“Alec Damon opened the casino a few years ago. His pictures were splashed across the newspaper. What can I say? He seemed like a good catch. He was handsome. He looked just like your dear papa when he had hair. He was wealthy-not that Zoe cares about money now, but once she gets older, trust me, she’ll want security.”
Her mother’s eyes glazed over as she recounted the casino owner’s attributes. “And he’s a complete gentleman with his dancers at the casino. He seemed perfect, even if he wasn’t Greek.” Elena nodded in satisfaction.
Ariana pinched the bridge of her nose hard and counted to ten. She and Zoe were old enough to pick their own men, but it didn’t matter now. “So you took a job as a showgirl at Damon’s and cozied up to the owner?”
She bit her tongue to keep from mentioning that her mother was getting too old to continue her dance routine. The truth was Elena didn’t look a day over twenty and worked hard to keep it that way.
Elena nodded. “Of course I danced. And flirted. All with your papa’s approval, I want you to know. He came to every performance.”
Ariana wondered how many pockets he’d picked along the way. “Mom, please. What does this have to do with Zoe’s disappearance?”
“I told your sister that I borrowed money from Mr. Damon and lost it gambling. I said if she didn’t do something to help me, his men would come after me and-” Elena made a distinct slicing motion across her neck with her hand, the black scarf draped from her sleeve billowing in the air.
“And did you borrow the money?”
Elena nodded. “Well, yes. I told Mr. Damon that we couldn’t afford to feed the newest member of the family, and he advanced me money on my salary.”
“What new family member?” Ariana asked, now completely befuddled.
Elena blinked. “Why, Spank, of course!”
“Spank who?”
“Spank the monkey!” she said as if the answer were obvious. “You two met in the kitchen earlier.”
A lewd monkey with a crude name. Oh, this was so typical of her family, Ariana thought, rolling her eyes. “I’m sorry I asked. So Zoe was concerned about you, and she went to the casino to… what?” she asked her mother.
“To get a job and help work off my debt. Two dancers would pay off five thousand dollars much faster than one. That’s what I told your sister. But there really was no debt. Not one that would have me killed, anyway.” Elena’s eyes filled with remorse. “In reality it was a legitimate loan for a noble purpose.”
“Marrying your daughter off to a rich man isn’t exactly noble. How did I come from this family?” she asked for the millionth time in her nearly thirty years.
“It wasn’t just his money that made him a good prospect. Honestly, I thought he was decent and honorable and would make a good husband for your sister. Not to mention, he’s sexy, which you’d see for yourself if you went there. But you won’t. I forbid it.” Elena perched her hands on her hips and glared at Ariana.
Her expression would have worked-if Ariana were a child and not an adult who had been living on her own for years now.
“I just thought if Mr. Damon got a look at your sister, he’d fall head over heels.” Elena made this last pronouncement with a plea for understanding in her voice.
“What world do you live in?” Ariana asked, in shock at her mother’s way of thinking, although considering everything, she really shouldn’t be.
“I beg your pardon, young lady, but what’s so wrong with believing in love at first sight? I know I felt it for your father and him for me. And Zoe thought Alec Damon was a handsome scoundrel.” Elena scowled a bit. “I’m not sure I liked the idea of a scoundrel, but then the right woman can always train a man.”
Ariana ignored her mother’s philosophical musings. Love at first sight didn’t happen to most people, or the divorce rate wouldn’t be as high as it was. “Do you think Alec Damon had something to do with Zoe’s disappearance? Is that why you don’t want me to go to the casino?”
Elena shrugged. “I really don’t know what happened to your sister.” She swallowed as her voice cracked with emotion. “Zoe had worked at Damon’s for about five weeks. Between the two of us, we’d paid off the loan. Zoe knew that but continued to go there every day, so I thought my plan was working and she liked this Mr. Damon. Not that she ever admitted as much to me. No, my Zoe wouldn’t give me the satisfaction of discussing her social life.”
Ariana nodded. “Zoe kept to herself. She valued her privacy.”
“As do you, moving so far away.” Elena shook her head, obviously frustrated. “Anyway, she went to work one day and no one’s story is consistent after that. Her car was left in the parking lot and she’s been missing,” Elena said on a wail of despair. “And I don’t want to see my other daughter walk into danger.”
Since Ariana couldn’t promise her mother she wouldn’t be doing just that, she settled for calming her. “I want you to go lie down. Don’t worry yourself sick. I’ll just see what I can find out and I’ll be careful doing it.” Ariana placed a hand around her mother’s shoulders and led her out of Zoe’s room, which had too many memories and was only upsetting her.
“Exactly what are you going to do?” her mother asked.
Ariana forced a smile. “Nothing for you to worry about, I promise.”
“But Zoe was the tougher twin, the one who could handle herself in most any situation, and even she obviously couldn’t best this Mr. Damon. What makes you think you can, my sweet Ari?” As Elena lifted her gaze, concern and the worry lines in her forehead made her seem older than usual like someone carrying more of a burden than her normal, carefree self.
Elena’s distinction between the twins merely strengthened Ariana’s resolve not to let her sister down. “Because you need me to handle him and so does Zoe. If I can hold my own with a roomful of cocky college students, I’m sure I can deal with Mr. Damon, too.”
She wasn’t as certain about Quinn, the sexy man with many secrets who believed she was on her way back to Vermont. She’d just have to do her best to stay under his radar during her trip to Damon’s tomorrow night.
CHAPTER THREE
Quinn had agreed to meet his partner at a Dunkin’ Donuts an hour outside of Ocean Isle. Connor Brennan took a bite of a donut and chased it down with a swig of coffee before wiping the sugar off his mouth with the back of his hand.
Watching Connor chow down on donuts, Quinn groaned. “You do realize you’re reinforcing a bad cliché about cops?”
Connor balled the napkin he hadn’t used and tossed it into the trash, then shrugged. “Who cares? As long as my stomach’s happy, I’m happy.”
Quinn leaned back against the sticky seat and laughed. “You always did make your stomach a priority.” He’d met Connor when they were seventeen, two unwanted boys sharing their last foster home.
“And you were always willing to help me.”
Connor, with Quinn as lookout, had stolen food, not for himself and Quinn, but for the younger kids in the house. Quinn, Connor, and a revolving door of other kids had all lived under strict and irrational rules. While watching the clock tick down toward their eighteenth birthdays and freedom, the two older boys had done what they could for the younger ones before getting out.
“We make a damn good team. Then and now.” Connor grinned, flashing the killer smile women loved and the one that covered all the pain he didn’t want the world to see.
Quinn agreed. The other man was the brother Quinn never had.
“So you had a close call today, huh?” Connor asked.
Just thinking about Ari being shot at made Quinn break into a sweat. He nodded. “The twins looked enough alike to nearly give me a heart attack. And apparently someone else thought they’d seen Zoe, too.”
Connor muttered a curse. “Well, we’d better make sure Zoe doesn’t find out about her twin’s arrival and do something to complicate this mess even more.”
“Agreed.” Quinn wrapped his hands around the warm coffee cup. “So what’d
you find at the pier?”
Connor’s dark gaze settled on Quinn. “Right after your call, I sent a team to the area of the shooting. They came up empty. The wind and sand blew away any evidence.”
“Damn.” Quinn curled his hand around a plastic fork and twirled it in his palms. “Then we just assume it was one of Damon’s men who thought they saw Zoe and took a shot.”
“But once he saw you tackling her, he probably realized something was off and ran.”
Quinn nodded. “Damon believed I followed orders and killed Zoe. He still believes it.”
Which was why Ari’s presence in town was so dangerous to her and to the investigation. “I assume you covered your ass with Damon today?” Connor asked.
Quinn nodded. “First thing I did after driving Ari home was to let Damon know Zoe’s twin paid her family a visit-and left again. So if someone who answers to Damon made the same mistake I did and thinks Zoe’s alive, Damon will correct them.”
Connor let out a slow whistle. “The good professor nearly tossed two years’ worth of undercover work down the drain.” He shook his head. “So tell me,” he said, the laughter in his voice signaling a fast change of subject, “is Ari as sweet looking as her sister?”
“She’s sweeter.” The words slipped out before Quinn could censor them.
“In what way? Sweet ass? Sweet cheeks?”
“Sweet Lord,” Quinn said, rolling his eyes. He hated hearing Ariana Costas reduced to a piece of eye candy, but damned if he’d give Connor the ammunition to rib him for the duration of this case. “She’s exactly like Zoe,” he lied.
Connor’s fathomless stare told Quinn he didn’t believe him for a second.
“And I made her swear she’d go home.”
“Think she’ll listen?” Connor asked.
Quinn nodded. “Without a doubt. She didn’t strike me as headstrong like Zoe.” Instead she was softer and more vulnerable.
And the fact that Zoe had faked her death, no matter how noble the reason, would hurt Ari. Normally Quinn lied without blinking, but he hadn’t been able to forget the pain in Ari’s eyes or the hope he’d seen when he’d admitted her sister was alive. He didn’t want to be around when Ari found out the disappearance was a deliberate hoax. Ari would probably want to kill her sister all over again, unlike the rest of her eccentric family, who’d probably applaud the charade.
Zoe had once regaled him with stories and just the thought of their strange, large family made Quinn, the poster child for a dysfunctional childhood and solitary living, break out in hives.
He shuddered and, after a quick glance at his watch, turned his attention back to Connor. “So what’s happening on your end?”
“Just some basic bartending. Nothing out of the ordinary. Unless you count one pain-in-the-ass waitress,” Connor muttered.
“Is Maria still busting your balls?”
“No woman busts them unless I let her.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow. “Did I hit a soft spot? For a woman?” he asked in disbelief.
“You mention Maria, I push harder on the subject of how Ariana Costas got to you, my friend. The choice is yours.” His partner leaned across the table, a menacing look crossing his face.
Too bad for Connor, that expression only worked on the criminals and coworkers who didn’t know him as well as Quinn. Quinn rubbed his hands together in anticipation of ribbing Connor further. Until his friend’s words sank in. Under threat of having his sudden, unexpected feelings for Ari uncovered and dissected, Quinn would have to back off.
“I’ve gotta go.” He stood and pulled his keys from his jacket pocket.
“Glad we understand each other,” Connor said, his shoulders more relaxed now that Maria’s name was out of the discussion.
Quinn shook his head and stifled a laugh. He consoled himself with the notion that by tomorrow, Maria would still be around making Connor squirm, while for Quinn, Ari would be a distant memory.
• • •
The next night, Connor stood behind the bar at Damon’s mixing cocktails. The drink, a Cosmo in a brandy snifter with extra ice, ordered by a man in a large black cowboy hat, had him preoccupied until a sixth sense prickled the back of his neck.
Not one to ignore his gut, since it had kept him alive when he was a kid and again on the force, he raised his gaze. Taking in the sight of the woman who had to be Zoe’s twin, Connor let out a slow whistle. Quinn was going to be pissed as hell, Connor thought.
He served the cowboy with the New York accent his drink along with a glass of ice water, no lemon, for the man’s wife, before turning his attention to Ariana. She wore tight-fitting black leather pants and a bright red sweater that would be conservative if not for the low-cut V-neck that showed off her ample cleavage and a hint of white lace.
Instead of Zoe’s jet black hair, hers had an auburn tint, and where her sister’s flowed down her back, Ariana’s brushed her shoulders in a chic cut that emphasized her olive skin and intense green eyes.
He could see why his best friend had fallen for her at a glance. Even if Quinn wasn’t ready to admit it just yet. “What can I get you?” Connor asked, making a show of wiping down a bar glass as he spoke.
“Gray Goose on the rocks with a lime.” She pursed her lips together in thought. “And information.”
Because Connor was a trained professional, he caught the nearly imperceptible tremor in her voice. Still, he got to work on her request and mulled over her statement. Though he didn’t know why she was here, he expected her to get the lay of the land and ask subtle questions. The kind he’d have no trouble accommodating. He needed to get a solid handle on her, since Quinn had already proven himself less than able to predict this woman’s actions, Connor thought, holding back a chuckle.
“So how long have you been working here?” she asked.
“About a year and a half. Why?” He slid the drink across the bar on a cocktail napkin.
She shrugged. “Because my sister used to serve drinks here. I’m looking for people who saw her before she disappeared.”
So much for anticipating her behavior. The only expected thing so far had been her quivering voice. But despite her nerves, she’d gone right for the killer question.
He kept his tone casual as he asked, “What’s your sister’s name? There’s plenty of babes who work here and move on.”
“But only one who disappeared, I assume.”
Before Connor could reply, Maria sauntered over and placed her tray down on the counter. Connor didn’t need a distraction, and Maria, with those eyes that saw too much and who got to him in a way no woman ever had, diverted his attention too easily. She’d also been ducking his come-ons in a way he wasn’t used to.
“Why don’t I refresh your memory,” Ariana said. “My sister’s name is Zoe. That’s a pretty unusual name and she’s my twin. Another reason I’d think you’d remember her,” Ariana said, forcing Quinn to tear his gaze from Maria.
Maria, meanwhile, glanced back and forth between Connor and Ariana and a scowl crossed her luscious lips. Lips he fantasized about in his sleep, drifting across his body and giving him immense pleasure.
Her displeased expression was the first indication Connor had ever had that Maria reciprocated his interest. Suddenly stringing Ariana along took on greater appeal, and he bit back a grin.
He leaned across the bar, closer to Zoe’s twin. “Is your sister a beautiful redhead like you?” he asked in a deliberately husky voice.
“Okay, assuming my face isn’t ringing any bells, no, she doesn’t have red hair,” Ariana said, her exasperation obvious. “She has long black hair. At least she did the last time I saw her.”
Was it Connor’s imagination or had a fleeting frown crossed her face?
He had no time to think further because she continued speaking. “But as I said, we’re twins, so thank you for the compliment.” She fluttered heavily made-up lashes and shot him a wide smile, no evidence of sadness at all. He wasn’t sure which was the act and whi
ch was forced, nor did he care to figure her out. He just needed to keep her in the dark.
Without warning, Maria lifted her tray and smashed it down on the counter, clearing her throat at the same time. “Some of us are here to work, not pick up women. Think you can take my order sometime today?” Maria asked.
Ariana jumped, while Connor bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing. He’d busted his ass to get through Maria’s reserve, and all it took was another woman’s interest to light a fire beneath her. Hot damn.
He let his gaze slide provocatively over Maria’s tight black miniskirt and tight white stretch tee. “Green’s an awfully pretty color on you, sweetstuff. I’ll be with you in a second.”
He turned to Ariana, though he watched Maria from the corner of his eye. A red flush stained her cheeks, making her hotter and sexier than usual. Damned if he didn’t want to get in on all that pent-up passion.
But first he had business to deal with. “I remember her now. Your sister hasn’t been around here in awhile,” he said to Ariana, finally acknowledging the truth. Maybe Ari would accept surface answers, but Connor doubted it. “The police stopped by asking questions, but from what I heard, they came up empty, too.” He tilted his head toward her. “My condolences though.”
Her eyes glazed but to her credit, she recovered with a swing of her shiny hair. “None necessary. Zoe’ll come home soon.” Rising from her seat, she slid twenty dollars across the wood countertop, waited for him to make change, then left him a nice tip.
“Where are you off to?” he asked.
She shrugged, drink in hand. “Maybe I’ll check out the slots.”
Bullshit, Connor thought, but he just didn’t know exactly what Ariana Costas had in mind. And that made him nervous.
“If you hear anything about my sister, I’d appreciate it if you’d give me a call.” Her gaze held his a few seconds too long, and he saw the desperation in her eyes.
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