Annie on the Lam: A Christmas Caper Read online

  She recalled the look in his eyes last night when she’d opened the bathroom door wearing only her underwear. When Joe Brady pursued a woman, Annie felt certain family finances did not influence his interest.

  Her face warmed as a blush spread up her neck. Since meeting him, she was only starting to realize just how much she had missed out on during her life. For one thing, she’d missed out on that look. No man had ever stared at her before with so much heat in his eyes. No boyfriend, none of her three fiancés. Annie suspected they’d all been more attracted to her father’s wealth than to her. But those sparks in Joe’s eyes last night had ignited because of her, not her father’s money. They had sizzled for the woman she really was, not the woman she’d tried for years to be.

  She glanced at Joe’s mouth, his hands on the wheel. Rough hands, not soft and manicured. Her nerve endings hummed beneath her skin. Oh, yeah, she’d missed out all right. Who needed cuff links, country clubs or high-dollar wine when men like Joe Brady were out there roaming about? Why hadn’t she known? She had assumed his type only existed in fiction—paperback detective novels and high-adrenaline movies. She had the craziest urge to ask him to pull over at the next motel even if the snow stopped falling, the sun came out and the roads miraculously cleared.

  “Have you ever been married, Joe?”

  “Once. Right after I finished at the academy. If you can call it a marriage. It lasted less than a year. We were too young, and I had a mistress.”

  “Oh.” She sat straighter. Damn it. At the core, were all men the same?

  He slanted her a look. “My job was my mistress.”

  “Oh.” She smiled.

  “My wife couldn’t handle that. It was probably for the best.” He paused, then asked, “How about you? Ever married?”

  She shook her head. “I’ve been engaged three times. The last time I almost went through with it. I had on the dress, the church was full of guests, the music was playing….”

  “What happened?”

  “I caught him giving the wedding planner a medical exam.”

  His brows shot up. “I take it the guy wasn’t a doctor?”

  “Nope, a banker. But the wedding planner isn’t the real reason I backed out. I was going to, anyway.”

  He took a moment to study her before returning his attention to the road. “So you’ve ended three engagements. Why?”

  Until recently, she didn’t think she could’ve answered that question. But now she knew. Especially after last night. “I didn’t like the way they looked at me. Or, I should say the way they didn’t look at me. And, bottom line, deep down, I didn’t want the sort of life they offered.”

  “Why were you with them in the first place, then?”

  “I guess because they offered the sort of life I thought I was supposed to want.”

  Joe was quiet for a moment, then he said, “Any man who doesn’t look at you the way I think you mean is a fool.”

  Annie couldn’t help it; she grinned at him. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone’s ever said to me.”

  “I’m just telling it like it is.” He smiled.

  She tilted her head. “Did anyone ever tell you that you can be charming when you try? And you’re not so scary when you smile, either.”

  “I’m scary, huh?”

  “Terrifying. But your smile…You should use it more often. I bet it gets you lots of girlfriends.”

  “I’ve had a few.” He shrugged. “No one special.”

  “Never?”

  “Nope. Not since my wife. And that was more drama than anything else. Like I said, we were young.”

  Annie pursed her lips and studied him. “So, what? You’re one of those guys who have a lot of one-night stands with strange women?”

  He blurted a laugh. “There’ve been a couple of weird ones.”

  She punched his shoulder. “You know what I meant.”

  “I’m not big on one-night stands, but—” He shrugged. “Once or twice.” He frowned at her, though his eyes held a gleam of amusement. “You’re as nosy as my cousin Dino.”

  She yawned. “I’m just curious.” And to her surprise, a little bit jealous of his one or two overnight flings. She yawned again, snuggled closer to the door and closed her eyes.

  “Hey,” Joe said. “Wake up, Sweet Tea. If I have to confess, so do you.”

  Annie opened one eye. “Me?” She made a huffing sound. “I’ve reached the age of—” She stopped herself, opened her other eye and smirked at him. “Let’s just say, I’ve been around for a while and I’ve never once had a one-night stand. Can you believe that?”

  “Yes,” he answered without missing a beat. The corner of his mouth twitched.

  “Why is that so unsurprising to you?” Annie asked defensively.

  “You just don’t seem the type.”

  She lifted her chin and frowned. “You saw all those condoms in my purse.”

  “I have a feeling there’s another explanation for those, though I’m having a tough time figuring out what it is.”

  Annie opened her mouth to tell him, then shut it, deciding she didn’t want to confirm that he was correct about her. She wasn’t sure why his certainty that she wasn’t a loose woman made her feel like a prude. “What ‘type’ do I look like?”

  “Where are you headed with this line of questioning?”

  “Obviously you’ve summed me up and I’d like to know what you’ve concluded.”

  “Okay…” He hesitated. “You’re college educated. And while in college, you were a nice sorority girl, most likely. A card-carrying member of I-Felt-A-Thigh or I-Ate-A-Zeta.”

  “Those would be fraternities, not sororities,” she said smugly. She’d heard all the crude spoof names for Greek organizations before.

  “Let’s see…” He squinted at her. “You come from money.” He winked. “The accent gives you away, along with a few other tendencies.” He waited for her to say something and when she didn’t, continued, “Back home in Georgia, you went to lots of fancy parties with your fancy friends, worked now and then at a friend’s boutique or some other such token job just so you’d feel like a contributing member of society, did a little volunteer work on the side.” He shot her another look, asked, “How am I doing?”

  She stared at him blankly. “Go on.”

  “A lot of guys over the years have tried to get in your pants, but only the three you were engaged to succeeded. A lot of other guys wanted to try, but they didn’t have the guts. They thought a girl like you was out of their league and they were right.”

  “So you’re saying I’m a snob?”

  “No. You just had your standards. Inbred since birth and you didn’t even know it.”

  Her heart was beating too hard. She felt like he’d opened her closet and everything ugly she’d ever owned came tumbling out. Annie wasn’t wild about the picture he’d painted. The portrait was of a woman she didn’t want to be.

  When Joe spoke again, his voice had lost some of its jest. “And even though there were plenty of times you wanted like crazy to move away or do something with yourself that might not be the sort of thing you were raised to do, you held back. And part of the reason for that was that you loved your family and didn’t want to hurt or disappoint them, your dad most of all. Especially after what he went through with your mother.”

  Annie couldn’t speak. How could this man she’d known less than twenty-four hours see so clearly into her head and heart and soul? He seemed to know her better than anyone else, seemed to get her more than anyone ever had.

  “That’s about it,” Joe said quietly. “Was I right?”

  “About some parts.” She kept her voice light.

  “Which ones?”

  “I’ll let you decide.” She managed a smile, though her chest felt tight.

  He frowned. “You know this was all in fun, right? You asked me to do it. I—um, didn’t mean any of it as an insult. Who am I to—” The car lost traction and veered toward the shoulder. Cursing, Jo
e set the vehicle straight again. “Excuse my language,” he said.

  “You’re excused.” She steadied her nerves, determined to recapture the teasing banter between them again. “Now, my turn to tell you about you.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t say that was part of the deal.”

  “Now you know.” Annie cleared her throat. “You’re from a large Italian family. Cousins by the dozens. Aunts and uncles. No brothers or sisters.”

  “Does the name Brady sound Italian to you?”

  “Your mother is Italian, your father was Irish.” She pursed her lips and studied him. “And probably a cop, too.”

  “That was easy enough to guess.”

  “You were the stereotypical bad boy growing up. A real tough guy. Cocky. Adored by your mother, swooned over by every teenaged girl in the neighborhood. And some of their mothers.”

  He slid a smug look her direction. “That was also easy.”

  “Which brings me to your huge ego,” she added. “Hmmm, what else? Your mom tried to teach you manners, but only had partial success. I know that because whenever you curse, you always apologize afterward.”

  “I do?”

  She nodded.

  “Damn.” Grinning, he added, “Sorry.”

  Annie laughed. “Your parents were hard workers. They saved every penny they could spare to send you to college. You weren’t interested in college, though. You were always just one step away from getting busted for something. So you decided if you couldn’t beat the law, you might as well join it. So you broke your mother’s heart and became a cop like your father, dooming her to more long nights of worrying, like she had over her husband all their marriage.” She paused. “Well?”

  “Not bad. You were wrong about a couple of things, though. And left some things out.”

  “Such as?”

  His jaw twitched. “Nothing you want to hear.”

  “But I do.” She leaned closer to him. “Really.”

  He blew out a long breath. “I had a brother five years younger than me. He got mixed up with a gang and died of a gunshot wound when he was fourteen. My dad was never the same.”

  Annie’s stomach dropped all the way to her toes. “Joe…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to—”

  “Don’t sweat it. We got through it.”

  Listening to the steady swish of the windshield wipers, Annie said, “I feel like the biggest idiot loudmouth on the face of the earth.”

  His cheek twitched. “I wouldn’t say that. Not the biggest, anyway.”

  She appreciated his teasing tone, knew that he was trying to make her feel better. “Sometimes I start feeling so sorry for myself, like I’m the only one who has suffered a family tragedy or gone through problems.” She faced him, blinked. “All your less-than-flattering guesses about me, about my life—”

  “I was having a little fun with you.”

  “They were right on target.”

  He briefly met her gaze. “I didn’t finish telling you what else I see in you.”

  Annie winced. “I’m afraid to ask.”

  “You have guts. You’re one of the strongest, smartest, most fearless women I’ve ever met.”

  She swallowed, murmured, “I’m not fearless.”

  “Maybe not, but you don’t let fear stop you.”

  “You don’t think I’m crazy for taking those files? For trying to find evidence against Harry that might lead to Frank Reno?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “Seeking justice is never crazy. That’s what you’re doing, isn’t it? Avenging your mom? Not only her, but your dad and yourself, too.”

  She turned to the side window. “I don’t know why it’s so important to me. I mean, at first I was convinced Frank Reno must’ve bribed her or blackmailed her. Or done something terrible to my mother for her to get mixed up with him. I even created this ridiculous scene in my mind where he forced her into that car and drove her into the river himself wearing a life jacket.” Annie blurted a short humorless laugh. “But the more I learn about her—it stands to reason she wasn’t an innocent in whatever took place.”

  Annie faced him. “Karla, the woman who was her friend here, she didn’t say my mother and Frank Reno were having an affair. She hedged, but I could tell the truth just by her expression. Another friend of my mother’s back home told me that Mom was planning to leave my dad. Probably me, too. To go into a partnership with a lowlife thug. Most likely to carry on an affair with him.” Annie shook her head. “Even knowing all that, I still want to blame him, isn’t that silly? I want to believe there was more to it, something that would clear her of everything and make sense of it all.”

  “That’s not silly, Annie. She was your mother. And if I know Frank Reno, there was more to it.”

  “The thing is, no matter what we find in these files, I’ll probably never know for sure about her.” She exhaled a long breath. “My father…his heart broke when he lost her. He clung to me and he’s never stopped clinging.”

  “That must be hard on you.”

  “Sometimes.” She suddenly felt as cold as it looked outside. “What if I’m wrong? What if my mom knew exactly what she was doing? Sometimes, I feel like she’s the one I should hate, not Reno. She hurt my dad so much.” And me, Annie thought. She hurt me, too. “She should’ve been at home with us, not here running around with a bunch of losers doing who knows what.” Her voice broke, and Annie continued to look out the window. “It’s been a long time. I’m not a kid anymore. I don’t know why I’m so upset over it.”

  For a while, neither of them spoke, just watched the snow fall faster around them. Then Joe said quietly, “There’s one more thing I didn’t tell you about yourself.”

  She turned, blinked at him.

  “You’re beautiful, Anne Macy.”

  Annie’s throat tightened and a myriad of emotions she couldn’t begin to name swirled inside of her. Unable to speak, she drank in the sight of his tough, handsome face…

  Minutes passed. Everything that had happened since last night caught up to her and Annie’s eyelids grew heavy. She yawned.

  “Why don’t you crawl in back and catch some shuteye?” Joe said.

  “I should stay awake and talk to you so you won’t drift off at that wheel.”

  “I’m used to running on a few hours’ sleep.”

  Annie lifted her head. “If the roads aren’t too bad when I wake up, I’ll drive while you sleep, okay?”

  “Sounds like a deal.”

  Minutes later, curled up in the back seat beneath Harry’s coat, Annie said, “My mother…everyone has always said I’m like her. That used to make me so proud. But now…” She sighed. “Mom wasn’t always unhappy. I always miss her most this time of year…at Christmas, you know? She always made it so special.”

  “How so, Annie?”

  “She always had us sing carols while we decorated the tree and the house. The fun carols, not the serious ones. And she changed the words, made them funnier, sillier. And the entire month of December, she’d hide little notes all over the house. She rolled them up into tiny scrolls and tied them with ribbons. They’d say things like, ‘Good for one afternoon of cookie decorating’, or ‘Good for one midnight drive to see the Christmas lights’.”

  “Sounds like fun.”

  She thought back for a minute on all the Christmases they’d spent together. “My best memory, though, it happened when I was ten or eleven. Mom and I were dressed up to go to a holiday tea on a Saturday afternoon. It was snowing and I just wanted to stay home. I hated those things and I had complained all morning, but people were expecting us.” Annie paused for a breath. “As we were pulling out of the driveway, the sun came out and without saying a word, Mom stopped the car and got out. I rolled down my window to ask what was going on, and she threw a snowball at me.” Annie laughed. “We never made it to that tea. We spent the rest of the afternoon having snowball fights and sledding and making snowmen.” She opened her eyes. “I’ve never forgotten that day. I loved
every minute of it. I can still hear her laughing. She had the greatest laugh.”

  “So do you,” Joe said. “That’s one way you’re like her.”

  Her throat ached. “Thank you for saying that.”

  Snow swirled outside the car window. Annie’s eyelids became heavier. She hoped her mother had always remembered that wonderful day, too. And that it had meant as much to her.

  CHAPTER 9

  Joe tugged open the car door and slid behind the wheel. He was glad he had thought to bring gloves before he left the apartment. If they had to dig out, he didn’t relish the thought of doing it bare-handed. With a shudder, he dusted snow off his jacket, then pulled the gloves off and turned. Annie was awake now. Tangled blond hair brushed her shoulders. Her sleepy eyes watched him. The desire he’d been fighting all day slammed into him like a two-ton brick.

  “Is something wrong?” she asked.

  Oh, yeah, he thought. Plenty was wrong, and the worst of it had nothing to do with the weather. “We’re stuck.” He tossed the gloves onto the passenger seat.

  She sat up. “What happened?”

  “I think we were being followed. I was afraid Willis might have caught up to us when we stopped to grab a bite.” They’d pulled off at a diner for lunch earlier, and when he had not let Annie drive afterward, she’d fallen asleep again. “I tried to lose the vehicle by taking a detour and ended up here.” Here being nose-down in a ditch on a deserted farm road in the middle of nowhere.

  “Oh.” Annie stared outside into the white chaos that swarmed in the gathering darkness beyond the windows. “Did you lose the car that was following us?”

  “For now,” he answered. At least she didn’t berate him for doing something so stupid as pulling off the main highway during a blizzard. If their positions were reversed, Joe wasn’t sure he’d be so kind.

  Shivering, Annie huddled deeper into Landau’s coat. “It’s so dark. How long have I slept?”

  “About three hours. It’s after seven.”