by Nancy Bush
And she did. Now she understood his appearance. He’d been working undercover. To catch a criminal, he had to look like a criminal. He hadn’t wanted his family to even know him while he worked in the underworld.
“I’ve been assigned a new job,” he said, tossing back a long swallow of beer. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a curiously seductive move that April was not immune to. “Ongoing theft.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
He cut swiftly to the heart of the matter. “Because it’s happening at your store.”
“Now you are lying.”
He shook his head. “Daley talked to your father about losses in inventory.”
April took that in, surprised that her father hadn’t confided in her. “I know we’ve had a few inventory losses recently. Mistakes. Wrong shipments… ” April trailed off, aware she’d maybe said too much, frighteningly aware that Jesse knew, too.
“No.”
The implications sank in. The police department was involved. That meant the inventory problem with much worse than she’d even imagined.
“Your father asked Daley to bring in the department.”
“And so here you are…” April felt almost betrayed. “Why doesn’t Daley want me to know?” Jesse’s silence was a telling answer. “You don’t think I’m involved?”
“I don’t.”
“But Daley does?” April was incensed. She half rose from the booth, then sank back limply when Jesse’s hand reach across in a lightning-swift gesture.
“Daley is playing it close to the vest. He’s working for your father, not you. And your father isn’t stealing from himself – especially since he’s been gone since this thing started.”
“Why don’t you think I’m involved?” she demanded.
Jesse didn’t have a ready answer for that. His gaze dropped to where her arm lay entrapped in his hand. “I need your help. I need access to all the stores accounting processes. I need to see the invoices. I need to know how it’s done.”
“You could have asked Jordan,” April said dully. “He could have helped you, and I would have never known.”
“I could have,” he allowed.
“You’re afraid Jordan’s the one,” April whispered in dawning realization. “No, Jesse!” She shook her head emphatically. “He’s not capable of it!”
“April, I’m taking a giant risk by trusting you. Do you have any idea what would happen if I trusted Jordan, then found I was wrong?”
She wanted to pry his fingers from her skin, yet couldn’t betray how much his touch affected her. He seemed to have forgotten he was holding her. “Whose neck are you worried about? Your own? Are you afraid the department wouldn’t understand if you allowed a member of your own family to dupe you? Better to let me dupe you, right?”
He dropped her arm as if it burned. “If Jordan’s involved…” He gritted his teeth, unable to finish.
“Go to hell, Jesse,” she said recklessly.
His mouth twisted. “Maybe I’m already there.”
The waiter reappeared. April turned to him blindly. In a strained voice, she ordered a salad. Jesse ordered a sandwich and another beer.
For what seemed like an eternity she gazed past him. She barely tasted her meal. Swallowing was an incredible effort. Eventually she pushed her plate aside.
The waiter came and took their empty plates. From a distance she heard Jesse ask, “Would you like coffee?”
She shook her head.
Jesse ordered a cup for himself and when it appeared, he turned the handle around several times, as if he couldn’t make up his mind what to say next. Finally he said wearily, “Tell me about your husband.”
That jolted her. “What about him?”
“How did you meet?”
“A mutual friend from college,” April answered warily.
“You said it was short-lived.”
“It was.”
“You didn’t keep his name?”
“No.”
“What was it?”
April narrowed her gaze on him. Her heart was pounding crazily. She felt her lips tremble and forced them into an uncompromising line.
To her surprise Jesse’s mouth relaxed into a lazy smile. “This isn’t an interrogation, you know. You can talk a little.”
“As I recall, you don’t like women who chatter.”
That got him. He looked momentarily frozen, his eyes darkening. Was his recall as exquisitely painful as her own?
“Do you want me to like you?” he asked quietly.
“Oh, stop it.” April turned her head sharply away from him.
He didn’t actually sigh, but she sensed him drawing back from her. “All right.” Perversely, as soon as he retreated, she regretted not opening up more.
When he picked up the check, she plucked it from his hands. “I’ll pay for my own.”
“Stop it,” he told her harshly. Grabbing the check, he stalked toward the maître d’s podium near the front door.
April burned with injustice. She had half a mind to just stride out of the restaurant and leave without so much as a thank-you. Instead she clenched her teeth and stood ten feet away from him, her arms crossed, her expression mutinous.
Jesse returned, picked up his jacket and didn’t even toss her a glance. “Come on,” he said, pushing the door and stepping onto the fog-shrouded street.
“You’re a regular prince, you know that,” she told him, her footsteps just as long and angry-sounding as his own as she fell into step beside him.
“I’m not a prince. I’m an insufferable egotist with an authority problem. Ask my sister. She’ll tell you.”
April stopped short, staring at his retreating back. Laughter bubbled from deep inside her chest and she actually clapped a hand to her mouth. Jesse’s furious pacing slowed, then came to a stop and he glanced back through the mist. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw a smile lurking somewhere along the sensual curves of his lips.
“All right, Jesse,” she said, covering the distance between them. “You can see the invoices. You can look at anything you damn well want to.”
“Without Jordan knowing.”
“Without Jordan knowing,” April agreed. “And if you discover who’s behind it—”
“When I discover who’s behind it.”
She nodded. “You are an egotist. I want to know who it is first, before anyone else.”
“What about your father? He’s the one who called the department.”
“I’m not counting my father. You can tell him whatever you like.” The sheer absurdity of Jesse reporting to her father made April mentally shake herself. Life was far too complicated. “But I don’t want Chris Daley or anyone else in the store to know what’s going on before I do. Agreed?”
Jesse’s rare smile appeared just for an instant, a flash of white in the thickening, gray fog. “Agreed. Come on, then. Let’s get to work.”
April found concentration next to impossible. She didn’t know how Jesse planned to keep Jordan in the dark, especially since he would be hanging around Hollis’s, digging into the store records. As soon as Jordan came back from lunch, however, she got her answer.
“Hey,” Jordan said upon seeing Jesse in April’s office. “What’s going on?”
“Jesse came to see you,” April jumped in, a trifle nervously. She wasn’t good at this cloak-and-dagger stuff. She always felt guilty.
“Actually,” Jesse drawled, his gaze lazily fastening on April’s mouth. “I have other reasons for being here, too.”
For half a beat April believed him. Her foolish heart somersaulted, thudding against her ribs. But the next moment she realized what he’d done – and hated herself for being so naïve and vulnerable.
Jordan couldn’t hide his surprise. “Well, now that’s news.”
“April and I have some catching up to do.” Jesse gazed over at her as if they were in cahoots on this.
He was excellent, she realized. Unbelievably adept
at fitting himself into the scene. A master chameleon. But he couldn’t expect her to play a part. She was no actress. “Yes,” she said through stiff lips.
Jordan regarded her quizzically, then glanced at Jesse. “Well, when you’re done here, stop by my office. You and I have a little catching up to do, too.”
“You could have warned me,” April whispered as soon as Jordan’s footsteps faded down the hall.
“Why?”
“Don’t be dense. Now Jordan thinks you’re here to see me. I can just imagine what’s running through his mind right now.”
Jesse stretched luxuriously, then ran his hands through his hair. “I am here to see you,” he responded innocently.
“Not that way!”
“Does it matter so much to you what Jordan thinks? He’ll know the truth soon enough.”
April leaped to her feet. She slammed her chair against her desk, her fingers gripping the back of it. “Jesse, I haven’t forgotten what went on between us in Rock Springs, even if you have. I can’t forget it. I can’t look at you and think – oh, well, such is life. Water under the bridge. No big deal.” She swallowed against a tight throat. “It’s hard for me to see you,” she added softly, the words pulled from her chest. “It’s really hard.”
The muscle in his jaw worked several times. “I know.”
“Then please, don’t make it harder.”
His mouth twisted. “With any luck I’ll be out of here in a week or two.”
April nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“I know this probably isn’t the time, but I have to ask a favor,” he said after a pause.
“What?”
“Could you stay after closing with me? I’d rather work without anyone else around.”
The air suddenly felt as if it were pressing down on her chest. April wanted to scream. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t. I have to be home for my daughter.”
“What about tomorrow, early?”
“No, Jesse.” April paced across the room, putting distance between them. She could almost feel his magnetism coming at her in waves. Her back to him, she stared out the window.
“When, then?”
She’d placed herself in this position. She’d demanded to be the one he confided in. Now she didn’t like the role.
“Tomorrow night after closing,” she said flatly. “I’ll get a sitter.”
“Okay.” The chair groaned and squeaked as he got to his feet. “Guess I’ll go see Jordan.”
It was long moments before April trusted herself to turn around again.
The store was nearly dark; only a row of overhead lights straight down the center of the ceiling was left on. The night shift security man knew April and Jesse were on the tenth floor. Otherwise they were alone.
“This is accounting, and the main computer is in here,” April said, unlocking the door and snapping on lights as she walked through the offices to a room at the far end. “The cash registers are hooked into the system, as are other terminals. You can use this monitor.” She pointed to one in the small, main computer room which was tucked into a corner. Every inch of wall space was devoted to computer equipment. Cords snaked out in all directions. Jesse could feel the breeze from the air conditioner; the computer room was a few degrees cooler than the rest of the building.
“Maybe you’d better show me how to run the system,” Jesse said.
“I know the rudiments,” April admitted. “But you should really check with accounting.”
“I just need to retrieve a few shipping invoices. Do you have hard copies? Where are they filed?”
“Depends on what time period you’re looking for. We scan most documents and then shred them, but we keep paper copies for about six months.”
“That’s what I’m looking for.”
“Straight down the hall, second door on the left. Pretty much just file cabinets there. But you can run everything off the printer.”
“Let’s start with that, then.” Jesse sat down in the chair. He was no computer expert, but he knew enough to be dangerous. April leaned over his shoulder and flipped several switches. Her hair gently brushed his shoulder. Her scent drifted over him like an invisible veil.
A white-hot stab of desire shot through him.
“How long do you think this will take?” April sounded anxious.
“Not long if everything goes right,” he said brusquely.
He felt, rather than saw, her nod. “Just call me when you’re ready. Do you know which invoices you’re looking for?”
“I’ve got an idea.”
In fact, Jesse had already formulated a theory as to what was happening inside Hollis’s. According to the last inventory report April had found for him, three departments were incredibly short, considering their cash intake: Fine Jewelry, Avant-Garde and Private Collections. April had also told him their largest buyer invoices were almost always from one of those three departments. Someone was shipping out the inventory and pocketing the money. The question was how – and who.
“Let me know if you need me,” April said, moving toward the door. “I’ll be in my office.”
Jesse pretended to pay no attention to her, but as soon as she walked through the door he turned to stare after her. She was a fire in his blood. It didn’t matter what he did, what he thought, she burned inside him and, he realized with grim humor, she always had.
How had it happened?
Jesse worked with diamond-hard concentration, sorting through invoices that flickered on the computer screen like mirages. It took hours longer than he’d expected. When he was finished, he blinked, surfacing, and leaned back his head to uncramp the muscles of his neck.
He pushed back his chair and stood up, twisting the kinks out of his back. Paperwork, he thought, grimacing. Terrible, soul-eating stuff.
He walked through accounting into the acoustically deadened hallway. Outside April’s office he hesitated. The door was opened a crack, but no sound issued from within. Gently he touched her finger to the panel and the door swung inward, almost soundlessly.
April was curled in the leather chair by the window, her feet tucked beneath her, her head lolling against the cushions. Long, black lashes feathered across her cheekbones. Her lips were slightly parted; pink, tender, essentially inviting. Her chest rose and fell evenly; a pulse beat hypnotically at the hollow of her throat. She was asleep.
Jesse was spun backward in time. He thought of April at eighteen: willowy, childlike, defiant. April at twenty-eight was grown-up and doubly powerful. Every masculine nerve Jesse possessed jolted whenever she was near. He was overcome with the need to touch her and crossed the room in swift, noiseless strides.
He stopped himself before he actually curved a hand around the back of her neck, before he pressed his mouth down on hers. As if surfacing from a dream, he stood stock still in amazement, awestruck by a reaction so primal that even his brain had seemed to stall.
“Damn,” he muttered.
April’s eyes flew open. She uttered a short, aborted scream, her hands sleeping protectively to her throat. “Jesse!” she gasped. “You scared me.”
“Sorry.”
“Are you – are you finished?” April sat up, sliding her feet to the floor. Her eyes were wide and glancing around desperately, as if she’d misplaced her dignity and could only find it by searching for it.
“I ran off some copies.” Jesse glanced away from her toward the door. He narrowed his eyes against the passion still simmering in his bloodstream. Where in the world was his self-control?
“And?” She was so anxious to pull herself together that she neglected her shoes and slipped past him like a shadow.
“I’d still like to look at the originally printed hard copies. See if there’s anything else on them. And the shipping invoices.”
“All right.” She swept up a set of keys and her cell phone from the desk and headed into the hallway.
Jesse followed her. He hadn’t realized she was so small. The crown of her head w
ould barely touch his chin.
She walked down the hall to the file room, pausing to unlock the door. Pushing into the room, she asked, “What time is it?”
“About midnight.”
“Midnight!” she screeched. She frantically started through her call list, anxiously punching the talk button. “Jennifer? Hi it’s April. I’m so sorry, but I’m still at work. I know it’s a school night. Maybe I could call your mother and—” Several moments passed while the unseen Jennifer delivered information that clearly soothed April. Her brow cleared and the smile Jesse was growing to both love – and despise – curved her lips. “You tell your mother I owe her,” she added. “I’ll make it up to her. I promise. Thanks, sweetheart.”
“Domestic problems?” Jesse asked, once she’d clicked off.
“Jennifer’s a teenager. Her mother’s on her way to my house. She’s going to take over so that Jennifer can get to bed.”
The words had popped out automatically, but as soon as she uttered them, April looked embarrassed.
Jesse was engulfed by a sudden need to know about her life. “What’s your daughter’s name?”
She hesitated. “Eden.”
“Eden. Pretty name.” Her face whitened alarmingly. “April?” he asked quickly.
“Jesse, I’m really tired. I have to leave. Can’t we finish tomorrow?”
“Do you mind if I get those invoices first? It would be simpler not to have to explain.”
She nodded jerkily, sweeping her arm in the direction of the files. When he passed her, she shrank back so far that she slammed her heel into a file cabinet.
Her awareness of him only heightened his own. Silently swearing, Jesse yanked open the drawer and rifled through the contents. He could hear her shallow breathing behind him. Frustrated, he jerked out several fat files. “This’ll do,” he growled.
“Good.” April nodded like a puppet. “Great.”
She actually tried to shrink into the file cabinets as he passed. It irked him. “Stop it,” he ordered tersely. “You’re only making it worse.”
“What?” Her voice was breathless.