Ember's Fire: A Hearts of Harkness Romance (The Standish Clan Book 2) Read online

  “I still don’t get it.”

  She bit her lip. “Maybe there’s nothing to get. But it just seems that if Terry’s good buddies Kendri and Ross were dating back then—which I think is safe to say given that their names are framed inside a pretty heart—and if Bridget-with-the-spider was here too, then she could have been with Terry.”

  “Maybe,” Jace allowed. “Terry used to have quite a few female friends out here before my stepdad found out and put a stop to it.” He picked up his phone from the end table. “Let’s just see if we can find Bridget Northrup.”

  Within a few short minutes, he announced he’d found her. “According to this, she probably lives in Crandler,” he said. “She’s definitely a teacher there at Crandler Elementary.”

  His jaw tensed and Ember leaned in to see what was on the small screen. It was a tall, blond Miss Northrup shaking the hand of a proud fifth grader. Local boy wins Provincial Essay Contest—the caption read.

  She looked away, hating the surge of jealousy. This was the woman who’d slept with Jace. But in looking away, her gaze fell on the guest book again. She studied the names, the hand-drawn heart with the shaded edges to give it a 3D look and the delicate curlicues at the point of it. Then Bridget’s name, with the world’s cutest spider forming the dot over the letter i. The date...

  She sat up straighter. “Hey, look at this.” She pushed the guest book in front of him. “Look at the date.”

  “Two weeks before my birthday.” He looked up at her, wide-eyed. “Something’s not right. If your speculation is correct and Bridget was Terry’s guest-slash-lover up here that weekend, why would she be hooking up with me two weeks later? Unless she did it for revenge. I could maybe see that, given what an asshole Terry can be, but then why do it and not tell him? Terry said he never got a good look at her, only saw her briefly as she was getting in the cab the next day.”

  His words deflated her. “You’re right. Not much point to revenge sex if your ex doesn’t find out about it.”

  He made a choked noise and she looked over at him. He was looking back at her like she’d sprouted another head.

  “Jace? Are you okay?”

  “Sure. I’m dandy. Never better.”

  He didn’t sound dandy, but whatever. If he had something to say, he could just say it. Or not. She wasn’t going to pussyfoot around him.

  She looked down at the guestbook again. “Maybe I was wrong about her being here with Terry. Maybe she was just a third wheel with Ross and Kendri.”

  “Maybe.”

  She picked up her plate and started pecking away at the food. It was cold, but she’d finally found her appetite.

  After a few minutes, Jace started working on his plate too. He made short work of it, putting in on the end table when he’d finished.

  “Thank you. That was very good.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  They sat in silence for a few moments. Except it wasn’t really silent. Outside, the roar of the wind in the trees was unceasing and rain pattered against the window. Though the cabin was still reasonably warm, the sound made Ember get to her feet, cross the room, and put some more wood in the fire. She pulled her shirt closer around her as she watched the flames dance through the ceramic glass door.

  “I’m going to get to the bottom of this.”

  At Jace’s words, she turned to face him.

  “Whatever it takes, I’m going to find out once and for all what really happened that night.”

  Her chest tightened. Was she ready to know the truth? Oh, hell, what if she’d been wrong?

  “Can you arrange a medical evacuation?”

  A med-evac? She met his gaze. “Theoretically, I could, but I’m not going to. You don’t need it, Jace. It’s not a taxi service.”

  “I’ll pay.”

  Spoken like a Picard. She crossed her arms over her chest. “It’s not about that. What if someone really needed the service while it was tied up out here? Hell, what if Titus finds trouble in the mountain and needs it?”

  His expression sharpened. “You’re expecting trouble?”

  “No one ever expects trouble. Lacey Douglas didn’t.” Poor Lacey. So young; such a tragedy. “But it has a way of finding people just the same.”

  He sat back, his expression grim.

  “Jace, what’s this really about? Why the urgency?”

  “I have to know.”

  Despite herself, she felt for him. He looked so bleak sitting there.

  “I want to know the truth about what happened that night just as much as you do.” She went back to the love seat, perched on the front edge of the cushion so she could face him. Close enough so that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted to. And God help her, she wanted him to.

  “The night I lost you...” He cleared his throat. “Ember. I’ll never forgive myself. I’m not trying to shift the blame or get off the hook. I’m trying to find out what happened, how it happened. Why I lost you. How I could have messed things up so royally.”

  She looked down at her clasped hands. “We both lost.”

  His hand covered one of hers, his thumb grazing her knuckles. Her heart jumped, but she kept her gaze on their hands. Hers so small by contrast, his darker, the skin rougher.

  He lifted his hand to her chin, tipping her face up to meet his eyes. She was prepared to see desire there and steeled herself against it. But she wasn’t prepared to see it mixed with so much sorrow. So much pain. She had no defense against that.

  He slid his hand behind her neck and pulled her toward him. She went willingly. Going up on one knee and placing a hand on his chest to support herself, she leaned into the kiss.

  His mouth was warm and mobile beneath hers, familiar and strange at the same time. She pulled back after a moment to look at his face.

  “Ember.”

  The hoarseness of his plea carried her back, erasing the years. She pressed her lips to his again, seeking that old, delicious friction. He gave it to her, and when his tongue sought admission moments later, she parted for him. The taste of him rocked her senses, flooding her with yearning. A yearning that only grew with his intimate exploration. But so did the sadness, the sense of loss.

  She pulled back, looking into his face. Hand splayed on his chest, she felt the powerful pounding of his heart. “You have no idea how much I wanted that night with you.”

  Something flashed in his eyes and his face hardened. Before she could process the change, he closed a hand around her wrist and removed it from his chest, easing her away from him.

  “I shouldn’t have done that,” he said, his voice as tight as his face.

  She pulled back, smarting. How could he look so pissed off? So angry? She was the one who’d been betrayed.

  And he’d been the one to call a halt to that kiss when it should have been her spurning him.

  “Relax, Jace. We’re adults.” She pushed to her feet, smoothing her jeans. “We stirred up some old memories. Nothing more.”

  “Right.”

  The silence stretched again.

  She turned back to him. “You really want to find out what happened that night?”

  “Yes.”

  “All of it?”

  “All of it,” he confirmed. There was a fierce determination in his eyes. And a warning in his words, “But Ember, if we start overturning stones…”

  “Then we turn them all over,” she agreed. “All secrets pulled out of the dark corners and placed on the table.”

  He hesitated. “Agreed.”

  He was hiding something. She could still read him.

  “Okay, how am I going to get out of here?” He gestured to his foot. “I’m guessing hiking out is out of the question.”

  “It’s not the worst sprain I’ve seen, but it would get a helluva lot worse if you tried to walk out of here on it, even with me helping you.”

  “What about by boat? Know anyone who can get in here for first light?”

  First light? “You’re not asking much
, are you?”

  He just looked at her, waiting for an answer.

  Her mind flashed to a solution. A tall, dark, handsome, totally-just-a-friend solution. “Think we can get you down to the river?”

  “Definitely.”

  “Then I know a guy who can get us out. For a price, of course.”

  That muscle in his jaw leapt. “Call him. I’ll pay whatever he wants.”

  Chapter 7

  JACE STOOD outside, leaning against the door to the closed-up camp, cell phone pressed to his ear. The wind whipped around him, hard and cold. He didn’t care. Let it.

  No answer. Again. He ended the call after the fifth ring and shoved the phone back into his pocket.

  It was just about ten minutes to six, well before what Terry would consider a civilized hour, but Jace didn’t give a damn. In fact, he’d been calling off and on all night. Yes, Terry was on holiday in the Bahamas, but he usually kept his phone on him. Maybe this new girlfriend—a good fifteen years younger than Terry—was wearing him out. Or maybe his big brother was sleeping off another late night of drinking and had set the phone to vibrate so he could sleep in.

  Not that Terry would be hung over. At least, not for long. Whatever he took for his migraines did the job on those too. As hard as he partied, he seldom let it get in the way of work. He’d get up, swallow a pill, and keep right on going. Though at what cost to his liver, God only knew.

  As for Jace’s own poor, suffering head…

  The ibuprofen had knocked the headache down for a while, but it had come roaring back. Ember had dozed off for a few hours, reclined beside him on the love seat. Rather than disturb her by thrashing and lurching around to get a dose of Tylenol at the three hour mark, he’d just lain there until it was time for the next dose of Advil at dawn.

  His head was finally starting to feel better, though. Just being outside had provided him with a measure of relief. He pulled in a deep breath. There was a quality to the air around here. The river, the mountain—this entire region of New Brunswick. Clean and clear. Heaven on Earth.

  Wayne Picard had loved it here. His stepfather had invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in the last dozen years before his death into helping the aquaculture of the area. He loved the natural rhythms of the land, the river. Picking fiddleheads in the spring. Then it was brook trout and shad. Fly-fishing salmon from June right through August. Wayne wasn’t much for big game hunting, but he’d loved bagging a few ducks and geese in the fall. The old man had wanted everyone to be able to enjoy nature and live in harmony with it. And he’d meant for WRP Holdings to follow that vision.

  Jace shifted some of his weight from his left foot to his injured right foot to see how it felt, and was surprised by how well he tolerated it. Of course, Ember had iced it around five o’clock, then wrapped and braced it excellently. Maybe it was even starting to heal a little bit.

  In the trees above him, crows began to caw into the blowing wind. How many dawns after sleepless nights had he stepped outside to be greeted with that very sound?

  “Morning, boys,” he murmured. “Good day to lie low, if you’re looking for some free advice.”

  The birds scattered from the treetops as the wind whipped wildly around, and this time, Jace did brace himself. It was going to be a hell of a day. And a hell of a rough ride in that boat. That is, if her contact made good on his promise to meet them at the river’s edge. He’d have to know the region very well to find the right spot to pull his boat out. Even Jace would be hard pressed to find it by water, and he’d been coming here since he was a kid. The river would be all white caps today too. That little bit of extra attention required by the rough water might make it harder for Ember’s guy to find them.

  Even on a choppy day like this one, the Prince River had a quality of home to it. A familiarity. Hell, the whole region had been built around it. But just like he respected Harkness Mountain, Jace never deluded himself about the dangers of the deep, swift-moving waters. Neither did Ember.

  Ember.

  She was the reason his night had been so sleepless. He’d fully expected her to crawl into the bed up in the loft for what was left of the night. Instead, she’d crashed on the recliner with him. But why?

  Could she have wanted to be close in case he needed her? That didn’t seem likely, since she’d helped him to the bathroom, tended to his ankle, and made sure he was comfortably settled before she’d slept.

  Maybe she just hadn’t wanted to go anywhere near that bed. The very bed he’d covered with rose petals all those years ago, in preparation for her eighteenth birthday, the date they’d set for consummating their love.

  He’d read that in a book—the rose petal thing. Actually, it had been one of Ember’s romance novels. He’d picked the paperback up and flipped it open to the crease in the middle. His first thought had been, Did Ember’s mother know she read this stuff? But then he’d read on. It had been very...informative. He’d wanted to make the occasion as special as he could, as romantic as he could.

  His lips thinned. Well, she wasn’t the only one who’d avoided that bed. As many times as he’d retreated to this cabin, he’d given it a pass in favor of the recliner.

  Suddenly impatient, he shifted his weight back onto his injured foot again. Not bad, but nowhere near healed.

  Of all weekends for this to happen, for her to show up in his life again.

  He hadn’t told Ember about the sale of the property, even though he’d had the chance. The longer he delayed breaking the news, the harder it was going to be. So why was he holding back?

  Because you don’t want her to bolt again.

  For a moment the wind almost stilled, and a voice drifted up from the river—a man’s voice.

  “So, Red, tell me again why you and What’s-His-Name are in such an all-fired hurry to head into town.”

  Red? Who the hell ever got away with calling Ember Red?

  Apparently this guy did. Jace’s lips thinned even further.

  Ember made some reply, but Jace couldn’t catch it. Her voice was naturally softer, and the wind had picked up once more.

  Then he saw her coming through the trees toward him. Normally, he’d have heard the bushes rustling, but with the wind tossing the trees, such subtle sounds were drowned out.

  She’d already carried both their overstuffed backpacks and his briefcase down to the river.

  The latter was locked, secured with a bungee cord, and lashed tightly to his backpack. No way did he want it spilling its secrets. Not yet. If she knew what was inside that case, she’d skin him alive for having had her lug it up to the cabin in the first place.

  And yeah, having to let her hump that stuff around rubbed him the wrong way. But he’d had no choice. He sure as hell couldn’t carry it, gimped up like this. As much as he told himself that anyone with a sprained ankle would be in the same position, it still stung. He wasn’t used to having to rely on anyone.

  He’d done what he could inside to help with departure preparations. Between them, they’d made sure the fire in the stove was out and that all electrical appliances were unplugged. That meant repacking the perishable stuff and leaving the door to the unplugged fridge propped open. Ember had even packed up the garbage without him having to ask. That had pleased him more than it should have, to see she still had some country in her.

  He watched her progress toward him. When she was about twenty feet away, she stopped, pulled out her phone, read something. Then her fingers flew as she input her own message. “This’ll drive him crazy.”

  Him.

  Brother?

  Boyfriend?

  The latter seemed unlikely—not the way she’d responded when he’d kissed her last night. Before he remembered about Terry and pulled away.

  She slid her phone into a pocket of her coat and zipped it closed. When she resumed walking toward him, her face was completely sober again.

  “Ready?” she asked.

  He nodded. “The place is all locked up.”

&nbs
p; “I guess we’re all set then,” she said, but he noticed she patted her pockets searchingly.

  “Forget something? Want to go in and look around?”

  “Nah. If I did, it can’t be too important. I’ve got all the critical stuff.”

  “Where’s your Wild Man of Harkness Mountain? I thought I heard his voice.”

  “Ryker,” she corrected. “His name is Ryker Groves. And he’s waiting at the boat, like I asked him to. Because if he was here, he’d insist on helping you, if only so I didn’t have to, and I know how much you’d hate that.”

  Her perception surprised him. Though he supposed it shouldn’t. She always did seem to know what he was feeling, sometimes before he did. The fact that she still did pissed him off.

  “For chrissakes, Ember, you don’t have to handle me.”

  Her eyes widened. “I wasn’t aware that I was.”

  “For the record, I couldn’t give a shit who helps me, so long as I can make it to the river and get on with the search.”

  “Well, it’s going to be me helping you, as we’ve already established. So, if you’re quite ready, Mr. Cranky Pants, let’s get this show on the road.”

  Mr. Cranky Pants? It wasn’t enough that he felt so useless and dependent. Now he felt like a petulant child too. But to protest would only make him seem more...cranky.

  “Okay, let’s go.” With a deep sigh, he pushed away from the wall, keeping most of his weight on his good leg.

  Ember was beside him in a flash, sliding under his right arm and pulling his hand over her shoulder. Her movements were sure, clinical. She’d probably done this for lots of patients.

  “Lean on me,” she said. “Come on. Doctor’s orders.”

  He did as she bade, letting her take some of his weight, but before they took a single step, she looked up at him. “Can we call a truce, Jace?”

  “A truce?”

  “Yeah, as in stop picking at each other.” Her green eyes were earnest. “I need to know what happened that night just as much as you do—maybe more. That’s why I’m going along with this...quest of yours.”