Stranger, Seducer, Protector Read online

  “You lie. You’re not Luther. I’ve seen pictures of Luther and he looks nothing like you.”

  “You think I lie? You think I’m dead? I’ll show you dead, Jacinth. And I’ll let you meet it.”

  He moved his foot from her chest and when she struggled to a standing position, he shoved her against the wall and pressed his sweaty body against her. Her stomach lurched. The nauseating stench came from him.

  She tried to push him off her, but he was too strong. He pulled both arms behind her and twisted until she fell to her knees, crying in pain.

  “What do you want?”

  “Only what’s rightfully mine.”

  “The house?”

  He brandished a razor-sharp hunting knife that she hadn’t seen coming and pressed the point of the blade to the back of her neck.

  “I want the sapphire brooch. I want it now! And no tricks, Jacinth. I won’t be fooled by the imitation.”

  The one thing she couldn’t give him.

  She had to think and think fast. “I’m not foolish enough to keep something that valuable at home, Luther. It’s in a safe-deposit box. I can pick it up as soon as the bank opens tomorrow morning.”

  “Then give me the key.”

  “And then you’ll kill me? I’m not stupid, Luther. If you want the key, you’ll have to let me go free.”

  “No worry. I’ll come for the brooch later. I have other urges that must be satisfied tonight.”

  “If you hurt me, Nick Bruno will kill you.”

  Luther threw back his head and roared with the maniacal laugh of a madman.

  “I’m not afraid of Nick. I’m too smart for him. I’m too smart for all of them.”

  But he would be afraid if Nick were here. And Nick would be here if she hadn’t sent him home. He’d have protected her with his life. She’d erupted in anger and sense of betrayal without even giving him a chance to explain.

  “We’re going to take a little walk, Jacinth. You won’t share your treasure with me, but I’ll share mine with you.” The tip of the blade pierced her flesh and warm drops of blood rolled down her neck.

  She couldn’t fight Luther’s strength and his knife. Her only chance was to outsmart him. She’d have to play along until she could think of some way to escape.

  “Where are your treasures, Luther?”

  “Don’t worry. I’ll show you. And then I’ll let you join my private club. You’ll like it. Your father’s a member. He fought like a tiger when I initiated him. But he didn’t have the knife.”

  “You killed my father.”

  “Don’t sound so shocked. He deserved it. Marie and Dad thought he was so much better than me, but the time it mattered most, I bettered him.”

  Luther chuckled as if he’d let her in on some grand joke. With the knife still at her throat, he led her to the empty closet and shoved her inside.

  “You said we were going for a walk. We can’t walk in the closet, Luther. Let’s go outside.”

  He reached over her head. She couldn’t see what he was doing, but she heard a low click and then a soft whir as if he’d turned on a fan.

  The back wall of the closet parted like a sliding door, leaving an opening no more than a foot wide.

  “Victoria’s secret passageway,” she said, finally understanding how Luther had gotten into her house without setting off the alarm.

  “But improved and modified throughout the years. My naive stepmother believed I’d had it sealed as she’d asked. She never once suspected that I’d merely improved it and hidden it from her.”

  A scream gurgled in her throat as Luther shoved her through the opening, but the second she opened her mouth, he slid the point of the blade to her jugular.

  “Scream and you die.”

  And then the real nightmare began.

  She stumbled along in the dark, the knife still at her throat. Something brittle crunched beneath her feet. And the stench grew so strong she became nauseated.

  New fear pummeled her control. If she threw up the knife might slip and slice her jugular. The aged passageway grew so narrow in some places that Luther could barely squeeze through, but still, he pushed her on.

  Her feet were bare, and she tripped over something that felt like a skull, or at least she imagined it to be.

  Death lived within these walls and with every step she expected fleshless hands to grab her and pull her into her grave. Her skin grew clammy. Her heart felt as if it was about to explode out of her chest.

  Just bones, she told herself. They couldn’t hurt her. But Luther could. She had to regain control. If she didn’t find a way to escape, she’d die in this hellhole of Luther’s making.

  Luther’s voice grew excited as he told her about the passageway and how it tunneled under the ground for several yards before exiting through the floor of the rotting carriage house. Through a secret door so well disguised that she and Nick had not found it.

  The narrow space tilted seriously to the left as they squeezed around a corner. Luther turned on a flashlight and shot a beam of light in front of them. Her blood ran cold at the sight. Not one, but several mummified bodies in varying states of decay. And bones scattered about like pickup sticks.

  They were not fakes.

  “How many, Luther?” Her voice trembled. “How many people have you killed?”

  “Fifteen women and Micah. He was the first, the most satisfying in many ways. Unfortunately, I couldn’t stay around to watch his dead body being devoured by the hungry gators.”

  “Why? Why kill him? What had he ever done to deserve that?”

  “Because he took everything I ever wanted. Even Sophie. I loved her first. Micah had to have her, just because she was mine. But no one hated him for stealing her from me. Dad and Marie just loved him all the more for giving them grandchildren.”

  No wonder her mother had taken Jacinth and Caitlyn and run away. She must have realized that Luther was a psychopath and been afraid of what he might do to her baby girls.

  The knife pressed deeper into Jacinth’s flesh and the hot trickle of blood began to flow again.

  “I followed Micah to the old fishing cabin down the bayou that belonged to Elton’s father,” Luther said, his voice low and tinged with pleasure, as if he relished reliving the murder.

  “Micah and Elton had fished and drunk the afternoon away. I waited until after dark and then when Micah walked down to the dock alone to check his traps, I slit his throat.”

  “And dropped his body into the bayou.”

  “I had to. If I’d gotten his blood in my car, I was the one who’d have gone to prison.”

  “Instead you let Elton Bruno go to jail for the crime.”

  “I did more than let him. I made sure he went to prison instead of me. His fingerprints were all over the fillet knife I stole from the camp house, along with Micah’s blood. Once the cops found that in the palmettos behind the cabin, Elton went straight to the top of the suspect list.”

  “Why kill the others? Why kill innocent victims?”

  “Innocent? You know nothing of innocent? They were users, just like your mother. She led me on, and then when I killed Micah and went to her, she cringed at my touch. I should have killed her that night. I almost did.”

  Luther was truly insane, but crazy like the proverbial fox. He’d gotten away with murder for years, killing women and entombing their bodies in this dark, dank crypt mere yards from where Marie slept. There must have been method to that madness, as well.

  He’d even gotten away with faking his own murder to keep from being committed to a mental facility.

  He’d come back to New Orleans when his stepmother was dying, but he’d only come back for the brooch and the money he could get for it.

  “Our tour is over, Jacinth. I have to leave, but you don’t have to go. You can stay with these lovely bones forever. But first, you will satisfy me the way your mother never did.”

  He pulled her close, her back to his chest. He took the blade from her throat and sl
iced through the top of her cotton pajamas.

  No. She couldn’t die. She couldn’t leave Nick thinking she hated him. She wanted to live and go fishing with Nick. She wanted to dance with him in the moonlight. She wanted to tell him his father really was innocent and so was her mother. She wanted to spend her life loving Nick.

  Only how could she live when with one flick of the knife at her throat she’d become just another of Luther’s lifeless treasures.

  Luther laughed as he cut the rest of the pajama top away. She kicked at him and tried to run, but he grabbed her and shoved her to the body-strewn floor.

  There was no way out. She opened her mouth and screamed.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Stakeouts were nothing new to Nick. But he wasn’t used to sitting around waiting on a madman to attack the woman he loved. Sitting in his truck trying to watch the house and listening and watching for any indication of danger just wasn’t cutting it.

  Jacinth was pissed as hell at him and she had every reason to be. But she couldn’t be any madder if he was inside the house and at least then he’d be alerted at the first sign she was in any kind of jeopardy.

  He raised the windows in his truck then slid out and locked the door behind him.

  The scream came just as he fit the key in the lock of her front door. Panic hit hard and fast. He pulled his gun and raced up the stairs and to her bedroom. The bedside lamp was on. Her bed was empty.

  “Jacinth!”

  No answer. No screams. If he’d screwed this up and let something happen to her… No. He couldn’t go there.

  A light was on in one of the bedrooms. He checked it out, his finger poised on the trigger. The room smelled like rotting earth. A few specks of red dotted the carpet leading to the closet.

  Fighting to stay in control, he rushed across the room, almost tripping over Sin. He righted himself and stared into a gaping hole in the back of the closet, like a giant mouth waiting for its food to be shoved inside.

  Nick yanked his high-intensity LED penlight from his pocket and pushed through the opening and into a dank and narrow corridor. Bones and skulls peppered the floor. He’d stepped into a freakin’ morgue inside the walls of Jacinth’s house.

  He fought a rush of near paralyzing fear that he might be too late. He had to keep focused, and he couldn’t do that if he plummeted into anguish.

  He slowed as he saw a spray of light up ahead, bouncing off the wall from around an angled corner. Someone was there and they would have heard him coming.

  “Take one more step, Nick, and I’ll slice her jugular. You know I will.”

  Nick froze. He’d know that voice anywhere.

  Keeping his back against the wall and his Glock on ready, Nick eased around the corner.

  His heart almost stopped when he spotted Jacinth slumped against Luther, her pajama top slashed, a knife at her throat.

  She raised her gaze to meet his. “Luther killed Micah, Nick. Sliced his throat when—”

  “Shut up, you bitch.”

  “That right, Luther? Did you let my father go to prison for your crime? You can tell the truth. You’re not leaving here alive.”

  Nick’s finger ached to pull the trigger now, but he couldn’t risk it as long as Luther was holding the knife at Jacinth’s jugular.

  Nick stared at Luther. The man had a different face. The plastic surgeon had done a good job of changing his appearance. He was about the same age as Nick’s father, but probably looked a good ten years younger. But then he hadn’t spent half his life in prison.

  “Still the coward, aren’t you, Luther? Tough with the women. A wimp with the men.”

  “Shut up.”

  “Dad told me about you. Picked on some girl at school and her daddy came after you with a billy club. You were crying like a baby.”

  “I said shut up.”

  “Make me. Fight me with that knife, not Jacinth. Play fair and be a man for once in your life.”

  “I am a man.”

  “You won’t walk out of here alive this way. You kill Jacinth, I kill you. Fight me fair and square and at least you have a chance. You’ve killed enough women. Let this one go.”

  Luther hesitated a second too long. Something moved behind Nick. And then Sin rounded the corner.

  Startled, Luther jumped back. The knife left Jacinth’s throat, giving Nick the shot he’d been waiting on. Nick pulled the trigger shooting Luther in the chest.

  Luther kept coming, like some superhuman species. He slashed at Jacinth, missing her stomach by inches. The space was too narrow to dodge a swinging, stabbing knife.

  Nick pulled the trigger again, hitting Luther right between the eyes. This time there was no doubt that Luther was down for the count.

  Decades of evil had finally come to an end.

  Nick reached for Jacinth’s hand. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m alive. Thanks to you.”

  “I told you I’d protect you.” He led her out of the maze and then pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry, Jacinth. I did everything wrong, but when I thought that monster might have killed you…” His voice broke. “I love you, Jacinth. I don’t expect you to love me back, but I love you all the same.”

  “But I do love you back, Nick. I never thought love could come in a matter of days, not to me. But it came in a heartbeat. I love you. I love you so very much.”

  He kissed her and this time nothing in his life had ever felt so right.

  Right now they had to invite Detective Greene to the party, but that was okay. There was no rush on sorting out the details. He planned to love Jacinth for the rest of his life.

  Epilogue

  Jacinth stood in front of the mirror in her bedroom, adjusting her veil for the hundredth time.

  Caitlyn waltzed in balancing two flutes of champagne. She set them down next to an unopened legal-size packing envelope.

  “Stop worrying. You look beautiful, and that brooch looks fantastic with the dress.”

  “Even if it’s the copy.”

  “Who cares? It’s gorgeous. Aren’t you going to drink your champagne?”

  “I couldn’t possibly.”

  “I’m pretty sure there’s no law against having a drink on your wedding day.”

  “My stomach is too unsettled. If I drink that I’ll probably throw up in the middle of the ceremony.”

  “Drink it. It will make it easier on all of us.”

  “Are you sure Nick is here?”

  “He’s here. And so is my gorgeous husband, the best man. And so is the preacher. And so are dozens of your friends from the university and from Ohio.”

  “What about Nick’s father?”

  “Yes. He’s here and looking good now that his cancer is in remission. Give it up, sis. Nothing bad is going to happen to ruin your big day. This is going to be a rocking wedding and reception.”

  “Something always happens around this house. I’ll probably have a body fall out of the chandelier right when I start to say I do.”

  “Nope. No bodies in the walls. Passageway totally cleaned out and sealed. You’re good to go.” Caitlyn picked up the envelope. “What’s this?”

  “It was delivered by courier this morning.”

  Caitlyn ripped the envelope open.

  Jacinth gasped. “Don’t open that!”

  “Why not? It’s addressed to both of us.”

  “It’s from Marie’s attorney, probably informing us that we owe more back taxes. And I want this to be the most perfect day of my life.”

  “It will be perfect because you’re marrying the man you love.” Caitlyn reached into the envelope. “There’s a box, no two boxes, and a letter. Which do I open first?”

  “If you must open anything, go with the letter.”

  “Cool. The letter’s from our grandmother.” She read for a moment, then gasped. “Oh my God.”

  “What is it?”

  “Grandma Marie was a manipulative little devil. Basically she says that if we stay in the house for one full
year, we get the real-deal sapphire brooch. And one copy—which is all she had left. But then we already have the one you’re wearing.”

  Caitlyn tore into the blue box. “Yeow! Now that’s what I call jewelry. With this kind of sparkle, you may have to pass out sunglasses. Pin it on and take it for a test drive.”

  “Do we really want a three-quarter-of-a-million-dollar brooch when the house still needs so many repairs and we need to add another kitchen so that we can both have our separate living quarters?”

  They both shook their heads at once.

  “But you must wear it today,” Caitlyn said, already pinning it on her in place of the copy. “It will be the perfect finishing touch for the perfect Villaré wedding.”

  The music started. “That’s my cue as maid of honor. You’re up next,” she said, pulling Jacinth into a hug. “Happy Wedding Day.”

  When the wedding march started, Jacinth stopped at the head of the staircase, the fluttering in her stomach growing wilder by the second.

  And then her gaze locked with Nick’s and she forgot everything but him and how exciting it would be to share his life.

  In the end, no matter what your name or how many sapphires and heirlooms you owned, it all came down to love.

  ISBN: 978-1-4592-1455-2

  STRANGER, SEDUCER, PROTECTOR

  Copyright © 2011 by Jo Ann Vest

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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