At the top of each stairway he paused to sniff at the revolving panel that opened into the bedroom beyond. Outside of one room he caught what seemed to be Smurtz’s mothball odor, but he couldn’t very well go into the room and confirm it. He checked all the other rooms to no avail. Wherever Gentry was holding her, it wasn’t in one of the sleeping rooms.
At last he approached the narrow stairs to the guest room he’d been assigned, and his head lifted in surprise. He knew that scent as well as his own. His brother, Aidan, was in his room.
He didn’t know for certain why Aidan was here, but he could guess. Gentry had summoned him to deal with the problem brother.Aidan’s presence lowered Roarke’s stress level considerably. He couldn’t believe Abby was in immediate danger with Aidan on the premises.
Chances were Aidan had taken the corporate jet over, and he hated to fly as much as Roarke loved it. No doubt Aidan had left Emma at home, too, because this wasn’t a social call. With the combination of high-altitude flying and no Emma, Aidan would be in a mood. Roarke prepared himself for that as he pushed through the revolving panel into the bedroom.
Obviously Aidan had been stretched out on the king-sized bed, but he sat up immediately. His golden eyes narrowed as he surveyed Roarke. “You made good time, but you look like hell.”
Roarke had many things to say to his brother, but although he could understand human speech in wolf form, he couldn’t speak himself. And telepathy only worked when both Weres were wolves.
Running his fingers through his dark hair, Aidan swung his long legs off the bed and began putting on his wingtips. “I left clothes in the bathroom for you. We need to get downstairs, pronto.”
Roarke didn’t have to be told twice.
“Christ, Roarke. You’re bleeding all over the Aubusson.”
Roarke would have liked to take the time to dance a tango on Gentry’s damned antique rug. Instead he gave Aidan a look and padded into the bathroom.
“Yeah, I know.” Aidan’s feet hit the floor. “He’s an asshole, but that rug’s gotta be at least a hundred years old and you just reduced its value by several thousand dollars.”
Roarke liked the idea of that. Once he was capable of using gardening shears, he might decide to reduce the value of the rug some more. But in the meantime, he had to find out where Gentry had stashed Abby. He told himself that she was okay or Aidan wouldn’t have been lying peacefully on Roarke’s bed waiting for him.
Once Roarke had shifted, he called out to his brother as he turned on the shower. “Where’s Abby?”
“With Gentry in the study. How’re your hands and feet?”
“Fine.” In actuality they hurt like hell, but at least they weren’t bleeding anymore. Fortunately, shifting speeded up the healing process considerably. “Is Abby okay? Have you seen her?”
“No, but when I walked past the study door not long ago, she sounded all right. Feisty as hell.”
“Redhead.”
“Ah. Anyway, Gentry seems to think she’s keeping something from him. Is she, Roarke?”
“Tell you in a minute.” Roarke stepped into the shower and gasped as the water hit his abraded hands and feet. He made the shower quick and stepped out to find his brother leaning in the bathroom doorway.
Aidan threw him a towel. “You might want to tell me now.”
“Well . . .” Roarke considered what to say as he quickly dried off.
“She knows, doesn’t she, hotshot?”
“Don’t get all huffy with me, bro. You aren’t exactly the poster boy for pack security, either.” Roarke reached for the clothes Aidan had left in the bathroom. Roarke would have been fine with sweats and a T-shirt, but he dutifully put on the slacks and white dress shirt Aidan had left there.
Aidan sighed. “So she knows you’re Were. How much else?”
“Pretty much everything else.” Roarke buttoned the shirt and tucked it into his slacks. “And she has pictures of me shifting.”
“You posed for her? What kind of an idiot—”
“No, I didn’t pose, for God’s sake. I didn’t know she was there.” He glanced around the bathroom. “I need shoes and socks.”
“Wear the oxfords.” Aidan stepped out of his way as Roarke left the bathroom. “Gentry returned all your camping stuff, by the way. Your watch is on the bedside table, so you might as well wear it.”
“I get the idea you want us to walk in like urban professionals.”
“It’s what Gentry understands. If we show up looking like the heirs to the Wallace fortune, he’ll respect that. If you want to get Abby safely out of this situation, you need to play the game. So what’s this about pictures?”
Roarke sat in a wingback and put on his shoes and socks. “She happened to be in the woods when I was shifting and got me with a zoom lens. Then she blackmailed me into taking her along on the Bigfoot hunt.”
Aidan groaned. “Shit. I thought you’d fallen for her. But instead she’s a scheming—”
“She’s not scheming.” Roarke stood and finger-combed his damp hair. His camping gear was piled in a corner of the room, but he wouldn’t deal with it now.
“Roarke, she blackmailed you.”
“For a good reason.” He grabbed his watch from the bedside table and put it on. “Let’s go.”
“I don’t care what her reason was.” Aidan followed Roarke out of the bedroom and fell into step beside him as they walked down the hall. “If she’s capable of blackmail, then we’re in big trouble. At least with Emma I knew her heart was in the right place.”
“Abby’s heart is in the right place, damn it. You don’t have to worry about her.”
“I assume she knows the Wallaces have money.”
“She knows.”
“So what’s to stop her from using what she knows to blackmail us for money?”
Roarke shook his head. “She would never do that.”
“Why not? If she blackmailed you for a good reason, then why not blackmail the family for more good reasons? There are any number of causes she could decide to support with money she extracted from us. She could—”
“Hold on, bro.” Roarke grabbed Aidan by the arm and pulled him to a halt. “We’re not going down there until I straighten you out on this score. I won’t have you dissing Abby like that. She’s a good person who doesn’t deserve the crap that’s been thrown at her.”
Aidan’s eyebrows rose. “You’re the one who said she blackmailed you. I’m only following the information to its logical conclusion.”
“And you’re dead wrong. Abby saw me as the enemy who was destroying her grandfather’s reputation, which I was. She caught me in the act of shifting and called me hypocritical, which was also true. I hated giving lectures debunking Bigfoot and making Earl Dooley look like a fool.”
“You were doing it for the good of the Gentry pack,” Aidan said quietly. “They couldn’t be overrun with humans looking for Bigfoot, and you’re the expert on cryptids, so you were the logical one to handle this. If you hadn’t, this pack would have been in danger of exposure.”
“Yeah, but making fun of Earl Dooley’s legitimate sighting was a nasty business, Aidan. You wouldn’t have liked it any better than I did.”
Aidan held Roarke’s gaze. “So you have fallen for Abby.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. You’ve defended her the way I would have defended Emma.”
Roarke’s chest grew tight. “Look, it may be working for you and Emma, and I’m happy for both of you, but that doesn’t mean I’m in favor of a Were mating with a human.”
“Tell that to your heart, Roarke.” Aidan clapped him on the shoulder. “Come on. We need to go down there and break up whatever happy little party Gentry has going on.”
Abby couldn’t remember ever being so tired. Cameron kept grilling her, and she’d managed to avoid saying anything incriminating, but she wasn’t sure how much longer she’d hold up. Cameron had switched to coffee, but he didn’t offer her any.
He wanted her groggy and confused, and she was fast getting there.
Cameron’s study had a fireplace, but it wasn’t lit, which figured. Everything about the bastard was cold, including his hearth. Leaving her chair for another walk around the study to stay awake, Abby glanced at the mantle clock. After four in the morning.
She turned to Cameron. “I vote we call it a night. You can keep asking your questions, and I’ll keep giving you the same answers.”
“Maybe. And maybe I’ll outlast you. I’m an insomniac, anyway, so late hours are no hardship for me. However, if you’d like to go relax on a nice pillow-top with thousand-thread-count sheets, tell me the truth about your arrangement with Wallace, and someone will escort you to a guest room.”
Abby’s composure snapped and she whirled to face him. “My arrangement with Roarke is exactly what you implied back at the camp. We’re one hot combo. We can’t get enough of each other. He decided to combine business with pleasure, and we screwed like bun—” She gasped as the study door opened and Roarke, one of the bunnies in question, walked in, followed by a man with a similar build to Roarke’s but with darker coloring.
Abby instantly pegged him as Roarke’s older brother, Aidan, and just as instantly wished she could melt into the floor. She would have to lose her temper right then and make a very bad first impression on Roarke’s brother.
Roarke crossed to her and took her by the shoulders as he gazed into her eyes. “You okay?”
“Other than terminally embarrassed, you mean?”
“Don’t worry. It’s just my brother.”
“I know.” She loved having Roarke’s hands resting on her shoulders, but under the circumstances, she decided to scoot out from under his touch. She glanced over at Aidan. “Nice to meet you, Roarke’s brother.”
“It’s Aidan.”
“I knew that. I was just being cute. I’m Abby Winchell.”
“I knew that.”
She couldn’t read anything in his expression. Well, at least she wasn’t tired anymore. That little episode, coupled with having Roarke back, had given her a shot of adrenaline. It wouldn’t last, but for now, she was wide awake.
“So, Aidan.” Cameron rose from behind his desk and walked toward the dark-haired man, hand outstretched. “It was good of you to fly out on short notice.”
“No problem.” Aidan exchanged a brief handshake with Cameron before turning back to Abby. “I understand you’re visiting from Phoenix.”
“That’s right.” So Aidan had been doing his research, too. “The rest of my family is down there,” she said. “Grandpa Earl is the only one still living in the Portland area.”
Cameron walked over to join the group. “Abby’s a claims adjuster in Phoenix, but I wonder if they shouldn’t switch her to sales, with her gift of persuasion.”
“I don’t like sales,” Abby said.
“But you’re so good at it. You managed to talk Roarke, here, into taking you out on the trail with him, even though he knew full well that was a really bad idea. Either you’re the best little saleswoman around, or you had something to hold over Roarke’s head.”
Abby took a deep breath. “Sex. That’s all we’re talking about here, gentlemen. I used sex to convince Roarke to take me on his Bigfoot hunt. I was determined to validate my grandfather’s claim, and seducing Roarke seemed like the way to go.” Her cheeks felt hotter than the desert summer sun, but she’d decided this was her best defense and she’d stick to it.
Roarke shrugged. “What can I say? It worked. Abby may not like sales, but she can be extremely persuasive.”
Aidan shook his head and let out a long, despairing sigh. “I can’t say I’m surprised that my little brother succumbed. He’s always had a weakness for the ladies, and now that I’ve met Abby, I completely understand what happened, Cameron.”
Cameron balanced on the balls of his feet, as if he wouldn’t mind being a few inches taller when he stood next to the Wallace brothers. “You know, I could almost buy that explanation. Almost. Except that two people who head into the forest with sex on their minds would want one big tent, not two single-person tents.”
“Grandpa Earl outfitted us for the trip,” Abby said. “And a girl doesn’t want her grandfather to know what she has in mind.”
“I didn’t relish the idea of Earl knowing, either,” Roarke said. “I didn’t want him coming after me with a shotgun. Two single tents seemed like the prudent choice.”
Now that Abby had backup, she decided to go on the offensive. “Cameron, if you’re so sure that I have some information that I used to force my way onto the expedition, what do you think it is?”
Beside her, Roarke tensed.
Cameron gazed at her for a long time. “Oh, it could be something that would tarnish his reputation as a professor at NYU, or embarrass his family back in New York. They’re very prominent back there, just as the Gentrys are in Portland.”
“Well, there you go,” Abby said. “You found me out.”
Roarke laid a warning hand on her arm. “Abby.”
“No, Roarke, we need to let Cameron know that he is right, because he’ll keep digging away until he finds out. And God knows nothing ever dies on the Internet.”
Roarke turned to stare at her. “The Internet?”
“I’m sure you don’t want this told, Roarke, sweetie, but I need to get it off my chest.” She turned back to Cameron. “Once I heard Roarke was out here giving lectures that embarrassed my grandfather, I sexted Roarke, and he—”
“What in the hell are you talking about?” Roarke’s grip on her arm tightened. “You never—”
“I sent some nude shots of me, and Roarke responded very . . . favorably, I have to say. Before we ever met I had plenty of explicit e-mails from him, and they certainly weren’t anything he’d want his family to see, or his department head at the university.”
Beside her, Roarke was muttering under his breath, but when she glanced at Aidan, he gazed at her with something that looked like admiration.
“So you have these e-mails, then?” Cameron said.
“Oh, no. I deleted them all once I got what I wanted. Roarke stopped maligning my grandfather and took me on the Bigfoot search. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything that I could report to Grandpa Earl, but Roarke went off on his own, and maybe he has something to report. Do you, sweetie?”
Roarke opened his mouth, but all he seemed to be able to do was stare at her in amazement.
“Never mind that, now,” Cameron said. “Roarke, did you save some of those e-mail exchanges on your BlackBerry?”
Roarke continued to gaze at Abby. “Nope. ’Fraid not.”
“How convenient. Maybe it’s a little too convenient.” Cameron glanced at Aidan. “You’re some kind of Internet guru, I hear.”
Aidan shook his head. “Not really.”
“Oh, come on, don’t be modest. You’re in charge of security for Wallace Enterprises, for crying out loud. Retrieving a few deleted e-mails should be child’s play for you.”
“Even if I could do that, I wouldn’t invade my brother’s privacy. If he and Abby have deleted those e-mails, then we need to let the matter go.”
Cameron steepled his fingers and tapped them against his chin. “It’s not easy to believe in stories that have absolutely no evidence to back them up.”
Roarke stepped toward him. “Frankly, I don’t care what you believe and don’t believe. This poor woman is dead on her feet. I’m taking her back to her grandfather’s place.”
“I don’t advise that,” Cameron said.
“I don’t give a shit what you advise or don’t advise. We’re done here. Come on, Abby.”
“Roarke, I can’t leave.”
He frowned. “Sure you can. We’ll just walk out of here. I’d like to see Gentry or any of his henchmen stop me.”
“They have Donald shut up somewhere. I can’t leave without Donald.”
Roarke’s jaw tightened as he glanced at Cameron. “So Donald Smurtz is s
till here?”
Cameron looked smug. “It would appear so.”
“Why? He’s just an innocent bystander in all this. Turn him loose.”
“I have evidence that he was in the process of robbing me. I don’t want to bother the police at this hour, so I’m keeping him here and I’ll press charges tomorrow.”
Abby touched Roarke’s arm. “I need to stay so I can vouch for Donald.”
“Right.” He glared at Cameron. “Slight change of plans. I’m taking Abby upstairs. I give you my word that neither of us will leave.”
“Good.” Cameron turned toward Aidan. “I have a room prepared for you, too, but I’d like to have a word before you go up. There are some family matters we need to discuss.”
Abby guessed that Cameron wanted to talk about werewolf matters and probably about her and what she did or didn’t know. But the jolt of adrenaline was wearing off, and she was too tired to worry about a discussion between Cameron and Aidan. She thought Aidan was on her side, but she couldn’t be absolutely sure.
She allowed Roarke to guide her up the marble steps to the second floor.
“Sexting,” he murmured. “How in hell did you come up with that?”
“I don’t know, but I thought I should give Cameron something.”
“I’d like to give him something, all right.”
“Roarke, does Aidan know that I know?”
“Yeah.”
“And what does he think about it?”
Roarke sighed. “Abby, could we not talk about that right now?”
She wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned into him as they walked down the hall. “Consider the subject dropped. Listen, earlier Cameron was bragging about his pillow-tops and thousand-thread-count sheets. Does he have those?”
“I suppose he does. I never thought about it.” He pulled her closer as they continued down the hall.
She laughed. “But you’re thinking about it now, aren’t you?”
“I shouldn’t be. We’re both too exhausted. So have you ever sexted someone for real?”
“No. Want me to start with you?”
“Hell, no. I could never be satisfied with a picture after experiencing the real thing.”
Werewolf in the North Woods: A Wild About You Novel Page 22