Watching him, she thought for a moment she’d caught a glimpse of something that rattled the very core of her femininity, something that said he could satisfy all her needs. Then she decided she’d been mistaken. Once more he looked like a mistrustful accountant who thought she was cheating on her tax returns.
She returned to her subject. “My plan is very simple. I intend to investigate that company from the inside.”
His turquoise eyes widened. “What?”
“You heard me.” She tossed her hair back. She had good reason to feel pleased with her efforts so far. “Monday morning I have an interview with Felix Farley himself. He needs a top-flight executive secretary.”
“Oh, Lord.” Tyler closed his eyes briefly, as if questioning his own sanity. “And here I thought you intended to hack into their computer system.” He opened his eyes again. “I knew this would mean trouble.”
“I’m using a fake name, of course.” She smiled wryly. “Look at it this way, Tyler. At last I’m getting a job. Daniel would be proud. Believe me, by Monday morning, I’ll look the part.”
“The part of what?” he asked, looking baffled. “An executive secretary or a private investigator?”
“I’m going to look like an executive secretary who wouldn’t mind being chased around the desk by the boss.” Berry’s enthusiasm revived as she reviewed her plan. “I’ve read some experts on the subject of sex and the office, and—”
“Sex and the office?” Tyler interrupted. His voice rose.
“Well?” Berry demanded. “What would you call it? Offices are happy hunting grounds to a lot of women, you know, not to mention men.” His expression of outraged disapproval gave her a certain amount of enjoyment. “Also, I’ve listened to Daniel. If I dress the opposite of the way he thought a secretary ought to dress …”
Tyler choked, and Berry wondered suddenly if he was trying to keep from laughing. It was hard to tell. His face remained set in its impressive scowl.
“Let me tell you something, Tyler. The Internet is full of good advice for women working in offices, and I have been studying it. Felix Farley is going to fall all over himself trying to hire me.”
Tyler didn’t like that, and she had no idea why not. After all, getting hired by Felix Farley was crucial to her investigation.
“And once you’re hired?” he asked.
“Once I’m hired, I’ll have access to the computer system and the file cabinets. Once we find clues, we can tell the police where to search for Daniel’s killer.”
“I see.”
He didn’t sound convinced, but Berry had expected that. She knew it took some time to convince people she had followed correct scientific procedure in developing her highly original plans of attack.
“You’ll see,” she said. “Mark my words. There’s a drug ring or something worse operating inside Farley Brothers.”
Tyler’s broad, slashing brows raised. “As a matter of interest, what could be worse than a drug ring?”
“I don’t know,” Berry said darkly, “but we’ll recognize it when we find it. Maybe it’s a sex slavery ring, or something to do with arms smuggling.”
Tyler stared at her a moment, then his sensual mouth twitched. “I hope you haven’t convinced yourself I’ll come crashing through the office door and beat up all the gun-toting bad guys if you get yourself into trouble.”
“They’ll never know anyone’s on to them,” she promised. “Besides, superhero abilities have nothing to do with a man’s true worth in a crisis, and I ought to know.”
“I suppose you should.” Tyler sounded even more doubtful. “Daniel was a great all-around athlete, after all.”
“How else do you think I learned men who chase balls around for fun tend to be deaf and blind when a woman needs help?” She looked at him hopefully. “What I want is a man who will use his skills and intelligence to help me when I ask. A man who’ll do me the honor of assuming I have a certain amount of intelligence myself, and that I won’t ask for help unless it’s necessary.”
Tyler didn’t look at her. Thick, dark lashes veiled his eyes, and his mouth remained downturned. He toyed with a pencil. Berry decided she shouldn’t have mentioned Daniel’s athletic ability. Men were notoriously sensitive about things like that.
“You needn’t worry,” he said. “If you yell, I’ll come running with ten freshly sharpened pencils to use as deadly weapons. So your theory is that Daniel saw something compromising?”
Relieved, Berry smiled brilliantly. She should have known Tyler wasn’t stupid enough to compare himself to Daniel. He knew his own talents and valued them rightly.
“That’s right.” She nodded vigorously. “Or maybe he didn’t see anything, but someone thought he did. Daniel wasn’t murdered randomly like they say. I think whoever killed him meant to kill Daniel and no one else.”
She paused for effect, but Tyler said nothing.
“I’m going to be doing a lot of snooping into things like accounts and inventories,” she went on. “I’ll need help in knowing what’s important and what’s not.”
He nodded. Berry liked the confidence in his own abilities that nod indicated.
“Go on,” he said.
“Also, I want the security of knowing there’s someone who knows what I’m up to, someone who’ll keep an eye on me.” She took a deep breath. The way he avoided her gaze was beginning to grate on her nerves. “There’s one other thing you can help me with, if you don’t mind.”
He looked up at that. “What is it?”
“Can you suggest a decent motel near Farley Brothers? I found several possibilities online, but—”
A most peculiar expression passed over Tyler’s face. “If I’m supposed to keep an eye on you, then maybe you’d better plan on staying with me.”
• • •
Berry dropped down on the drab bedspread of her motel room with a sigh of relief. After leaving Tyler’s office, she had changed clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon finishing up the shopping for her upcoming role as an executive secretary who might not mind sleeping with the boss.
It had to be ninety degrees outside, and the humidity was roughly equivalent to the temperature. She was hot and tired and damp, and her green cotton sundress was badly wrinkled after being pulled on and off so many times.
“You’d better appreciate this, Daniel,” she said aloud, kicking off her sandals. “Houston is the last place in Texas where I care to spend several weeks of my precious summer.”
Near the window, the Venetian blind slats were open just enough to admit rays of the late afternoon sun. Dust motes danced in the sunbeams. Berry fancied she saw the specks dancing in answer and shut her eyes quickly.
“And if you don’t appreciate it, that’s tough. I don’t take orders from you. Especially when you’re no longer around to enforce them.”
She opened one eye. The dust swirled. The hair on her scalp lifted gently and she snapped her eyelid down again. She was definitely going crazy. She’d spent weeks talking to the walls and imagining she heard answers. Now she was investing dust particles with Daniel’s personality.
“Look. I’ve gone above and beyond the call of duty. I’ve even enlisted your best friend to help me.” Her voice shifted from reasonableness to a distinctly aggrieved tone. “You never told me he was the type of man who invites women to move in with him the minute they ask for his help.”
A cool breeze stirred the air. Berry rubbed her arms, where the fine hairs defied gravity. She told herself it was the cold temperature of the room after the heat outside that was giving her goose pimples.
At the same time she knew better than to tell Tyler that she felt almost as if Daniel was the driving force behind her sudden move from Austin to Houston. There was no way she could explain things like dust motes with personality and voices in her head.
“I’ve got the job interview and some outfits that’ll knock old Felix’s socks off. What more do you want?” She added swiftly, “Don’t answer that. Wh
atever it is, you won’t get it. I’ve done enough for you already.”
Coolness touched her heated forehead as if someone had laid a hand on her brow. Berry’s eyes flew open. She fell over backwards, heart pounding, and scrambled to the far side of the king-sized bed.
“Don’t do that!” she yelled.
Someone pounded on the door. Berry reluctantly withdrew her attention from the beam of sunlight, where the dust motes danced about in agitated fashion. At that moment, she would have sworn Daniel stood beside the bed, offering what comfort he could.
Not that she could ever admit that. Tyler probably thought she was crazy enough already.
“Berry? Are you all right?” Tyler sounded ready to kick the door in. “Open the door.”
Panting with residual fright, she edged off the bed and circled around it, keeping her distance from the patch of light. She was going nuts. Losing touch with reality. Totally freaking out.
The moment she slipped back the chain and pulled open the door, Tyler surged inside, ready for battle. He still wore his business suit, although he’d loosened his tie and discarded his jacket. His shoulders strained the white cotton of his shirt when he jerked open the closet door.
He glanced around swiftly then crossed the room to peek inside the bathroom. Once he was satisfied there was no one else in the room, he turned to Berry.
“Who were you yelling at?”
Berry kept her back to him and tried to pull herself together. “No one. I’m afraid I … talk in my sleep.”
“You were taking a nap?”
“You needn’t sound so astonished. I do take naps occasionally.”
It was stupid to sound so defensive, but she was still rattled from her own imaginings. Rubbing her arms vigorously, she shot a surreptitious glance at the beam of afternoon sunshine, now warmly golden, with only a few particles of dust floating lazily in the light. Her imagination had run away with her again. She had definitely lost it.
Tyler’s voice became heavily reasonable. “I’ve been waiting for you the last half hour. Five minutes ago, you weren’t here.”
That figured. Men. They were conspiring against her, even those who, strictly speaking, were no longer alive to bug her.
“I guess I must be more tired than I thought.”
He closed one hand lightly around her upper arm. Such was her state of mind, she started violently and tried to jerk free.
“Hey,” Tyler said gently. “What’s been going on in here?”
“Sorry. I was … having a bad dream when you knocked,” Berry improvised. “It’s getting to where I hate to doze off. I’m telling you, Tyler, if I don’t find out something soon about Daniel, I’ll probably be a candidate for the funny farm.”
Since that was the absolute truth, sincerity rang in her voice. Tyler looked sharply at her. Without the frown she considered a part of him, he looked comforting and dependable.
“That bad?” He put a hand beneath her chin.
Berry refused to meet his uncomfortably searching turquoise gaze. She wasn’t sure whether it was her own thoughts or his touch that kept her pulses pounding.
“Only when I first wake up,” she said, and forced a smile. “What are you doing here?” They were supposed to meet for lunch at a deli in the Galleria tomorrow so he could give her a key to his apartment.
“I decided you’d better move in now while I’m available to help you. I’d forgotten that silly charity ball I have to attend tomorrow night.”
He sounded thoroughly satisfied, a fact which made Berry suspicious. She stared at the floor, thoroughly confused.
Tyler tapped her chin with one finger until she looked up. “Berry, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing. It’s just that … a lot has happened lately.”
Strong arms went around her. “It’s been rough on you, losing Daniel.” He hugged her hard. “I tried to call and check on you several times after the funeral, but you were always out.”
That had been because of her late, great whatever with one Grady Craig, but the less said about that to Tyler, the better. She hated having anyone, especially Tyler, know how stupid she had been.
She didn’t know what was more disturbing, Tyler’s sympathy or the fact that he was holding her against his strong, hard body, resting his warm hands on her bare shoulders. Her nose pressed into his shirt. She cautiously absorbed the odors of starch, cologne that reminded her of a green forest, and a unique, masculine scent that she knew instinctively was Tyler’s alone.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” He moved his hands up to knead her shoulders. “Maybe you should invest in a good massage.”
He could say that again. Most of her trouble was due to her own over-active imagination. Sighing with pleasure, she let herself enjoy his warm, soothing touch. She hadn’t felt this degree of comfort since her father died and Daniel had spent a full five minutes hugging her after the funeral.
Berry rubbed her eyes. Behind Tyler, the dust particles thickened and swirled as if something had stirred them up.
“I see you put on the green sundress after all,” Tyler said.
“Can you blame me?”
He chuckled, a deep rumble of his chest that sent shivers down her back. “I like a little color on a woman.”
The dust particles settled slowly. Berry heaved a sigh of relief. She was imagining things again. If this kept up, she’d have to make an appointment with a good psychiatrist.
“I guess I’m just tired,” she said, and forced herself to step back. “I wanted to finish up most of my shopping today.”
He smiled and glanced curiously around the motel room at the myriad boxes stacked against the walls. “Why is a lot of shopping necessary for a few weeks as Felix Farley’s secretary? You must have already spent a good portion of Daniel’s life insurance policy.”
“I'm getting ready for my real job at the same time,” she invented. Anything to keep from telling him the new wardrobe was part of her disguise. Something told her Tyler wouldn’t take kindly to the idea that she needed a disguise, especially the kind of disguise she had in mind. She’d spring that on him later.
“Oh? What’s your real job going to be?”
“Well, actually, I don’t know yet.” Embarrassed, she turned away. “Right now I don’t want anything distracting me from finding out what happened to Daniel.”
His brilliant, blue-green gaze swept the room once more then came back to her. “Do you have a career track in mind?”
“I had thought about working in a chemistry lab at one of the refineries. And lots of companies are hiring science majors these days to keep track of their environmental impact.” She thought fast. “Plus I can teach almost any high school science course. I took all the required education courses.”
“That sounds fascinating,” Tyler said, to her astonishment. “You must be qualified for at least a dozen positions. You can tell me more tonight.”
She looked at him, uncertain how to reply.
“Let’s get you moved,” Tyler said. “After that you can have a hot shower and relax. I’ll be working late at the office, so the apartment’s all yours.”
Berry shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve never lived with a man before. What’s the etiquette for dealing with visitors?”
“You aren’t living with me,” Tyler said, laughing. “You’re spending a couple of weeks in my spare bedroom while you take care of a little personal business. There’s no etiquette involved.”
“There isn’t?” Berry cleared her throat, remembering her reaction the first time she’d called Daniel and a sleepy woman answered. “What happens when your mother discovers there’s a woman sharing your apartment? Or your dad comes over and I answer the door in my robe and slippers?”
“It won’t happen. They never bother me at home.” He saw her suitcase sitting in the partially open closet and reached for it. “Besides, you’ll probably be through with your investigation before they even know you’re here.”
Berry nodded, unconvinc
ed. “Thanks for helping me. If I can get settled this weekend, Monday will go that much more smoothly.”
He was silent a moment, opening the suitcase on the bed for her. In equal silence, Berry opened a drawer and scooped out her nightshirt and robe. She had no idea how to explain to Tyler the shock her presence in his apartment was likely to cause his relatives.
“Are you sure you want to go through with this investigation?” He moved back and shoved his hands into his pockets.
“Of course I’m sure. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
“I suppose not.”
He lapsed into brooding silence and stared absently at the beam of light poking through the blinds. Berry lifted out her beautiful new underwear and wrapped it in a lacy slip while casting suspicious glances at the light beam. She headed toward the suitcase with the bundle of underwear, wondering if Tyler saw anything peculiar about the behavior of the dust motes.
He turned toward her suddenly. “I’ve been doing some preliminary investigating of my own this afternoon.”
Startled by the abrupt movement, Berry dropped her bundle. The slip unrolled, and a shower of pastel panties fell to the dark green carpet, along with one lacy white bra.
“Here, I’ll get that.” Tyler stooped and reached for a pair of pink silk panties.
Berry ground her teeth and glared toward the light beam. Now Tyler was bound to think she’d dropped her underwear at his feet on purpose.
“What did you find out?” she managed.
Eyes narrowing, he glanced up. “Farley Brothers is a conservative automobile parts company that’s been operating in the black for some time now.” He smoothed the lacy cup of her bra with his thumb absently while he looked up at her. “Where other companies are going broke, Farley Brothers is making a tidy profit. That fact leads an accountant to assume the good people at Farley Brothers are tending to business rather than running drug rings on the side.”
Berry watched his thumb out of the corner of her vision. Her face flamed, but she managed to keep her voice steady.
“Whatever Daniel saw might have been a side venture run by a couple of employees.”
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