Beverly Barton: Grace Under Fire

Jed realized just how serious the undercover agent was about Charmaine Fortier. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

"Yeah. And it's mutual," Ronnie said. "That lady has lived in hell for a long time. All I want is a chance to make her happy. I'd do just about anything to see that happens. Can you understand?"

Jed allowed Ronnie to shove him behind the wheel of his rental car. He looked up at the big, rugged FBI agent and said, "Yeah, I understand. There's a lady I feel the same way about."

"Don't tell me-it's Grace Beaumont?"

Ronnie grinned, then sobered instantly in case anyone was watching them closely. "Hell, Tyree, you're as big a fool as I am." Ronnie slammed the door, crossed his arms over his chest and watched while Jed drove away.

Yeah, Jed thought, he was a fool. A fool in love.

Troy Leone packed all his belongings into black plastic garbage bags, took them out to his pickup and dumped them into the truck bed. Just as he'd thought-once he told Josie he'd quit his job at the warehouse, she'd told him to get lost. Maybe he should have waited and told her after he'd talked to Elsa. After all, he couldn't be a hundred percent sure his sister would let him move back in with her. Not after the way he'd acted, after all the things he'd said. He wouldn't blame her if she'd washed her hands of him for good this time. But when he'd called her, she had agreed to see him tonight. That was a good sign, wasn't it? He checked his watch. Damn, he was running nearly two hours late. Josie had insisted he take all his things tonight. Screwy bitch!

As Troy dumped the last bag in the truck, he started rehearsing his speech, the one he'd give to Elsa. He'd have to be humble and not lose his temper no matter what she said to him. And he'd have to agree to pretty much anything she asked. She had already given him so many second chances that he'd lost count. But he bet she hadn't.

Just tell her you're sorry. Yeah, sure, like she hasn't heard that before. Promise her you'll get your act together for real this time. After all he wasn't doing drugs and that should please her. What the hell would he do if she turned him away? She won't do that, he told himself. She's your sister. She loves you .

Troy opened the door and started to hop up in the cab when a big hand clamped down on his shoulder. He froze, then glanced back to see Curt Poarch grinning at him. Troy 's heartbeat accelerated at an alarming speed.

"Mr. Poarch." Troy 's voice quivered. "What-what are you doing here?"

"I came to see you."

"Me? About what? You know I appreciated the job at the warehouse, but-"

Curt jerked Troy backward and put his arm around his shoulder. "This isn't about the warehouse job. It's about something more important. My boss wants to see you. He thinks you're just the man we need."

"Me? But I'm not. I told you people already that I'm not the right guy for-"

"Why don't you let us be the judge of what you're the right man for."

Oh, God, help me, Troy thought. Who the hell are they going to want me to kill?

Jed drove around for a while before he returned to Belle Foret. He needed some time to cool off, to think about what he'd almost done. He'd come damn close to strangling his uncle tonight and that knowledge scared the hell out of him. Was he, like many of the Fortiers before him, a murdering bastard at heart?

Once he had himself under control, he'd called Moran and Sawyer MacNamara with updates from Jim Kelly. The FBI's main concern was that Booth would find a way to escape before he was arrested. Their second biggest concern was that Booth would find a way to get rid of any evidence against him. But Moran had been pleased to learn that Charmaine Fortier was willing to betray her husband.

"Kelly has promised her immunity from prosecution and a new identity under the Witness Protection Program," Jed had told Moran.

"If the lady can provide enough evidence to put her husband away for the rest of his life, we'll give her anything she wants."

Jed didn't bother telling Moran that Jim Kelly intended to disappear along with Charmaine, once Booth had been prosecuted and found guilty. He'd let Kelly tell his superiors that he'd fallen in love with the Mafia don's wife.

Jed pulled up in front of the gates that separated Belle Foret from the rest of the world. A little kingdom all to itself, once ruled over by a king and his princess, now held for posterity by the new queen. And Grace was a queen. Elegant. Refined. Cultured. All the things he wasn't and never would be. Hell, his mother had been a Fortier. Nothing could ever change that fact. Okay, so she'd been a Fortier, but she hadn't been insane the way Booth was. And he'd never heard anything about either of his grandparents being mentally deranged, despite his grandfather's mob ties. He'd heard the old man had been unscrupulous, devious and mean, but not certifiable. Apparently insanity didn't run in the family as Jed had thought… as he had feared all these years. He had been so afraid that one day he'd snap and go mad the way his mother had done. He'd kept that secret fear locked away inside him, refusing to deal with it, but he had never married, never fathered a child, in great part out of fear he would pass along defective genes.

When the gates opened, Jed drove the rental car up the driveway. There in the distance he saw the exterior and interior lights shining, welcoming him home. Home? Who was he trying to kid-Grace Beaumont might enjoy having him as a sex partner, but she knew as well as he did that at least six generations of Sheffields would roll over in their graves if she were to make a lifetime commitment to a man like him.

The minute he parked the car and got out, Rafe Devlin walked onto the veranda to wait for him. Instinctively Jed knew something was wrong. When he stepped up on the veranda, Rafe motioned him away from the front door. Not a good sign.

When they'd walked to the end of the sprawling porch, Rafe looked out at the vast front lawn, then stuffed his hands in his pants pockets. "We had a visitor earlier this evening."

Jed's heart lodged in his throat. "Grace-"

"Physically, she's fine," Rafe said.

"Just spit it out. What happened?"

"Before I got here, while J.J. and Ms. Beaumont were here alone, Hudson Prentice stopped by and dropped a bombshell on our client."

Jed's heart stopped for a split second. He knew what Rafe was about to say.

"He claims he received an anonymous phone call," Rafe said. "And he couldn't wait to get here to share the big news with his boss lady."

"Just say it, will you."

"He told her that you're Booth Fortier's nephew."

The whole world caved in on Jed, the weight resting heavily on his chest, making breathing impossible. Numbness set in. Then suddenly the air rushed into his lungs and he let out a long, shuddering breath. Feeling returned to his limbs and torso… and to his brain, and with it came excruciating pain.

"How did she take it?" Jed managed to say.

"I wasn't here, but J.J. said it hit her pretty hard. It seems she struck out at Prentice, called him a liar and ordered him to leave. But later, when she'd had time to calm down, she came right out and asked J.J. That happened about the same time I arrived."

"You told her the truth, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I did. I knew you wouldn't expect us to lie for you. After all, it was only a matter of time before she found out." Rafe cut his eyes in Jed's direction, then glanced away hurriedly. "Hell, man, you should have already told her."

"Where is she?"

"She went upstairs to her room, locked herself in and not even the old housekeeper can get her to come out or respond in any way."

"I have to talk to Grace, try to make her understand."