The man was flat-out potent.
His voice lowered to a harsh whisper. “And because he’s the reason for that barbed wire fence you keep around you.”
Brooke licked her lips. “What—what if it turns out the fax Daisy sent you was a hoax?”
His brow rose as if he hadn’t considered the possibility. “I don’t think it was a hoax, but, if it is, Lotus is finished anyway.”
“Don’t you think it’s rather unprofessional to fire someone because you’re jealous?” It was a cheap shot, but Brooke had to do something to ease the heightened tension before she did something reckless—like lean in for a kiss, as she ached to do.
He smiled, a slow, wicked smile that should have warned Brooke she was in over her head. “Don’t you think it’s unprofessional to want to kiss your boss?”
“What makes you think—”
“You keep staring at my mouth.”
“That doesn’t mean—”
His lips touched hers all too briefly, sparking a flame in her belly. Brooke sighed and leaned her forehead against his. She was a pitifully weak person, she decided, disgusted with herself. “Yes,” she whispered. “It is unprofessional. And unethical, and a big fat mistake.”
“Why is it a mistake?”
Because when playtime is over, you’ll go back to that big office in the sky and I’ll be left here nursing a broken heart.
The truth of her thoughts frightened and saddened her. Alex Bradshaw could break her heart—of that she was now certain.
If she let him.
And she wasn’t planning on letting him. Without Dee her life would be empty enough. If she let herself get involved with Alex for an all-too-brief time, then she feared the emptiness would be unbearable. No, casual affairs weren’t for her. She wanted something lasting...
Something she didn’t think she could have with Alex. They were worlds apart. It wouldn’t work. He’d grow tired of her. The list went on and on.
Gathering her courage, she dropped her arms from around his neck. “I should get to work.”
Reluctantly, he stepped back and let her by. “You should wait until tonight to get those papers,” he said.
“Right. Tonight.” Brooke flipped her hair behind her ear and scorched him with one of her go-to-hell looks. “And who’s going to bail me out of jail if I get caught?”
“You won’t get caught.”
He sounded so confident of her abilities that Brooke had to squelch a surge of pleasure. “This should earn me a promotion.” She wasn’t kidding.
“I’ll need someone to take Lotus’s place when this is over,” Alex said.
A warm glow swept over Brooke when she realized he wasn’t kidding, either.
By the time she arrived at Safe & Secure, the glow had faded and a curious ache had settled in her chest. If she had any glorified ideas about Alex’s feelings toward her, she had none now. He’d all but promised her Kyle’s position when this was over.
Not a promise a man would make if he were thinking about whisking a woman away into the sunset.
****
Alex wanted to call her back the moment she left.
What was he thinking? Was he, in some perverse way, testing her loyalty by asking her to search Kyle’s office? What if he was placing her in danger? From what he’d learned about Lotus, he didn’t think the man was dangerous...just devious and clever.
But what if he was? If anything happened to Brooke because of something he’d forced her to do, he’d never forgive himself.
“I see that you’re still alive and kicking.”
Alex turned to find Elijah standing at the edge of the porch. He smiled ruefully at the knowing look in the older man’s eyes. “Yes, I am. Barely.”
“She cuts deep sometimes.”
“That she does. Care for a cup of coffee?”
“Wouldn’t mind at all.”
Elijah settled into the rocker on the porch as Alex went inside to get the coffee. When he returned, Elijah had produced a piece of wood and was whittling away.
“Mighty nice prison you got here,” he commented.
“Yes, it is.” Alex chuckled at Elijah’s dry humor. It reminded him of Brooke.
“Seems to me you could just walk right on down that road there. Shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours to reach town.”
“I could,” Alex conceded, realizing the old man was fishing for information. He decided it couldn’t hurt to give it to him. “But Brooke and I have an agreement.”
“Oh?”
Alex watched Elijah work the knife as he contemplated how much he’d tell him. Again, he couldn’t see the harm. “I’ve got a little trouble at the factory, and Brooke’s helping me investigate.”
“You mean you sent her in to spy?” Elijah glanced up sharply. “That don’t sound like my Brooklyn. Spying on her own people.” He shook his head. “Nope, that sure don’t sound like Brooke. Makes me wonder how you convinced her to do such a thing.”
The conversation had taken a drastic turn, Alex realized, admiring the man’s skill with both the wood and the word. He found himself on the defensive. “A little harmless blackmail—”
“Blackmail ain’t never harmless, son.”
“Neither is kidnapping,” Alex retorted, stung by the older man’s rebuke.
Elijah paused and studied the point of his knife thoughtfully. Finally, he pointed it at Alex. “Have you asked her what happened to her parents?” he demanded.
The sudden shift again caught Alex off guard, as did the man’s hard, penetrating gaze. “No, I haven’t.”
“So if you don’t care nothing about getting to know her, what do you want?”
Alex floundered. “Company. I like her company.” It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the entire truth, either. “And I do plan on getting to know her better.”
Snorting in disbelief, Elijah said, “I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. I know what you’re after, and Brooke ain’t a loose woman.”
“I never assumed she was,” Alex said stiffly.
“She’s tough on the outside, but soft as cotton on the inside.”
“I’ve noticed.”
“If someone were to get inside to the soft part, they could do some damage, I reckon.”
Surprisingly, Alex understood what Elijah was trying to tell him. “She’s a remarkable woman. I would never do anything to hurt her.”
“Now you’re talkin’.” Elijah held out his cup. “I’ll take another shot, if you’ve got it.”
When Alex returned from filling his cup, Elijah motioned for him to take a seat on the steps.
“Now, tell me what you think my sly little nephew’s up to,” he demanded.
Alex frowned. “I’m afraid I don’t—”
“Kyle Lotus is who I’m talking about. That’s who’s causing the trouble, ain’t it?”
Shock jolted through Alex. “Lotus is your nephew? Brooke never mentioned—”
“She doesn’t know,” Elijah said. “When I found out he was back in town a few years back, I didn’t see fit to mention the relation to Brooke. Didn’t want her to think she had to be nice to him on my account.”
“I take it you’re not too fond of your nephew?”
“You take it right, son. He’s my sister’s youngun. She lives north of Shreveport, Louisiana, and he ain’t been back to see her in five years. She writes to me now and then, askin’ about him.” Elijah settled back in the rocker and began to whittle again. He had the look of someone remembering something very unpleasant. “Last year I went to find out for myself why he ain’t been to see his mama. Little fart looked right through me as if I wasn’t there. Told me to mind my own business.”
“And what did you tell your sister?”
“I told her he was doing just fine and staying busy.”
They shared a look of complete understanding.
Alex braced his back against the porch post and took a sip of his coffee. “What can you tell me about Lotus?”
; “Just stuff my sister’s told me over the years through her letters. Seems he had a little trouble in college, something about selling copies of a test he wasn’t supposed to have. After that, he switched jobs pretty regular for one reason or the other until he hooked up with Donaldson and got the job as plant manager.” Elijah paused in his whittling to cock a brow at Alex. “Still speculating on how he got the job, with his past history and all.”
“I think I can solve that mystery. I’ve got his file, and it’s as clean as a whistle.”
“Ah. Falsified his credentials, did he?” Elijah shook his head. “Donaldson never did have good business sense. I’m surprised he managed to hold on to the factory as long as he did. So what do you suppose Kyle’s up to?”
“Embezzling company money.” After their interesting exchange, Alex was certain of it now. When he caught the weasel, he was going to find Daisy and reinstate her, give her a nice fat bonus.
“I’m not surprised, and while I hate to break my sister’s heart, that little fart needs shaking down.”
“I agree.”
“Mighty smart of you to keep low, too. Mae’s always bragging about how clever Kyle is. If he knew you were snooping around, you can bet he’d make himself clean as a whistle before you got to him. So, you’re Batman and Brooke’s playing Robin, huh?”
Alex chuckled. “Something like that.”
“And in the meantime, you get to vacation right here, and enjoy Brooke’s delightful company in the evenings.”
“You make me sound selfish.”
“I might think so, if I didn’t know Brooke like I do. She’s having the time of her life, she just don’t know it yet.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Well, when was the last time she chopped wood?”
Thinking back, Alex said, “Saturday. Right after she talked to you.”
“Uh-huh. And how many dishes has she broken since you first met her?”
He shook his head. “None that I know of, although she did mention something about wanting to.” Instead, she’d chopped enough wood to last a week.
“Well, there you go. There’s your proof, plain as day.”
Or as dark as night. Alex scratched his head. “I’m not following you.”
“When Brooke’s upset about something, she has a tendency to take action. Chopping wood, breaking dishes, driving fast...Everybody has their own little unique way of dealing with stress. Me, I whittle, or take a walk.”
“And Brooke...smashes things.”
“Yep. Been that way since her folks died. What do you do?”
“I work.”
“Wonder it doesn’t give you headaches.”
Alex gave a start at his uncanny statement. “As a matter of fact, it does. About Brooke. Do you think—”
Elijah waved him to a stop. “You got questions about Brooke, you can ask Brooke. She keeps her nose out of my business, and I keep mine out of hers.”
After delivering that bald-faced lie, Elijah got to his feet among groans and grunts and headed down the path. After a few yards, he paused and turned around.
“Don’t worry about Kyle. He’s too cowardly to be dangerous. Oh, and don’t shame an old man by telling Brooke he’s my nephew.”
“I won’t, and thanks, Elijah, for your help.”
“Just treat my little girl right, you hear?”
“Yes, sir.”
Long after he’d gone, Alex remained on the steps and pondered their conversation. He had some thinking to do, and this was just the place to do it.
Chapter Twenty-One
The secretary’s office lay in shadow. Brooke glanced one last time down the deserted hall before she slipped inside. She turned on the power to the copy machine so that it could be warming up while she ventured to the door of Kyle’s office.
It was locked, of course.
Silently, she flipped on her pencil-sized flashlight and began searching through the secretary’s desk drawers. She knew Peggy kept a set of keys to Kyle’s office so it was just a matter of finding them.
The first two drawers yielded nothing of interest, but on the third one she hit pay dirt. Lying on top of a small ledger book were the keys. Brooke gathered them and started to close the drawer. She paused, shining the light on the little leather-bound book. Probably a date-book and nothing more.
Before she could change her mind, Brooke flipped it open to take a peek inside. It was a date book, but instead of appointments and reminders, Peggy had written numbers on each page. Frowning, Brooke flipped to the front of the book. Customer complaints. Her brows rose as she flipped back through the pages dating from the first of January.
According to Peggy’s records, there were a lot of customer complaints in the past few months, logged in volume instead of individually.
Dee could have easily have been one of them, Brooke thought, closing the book and shutting the drawer. More than a little disturbed by the find, she found the key to Kyle’s office and went inside, closing the door softly behind her.
She spent the next hour and a half making copies of anything that looked remotely interesting or suspicious. Finally, when she had a stack a half-inch thick, she turned off the copier, locked Kyle’s office, and returned to her cubby hole. She placed a few harmless schedule sheets on top of the stack to camouflage the evidence in case she ran into anyone on her way out.
An hour later, back at the cabin, feeling very much like an accomplice in a robbery, Brooke sat across from Alex at the kitchen table as he sorted through the booty she’d stolen. Finally, she could stand the suspense no longer. “Well?” she demanded. “Is there anything there?”
Alex frowned and shook his head. “If there is, I’m not seeing it. But then, we knew he was clever, didn’t we?”
Brooke let out an explosive breath. “Maybe there’s nothing to find.”
He gave her a hard look. “So you think Daisy was lying?”
Picturing Daisy’s sweet, honest face, Brooke reluctantly shook her head. “No, if Daisy said something was going on, then something was going on. She is as honest as the day is long.” When he kept staring at her, but remained silent, she groaned. “I guess this means we go to Plan B.”
“You have a better idea?” he challenged.
She wished she did! The thought of being nice to Kyle turned her stomach. A little desperately, she asked, “What makes you think he’ll go out with me again?”
Slowly, his gaze traveled over her. By the time they returned to her face, his eyes had darkened with desire. She shivered.
“Kyle’s a thief, not a fool,” he stated softly.
Flushing at his compliment, Brooke laughed. “You’ve got cabin fever. I’m just an ordinary woman...a nasty-tempered one, at that. It isn’t likely that Kyle’s forgotten.”
He reached across and unfastened the first three buttons of her blouse, brushing his knuckles boldly across her breasts. “Oh, there’s nothing ordinary about you, Brooke Welch. Not a single thing.”
“I guess...” Brooke hastily cleared the huskiness from her voice and tried again. “I guess this is my cue to go to bed.” When he lifted an interested brow, she couldn’t help but chuckle. He was impossible.
And very, very tempting.
She fled the room while she still had the necessary willpower.
****
Wednesday Kyle was out of town, so it wasn’t until Thursday that Brooke was able to make her move on the plant manager. But, unbeknownst to Alex, her plans had changed. She lured Kyle in much the same way she’d nearly snagged Cliff—only this time the story was about Alex Bradshaw, and the information she claimed to have concerned the thing dearest to Kyle’s heart: Safe & Secure’s future.
Unable to resist her mysterious lure, he agreed to meet her at Treva’s diner Friday night at seven o’clock—which meant he wouldn’t be at his apartment.
Brooke would be there, though. If she got caught, she would simply pretend she’d gotten confused about the meeting place. She would mak
e up something about Alex Bradshaw and then get the hell out.
Her plan was so simple it frightened her. By the time the five o’clock whistle blew, her teeth were chattering with nervous tension.
Nancy Drew she wasn’t.
She drove straight to her house and took a long, hot shower, hoping it would settle her nerves.
It didn’t work.
When she emerged from the bathroom, she checked her messages on the answering machine and discovered that Dee had called the day before. She and Cliff were honeymooning in Vegas—and Brooke was not to worry.
Brooke collapsed on the bed and stared at the ceiling, stunned to realize she hadn’t thought of her sister in days. Alex had taken Dee’s place in her thoughts. When she wasn’t thinking of Alex, she was thinking of her reaction to Alex.
Another surprising realization was that while she resisted temptation because Alex was her boss, she rarely thought of him as her boss. No, when she thought of Alex, it was in a very physical way.
But he was her boss.
She could quit.
The absurd suggestion made her laugh out loud.
Throw her job, her future, away just to satisfy her lustful cravings for her boss? Ha! Not in this lifetime. Besides, it wasn’t just her job she was trying to protect, it was her heart. Best she keep reminding herself of that.
Alex had hinted strongly that she might take Kyle’s place when this was over. If she got the job, she didn’t want any misunderstanding about why she’d gotten it.
Another reason why she shouldn’t give in to her cravings for Alex Bradshaw.
Damn. It was a good one, too.
Feeling suddenly drained, Brooke hauled herself from the bed and got dressed. She brushed her hair, her teeth, and dabbed on a layer of mascara. Finally, it was time to go. Kyle’s apartment was a five-minute drive from her house, and it would take her by Treva’s Diner so she’d be able to see if his car was there.
He’d wait for her at Treva’s no longer than twenty minutes, was Brooke’s calculated guess. If she’d hooked him well and truly with her lure, he would call her from a pay phone, possibly drive over to her house. That would take up another fifteen minutes.
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