“Don’t worry about me, Tyler,” she said gently. “Believe it or not, science labs are great training grounds. I’ve been chased around my Bunsen burner by several professors in my time.”
Tyler said nothing. He turned into a restaurant entrance surrounded by wildly colored neon. “Here we are. Don’t forget to ask for the wine list.”
“Humph,” Berry said, faking a scowl. “What’s this supposed to be? I thought you were taking me to a posh restaurant where I could order lobster and practice my come-hither gazes.”
“Sorry. If Palais-de-Burger isn’t good enough for you … ”
Berry’s phony scowl morphed into happy laughter. “I guess it’ll have to do since I’m starving. Thanks, Tyler. If I had to sit up straight in some fancy restaurant after what I’ve been through tonight, I’d have curled up and died.”
Tyler smiled. “You were looking a little jaded. I thought a burger and fries might get you back to normal.”
Tyler was a great man, Berry decided. It was almost as if he’d read her mind when the image of a hamburger had passed fleetingly through her thoughts a mile back.
“Thanks. It will.” She studied the menu displayed on a lighted board with gratitude. “I was in danger of forgetting how real people live. It was awful, Tyler. Are there really women who’ll put up with those old men just to have a lot of money and go to events like that one?”
“I thought you’d researched the matter thoroughly. You ought to know more about it than I do.”
“After tonight, my heart no longer accepts what my mind tells me. I’ll have the double cheeseburger and an order of fries, please. I’ve been so nervous, I’ve hardly eaten a thing since lunch.”
Tyler dictated their order into the microphone. “Want to take a drive by one of the stores Felix manages? Maybe it’ll give you some background.”
Berry’s enthusiasm revived magically. Tyler was unbelievable. Why hadn’t she gotten to know him before?
“That would be great. Then I can impress Felix with my firsthand knowledge of his business.”
“Only you could consider looking in a store window firsthand knowledge of Felix’s business.”
“Think about it.” She gestured emphatically. “How many of Felix’s previous mistresses have bothered to go look at one of his auto parts stores?”
“You do have a point.” He rested his forehead on the steering wheel as if overwhelmed, but Berry saw his shoulders shaking with his silent laughter. “If he doesn’t proposition you first thing Monday morning, something’s wrong.”
“Do you think he will?”
“Don’t look so hopeful unless you intend to say yes.”
Berry smiled. “If he propositions me right away, I’ll more or less have him where I want him.”
He lifted his head to stare at her. “You think so?”
“I’ll explain about what an honorable woman I am, and how I have to break up with my current boyfriend before I move in with him. It’ll take me at least two weeks—”
“Are you crazy?” He sounded completely floored. “Look, Challoner, let me explain a few of the facts of life to you. Felix Farley isn’t used to waiting for what he wants. If you aren’t careful, you’ll find yourself in a situation you won’t like at all.”
Berry considered that seriously. Obviously, Tyler was editing his words heavily in deference to her maidenly ears. And although she, too, suspected keeping Felix on a string might prove far beyond her powers, she had no other ideas that would get her into the main office of Farley Brothers and keep her there for a few weeks.
“I’ve got it all planned, Tyler.” She tried to project her usual optimism in hopes of covering the fact that she had no idea how to keep Felix dangling. “I know exactly what I’m going to say, and how I’m going to act.”
Tyler’s frown came back in full force. “Now where have I heard that one before? Oh, yes. That was what Debra said when I caught her climbing out her bedroom window one night to meet some creep at a bar. She was seventeen at the time.”
“Did she really?” Berry tilted her head to the side. “What did you do?”
“Shut up, Challoner. You’re trying to change the subject.”
She was, but he wasn’t supposed to know that. “I’ll bet you followed her to the bar and walked in just as he made a heavy pass, right? She was so grateful to see you; she swore she’d never do it again, right? That’s what I thought. Well, don’t worry, Tyler. In this case, I’m not expecting you to gallop to the rescue like the cavalry. If worse comes to worst, I’ll just have to quit the job, that’s all.”
She had no intention of quitting Farley Brothers until she either found out why Daniel was murdered, or she was fired and escorted off the premises. But Tyler didn’t need to know that either. At least, not right away.
Tyler watched her. “What are you thinking now?”
“I’m considering ways to avoid quitting as Felix’s secretary until I’m ready to leave.”
“Why don’t I believe you?”
“Heavens, Tyler, I don’t know. Maybe you’ve gotten too suspicious in your old age.”
She had to remember Tyler’s experience in the matter of divining what was going on in the minds of his sisters. He might stalk into Felix’s office one day.
They arrived at the service window, and Tyler reached for their order. “There’s definitely something about looking out for little sisters that makes me feel old and suspicious.”
“Is this where I remind you that I’m not your little sister?”
“You’re Daniel’s little sister, and that’s almost the same thing,” he grumbled. “Don’t open that. We’ll unpack it and eat at home.”
The Farley Brothers Auto Parts store came into view down the road from the Palais-de-Burger. Not even the broad, picture window filled with mufflers and gleaming chrome wheels took her mind off the odor of freshly cooked hamburgers emanating from the bag containing their supper.
“Looks like a going concern.” She peered at a display of glittering wheels made of hundreds of wire spokes. “They’ve got a big warehouse attached, I see.” She slid her feet reluctantly back into her shoes. “I’d better get out and look the place over.”
“This is Felix’s major money-making store.” Tyler got out and came around to help her out. “It’s making more than any of the other Farley Brothers stores, presumably because of Felix’s personal attention.”
Berry tried to picture Felix behind the counter of an auto parts store and failed. “Do you think he’s ever actually been in here?”
“According to my sources, he visits this store all the time. The manager seems to be a friend of his.”
Berry put her nose to the picture window and peered at the rows of well-stocked shelves behind the counter. “When I describe that cute little pyramid of wire wheels in the window, he’ll know I’ve actually been here,” Berry said cheerfully. “Let’s go home, Tyler. I’m starving.”
“You’re a truly gung-ho employee.” Tyler obligingly headed the Porsche toward his apartment complex. When they arrived, he slowed before nearing his parking slot. “Uh-oh. Is that who I think it is?”
Berry ignored the yellow taxicab that waited, motor running, in the parking lot near the two parking spaces allotted to Tyler’s apartment and focused on the peculiar way Daniel’s Mustang rested on the pavement.
The taxi door swung open, and Debra burst out. She clutched her purse in one hand and pointed an accusing finger at Berry with the other.
“I knew it!” she cried. “You’ve brought that floozy home with you. How could you, Tyler Reid?”
“Tyler,” Berry whispered, aghast. “Someone stole the wheels off my car.”
Chapter 5
Tyler looked from the jade Mustang with its axles resting on the pavement to his sister’s finger of doom. For a moment, he didn’t know which disaster to tackle first.
Nothing could be done about the four stolen wheels except call the police, which meant the car could wait. If
he didn’t do something about Debra, every occupant of the apartment building would think he was running a house of ill repute out of his apartment.
“Debra probably remembers Daniel’s car,” he said aside to Berry, “so don’t call her attention to it.”
Berry stared at the Mustang in a blank, stunned way and appeared unaware that he had a family crisis on his hands.
“What am I going to do?” she asked slowly. “I’ve got to have a car by Monday morning.”
“You’re going to call a garage tomorrow and buy four new wheels. That’s what you’re going to do.” The words must have penetrated because she turned her blank stare to him. “Now stay quiet while I get rid of my sister.”
He got out of the Porsche with lazy grace, looking forward to the next few minutes. Or he did, until Berry got out of the car in her ridiculously high heels and sashayed over to stand beside him.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he asked Debra. He’d never realized she had such a dramatic streak in her character. “It ought to be clear you’re very much in the way around here.”
“I can’t believe this.” Debra looked from him to Berry.
“You’ve already said that.” Tyler kept a wary eye on Berry. She still stared at her Mustang, although she’d taken care to strike a sexy pose. “What’s so difficult to understand about a man’s desire for privacy when he brings a beautiful woman home with him?”
“Beautiful!” Debra threw up her hands in the best drama queen fashion. “The only thing she cares about is your bank account. Why are men so stupid?”
Tyler bit back an admiring grin. He wouldn’t have guessed Debra had it in her. “Now, Deb, be reasonable. Mary told me just a few minutes ago that I have a cute frown. What more can a man ask for?”
“A cute frown!” Debra’s despairing cry was worthy of a better audience than himself, Tyler decided. “You’re a bigger fool than I thought, Tyler Reid. If this wasn’t worrying Mom and Dad so much, I’d let you get what’s coming to you. But—”
“What’s coming to him is me,” Berry said suddenly. “Tonight.” Her voice was pitched low and sweet, and the look she turned in his direction was enough to ignite a man where he stood. “I’m the best thing that ever happened to him.”
Tyler hoped he could keep any expression of his feelings from echoing on his face while Berry’s arms wrapped around his waist, and her soft body pressed against his in blatant invitation. He dropped his arm casually about her shoulders, completely the man about town who knows himself irresistible to females, and gave her a squeeze.
“Let’s go upstairs, beauty,” he said, “so I can get what’s coming to me.”
“You’re doomed,” Debra said in hollow tones. “Well, no one can say I didn’t try."
“I’ll remember to tell Mom that you tried,” Tyler said. “She’ll be happy to know your good manners are intact.”
“Shut up while you’re ahead,” Berry hissed in his ear, and pretended to nibble his earlobe.
“You should be ashamed,” Debra said to Berry. Her tone of despair was definitely worthy of the stage. “It’s perfectly clear you’ve gotten your hooks into him but good. Oh, why can’t you go pick on somebody else’s brother?”
“Every man is some woman’s brother,” Berry said. Only the quiver in her husky, sexy tones betrayed her. “If you wanted to keep him safe from women like me, you should have appreciated him more.”
Berry reached up, grabbed Tyler by the back of his neck, and pulled his face down. Wrapping her arms around his neck hard enough to choke him, she crushed her warm mouth to his. His entire body reacted. He crushed her against him and hoped he hadn’t hurt her.
“Oh!” Debra cried. “You—you bimbo!”
She flounced back into the cab and slammed the door. The cab driver, who had been a disinterested spectator, rolled his eyes and backed his cab up slowly.
Tyler didn’t know whether Berry’s grip on his neck was choking him, or whether it was his own physical response. Be that as it may, she didn’t mean anything personal by the hot kiss she pressed on his lips.
As soon as the cab pulled out of the parking lot, she let him go but remained standing in his arms, resting her forehead against his shoulder. Tyler held her, well aware that Debra would draw the worst conclusion, and further aware that Berry was inches away from breaking down.
“Take it easy, honey,” he said gently. “We’ll call a tow truck tonight. By tomorrow afternoon, you’ll have your car back. Hey, calm down. Kissing me wasn’t that bad, was it?”
“It was wonderful.” Her voice rang with passionate sincerity.
Tyler kept a grip on himself with difficulty.
Berry choked on a sob. “It’s just that I was looking at that car as one of my last links to Daniel, and after all, I’ve still got the rest of the car.” She locked her arms around Tyler and buried her face in the hollow of his shoulder. “I’m just being silly. But I’d really like to punch your sister’s lights out. How dare she act like you don’t have a right to live your own life?”
The leap of Tyler’s heart told him he was in danger of losing his grip on reality. “I never knew she was so good at melodrama.”
Berry burrowed deeper into his embrace. “She sounded like a perfect idiot. Sorry, Tyler, but your sister brought out the worst in me. I couldn’t resist doing the siren act.”
“It served her right,” Tyler said, and laughed. “Lord, what a night. My reputation as a Don Juan just went up about ten notches.”
“I didn’t know you had a reputation as a Don Juan. Daniel said—” She stopped suddenly. “Daniel said he did his best to fix you up, but you weren’t interested.” She straightened slowly away from him as the cab’s red taillights disappeared down the street. “Needless to say, Daniel thought that kind of decency was absolutely uncalled-for.”
Tyler registered the withdrawal of her soft body with regret and self-castigation. She was only asking for a friendly hug. He’d better not start reading anything more into it, or he’d be in real trouble.
“That must have been after my one foray into the world of engagements,” he said. “At the time, Daniel had about four girlfriends.”
Berry hugged herself and suppressed a slight shiver, even though the night was too warm to require a jacket. “I used to wonder what they saw in him.”
Tyler’s face remained shadowed as he leaned into the car to get the sack of hamburgers. “You didn’t see much of Daniel these past two years, did you? Believe it or not, he was finally beginning to grow up in the area of relationships. When he was killed, he’d been beginning to get serious about one of the women he was dating. He actually told me he was going to quit seeing the others so he could concentrate on the one he was starting to really care about.”
“Thanks for telling me that,” Berry said, on a deep sigh. “Daniel died just as he was beginning to get some sense, and that makes me twice as mad. I’m going to find whoever killed him, or at least give it a darned good shot.”
Tyler balanced the fragrant package that contained their supper. “Daniel wasn’t a saint by any means, but he was a good man. I hope you find out something that will help the police catch his killer.”
Berry, apparently restored to normalcy, marched around to get her purse. “Don’t worry. I will.”
Tyler held her arm lightly as they climbed the stairs to his apartment and wondered if the man-woman aspect of having Berry Challoner in his apartment was getting out of hand. Reminding himself she was Daniel’s little sister gave him no help. She didn’t feel like a little sister when he held her, and she certainly didn’t look like one.
He wondered briefly what Daniel would say if he knew his best friend was thinking lustful thoughts about his little sister.
I’d say, “Go to it, old buddy.”
Tyler jerked his head around. “Did you say something?”
Berry gripped the balustrade upon his sudden movement. “No, and I didn’t hear anyone else say anything, either. Why?”
>
“I thought I heard someone,” Tyler said. “Here, be careful. I don’t care to have you fall back down these stairs and break your neck.”
“Don’t get snappish. I keep on telling you, these shoes have a purpose.” She regarded him curiously.
Tyler made a rude comment about the shoes’ purpose and unlocked his apartment door. He ushered Berry inside, then stood in the door and took a long, careful look around the parking lot before he shut the door. The only thing he saw was a dark-colored sedan cruising slowly past on the street. He was hearing things. Perhaps he’d been overworking lately.
Berry stood in the center of the living room watching him. “Are you looking for your parents to arrive?”
“To save me from you?” he asked, grinning. “That would be one for the books.”
“Your family loves you very much,” Berry said austerely. “Naturally, they aren’t thrilled to think of you falling into the clutches of a gold-digger like me.”
“Some gold-digger. You’ve even bought groceries.” He’d opened his refrigerator door earlier and found it stocked with steaks and vegetables.
“Maybe I should give you the bills. A woman has to protect her bad reputation.” Her smile vanished. “Do you know a good tire service that’s open on Sunday?”
“Don’t worry, honey.” Tyler carried the food to the bar that served as a table. “All you need is four new wheels. Get plain ones this time. I told Daniel when he bought that car that he was practically issuing invitations to car thieves. They love to steal fancy parts off sports cars and sell them back to the owners.” He chuckled. “I wonder if they’ll notice that nick on one of the spokes. Let’s call the police and report the theft. If the police recover them, we can identify your wheels by that nick.”
Berry cheered up. “Maybe this is a good thing, Tyler. Without those fancy mag wheels, that Mustang won’t look so much like Daniel’s car any longer.”
Tyler agreed and pretended to concentrate on getting out his cell phone to call the police. In reality, he was enjoying the way Berry removed her shoes and worked her toes into the carpet.
Texas Temptation Page 7