Lucky Charm (Lucky 1)

He sat on the couch while she chose a chair across from him. Elbows resting on his knees, he stared at her, his gaze intense. He didn’t say a word.

She studied him, too. His dark hair, neatly combed, gave him that air of propriety she both loved and feared would be the end of them.

She drew a deep, fortifying breath. “A few days ago, I received an anonymous letter in the mail.” She glanced down at her hands, not surprised to see they were shaking. “And though I’m not sure who sent it, it was clear what was in it.”

He met her gaze. “What was it?” he asked, his voice steady.

He was everything she loved and wanted in her life. But there was obviously more separating them than the story she had to tell. Not knowing what it was scared her beyond belief.

“A picture,” she whispered. “An old photograph. One of those old photographs, if you get my drift.”

“Oh, I get it, all right,” he said, clenching his jaw.

“There was also a note demanding five thousand dollars.”

“That bastard.” He rose from his seat in a burst of sudden, angry energy. “I’m going to kill him.”

She came up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “No, you’re not. Because then I’d lose you to prison instead of just…losing you.” She stepped back, easing away from him.

This time he came up behind her and she felt his body heat close. Reassuring.

“Why would you say that?” he asked.

She faced him again. “Because I didn’t get the letter today. I got it a few days ago.”

“And you didn’t tell me.” His disappointment spoke louder than his words.

&n

bsp; Nausea rolled through her and she wished she’d listened to Gabrielle’s advice about telling Richard sooner.

She shook her head. “You had so much on your plate between work and the campaign. I thought, I hoped, I could make it go away.”

“How?”

“The note had instructions. A drop point for the money. So I withdrew the cash from the bank and Gabrielle and I went to the Wave.”

He stared at her in disbelief. “You two went to meet with your blackmailing ex-con boyfriend alone?”

She winced at the fury in his voice. “Not exactly.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Then what, exactly, Sharon? Spell it out and be clear.”

She knew what she’d say next would only make her keeping him in the dark even worse, but she had no choice. “Gabrielle was thinking more clearly. She knew better than to go there alone, so she told Derek. He showed up before the set meeting time.”

He stared at her in silence. She could almost hear his thoughts. Gabrielle trusted Derek but you couldn’t trust me?

“I trust you,” she assured him. “I just didn’t want to burden you with my problems when you have so many of your own.” God, her words sounded lame.

Why hadn’t she shared this with him earlier? She knew why. She hadn’t wanted to see the disgust in his eyes. Every time she thought about those photographs, about that time, she felt it. She was sure he did, too.

“Burden. Right.” He muttered something else under his breath. “Go on. What else don’t I know?”

“At some point during the night, someone slipped a note in my bag telling me where to leave the money, but I didn’t find it until the next morning. I panicked. I thought for sure they would expose the photo and it would kill your campaign. Gabrielle said Derek called his cousin, who is a police detective in Boston. He told Derek where Tony was living since his release and they spoke to him. He claimed to know nothing about the sudden resurrection of the pictures, but they weren’t sure if they should believe him. I needed to know.”

“What. Did. You. Do?” he asked.

She ran her hands over her eyes, trying to hold it together and not cry. “I stalked him. Sort of. I mean, I stood behind trees and buildings and I watched. He has a wife now. Can a man who has a wife and a child be a blackmailer? I was going to confront him in front of his family, but my car died. I had to call Gabrielle to come get me. We stopped by her place and someone had broken in there, too—” Sharon knew she was rambling, but the stony look on Richard’s face had her in a panic.