Secrets Read online

  She leaned forward to try to hear what they were saying, but beyond a murmur of two male voices, she could hear nothing. After a few minutes, they walked away from the boat and disappeared into the trees. Cassie ran after them, trying to see where they were going, but they seemed to have vanished. There were three cabins close together, and each one had lights on inside it, so they could have gone into any of them. She wondered if they were meeting other people.

  “A hotbed of activity,” she murmured. It was just that she had no idea what kind of activity. If it was serious, why didn’t Jeff go to the police? Why didn’t he call someone to help him with whatever he was doing that made him sneak about during the night?

  She waited awhile but heard or saw nothing, so she walked to the boat and looked inside it. It was just an ordinary outboard boat, but it had a big pile of canvas-covered boxes in the back. She looked around again and saw no one. Cautiously, she walked to the edge of the dock and leaned toward the boat, wondering what was under the canvas.

  She couldn’t reach it. She looked behind her again. Nothing. Cautiously, she stepped into the boat and lifted the corner of the canvas. All she saw were wooden crates. They were nailed shut, but there was writing on the far side. She lifted the canvas higher and leaned in closer to see the words, but she couldn’t make them out in the dark.

  In the next minute, she heard a noise and figured it was Jeff returning. Her first instinct was to run back to the cabin so he wouldn’t catch her there, but she was tired of hiding. She sat down on the side of the boat and waited.

  14

  “ WHAT THE HELL—!”Jeff said when he saw her sitting there. “I told you I wanted you to stay in the cabin.”

  “But I didn’t want to stay in the cabin. Would you mind telling me what you’re up to?”

  “It’s just some private business. Boring stuff.”

  “All right,” she said, her back stiff as she got up and started walking toward the cabin.

  “Okay,” he said and caught her arm. “I apologize. I know I’m being rude, but there are things—”

  “That I know nothing about,” Cassie said with a sigh. “I bet your friend Leo is glad he no longer has to wear that big pad over his stomach. By the way, how old is he really?”

  There was a flash of shock across Jeff’s face. “You’re certainly clever, aren’t you?”

  “I have lots of hidden talents.”

  Jeff laughed. “Leo is fine. In fact, before he left, he asked me if you were dating anyone. You can add him to the string of men you’ve been attracting lately.”

  “I’ll see if I can fit him into my schedule. No, wait! My schedule is full of taking care of your father and your daughter and your house and your —”

  “I get the picture. Come on and I’ll walk you back to the cabin.”

  “Then you’ll dump me there and leave me? If you were going to get rid of me why didn’t you leave me with Brent and Skylar?”

  “To be eaten alive by her?”

  Cassie glared at him.

  “Okay, so maybe you can hold your own against her. By the way, she still mentions that jacket you burned a hole in.”

  “It served its purpose. So why did you really drag me away from them?”

  “Because Goodwin was sure to take off his shirt,” he said as he gave her a crooked grin that made her laugh. “All right, you win. I have to go across the lake to meet someone. Would you like to go with me?”

  Cassie had to work to keep from jumping up and down and yelling Yes, yes, yes! Be cool, she told herself. “Sure, why not? I got cheated out of a party with Brent and Skylar so you owe me.”

  “You don’t want to go to any party that those two attend,” he said as he stepped into the boat, then helped her into it.

  “You think I wouldn’t like a night of drinking and dancing?”

  “Maybe you would,” he said as he pulled the cord to start the motor, “but I don’t want to see you that way.”

  The motor started and was so loud that their conversation was drowned out, but Cassie was content. Jeff had come close to telling her that he was jealous and didn’t want to see her with other men.

  It was cool on the lake, and in the middle it was quite dark. She had fantasies that he’d turn off the engine and take her in his arms. But when she looked at him, he just smiled, then glanced out at the lake.

  When they got closer to the shore, she saw that one of the cabins along that side was lit up and she could hear music. She kept her eyes on it as they motored in. The dock was full of boats and there were cars all around the cabin, which was blasting with dance music. People were spilling out of the house and onto the beach, and they could hear laughter mixed with the music. It looked as though every person on that side of the lake was at the party.

  Jeff cut the engine and they coasted into shore three cabins away. He jumped out and tied the boat to the dock. There were four other boats tied there as well.

  “Why don’t you go and join the party?” Jeff asked as he helped Cassie onto the dock.

  “I wasn’t invited.”

  “I don’t think the butler is checking invitations,” he said.

  She stood just inches from him. “In other words, you want me out of your way for a while. You want to keep me busy until you finish doing whatever it is that you’re doing.”

  “Exactly,” he said.

  “What if I say no?”

  “Then I’d have to drug you, wrap you in canvas, and put you in the bottom of the boat. You’d wake up in Shanghai.”

  When Cassie started to speak, he said, “Alone.”

  “Rats! Okay, I’ll meet you at the party. Don’t take too long,” she said, then ran her fingertip down the front of his shirt. When she walked away, she was sure he was watching her.

  When she got to the party, she felt great. For the first time since she was twelve years old, she thought she was making real progress with Jeff. At last he was beginning to see her as a woman. But what kind of woman? she wondered.

  Whatever was happening, she liked it. When she got closer to the cabin where all the music and people were, she hesitated.

  “Wanta beer?” a young man asked, holding out a bottle to her.

  “I wasn’t invited,” she shouted above the music.

  “Who was?”

  Laughing, she took the beer, thanked him, and went inside. She’d just stepped in when a young man grabbed her about the waist, pulled her close, and began dancing. It was the right time and the right circumstances, and she gave herself over to the music and the good-looking young people who had turned the whole house into a dance floor. All the furniture had been moved against the wall, and the big room that had a kitchen in one corner was being used for dancing. There was a fabulous-looking couple dancing on the wooden countertop of the kitchen. She wore a tiny black skirt, and a blue tank top, while he wore just jeans.

  Cassie gyrated to the music with the blond man and saw that his eyes were on the girl on the bar—as were everyone else’s. She looked at the other girls there and saw that they were wearing either very few clothes or garments that were so tight they left little to the imagination. But Cassie had on a baggy sweatshirt jacket over a bulky pair of sweatpants. When she’d dressed to go to the café with Jeff, she hadn’t wanted him to think that she had any thoughts that they were going out on a date, so she’d covered herself well. But she knew that underneath she was wearing a tank top as tiny as any of them at the party, and she had on a pair of short shorts. When she’d dressed she’d had a fantasy that maybe after they ate she and Jeff might…She hadn’t thought about what exactly, but she had prepared for whatever might happen.

  Maybe it was the night, maybe it was the fact that the man she loved had dumped her at someone else’s party, but whatever it was, Cassie felt as though she wanted some of the attention that the girl on the bar was getting.

  She moved her hips toward the boy with her, and when he didn’t notice, she put her hands on the front zipper of her sweatshir