Cowboy in Disguise

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Cowboy in Disguise Page 13

by ALLISON LEIGH,


  “I didn’t tell Detective Teas to find you,” his grandmother said as they left the building through the front doors. “So don’t blame me that you had to come to my rescue.”

  “And what were you planning to do if I hadn’t shown up?”

  “I have friends. I could have arranged the bail and you’d have never been the wiser.”

  Jay snorted. “Worked out well for you, didn’t it, then?” And it meant he needed to thank the detective for yet one more thing, he thought blackly.

  “Don’t take that tone with me,” Louella said.

  He scrubbed his hand down his face as they stopped next to Arabella’s sedan.

  His grandmother looked confused. “Where’s your truck?”

  Jay’s eyes met Arabella’s over the roof of the car as she unlocked the driver’s-side door. And despite everything—the frustration of not being able to kiss her as long as he’d wanted, the shock of his grandmother’s arrest and the fury of knowing the cops had been following him and he hadn’t even noticed—he couldn’t help smiling.

  “Dead battery,” he said.

  * * *

  “Well?” Brady tossed a towel patterned with a distinctively ugly pink crest on his desk and gave Arabella a look. “Anything you have to say for yourself?”

  She rubbed the pain in her temple and held back a yawn with no small amount of effort.

  After getting Jay and his grandmother out to their place and driving back into Rambling Rose, it had been nearly four in the morning when she’d finally crept into her twin-size bed at Brady’s house. She’d been so tired, she hadn’t even spent her usual hour writing. “Like what?”

  Brady had made no secret that he was annoyed with her. That had been plainly obvious when he’d summoned her to his office in the middle of her cleaning shift.

  “Like the fact that this—” Brady shook the towel in her face “—was found next to the ice machine on the first floor last night by the night crew.”

  “It’s just a towel, Brady.”

  “It’s a towel from my own damn linen closet, Bella. And I sure didn’t leave it there.”

  “Actually, it’s a towel from Mom’s linen closet. Do you remember when she ordered them? How appalled Dad was that she’d spent hard-earned money on a set of towels just because they had a royal crest on them?”

  His expression told her plainly that he appreciated neither her irony nor the little trip down memory lane.

  “Okay, fine,” she huffed. “I was using the hot tub after hours last night, okay?”

  “Alone?”

  “Of course I was alone,” she bluffed. “Every muscle in my body hurt after cleaning all day and—”

  He thumped a pair of men’s tennis shoes on his desk. “These were with the towel. Your feet suddenly grow about four sizes?”

  Arabella pressed her lips together.

  “How’d you get into the fitness center?”

  “Does it matter?”

  Brady grimaced. He sat back in his chair and tugged at his tie as though it was suddenly choking him. “Yes, it matters.”

  “Why? Look, we weren’t doing anything terrible.” Not entirely. “Jay just—”

  Brady swore. “Jay Cross?”

  She shoved out of her chair because sitting in front of Brady’s desk the way she was felt a little too similar to being called in front of the principal. And those elementary school days were long past. “So what if it was?”

  “You snuck in the house at four this morning!”

  She jabbed her finger in his direction. “Stop acting like Dad.”

  “Stop acting like an irresponsible teenager, then!”

  She gaped at him, feeling stung. “I’m a grown woman, Brady. If I choose to stay out all night with a guy it is my business. Not yours.”

  He rose and planted his hands flat on his desk. “It’s my business when it’s under my roof.”

  She slapped her hands on the desk, too, going practically nose to nose. “Well, we know the solution to that, don’t we?”

  “Ahem.”

  They both looked over to see Grace Williams standing in the doorway to Brady’s office.

  As furious as Brady was with Arabella, she was somewhat surprised to see amusement in the other woman’s eyes.

  “Brady, the camera crew is here to get started on filming the new commercial. Would you mind getting them set up? I’m afraid I have to deal with that other matter.” Her eyebrows rose slightly as if she were speaking in code meant only for Arabella’s brother.

  Brady looked at Arabella. “We’re not finished with this discussion,” he warned.

  “Damn straight we’re not,” she muttered under her breath after he and Grace had left the office again.

  Arabella plucked Jay’s tennis shoes from the desk and left, too.

  She knew that he wasn’t on duty that day. A happy coincidence for him since he needed to deal with getting his truck battery changed. Unlike hers, his hadn’t responded to charging, which was why she’d ended up driving him to the police station the night before.

  On one hand, she was grateful that Jay had seemed glad to accept her help. On the other hand, she was left with more questions about him than ever before.

  What had Teas said when he’d appeared at the pool?

  I’m not here to question you again. Not yet, anyway.

  Question Jay about what?

  Even if there’d been an opportunity to ask him what the police detective had meant, Arabella hadn’t been brave enough to voice it.

  She could go toe to toe with Brady all day long and twice on Sundays if she had to. But ask Jay one simple question?

  I think you should know that...

  ...I’m wanted by the police.

  She shook her head sharply. “Ridiculous,” she muttered and reached out to wave her badge over the service elevator call button.

  “The first sign of genius is talking to yourself.”

  Startled, Arabella dropped the shoes as she whirled to see Mariana walking toward her.

  “I’m sorry, hon.” Mariana’s brows pulled together as she bent over to pick up the shoes. “Didn’t mean to scare you all to bits and pieces.” She handed her the tennis shoes.

  “Thanks.” Arabella hugged them to the front of her black T-shirt. “And you didn’t. I was just, uh, just preoccupied.”

  Mariana tilted her head slightly as if listening for sounds of the elevator’s movement. “These days, everyone here seems preoccupied.”

  “Why is that?” Arabella flushed at the urgency in her tone.

  “Oh.” Mariana waved a dismissive hand. “Nothing seriously bad has happened here in the last few months. Instead, we just have these little annoyances that keep happening.” She obviously read Arabella’s obliviousness. “You know. The elevators breaking down so often. The glitches in the reservation system and the security system that’s registering doors as locked when they’re not and vice versa.”

  Arabella wondered if the security system was Grace’s “other matter” that needed her attending.

  “Leaves a person waiting for the other shoe to fall.” Mariana’s gaze drifted to the tennis shoes Arabella was clutching. “No pun intended.”

  The service elevator rumbled softly and a moment later the door opened. Arabella gestured for Mariana to go first.

  “Thank you, dear.” Mariana waited until Arabella was inside the car, too, and pushed the button for the second floor. “Now, tell me how you and the Jet-pack are doing.”

  “Jet-pack?”

  “Jay,” Mariana said, as if it were obvious. “That’s what his grandpa always called Jay when he was visiting. Boy had so much energy it was like he was pumped up on jet fuel. Lord, the way he’d run around out at the market. Mischievous as hell. Always wanting to sweep up inside my food truck just so he could snitc
h a lemon tart when I wasn’t looking.” She grinned. “Used to figure he’d end up flying jets. Instead, he heads off to California when he was just a young pup and was gone for so long—” The doors opened again and she stepped out. “Goes to show you never can tell,” she said just before the doors started sliding closed.

  Arabella hurriedly blocked them with her shoulder. “Mariana—”

  The older woman paused midstep. Beyond her, Arabella could see servers loading carts in preparation for the latest event being held in the banquet room.

  Aware that she was holding up Mariana from her duties, Arabella just shoved out the words. “Do you let Jay into the fitness center often?”

  “You’re the only one he’s ever brought with him.” Mariana answered the question that Arabella hadn’t asked. “That’s how I can tell you’re someone special.”

  The tight little fist inside Arabella’s stomach that she’d almost forgotten suddenly eased. “Really?”

  Mariana’s eyes softened. She dashed her fingers in a cross over her chest. “Promise.” Then she winked and hurried away, her big bright bun bouncing on the top of her head.

  Arabella shifted and the doors finished closing.

  She didn’t have time to go up to the fourth floor to store Jay’s shoes in her locker there, so she just tucked them in a bag on her cart after she’d pulled it from the floor pantry. With her headphones tucked in her ears, she pulled the assignment chart she’d gotten from Beulah that morning out of her back pocket.

  I think you should know that...

  ...you’re someone really special.

  * * *

  Hallie shook her head for the third time in as many rooms. “Sorry.” She dashed her finger along the wooden cabinet that housed the flat-screen television. “This needs a better polish.”

  That entire afternoon—ever since she’d left Brady’s office with Jay’s shoes—Hallie had been critical of Arabella’s work.

  “I’ll polish it again,” she said and pulled out a fresh cloth. “Hallie—”

  The other girl’s lips were pursed as she raised an eyebrow.

  “Did I do something to upset you? Besides my subpar cleaning, I mean?” She tried a wry smile but it was met with a stony stare.

  “What could possibly upset me?”

  She waved her dust cloth a little helplessly. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking. I thought...well, yesterday, I thought you and I might become friends.”

  “I don’t need friends who hide the truth about themselves from me.” Hallie looked back at the clipboard she used to mark off her inspections before releasing a room back to the front desk. “You’d better pick up the pace. You’re an hour behind.” She walked out of the room, leaving Arabella gaping.

  She hurriedly applied the cloth to the offending wood, then darted out of the room after Hallie. There were only two rooms rented on this end of the floor so far, and Arabella knew the occupants were down at the pool where the marketing people were still working on filming. “It’s done,” she yelled, “and what truth am I supposed to have hidden?”

  Hallie turned on her heel and marched back along the carpeted corridor. “Acting like you’re one of us when you’re really one of them!”

  Arabella frowned. “I have no idea what you are even talking about.”

  “Really? And here I thought you Fortunes were all supposed to be so brilliant.”

  Fortunes.

  It dawned on Arabella then. She’d completely forgotten about her last name. “Hallie, I’m not one of those Fortunes.” Hearing it, she couldn’t help but cringe. “I mean, I’m no different than you! I have to work for a living. Criminy, I can’t even afford to move out of the twin bedroom I’m living in at my brother’s yet because I’m so broke!”

  But Hallie was obviously unconvinced. “I’d say whatever,” she drawled, “except I wouldn’t want to lose my job for being disrespectful.”

  Arabella let out an impatient snort. “I’m not—”

  “I’ll check back in an hour.” Hallie cut her off. “Front desk needs these rooms available. They’ve all been blocked for a wedding tomorrow.” Then she spun on her heel again and walked away.

  Arabella flopped her arms at her sides. “What’s a name matter, anyway?”

  But Hallie wasn’t listening and with a sigh, Arabella reentered the room. She stuffed her squishy headphones into her ears.

  “...all up and gonna be someone new...”

  The familiar words snuck into her head and she cursed. “I’d like to be someone new, too, buddy,” she told the deep voice singing in her ear. “Someone without the last name of Fortune!”

  Then she attacked the dusting with renewed vengeance.

  She was finally pushing her cart back into the floor pantry nearly an hour later when an alarm suddenly sounded and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

  She’d never heard that specific noise at the hotel before, but that didn’t mean she didn’t recognize a fire alarm when she heard one.

  She slammed the pantry door closed on the cart and darted around the corner to the service elevator, only to remember that the elevators automatically shut down and returned to the first floor when the fire alarms activated. She’d polished the signs affixed to the backs of the room doors that explained that very point often enough by now to be able to quote the entire list of safety rules.

  She hit the stairwell, where footsteps were already echoing throughout the cement tower and started down, hurrying even faster to help the woman ahead of her who was trying to manage a toddler and a baby and not get trampled by the people coming down behind them.

  “Let me help,” she said and swept the wailing toddler up in her arms.

  The mother’s eyes were wide and tearful and they took in Arabella’s T-shirt with the hotel logo. “There’s not really a fire is there?”

  “Even if there is, it’s all going to be fine.” She spoke with a calmness she didn’t really feel. “I’m Arabella.” Her voice vibrated from the impact of her shoes hitting the steps. “What’s your name?”

  “Sierra.” The mother clasped her baby closer as they reached the second-floor landing and started down the last stretch. “That’s Mia you’re carrying.”

  At the sound of her name, Mia wailed even harder, and knocked her elbow hard into Arabella’s face as she strained to reach her mommy.

  Pain exploded in her face and Arabella yanked her head back.

  Blinking hard, she slowed only slightly, using the railing to help guide her while she blinked the stars from her vision.

  In seconds, they’d reached the bottom of the stairs and they darted out into the corridor where Brady stood. His tie was loosened and it was only because Arabella knew him so well that she could see the agitation in his eyes despite the calm way he was directing people toward the exits.

  “There’s no need to run,” he said in a loud voice. “Please proceed calmly to the exit—” He broke off for a moment, his expression tightening when he spotted Arabella carrying the little girl past him.

  But she didn’t slow. Her face was throbbing from the impact of Mia’s elbow and she nearly ran right into Petunia in the lobby. The florist was carting a box of bouquets as if her life depended on it. An older man with gray hair was with her, carrying a second box.

  “Leave the flowers,” Arabella said sharply and pushed them both to the front door.

  As soon as they were through, Arabella chased after Mia’s mother. The young woman had broken into a trot right along with the dozens of other guests who were also more than a little anxious to get away from the building.

  Finally, Sierra stopped, though, and sank down onto the grass and Arabella caught up to her. She gratefully surrendered the wailing toddler to her mama’s arms and gingerly cupped her hand over her aching face.

  Sierra was looking at her oddly. “Are you all right?


  She nodded. “I’ll come back and check on you as soon as I can.”

  “You don’t have to—”

  “I want to.” She cleared her throat and channeling Mariana a bit, gave Mia a quick wink before she turned to work her way back to the front entrance.

  It felt oddly similar to the day the balcony collapsed, only this time Arabella didn’t have her dad dragging her away. This time there was no ominous cloud of debris wafting through the air. Her nose was stuffy but not from the smell of smoke. She knew better than to trust that meant there wasn’t any fire somewhere.

  Alarms didn’t go off all on their own, did they?

  Not unless it was another one of those glitches that Mariana mentioned.

  Gingerly pressing her fingertips against the pain beneath both of her eyes, Arabella looked around, wondering how best she could help. She spotted Grace Williams talking to Sybil and Beulah. They were obviously taking count of guests.

  Hallie and a few of the other room attendants were pacing around with servers from Roja. They were handing out water bottles to guests and staff alike.

  The three-person film crew who’d been taking footage all over the hotel were panning their cameras over the melee as three fire engines turned in to the property.

  If this was all just a glitch, it was turning out to be a whopper of one.

  “There you are.” Jay suddenly appeared next to her. He was breathing hard, as if he’d just run a half-marathon. “I’ve been looking every—” He broke off with an oath and caught her face between his hands. “You’re hurt!”

  Before she had time to blink, he lifted her right off her feet.

  Chapter Nine

  “Jay!” Arabella’s hands were patting his chest, but Jay barely noticed. He was too busy looking for a safe place to take her until he could get her some medical attention.

  There were people everywhere and the hotel alarm was still blaring.

  “Maybe this place is cursed,” he muttered, finally stepping right over a retaining wall so he could get to the chaises surrounding the pool.

  “It’s not cursed,” she said thickly. “Oh, criminy—” She was holding up her bloody hand as if she’d never seen it before.

 

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