Drowning Tides. Karen Harper
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on, “And, Nicky, I commend you on managing your frustration and temper, and to have chosen such a great woman as your fiancée, who doesn’t demand her daughter back at once.”
“Fiancée? Claire and I are not engaged.”
“Really? If you want Lexi back, I rather thought you’d both agree to be more than engaged—that is if you wish to live happily ever after. Lexi’s excited about your wedding, and I am too.”
Claire, who had sat frozen at the mention of marriage, gasped, but Nick choked out, “Wedding?”
“Here, this evening. With Lexi as flower girl. She’s been so excited to hear you sent her down ahead to have a good time and help me make plans for the ceremony tonight. It’s quite easy to get a license and a celebrant for tourists here, you know, so I’ve taken that upon myself. We’ll have an intimate reception afterward, and the three of you can be on your way tomorrow, though I’d be honored if you’d spend your wedding night here. Your beach hotel is paid up for a week, if you’d like to stay there. Though children aren’t usually part of a honeymoon, I’m sure you’d rather have Lexi with you than with me.”
Still in shock, Claire sucked in another sharp breath. Nick just gaped at him. He obviously had not seen that coming—just the opposite. But it all made sense to Claire. Her pulse started to pound, and she flushed prickly hot. Nick had not married so he didn’t have to worry about protecting a family from this horrible man. But Ames had discovered that Nick now cared about someone who had an only child who meant the world to her. That meant Nick had a new weak spot, and once Nick had married her, Ames would have three people to torment and control, not just one.
But Ames had just said Lexi was with two women, and she’d seen that girl on the beach, who had actually reminded her of Lexi...
Claire vaulted from her chair and leaned over the edge of the beige concrete balcony. She squinted into the stiff sea breeze. Yes! Yes, so close and yet so far. At a distance, in that dress, with strange women! Claire didn’t mean to make a sound, but she heard herself scream, “Lexi! Lexi! Lexi!”
“My, aren’t you a clever girl, but Lexi can’t hear you from here,” Ames said as he came to stand beside Claire, and Nick rushed to the balcony to stare outward. “It’s too far, and the breeze is in the wrong direction to carry your voice. But I assure you, Lexi, with her companions, will disappear before you can even cross the road if you two don’t sign on my dotted line. When you do, of course, we’ll get Lexi back so she can prepare—like all of us—for a lovely, private wedding this evening. I’ve had a cake and the attire ordered. Now, don’t disappoint the child, as she’s tried her pretty frock on already and practiced carrying the rings on a little pillow. I’m sure you’ll like those too.”
Nick stood silent. He covered Claire’s trembling hand with his where she still gripped the balcony. The red kite had taken a dive into the sand, and her two companions were running after Lexi toward it.
“I just love surprises,” Ames said, clapping his hands. “Oh, and Nicky, there’s more to it for you than just saying ‘I do.’ Let’s you and I chat about that while I send for Lexi to be brought here for a little future family reunion—or not. What do you say, my boy?”
“I say I’m not your boy and never was. That you and I are not finished over this or—or the other matter between us.”
“Finished? I hope not. I have another profitable offer to make, which I’m certain you will take. You see, I need your promise to work for me as well as to wed the lovely Claire. You’re a fine attorney, just as your father was, and I have a particular case for you to oversee. Why, your future wife, clever forensic psychologist that she is, may be able to help with it too. Because as long as you win that case for me, there won’t be a worry in the world about Lexi or your future. Let’s step inside, and I’ll explain more. Ah, isn’t it a lovely day for a wedding, even an evening one? We’ll have it right here in moonlight and candlelight with a view of the lagoon and the sea, so romantic.”
For the first time in her life, Claire understood murder as a crime of passion. Her head was spinning. Was this a dream or a nightmare? At least Lexi was alive and ran free and in her sights—for now.
“If you want to talk to Nick,” she said to Ames, “can I just stand here and watch Lexi until you send for her?”
“Why, of course. And while I do that, I’ll have the housemaid Jemma come out to keep you company.” He patted her shoulder. She shuddered at his touch and yet she had to obey him at least until they got Lexi back and got out of here. She prayed Nick would agree to anything and everything this man said—because that’s exactly what she was going to do.
“Oh, Claire,” Ames said, as he followed a grim Nick to the door to go back inside, “I should assure you that, although Lexi was surprised at first that my man who picked her up at your home was not her daddy, she adapted quite well when my people told her the happy surprise you and your betrothed had planned for her. She understands that you two needed time to plan the wedding. Also, I believe she calls you Mr. Nick, doesn’t she, my boy? We told her that her new stepfather would be a big part of her life but that she could still see her daddy. That is, if he doesn’t hurt himself flying all over the Caribbean, right?”
He turned away, but Claire glimpsed Nick’s expression of shock that Ames must know Jace had come down here too. They were doomed, she thought. But she’d marry Nick, keep it in name only, a partnership until they could stop this devil—someday, somehow.
* * *
“Look, Clayton,” Nick said the moment they sat down in facing black leather club chairs in his darkly paneled den, “I’ll do what you say, but can’t you leave Claire and Lexi out of it?”
“I’ve seen via lovely photographs how much you like Claire and evidently want her. Well, what red-blooded bachelor would not? No, you need to marry Claire, and I need her and your darling new stepdaughter for insurance that you will do as I ask on a particular local matter of great importance to me and my business affairs.”
“Local? You want a lawyer to try a case here in Grand Cayman?”
“Hardly. You don’t have the credentials or the clout here as you do in Collier County. No, this is a case local to you near Naples I need to have you take and win for me. I believe you’ll realize why you’d be the ideal attorney on this. And well-paid, of course, so you and your new family can get a very nice home.”
“One with your listening devices and hidden cameras built right in.”
Ames ignored that and went on, “Once you hear me out, you’ll want to do this not only for me.”
“For keeping my new wife and stepdaughter safe, you mean.”
“My, you’re paranoid. You don’t have what they call a wire on you, do you, Nicky?”
“I’m not that stupid.”
“You’re not stupid at all, which is why I want you to work for me. I was quite annoyed when I found you’d traced the name of my offshore company, Ames High, which stores my resources here in Grand Cayman as well as in a few other places in Europe and Asia. Now that you are working with me, I absolutely expect you to keep that a secret, especially not to share it with any US agencies that may inquire.”
Nick’s stomach went into free fall. He tried not to show surprise, for why should anything shock him with this man? Could Ames know the FBI had interviewed him and that the IRS was on his tail? He said nothing, but met the older man’s eyes with a steady stare. Those cold, pale blue eyes: Nick was certain he had either pulled the trigger of the gun that killed his father or hired the man who did. He clearly recalled his father telling him that “Uncle Clay” was going to stop by that night.
Ames leaned forward in his chair, elbows propped on his knees. It took all the restraint Nick had not to launch himself at the man, to pound him to pieces.