Texas Temptation

by Kathryn Brocato

  “That was because Felix kept hiring secretaries with stunning physical attributes and no skills,” Berry said, in austere tones. “I’m going to present him with the perfect combo—skills and a gorgeous exterior.”

  “Believe me, he’ll hire you.” If Felix didn’t hire her, Tyler thought he might hire her. He’d never been so entertained in his life despite the way she kept him feeling as if he’d drunk too much champagne. “You have a history of regularly changing your mind about your career, don’t you?”

  Her purple eyes focused on him. “The problem is that there are so many interesting things out there.” She indicated the world outside the Porsche. “Until I’ve sampled a few of them, how can I decide for sure what I want to do the rest of my life?”

  Tyler started the car and backed out. He’d never considered anything other than earning his degrees and going to work for his father’s accounting firm. Such indecisiveness was foreign to him. Or it would have been, if he hadn’t been experiencing such a deadly boredom lately.

  “What are you planning on doing first, assuming you get hired?” he asked, in order to stave off his thoughts.

  “The first order of business will be to look for anything you tell me is sensitive data,” Berry said with the boundless enthusiasm he’d come to expect from her.

  Tyler wouldn’t let himself smile. “Like what?”

  “That’s your job. You’re supposed to tell me what’s sensitive and what isn’t. Mainly, I just hope to notice anomalies,” Berry said, blithely unaware that her escort was fighting back incredulous laughter.

  Somehow he managed to keep a straight face. It was exactly as he had suspected. Berry Challoner wouldn’t know an office anomaly if it bit her on the ankle.

  “Are you sure you want to go through with this? After all, it’ll mean at least two or three weeks out of your life. Why can’t you accept the fact that Daniel was probably the random victim of some drug dealer who hit the wrong apartment?”

  “Because I know he wasn’t,” Berry said simply. “This is something I have to do, Tyler. What are a few weeks compared to my brother’s life and reputation?”

  He could not reply to that. He joined traffic on a main thoroughfare, reflecting that he had a week, maybe two, of entertainment ahead before the people at Farley Brothers checked out Berry’s phony references and fired her.

  Assuming they actually hired her.

  “What did you say on your resume that got you an interview?” he asked.

  “I listed two secretarial jobs with enormous responsibilities, of course—along with a glamorous physical description that describes me as a trophy secretary. If Felix is still hiring women who can’t type or use a computer, he should be doubly eager to get hold of me.”

  Tyler said something about the admirable state of Farley Brothers’ last balance sheet. Not that he expected her to pay any attention to such a boring thing as profitability.

  “The key to Daniel’s murder is lurking somewhere at Farley Brothers,” Berry declared. “The police couldn’t find it, but I will.”

  He glanced at her, noting the expression on her face as she studied the Houston skyline. Berry’s ardent interest in everything around her was her most attractive characteristic.

  “What name are you using?” he asked, reluctantly returning his gaze to the street ahead.

  He still found it incredible she had actually managed to land a job interview at Farley Brothers, using a false name and false credentials. It was something he’d never have thought of doing.

  He thought wryly that was probably what was wrong with him—nothing so daring would ever have occurred to him.

  “My new name is as classy as my resume. I used my great-aunt’s name,” Berry said. The smile she turned on him encouraged him to laugh with her at the irony. “Her name was Mary MacGregor, and Daddy said she was pure Scotch all the way down to her toenails. Also, Mary is close enough to Berry so that I’ll take notice when someone addresses me.”

  Tyler’s head whirled as he contemplated becoming an auto parts marketing specialist at Farley Brothers under some name like Schyler Creed. His untried imagination couldn’t get him past the secretary manning the front desk of the Farley Brothers executive suite.

  “Is this the rich old aunt who got the raspberry from your dad?”

  “Who else? She may as well be of use to her great-niece.”

  “You’ll feel mighty silly if you find out Daniel was actually killed over your great-aunt’s money,” Tyler said, and smiled at her expression.

  “I’ll feel mighty silly if I find out she has any money, period,” Berry responded. “Be serious, Tyler. There’s something bad going on at Farley Brothers. You’ve got to help me find out what it is so we can take them down.”

  He was silent a moment. “Didn’t Farley Brothers send a representative to Daniel’s funeral?”

  Berry nodded and raised her wide, feathery brows. “Walter Farley came himself.”

  “And you’re counting on a new wardrobe and a phony name to keep him from recognizing you?”

  Berry’s smile grew. “No one paid much attention to me at Daniel’s funeral, including you. You have to admit, a new hair style makes a big difference in a woman.”

  “It’s only been six months since Daniel died. Don’t you think you might jeopardize the police investigation if you go through with this?”

  Her slender, exotic face took on an expression he could only describe as adamant. “What police investigation? If the police were going to find anything, they’d have found it by now. I’m not wasting another minute.”

  Tyler wisely shut up.

  “Mary MacGregor even has a Facebook page and a LinkedIn profile, complete with a selfie of my new look. And I’ll be carrying phony ID cards,” Berry said. “If anyone at Farley Brothers snoops through my purse—”

  “Snoops through your purse?” he interrupted. “You’ve been watching too many spy movies. Farley Brothers is an ordinary, above-board chain of auto parts stores.”

  “Well, naturally, that’s what everyone thinks,” Berry said. “If there was any hint of scandal connected with them, believe me, the police would have been onto them already.”

  A thirty-five-year-old corporation operating in the black and with no hint of a bad reputation or a scandal anywhere in its balance sheets simply could not be hiding a murderer.

  Or, could it? Tyler glanced at Berry.

  It was ridiculous. He didn’t believe it for a minute. This wasn’t a movie or a thriller. This was real life. In real life, what something looked like was usually what it was. As much as he’d like to bring Daniel’s killer to justice, he and Berry were not likely to succeed where trained police investigators had failed.

  He decided to play along anyway. If Berry wanted thrills and chills, let her have them. He’d enjoy himself watching her. Berry Challoner was just what the doctor ordered for a man who had been feeling bored and unsettled recently.

  “I suppose it never occurred to you that, if what you suspect is true, you could be in serious danger?” he asked, tongue-in-cheek.

  “Of course it has. That’s one of the reasons why I came to you for help. If I disappear, I want you to raise holy hell until someone unearths my body.”

  Tyler’s throat felt paralyzed for an instant. He choked, recollected himself, and felt paradoxically irritated. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he came back quickly. “You won’t find a thing at Farley Brothers unless Felix Farley has an unsuspected drinking problem.”

  Berry smiled at him. Tyler’s throat shut down a second time, and for an entirely different reason.

  “If he has, I’m going to discover it,” she said. “The problem is I get carried away when I have a pet theory.”

  No kidding, he thought. “Farley Brothers stores are selling auto parts all over Houston, and they’re actually making money at it. That means they’re paying a certain amount of attention to business.”

  Berry smiled wryly. “Thanks, Tyler. That’s what I ne
ed to be told. If I’m not checked, I tend to get overly enthusiastic.”

  Berry’s matter-of-fact acceptance of her own weakness told him he had stumbled across a rare treasure of womanhood. No wonder men fell all over themselves proposing to her. Tyler studied her covertly.

  He thought of Berry’s thick, dark hair against a pillow, and of entangling his fingers in it while he kissed her. His entire body reacted. He was in for a cold shower tonight. He could see it coming. He’d traded boredom for physical torture.

  “While we’re driving,” Berry said, “can you give me a quick course in auditing procedures? I might need to do some fast field audits if I’m able to get into the company books.”

  She expected him to teach her advanced accounting procedures in one well-stated paragraph?

  “I’ll be happy to,” he said. “Five minutes should—”

  She burst into laughter. “You sound exactly the way I sounded when Daniel asked me to tell him, in one sentence or less, the geologic history of Big Bend National Park.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Tyler said.

  “I so glad I came to you,” Berry said cheerfully. “We’re going to work really well together.”

  “That, we are,” Tyler agreed. “In fact, our partnership will probably work out better than any of your engagements.”

  “Daniel told me I was the only woman he knew who had been engaged twice before she was twenty,” she said abruptly. “Do you think something is wrong with me?”

  Tyler cleared his throat. “I’ve been engaged once, myself, but it turned out my intended was using me to keep her father from finding out about the guy she really loved. In my opinion, it’s a lot better to break an engagement than to seek a divorce.”

  “That’s what I thought. I’m such a sucker for a man who swears he needs me. But my last engagement cured me of that. From now on, I’m not getting engaged until I’m the one who needs the man.”

  Tyler agreed wholeheartedly with that. “So tell me more about your job prospects after you’re finished with Farley Brothers.”

  “Actually, I don’t have any job prospects,” she confessed. “I know I ought to have, but since Daniel died, I haven’t been able to think of the future beyond Farley Brothers.”

  “You might decide you like the auto parts business, but somehow I can’t see you as Felix Farley’s secretary for the rest of your life.”

  Berry looked down at herself with enjoyment. “I’m trying to look like a rich man’s expensive mistress, but once I’ve found out who killed Daniel, I’ll tone things down for a more professional appearance.”

  Tyler glanced at her. “Now that you mention it, everyone at the ball tonight will probably wonder how long I’ll be able to afford a classy mistress like you.”

  At the hotel, he turned the keys over to the attendant and handed her out of his Porsche, holding his breath as she unfolded to her full, exquisite height. The silky, fitted pink dress looked high-necked until she bent forward.

  He suddenly found himself peering straight down the neckline. The top edge of her brassiere was all pink lace and tiny satin ribbons. Above it, her smooth, golden skin inflamed his imagination into speculating about what the undergarment covered.

  Tyler wasn’t prepared for the all-encompassing desire that swept through him. He wanted to shove her back into the car and haul her home to his bed.

  “Are you aware that a man can look down the front of that dress?” he ground out.

  To his frustration, she looked delighted. “You can? Great. That’s the effect I was hoping for.” She fluttered long, mascara-coated lashes. Behind the lashes, her incredible, purple eyes twinkled at him. “My research says bosses like Felix love it when a dress that doesn’t look low-cut gives him a glimpse of forbidden delights. Do you have any idea how long I had to shop before I found this little number?”

  “About this so-called research of yours …” he began.

  Berry’s soft laughter further inflamed his already reeling senses. “Don’t ask.”

  Tyler guided her into the opulent hotel foyer with its famous crystal chandelier and thick carpet. Standing beside Berry in the extravagant gloom, he intercepted at least three interested male stares directed at her.

  “You’re a menace to the public,” he said through his teeth.

  “I’ve never been a menace before.” She cast an interested glance at the glittering chandelier.

  “Here comes my sister.”

  Berry clutched his arm. “What do you think she’ll say when she meets me?”

  “If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll say, ‘How do you do, Miss MacGregor.’”

  Debra burst in through the front entrance in her usual haphazard manner and barreled toward him. She was a tall, slender woman with Tyler’s chestnut hair and turquoise eyes. She gave the flyaway impression of one who was always late and not quite dressed in spite of having every hair and article of clothing in place.

  “There you are, Tyler. I’ve been tied up in traffic—” She broke off upon catching sight of Berry.

  Tyler didn’t need an interpreter to tell him what the expression on Debra’s face meant. She might as well have shrieked, “Bimbo!” at the top of her voice.

  “Debra, I’d like you to meet Mary MacGregor,” he said. “She’s an executive secretary in search of a job.”

  Debra made an obvious effort at pretending to believe this. “How do you do, Miss MacGregor? Have you been in Houston long?”

  “I’ve just moved here from Austin,” Berry said, darting a swift glance at Tyler’s impassive face. “Tyler very kindly offered to bring me tonight in hopes of—in hopes of—”

  “She has a job interview with Felix Farley at Farley Brothers Auto Parts Monday morning,” he interjected, choking back laughter. “I thought she might like to meet him under more casual circumstances.”

  “Oh, yes, indeed.” The falsely hearty agreement in Debra’s voice nearly undid Tyler’s gravity. “There’s nothing like a little preview of the …” She looked Berry up and down, “Prospects. Tyler, can I speak to you a moment?”

  “Later.” He took Berry’s arm in an unmistakably proprietary fashion. “I promised Mary a personal introduction to Farley. Let’s go in. We’re late as it is.”

  Inside the ballroom, he whispered in Berry’s ear. “Let this be a lesson to you. Mastering ditz talk requires one heck of a lot of study.”

  “I keep on telling you,” Berry said. “I have real skills.”

  Behind her long, thick lashes, a strange purple light began to glow. Tyler observed it with trepidation, but before he could warn her to behave herself, his father hailed him.

  “Hi, Dad,” Tyler said with a cool nonchalance he was further and further from feeling. “I’d like you to meet Miss Mary MacGregor.”

  He watched closely as his father shook Berry’s hand and caught the fulminating glance Debra exchanged with his father. Not by a word or action did Mason Reid indicate he saw anything amiss with his son’s date. To Tyler’s further enjoyment, Mason obviously failed to recognize her as the plain woman he’d met the day before.

  Later in the evening, when he was able to exchange a word with Tyler alone, Mason said, “Your new interest is quite a looker. I’ve never seen anyone with eyes that shade of purple before.”

  “They’re violet,” Tyler said, straight-faced. He followed Mason’s gaze across the big room to where Berry stood in the center of a group of people.

  “I think I’ll have all your work audited,” Mason continued, in those same meditative tones. “Just as a precaution, you understand.”

  “Of course, Dad. Can’t say that I blame you.” Tyler raised his brows and let his gaze caress Berry’s derriere. “I suppose this means I’ll have to resort to having you murdered so I can collect my inheritance and continue to afford her.”

  “Be reasonable, Tyler,” Mason said gently. “Whatever you inherit from me still won’t be enough to keep a woman like that in the style to which she’s no doubt accu
stomed. Just what do you think you’re up to?”

  “Come on, Dad.” Tyler smiled at Berry’s backside, still marveling that his father obviously did not recognize her. “Look at her. Whatever she costs me, you’ve got to admit, she’s worth every penny.”

  Chapter 4

  “Actually, I’m very skilled at typing,” Berry said to a man named Baxter, half-lowering her eyelids suggestively. “And in computer spreadsheet use.”

  She refused to glance at Tyler lest he detect a silent plea for rescue. He must have introduced her to half-a-dozen wealthy older men on the lookout for pretty young women. Without his reassuring presence at her side, the assessing male stares she attracted almost frightened her.

  Tyler suddenly reentered the conversation. “She even transcribes dictation.” He placed a large, warm hand at her back.

  “Maybe you’d like to work for me,” Baxter said, leering at her. “I’ve got a computer program that does transcription.”

  “Why, that does sound nice,” Berry said, deliberately pitching her voice higher and widening her eyes. “I’d have ever so much more time for,” she paused and glanced meaningfully at her perfect new nails, “other things.”

  Being a bimbo was a lot harder than she’d thought. It took all her wits and intelligence to pretend she was a dilettante with no particular plans beyond finding a rich protector who’d let her play at a job.

  “If Farley falls through, she might give you a call, Baxter,” Tyler said.

  Berry tried not to look relieved that Tyler had taken her over again. She’d garnered three job offers, but Felix Farley had yet to appear. That made the evening a total loss as far she was concerned.

  Debra’s contemptuous stare met her gaze. Wincing inwardly, Berry elevated her nose and gazed winsomely at Tyler.

  Celia Reid, Tyler’s mother, approached. “Mr. Farley has just arrived. I’ll be happy to introduce you, Miss MacGregor.”

  Berry met her assessing glance with one of wide-eyed insouciance and wished it weren’t necessary to maintain her cover. She could have loved Tyler’s willowy, blonde mother. But the fewer people who knew her identity, the better in this case.