Tell Me Your Secrets...

When Elena stepped aside, I drew in a deep breath, then, opening the door, I walked in.

And froze. The room was impressive to say the least. It was large, nearly thirty feet long and a good twenty feet wide. Light poured in through three windows that stretched from floor to ceiling and nearly filled the far wall. Each one had a balcony with a lacy wrought iron balustrade, and each was topped with stained glass.

Sloan stood leaning against one of the window frames, his face in the shadows. But I could feel that he was looking at me. James was seated in a thronelike chair to his right. There was a large ornately carved desk in front of him. Through a door to my left, I glimpsed the foot of a bed. The wall to my right was filled with bookshelves. Leather sofas and chairs were clustered on honey-colored wood floors. There was even a game table with a chess set at the ready.

The whole effect was homey and inviting.

“Come closer, gal. I can’t see you while you’re standing in the shadows.”

The deep voice carried the same authority that I’d noticed earlier in Sloan’s, and I moved forward, suddenly and overwhelmingly curious to see the man who’d raised my sister. Pepper had shown me a photo, but as I drew closer, I saw that it hadn’t done him justice.

James McKenzie was as impressive as the room. He was a large bear of a man, and in spite of the fact that arthritis had largely confined him to his wheelchair, his complexion was still ruddy, and he was strikingly handsome. Though his hair was streaked with white, I could tell that it had been red at one time. But it was his eyes that held my attention. In the short time that I’d been standing there, I knew that I had been quickly and thoroughly summed up. That ability to cut through everything and see right to the core was another thing that he shared with Sloan, I thought.

Did that mean he was going to be just as suspicious of me as Sloan was?

“Surprised that I’m still alive, are ya?”

“No. I mean…I don’t…”

“Remember anything,” he finished for me. “Sloan filled me in on your mugging. It’s the only reason that I’m not giving you a dressing-down for putting us through all this worry.”

I glanced at Sloan, but with the light shining through the windows behind him, I still couldn’t see his expression.

When I looked back, James was still studying me with an almost hungry look in his eyes. And I thought I saw a trace of sadness, too. Or regret? Wasn’t he happy that I was back?

James rose from his chair and extended his arms. “Come give me a hug, gal. I’ve missed them. And you.”

I moved around the desk and walked into James’s outstretched arms. “Welcome home. It’s good to have you here.”

The words and the fierceness of his hug warmed me. My parents had never been much for showing affection in a physical way, and I found myself envying my sister. On impulse, I wrapped my arms around James and held tight for a moment. “I’m really glad to be here.” And I was.

When he finally drew back, James studied me for a minute. “You don’t remember anything?”

I shook my head. “I’m sorry. I don’t even remember how I ended up in San Francisco.”

He released me and eased back down in his chair. “You seen anything yet that triggers a memory?”

“No. I went through my room and my clothes, and I rode up into the hills to get a view of the whole ranch, but it was like I’d never seen any of it before.”

“Good. Keep at it,” James said. “The sooner we get you back to normal the better. I’ve discussed it with Sloan, and I’m going to contact the rest of the family and summon them here for a dinner party tonight to welcome you home. Your cousin Austin’s in Saratoga Springs, but he’s got the jet. You up to it?”

“Sure.” My stomach lurched a bit, but what else could I say?

Sloan circled the desk so that he stood with me in front of it. “James’s theory is that seeing one or more of them may help you remember. I’m more of the opinion that meeting them all en masse might cause you to run away again.” The two men exchanged a look that held both understanding and humor.

He loves the old man, I thought. It was then that I realized that Sloan had come here to pave the way for me, not out of kindness to me, but because he truly loved James. My admiration for him moved up a notch.

“Don’t let Sloan sour you against your kinfolk,” James said with a grin. “We’ll let them do that all on their own.”

Sloan laughed then, and the rich sound filled the air. I found myself smiling at him, and he smiled back. There was no mockery in his eyes this time. But I could see something else, something more intimate and it had something hot spreading through me. The heat kicked up several degrees when he lifted a hand and with one finger traced a little half circle under my eye. “You’re tired, Red. You’d better rest so that you’re up to handling them and dealing with their questions.”

I couldn’t move. I was sure my legs had turned to water. He’d barely touched me, but I felt it clear down to my toes.

He dropped his hand abruptly and turned to James. “I have to get back to work.” Without another word, he strode to the door and opened it.

I stared after him, finally accepting what I had tried to deny before. I was attracted to Sloan Campbell. Big-time. I’d been attracted from the moment I’d first seen his picture, and it had only increased when we’d met face-to-face on the bluff and he’d kissed me. I could no longer blame it on adrenaline. It was lust.

My stomach knotted. I’d come here to learn all I could about my sister, to find a clue to her whereabouts—not to fall in lust with her fiancé. And I couldn’t yet dismiss the possibility that he might have had something to do with her disappearance. These were the kind of plot complications that would be great for Secrets. But they should not be happening to nothing-ever-happens-to-me Brooke Ashby.

At the door, Sloan turned back and looked at me. I realized something else. He knew exactly what effect he was having on me.

What in the world had I gotten myself into?

“Take a nap,” he said in that authoritative way he had.

“You’ll be here for dinner,” James said to him.

“I wouldn’t miss it.”

When Sloan closed the door, I turned to face James and there was a moment of awkward silence between us.

“He’s a good man,” James finally said.

“Yes.” So far, I could agree with that assessment.

“He’ll make you a good husband.”

I didn’t have an answer ready for that. But I sensed that Cameron and he had had this conversation before. “Do you have any idea why I ran away?”

James watched for a moment. “Everyone figured it was bridal jitters.”

I studied him right back. He was a man who was used to getting what he wanted. “And I’m the type of coward who would have run away?”

“No.” I saw a flash of something in his eyes. Pride? “But you’re headstrong and you have a temper. You and Sloan had a little argument the day before you disappeared.”

“About what?”

James shrugged. “You’ll have to ask him.”

“So I ran away to punish him?” I could understand that my sister, the woman that I was coming to know, might have done that.

“You ran away to think,” James corrected. “From the time you were a little girl, you liked to get away from everything and think.”

Something moved through me. I’d always done the same thing. Wasn’t that one of the reasons I’d borrowed the SUV and driven up into the hills? “So you weren’t surprised when I just disappeared?”

“No. I knew you’d eventually get it all figured out and then you’d come home. And I was right.” He smiled at me. “Marriage is a big step. But it’s always better when there’s love and at least a bit of chemistry involved, right?”

I nodded, not sure where he was going.

“You and Sloan have the chemistry. The love will follow. Now go on and get out of here, gal.” He waved his hands at me. “I’m an old man and I need a nap before the festivities begin.”

MY THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS were still spinning as I left James’s suite and hurried back to Cameron’s room. I’d better keep reminding myself of that—Cameron’s room, Cameron’s family, Cameron’s fiancé.

But when I reached the room, I found Hannibal still reclining on the pillows at the head of the bed. The look he gave me was not friendly. I wasn’t in the mood for a turf war, so I went to the cabinet and got us both a treat. It wasn’t enough to lure him off the pillows, but he didn’t give me any grief when I stretched out well away from him on the foot of the bed and bit into chocolate.

For a while, I closed my eyes and let my thoughts spin in my head. This was a technique I often used when I was working on story lines. Complications were great when I was developing ideas for a plot, but they were trickier to handle in real life.

What I’d learned so far about my sister and her disappearance confirmed what had been in Pepper’s report. Cameron was a bit headstrong and spoiled, so no one had been very alarmed when she’d disappeared. James thought her sudden flight might have been triggered by a lover’s quarrel. I made a mental note to find out what she and Sloan had quarreled about.