Lethal Lover Part 23

"But, how? Why?" Selena stammered.

"I--I don't understand. How did you" -- "You would have used that baby,"

Tess gasped. "Used that little child to bring her mother in and collect your reward."

Reed's face had become a rigid mask.

"You son of a" -- Tess's accusation was lost when a force around her throat sent an explosion of light sparking before her eyes.

"Drop the gun, McKenna." Through the pain and the confusion, Tess recotnized the male voice coming from the ladder and the darkness behind her. The hard jabbing into her back told her she was in the arms of a cold-blooded killer.

"Nick!" Selena gasped.

"h.e.l.lo, Selena," Talbot said calmly, his hold around Tess's throat unrelenting as he swung one leg and then another onto the boat.

"I think you forgot something in your little plan, Ytke the money Morrell owes me that you were to have transferred into one of our friendly Cayman banks.

Somehow a deposit seems to be missing," he growled as he tossed Selena's journal at her feet.

"But that measly sum doesn't matter now, because when Eddie finds out I've made sure you can't ever testify against him, and that you and your new lover are at the bottom of the bay, he'll pay me twice what you cheated me out of."

The gun shoved against Tess's temple dug into her flesh, and she felt fear like an icy hand at her throat.

Reed's expression was one of murderous rage. His jaw was clenching and unclench Lag like a machine.

With all the mental powers she possessed, Tess tried to telegraph her intent to him a split second before she acted. When her elbow jammed into Talbot's ribs, his hold on her loosened just enough for her to fall away from him.

The gasoline lantern was airborne before Tess saw Reed grab and throw it.

Talbot swore and raised an arm to block the flaming missile and when he did, Reed lunged at him.

Tess rolled out of his way,. just as Reed's shoulder made contact with Talbot's midsection. The breath went out of Talbot with a grunt and the gun went flying.

It hit the deck and discharged, and Selena screamed. Tess's eyes locked on the rifle and she dove for it and came up shouting, "Stop!

Everyone freeze?

Reed grabbed Talbot by the collar and tried to haul him to his feet, but the weight of the big man sagged and above his pale blue eyes an ugly hole gaped where his own gun had sent a bullet.

Talbot's last expression seemed to be saying "So this is what it's like to die."

Chapter Seventeen.

The farewell on the beach later that night was brief and somber.

Crissy clung a moment to G-ertie and Jake before she lunged into her mother's arms. Selena seemed unable to stop crying as she covered her child's face with kisses.

Tony hugged his daughter before he shoved the small boat out into the water and cranked the outboard motor to life.

"Thank you both," Selena said, reaching for Gerfie's hand and smiling at Jake.

"I know you took good cam of my baby. I'll tell her all about you both someday."

Selena turned to Reed, the tears br.i.m.m.i.n.g in her eyes.

"How can I ever thank you?" ' He shrugged, clearly embarra.s.sed by her deep grat.i.tude. "Take care of our little girl," was all he could manage in a husky voice that caused Tess's heart to contract.

"I hope my journal is enough to put Eddie behind bars for a long, long time."

Reed smiled.

"I guess it will just have to be."

"Oh, Tess," Selena blurted, finally turning to her. "I'm sorry for what I put you through. You, re been a gbod friend. Can you ever forgive me?"

"It's already forgotten. I love you, Selena. Take care. Have a good life." She wrapped her arms around what was left of her family, the family that would no longer exist once Selena and Crissy stepped into the boat and headed out for their new life with Tony and his family on the small island of Cayman Brac.

Crissy's incessant wiggling interrupted their embrace. "Goodbye, little one," Tess murmured, and planted a kiss on a cold, chubby cheek.

Gettie stood beside Jake, sniffing as the four of them watched the small boat moving steadily away from the sh.o.r.e. When the pale running light could no longer be seen, Reed turned to Tess and said, "Ready?"

She nodded and looked back out over the s.h.i.+mmering sea where the flames had been when Tony and Reed had taken the pontoon boat almost four miles out before they'd abandoned it.

The hours Selena and Tess had spent on the side of the hill in the safety of the cave waiting for the men to return had been a precious gift of time together that neither of them would ever forget.

When the men had finally rejoined them, Tony had activated the radio-controlled detonator and the four of them had watched from the hillside, speechless, mesmerized as the big boat went up in a ball of flame and smoke. It was all over quickly, the sea moving in to swallow the remnants of Nick Talbot's last trip to Grand Cayman.

"Well, so long, Tess," Gertie said, bringing Tess back to the present.

"And don't forget to come by our place when you get back to Colorado."

Jake smiled as he shook both Tess's and Reed's hands.

"See you back home, son," he said, holding Reed's eyes for a long, meaningful moment.

After Gertie and Jake left them alone on the beach, Reed and Tess stood together staring out at the sea.

"Do you think they'll make it?" Tess said finally. "If they stick together, they will."

"The love between them was obvious, wa snit it?"

Reed nodded.

"Crissy is a lucky little girl. Not every kid gets to grow up on an island."

"It's not Crissy anymore, remember?" During their last hours together, Selena had told Tess she'd secured new ident.i.ty papers for all of them.

"It's Meredith," she reminded Reed softly, amazed she'd been able to speak around the catch in her throat. ' He tightened his grip around her shoulders and together they started walking toward the beach house.

"I spoke to my contact in Was.h.i.+ngton when I went back for Gertie, Jake and the baby. He took the death of the'ur key witness pretty hard, but he didn't seem surprised. It was difficult to let him believe Crissy had been killed in the blast, as well, but I couldn't see any way around it.

"By the way, they found evidence linking Talbot to 'the murder of Andy Dianetti. Charlie said they'd al--ready issued a warrant to pick him up when he tried to reenter the country. When I told him Talbot had died when his own gun discharged and that I hadn't been able to get the body off the boat before it blew, Charlie didn't seem too disappointed. He bought the whole kidnapping story just the way Selena planned it."

Tess s.h.i.+vered.

"Talbot planted the explosions at the bar that killed Davey, didn't he?

The last thing he wanted was for me to find Selena before he did."

Reed nodded.

"He was an explosives expert. If he'd been the one to rig the pontoon boat it would have gone up like a match when I tossed the oil lantern.

We're lucky Tony was only an amateur."

"Do you think the journal will be enough to convict Morrell?"

"I hope so. Charlie was surprised by its existence and he can't wait to get his hands on it and turn it over to the IRS. Talbot must have paid someone to steal your purse that night in the restaurant.

Ironic, isn't it, that he may be the one finally responsible for putting Morrell behind bars?"

They'd almost reached the beach house when she turned to him.

"You gave Selena a precious gift. Her child was more important to her than even her own life."

He took her hand and pulled her down to sit beside him on the sand.

He put his arm around her shoulders and stared east, where the sun was just beginning to cast a pink light along the horizon.

"I'll never know if I could have used that child to blackmail her into coming back." His fingers, entwined with hers, tightened as he spoke.

"If I hadn't found you again, if you hadn't opened my heart again ..."

He swallowed before going on in a husky voice, "I guess I'll always wonder. It would have been the coward's way out."

"You're no coward, McKenna," she a.s.sured him.

"I wish I could believe that."

She kissed his cheek and saw that his eyes were glistening. Tears welled in her own eyes and her heart rose to her throat.

"I believe it," she whispered.

"And i believe in you, McKenna."

She went into his arms and he kissed her, softly, tenderly, so lovingly that she thought her heart might burst with all the love that filled it.

When she opened her eyes, she gazed into the face of the man she knew would be her husband, her partner and her friend for the rest of her life. The trust between them had been tested and forged Her love for him was deep, enduring and growing stronger every moment.

Reed kissed her again and then lifted his face to gaze into the eyes of the only woman he'd ever loved. When he saw her love s.h.i.+ning back at him, his heart overflowed with hope, and he told himself that with her by his side, he could believe in anything, in new beginnings, in second chances, and even in himself.

end.