Lost : The Little Sisters Book One Read online

  “I will find him, Mama,” Lucy said with sudden determination. “I had already decided; I was going to use that ticket. I will fly down as arranged and I will find my brother.”

  It was as her dad had said—they now knew who had taken him. They were closer to finding her brother than they had ever been. It was time to close the case. To find her twin brother, Blaze, and bring him home.

  “No! I won’t have you going. I won’t lose you too, Lucy.” Mary Little wrung herself out of her husband’s arms to round on Lucy. But Lucy had already firmed her jaw in a way that told Mary what to expect. There was no dissuading her once Lucy Little set her mind on something. She was stubborn that way and it was a trait that both irked everyone who loved her and earned their admiration as well.

  “Let her go, Mary,” said Patrick, seeing the militant light in her amber eyes. “It’s probably time Lucy went down there and showed them just how a Little gets things done.”

  The gleam in his eyes met the spark in Lucy’s and they both exchanged a vicious smile. Her dad had her back and just knowing that made her feel invincible. She would do this. She would get on that scheduled flight, go to San Francisco, meet her father, find her brother and haul his ass back home. Lucy beamed at her dad, feeling strangely psyched.

  Over at the kitchen, a discussion of another type was having a devastating impact, though not equal in nature.

  “Sit down, Jace.” Mr Neil said, then waited for his son to comply. Mrs Neil busied about putting a pot to boil in preparation of making coffee. The silence that ensued then was awkward for them all. But then the pot sang, and Mrs Neil rushed to pour it out while Daniel Neil took the opportunity to say his piece.

  “Patrick and I have been best of friends our whole lives, so I believe I can speak for him when I say I don’t like where this is going.”

  “And where is what going, dad?” The sardonic lift to Jace’s brow should have been warning enough but his dad remained oblivious and blundered on.

  “I am not stupid, son. I know what I saw,” said Daniel Neil, “and while Lucy might be well enough as a friend, Jace. She won’t do as anything more.”

  Jace was not stupid either; he knew his own worth in his dad’s eyes. He was his parents’ only child. A means to add on to their fortunes by securing a well-designed match. A match who would be heir to a fortune. It was their idea of what was best for him. He was not ignorant of their plans.

  Fuming mad, Jace spat out, “What the hell, dad? This is my choice. Our choice. Lucy’s and mine. It has nothing to do with either you or Lucy’s dad.”

  “I raised you better than to speak back to me, son,” Mr Neil replied, shaking his head in disappointment.

  “We don’t need your approval, Dad.”

  Jace came marching back out of the kitchen with much more aggression then he had going in. Lucy stared up at him with some surprise but found herself caught up in his grip without ceremony. Lucy exchanged a startled glance with her parents but then found herself hoisted out willy-nilly.

  “Let them go, Patrick,” Mary Little said, reading more into the situation than Lucy’s dad did. Her restraining hand on him stopped him from advancing, even as Mary caught the nod of thanks from Lucy. “She’ll be alright.”

  Jace’s grip on Lucy’s hand remained unrelenting as she was dragged down to the beach, and in her own rising fury she let him. It was only when he drew to sudden a halt that had Lucy rocking right up against him; that she saw the intense hurt shining in his evasive gaze.

  “Jace?” Her soft question was not answered. Instead, Jace drew her along a few steps further to the edge of the beach where the oceans swept in to caress their feet. Then, without pausing he hauled her in right up against him and crushed her in tight.

  Lucy melted readily in his warm embrace, silently offering comfort for whatever hurts ailed him. She wrapped her arms about him unhesitatingly. Murmuring soothing words as she clutched him closer still, needing the familiar comfort of his solid presence more than he needed her support.

  Lucy burrowed into Jace’s chest and bit back her own muffled cry of disappointment. She hadn’t even realised it, but she had been extremely hopeful of seeing her brother again. Nineteen years apart was a long time, and Lucy had felt that joy of knowing he had been found. Finally! Her disappointment now was overwhelming. Made worse by her knowledge that it had been her own Aunt Stacy who had been behind the kidnapping. Lucy was shaking with the overwhelming sense of hurt and betrayal and was as unwilling as Jace to bring an end to their embrace.

  They stood there wrapped in each other’s arms, each secretly drawing on the other for the strength they didn’t have. Yet both unwilling to share their burdens with each other, silently resolving instead to see to matters on their own. It was a long moment later, when Lucy was finally able to draw in a steady breath without the risk of a complete breakdown, that she realised she didn’t want to do this alone.

  That she didn’t need to. She had Jace. The urge to tell him everything was upon her, warring with a reluctance to spoil their quiet moment. Breaking away from his embrace was never easy.

  “Jace…” Lucy finally, if still a little reluctantly, whispered.

  He shook his head against her, still too caught up by his own dark thoughts to sense her own silent pain. He burst in, cutting her off from what she had been about to say. “No!”

  “Jace”

  “I said no! I am not giving us up. You and I are meant to be. This us” he said, gesturing to the sexual tension that even now gripped them both, “isn’t normal. What we feel for each other is so unique that it would be stupid to try and deny it. We are meant to be, and I will prove it to all who try to deny us,” Jace concluded vehemently.

  “All?” Lucy asked confused, trying to wrap her mind about what he was suddenly saying. It all had a serious vibe of the déjà vu. Hadn’t they just gone over this the night before?

  Lucy opened her mouth to question him again when he remained stubbornly silent. Then his stomach rumbled, and using that as a timely excuse, Jace groaned out loud. “I need food. Let’s go grab breakfast.”

  Then Lucy was being tugged back towards his house and told to wait outside while he ran in to grab his wallet and keys. Lucy didn’t argue, not wanting to return to her parents this soon. She was still too raw over their news.

  “Luce!” Hearing her name shortened in that familiar way, Lucy turned to see the twins advancing on her. Clad still in their PJs, they had obviously disappeared for a morning walk and were only now returning, no doubt as hungry as Jace for breakfast. Lucy herself was feeling curiously flat in that regard. She didn’t think she could stomach a bite at all. But she could do with a good cup of coffee.

  “Is that Mum and Dad’s car parked outside?” Cat asked eagerly, rushing up to Lucy and already knowing full well the answer to her question. “Are they inside?”

  “Yes, they’re in.” Lucy murmured, unwilling to say more. The twins didn’t linger but rushed past her to go greet their parents. Suddenly Lucy was eager to leave.

  So, when Jace came rushing out, Lucy was quick to slip her hand over his open palm, accepting his possessive grip and then she was being rushed to the Range Rover and buckled into its plush seats before being driven off to the nearest cafe.

  They took a booth furthest from the entry to get a little peace so they could talk as they ate. Only they didn’t talk. Neither of them really wanted to. They were each happier to simply ignore the looming clouds that hovered persistently over them and tuck into their first meal of the day with a sight more attention than was needed.

  “Jace? Oh my god! Fancy seeing you here.” The voice was vaguely familiar to Lucy and her quick glance at Jace to assess his winced-eyed reaction told her he was only too familiar with the sound himself. The brunette that loomed into view just over his shoulders commandeered Lucy’s attention entirely.

  It had been some time since she last saw Celine Reeves. Not waiting for Jace’s reply to her greeting, she went swiftly on
, “Are you vacationing here as well? You should have told me you were going to be here this weekend; we could have gone together.”

  “Celine, how are you?” Jace murmured suitably, with a marked lack of enthusiasm that the petite brunette either blatantly refused to acknowledge or genuinely missed.

  “Fine! Fine! Tell me, are you coming tonight?” She turned on him blithely.

  Celine Reeves, Richard Reeves’ sister, didn’t miss a beat when she leaned over to brush her reddened lips against his in greeting. It was a blunt maneuver on her part. As effective as tossing down the gauntlet when not sparing Lucy a glance despite how Jace was gripping Lucy’s hand, Celine flung herself at him, moving swiftly to deepen the already revolting kiss. Jace jerked back, more out of instinct than actual refusal. He was still clearly moping over his own inner angst.

  But Lucy had noted Jace’s obvious displeasure and relaxed a little. If Jace wasn’t happy to see Celine then she could do this. The urge to lay down some claims came upon her. Never mind it was her idea that they kept this a secret. The woman was pawing her goods and had to be stopped.

  “Excuse me,” Lucy said politely. “But could you get your lips off my boyfriend?” The question shocked her as much as it did Jace, but Lucy wasn’t about to draw back from a fight if a fight is where this was heading. A swift glance at Jace’s face told her he was simply happy at her timely intervention.

  “Boyfriend?” Celine questioned in surprise with a raised brow. Her gaze narrowing not on Lucy, as she had expected, but on Jace. Lucy’s own gaze turned questioning on him.

  “I can explain,” Jace muttered uncomfortably.

  Lucy looked in askance at the two, not happy with the way things were going.

  “It’s not what you think, Lucy,” said Jace placatingly, reading her tight expression right.

  “Celine and I are engaged, but it’s a paper engagement prepared and signed by our parents. A promise to use the two of us to unite our families. Not happening. It’s why Dad was so unhappy about us,” Jace explained, then gestured wildly between Celine and himself, “We are not at all in any way engaged.”

  “Your dad was unhappy about us?” Lucy questioned, tugging her own hand away from beneath his grip. Then the more pressing question robbed her of her next breath, and on a high incredulous pitch Lucy uttered, “You’re engaged? To be married? To her?”

  There was an awkward pause after that as Lucy stared at Jace with the pain of betrayal clear on her face. First her aunt, family, and now Jace, her best friend. Jace? Why had he never told her about this?

  The one person in the world who had stood by her through everything. How could he? Was there no one left she could trust? Her chest hurt, feeling strangely tight as Lucy stared at Jace accusingly. The blur of tears hovered threateningly, but Lucy gritted her teeth.

  She wasn’t about to give in to any more weakness than she already had. But then again, she couldn’t fall any further, Jace being the lowest point she could have stooped to. What did it matter if he caught her bawling her eyes out over him now? She’d already made a fool of herself by falling all over him.

  “Oh, darling, how could you?” pouted Celine prettily in a question to Jace. Jace merely shook his head, not responding to either Celine nor Lucy.

  But then Celine laughed out loud as if it were the greatest joke. Lucy didn’t get it. She didn’t get Celine’s ilk and their strange sense of humour. It was not the first time Lucy had been caught the odd one out when it came to Jace’s other friends. But it was certainly the first time she was knowingly the butt of the joke.

  “I don’t understand,” Lucy muttered unhappily. Celine chose to ignore her altogether while Jace kept his gaze deliberately averted from Lucy.

  “So, I’ll see you tonight, babe,” Celine continued flirtatiously, as though Lucy had never spoken, and just like that, like always, Lucy was set aside.

  “I will be there, and Lucy too. Lucy will be my date.” Jace said, either completely oblivious to cat claws flexing all about him or completely unperturbed by it. Turning to meet Lucy’s gaze then, Jace added, almost softly, “Our first.” And why wouldn’t he be, having had everything he ever wanted his for the taking, there was no reason to assume Lucy would be any different.

  Lucy sat there fuming, unwilling to make more of a spectacle of herself than she already had by falling in line with Jace’s scheming. She blinked back the unbidden tears at his betrayal, appalled that he told Celine it was their first date.

  It eroded what little sense of security Lucy felt in them being a couple. It was apparent Jace did consider Celine as his friend. Perhaps even a good friend like her playboy brother Richard was to him. Perhaps even a friend close enough to be a fiancée, like his father and Celine’s had intended.

  The Reeves and the Neils were old money. Two powerful families that made it big generations ago. If anyone could be accused of riding the luck of their forefathers, it would be true of the Reeves and the Neils. As the bachelor sons of such prominent families, Jace and Richard graced the covers of every society magazine.

  They were heartthrobs to every infatuated woman out there. Often, Celine posed right there alongside them, even going so far as to snag cover features on her own. Women wanted to be her, just as they wanted to bed her brother and his friend. They were all, to some degree, besotted by the Reeves siblings. Lucy couldn’t see the attraction.

  So, they were both hot to look at, they smelled of old money, and they dated celebrities, but that was nothing that held any interest with her. As far as she could tell, Richard and Celine were just brats. They were the poor company Jace kept when he was not hanging out with the Little family.

  Lucy, as a rule, kept her distance from Jace’s friends, and not just because she didn’t share anything in common with any of them. Lucy still recalled her one-to-one with Richard at her sixteenth birthday party. She had already been rattled enough with Jace’s friends pounding on his room door.

  And then to bump into Richard right after she clambered out Jace’s bedroom window after receiving her first kiss from Jace, Lucy had been thrown out of sorts and Richard had been right there waiting, as though expecting her. Had he known? What Jace and Lucy had been doing? Lucy had averted her gaze as soon as she’d spotted him leaning against a tree close by, refusing to acknowledge him as she made to move past. Even back then, Lucy had already heard plenty about Richard’s reputation. Jace had nothing on Richard, when it came to who was the bigger player. And that was not all Richard was; he mingled in shady company, with Jace being the sole exception.

  “Happy birthday, Lucy. Happy sweet sixteenth,” Richard had said in his deceptively quiet tone.

  Lucy had paused midstride then, finding his greeting difficult to ignore.

  “Thank you,” she’d replied softly, reluctantly raising her gaze to meet his dark, glittering ones. He only nodded silently in acknowledgement and watched her walk swiftly away.

  But that had been three years back. They had not crossed paths since, but the memory of that one meeting had been enough. Until this day, Lucy didn’t know why he had singled her out to wish her a happy birthday. None of Jace’s other friends had. They had all ignored the fact it was her party that Jace was throwing at his place.

  With a shudder over remembered past, Lucy was more certain than ever that she was not looking forward to meeting Richard that night. Even though he had undoubtedly never spared her a thought since, meeting him again did not inspire confidence in her. And to turn up there, at Richard’s house on the arms of his sister’s fiancé was just asking for trouble.

  Lucy found she could no longer stomach her breakfast. Her appetite had gone. She looked over at Celine who was laughing happily at something Jace said and watched his eyes light up in enjoyment. He liked making her happy. It pleased him, which is more than could be said over his reaction to Lucy’s unhappiness. Could he be so dense? Had he even noticed? Lucy watched on aghast as Jace waved over a waitress and asked for some more coffee with a friendly
wink. Did he have to flirt with everyone? Even now, with a girlfriend on one arm and a fiancée on the other?

  “Lucy, what are you wearing tonight?” asked Celine abruptly, putting Lucy in the spotlight.

  “I have no idea,” Lucy breathed out softly, if a little stiltedly.

  “We’re going to drive into town and get her something awesome to wear,” said Jace, which was news to Lucy. At what point had they decided on this course of action?

  “Ooh, you should try Romano’s; they have the most perfect dresses,” beamed Celine down at Lucy as if ecstatic that it was she who was getting a new dress. Why would she be happy? None of this was making any sense, and Lucy could feel a headache coming on. It was as good a reason to call Jace’s bluff and simply walk out on this bizarre breakfast altogether.

  Lucy smiled tightly in reply. She could just envisage the night ahead. On further thought, Lucy could foresee her entire future and it was not a pleasant outlook. She rose abruptly from the table.

  “Lucy?”

  Ignoring Jace’s concerned sounding call of her name, Lucy made a feeble excuse to get away, “I… um… I’m going for a walk.”

  Not waiting for a reply, she took off, out the cafe and down the street.

  Lucy was disappointed that Jace hadn’t cared enough to come after her and it sure put a new perspective on what she experienced in his arms last night. Was it all just lust though? Lucy had been sure it had been so much more. Just went to show what she knew.

  Lucy walked on in a straight line, not knowing or caring over where she was heading. But she felt certain that each step she took brought her closer to a decision she could live with.

  It must have been close to twilight when her footfalls finally found her back at the cottage and Lucy was not surprised to find Jace already there. But she was surprised to see Celine was still there too, having tea with a beaming Mr and Mrs Neil. Instantly, Lucy felt unwanted. The third wheel throwing a spanner to their plans.