by Cat Schield
A firm knock sounded on her outside door, making Scarlett’s heart jump. Had Logan followed her back to the hotel intent on picking up where they’d left off in his driveway? If so his timing was terrible. Her hair was wet. She wore no makeup. The only thing sexy about her at the moment was that she was naked beneath the robe.
For several seconds she stood paralyzed with indecision. A second, urgent knock roused her. She crossed to the door and flung it open.
“About time,” Violet said, holding up a bottle of Tiberius’s favorite Scotch. “It’s been a long, horrible day and I need a drink.”
“Ditto.” Harper eyed Scarlett’s attire, then peered past her into the suite. “We’re not interrupting anything, are we?”
Scarlett laughed, but it had a queer edge to it. “Hardly. And you’re right about the day. It was crazy. I’ll get some glasses.”
The three sisters settled onto the comfortable couch in Scarlett’s living room, each with a glass of amber liquid. Scarlett enjoyed being sandwiched between her sisters, treasured their closeness. Growing up an only child, she’d always longed for siblings. Now she had two.
“To Tiberius,” Violet pronounced in solemn tones.
“To Tiberius,” Harper and Scarlett echoed as they all clinked glasses.
“How did it go with Logan’s niece today?” Harper asked as Scarlett refilled her glass after tossing back the first shot.
The alcohol had left a line of heat from her throat to her stomach, a different sort of burn than she’d felt when Logan had kissed her. “She’s great. Wants to be an actress. Her family is horrified.”
Violet frowned. “There are far worse professions.”
“Not if you listen to Logan,” Scarlett muttered. “He’s convinced I’m going to corrupt Madison with my evil ways.”
“Stop exaggerating.” Harper was always the voice of order and reason. “You rub Logan the wrong way because it amuses you.”
Scarlett couldn’t deny it so she shrugged. “I’d rather rub him the right way, but he made it plain from the start that I wasn’t his type.”
“Is that why he stares at you so much?” Violet regarded her over the rim of her glass. “Because you’re not his type?”
Harper patted Scarlett’s hand. “I’m sorry to break it to you, but you’re every man’s type.”
“Not every man.” But few were immune. Until today she’d believed Logan was one of those. Correction—until tonight. The kiss earlier that day had been about proving a point. Tonight’s kiss had been...intimate. As if the only thing on his mind was connecting with her. Scarlett shook her head and put a stop to such fancy. Turning to Violet, she said, “Something weird happened today. John Malcolm stopped by with an envelope for me from Tiberius.”
“Tiberius’s lawyer?” Harper sounded perplexed. “What was in it?”
“A key to a storage unit.” Scarlet eyed her younger sister. “Did you know that Tiberius kept files on a whole bunch of people?”
Violet shook her head. “What sort of files?”
“From what Logan told me, they’re filled with a whole lot of secrets.” Scarlett was still having a hard time taking the whole thing seriously.
“Interesting.” Harper leaned forward to look at Violet. “He never mentioned this to you?”
“Not once.”
“How do you know all about this?” Harper asked.
“Because Tiberius left me his files.” Scarlett nodded when she saw her sisters’ surprise and confusion. “Crazy, right? At least that’s what Logan thinks is waiting in the storage unit. We’re going to go and check it out tomorrow night.”
Violet grinned. “You and Logan?”
“Apparently he thinks the files are too dangerous for me to have.” Scarlett ignored her younger sister’s smug look. “The files are all he’s interested in.”
“I’m sure.” But Violet didn’t look the least bit convinced.
“Is it weird that he gave them to you?” Harper asked.
“Maybe.” Scarlett rolled her empty glass between her palms. She’d consumed the two drinks too fast. Her head felt light. Her blood hummed through her veins. “Tiberius and I talked a lot about Vegas history. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be opening the Mob Experience exhibit next month. He gave me the idea, encouraged me to pursue it and most of the items on display were either things he’d collected or were donated by people he knew.”
“He loved that you listened to his stories,” Violet said. “I was more interested in the future than the past.”
“I was fascinated.” Scarlett’s throat closed up. “He brought Las Vegas to life for me.”
Seeing Violet struggling with her sadness, Scarlett wrapped her arm around her sister’s shoulder. Five years earlier, when she’d found out she had two half sisters living in Las Vegas, Scarlett had worried they would be angry that she’d been included in Henry’s contest to decide who the future CEO of Fontaine Resorts would be. After all, what did she know about running a hotel or a multibillion-dollar corporation? But to her delight, they were as excited about having her in Las Vegas as she was to be there.
“How did it go with your mom today?” Scarlett asked.
“About as you’d expect.” Violet offered a wan smile. “She’s taking it hard.”
Tiberius might not have been Suzanne Allen’s first love, but he was her longest and best. Even though she’d never married the hotel owner, she’d lived with him for twenty years.
“Was she any help with the funeral arrangements?” Harper quizzed, dropping her hand over Violet’s and giving a sympathetic squeeze.
“You know my mother. She can’t make decisions on the best days.” Violet gave a wry smile.
“Do you have a date for the funeral?” Scarlett asked.
“Not yet.”
Harper frowned. “That’s strange.”
“Not so strange,” Violet said. She heaved a giant sigh. “There’s something I haven’t told you. There’s something suspicious about Tiberius’s death.”
“Suspicious?” Scarlett echoed, goose bumps popping out on her arms as if someone had touched the back of her neck with an ice cube. Logan’s earlier concerns no longer seemed amusing.
Harper looked as worried as Scarlett felt. “I thought he had a heart attack?”
“He did, but they’re waiting for some toxicology results to come back from the lab. The investigating officer told Mom they think Tiberius’s death might have been from an overdose of digitalis.”
Four
An overdose of digitalis.
The words hung in Scarlett’s mind as she dressed for her “date” with Logan. It had to be accidental. Anything else was preposterous. Who would want to kill an old man? Someone who had something to hide? She shook off the thought. Logan had put crazy ideas in her head. But she couldn’t shake her nerves. And she had lots more than the ticking time bomb Tiberius had left her to worry about. She was about to embark on an entire evening alone with Logan.
Scarlett nearly jumped out of her skin when the knock sounded on her door. She set her lipstick aside and took a breath to settle her racing pulse. Would tonight be all business or would he subject her to another one of those mind-blowing embraces?
There were ways to protect herself from men who wanted to harm her. And where her heart was concerned, Logan had already proven himself a dangerous adversary.
Standing before the door to the hall, she smoothed her palms along her hips. Never had she spent so many hours trying to figure out what a man wanted her to be. In the end, she’d dressed in a pair of skinny black pants and a black blouse with a cap sleeve that bared her arms. With her hair slicked back into a severe bun and tiny pearl earrings as her only jewelry, she was as close to looking professional as she could manage.
Then, because she’d ne
ver been good at doing what was expected of her, Scarlett added a pair of heavy black-framed glasses. Now she looked like someone’s sexy secretary. Wrestling her features into a bland expression, she opened the door.
Logan’s eyes narrowed as he caught sight of her. “What’s with the getup?”
She slid the glasses down her nose and peered at him over them. “Don’t you think I look professional?”
“You look...fine.”
“Fine? I spent all afternoon searching my closet for something to wear so you wouldn’t be embarrassed to be seen with me.” She couldn’t resist the taunt.
“I thought you understood I’m not interested in your playacting.”
Scarlett gave him a genuine smile. “Do you really want me to stop?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” He gave her a suspicious once-over.
“What happens if you start to like the real me? Where will you be then?” It was a bold sortie, but something about the lick of heat in his eyes told her he wasn’t as immune to her as he’d like her to think.
“Why would you think I’d like the real you?”
“Touché,” she murmured, unfazed by his question. She intrigued him. That much was clear. He wasn’t the sort of man to waste his time if he wasn’t interested. For now, that was enough. “I might not be the best-educated or most suited to run a multibillion-dollar hotel business, but I’ve got my own talent.”
“Such as?”
“I do a pretty good job reading people.”
“I suppose that’s your way of saying you’ve got me all figured out.”
“Not in the least. You’ve always been a hard nut to crack.” She gave him a wry smile. “That’s why you’re so interesting.”
Scarlett grabbed her purse and stepped into the hall. Sharing the space with Logan’s broad shoulders and powerful personality stirred up the butterflies in her stomach. Self-protection told her to give him a wide berth, but Scarlett had never been one to run from her fears. Instead, she linked her arm through his and smiled up at him.
“Where are you taking me for dinner?”
“Paul Rubin’s new place.”
She hummed with pleasure. Romantic and expensive. She never would have guessed Logan had it in him. “I’ve been dying to try it.”
Without commenting, Logan escorted her down the hall. If he’d stuck to his usual pace, Scarlett would have had to trot to keep up. Was he being considerate of her footwear or was whatever weighed on his mind slowing him down?
“Did you know Tiberius’s death has been ruled a homicide?” Logan asked when at last they reached the elevator.
“Last night Violet mentioned that the police thought there was something suspicious about his death.”
“He overdosed on digitalis.”
“Sure, but he was taking that for his heart, right? He just accidentally took too much?” She sounded way too hopeful.
“The digitalis in his system had a different chemical signature than what he was taking. Someone wanted to make it look like an accidental overdose.” Logan regarded her dispassionately. “I hope this convinces you how dangerous these files are to have in your possession.”
“Your concern is touching.” If she gave them up would he remain concerned about her? Scarlett wasn’t willing to find out. “But you have no idea why someone killed Tiberius. For all anyone knows, he might have been the victim of a random crime.”
“Not random. Someone knew he had a bad heart and wanted to make his death look like natural causes.”
“So maybe Tiberius was blackmailing someone. With his death, that stops.”
“Unless that person thinks you are going to pick up where he left off.”
“I’d never do that.”
“I know that, but—”
“You do?” She’d had to interrupt him.
“Of course.” He shot her an exasperated glare. “My opinion of you isn’t as bad as you think.”
“Thank goodness.” She sighed in exaggerated relief, earning still more of his displeasure.
“Do you ever stop acting?”
“Only when you’re kissing me.” She wasn’t sure where she found the courage to speak so boldly, but when his eyes widened with surprise, she was delighted she had.
She lifted her chin and offered him her lips but the elevator doors picked that inopportune moment to open. He growled and dragged her inside.
“If there weren’t cameras in every inch of this hotel, I’d make you prove that statement,” he muttered, jabbing his thumb into the down button.
“We could go back to your place after we check out the storage space,” she offered, every inch of her skin tingling where his gaze touched her. Lowering her voice, she whispered, “Unless you’ve got cameras there for personal use.”
Her innuendo was so outrageous that he laughed. “You have a smart-ass remark for everything, don’t you?”
“A girl learns to stay on her toes in Hollywood. There are a lot of smart people ready to take advantage if you’re not careful.”
“Have you told my niece that?”
Scarlett smiled. “She knows.”
“How are things going with her?”
“We spent the afternoon at the pool.”
“The pool? I thought you understood she’s here to learn about hotel management.”
“Relax,” Scarlett told him. “Every Wednesday I host a fashion show. You know, resort wear, swimsuits. The girls strut around, showing off the clothes we sell at our boutique.”
“And what was Madison wearing?”
“I put her in the tiniest bikini I could find. She had men stuffing tens in the itty bit of string that held it together.”
Logan drew in an enormous breath, preparing to deliver a lengthy tirade outlining all the reasons Scarlett was unsuitable as a mentor, when he noticed the glint in her eyes. She was teasing him. He shoved his hands into his pockets to keep from strangling her. Or worse. Kissing her.
Her red lips had softened into a slight smile as she watched him. That mouth of hers was going to be his undoing. Whether she was using it to taunt him or yielding to his kisses, he was completely enthralled.
“What was she really doing?”
“I considered putting her in the show, then decided you’d prefer it if I had her emcee the event. She did great. Quite a natural.”
Logan knew he should thank Scarlett for demonstrating some common sense, but anything he said would probably come out wrong.
“She’s done a lot of plays and public speaking,” he said instead, wondering what he could possibly do to keep this exasperating woman from creeping beneath his skin.
“It shows.”
The elevator finally deposited them in the lobby, and Logan escorted Scarlett toward his Escalade parked outside the main entrance.
“You sure like your vehicles big,” she commented, stepping nimbly into the front seat.
“And green. It’s a hybrid.”
“You and Violet.” She gave her head a wry shake. “Made for each other.”
He shut the passenger door harder than necessary and circled the car. She was right. He and Violet shared a like-minded philosophy about lifestyle and work. So why did it bug him that she kept pointing out the fact? It was either a subtle rejection or a defense mechanism.
Defense mechanism, he decided as he slid behind the wheel. There was nothing remotely subtle about Scarlett.
Which meant she had a reason to feel defensive around him. Interesting.
“Any chance you’ve talked Madison into going to college this fall?”
“I’ve had her for a day and a half,” she reminded him. “Give me a little time to gain her trust. Then I can start steering her in the direction of school.”
“How much time?”
Her question startled him. “I don’t know.”
“Give me a ballpark.”
“I don’t know that I ever will.”
“There’s more of that Wolfe charm.” She didn’t look the least bit hurt by his reply. “You should package it and sell it on eBay. You’d make a fortune.”
Her sarcasm rolled off him like water off a newly waxed car. “Don’t ask the sort of questions you won’t like the answer to.”
“You know what I think?” She prodded his arm. “I think you’re going to wake up one day and decide you really like me.”
Did anything faze this woman? “What makes you believe that?”
“Call it women’s intuition.”
“Do you say things like that to annoy me?”
“Most of the time. I love it when you scowl at me. Which is a good thing, since that’s all you ever do.”
“Why would you like that I find you irritating?”
“Because every other man I meet finds me beautiful and desirable. It gets tiresome. Our relationship is completely adversarial and I appreciate knowing where I stand with you.”
“You don’t think I find you beautiful and desirable?”
“I guess you might.” Her expression lacked its usual guile as she watched him. “But if you do it’s secondary to the fact that you don’t like me. I find your honesty refreshing.”
Only, he wasn’t being honest. With her or himself. She disturbed him in a way no other woman had. Which was unfortunate because he didn’t trust her and he would never start a relationship, physical or emotional, with a woman who guarded her secrets as closely as Scarlett Fontaine.
* * *
By the time Scarlett licked the last of the chocolate from her spoon and set it down on the empty dessert plate, she was convinced she’d never enjoyed a meal so much. Part of her delight had been the delicious food, but most of her pleasure had come from her sullen dinner companion.
Logan had been in a foul mood ever since she’d confessed that she found his honesty refreshing. Why that bothered him, she had no idea. Shouldn’t she be the wounded party? He was the one who’d declared he’d never trust her and called her irritating.