Garner Read online

  But for the past few days, he hadn’t been able to think of anything but the truck bearing down on them on the highway, the fire in Sabina’s sister’s trailer, and the knife attack on Wyatt Boudreaux. He had to see her one more time. He had to make sure she wasn’t taking risks to find more evidence to exonerate her cousin. Risks that could jeopardize her safety. Maybe even her life.

  But as soon as he made sure she was safe, as soon as he convinced her to turn the investigation over to a private detective—a detective he would gladly pay for—he would stay away. For good this time.

  Assailed by spinning lights and squeals of laughter, he circled the spinning cars of the Tilt-a-Whirl and made his way toward the shadowed hulks of tents devoted to games, selling goods, and fortune-telling. The grass between the tents had been worn down by foot traffic, leaving nothing but greasy mud sprinkled with straw. Carnies leaned from the tents hawking games of skill and chance to passersby. Light glowed from a large tent at the end of the row. A sign out front enticed the curious to enter and learn their futures. Garner lifted a corner of the flap and glanced inside.

  Amid velvet drapes, silken pillows and candles, an old Gypsy woman hovered over a woman Garner recognized from town. The Gypsy held the woman’s hand, tracing the lines of her palm with a withered finger. Gray hair peeked out from under the scarf knotted around her head. Lines deep as mountain gorges creased her face. Gold coin bracelets similar to the earrings Sabina wore tinkled with the movement of her hands. “Understand, my dear, that I see wealth for you. Wealth and success in your career.”

  The town woman hung on every word.

  Garner let the tent flap fall. Spinning away, he ran smack into a tiny waif of a woman. He grasped her arm, steadying her. “Pardon me, Miss.”

  She looked up at him with luminous brown eyes that seemed both childlike and worldly-wise at the same time. She had to be in her mid-twenties, but the way she tilted her head reminded him of a small child with a question. A giggle broke from her lips. “Are you looking for someone?”

  “Yes, I am. Do you work here? At the carnival?”

  “Work? Sometimes.” She giggled again. Her long dark hair curved in wisps with the contour of her neck. Her loose sack of a dress and gold hoops on her ears and wrists made her look like an elf or mischievous pixie of some kind. “I’m Florica.”

  “Do you know Sabina King, Florica?”

  “She’s one of the sisters.”

  He supposed she was referring to Sabina and her sister Alessandra. “Yes. The sisters. She is one of the sisters. Do you know where she is?”

  The pixie pointed at the fortune-telling tent. “Valonia is in the tent, not Alessandra. Valonia can’t really tell fortunes. Not like Alessandra. Alessandra can see the future. I wonder what she sees now.”

  Garner looked back at the tent. So the old woman in the tent was the one supposedly cursing everyone. She seemed so frail. She didn’t look as if she’d be able to curse her way out of a wet paper bag.

  “I’m not looking to have my fortune told. I’m looking for Sabina.” He made his words very clear, hoping the young woman would understand.

  To his dismay, another giggle bubbled from her lips. “Sabina doesn’t tell fortunes. Not like Alessandra.”

  “I know. I don’t want my fortune told. I want to find Sabina.”

  Now she pointed at a small tent huddled to one side of the tent housing the fortune-teller. “Sabina is a healer. That is her tent.”

  The tent was dark, the front flap closed and tied. Obviously Sabina wasn’t selling her spells. But where was she?

  Garner frowned at the sprite. He was getting nowhere here. He’d have to find someone else to help him. Such as Sabina’s aunt. He took a step toward the fortune-telling tent.

  “Do you need to be healed?”

  The pixie’s quiet question stopped him in his tracks. He turned back to face her.

  “Sabina can heal people. Do you need to be healed?”

  He nodded. “Yes. I need Sabina to heal me.”

  The girl’s mouth crooked into a smile. “Then follow me.”

  She whirled and scampered off, her hair and dress fading into the night.

  Garner ran to catch up.

  She darted in and out of the crowd, passing through pools of shadow and light. As soon as Garner spotted her, she flitted in another direction, her head bobbing as she ran.

  He’d trailed her halfway down the alley of games when she disappeared between two game tents. He followed, cutting through the line of tents at the point where he thought she’d vanished. The shadows behind the game booths seemed all the deeper after the swirling lights of the midway and the neon streaming from some of the games. The rotting scent of the day’s garbage hung in the air. He scoured the blackness, but the strange girl was nowhere to be seen.

  In the shadowy field before him, he could make out the hulking shapes of more than a dozen trailers, the traveling homes of the carnival workers. Had Sabina returned to her trailer for the night? Maybe this was where the pixie was leading him before he’d lost her.

  Deeply rutted, the field was almost devoid of grass, worn away by feet and tires. He pushed ahead, checking each trailer for light. Through one window, he could see a Gypsy woman tucking children into bed. In front of another trailer, men hunched over guitars, the music drifting on the air and mingling with the calliope and zydeco music of the carnival.

  A giggle sounded from behind a trailer to his right. The waif playing a game of hide-and-seek? He rounded the trailer, following the sound. There in the shadows was a pair of teenagers in a clutch. Another giggle rose from the girl’s lips.

  It was no use. He’d lost Florica. Maybe she’d planned to lead him on a wild-goose chase, he didn’t know. With her strange giggle and the impish glint in her eyes, he wouldn’t be surprised if she’d played him for her own amusement. Well, if he couldn’t find Sabina among the trailers, he would find a ticket seller or someone else on the midway who could help him locate her.

  Worry cramped the muscles in his neck and shoulders. What if Sabina wasn’t at the carnival? What if something bad had happened?

  Garner raked a hand through his hair and tried to bring his thoughts under control. No matter where she was, he’d find her. He’d make sure she was okay. He had to if he wanted to preserve what little bit of peace he had left.

  ______

  Sabina sat down among the silk pillows on the bed in her little trailer. Elbows on knees, she cradled her head in her hands. She just didn’t have the energy to stand in her tent hawking magic spells to carnival-goers tonight. She was exhausted. Weary to the bone. She’d been running herself ragged trying to scrape up more evidence to support Carlo’s case while trying to run both her tent and Alessandra’s fortune-telling tent. If it wasn’t for Valonia offering to stand in for Alessandra tonight, Sabina didn’t know what she would have done.

  Drawing a deep breath, she stood, walked the few steps to her little refrigerator and rummaged inside for a cold can of soda. Wyatt’s recovery was progressing well. Alessandra planned to return to the carnival tonight. The attorney Garner had asked to take Carlo’s case seemed to be doing a good job. Sabina’s life would return to normal soon. But somehow that thought didn’t bring her relief.

  Sabina didn’t want her life to return to the way it used to be. She didn’t want to travel to the next town, selling her spells, moving through life alone. She wanted change.

  She wanted Garner Rousseau.

  Sabina popped the top of the soda can. She might as well want to be queen.

  A thump and scrape sounded outside, rising over the strum of nearby guitars and the music of the carnival. Sabina tensed. Though she was probably being paranoid, she couldn’t help remembering the fire that had almost killed Alessandra and Wyatt. She looked around her trailer for something she could use as a weapon. Clutching a wine bottle by the throat, she tiptoed to the door and pushed it open slowly.

  A hand closed around her wrist.

 
Chapter Four

  A woman’s scream ripped through the humid night.

  Garner’s heart leaped into his throat. He knew immediately the scream was Sabina’s. He could feel it in the pinch of his gut and the shot of adrenaline that slammed into his bloodstream. He raced in the direction of the scream.

  Dodging around trailers, he forced his feet to move faster over the rutted terrain. Another scream split the air.

  Garner saw her silhouetted in light streaming from the open doorway of a trailer. The outline of a man hulked behind her, one hand holding her around the middle, the other hand on her throat, choking her. He wore a mask, one with a sharp beak and feathers, like a bird of prey.

  The attacker released her throat. He raised his fist and slammed it into Sabina’s jaw. Her head snapped back like a doll’s, and she slumped to the ground.

  A bellow rose in Garner’s throat. Finally reaching her trailer, he flung himself at the man. His fist connected with plastic and feathers.

  The man spun from Garner’s punch. Short yet powerfully built, he regained his balance and lunged at Garner. The blade of a knife flashed in his hand.

  Garner grabbed the assailant’s forearm and brought it down hard against the corner of the trailer.

  The man grunted, but his fist only tightened around the knife’s handle.

  Garner slammed the man’s arm against the trailer again.

  This time a cry of pain broke from under the mask. The fist went slack. The knife hit the dirt and bounced under the shadowed edge of the trailer near where Sabina lay.

  Garner held the man with one hand, groping under the trailer’s edge with the other. He had to reach that knife first.

  Foot lashing out, the man tangled one leg with Garner’s and shoved with strong arms.

  Garner lost his grip on the man’s arm and fell backward, hitting the dirt beside Sabina’s still form.

  The attacker twisted away. He managed to grab the knife. He held it out in front of him, blade flashing in the light from the open trailer door.

  On hands and knees, Garner angled his body between the knife and Sabina. The birdman might have the advantage now, but he would never get to Sabina. Garner would make sure of it.

  The assailant’s head whipped around, as if noticing someone’s approach.

  Taking advantage of the man’s distraction, Garner scrambled to his feet and lunged at him. Not fast enough.

  The man ducked back. Leaving Garner staggering, birdman sprinted away, disappearing into the shadows of the surrounding trailers.

  Sabina.

  Garner spun back and fell to his knees beside her. She moaned softly, but her eyes remained shut, half-moons of lush lashes brushing pale cheeks.

  Fear tinged his mouth, along with the copper flavor of blood. He knelt and gathered her in his arms, then carried her up the few steps and through the open door of the trailer.

  The inside looked just like Sabina. Soft, gentle, somewhat exotic. Green pillows lined the bed. Plants of every shape and kind sprang from pots and crept toward the wide windows. Draperies of some shimmery material blocked the night outside.

  Sabina stirred in his arms, another moan escaping from her lips. Her eyelids fluttered and opened. Her eyes focused on his, drawing him into their brilliant color, holding on.

  “Garner?”

  The word was little more than a breath, but it resonated through him with the force of a shout.

  Thank God. She was all right. She wasn’t dead. Not like Mary Ann. Not like his mother and father. Sabina was alive and in his arms.

  Without thought, he lowered his mouth to hers. Her lips tasted every bit as sweet as he knew they would. Sweet and soft and oh, so responsive.

  She put her arms around his shoulders and deepened the kiss, joining her tongue with his. Caressing and tasting and loving.

  He reveled in the press of her lips, the scent of her skin, the flavor of her mouth. He wanted to taste all of her, experience all of her, draw her into his soul.

  He carried her to the bed and set her down, her head on the silken pillows, without taking his mouth from hers, without breaking the contact. He’d almost lost her. Lost her before he’d really even found her. Before he’d drawn her brilliant color into his soul. Before he could love her.

  Love her.

  His throat tightened. He pulled his lips from hers and willed his arms to release her.

  “I’m okay. I’m okay. You didn’t have to stop.”

  “Yes, I did.” Garner looked down into her eyes, her beautiful, beguiling eyes, and smoothed her hair back from her face with his fingertips. “I’m sorry. I…”

  He closed his mouth. What could he say? Sorry, I’ve had enough loss and regret for a lifetime? I can’t risk more by letting myself care about you?

  “I’m sorry, too,” she said, offering him a gentle smile, but the sadness in her voice hit him like a well-aimed kick to the gut.

  ______

  Sabina raised her fingers to Garner’s face and traced the hard line of his lips. Lips that were so gentle. So tender. Yet so full of tension.

  She’d wanted him to kiss her, wanted it with every fiber of her being. But she hadn’t wanted this. She hadn’t wanted him to be sorry. To torture himself for kissing her. To pull away and leave her empty inside.

  Garner kissed her fingers, then enfolded her hand in his and lowered it to the bed. “I wish things were different.”

  His wife. His family. The pain of losing them ached in his eyes and in his aura. The fear of caring and losing again. The fear of risk. A fear she knew all too well. She offered him a sad smile. “I know.”

  He brushed her hair from her cheek, his fingers moving over her jaw.

  Even at his gentle touch, her jaw was tender. She sucked in a breath.

  He pulled his hand back. “You’re going to have one nasty bruise. We need to get some ice on that. Do you have any?”

  “I have something better in my tent. A healing balm I make myself. Besides, I heal quickly.”

  He nodded as if he accepted her answer without question.

  A glow of pure warmth and strength infused her. What was it about him that made her feel as if she could do anything each time he looked at her? Each time he accepted her? She felt so strong and safe when he was around. Feelings she had no business experiencing, not when she’d just been attacked right outside her own trailer by a masked man. “Do you think he’ll come back?”

  Garner shook his head. “Not if he’s smart. But we have to call the police and report it. Do you have a phone?”

  Now it was her turn to shake her head. “I’ve never had much need to call anyone, so I’ve resisted joining the cellphone generation. Too expensive. There’s one at the carnival office.”

  “Do you think you can walk there?”

  She sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. Although her jaw pounded like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it, the rest of her body seemed to be functioning just fine.

  Maybe too fine.

  Sitting next to Garner, her side touching his, she felt heat curl inside her. She tried not to think of the way he’d cradled her in his arms when he’d carried her into the trailer. The press of his lips on hers, the taste of his mouth, the dance of his tongue. She tried not to think of any of it, but she failed miserably.

  A knock sounded on the trailer door. “Sabina?” The voice of a boy teetering on the edge of puberty rang above the jangle of the carnival outside.

  Sabina lurched to her feet. Her knees wobbled under her for a moment.

  Garner grabbed her arm and held her steady. “Not so fast. I’ll get it.”

  He guided her back down to the bed, strode to the trailer door and pulled it open.

  “Is Sabina here?”

  Garner motioned him into the trailer. “Inside.”

  It was Peppi, a boy who ran errands for Milo Vasilli, the carnival’s owner. When he spotted Sabina on the bed, he dropped his gaze to the floor, cheeks reddening.

  “It’
s okay, Peppi. What has happened? Is your father back?” She’d been looking for Peppi’s father, Tony. She needed to ask him a few questions about the directions he’d given when Wyatt had inquired about a public phone. Directions that had resulted in an attempt on Wyatt’s life by a knife-wielding assailant.

  Peppi shook his head. “He didn’t come home again last night. Mama’s real worried.”

  Sabina pressed her lips together. Had something happened to Tony? Or might he have been the one who’d run her and Wyatt off the road? The one who’d attacked her tonight? “I’m sorry to hear he’s still not back. If you hear anything, let me know.”

  “I came to tell you there’s a phone call for you at the carnival office. It’s Alessandra.”

  Sabina bolted to her feet.

  Garner reached out and caught her arm. “Wait. You’re in no condition…”

  Sabina tried to pull him with her out the trailer door. “Alessandra was planning to come back to the carnival tonight. She’s supposed to be here in an hour. She would only call if it was urgent.”

  “Well, if you think you’re going to go sprinting up to the office, you’re wrong. You’re going to end up face down on the midway.”

  “Then come with me. You can prop me back on my feet.”

  Garner by her side and Peppi loping on ahead, Sabina wove through the rows of trailers and broke through the line of carnival games. Crowds shuffled through the narrow alley between game booths. Beyond the games area, the midway was in full swing. Colored lights swirled. Screams echoed off rides, competing with the sounds of rumbling motors and the jumbled mixture of calliope and zydeco music.

  Pulse pounding, Sabina raced through the crowds with Garner at her side. She tried to imagine why Alessandra had called.

  Was Wyatt all right? Had the driver of the vehicle that had hit him gone to the hospital to finish the job?

  Or had Alessandra seen something in one of her visions? The masked man’s attack on her? Or something that hadn’t happened yet?

  Sabina quickened her pace. The carnival office was located where games, midway and trailer lot intersected. Peppi reached it first and opened the door. Sabina and Garner followed him inside.