweet,” Jackson muttered from the backseat.

“On the job, not on the prowl,” Gabriel reminded his fellow agent, who had a reputation around the office as a ladies’ man. Still, he was shocked by the quick, visceral warmth that swept through him at the sight of her. Her eyes had to be blue, he thought.

She started down the steps as if unable to wait for them to join her on the porch. As she drew closer, the men exited the vehicle.

Two things occurred at the same time: Gabriel flashed his official identification and noted that her eyes weren’t blue, as he’d expected, but rather an electric green. She was more than pretty with her slender face, wide eyes, straight nose and generous mouth, but at the moment all of her features were radiating an emotion somewhere between panic and unadulterated fear.

“Thank God you’re here,” she said after Gabriel had introduced himself and his two men. “I’m Marlena Meyers, the manager here, and I’m the one who sounded the alarm this morning. I called the sheriff first, but he was afraid to get involved in what might be federal business, so he said I should contact the FBI. I found Sam’s contact list in his bedroom and called his former director with the Kansas City field office.”

“And Assistant Director Forbes contacted our field office in Baton Rouge and here we are,” Gabriel replied. Despite the fact that the sun was slowly sinking in the west, the mid-July heat and humidity made it difficult to breathe. “Can we go inside?”

“Oh, of course.” She whirled on the heels of her white sandals to lead them back to the house. Gabriel couldn’t help but notice the shapeliness of her butt in the tight shorts as she walked ahead of him—and that irritated him.

It had been a long time since a woman had attracted his attention in any way, and the last thing he needed was to be distracted by this blonde bombshell. He just wanted to get inside, figure things out and get back home as soon as possible.

She led them into a great room, obviously a place decorated for guests to hang out. Besides a couple of couches and chairs, there was a flat-screen television and a bookcase full of paperbacks and puzzles.

She paused in the center of the room, and her gaze shot from Andrew to Jackson and then finally landed on Gabriel. “They’re gone.” Her voice was a tortured whisper as her eyes became shiny with unshed tears. “When I got up this morning, I knew that something was horribly wrong.”

“And how did you know that?” Gabriel asked.

Her eyes darkened, and she twisted her ringless hands together. “You need to see the kitchen.” Once again she turned and walked out of the room. The three men exchanged curious glances and followed.

“This is the guest dining room,” she said as they entered a room with a table big enough to seat a dozen. A sideboard held an industrial-size coffee brewer, but no scent of coffee lingered in the air.

She paused at the door on the opposite side of the room, her eyes still shiny. “There,” she said and pointed into the room. It was obvious she had no intention of going inside.

As Gabriel swept past her, he caught a whiff of her scent, a clean floral fragrance he found instantly appealing, but the allure of her perfume immediately died as he walked into the kitchen and saw the table before him.

The small round wooden table on the far side of the roomy kitchen held the remnants of what appeared to be an evening snack. Three glasses of milk sat next to three small plates with cookies. Milk was missing from all of the glasses, and there was one cookie on one plate and two each on the other plates. A single chair was overturned on its back on the floor, as if the person seated in it had jumped up so quickly that it had flipped over.

“The back door looks like it’s unlocked,” Jackson said.

None of the three men had taken more than two steps into the room. “Has anyone been inside here besides you?”

She shook her head, her blond curls dancing with the movement. “No. We don’t have any guests right now, and I’ve made sure the other help have stayed out of the kitchen all day.”

Gabriel frowned. “Before we do anything more here, I’d like to see their bedrooms.”

“They live in the two-bedroom suite upstairs.”

“Are they the type of people to take an impromptu trip somewhere?” Gabriel asked as they all followed her up the wide staircase.

“Not at all. If they had planned anything, they would have let me know, and they would have never taken off in the middle of the night.” Her voice was laced with a simmering frantic worry. “Something bad happened last night. I just know it. Now they’re gone, and nobody has seen or heard from them all day.”

Gabriel had known the moment he had stepped into the kitchen that he wasn’t going to make it into his own bed tonight. Although his gut told him they’d just looked at a crime scene, he didn’t have enough information to fully embrace that as a certainty.

Upstairs there were guest rooms on either side of the hall. Gabriel paused at each doorway to look inside. The first was decorated in blue and white and held two double beds, a dresser, a small table and chairs next to the window.

The second held a king-size bed and was a study in lavender and lace, with the same type of furniture again. There appeared to be nothing amiss in either of the rooms.

“The guest rooms have their own baths, and there are three more rooms in the carriage house,” she said, flipping on lights, even though night wouldn’t encroach for a couple of hours yet.

“Where does this go?” Gabriel asked, referring to a closed door in the hallway.

“It leads to an old servant’s staircase that goes down to the basement and outside. Nobody uses it anymore, and the door is kept locked.”

Gabriel nodded, knowing before the night was over that the door would be unlocked and the basement thoroughly checked.

“These are Sam, Daniella and Macy’s rooms.” The door was already open, and Marlena paused in the hallway and gestured the men in.

The initial space was a large bedroom/sitting area. The king-size bed was neatly made with a black-and-white spread. At the foot of the bed was a settee in front of a wall-mounted flat-screen television. A set of bookshelves held games and books, and it was easy for Gabriel to recognize that this was the family getaway from a houseful of paying guests.

The bathroom was also neat and clean, with no indication that anyone had been there during the day. The smaller bedroom was an explosion of pink with a single bed covered with stuffed animals and dolls.

Gabriel returned to the main room and opened the closet doors as Jackson and Andrew checked the bathroom and Macy’s bedroom more carefully.

Gabriel noted a set of suitcases were shoved to the left of the closet, and there didn’t appear to be any clothing missing from hangers. He moved to the dresser, where two phones resided side by side. He couldn’t imagine the Connellys leaving without taking their cells with them. He picked up the phones and noticed that both were turned off, probably shut down for the night before their owners had gone to bed.

He then pulled out the top drawer of the dresser, dismayed to find Sam’s wallet and his gun. A check in the wallet let Gabriel know that his driver’s license, credit cards and bank card were all intact.

Gabriel’s heart stepped up its rhythm as he tried to imagine any reason a man would take off with his family without his wallet. And an FBI agent would never leave for any extended time without his gun. It just wouldn’t happen.

He turned to see Marlena still standing in the hallway. “You’d better set us up with rooms for a night or two. It looks like we’re going to be here a while. And don’t allow anyone into the kitchen. Right now that appears to be a crime scene.”

One hand shot to her mouth in obvious horror. “You have to find them.”

Gabriel nodded. “That’s the plan, and the first thing I need to do is ask you some questions.” Marlena Meyers might be pretty, and she appeared genuinely distraught, but he had to figure out if she was truly scared for the people who had been her bosses or a good actress who was somehow responsible for whatever had happened in that kitchen the night before.

* * *

OF THE THREE FBI agents, Gabriel Blankenship intimidated Marlena the most. Since the moment he’d met her, his blue eyes had remained dark and flat, his lips seemingly unable to curve into any semblance of a smile.

Within minutes it was established that agents Barkin and Revannaugh would share the blue room and Gabriel would take the lavender room. While the other two men went out to their car to bring in duffel bags and crime-scene kits, Gabriel gestured her into a chair in the common room downstairs and then pulled up one of the other chairs close enough so that their knees practically touched.

Marlena wanted to scream at him that he was wasting precious time, that he and his men should be out checking the woods, beating the bushes, knocking on doors in an attempt to find the missing family.... Her surrogate family.

From the pocket of the white shirt that stretched across impossibly broad shoulders, he pulled out a pen and a small pad. He was definitely a hunk, his black slacks fitting perfectly to his slender waist and long legs. He also wore a shoulder holster and gun that would constantly remind her he wasn’t a guest here but rather a man on a mission.

His black hair had just enough curl to entice a woman to run her fingers through it, but those eyes of his would stop any impulse a woman might have to touch him in any way.

Cold and with a glint of keen intelligence, his ice-blue eyes appeared to be those of a man who had seen too much, who trusted nobody and held not a hint of any kind of invitation.

“How long have you worked here as a manager?” he asked.

“For the past seventeen months or so. Before that I was living in Chicago, although I’m originally from Bachelor Moon. Daniella and I were best friends all through high school. I left here around the time she married Johnny Butler, and when I returned, I found out Johnny had been murdered and she had fallen in love with Sam.” She knew she was rambling, giving him far more information than he’d asked for, but it was nerves. Whenever she was nervous and frightened, she talked too much.

“I was maid of honor at Sam and Daniella’s wedding, and for almost the past two years, the two of them and little Macy have been my family.” New tears burned at her eyes but she quickly blinked them away. “They took me and Cory in when we had nothing and no place else to go. They embraced us, and my friendship with Daniella picked up where it had left off.”

He stared at her mouth, and she wondered if he was somehow judging the words that fell out of it. Did he believe she’d had something to do with the family’s disappearance? Did he think she was lying to cover up some sort of heinous crime?

He turned his attention to the pad in his hand, made a couple of notes and then gazed up at her again. “Cory?”

“My brother. He just turned twenty, and he works as the gardener’s assistant here. My mother abandoned us when we were young, and my father... Well, he did the best he could, but I basically raised Cory. When I was twenty my father died, and I petitioned the courts to get custody of Cory, and he’s been with me ever since.” Again she realized she was talking too much and firmly chastised herself just to answer his questions as simply, as succinctly as possible.

“And where does Cory stay?”

“He has a small apartment built onto the back of the carriage house, but he’d never do anything to hurt Sam or Daniella, and he thinks of Macy as a little sister. He loves them as much as I do.”

“Who else works here?”

How she wished he’d just give her a hint of a smile, a tiny indication that he understood the panic that seared through her soul, that the fabric of her fragile world had come undone and she felt utterly lost.

She frowned and focused on his question. “The housekeeper is Pamela Winters. She lives in an apartment in town and only works two or three days a week, depending on the guest load. Then there’s John Jeffries. He’s the gardener and lives in a cottage down by the pond. John’s the only person who works here full-time besides me and Cory.”

“What about other part-time workers?”

She was aware of agents Barkin and Revannaugh returning to the kitchen, where she knew they’d be looking for further evidence to substantiate the possibility of foul play.

“Daniella does most of the cooking for the guests, but she occasionally has Marion Wells come in to take over the job for her. When we’re really busy, Valerie King comes in to help with the cleaning. But none of these people would have any reason to do anything bad to Sam and Daniella. We all love them, and Macy is the smartest, cutest little girl on the face of the earth.”

A sob caught in her throat and she quickly choked it down. “You shouldn’t be wasting your time sitting here and questioning me. You should be out there someplace looking for them,” she said passionately.

His blue eyes stared at her dispassionately, and she decided at that moment that she didn’t particularly like Special Agent Gabriel Blankenship. “I assume you live here on the premises. Where is your room?”

“Just off the kitchen.” She caught her lower lip to keep it from trembling.

He raised a dark eyebrow. “And when was the last time you heard or saw the family?”

“Last night around eight. They went upstairs and I went into my rooms.”

“I’d like to see your rooms.” He stood and looked at her expectantly.

She felt as if he viewed her as a suspect, and she didn’t like the feeling. She stood, her feet leaden as she thought about going through the kitchen to get to her rooms, the kitchen where she knew something bad had happened to people she loved.

She was acutely aware of him following behind her as she passed through the kitchen, where the two agents were fingerprinting the back door. They nodded to her as she went to the door that led to the suite of small rooms she had called home for almost two years. There was a sitting room, a bathroom and two small bedrooms, one where she slept, and one that she and Daniella had turned into a storage room.

The sitting room was relatively plain—a sofa, a rocking chair and a television. There were no knickknacks or trinkets to mark the space as hers. She’d traveled light through life, with her brother the only thing of importance to her.

Gabriel stepped into the room, and it instantly seemed to shrink in size. She became aware of his scent, a faint but pleasant woodsy cologne.

His blue eyes narrowed and a frown furrowed his brow as he took in the immediate surroundings. He glanced into the storage room and then stood in her bedroom doorway, his back a broad mountain in front of her.

Thank goodness there were no silk panties sneaking over the top of an open drawer, no lacy bra hanging from a doorknob. Marlena was definitely grateful at the moment that she was a neat freak.

He whirled around to gaze at her speculatively. “You were asleep right here, and you didn’t hear anything in the kitchen that caused you concern last night?” His deep voice was rife with disbelief.

“I get up at the crack of dawn, work hard during the day and I sleep hard at night. I’ve always been a deep, heavy sleeper, and unless somebody screamed, I probably wouldn’t have awakened.” She raised her chin a notch.

“So you don’t think anyone screamed.”

She hesitated a moment and then shook her head. “I can’t be positive, but I’m relatively sure that a scream would have pulled me from my sleep.”

He held her gaze, and she fought the impulse to squirm. It was as if his piercing blue eyes attempted to crawl inside her head, look into her soul, and she realized at that moment that she was his number-one suspect in whatever had happened to the family she loved.

Chapter Two

Gabriel woke at dawn, smothered in lavender sheets and a bedspread, pulled from an erotic dream involving himself and his number-one suspect.

Not a good way to start a new day, he thought as he got out of bed and padded into the adjoining bathroom. Minutes later he stood beneath a needle-hot shower spray, trying to burn out the memory of his unusually hot dream.

Marlena Meyer’s long silky legs had been entangled with his as they’d kissed and caressed each other. Her green eyes had glowed with a hunger that had made him want to satisfy her. Thankfully he had awakened at that moment.

It had been a short night of sleep. He’d insisted Marlena get her brother and John, the gardener, last night and get them to the house to be interviewed.

The interviews had lasted for several hours, and after a search of the basement and all other areas of the house, it had been around three o’clock in the morning when Gabriel had finally crawled into bed.

Andrew and Jackson had finished processing the kitchen. They’d found hundreds of fingerprints, probably mostly those of the family and the staff. Interestingly enough, the door and frame had apparently been wiped clean, as not a single print had been found there.

There was no question in his mind that the family had not gone willingly with whomever had walked through that back door. The real question was why had they been taken, and how had somebody managed to corral three people and take them away without Marlena in the next room hearing anything?

Other than the overturned chair, there were no signs of a struggle, no indication that anything violent had occurred in the kitchen.

Thank God he and his men had packed bags to be gone for a couple of days, for he had a feeling this wasn’t going to be an easy one to solve.

Although his gut told him the Connelly family was either in deep trouble or already dead; the evidence didn’t automatically point to a crime taking place. All they had at the moment was circumstantial evidence that something had happened to the family.

He needed to check the financial records, both the personal ones for the Connellys and those of the bed-and-breakfast. Although unusual, the Connelly family wouldn’t be the first one to just up and walk away from their current life, leaving behind not only hundreds of questions but loved ones without any sense of closure.

The one thing that bothered Gabriel about this scenario was that he couldn’t imagine a former FBI agent walking away without his gun.

Gabriel stepped out of the shower, dried off and dressed in a fresh pair of slacks and another white shirt, and by that time he thought he smelled the faint scent of coffee drifting upstairs.

He checked his watch. It was just after six. Apparently Marlena had been telling him the truth when she’d told him she was up at the crack of dawn.

As he walked down the stairs toward the dining room, his thoughts were scattered on all the things that needed to be done in order to further investigate the disappearance. He carried his laptop, deciding that he’d work from the dining room rather than upstairs in the lavender room.

They had released the kitchen back to Marlena late last night, after they were sure that it had been checked from top to bottom for evidence. Photos had been taken, along with measurements and drawings, notes and impressions.

The coffee smell came from the dining room, and he spied the full pot on the sideboard, along with cups and saucers and all the accoutrements that anyone might need to doctor up a cup of java.

He placed his laptop on the table that had been set with plates and silverware for three and then bypassed the room and entered the kitchen, where Marlena stood with her back to him at the window. Apparently she didn’t hear him, and for a moment he said nothing to draw her attention as memories of his inappropriate dream drifted through his brain.

Again today she was dressed in a pair of shorts, denim ones that hugged her pert, shapely butt and showcased the length of her long legs.... Legs that he’d dreamed had been wrapped around his. An apple-green T-shirt topped the shorts, and he knew the color would make her eyes pop.

She turned suddenly, and a startled gasp escaped her. “I didn’t know you were there.”

“I just got here,” he replied.

“I’ve got biscuits in the oven and gravy ready to make.” She took several steps away from the window, and her gaze fell on the table. “I want to thank your agents for cleaning up in here.”

“The plates and glasses were bagged and tagged. All they cleaned up was the mess they’d made in fingerprinting.”

“Still, I appreciate it.” Her eyes were dark, as if in genuine pain as her gaze remained focused on the table. She finally glanced back at him. “There’s coffee in the dining room, and you just let me know when you want breakfast, or if you want something besides biscuits and gravy, and I’ll be glad to serve you in there.”

He nodded. “Biscuits and gravy sounds good, and after we eat, I’d like you to take me on a tour of the grounds.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded her assent. “I’ll have breakfast ready in about fifteen minutes.” She turned toward the stove as if to dismiss him.

He hesitated a moment and then returned to the dining room, where he helped himself to a cup of coffee and opened his laptop to begin work.

He hadn’t seen a personal laptop in their suite. The only computer had been in the small office off the great room that was obviously used for the business.

Heavy footsteps let him know Jackson approached. Jackson was a slender man, but he walked as if he weighed ten thousand pounds. Gabriel offered the dark-haired agent a tight smile as he entered the dining room.

“Ah, coffee... The drink of gods,” Jackson said as he headed for the sideboard.

He poured himself a cup and then joined Gabriel at the table. “So, looks like a potential abduction to me.”

“That’s what I’m thinking,” Gabriel replied. “I’ve already let Director Miller know how things stand here. I’m in the process of getting a financial picture for both their personal life and this business. After breakfast I’m walking the grounds with Marlena, and I want you and Andrew to search for a personal computer or laptop, plus get into the one in the office, and see if there’s been any unusual activity that might yield clues as to what happened here.”

Jackson nodded and Gabriel continued. “I also plan on bringing in the part-time helpers sometime this afternoon to interview them, and later I’d like you and Andrew to head into town and start asking questions.”

“Breakfast first, and then work,” Andrew said as he ambled into the room and headed toward the coffee.

“Of course, breakfast first,” Jackson said with a grin. It was office intrigue about what Andrew loved most: his job, his girlfriend or food. There was a rumor that he’d once eaten his weight in meat and desserts at a local buffet in Baton Rouge.

Andrew joined them at the table, and for the next few minutes the men spoke about the interviews they’d conducted the night before with the gardener, John Jeffries, and Marlena’s brother, Cory.

John Jeffries was thirty years old, originally from New Orleans, and his alibi for the night of the disappearance was that Cory had been at his cabin and the two of them had been watching horror films and had fallen asleep. According to both Cory and John, they’d slept through the night, John on the sofa and Cory in a recliner, and had both awakened around seven the next morning.

They all stopped talking when Marlena walked in carrying a huge basket of biscuits, a small tray of butter and a variety of jellies. “I’ll be right back with the gravy,” she said, looking at none of them as she set the basket and tray in the center of the table between where the three sat.

“And what are our thoughts of the lovely manager?” Jackson asked in a low voice.

“The verdict is still out,” Gabriel replied. What he’d like to know is if her hair was as soft, if her lips were as hot as they’d been in his dream. He frowned, shoving away these unwanted thoughts. “As far as I’m concerned right now, she’s at the top of our suspect list. If nothing else, she’s a person of interest who might know something that will solve this disappearance.”

He slammed his mouth shut as she returned to the room, carrying a large bowl and ladle of sausage-scented gravy.

“Mmm, smells good,” Andrew said, having already opened a couple of the biscuits on his plate.

For the first time Marlena smiled, and the sight of it shot unwanted warmth through Gabriel’s stomach.

“I hope it tastes as good as it smells,” she replied, and then once again left them alone.

What was wrong with him? Why was this woman already under his skin? Gabriel grabbed one of the warm biscuits and tore it open, irritated by the unfamiliar feelings Marlena Meyers evoked in him.

Although Gabriel had enjoyed sex with a number of women over the years, it hadn’t been that often, and it had always been just sex, with the understanding that he wasn’t a forever kind of man. There was no place for love in his life, never had been, never would be.

Still, something about Marlena Meyers made him think of hot sex, of tangling his hands in her impish blond curls, of feeling the spill of her naked breasts in his hands. It had been a very long time since any woman had affected him this way.

Get a grip, he told himself irritably. She was at the very least a tool to use to gain information on a potential crime, and at the most, potentially responsible for the disappearance of the Connelly family. Not a woman to fantasize about, not a woman to get close to in any way.

All he wanted from her was answers, and to that end, once the meal was over and he knew he’d given her enough time to clean up the kitchen, he went in search of her to accompany him for a walk around the grounds.

It had been too late last night to fully view the surrounding area, and it was possible that some clue or bit of evidence might be found outside.

If the family were being held alive someplace on the property, then before dusk fell, Gabriel would find them. If the family was dead and their bodies were still on the property, then they’d be found as well, before the end of the night.

It was just after eight-thirty when he and Marlena left by the front door, the heat and humidity already like a slap in the face as they walked outside.

“I thought it was humid in Baton Rouge, but this makes Baton Rouge feel positively arid,” he said as they stepped off the porch.

“That’s why July and August are our slowest months of the year. We only had two couples booked for the next few weeks, and I emailed them this morning to cancel their visit.”

“Hopefully we can tie things up here before the next couple of weeks,” Gabriel replied. He pointed toward a shed near a dock that extended out over the pond. “What’s that?”

“It’s a bait shack. You don’t think...” Her voice trailed off as if her thought was too horrible to say out loud.

“I need to check it out,” he said grimly.

“I’ll wait here.” Her voice trembled as he left her side and walked onto the planks at the front of the dock. The bait shop was an oversize shed, and the door was closed.

From outside the wooden structure, he could hear the faint hum of something electric, probably a refrigerator and tanks to hold live bait. He pulled from his pocket a thin latex glove and then reached out for the doorknob, his heart taking on an unsteady rhythm.

Were Sam and Daniella and little seven-year-old Macy dead, their bodies shoved inside this small building? Although Gabriel had worked difficult cases in the past, it never got any easier to work a case where a small child was involved.

He grabbed the doorknob, drew in a deep breath and then opened it. A whoosh of relief escaped him as he saw exactly what he’d hoped to see: a refrigerator, several wells holding minnows, a screened-in box full of live crickets and no bodies.

He looked back at Marlena and shook his head. Even from this distance, he could see the relief that washed over her pretty face. He met her on a graveled path that led near the edge of the water.

“Does the pond have big fish?” he asked as they fell in step together.

“Some of the guests have pulled out real beauties,” she replied. “Mostly catfish and bass and the ever-present bottom-feeding carp.”

“Do you fish?”

“No way. This is as close as I ever get to the pond or any body of water bigger than a bathtub.” Her eyes darkened with a hint of fear. “I never learned how to swim.”

He absorbed this information as he did every minute detail about her and his surroundings. “What other buildings are on the property?” he asked, focusing back on the reason they were taking this walk.

“Just a big gardening shed, John’s place and the carriage house,” she replied.

“We’ll check out the gardening shed, and then I want you to let me into the carriage house. It was too late last night to search there by the time we processed the kitchen and interviewed you, your brother and John, but we need to check the place and make sure nothing is out of order there.”

“Okay,” she replied, her voice filled with anxiety.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, following the path that edged the side of the pond. “You think I’m guilty of something, don’t you?” she said, finally breaking the tense silence between them.

She was definitely guilty of stirring an unexpected, unwanted fire of desire inside him. He was aware that she was waiting for his answer. He shrugged. The truth was that, at this moment, he had no definitive answer for her as to whether he believed her guilty of having something to do with the Connellys’ disappearance or not.

* * *

A WEARY EXHAUSTION battled with the pound of a headache as Marlena cut up fruit to make a salad for the evening meal. After she and Gabriel had walked the grounds earlier that day, Gabriel had spent the rest of the morning on his laptop, while Jackson had worked at the bed-and-breakfast computer in the tiny office just off the common room. Andrew had gone into town to ask questions and make arrangements for Marion Wells, Valerie King and Pamela Winters to come to the house to be interviewed.

Around noon Marlena had placed a platter of ham and cheese sandwiches, along with a big bowl of potato salad, on the table. She had stacked the plates and silverware, allowing the men to eat whenever they were ready rather than calling them to a sit-down meal.

All the rules had changed. From the moment she’d awakened and found the family gone, the neat and orderly world inside the bed-and-breakfast had been shattered.

Marlena was on the verge of shattering every time she thought of the missing people she loved. Daniella had been like a sister, and in the past two years, Sam had become like a favorite brother-in-law. Seven-year-old Macy was the icing on the cake in the family Marlena had temporarily claimed as her own.

Marlena had spent most of the afternoon either in her room or in the kitchen preparing dinner. She’d decided to serve the men a hearty meal of smothered pork chops, mashed potatoes and corn. The fruit salad would be perfect to finish off as dessert. She knew that Gabriel had spent the afternoon interviewing Marion Wells, Valerie King and Pamela Winters, but she suspected those women knew no more than she did about what had happened.

The back door creaked open and she jumped, nearly slicing her finger. She relaxed as she saw her brother step into the kitchen. Lately, most of the time she wanted to take him by the shoulders and shake some adult sense into him, but at the moment, the sight of him was a welcome one, and her heart filled with love.

“Hey, sis. How’s it going?”

“It’s going,” she replied.

He slumped into one of the chairs at the table. “This is all so weird.”

“Scary weird,” she agreed, and then couldn’t help herself. “I thought you were going to get a haircut last week.”

He raked a hand through his shaggy blond hair. “I didn’t get around to it yet, and don’t start nagging.”

She grinned ruefully. “I don’t have the heart or the energy at the moment to nag you. How about a glass of chocolate milk? You know chocolate milk solves everything.”

A hint of a smile curved his lips, and she knew he was thinking of all the bad times they’d gone through in the past. Chocolate milk had always been her panacea. “That sounds good,” he agreed.

She made the milk with chocolate syrup, stirred it until it was foamy and then set a glass for Cory and a glass for herself on the table.

“Thanks.” He took a drink and then looked at her. “I saw you walking with that detective this morning. Is he giving you a hard time?”

“Gabriel Blankenship. And, no, he isn’t giving me a hard time, but he’s doing his job. By the end of our walk this morning, my head was spinning from all the questions he’d asked.”

“Questions like what? Surely he doesn’t think you had anything to do with this.”

She took a sip from her glass. As always, the sight of Cory caused love to well up inside her. He had the face of a choirboy, open and earnest, with blue-green eyes that radiated a soulful innocence.

“I don’t know what exactly he thinks about me, but he asked me the questions I would expect under the circumstances. Did Sam and Daniella have any enemies? Had either of them been threatened recently? Had their moods changed in the past few days? Of course, my answer was no to all of them.”

“How did this happen? Do you think whoever took them will come back to take us?” His eyes simmered more blue than green.

“Oh, Cory, I don’t think so. I don’t think any of us are in danger.” But she wasn’t sure if she believed the reassuring words or not.

Without knowing who had taken the Connelly family and why, without knowing exactly what had happened in the kitchen the night they disappeared, there was no way to know if there was still danger lurking about or not.

“Are you eating with the others in the dining room tonight?” she asked. Cory often sat with the guests for dinner.

“Nah. John and I are heading into town for pizza.”

“It’s nice that you and John get along so well.” She finished her milk, placed the glass in the sink and then returned to slicing up the last of the fruit.

“He’s cool. He’s kind of like a father, always telling me how to do things and teaching me stuff. We caught two rattlesnakes today, cut off their heads and threw them into the woods.”

Marlena’s heart filled with sorrow for her brother, who had lost his mother and father far too soon. Although Marlena had done everything in her power to fill Cory’s needs and see to his care, she knew she hadn’t been a substitute for a masculine presence in his life.

“As far as I’m concerned, the only good snake is a dead snake,” she replied. “I’m glad you have John. Every boy needs a male role model in his life, but don’t forget our future game plan.”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember.” He finished his milk and stood. “I’d better get out of here. We have some work to do outside before we head into town for dinner.” He walked over to her and kissed her on the temple. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked in a surprising role reversal.

“I’m hanging in there,” she replied, a surge of pride fluttering in her heart as she realized the child she’d raised was showing all the signs of becoming a man.

By the time she placed dinner on the table, the house was empty except for herself and the three agents. She served them and then returned to the kitchen, where she ate her dinner at the table where Sam, Daniella and Macy had been interrupted in a nighttime snack.

Their absence was a physical pain in her heart, and she knew it would be there until she got some answers. Hopefully Gabriel and his men had come up with something during the day’s investigation.... A clue, a potential motive, something that would find the family alive and well.

After the men had eaten and she’d cleared their dishes and cleaned the kitchen, she retired to her private rooms, figuring the best thing she could do was stay out of the way of anything the FBI agents were doing to investigate.

It was after eight when a knock fell on her door. She got up from the rocking chair and opened the door to see Gabriel.

“May I come in?” he asked.

Surprised, she opened the door farther and motioned him to the sofa, then sank back in the old wooden rocking chair that squeaked faintly with every rock. “Did you find out anything today?” she asked, trying to ignore the pleasant woodsy scent that had followed him into the room.

“Several things, but nothing concrete to provide a trail to follow.” As usual, his handsome features appeared set in stone, and there was no warmth, no welcome at all in the depths of his eyes. “I stopped in to tell you that it isn’t necessary for you to cook for us. We aren’t paying guests here, so we aren’t your responsibility.”

“I really don’t mind, and besides, it keeps me busy. I’ll go crazy with nothing to do around here,” she protested.

He leaned against the sofa back, seeming to shrink the size of the piece of furniture—and the entire room—with his presence. “Pamela Winters is not a fan of yours.”

Marlena couldn’t help the short burst of laughter that escaped her at his understatement. “Pamela Winters hates my guts.”

“Why is that?”

Marlena rocked several times, the squeak of the chair the only noise in the room as she thought of the dark-haired woman who worked as the head housekeeper.

Marlena finally stopped her movement and focused on the man asking the questions. “I think Pamela thought she was going to become the manager once Daniella decided to give up some of the reins of the daily running of the place. Unfortunately, when I arrived here, penniless and with no place else to go, Daniella not only took me under her wing, but she instantly appointed me manager. I don’t blame Pamela for feeling betrayed, but somehow her anger has been pointed at me. We’re civil with each other, but she’s made it clear she doesn’t want to be my friend.”

“She thinks maybe you had something to do with the disappearances because you might be named a beneficiary in Sam’s and Daniella’s wills.”

Marlena gasped, and then laughed again. “That’s ridiculous.” Her laughter died, and she began to rock back and forth with a sense of both outrage and fear. “First of all, I refuse to believe that they’re dead, and I’ll repeat again, I had absolutely nothing to do with their disappearance. Second, they would have never made me a beneficiary. Daniella knew this was just a stopping place for me and Cory, that it was temporary until we gathered our resources to get on with our lives, and that we were planning on leaving soon.”

“Get on with your lives? What does that mean?”

She was aware of the piercing quality of his eyes and the simmer of some indefinable energy between them. “My goal was never to be a manager of a bed-and-breakfast. Cory and I are planning to eventually move to a bigger city where I can get a teaching degree, and he can get some sort of technical training. I want the house and the dog, the husband and the children. Daniella and Sam knew that this job was just temporary for me, that I had different dreams than staying here in Bachelor Moon. Are you married?”

“No, and have no intention of joining the ranks of the married set. I like living alone. I wouldn’t do marriage well, so there’s no point in trying it.” He stood suddenly. “I’ll let you get back to whatever you were doing before I came in.”

She got out of the rocking chair and followed him to the door. “Actually, I’m thinking of taking a little walk. I could use some fresh air.”

“Then I’ll just say good night.” Gabriel gave her a curt nod and left, heading back through the kitchen and dining room toward the stairs to his room.

Marlena left her room and stepped through the kitchen door that led outside. She breathed deeply of the humid, floral-scented air. Darkness had fallen, but a full moon shone overhead, easily lighting the path that led around the pond.

Her head ached with all the questions, the fears, the utter horror of the past twenty-four hours. What had happened to Sam and Daniella and Macy? It was as if an alien spaceship had shot down a beam that had instantly drawn them up and out of the house, leaving no identifying clues behind.

She couldn’t imagine who might want to hurt the Connellys. They were respected, warm and giving to both their guests and the community of Bachelor Moon. Daniella served on a half dozen charity committees, and Sam was the man people called on when they were in trouble or needed something done. Macy was everyone’s delight with her sassy attitude and sweet, loving heart.

As she neared the area where the walkway came closest to the pond, a chorus of bullfrogs sang a deep-throated tune and a faint splash indicated that the fish were jumping.

It was a beautiful night, and yet all was wrong with the world. Tears burned at her eyes as she thought of the people she loved, people who were missing without any apparent reason.

The path she followed stopped abruptly at the far end of the pond. A trail led off to John’s little cabin but a sign indicated that guests weren’t allowed on the narrow path.

She turned and started back the way she had come. Her thoughts shifted to the man in charge of the case: Gabriel Blankenship.

She was both drawn to and repelled by him at the same time. His intensity nearly stole her breath away. Something about him made her pulse pound a little harder, her heart race a little faster. She recognized it as some sort of strange attraction, but he was certainly the last man she’d want any kind of relationship with.

He was here to do a job, and when the job was done, he would be gone. He’d just told her that he wasn’t the marrying type, and marriage was definitely on her wish list. She’d thought that was where she was headed with Gary Holzman when she’d lived in Chicago, but that dream had exploded and she’d wound up here with nothing but a beat-up car spewing fumes, a suitcase full of clothes and Cory.

She’d just about reached the part of the walkway that was closest to the pond’s edge when the sound of rustling in the brush behind her stopped the bullfrog’s song.

She had no chance to turn, no time to process that danger was coming before she was shoved from behind with enough force that she flew forward and was weightless for an instant—airborne—and then she plunged into the pond.

Headfirst she went down...down, with no idea how to get up.

Chapter Three

Although it was relatively early, after the short night before, Gabriel had told both Jackson and Andrew to head to bed and get a good night’s sleep, as he intended to do himself. He was certain the next day would be a long one, and he wanted them all to start out rested.

He stripped down to a pair of boxers and then opened the window, despite the air-conditioning that kept the room cool and pleasant. Since the age of seven, Gabriel had always kept his bedroom window open, never knowing when he might need to make a hasty escape from a raging drunken father.

Certainly more than once throughout his childhood, he’d used the window to flee the wrath of George Blankenship. Like Marlena’s, Gabriel’s mother had abandoned him and his father when Gabriel had been seven. She’d left him in the hands of a brutal man who’d either beaten him half to death for unclear reasons or ignored him until Gabriel was old enough to exit and never look back.

He’d lived on the streets, worked a hundred different jobs, and waffled between a life of crime and a life of investigating crimes. He’d finally managed to make his way through college with a criminal justice degree and a minor in psychology, and that’s when the FBI had brought him in as a profiler.

He loved his job and he was good at it, but this particular case already had him frustrated by the lack of leads. The bank records had shown no red flags either in the personal or business finances. The email accounts showed no threats or unusual activity. So far he and his team hadn’t spoken to anybody who didn’t admire or like the family.

Granted, they were still in the beginning stages of the investigation, but he knew that, in many disappearances, within the first couple of hours, the taken were killed.

What he didn’t know yet was who had been the intended target. Was it Sam, and his wife and stepdaughter were merely collateral damage? Was there something in Daniella’s past that might have brought this on?

He turned off the light in his room and got beneath the lavender top sheet, his mind whirling a million miles an hour. There had to have been more than one person involved; otherwise how was it possible for a single individual to neutralize three people and get them out of their home? And Marlena had heard nothing, which meant either she was lying or whoever had come in and taken the three people had done so relatively silently. How was that possible with a seven-year-old little girl in the mix?

The sound of a splash came from outside the window—a loud splash. Must be a fish the size of a minitorpedo, he thought. A thrashing noise followed, and then a faint cry.

Definitely a female cry. Marlena had told him she was going out to get some fresh air. Who had made that splash? Had it been a fish, or her?

Gabriel bolted up from the bed and flew out of his room. He stumbled down the stairs two at a time, his heart surging with adrenaline as he remembered she couldn’t swim.

As he flew through the lower level of the house and into the kitchen, he noted that Marlena’s door to her rooms was open, as was the back door.

He burst out into the hot night air and again heard a splashing and a frantic cry from the pond. By the time he reached a vantage point where he could see the water, the moon glittered down on the smooth surface.

He frowned. Had he only imagined the cries? Had he fallen asleep in bed and not realized it, dreaming that Marlena, who couldn’t swim, was somewhere in the pond?

As he stared at the water, it bubbled and rippled and then Marlena’s pale face broke the surface. Panic etched her features as she managed a single cry before sinking beneath the surface once again.

He raced to a place where he could dive from the short wooden dock into the pond. He hit the water, grateful that it was as warm as a bath, and swam quickly to the place where he had seen Marlena go down.

Diving underwater and opening his eyes, he realized the murky water made it impossible for him to see anything. So he used his hands and legs to search for her, hoping he wasn’t already too late.

How long had she been in the water? He surfaced, drew a deep breath and then went under a second time, his heart pounding frantically.

He swam all around the area where he’d last seen her, his arms outstretched before him. Where was she? Had she already succumbed to the water?

Sharp relief soared through him as he managed to snag an arm. The relief was short-lived as she grabbed hold and frantically wrapped around him like a leech, sinking them both deeper into the water.

Her arms clung around his neck, and in her panic he knew that, if he didn’t break her hold on him in some way, they would both drown.

He fought with her, fought for both of their lives and finally managed to wrangle her around the neck and pull her up. They broke the surface of the water, gasping for air, and she immediately tried to crawl onto him to escape a watery grave.

“Marlena.” He spewed her name along with a mouthful of water. “You need to calm down. I’ve got you. Just relax and let me get us to shore.”

Still she clung to him, attempting to climb his body with hers as her eyes glowed the iridescent green of a wild animal in the moonlight.

“Marlena!” He managed to dog paddle and grab her by the shoulders, thankful that he was a strong swimmer and a much bigger man.

“Relax, I’ve got you.” He spoke the words slowly and breathed a sigh of relief as he managed to roll her over onto her back. With his arm under her chin, he kept her face well above the water and moved her toward the shore.

Once there, they collapsed side by side on their backs in the dewy grass, drawing in deep gasps of air. By the time he caught his breath, he realized she was crying and shivering, obviously chilled despite the warmth of the night air that surrounded them.

He got to his feet and pulled her up. “Come on. Let’s get you inside and dry.”

She continued to weep and shiver as he slung an arm around her shoulder and led her inside. He walked her through the back door to her private quarters and into her bathroom. Spying a stack of towels neatly folded in an open cabinet, he grabbed one for himself and then turned to where she stood as if shell-shocked.

“Marlena, get out of those wet clothes, and then we’ll talk,” he said. He grabbed a second towel and forced it into her hands and tried not to notice that the wet blouse clung to her like a second skin, emphasizing her breasts and taut nipples.

He turned and left the bathroom, grateful that his boxers were navy and not white. He dried off, wrapped the towel around his waist and sat on the edge of the sofa, waiting for her to emerge from the bathroom.

He needed to find out how a woman who told him she couldn’t swim, who obviously had a healthy respect for the water, had wound up in it, nearly drowning.

Had she somehow slipped and fallen into the water? Misstepped in the darkness and wound up sliding down into the pond? There was no question in his mind that if his window hadn’t been open, if he hadn’t heard the splash and her faint cry, she would have drowned.

After several long minutes, she came out of the bathroom clad in a long pink robe and using a towel to work the last of the dampness from her hair.

Gabriel was shocked by his visceral reaction to her. She looked stunning, and he was grateful for the heavy drape of the towel over his lap, for his body had reacted automatically to the sight of her.

Thank goodness the drama hadn’t drawn anyone else’s attention. If one of his partners were to walk in right now, the situation definitely looked compromising, as if he and Marlena had taken a tumble into her bed and then showered off afterward.

She walked to the rocking chair and sank down. Dropping the towel she’d used on her hair onto the floor next to her, she looked at Gabriel. Her eyes began to fill with tears. “I would have died if you hadn’t been there. You all would have found me floating in the pond in the morning.”

The tears that had shimmered and threatened on her long eyelashes fulfilled their promise, and she hid her face in her hands as she rocked back and forth and cried in earnest.

Obviously it had been a traumatic experience for her, Gabriel thought and wondered if he should just leave her alone to deal with the aftermath.

She looked like a woman who needed to be held, who needed to be assured that everything was okay, but he remained firmly seated on the sofa, unwilling to be that man for her.

He told himself it was simple curiosity and nothing else that kept him here in her room after the drama was over. He wanted to know how she’d wound up in the pond.

Finally her tears ebbed, and with a final swipe of her cheeks, she dropped her hands to her lap. “How did you know? How did you know I was in the pond and needed help?”

“I had my bedroom window cracked open and heard a splash and then a faint cry.”

“Thank God you heard me.” She shivered as if, despite her long robe, there was a core of icy coldness inside her that prevented her from getting warm. “I don’t think I could have made it another minute if you hadn’t appeared when you did.”

“What happened? How did you wind up in the pond?” Gabriel asked, and was suddenly aware of his own bare chest and legs as her gaze swept the length of him, and then quickly moved up to meet and hold his stare.

“I was walking on the path, trying to clear my head. I reached the end and was on my way back when somebody came out of the brush and pushed me hard enough to throw me into the pond.” She shivered, more violently this time, as if the full implication of what had just happened to her had been suddenly realized.

Gabriel sat up straighter on the sofa, a thrum of adrenaline rushing through him. “Somebody pushed you? Are you sure it wasn’t some sort of animal or something? Did you see who did it?”

“Do I think a crazed raccoon or a big bear suddenly rushed out and pushed me?” She shook her head, as if his question was ridiculous. “It was definitely an animal of the human kind. I felt his hands on my back, and, no, I have no idea who it was. It all happened so fast.”

Her eyes darkened and enlarged. “Somebody tried to kill me, Gabriel. Somebody shoved me off the path and into the water and knew that I would drown.”

Gabriel’s heart sank. Was she right? Had this been a potential murder attempt, or had it been some sort of weird mistake? Was this somehow tied to the mysterious disappearance of the Connelly family, or was it something completely unrelated?

Time would hopefully answer all those questions. He withheld a deep sigh as he knew this merely complicated what was already a complicated enough situation.

* * *

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE and not a breath to take. Marlena shot up in bed, gasping for the air she hadn’t been able to draw in the nightmare she’d just suffered.

A glance at her bedside clock let her know she’d overslept by half an hour, having forgotten to set her alarm the night before.

Gabriel had stayed in her room until she’d finally calmed down. He’d asked several questions about her brush with a watery death, trying to jog her mind into remembering any sound, any scent she might have sensed from the person who had pushed her off the walkway. But she remembered nothing—only the shock and horror of hitting the water and sinking.

What she did remember this morning was how utterly hot Gabriel had looked wrapped in a towel. His broad chest had been sprinkled with just enough black hair to be interesting, and his taut abs had been more than amazing to look at.

But what was really important here was that somebody had tried to kill her last night...or had he?

There was no question that something had bumped or pushed her into the pond, but had it simply been a figment of her imagination or some sort of mistake, and whoever was responsible had run away, afraid of what he’d accidentally done?

Maybe it had been one of the drifters who occasionally showed up at the bed-and-breakfast looking for a free handout of money or food. Or maybe a local fisherman who had planned to secretly fish in the private pond and had been startled by her presence.

She finally got out of bed, and after a quick shower, refused to dwell on the horror of the night before. In the light of day, she decided that it was probably just some weird circumstance, and she’d been the victim of a sort of hit-and-run accident.

She couldn’t imagine anyone wanting to intentionally harm her, but she also didn’t plan on taking any more nightly walks alone.

When she left her rooms, she smelled fresh coffee. She entered the dining room to find Andrew seated at the table, a cup of coffee and a plate of leftover biscuits from the morning before in front of him.

“Hope you don’t mind that I helped myself,” he said.

“Not at all,” she replied as she poured herself a cup of coffee and joined him at the table. “Sorry I overslept.”

“Not a problem,” he replied easily.

She and Andrew had only been talking for a few minutes when Gabriel and Jackson joined them. “Can I get you something to eat?” she asked, half rising from her chair.

Gabriel motioned her down. “Sit and enjoy your coffee. We’re heading into town this morning to have a talk with Sheriff Thompson. When I spoke to him yesterday on the phone, I told him I wanted to get the lay of the land here before contacting him face-to-face.”

“Jim’s a decent man, and maybe he knows something I don’t know about Sam and Daniella,” she replied.

“Maybe, although he hasn’t shared anything useful with us yet. I got the feeling when I spoke to him yesterday that he’s still hoping this is a voluntary disappearance and not a crime,” Gabriel said.

Marlena shook her head. “There’s no way Sam and Daniella would let the people who love them worry about them for this length of time.” A new rivulet of fear swept through her for her friends. The only way they wouldn’t contact anyone was if they couldn’t.

“We have their cell phones in our possession and will be checking any calls that come in, and also looking at those they received before they went missing. Are you going to be okay today with us gone?” Gabriel asked as the other two agents headed for the front door.

She frowned. Last night felt like a nightmare, and even in the light of day a shiver tried to take possession of her, but she shrugged it off. “I should be fine. I’ll lock the house and just let in the people I know and trust.”

“Have you thought further about anyone who might want to cause you harm?”

He’d asked the same question the night before. “I can’t imagine,” she said, giving him the same answer. “Maybe I just freaked out a drifter who was hanging around and he accidentally shoved me as he ran away.” It sounded lame, but it was the only rational explanation she’d managed to come up with. “Whatever happened, I’m sure it was an accident and whoever was responsible was afraid of getting into trouble.”

“Why don’t I give you my cell phone number, so if anything comes up, you can call, and we can get right back here?” he suggested.

She smiled at him gratefully. “Thanks. Just let me get a piece of paper to write it down.” She hurried into the kitchen, grabbed a notepad then returned to the dining room and wrote down the cell number he gave her.

“We should be back by dinnertime,” he said as she walked with him to the door. His gaze held hers for a long moment. “Don’t hesitate to call if you need me...us.”

As she watched him head to the car where the other two agents awaited him, she decided that maybe Gabriel Blankenship wasn’t so bad after all.

She locked the door behind him. Despite what had happened the night before, she felt no real danger directed specifically at her. Still, better to be safe than sorry.

She was back in the kitchen when Cory knocked on the door, eyeing her quizzically through the glass pane. She hurried over and unlocked it to allow him and John to enter.

“Why the locked door?” Cory asked as he sat at the table in the kitchen. John sat next to him. Most mornings the two of them showed up for breakfast, but it was usually Daniella who did the cooking and serving.

“I had a little unexpected encounter with the pond last night.” She explained what had happened, and both men looked at her in stunned surprise.

“Thank God one of those agents managed to get to you,” Cory exclaimed.

“I didn’t know you couldn’t swim,” John added. “Do you have any idea who might have pushed you?”

“Not a clue,” she replied, not wanting to think about how close she’d come to death. “I imagine you two are looking for something to eat. Why don’t I whip up a quick batch of pancakes?”

“Sounds good to me,” John replied.

As she got out the ingredients to make the pancakes, the three of them talked about the pizza place where the guys had gone the night before, the weeding that needed to be done and the continuing mystery of the Connellys’ disappearance.

Marlena liked John. The dark-haired man had an easygoing temperament and had bonded instantly with the younger Cory and kept him busy working by his side on the grounds.

After the two had finished their breakfast, they left by the back door, and Marlena relocked it after them. For the remainder of the morning, she busied herself upstairs, making beds and freshening the rooms where the agents were sleeping.

She immediately knew that Gabriel had slept in the lavender room. As she plumped his pillows and straightened the spread, she smelled his cologne and was surprised by the tiny ray of heat that fired up inside her.

There was no question that she was physically drawn to him, and there was also no question that she had no intention of following through on that attraction. The most important thing right now was that he stay focused on finding Sam, Daniella and Macy.

When she’d finished upstairs, she returned to the kitchen to start a large roast cooking for dinner that evening. An hour or so before mealtime, she’d add in potatoes and carrots.

During the slow months of July and August, Pamela was scheduled to clean two days a week, Mondays and Wednesdays. Since it was Saturday, Marlena would take care of the daily duties to keep the place in shape. Even though Daniella was gone and there were no guests, Daniella would want the routine of maintaining the bed-and-breakfast to continue.

Marlena sank down at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, her heart crying out for answers. Where were the Connellys? Nobody would ever make her believe that they’d just walked away without a word to anyone.

Daniella was living her dream, loving a man she’d never expected to find, working in this business that had been her desire since she’d been in high school and raising her daughter in the cocoon of family love. No way would Daniella willingly leave her life behind.

Marlena nearly jumped out of her chair as a loud rap sounded on the front door. Her nerves were on edge. Even though there were no guests scheduled, that didn’t mean someone couldn’t show up.

She relaxed as she approached the front door and saw Thomas Brady on the other side, his pleasant features radiating concern for her. She unlocked the door, and he instantly pulled her into his big arms.

“I just heard about the Connellys,” he said as he continued to hold her. “I was working out of town for the past couple of days and got back home only an hour ago.”

She was grateful when he finally released her and sat on the sofa in the great room. “How are you doing? Is there something I can do to help? I heard you’ve got a couple of FBI agents staying here. Do they have a theory on what happened?”

Marlena waited until he’d run out of breath to begin to answer his questions. “I’m doing as well as I can, although I’m terribly afraid for the family. There are three FBI agents staying here, and, no, they don’t have a clue yet as to what happened and who might be responsible.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being here by yourself, especially with nobody knowing what happened to Sam, Daniella and Macy,” Thomas said. He leaned forward, his brown eyes earnest. “You should move in with me. You would be safe under my roof.”

“You know I’m not going to do that,” she said softly. “Besides, I just told you there were FBI agents staying here. I also have Cory, so I’m definitely not by myself. Now tell me about the job you just finished.”

Thomas was a local carpenter who not only did renovation work but also specialized in spectacular decks and patios. His skills often got him work in the larger cities in the state.

As he told her about his latest job in New Orleans, she listened absently. She had known for some time that Thomas had a thing for her. They’d even gone out on a couple of casual dates.

Sam and Daniella hadn’t thought the carpenter was good enough for Marlena, but they didn’t have to worry because Marlena knew her future wasn’t with Thomas. She just couldn’t seem to make Thomas understand that.

She enjoyed his company as a friend and thought he was a nice man, but she had no romantic feelings toward him at all. She’d told him that a hundred different ways over the past month or so, but he was still a frequent visitor and a man who obviously didn’t take no easily. He seemed to think that, if she just spent enough time with him, he could change her mind about their relationship.

He couldn’t. She’d rather be alone than be in a relationship without real passion, without true mutual love. Been there, done that, and the results had nearly destroyed her.

As he rambled on, Marlena realized it was the first time that he sat in the house with her. Normally Sam made it uncomfortable for the man to be anywhere but on the porch when he came to visit Marlena.

Thomas was a big man, with wide shoulders and thighs the size of tree trunks. Physical labor had given him the muscles of a bodybuilder, but he had always been gentle and soft-spoken when around her.

He had to have known that Sam and Daniella didn’t approve of him. They hadn’t hidden the fact that they thought he was all wrong for her.

Her heart began a slightly faster unsteady beat as she stared at the man on the sofa. Was he so obsessed with her that he had removed the people who disapproved of him? Left her alone in the house and frightened, hoping he could step in and be her support, the man she turned to in her need?

Ridiculous, a tiny voice whispered inside her. You’re looking for a bad guy in a friend who has never shown any violent tendencies, a man who has never pushed you to accept any unwanted advances.

Still, she was grateful an hour later when he finally left with the promise to check in with her soon.

Maybe it was time she moved up her schedule for leaving Bachelor Moon.

And maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to mention Thomas’s name to Gabriel.

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