“I doubt it,” she said skeptically. “I grew up there and never had anything like this ever happen. And please don’t start asking a lot of questions down there. I told you, I don’t want my parents to know I’ve hired a private detective, because I don’t want them to know I’ve having problems.”
“So we won’t tell them.”
“And how am I supposed to explain your presence?”
“Hell, it’s your family, not mine. You think of something.”
“If I bring a man home with me for the weekend, my parents will immediately think that we’re . . . involved.”
“Okay, so I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend.” He made the announcement quite casually, waving a piece of pudding around before stuffing it into his mouth.
“We can’t do that! It would be deceitful!” she protested.
“Then tell them the truth, that I’m your private detective.”
“I-I can’t do that, either.” Ashli hesitated for only a moment before conceding to his plan. “I suppose we could say we’ve been ‘seeing’ each other. It wouldn’t be a complete lie.”
“Oh good, I won’t stay awake tonight with a guilty conscious.”
Ignoring his sarcasm, Ashli frowned as she thought about their scheme. In a manner uniquely her own, Ashli argued with herself over the subject. “Knowing my mother, she’ll be measuring me for a wedding gown the moment you walk through the door. I hate deceiving her like this, especially since her grand ambition in life is to see me happily married and with no less than a half dozen grandchildren for her to spoil. But if she knew the truth it would make her sick with worry, and I won’t put my family through that..... Okay, so we’ll do it. But not a word about why you’re really there, all right?”
“Whatever you say,” he murmured, still a bit dazed at the way she started her argument so docile, then ended so adamantly.
Having made her decision, Ashli stood from the table and gave a final nod of approval. “Then I’ll see you Saturday. And remember, not a word.”
CHAPTER TEN
Ashli found a quiet corner table and sat down with a vanilla latte and a slice of chocolate cheesecake. The dining room was all but empty, and the last of the afternoon coffee drinkers were clearing out. Ashli’s Tea Party would be closed in less than an hour, another week at its end.
Ashli was feeling particularly pensive today. She had taken Rachel and Kevin to the airport, happy to know the couple was getting a well-deserved vacation, but feeling just a bit envious of her best friend’s fairytale life. Returning to the Tea Party, she found that Molly Robinson had everything under control and there was really nothing left for her to do. Or perhaps the real problem was that all she had to do now was to think, and somehow her thoughts kept returning to one dark haired, ill-tempered Lange Sterling.
Taking her first bite of the sinfully rich dessert, she savored the taste of carefully blended cream and rum, thinking the dark, swirling flavors reminded her of Lange’s kisses. She was oblivious to the sharp clip of high heels on the marble until someone spoke from her side.
“Excuse me. Am I intruding?”
At the sound of the totally unexpected voice beside her, Ashli’s eyes flew open. She flushed guiltily, then smiled in relief when she saw who had caught her in an unguarded moment.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but I just wanted to drop by and say hello,” the attractive red head apologized.
“You’re not disturbing me at all. In fact, I could definitely use the company right now.” Motioning for the other woman to sit, she said, “Please, join me.”
“I’m not sure if you remember me. I’ve been in several times.”
“Of course I remember you. You’re Diane, the lawyer. You’re one of my most impressive customers,” Ashli smiled warmly as the other woman slid into the wrought iron chair across from her.
“I’m not sure how impressive I am...”
“Oh, very. Even though I discourage tips, your clients always leave very generous gratuities.” The twinkle in her blue eyes told Diane that her words were in jest. Feigning disappointment, she looked around and said in mock dismay, “What, no rich clients today?”
“Actually, they just walked out the door. And if I’m not mistaken, I think I saw Mr. O’Toole slip a crisp new twenty dollar bill under the edge of his napkin,” Diane assured her with a laugh. “I just saw you over here and thought I would drop by to say hello.”
“I’m glad you did. Have you had dessert?”
“No, but -”
Seeing Molly a few tables away, Ashli called her newest manager-in-training and motioned her over. “Molly, please bring my friend Diane a piece of cheesecake. And make certain it’s just as thick as mine; I can’t stand the thought of gaining ten pounds all by myself.”
“That’s cruel!” Diane protested with a grin, as she settled more comfortably into her chair.
Molly returned almost immediately, carrying a tray with cheesecake and a carafe of coffee.
“Thank you, Molly, you are an absolute doll. And you did an excellent job this afternoon while I was gone. Why don’t you take off early this afternoon? I can close up here.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that. I want to do everything that Ms. Rachel does. Besides, I promised her I wouldn’t leave you here alone. I’m to walk out with you every day.” Her skin, as dark and creamy as the chocolate dessert she served, glowed from Ashli’s praise, but her dark eyes held the commitment of the oath she had made. It was obvious she did not make her promises lightly.
Glancing at Diane and hoping the words had not registered, Ashli’s smile widened warmly but her words brooked no argument. “I appreciate your dedication, Molly. You’ll make an excellent manager here for us. But I insist that you enjoy the rest of the afternoon off. It’s important to me that you know what a fine job you are doing. And take the rest of the cheesecake home with you; I’m sure George will enjoy it.”
Still savoring her first taste of the heavenly confection, Diane murmured in appreciation. “And who wouldn’t? This is absolutely divine.”
When Ashli’s only reply was a smile of thanks, Diane sensed that something was wrong. “Is everything alright? I think this is the first time I have ever seen you that you were not positively beaming. You’re always so cheerful and bright, but today you seem rather distracted.”
“Ah, I see what makes you a brilliant lawyer. You’re very perceptive,” Ashli side-stepped the issue with a teasing smile.
“And very persistent. You didn’t answer the question.”
Toying with her food, Ashli wasn’t sure how to put her strange mood into words. Finally she settled on a partial truth. “I just took my best friend to the airport. She’s going on a second honeymoon with the man she absolutely adores, and I’ve never even found a man to go on my first honeymoon with. I guess I’m feeling sorry for myself.”
“I know exactly how you feel,” Diane admitted with a long sigh. Suddenly losing her own appetite, she made idle designs in the cheesecake. “I just broke up with my boyfriend. Or rather, he broke up with me.”
“Big fight?”
“No, nothing like that. He just came in and told me it was over.”
“That sounds rather cold,” Ashli frowned.
“You know, if we had had a fight, it would make it easier to accept, easier to deal with. I would have a reason to be mad at him, a reason to stop caring. But it wasn’t like that at all. It was just.... over.”
“Did he say why?”
“I think he’s falling in love with one of his clients,” Diane admitted sadly.
Assuming her ex-boyfriend was a lawyer such as herself, Ashli sympathized with her friend. “I’ve recently discovered that business and personal relationships don’t mix very well. It’s too hard to draw the line at where one ends and the other begins.”
“Hmmm, I think I know what you mean. But it doesn’t make the ending any easier. And it doesn’t make the regrets go away. I keep thinking I should have been more domestic, mo
re nurturing to his needs.”
“And here I am, wishing I was a little less domestic, a little more exciting.”
“More exciting than being a successful business woman and television star?” Diane asked dubiously. “And do I detect a man in there somewhere? Have you met someone?”
Ashli hesitated a moment before denying the truth that even a casual acquaintance could see. But the fact that she was a casual acquaintance, someone she could confide in without answering to, made Diane somehow easier to talk to than Rachel, at least when it came to Lange Sterling. After all, Rachel didn’t quite approve of her attraction to the handsome detective, but Diane did not even know him. For the first time, she could admit her feelings without having them analyzed.
“He’s way out of my league,” she finally conceded.
“Why on earth would you think that?”
“Look at me. Here I am in my sensible flat shoes and my serviceable blue dress. And there you are in your fashionable suit and heels. Next to you, I look like chopped liver.”
Her eyes alight with laughter, Diane pushed her uneaten cheesecake aside. “Girlfriend, I may not be Betty Crocker, but even I know what chopped liver looks like. And believe me, you’re more in the league of prime rib. You just don’t come with all the trimmings.”
“Because I don’t know what trimmings to use. It’s... been a while since I had a man in my life,” Ashli admitted.
“Is this man interested in you, too?”
“He kisses me like he is.”
“Then you need to make a few alterations to your wardrobe. Necklines lower, hemlines higher. With your coloring, you would be dynamite in red.”
“I’d probably look like a hooker!” Ashli said, laughing at the ridiculous vision she had of herself in a short, tight, daring red dress.
But when Diane said in a sultry drawl, “Now you’re getting the general idea”, Ashli’s mouth went suddenly dry. Just the thought of an intimate relationship with Lange took her breath away.
“Listen to me,” Diane said with a derisive sigh. “I’m one to be giving advice on how to catch a man. I couldn’t even keep the one I had.”
“Well,” Ashli offered, wanting to return the favor of helpful advice, “if you think the way to your man’s heart is through his stomach, I may have the road map you’re looking for.”
“I think I need an entire atlas, but go on.”
“You need to invite him over for a nice, hot, home cooked meal.”
“You must be joking. I can’t even boil water without scorching the pan.”
“But I know a terrific little bistro that specializes in nice home cooked food,” Ashli said with a twinkle of mischief in her eye.
“Why, you sneaky little thing, you. And you look so sweet and innocent. I love it!” Diane pronounced with glee.
Their appetites suddenly restored, the women finished their cheesecake with considerably lighter spirits.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
He would never admit it, even to himself, but excitement stirred within Lange at the thought of spending the week-end with Ashli. He told himself it was the anticipation of a professional challenge, the rush of adrenalin he always felt when he was closing in on a case. He told himself it had nothing to do with spending two days in the company of the woman who occupied his dreams every night, he insisted that it had nothing to do with hair like sunshine and eyes as blue as the bluest sky.
But even he knew he lied.
He was at her condo early, ready to start their day. For the briefest of moments, he wondered what to wear to make the best impression on her family. But as quickly as the thought entered his mind, a rebellious anger had driven it away. It had been years- if ever - since he worried about impressing a girl’s father; damn if he was going to start now! With a defiant streak of independence, he jerked on a faded denim work shirt, soft and frayed from countless washings. After all, he was going there to work, not to win the approval of Ashli’s family.
Still, he wasn’t sure he had made the right choice until he saw Ashli. And by that time, it didn’t matter at all what he was wearing, because all eyes would be on her. His were, at least, because it was the first time he had ever seen her in jeans. And it was definitely the first time he had ever felt envy toward a piece of fabric.
Yet there it was, a ridiculous yearning to be the soft faded denim that was hugging her body in places he had only dreamed of caressing. Even the simple pink tee shirt was draped across her body as sensuously as silk, drawing his eyes to her generous breasts and narrow waistline. The clothes she wore were not tight, not revealing, not even suggestive, but his overactive mind had dozens of suggestions on ways to get her out of them.
Totally unaware of the scandalous thoughts he entertained, Ashli handed him one last bucket to be loaded into the back of his pick-up truck. “Okay, that should be enough.”
“How many cobblers are you planning on making, woman?”
“Remember, the berries cook down, so it won’t make nearly as many as you think.” She absently wiped her hands clean by brushing them against the seat of her jeans, then tucked her hands into her back pockets.
Damn, she was a tease and didn’t even know it! She struck a painfully alluring pose, yet somehow managed to look like a little girl, what with her hair up in a tony tail and a flush of anticipation on her face. Yet that little girl was woman enough to have his own jeans fitting painfully tight.
“It still looks like you’re planning to cook for Lee’s army,” he grumbled, making room for the last bucket. “You’ll have to put your suitcase in the cab, behind the seat.”
Ashli started to lift the suitcase into the truck’s interior, then stopped short. Seeing her hesitation, Lange sighed audibly and came round to where she stood.
“I forgot again, didn’t I?” he muttered, reaching down for the case in belated gentlemanly fashion.
“No, it’s not that. He’s watching me. I can feel him watching me again, Lange.”
“Are you sure?” His voice automatically fell to a low whisper. Without turning his head, his eyes scanned the area.
“Positive.” Her hand reached out to grab his arm for security.
“I want you to get into the truck and close the door. I’ll take the suitcase around to my side. Lock the door behind you; unlock it for me after I get around.”
“Lange, I’m scared,” she whispered needlessly. Her wide eyes spoke for themselves.
“There’s nothing to be scared of, honey. I’m right here. Walking around to the other side will give me a chance to look behind us. Can you tell which way he is?”
“No, just that he’s watching.”
“Okay, you get into the truck now, and slowly close the door. We don’t want to arouse his suspicions.”
Ashli did as she was told, resisting the urge to look over her shoulder. Lange closed the door for her, for once acting the part of gentleman even though neither of them cared just now. As he carried the suitcase around to the driver’s side, he scanned the neighborhood with keen, thorough eyes.
“Do you see anyone?” she whispered as he worked to fit the suitcase in. He exaggerated the close fit, which gave him more time to stand outside the truck, his eyes steadily moving.
“Not really. An elderly man watering the flowers, the paperboy on his bike, a couple of kids playing on the sidewalk. Up the street there’s a car, but it looks like teenagers gathered around it, and none seem to be looking our way. I saw a person in the window across the street at the condos, a middle aged woman I think. No one else seems to be out this morning.”
“He’s out,” she said insistently, “and he’s watching.”
After stalling a few moments longer, Lange finally secured the suitcase and slid behind the wheel. “Okay, while I start the motor you look around and see if you can see anyone suspicious, anyone who’s not normally out this time of day, that sort of thing. Try not to be too obvious.”
Ashli saw nothing unusual on this beautiful late spring day. As the
truck rolled slowly down the street, she lifted her hand in greeting to Mr. Parnell and Jimmy the paperboy, who returned her wave enthusiastically. No one else seemed to notice their departure as they slowly disappeared around the corner and soon, out of town.
“Tell me again,” Lange said as they drove toward Petersburg, “Before the Peeping Tom and shopping incidents, had anything strange happened?”
Ashli pursed her lips, mulling over things she originally dismissed as being unimportant. She waded through some of those events in her mind, deciding which merited telling about. “There were a few things,” she admitted. “At the time, I didn’t think much about them, but looking back, I have to wonder...”
“Like what? What sort of things happened?”
“Like one time, when I was taking my garbage out. I remembered something else I wanted to throw away, so I sat the bag down outside and went back up. When I came back out, the garbage bag was gone. I just assumed it was Mr. Parnell or Todd being nice, but when I thanked them, they both denied knowing anything about it.”
“Hmm. Okay, what else?”
“About a week later, I came home from work and my door was unlocked. I could have sworn I locked it before I left, but there was nothing missing, nothing out of place, so I decided it was simply an oversight on my part.”
“And when was this?”
“I don’t know, about ... three weeks before the first Peeping Tom incident, probably. Actually,” she said, giving it more thought, “I know exactly when it was. It was the last week of April, right after we had our movie night. That was the night Mr. Parnell got so upset with Jason Madison. I actually decided that maybe he had gone in to check out my air conditioner and forgot to lock the door behind him.”
“Jason Madison has a key to your apartment?” he asked sharply.
“No, silly, I was talking about Mr. Parnell. No way would I give Jason Madison a key.”
“Why did Mr. Parnell get upset with Madison?”
“We were having movie night, when we play old movies on the projector against the carriage house wall. It’s the perfect canvas, by the way, a solid brick wall on the side facing the gardens. We pull up lawn chairs and pop popcorn and have a nice night outdoors visiting and watching movies.” By now Lange was growing accustomed to her round-about answers. “Mr. Parnell still has his old projector and lots of old movies, especially anything filmed by Doris Day. He’s like her biggest fan. Which is fine by me, since I enjoy watching her, especially when so many people think I sound like her. Anyway, that night we were watching ‘Lover, Come Back’, with Rock Hudson.
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