Dream a Little Dream (Chicago Stars, #4)(40)

“I don’t think you should be alone with her,” he said flatly.

“I won’t be alone.” Gabe gave her a thin smile. “I’ll have Rachel’s screams to keep me company.”





Ethan left the house reluctantly. Rachel realized that all she needed was a few minutes alone with the chest, a few minutes to look beneath the lining or find the secret compartment and she could go.

She wrapped her fingers more securely around the corners and tried to buy herself some time. “Your brother’s a grouch. I guess it runs in the family.”

He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against one of the elaborate columns that led to the living room. “I’m surprised you didn’t unbutton your dress and offer to take him on to keep him quiet.”

“Everything happened too fast. I didn’t have time to think of it.”

He lifted an eyebrow and took a lazy step forward. “Hand it over.”

Her heart felt as if it were moving toward her throat. “No way, Slick. This is mine. It was a present from my grandmother on my sixth birthday.”

“Give it to me.”

“She sold zucchinis in the broiling sun one entire summer so she could give this to me, and she made me swear always to keep it.”

“We can do this easy or rough, it’s up to you.”

She swallowed hard. “Okay, you win. I’ll give it to you. But first I need to dry myself off. I’m freezing.” She edged away from him toward the family room.

He stepped in front of her, blocking the way. “Nice try.”

With one swift movement, he pulled the chest from her arms.

Ignoring her gasp of dismay, he headed for the stairs. “Go ahead and dry off while I put this away. And I’ll take that key when you’re done.”

“Stop it!” She couldn’t let him do this, and she charged after him across the marble. “You’re being a sadistic ass! Just let me look at it.”

“Why?”

“Because I might have left something inside.”


“Such as?”

She hesitated. “An old love letter from Dwayne.”

He regarded her with disgust and turned back toward the stairs.

“Stop!”

He kept going.

“Wait!” She grabbed his arm, then wished she hadn’t touched him, and quickly let go. “Okay, maybe Dwayne might have left something in it.”

He paused with one foot on the bottom step. “Like what?”

“Like—” Her mind raced. “A lock of Edward’s baby hair.”

“You’re going to have to do a lot better than that.” He began to climb.

“All right! I’ll tell you.” She struggled to come up with another lie, but couldn’t think of anything that would be even mildly convincing. She would either have to tell him the truth or let him take the chest away. It was no choice. She couldn’t let the chest disappear again until she’d looked inside it, and she’d have to take the risk.

“Like the secret behind where he hid five million dollars.”

That brought him up short. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

She gazed up at him and worked hard to swallow. “The money’s mine, Bonner. It’s Edward’s legacy. There are still some debts left, but the rest belongs to him. I earned every penny!”

“How do you figure?”

She got ready to give it to him—her smartest, sassiest, most wiseassed response. But then, just as the words were coming out, something happened inside her throat, and her voice broke. “Because I sold my soul for it,” she whispered.

For a moment he didn’t say anything. Then he tilted his head toward the top of the stairs. “I’ll get you a robe. Your teeth are chattering.”

Half an hour later, she sat across from him in the kitchen wearing nothing but her panties and his maroon terry-cloth robe as she stared down at the Kennedy chest. Her eyes were dry—she’d never cry in front of him again—but inside, she felt desolate.

“I was so sure.” She shook her head, still unable to believe the chest held no clues. They had examined every microscopic inch of it and found nothing: no secret compartment holding a safe-deposit key, no Swiss bank-account number etched into the wood beneath the lining, no map or microfilm or computer password.

She wanted to slam her fists against the table, but instead, she forced herself to think. “The county sheriff was there along with the Salvation police, so there was a lot of law enforcement. One of them must have looked in the chest when he confiscated it and found something. One of them must have it.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Gabe picked up her coffee mug and carried it to the sink, where he refilled it from the pot on the counter. “You told me you checked the box before you got into the car. You looked and didn’t find anything, so why would they? Besides, if the sheriff or one of our local police had stumbled on that kind of cash, we’d have seen some evidence of it by now, and the only person in the community who’s spent any big money has been Cal.”

“Maybe he—”

“Forget it. Cal made millions while he was in the NFL. Besides, if he or Jane had found anything in that box, they wouldn’t have kept it a secret.”