Titus meandered down his front walk toward the gate and tried not to be obvious about staring at Kylie. It was a bit difficult though. The woman had spread her legs to about shoulder width and was doing a series of stretches that involved bending over and touching the ground. Titus’s very male brain kept a running commentary going on the benefits of a woman who really worked on her flexibility. What would those legs look like wrapped all the way around his waist?
It was a silly, juvenile thought. But he also recalled Kylie’s reaction to his near nakedness yesterday. She’d caught him off-guard in the house. He hadn’t really thought that much about being in his underwear. He’d been more concerned over whether or not Hilary and Caroline were trying to break into his house. But the way Kylie looked at him…
“Good morning!” The bright welcome in her voice might have been a little forced this morning. Strange. But maybe that was because she had seen him in his underwear yesterday and had not been able to keep herself from raking him over from head to toe again and again. “You’re out for your paper, huh? I saw the van. It’s around the corner.”
Titus frowned. Kylie was not usually this much of a babbler. “Are you all right?”
“Is it that obvious?” She slumped against his front gate.
Good Lord, how was it possible for one woman to look this good? Titus could smell her. Some kind of citrus mixed with that rosemary and mint shampoo and tinged with female sweat. The kind of scent that made you think of sweaty nights twisted in the sheets making love to a woman who would scream your name.
Sweat glistened on Kylie’s skin and gathered at the valley of her breasts before slipping down beneath the neckline of her low cut top. Her arms were tanned all the way past her shoulders. Her legs were strong and agile. She was what any animal would look for in a mate. Athletic, intelligent, and beautiful. The best combination of traits that would ensure the strengthening of the line.
But Titus wasn’t going to mate. Ever. And his liaisons had been casual so far. He had been careful not to allow his seed to take root in any woman. He could not take that risk. But it meant being a lone wolf for life. And women like Kylie—women with dreams of a home and a family of their own—were not for him.
“Titus?”
“Sorry.”
“You blinked out on me for a moment.” She actually looked concerned. “Do you have a lot on your mind?”
He sighed and shoved a hand through his hair. He was wearing athletic shorts and a tank top himself and his skin was damp from the humidity. The day was going to be a brutal one. “It’s hot as hell already and it’s barely six o’clock.”
“Yeah.” She made a face. “There’s a heat advisory today. You know, bring in your pets and your old people. It’s going to be a scorcher.”
Titus chuckled. The newspaper delivery van turned down Hawthorne and headed in their direction. The guy was tossing papers like usual as though he was completely unaware or just didn’t care that there were people standing in front of one of the houses. When the paper came sailing out of the van, Kylie ducked as Titus snatched it right out of the air.
“Holy cow!” She popped back upright and her eyes got huge. “That was crazy! He’s going to take someone’s head off! Nice catch, by the way. Did you play baseball or something?”
“Or something,” Titus told her with amusement. Shifter reflexes would have allowed him to do that from a whole lot farther away. Funny, but he almost had the urge to tell her that. To tell her everything. But it would be a dangerous risk.
“Titus?” Kylie was biting her lip and looking uncomfortable.
Titus wondered if she was going to say something about his underwear. He found he wanted her to. To ask him what color they were today. To give him some kind of indication she had enjoyed the view. Something.
“I got suspended from work yesterday,” Kylie told him quietly. Then she seemed to reconsider. “Well, I don’t know what I am really. It was all so strange. Hilary Allenwood showed up at the winery and made a big scene. She claims I assaulted her.”
Titus made a low noise in the back of his throat. He found that about as likely as winning the lottery. “And your boss believed her?”
“She grabbed my arm and I turned around. She made it look like I hit her or something. I’m not kidding. It was the most absurd bit of fake acting I’ve ever seen! She went sailing over a set of chairs and made a big show of falling and then got up and said her leg was broken. Some customer waiting for a tour called 911…”
“So, it was contrived,” Titus said quickly. Then he pursed his lips and tossed the paper idly from end to end in his hand. “Do you have any idea why she would be targeting you like that?”
“No! That’s just the thing. I don’t have anything to do with her other than the fact that she’s come to some of the social events at the winery to cover them for the paper. But it was like she had a personal vendetta against me!”
Titus thought for a moment. He was sure that he’d seen Hilary and Caroline in the neighborhood. Could this be related to that bit of prowling? And if it was, did he tell Kylie and risk her asking how or why or where he had seen these women? It was all a risk. But Titus found he wanted to confide in Kylie all the same. She had a good mind.
“What?” Kylie said tersely. “You look like you want to say something but aren’t sure what to say.”
“You know,” Titus mused. “You’re the only one who seems able to read my facial expressions.”
“Seriously?” She looked taken aback. “You’re obvious. I would think you’d be awful at poker.”
He could have been offended, but he wasn’t. In fact, he was bizarrely pleased by her comment. And that was foolish in so many ways. “I’m quite good at poker actually,” Titus murmured. “And what I was trying to decide how to tell you was that I spotted Hilary and my former office assistant Caroline prowling around this neighborhood night before last.”
“What?” Hilary put her hands on her hips and started pacing in little circles on the other side of Titus’s front gate. “Are you kidding me? That receptionist you caught spying on you? Remember? That time at the Italian place. You and I both saw Hilary there and you said she’d just got done meeting with your assistant. Do you think they’ve been in this together from the beginning? Whatever this is, of course. It’s just so weird. Why are they stalking you? And what do I have to do with it?”
“That I’m not sure of.” Titus made sure to make that clear. He didn’t want her thinking that she was some kind of target. “But I believe Hilary is trying to link me to—to something that happened long ago and far away and I’m not entirely sure why.”
Titus could see Kylie take a mental step back. She straightened and her expression grew thoughtful. “Tie you to something? You think she has something personal against you?”
The newspaper was still in his hand. The fresh copy of the Branson Register. Now he was curious as to what was on the front page and not because he was afraid it concerned him. He was very afraid that Kylie and her incident had somehow landed above the fold.
“What are you doing?” Kylie wanted to know as he slid the plastic sleeve off the paper. “No. I don’t want to see. Please?”
But it was too late. Titus unfolded the rolled up paper and there it was, above the fold. A spectacularly blown up picture of a woman throwing up her hands just as a fountain of red wine splashed her in the face and covered her blouse. The photograph was even in color. And of course, the headline was just as colorful.
“Oh no!” Kylie wailed. “This is not good. Not good at all. Let me see that.”
She snatched the paper right out of Titus’s hand and he let her. He was still trying to figure out why Hilary would have suddenly started targeting some random woman who lived on his street.
Is she really a random target?
Titus felt a tightening in his gut. How long had Hilary been watching him? And how often? That was what he didn’t know and needed to find out. That was what would answer the questi
on of why Hilary was suddenly targeting Kylie. Had Hilary seen them together and read too far into things? What if it was his fault that Kylie had suddenly been suspended from her job?
“My boss is going to kill me!” Kylie grunted. “This is bad. Like, so bad I’m going to have to go down to the newspaper office and file a complaint. None of this is true. It’s completely made up!”
Titus felt bad for her. She was a good person. She didn’t deserve this sort of treatment from anyone, much less a two-bit paper-pushing red-head on some weird mission of revenge. “I should go,” Titus muttered after a moment or two when his thoughts had settled.
“You mean to work? To figure this out?” Kylie looked relieved. Why was she relieved?
Titus shook his head. “I mean I should just go. Leave the area. Hilary isn’t going to be satisfied until she’s managed to drag me through the mud with whatever story it is she thinks she has on me.”
“Are you out of your mind?” Kylie reached over the fence and swatted him with the newspaper. “You can’t just leave! You’re telling me that you’re okay letting this woman just run right over you? Like she can start spreading lies and you just turn tail and run? That’s insane! What are you going to do? Runaway every time you meet up with another Hilary Allenwood? Because let me tell you, Titus Holbrook, there are Hilary Allenwoods everywhere in life.”
Titus was taken aback by the vehemence in her words. He actually felt—well, he felt embarrassed by what she was saying. But then, she wasn’t done.
“You said she was trying to pin something on you. Something that happened a long time ago?” There was an intensity in Kylie’s words that left no room for argument.
So, Titus nodded. He didn’t really want to go into the file they’d found on Caroline’s computer that had information about a death in Montana that had happened so many years ago. Titus didn’t know what to say about that right now. It had been long ago and far away and Titus had left Montana because his family had been neck-deep in the mess. His family. Not him. But perhaps that’s where he was wrong. Apparently, trying to separate yourself from the sins of your family wasn’t possible.
“You need to research that,” Kylie decided. She looked very sure of herself. It was rather adorable. He tried not to get distracted by the urge to tease her out of this dour mood. “You need to find out what it is Hilary thinks she has on you and you need to confront her with it. This whole thing about holding people hostage because we are all afraid of what she’ll print about us is bullshit.”
“All right. And if I do that, what are you going to do?” He was honestly curious.
She obviously had a plan of attack in her head. “There is a lawyer in town who has been talking to the editor’s son down at the Register. I think he’s an intern this summer.”
“Yes,” Titus agreed. “Jeffrey. Detective Lowell—or rather DEA Agent Lowell—got some numbers on the police department from Jeffrey. Ellie had Jeffrey run some comparison reports on actual crime statistics and what the paper reported and what was actually investigated.”
“And what did Jeffrey find?” Kylie demanded. She was really looking excitable now. “I bet he found that she’s been covering stuff up and choosing to report on only certain things to keep the public’s attention focused elsewhere. Wag the dog! It’s just like propaganda!”
Titus chuckled and shook his head. In spite of the topic under discussion, he really did like talking to Kylie Overton. “I don’t know that I would call it that. But close, for sure.”
“But that has to be it!” She looked absolutely determined. “And I’m going to be filing a claim against the paper for libel and slander and I’m not sure what else I can make stick. But I know a lawyer who will take the case and it’s about time we put the editor’s balls to the fire so he’ll put a stop to Hilary’s bullying the entire town.”
Well, at least one of them was dedicated to putting an end to this thing. Titus wasn’t entirely sure he was on board. But for now, there was nothing else to be done.
Chapter Six
The newspaper offices of the Branson Register were located in an older strip mall on Shepard of the Hills Expressway. The building itself was perched on the “up” side of the street with a parking lot that was so sloped that it would have made a spectacular sledding hill in the wintertime if you wouldn’t have been sliding out into the big four lane expressway at the bottom.
Kylie’s little SUV chugged up the slope and she parked in front of the offices with the newspaper’s name etched in gold lettering across the front windows. There was a lot of plate glass on the front of the building, but inside things looked rather sleepy.
A nerdy kid sat at the front desk. He was banging away on his computer and seemed very wrapped up in whatever project he was tackling. Jeffrey, the summer intern who was also the son of the owner and editor, was the one Kylie wanted to start with.
“Good morning, Jeffrey.” Kylie tried to keep her voice pleasant. “How are you?”
Jeffrey peeked around his computer monitor and Kylie actually saw his face blanch when he spotted her. “Oh God. You saw the story.”
“Yes. Yes, I did,” Kylie said with an exaggerated bob of her head. “It was kind of hard to miss above the fold. Don’t you think?”
“I told Dad it was a bad idea!” Jeffrey looked chagrined. Then he leaned forward and whispered to Kylie. “Ms. Allenwood says her leg is broken. She came in here last night all in an uproar about it and she yelled at Dad.”
“Is your father afraid of her?” Kylie whispered, leaning closer to Jeffrey. “Because I’m going to an attorney, Jeffrey. And I want you to give your father fair warning that I am suing this paper for slander and libel and whatever else I can make stick because I am sick and tired of everyone letting Hilary Allenwood run the show!”
Jeffrey bit his lip. He cast a look at the office labeled EDITOR. The slatted blinds were closed and it looked dark. “Dad has been out of the office for a few weeks.”
“Then how did Hilary yell at him?” Kylie wondered what was really going on.
Jeffrey gestured to the phone on the counter. “She called him at home. He’s been staying there for weeks. I haven’t even seen him.”
“How haven’t you seen him?” Kylie demanded. “You live with him for pity’s sake!”
“No. I live in the guest house. It’s down closer to the lake. My mom is up in St. Louis. She refuses to spend the season down here. She claims the town is full of nothing but rednecks. Sometimes, she only comes down here for the holidays. But my dad stays in the house by himself. Except for our housekeeper, Martha.” Jeffrey sucked in a deep breath after spewing all of that information. It was like he was trying to get it all out before he couldn’t.
Kylie frowned. “You need to check on your dad, Jeffrey. That’s not good. He can’t be alone up there all by himself and sick at the same time! You have to go and check on him.”
“He was angry at me,” Jeffrey said stiffly. “He yelled at me about the stats I gathered up for the police. Hilary yelled at me, too.” He looked thoughtful. “There’s been a lot of yelling this summer.”
Kylie was just about to tell him there would be a lot more if he didn’t figure out what was going on with the editor when the other office door burst open and Hilary Allenwood came swinging out on a pair of crutches. Kylie couldn’t help it. She gaped and then laughed.
“You must be joking!” Kylie exclaimed. “I want to see the x-rays. Now. I want proof that you’ve got a broken leg. I see they didn’t bother to cast it. Plus, you look too bright and chipper to have just gotten out of surgery. So, this is rather like one of those injuries little girls use in gym class to get a doctor’s note. Right?”
Hilary’s eyes sparked with anger. “You’d better watch it, Kylie. I know who you hang out with. But do you? Do you know you’re living across the street from a murderous werewolf?”
Kylie was pretty sure she was not hearing this correctly. She couldn’t have been. What in the world was Hilary going
on about now? “Murderous werewolf? Honestly? I don’t believe in that kind of nonsense. And I didn’t think this was the sort of paper that bought into it either. Maybe you’d better change the name from the Register to the Speculator? Hmm?”
“Shut up!” Hilary snarled. She swung herself on her crutches just a little farther out of her office. Kylie could not help but notice she was putting an awful lot of weight on the foot that was supposedly broken. “You don’t belong in here! You assaulted a woman and I’m sure you’re going to go to jail.”
“Yeah, I feel like that’s not going to happen,” Kylie said dismissively. She knew this was the behavior and the attitude that would sting Hilary the most. “I just came to give the editor the last opportunity to retract his story. But since he’s obviously not going to do it, I’ll have to take further action on my own.”
“Oh please!” Hilary scoffed. “What are you going to do? Publish a pamphlet?”
“No. I’m going to file charges against you and the paper for your false statements against me.”
Hilary finally looked a little spooked. Just a little though. She tossed her red hair and looked down her nose at Kylie. “I didn’t make any false statements. They’re exactly what people told me.”
“I was standing there, Hilary,” Kylie said matter-of-factly. “My boss never told you I had a history of violence towards the customers. He told you I was not the sort of person to get in an argument. That I’m even-tempered and not foul-tempered. But that’s not what you reported. Is it? You lied. And I think we’re all a little sick of it. So, I’m filing charges and I just thought I would stop and give your editor a last chance to make amends.”
“Well, it’s not going to happen!” Hilary snarled. “So, you can just go and cry about it.”
Kylie turned to walk out of the paper’s office, but Hilary wasn’t done.
“And you can tell that boyfriend of yours that I know what he did and I’m not going to rest until I see justice!” Hilary added.
Rock Wolf Investigations: Boxset Page 99