Dawn Brown - The Devil's Eye

Unease settled over Brynn, bringing with it a faint chill. This wasn’t how she’d imagined her return.

“Find Eleri,” Reece said. “I’m sure she’ll be pleased to explain all of this.”

Without a word, the woman hurried down the hall.

Brynn turned to Reece, tight knots twisting her stomach. “Who was that?”

“Mrs. Voyle?” He slid his hands into his jeans’ pockets and leaned back against the door. “She’s the housekeeper.”

Brynn nodded slowly. “You didn’t know I was coming, did you?”

He shrugged. “Eleri James is hardly going to discuss such things with me.”

“And the housekeeper didn’t know either.”

“Obviously.”

If the staff hadn’t been told about her impending arrival, what about her father?

“You’ve made it, at last.” Brynn turned to the small woman emerging from the same hall Mrs. Voyle had disappeared down. “I was beginning to worry.”

Brynn’s throat tightened. This was her sister. How could her grandparents have kept this from her, died without telling her the truth?

Brynn searched for some sort of familial recognition, a fragment of memory.

Nothing.

If she’d passed Eleri on the street there was nothing about the woman that would make Brynn give her a second look. Nothing that so much as hinted they were related, let alone shared the same father.

Eleri was small, a good four or five inches shorter than Brynn’s own five foot seven. Her frame was tiny, though it was hard to be sure, swallowed up the way she was by an oversized gray sweater and baggy gray pants. Dark brown hair, cut blunt, framed her sharp features and curled beneath her pointed chin.

They looked nothing alike…except the eyes, maybe. Dark brown and lifting slightly at the corners, and interestingly, the feature Brynn liked least about herself.

She forced an awkward smile. “I got a little lost. Luckily, I ran into Reece at the pub when I stopped for directions.”

“Lucky, indeed.” The woman’s gaze shifted to Reece, her tone cooling considerably. “Found you at the pub, did she? No surprise there.”

Reece glowered; a muscle ticked at his jaw. “It was my afternoon off.”

Animosity thickened the air between them, and Brynn stepped back as if unconsciously moving out of the line of fire.

Eleri crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to one side. “Take Brynn’s things to the front guest room. Mrs. Voyle can direct you. Whatever time you’ve had to take from drinking yourself into oblivion, you can have tomorrow. Provided I don’t need you for anything else, of course.”

“That’s really not necessary,” Brynn broke in. She wasn’t comfortable with Reece hauling her suitcases around like a bellhop. “I’ve managed them this far…”

She might as well have kept her mouth shut. Reece didn’t so much as look her way as he bent to gather her bags.

“No, really you don’t have to.” Brynn reached to take her case from him, but he jerked it away and pinned her with a frigid glare.

“This is what they pay me for.” He hoisted her bags and started down the hall.

“Sorry about that,” Eleri said, once he’d gone. “He’s new.”

“I don’t like someone waiting on me,” Brynn said. “And for the record, I also believe in being nice to waiters and cashiers.”

Having waited tables in college to supplement her student loan, she liked to imagine there was a special corner of hell set aside for people who got their rocks off by being rude to people in the service industry.

Eleri crossed the foyer and pushed open a dark wooden door. “Do you think he might quit?”

“Do you want him to?”

“It’s better for him if he does.”

Brynn followed Eleri into a large living room. Cream-colored walls with pale blue inlay looked rich, especially with a cream brocade Louis XIV settee and chairs. But as she moved farther into the room, she realized it was a facade. Thin cracks spidered across the plaster walls. The fabric on the settee was worn and split. Fluffy white stuffing poked out from the arm of one of the chairs where the material had frayed.

“Sit down. You must be exhausted, and you’re soaked through.” Eleri crossed to the fire in the hearth and lifted the poker. She jabbed the smoldering log until it crumbled, tiny flames lighting along the edges. Orange glow flickered across Eleri’s small features, giving her an almost demonic appearance.

Brynn slowly sank into the chair closest to the door. What in the hell had she gotten herself into? “Reece and the housekeeper didn’t know I was coming.”

“No, they didn’t,” Eleri said, without meeting her gaze.

“Arthur doesn’t know either, does he?”

A faint flush crept into Eleri’s face. Her mouth pulled into a wry smirk. “If I know Iola Voyle, he does now. Our father’s ill. I didn’t want him upset with the anticipation of your arrival. He can be very stubborn.”

Eleri’s admission hit her like a kick to the stomach stealing her breath. “ You came looking for me. You said he wanted to make his peace with me before he died.”

“He does. He will,” Eleri said, quickly, setting down the poker.

Brynn stood, and raked her fingers through her damp hair. “I won’t stay where I’m not welcome.”

Though, the idea of hauling her bags out to her car and facing the sea again sent a fresh wave of exhaustion rolling through her. Maybe she could stand on that particular principal starting first thing tomorrow.

“ I want you here.” Eleri sat on the chair opposite Brynn. “Our father’s dying. Soon we will be all the family we have left, and we know nothing about each other.”

Brynn’s anger fizzled. She knew what it was to be on her own. Her grandparents were gone, and so was Zack. Never before had she so keenly felt like the orphan she was.

She flopped back into the chair. “He doesn’t want me here.”

On some level she had expected this reaction. After all, her father had always known where she was and never once tried to contact her. Still, as much as Brynn hated to admit it, some small part of her had been hoping for the sitcom father-daughter reunion. Even if her cynical side knew she was in for a much different outcome.

As usual, her cynical side was right.

“When I called you the first time, you were adamant when you said you wouldn’t come here,” Eleri reminded her.

Brynn nodded. Apparently, her first instinct had been the right one.

“What made you change your mind?”

“I found the paperwork granting my grandparents custody.” And her mother’s letters, one for every birthday from the time Brynn turned four until she was eleven. Each letter filled with her mother’s love…and her fears.

“You came here to understand where you came from, who you are, to know something of your family. You mustn’t let him spoil that for you.”

Don’t let the man’s blatant rejection spoil meeting him for the first time? Brynn shot her sister a baleful stare. “Maybe I should stay at a hotel while I’m here.”

“He’ll come around,” Eleri said, quickly.

Brynn wished she were as confident as Eleri sounded. Unease scuttled up her spine. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, or rid herself of the small voice whispering in the back of her brain, What else isn’t your sister telling you?

Chapter Three

Reece’s head thudded like it was about to explode. He set down Brynn’s cases and pressed his fingers to his forehead. His skull pulsed like a cartoon character struck with an anvil. He’d swear that bastard knew exactly what places like the pub did to him and insisted on meeting there on purpose.

He glanced at his watch. Five-forty. Damn, he was late. Maybe if wrapped up what he needed to here and took one of the cars back to the pub, he’d make it before the other man left.