Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) - Karen Rose Page 0,79

suspects. I won’t ask more questions for now, because the other wives will be back soon. But I will help you. I want out, too.”

She’d said it once before and Hayley needed to decide if she could trust her. Tamar could be working on the side of her mother, Rebecca, and Eden. Although Tamar had also lost her child, not to death, but to Rebecca.

“They have a computer,” Hayley whispered.

Tamar’s eyes widened, then filled with excitement. “For real?” Then she shut down like someone had flipped a switch. “There you go, Sister Magdalena,” she said, her voice back to soothing and calm. A second later the curtain was whipped back and Joshua’s other wives filed in. “Hopefully the massage helped.”

One of the wives offered Hayley a cup of water. “Sister Tamar gives the best massages. She’ll be an amazing midwife, even if Sister Coleen isn’t back before your baby arrives.”

Tamar patted her hand. “I’ve delivered five babies in the past year. Haven’t lost a single one, nor their mothers, so don’t worry. I’m going back to bed as well. Tomorrow, I’ll ask Brother Joshua if I can move my pallet in here, so that I can be close by if you need me. Now, try to rest. You’re going to be needing all the strength you can muster.” She met Hayley’s gaze with determination. “I will help you.”

I will help you. Tamar hadn’t just been talking about the baby. She’d been talking about their escape. She was moving her pallet tomorrow so that she could be nearby. To help with the baby and their escape.

Hayley thought about that and about Graham doing the most disgusting of all the compound’s chores so that he could find the satellite dish that was their only hope of communication with the outside world. That was love.

She curled around her meager pillow, letting that love settle around her and within her. I hope you know we love you, Jellybean. We’re going to find a way to save you.

ROCKLIN, CALIFORNIA

THURSDAY, MAY 25, 4:35 A.M.

Tom leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his desk and stretching his back. His muscles had grown stiff from sitting at his keyboard for far too long. He glanced at the wall of his office that faced Liza’s bedroom, wishing things weren’t so weird between them. He could have used one of her shoulder massages right about now. He loved the feel of her hands on his skin.

But she was probably asleep. Curled up in the nest of soft blankets she liked so much. Warm and pliant, smelling like apples and tasting like chocolate because she always had some for a bedtime snack.

He stiffened, in more ways than one. Goddammit.

He was hard. He’d felt desire since Tory died. Always when he’d been with Liza. Always he’d shoved it back, but tonight denial was much more difficult. He wanted Liza. Dammit.

Clenching his eyes shut, he swallowed a groan, wanting to call Rafe Sokolov and curse him to hell and back. Putting thoughts in his mind like that.

That Liza might be for me. That she might want me. That I could have her for my own.

Because it was not true. She was his friend, one of his oldest friends. They loved each other, true, but like friends. They took care of each other and that was all.

Tell that to your cock, buddy.

This was lust and it was wrong. If I give in—which I won’t—it will ruin our friendship.

“Do we still have a friendship?” he asked, and Pebbles looked at him. The Great Dane lay pressed against the common wall, as if she knew that Liza was just beyond it. “Well? Do we?”

Pebbles snorted like the small horse she was and went back to sleep.

Tom sighed. He was getting nothing done. After his conversations with Rafe and then his mother, he’d returned to his office and picked up his attempt at tracing Cameron Cook’s e-mail.

From Hayley, who was pregnant and scared and about to give birth in that horrible place. His arousal fled as he imagined Tory being scared the night she’d been killed, certain that she’d been more afraid for their baby than for herself. No one had saved Tory that night.

Everything in Tom yearned to get Hayley to safety. He’d tried everything he knew, both legal and illegal, but kept slamming up against nothing. It was like Eden’s network had disappeared—maybe at the same time as their last move?

It was possible that they’d gone someplace where they couldn’t get online. It was also possible