Cord decided he’d had enough. “Let me ask you something, Fowler. Do you believe Piper killed Eldridge?”
Instead of being offended by the question, Fowler considered carefully. “Honestly, I don’t know what to think. That bloody shirt was ancient, something Eldridge hadn’t worn in years. And I can’t really picture Piper whaling on the old man, never mind killing him. But what I believe doesn’t matter. The police claim they have an eyewitness—”
“Who?” Cord interrupted. “No one will give me a name. I’m considering the possibility that it’s all a lie, a trumped up way to attempt to make their bogus charge stick. What I don’t understand is why.”
Now Fowler stared, making Cord realize he’d probably said way too much.
Instead, Fowler simply nodded. “You’re absolutely right. And we can figure that out—once we bring Piper back home. The entire family should be celebrating my engagement, not worrying about her. I’m afraid I’m going to have to set a deadline, Cord.”
Not trusting himself to speak, Cord nodded.
“Two weeks,” Fowler said. “After that, I’m not paying you another dime.”
Two weeks? “Have you received notice of the court date, then?” Cord asked.
“I don’t know.” Fowler glowered at him. “What’s that got to do with this?”
“You hired me to find a bail jumper. Technically, she hasn’t jumped bail until she misses her court date.”
“So?” Fowler pushed to his feet. “I’m disappointed in you, Cord. You came highly recommended, but I’m beginning to suspect I’ve been wasting my time and money.”
“My deadline isn’t up yet,” Cord argued. “She’ll be back to your ranch before her court date, you have my word on it.”
“Good.” Fowler shook his head. “But sooner would be better. I hope to hell your word is good. I’m sick and tired of playing games. I’ve got an engagement to celebrate.”
With that, he left, closing the door softly behind him.
*
When her disposable cell phone rang about an hour after Cord left, Piper’s heart did a funny little leap before she remembered she’d given Reid this number.
“What’s up, brother dearest? Great minds think alike! I was just about to call you.”
He snorted. “Right.”
“No, really,” she insisted. “Not just because I miss you, though.”
“Right back at you, darling sister. What did you need to know?”
“You go ahead and tell me first,” she said. “I was just going to call to check on things and ask you something, but I have a feeling I’m going to want to hear what you have to say.”
“You’re right. I think you are. You are not going to believe what Fowler did now.”
Her heart sank. “Every time I hear his name, I feel sick. What’d he do?”
“Calm down, it’s nothing to do with you. He finally proposed to Tiffany.”
“What?” Piper couldn’t have been more stunned if Reid had said Fowler quit Colton Incorporated. “But...”
“I know, right? They’ve been dating so long. No one thought they’d make it official, despite Tiffany wanting it so badly.”
“Wow.” Piper swallowed. “I don’t know what to say.”
“Then don’t, because there’s more. Some in the family, including me, wonder if Tiffany got rid of Eldridge to make Fowler an emotional wreck so he’d propose. Plus, she’d know he would end up as chairman of the company. She might have even been the one who set you up, Pipe.”
“Tiffany?” Piper’s head spun. “But she and I get along just fine, I think. At least, anytime we’ve had a family get-together, she was always pleasant and friendly.”
“And ingratiating,” Reid pointed out. “She never made any secret that she had her eye fixed firmly on the prize.”
Now Piper snorted. “Fowler’s no prize.”
“He is to someone like her. Just think about it. Tiffany setting you up would be par for the course.”
Piper wasn’t so sure. “But she had an alibi for the night Eldridge disappeared,” she pointed out. “I remember, because she made such a big deal out of her girls’ trip to New Orleans. And the police verified it.”
“True, but she still could have hired someone. A disgruntled maid or something.”
“Possibly,” Piper admitted, though she let her doubt show in her voice.
“Yeah. It’s something, at least.”
“Thanks, Reid. Keep me posted if anything else happens.”
“I will,” he promised. “Now, what did you want to ask me?”
She cleared her throat. “Do you think I need to hire an attorney?”
“You already have one,” he said promptly. “Of course your loving siblings chipped in to hire a good one. Top-notch law firm, one of the better criminal defense attorneys in Dallas. He’ll want a meeting with you soon, but right now his people are gathering evidence. He seems to think he won’t have any problem getting the charges—and the warrant—dropped. That’s why he doesn’t want you to turn yourself in, at least not yet.”
“Seriously?” Once, Piper would have shouted for joy. Now her happiness at the thought was tempered by a healthy dose of cynicism. The very chain of events recently had proved to her the time had come to put aside, even if only temporarily, her rose-colored glasses.
“Yes, seriously.”
“That would be awesome. You’ll call me if anything changes, right?”
“Of course.” Reid paused. “Hey, Pipe? You might want to consider calling Whitney. She was so worried about you that I passed on to her that we’ve talked and you’re all right. While she’s glad about that, she’s upset you haven’t called her.”
“I see.” Piper’s voice came out small. She could envision that conversation. Whitney would alternate between hysterics and recriminations, lobbing accusations left and right. Whitney had become a master at making her children, both adopted, step or birth, feel guilty.
“I can’t do that just yet,” Piper told Reid. “I’m not ready. I hate that my absence is hurting her, but I promise I’ll make it up to her when I get back home.”
Since she’d given him an opening, of course Reid pounced. “Any idea when that will be?”
“No. Just not yet. Unless you’ve received word on my court date.”
“Not that I know of.” Reid went silent for a moment. When he spoke again, she could actually hear the frown in his voice. “Soon?”
“Hopefully. I really want to come home, Reid.” She spoke earnestly. “But I can’t. Not until I find out who’s trying to set me up and why. Whoever it is clearly has connections to the police department, since they refuse to name the supposed eyewitness who saw me beating Eldridge.”
“It is odd,” Reid agreed. “That and the fact that Eldridge outweighs you by forty pounds. He might be old, but he’s still strong. There’s no way he’d let you beat him, even if you wanted to.”
“Which I didn’t. But I’ve been trying out the scenario in my mind, trying to see all angles. Someone smaller, if they came up from behind, they’d have the element of surprise. That’d be the only way they could take Eldridge down.”
“Who do you think of as ‘they’?” he asked. “When you’re picturing that scenario, whose face do you see?”
Though she hated to admit it, she figured Reid already knew. “Marceline,” she answered. “I see Marceline’s face, Reid.”
*
After Fowler left, Cord carried the glasses over to the sink, rinsed them out and placed them on the sideboard. The flash of anger he’d felt at the other man’s deadline had dissipated, and worry had taken its place. On the one hand, he couldn’t actually blame Fowler. As far as the other man could tell, Cord had accomplished exactly nothing. He’d taken Fowler’s money, asked a few questions, but hadn’t given Fowler a single hint about where Piper might be.
Piper. He didn’t for a second believe the charges would stick. They had circumstantial evidence at best, and if they really did
have some mysterious eyewitness, that person had to be someone with a grudge against Piper.
Finally, he didn’t want Piper to go. The speed at which he’d gotten used to having her in his life astounded him.
All of this had him twisted up in knots. He preferred to keep things simple, uncomplicated. The job Fowler had hired him to do had been straightforward, yet he hadn’t been able to bring himself to complete it. Which meant Cord was living one big, fat lie. Talk about bitter irony. Even the fact that he legally couldn’t make Piper do anything unless she skipped her court date didn’t make him feel any better. He’d become the one thing he’d vowed never to become. A liar.
He needed to focus on something else. Like something he could actually control. For as long as he could remember, when times were chaotic or confusing, he’d made lists. Lists helped clear the clutter from his mind and enabled him to focus.
Fowler had hired him to do a job. Personal feelings aside, he needed to do what he’d been hired to do. Of course, he’d wait until as close to the deadline as possible, but he’d need to remind Piper about her promise to return for her court date.
Which led to...
Find out who set Piper up. The sheriff could stonewall him, but not her defense attorney. He’d call the brother Piper had been talking to and see if Reid could arrange hiring a lawyer to defend her. Except then he’d have to explain more than he was sure he was ready to.
He let his pen hover over the paper. And then, because he had to continue, he filled in the blank.
Explore the combustible attraction between Piper and me.
There. Out in the open, finally. This thing that sparked between them deserved a chance. More than sexual attraction, he liked her, honestly liked her. Thought they’d be great friends. And more.
Much, much more.
Closing his eyes, he could see her, her image branded into every fiber of his being. He wanted her, she wanted him, but he knew if they ever gave in to their blazing need, everything would forever change between them.
Oddly enough for a man who’d taken pride in being a free spirit, he believed he was ready for something like that. A serious relationship, possibly even permanent. Even his dog had done everything he could to show Cord how much he’d like that idea.
But...could his timing be any worse? Of course, this gave him even more incentive to find out who framed Piper and why. Once that got settled, then they could explore their relationship without anything hanging over them.
Decision made, he folded the list and put it inside his desk drawer. He knew, though he didn’t want to face it, that there was one final item he hadn’t written down.
But he thought it. He couldn’t help but think it. Would Piper want anything to do with him once her name had been cleared and she’d gone back to live in the family mansion?
Instead of driving directly home, he took another spin by the sheriff’s office. This time, the only person there was Briggs, a longtime deputy who’d become disenchanted with what he called “the process” and kept up a constant countdown until he could retire. Sheriff Watkins only tolerated him because he was a damn good deputy, even though his old-school methods sometimes got him in trouble.
“Hey, Maxwell.” Briggs lumbered over to shake Cord’s hand. “What’s up? I haven’t seen you around here lately.”
Cord grinned. He liked the big guy. “Fowler Colton hired me to find his sister Piper,” he said.
Briggs’s grin widened. “Plus you’re nosing around trying to get information on her arrest. I heard.”
“That, too. She’s a tiny little thing. I can’t picture her even attempting to take on Eldridge. Not to mention, he’s the only father she’s ever known.”
“I know, I know.” Briggs grimaced. “And since they don’t even have a body, I’m surprised they were able to make the charge stick.” He wiggled his bushy eyebrows and rubbed his fingers together in the universal gesture for money, letting Cord know what he thought without actually saying it.
Someone in the DA’s office had been bought off. Of course. Cord had suspected that all along.
“Did Fowler hire you to find out what happened to his old man?” Briggs asked. “Because if you have any information, please share it with this office. Eldridge Colton is such a high-profile big shot, two-thirds of the department is working that case.”
“Do you think he’s alive?” Cord kept his tone conversational.
“My gut feeling is that he is. But no one knows for sure. Even with so many valuable resources, our office hasn’t found squat. That bloody shirt and an eyewitness is all we’ve got.”
Aha. Now they were getting somewhere. “Why the secrecy about the eyewitness?” Cord asked. “Every time I try to get information on that person, I’m stonewalled.”
“Because the witness feels that their life is in danger.” Briggs shook his head. “Note my careful avoidance of using male or female pronoun.”
“Noted and applauded,” Cord replied. “So this witness is going to remain secret until the trial.”
“Yes, sir.” Briggs clapped his meaty hand on Cord’s shoulder. “Sorry. But we’ve got to protect the witness. I know you understand.”
“I do. Sort of. At least all the secrecy finally makes sense.” Cord said his goodbyes and drove slowly home. When he walked in the front door, his dog raised his head and wagged his tail rather than jumping up and greeting him. Cord shook his head but went over and petted him anyway.
“Do what?” Piper asked when he told her what he’d learned. “The witness says he or she feels threatened? In danger? From who?”
“I guess you.” Saying it out loud made the story sound even more ridiculous.
“Or whoever is framing me,” Piper suggested, her arms crossed. “Maybe they paid this person off to be an eyewitness and then when they wanted to tell the truth, threatened them.”
“Except wouldn’t the police already know the story was an outright lie?” he pointed out.
She groaned. “All these convoluted machinations are giving me a headache. Oh, I almost forgot. My brother Reid called today and told me Fowler is now engaged.”
“I know. He came by the office and relayed the news himself.” He told her about Fowler’s frustration with his lack of results and the deadline he’d been given. He almost told her how he felt about lying, but at the last minute kept that to himself.
“I’m not going back early,” she said once he’d finished, just as he’d suspected she might. “Not until you prove I didn’t kill Eldridge or my court date.”
Which was exactly what he’d thought she would say.
“Then I guess I’d better get busy,” he said.
“You’d miss me if I wasn’t around, anyway,” she teased. As she laughed up at him, something changed. The air between them, the light, the expression in her gorgeous emerald eyes. He felt the same stubborn tug of desire arcing between them.
He caught her arm. Her harsh intake of breath sounded like a hiss.
“You’re right,” he growled. “I would.” And then he kissed her, helpless under the pull of attraction.
She met his kiss with one of her own. Openmouthed, the furthest thing from tentative. Confident and sexy and oh so damn desirable.
He lost himself in her. Her tongue, mating with his, her body, all curvy and soft, pressed up against his hardness.
That. The physical manifestation of his need, his craving.
As she pressed against him, the friction of her wordless want pushed him closer and closer to the brink. He tried to pull back, to put some distance between them, to let some air cool his overheated brain, but she was having none of that.
“Piper,” he began, needing to ask.
Her gaze met his, emerald darkened to stormy sea. “Yes. And yes again.”
They made it to his bedroom, mainly because it was closer than hers. Bodies wrapped around each other, they staggered toward his bed. He kicked the door closed behind him to shut Truman out, and then, as an afterthought, lo
cked it. Just in case Renee returned home early.
When he turned, she caught him, pulling him down with her, her throaty laugh hitting him low and deep.
He yanked off his shirt, fingers fumbling with his belt buckle, until she pushed his hands away and undid it for him. The feel of her small hands touching him was almost too much. Rigid, he clenched his jaw as she eased his jeans down over his turgid arousal. When she would have stroked him, he caught her wrists to stop her. “Not yet. I want to see you naked first.”
The sensual, slow smile she gave him had the same effect as a caress. Suddenly, he couldn’t bear to watch her remove her clothes, so he did it for her. Instinct and experience guided his fingers, as he stroked her soft skin while undressing her.
Finally, she stood naked in front of him, her lush body everything he could want in a woman...and more. When he slipped his finger between the folds of her womanhood, the slick nectar, proof of her readiness, beckoned him to taste her.
Together, they fell back onto the bed, and he used his tongue to gather the first of her honeyed liquid. Hair wild, she pushed herself to a half-sitting position, and watched him, her eyes glazed with desire. And then, when he let his tongue grow bolder, she lost her tenuous grip on self-control. Her back arched as spasms shook her, her body pulsing at him, begging him for more than just his tongue.
He nearly lost it right then. Might have, would have, if not for the overwhelming need to push himself inside her.
More than ready, she welcomed him. Harder than he’d ever been, he gasped out loud as he filled her. She sheathed him, the perfect combination of warmth and wet.
Any and all attempts to maintain self-control disappeared as he began to move. She rose to meet each thrust, her boldness and self-awareness so sexy he could barely refrain from climaxing. Only the certainty of how much he wanted to prolong this lovemaking kept him going.
He could have tried several tricks. Reach up and grab her waist to hold her still. Close his eyes and think of something else. But he wanted to watch her face as he pushed her back to the zenith, to see her eyes darken as she shattered around him.
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