Sinful Secrets

by Melissa Ohnoutka

  The couple was incredibly upset. And when they turned their backs to the counter and faced her, Joanna recognized them instantly. Aw, hell no. Not the Hughes. Anyone but the Hughes.

  Joanna’s temperature rose. This couple sat on the board of her father’s company and had been friends of the family for years. Had even known Joanna’s mother.

  Bracing herself with steel courage, she rose from her chair and proceeded to the counter to see if she could help defuse the situation. The last thing she wanted, or could afford, was for this couple to report back to her father with anything negative about the party or their stay.

  “Jo Jo!” The woman immediately saw her coming.

  “Miss McNamee, we have a slight problem.” Mr. Hughes reaffirmed the panic in his wife’s voice with his tone.

  “I’m so sorry. How can I help?”

  “Call the police. We’ve been robbed!” Mrs. Hughes fanned herself like she might pass out. “It’s my grandmother’s emerald and diamond necklace set. I wore it to the party last night and”—she sniffled—“and they can’t find them.” Mrs. Hughes pointed over the counter to the door where the young clerk disappeared.

  “They lost your jewelry?” Joanna’s heart plummeted to the pit of her stomach.

  “Well, they can’t find it under my name. So I just gave them my claim ticket.” Mrs. Hughes twisted her hands together, pulling on the hem of her expensive blouse. “They’re priceless, Jo Jo. Been in my family for generations.”

  Mr. Hughes placed a large hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Now, Martha. Let’s not get too worked up. They have the claim ticket. They’ll find them.” Although his words were meant to encourage, his tone failed to deliver confidence.

  Joanna gently grasped the older woman’s hands and squeezed, watching as the tears pooled in the corner of her eyes. She’d rather face an angry mob than deal with this. “Let me see what I can do.” Joanna pulled out her cell phone—she had the manager’s number on speed dial, and this little mess up was unacceptable. After several rings, the call went straight to voicemail. And Joanna’s heart went straight into panic mode.

  As they stood waiting for the clerk to return, another couple from the party walked up, nodding to Joanna and her companions. “Great party, Jo Jo.”

  “Thank you, Mrs. Parker.”

  The woman smiled back as her husband signed the bill and handed the clerk a yellow ticket.

  An eerie sensation settled in Joanna’s dry mouth, the hairs on the back of her neck prickling at the sight of the claim ticket. And then the horrific nightmare dancing in her head materialized in full color.

  “What do you mean they’re not there?” The man’s voice could have carved stone.

  Both the Hughes gasped.

  Joanna felt her knees begin to buckle and clamped onto the granite counter for extra support.

  “Oh my God! The hotel’s been robbed!” Mrs. Hughes was in a state of shock. Her face flushed, sweat beading on her brow. “I told you we should have kept them in our room.”

  The manager, Eric Reed, exited the back door with the young female clerk at his side, an unnerved look in his eyes as he met Joanna’s gaze.

  “I’m afraid we have bad news.” His eyes never left hers. “After careful examination, we have concluded there has been a breach in our security.”

  “What does that mean, exactly?” Joanna knew the answer. Deep down to her toes, she knew what Mr. Reed was going to say before he opened his mouth.

  “We’ve been robbed.”

  The words felt like a bullet to her heart. Of all the things that could have gone wrong, this was the absolute worst. How many guests had used the hotel’s safe to store their valuables? She swallowed back the bitter taste in her mouth.

  “We’ve called the authorities. They’re on their way now.” Reed leaned over and whispered something to the young clerk, who nodded and headed down the hallway.

  “Good.” For some irrational reason, Joanna’s thoughts immediately went to Deputy Kane. Would he be involved? He was a cop. But he was a small-town cop, and there was no way this was his jurisdiction.

  “If you would please follow me to the conference room. We will be taking statements from our guests there and logging in the valuables missing.” The manager directed the distraught couples off to the left with a wave of his hand.

  “If you don’t mind, I’ll stay and wait for the cops.” Joanna was afraid to move for fear of collapsing to the floor. “What conference room?”

  “The Magnolia Room.”

  “Got it.”

  “Miss McNamee, I am so sorry. This has never happened in the history of this hotel.”

  “I don’t understand how—”

  “We’ll get to the bottom of it.” He nodded, concern etched in his eyes.

  She shook her head, unable to form the words to express her feelings, and he hurried off to join the Hughes and Parkers.

  Family heirlooms. She forced air into her lungs as her heart ached. Priceless treasures like these could never be replaced.

  Frustration oozed from her pores as she dialed Sam’s number. The robbery was bad enough, but the eerie tone of the woman’s voice by the pool still hounded her, and intuition had her thinking Denise played a part in this burglary as well. She bit back a curse.

  “Hey, Jo Jo. Thank God you called. This isn’t good.” Sam’s voice was slurred, slow, her words dragging.

  “What’s wrong? You don’t sound well.”

  “Hang on a sec.” The phone made a loud whack, and then she heard her friend throwing up on the other end.

  Joanna clamped her lips together, trying to ward off a sympathy gag. Sam loved to party, but it had been quite a while since she’d gotten that drunk. “Where are you? I’ll come to you.”

  Nothing.

  “Sam? Please talk to me.” The seconds passed like hours. Finally, Joanna heard Sam moving around. The toilet flushed and then she was back on the phone.

  “Jo, I think I’ve been drugged. This is not like any hangover I’ve ever had. And I only had two drinks last night.”

  “Drugged? Where are you? I’ll come get you. You may need a doctor.”

  “Funny thing.” Her friend tried to laugh but it trickled out in a broken cough. “I have no idea.”

  “This isn’t funny. You really don’t remember where you are? Did you meet up with your friend?” Joanna hurried out the front entrance just as several cop cars pulled up.

  “Miss McNamee, you okay?” The deep voice sent shivers down her spine.

  Shielding her eyes from the sun with her hand, she looked up and swallowed back a moan. The handsome Deputy Kane stood mere inches in front of her. He smelled heavenly, and, close up in the sunlight, he looked even better than she remembered. Clean-shaven, hair smoothed back from his forehead, his eyes such a beautiful shade of brown. A sense of security and safety soothed her. Like he’d done when they were in high school, he’d somehow make all of this right.

  “Miss McNamee. You look like you need to sit down.”

  Sit down? Hell no. She needed to run.

  “Jo Jo,” Sam said over the phone. “You still there?”

  Joanna fought off the awkwardness. “Yes, I’m here. Hang on a sec.” She pulled the phone away and dared to look the Greek god in the eyes. “My friend is in some kind of trouble.”

  “Does this have anything to do with the robbery?” Kane placed a warm hand on her shoulder and led her over to the valet station, where he eased her down onto an iron bench.

  The heat of his touch calmed her further. “I’m not sure.”

  He took a step closer, his large frame shadowing her on the bench. “Your friend, where is she now?”

  Joanna placed the phone back to her ear. “Sam, look around. What do you see? There has to be something that will tell you where you are.”

  “I can’t see. Everything is blurry. That’s why I didn’t call you. I couldn’t find my damn phone until I heard it ring.”

  Joanna covered the speaker a
nd relayed the message to Kane. “She thinks someone drugged her. She can’t see well enough to tell where she is.”

  “That is serious. May I?” He pointed to the phone.

  “Sam, Deputy Kane wants to talk to you, okay?”

  “The hottie from yesterday? Hell ya, that’s okay.” Sam’s playful attitude despite the circumstances had to be a good sign, right?

  She handed him the phone, and he smiled, a soft, compassionate look filling his eyes and doing weird shit to her. Even worried about her friend, all those tingly, teenage roller-coaster feelings from high school stirred to life.

  “Ma’am.” He paused, a muscle clenching in his jaw. “Yes, of course. Sam, what do you remember about last night?”

  Kane’s appealing kindness caused a hot rush of heat to creep up her neck and settle on the tips of her ears when he moved closer to block out the sun. When his hard stomach brushed against her shoulder, her breath stalled. She barely registered the commotion of the other officers hurrying into the building. Glancing up, she found him watching her intently, one brow raised. Should she tell him who she was? Get all the embarrassing details out in the open? Or pray he didn’t remember and just tell him about the woman she’d overheard by the pool?

  “Okay, why don’t you start from the beginning?” he asked Sam.

  She blinked, knowing she needed to get a grip. But he looked good. Too damn good. His dark wavy brown hair. His sculpted jawline. His broad shoulders and biceps straining against the fabric of the short-sleeve tan shirt. And that voice. He’d find Sam and help her. She just knew it.

  After several minutes of questions, Kane leaned down and handed the phone back to her, his arm grazing hers as he grabbed his portable radio. “We need an ambulance sent to The Ashton Grande, 2308 Becker Drive, room 618. Woman in need of medical attention. Not sure if door is locked or not.”

  Joanna gave her head a shake, her focus back on Sam. “How do you know where she is?” She’d heard every question he asked Sam, and not one answer could have led him to that conclusion.

  “I used to work downtown. There’s only one hotel near the rail system.”

  “And you heard the train?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And the room number? You didn’t get that by listening to a train.”

  “No, ma’am. Sam, your friend, remembered she’d gotten a note from someone to meet in the lobby of The Ashton Grande. She’s not sure how she ended up in a room, but the key in her pocket says 618.” He smiled again, that sexy smirk that made her stomach do a flip.

  “Oh.” She didn’t like the effect this man still had on her. He was older now, too rugged, too damn masculine, too…well…too damn good to be true. “Are you here about the burglary?” she asked, trying to stay on track and keep her hormones under control.

  “Among other things.”

  She didn’t like the way he said that, either. His tone made her all numb inside, and it wasn’t a good numb. More like that prickly numb that follows after your arm falls asleep. “What other things?”

  “Your missing crew, for one. Being a small-town cop, if I get a call about a burglary, or hijacking in your case, it’s my case from start to finish. I don’t have detectives to hand it off to. And a Mr. Coleman called this morning, saying he had more information about what happened to your truck. Said I could find him here today.”

  “Keith called you?” She nodded, although inwardly she wondered what her friend would tell the deputy that he hadn’t told her last night. Maybe he’d gotten information out of Toby and Jerry. “Why would a small-town cop be called in on a robbery in the Houston city limits? This can’t be your jurisdiction.”

  He smirked. “I’m not at liberty to say. But I assure you my presence here is valid. You can call my boss if you’d like. Give him my badge number.” His assertiveness told her he was enjoying this little exchange way too much. He liked having the upper hand.

  “Not necessary. The manager of the hotel, Eric Reed, is in the Magnolia room waiting for you and your compadres. As for Keith, I’m not sure why he called you. My crew showed up on their own last night. Said they’d been in a bar down the street drinking and trying to find the courage to face me.”

  “Really?”

  She inhaled deep to combat the sting of betrayal still worming its way through her gut. “Yep. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if I can meet Sam at The Ashton Grande.” She smiled her sweetest smile, stood, and hurried away as fast as her legs would move without buckling. Could all this be a strange coincidence? Her dad having something to do with her hijacked truck still gave her hesitation, but the hotel robbery and Sam’s predicament sure as hell didn’t.

  “If you miss the ambulance, they’ll take her to Memorial Downtown.”

  “Right, thanks.” She turned to get one last glance.

  “No, thank you, Ms. McNamee.” He gave her a polite nod that jelled her knees. “Will you be around later, in case I have further questions?”

  “Sure. I still have to settle up with the hotel. And it’s Jo Jo,” she said, not even trying to hide the annoyance in her voice. His insistence on calling her by her mother’s name was really starting to piss her off. Not to mention that they’d made out and he didn’t remember. She didn’t do one-night stands. Hell, who was she kidding? She didn’t do relationships period. She had no time. Her first priority was her business, and that’s the way she liked it.

  Once around the corner of the building where she’d parked her truck, she let out a low, fierce growl. Get a freaking grip!

  So he’d done a few nice things for her back in high school. Okay, more than a few. One of which was taking the blame for her and Sam after they’d gotten drunk and spray-painted hearts on the football field before the big game with their rivals. Ryker had found them in the act, tossed the empty cans in his truck bed, and driven them home. The next day at school, Joanna found out he’d been pulled over by the local sheriff, a friend of her dad’s. The evidence in the back of Ryker’s truck condemned him without explanation. She’d tried to tell her father the truth, but he’d waved her off and told her to quit trying to save the world.

  She hated the fact her father had been right. Ryker proved his true colors that night back in college. Making a bet with his buds at the bar that he could get her into his bed was lower than low, regardless of how sweet and charming he’d been in high school or how appealing she found him now. She moaned inwardly.

  There’s no reason for this man to still have such a powerful effect on you.

  A lie she planned to keep telling herself until hell froze over. Or until it worked.

  Chapter Six

  Ryker watched the huge white Dually pull out of the parking lot, scratching his head over why he’d thought it smart to tease this woman. He felt like a sex-deprived teen. But she probably only distracted him because he hadn’t been with a woman in a long time. The truth was he wanted more than sex. He wanted a partner. He wanted to fall in love, settle down, get married, and live the life his parents had shared for over forty years. And this woman was still out of his league.

  Idiot.

  Grown men didn’t go around playing games. He should just tell her. Tell her he remembered her from college and high school as well. That they had shared a few drinks in a bar one night and enjoyed each other’s company afterward. That…that…what?

  He gritted his teeth. That he’d turned her down when she’d stripped to her bra and panties and begged him to make love to her? Shit, the idea still got under his skin and burned low and deep. God, he’d never wanted any woman the way he’d wanted her that night. In fact, he’d never wanted any woman the way he’d wanted her from the time he’d met her.

  Sadly, there was no winning here. If she did remember him, it was clear she wanted to forget, and if she didn’t remember him, well, it was because she chose to forget. Screwed up. Ryker Kane, you are one screwed-up sombitch.

  Slamming through the glass doors of the hotel, he hustled toward the lobb
y, where a huge crowd had gathered. The tension in the air sizzled, and he realized the magnitude of the situation. Sheriff Wade had been vague on why he needed to check in at the hotel. Some kind of jewelry theft. Wade told him the Houston Police Department had it covered, but he wanted him there as a favor to a friend. McNamee, no doubt. Wade wanted him to find out the specifics and report back. ASAP. But he’d have to keep it low key—he didn’t want to interfere or piss anyone off in HPD. He knew the drill. This was their case. Outsiders beware.

  Picturing the two men’s exchange at the McNamee estate earlier that morning, Ryker had a strange inkling McNamee was more than a casual acquaintance of the sheriff, which would explain why Jo Jo and her friends got away with just about anything back in the day.

  So what to think of Jo Jo’s friend Sam? Had she been drugged or had she just drunk herself into oblivion and forgotten where she was and who she’d left with? On any other day, that’s the angle he’d go with. But too many things didn’t add up.

  He went over the details. First, someone tries to sabotage a Christmas party by holding the drivers at gunpoint and stealing the party planner’s truck. Next thing you know, the hotel where the party is held gets robbed. And now, a friend of the same party planner ends up at another hotel with parts of the night missing from her memory.

  His gut twisted and turned like he had a bad virus, keeping his full attention. Whatever the hell happened here was connected. And it wasn’t good.

  He made his way through the crowd to the check-in counter. “Can you page Keith Coleman’s room, please? Tell him Deputy Kane is waiting in the lobby.”

  The clerk, a buff man with long dark hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, nodded, “Yes, sir.” And then he said, “You’re not here about the robbery? Your fellow officers are in the Magnolia room.”

  Ryker slowly lifted his gaze to meet the clerk’s. The clerk acted antsy. The way he kept looking over his shoulder, the weird tilt of his stance, his slovenly attire. “No. I don’t work for the Houston Police Department.” The hairs prickled on the back of his neck. “I’m here on another matter.”