It was absolute heaven, until about two seconds after his first bite when Asher asked, “So, Loyal, has Rox told you how many kids she wants?”
He nearly choked on his cake as Honor gave an indignant gasp and backhanded the jerk on the arm at the same time. “Asher! Seriously?”
“What?” he asked with fake innocence.
“You don’t ask a question like that.”
“Why not? You and I have had the conversation.”
“Yeah—in private.”
Loyal shot a glance at Roxanna to find her watching him, her cheeks stained red. Of course the kid conversation hadn’t come up yet. And the best thing to do right now would be laugh it off, but as he ran his gaze over her features, he realized the idea of kids with her wasn’t so alarming. The out-of-the-blue question had caught him off guard because he’d put thoughts of a family out of his mind after his last failed relationship, but a dark-haired, brown-eyed little mini-Roxanna could be totally doable.
With the other two still arguing why you shouldn’t ask that question of couples who were newly dating, he asked in a low tone, “How many?”
Of course, his brother and fiancé would choose that moment to shut up.
Roxanna darted a look across the table, then her gaze met his and held. “Being an only child was lonely.”
“So, at least two.”
“I was thinking more like six.”
Six?
One little number and he suddenly found it hard to draw in a breath.
Then again, six was not a little number when talking about kids. Being one of six siblings, he knew.
Hold up—six siblings?
His body flashed hot, then cold.
Because Grayson made number six. When had he started counting that guy in the mix?
He swallowed hard, scrambling to come up with a reply as a myriad of emotions whirled in his head and heart.
Then he noticed a slow smile curve Roxanna’s mouth, and he suddenly saw the mischief lighting her eyes as a snort of laughter came from across the table. He shot Asher a glare and found him grinning like an idiot.
Loyal dropped his fork on the side of his plate and sat back in his chair as he looked from one to the other. “Oh, I see. That’s how it’s going to be?”
Asher lifted a shoulder as Roxanna reached over to teasingly nudge his thigh. Honor just shook her head, though he’d bet she was trying to hide a smile so she didn’t encourage the two.
He shook his head as he scooped up his fork for a big bite of cake. Seeing the two best friends share a grin as he chewed, he pointed his fork at his future sister-in-law. “I think you and I need to form an alliance.”
“Oh, hell yes, count me in. I’ve seen these two in action too many times now.”
Chapter 26
Loyal set one file aside on Roxanna’s desk and picked up another. Over the past two weeks, he’d gone through most of her past accounting, and was now finishing up with the first year she’d opened the shop. He’d started to form a solid theory, but didn’t want to say anything to her about it yet. He could still be wrong.
He hoped he was wrong—though it wasn’t looking to go that way.
Yesterday, the whole situation had gotten him thinking about that psychic hotline scam from six years ago. He’d been able to deal with the financial loss, but that wasn’t the point, and worse, he knew there were others who weren’t so lucky. He’d filed a complaint against Spirit Guides Now, and the owner, Leander Tanner, with the better business bureau and law enforcement, but the guy had cleared out the offices and skipped town before any formal charges had been brought by the district attorney.
Curious to discover if anything had ever come of the situation, he’d looked up his past contact at the police department and called to see if Tanner had ever been caught and charged.
Detective Kushner had laughed when Loyal reminded him who he was and why he was calling. “This is a hell of a coincidence. Something came across my desk last week that brought that case back up. I can’t give you any details, but I’m following a lead that might make the case. I’m waiting on a search warrant as we speak.”
After giving his cell number for updates, Loyal had gone back to work on Roxanna’s books. In the afternoon, he sent an email with the name of her former accountant to the P.I. he’d hired to check into Grayson back in May. He needed to know more about Mirela Rose before he could voice his suspicions.
More than once throughout the evening and again this morning, his mind returned to what the detective had said about following a new lead. Roxanna couldn’t read him, but maybe she’d be able to intuit something if he told her about the case and gave her the guy’s name?
All of a sudden, the idea that he fully accepted her abilities registered on his consciousness.
Whoa. When had that happened?
He sat back in the chair as he brushed his knuckles along the underside of his chin. Probably about the same time he couldn’t keep his eyes off her each day and saw for himself the honest goodness in her heart as she interacted with her clients, customers, and friends. And even him.
She was so far from the person he’d thought all those years, he was ashamed to fully realize how closed minded he’d been. The other night, they’d rehashed everything one last time. After a back and forth forgiveness session, both agreed it was over and done, water under the bridge.
They’d settled into a routine, work during the day, dinners in or out, and spend the night either at the apartment upstairs, or occasionally, his hotel. Brunch at his parents’ house the previous weekend had his mother beaming, and Merit making off-color remarks about their years of verbal foreplay. Roxanna didn’t take his shit any more than Loyal did. He loved that she fit right in with his family—as she always had—and he began to envision a future with her.
With six little rugrats hanging all over both of them.
He smiled at the mental image and shook his head in wonder at the difference moving back to Colorado had made in his life. He’d gone from simply going through the motions, to being happy and looking forward to each day. The only source of discontent in his life now was Grayson, and even that had softened as he’d considered Roxanna’s suggestion from a few weeks ago.
He was giving serious thought to offering the guy his own money for the foundation, but was waiting for some information from his lawyer as to how to set things up. After that, he’d see about meeting with his…brother to propose the idea.
Roxanna breezed into the room, her long hair loose over the pink sweater she’d paired with a floor-length, gauzy gray skirt and new suede ankle boots. The feminine combat boots would always be his favorite, but these were damn sexy, too. As always when she was near, his body went on alert.
“How’s it going back here?” she asked.
“Slow.”
She stepped behind the chair to massage his shoulders. “Are you sure you have to do all this?”
“I am.”
He hung his head with a low groan as her magic fingers worked to release the tension in his neck. After longer than he would’ve asked for but wasn’t about to tell her to stop, she smoothed her hands over his shoulders and leaned forward to slide them down the front of his chest while her breasts pressed against his back. Peppermint teased his senses as her warm lips caressed his neck just below his ear, sending a shiver down his spine and a surge of blood to his groin.
“I’m leaving for lunch with Mae and Honor in a few minutes. Are you sure you don’t want me to bring you anything back?”
He reached up to grasp her hands with his. “Thank you, but I need a break soon anyway. A walk down to the coffee shop will be good.”
“It’s freezing out there.”
“Good. I need to cool off now that you’re getting me all hot and bothered with no hope of relief until later.”
She nipped his earlobe. “I’d say I’m sorry, but I’m not.”
“Witch.”
Her husky laugh made his dick harden even more behin
d his zipper. Then he heard her inhale, and a soft hum vibrated against his skin. “God, I just love the way you smell.”
“Roxanna,” he groaned in warning.
Pulling one hand free, she turned his head enough to cover his mouth with hers, her tongue hot and sensual as it slid past his teeth to explore and seduce. He tried to spin the chair around so he could pull her onto his lap, but she stepped back out of reach with a knowing smile.
Tease.
“Tessa’s got the front. I’ll be back in an hour,” she said over her shoulder while grabbing her coat on her way out.
“Have fun,” he called just as her sexy ass sashayed out of sight.
He looked at the computer screen, then decided to take that walk to get a sandwich. Too bad Asher was away on a photo shoot for the morning, or he’d have asked him to join him.
A half-hour later, he walked back to Lift Your Spirit, keyed in the code for the rear entrance lockbox, and opened the door to find a uniformed officer standing in the open doorway leading into the shop.
Alarm sent his heart up into his throat. “What’s going on? Is Roxanna okay?”
“Who are you?” the short, brunette woman asked.
“Loyal Diamond.” He stepped forward to see past her, but she lifted a hand to keep him back. “What the hell is going on?”
“Kushner,” the woman hollered over her shoulder. “Didn’t you say you talked to a Diamond yesterday?”
Kushner? What the fuck?
Confusion laced with inexplicable dread as Detective Kushner stuck his bald head out of the back room of Lift Your Spirit and frowned at Loyal. “Let him through.”
When he stepped past the woman officer, Loyal spotted Tessa sitting on the chair outside of Roxanna’s reading room. The pregnant employee’s green eyes were wide, and she lifted her hands and shoulders in an I have no clue gesture.
“Did you call Rox?” he asked in a low tone.
She shook her head. “They wouldn’t let me.”
“Mr. Diamond,” the detective greeted, suspicion in his voice and expression. “What brings you here?”
“I’m doing some accounting work for the owner.”
“Roxanna Kent?”
The disapproval in the man’s tone when he said her name raised the hair on the back of Loyal’s neck. “Yeah. Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?”
Someone better answer soon. He sounded like a fucking broken record.
The detective thrust a slip of paper his way, and when he took it, the words Search Warrant flashed like a neon sign. As he skimmed the document, Roxanna Kent, Lift Your Spirit, and Spirit Guides Now all jumped out at him.
That dread in his stomach solidified into a heavy ball.
“I told you yesterday I was following a new lead. How long have you known Ms. Kent?”
He jerked his head up to stare at the guy. “She and my brother have been friends for the past six years. She and I have, ah, recently started dating.”
Kushner’s eyebrows rose. “Interesting.”
“Not really.” He glanced down at the wedding ring on the guy’s finger, then looked at the search warrant again as he muttered, “It happens.”
“She really lets you see her books?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You come across anything out of the ordinary?”
Fuck. What was he supposed to say to that?
I’m not talking until my lawyer is present.
Only he wasn’t the one being investigated.
“I only started helping her out a couple of weeks ago. Her previous accountant was a woman by the name of Mirela Rose.”
A blond woman in plain clothes searching through one of Roxanna’s file cabinets looked up at that name, and Loyal’s neck tingled. She met his gaze for a brief second, shifted her pointed look to the detective beside him, then went back to searching.
“May I ask what exactly you’re looking for?”
“You going to help us find it?”
Loyal fought to not clench his jaw in irritation and waited.
“Do you know when Ms. Kent will be back?”
“She’s at lunch, so maybe a half-hour or so?”
“That’s what I told them,” Tessa chimed in from behind them.
The detective’s lips thinned with his glance in her direction, then he returned his attention to Loyal. “Did you know your girlfriend used to operate Spirit Guides Now with Leander Tanner?”
His eyebrows rose in disbelief. “What? No way.”
For good measure, he repeated the detective’s words in his head, and again, had the same immediate reaction.
No fucking way she worked for that scammer—or with him for that matter.
Kushner gave him a grim smile. As the light from overhead glinted off his shiny scalp, Loyal read the pity in his eyes.
“They ran the hotline for a little over three years,” the detective revealed. “She didn’t open this shop until after the guy skipped town.”
He frowned. “How come you didn’t go after her then?”
“We didn’t know who she was until last week. We got a complaint from a woman she defrauded for twelve-hundred dollars.”
When he heard that number, that fucking dread ball in his stomach grew spikes. “How?”
“The woman who came to us said she paid her for a”—Kushner did air quotes—“séance, but when she arrived at her house, Ms. Kent told her she never received the check, and requested cash instead. Then a month later, the original check was cashed, and when she called to complain, Ms. Kent’s phone number was disconnected.”
“Roxanna doesn’t do séances,” Tessa said.
Took the words right out of his mouth. But the twelve-hundred dollars…
“That’s just the tip of the iceberg,” the detective warned. “All we need is one thing to connect her to the hotline, and we’ve got her.”
Now Loyal’s jaw clenched hard as he shook his head in denial. Two months ago, he might have believed this. Now? Nope. No fucking way.
He paced toward the register. Kushner barked at him not to touch anything, so he swung back around and leaned against the wall next to Tessa. The clock dragged on as they watched the search.
“Rox didn’t do anything,” Tessa muttered after a bit. “This is bullshit.”
“I agree.” In fact—he pulled his phone from his pocket.
Kushner immediately turned from the door. “Sorry, but no phone calls.”
“Not even to my lawyer?”
The detective’s eyes narrowed. “Why would you need a lawyer?”
“It’s not for me. You’ve got the wrong person,” he told the guy just as a loud exclamation came from out in the back hall. Roxanna was back.
“Oh my God.” Fear rang in her voice. “What happened?”
“Which one of you is Roxanna Kent?” the officer outside asked.
“I am. Is everyone okay? Loyal? Tessa? Did something happen at the bakery?”
Honor and Mae’s alarmed voices joined in until the officer spoke over all of them.
“No one is injured. Settle down. Ma’am, we need you to step inside. No, not you two. Stay out here.”
Loyal caught a glimpse of Honor and Mae’s confused expressions, but the moment Roxanna passed through the door, everything else faded.
Her frantic gaze met his, darted toward Tessa, then back to him. “Are you guys okay?”
See? This woman couldn’t be who they thought she was. She cared too much about other people.
He loved her too much.
“We’re fine,” he assured her.
When they moved toward each other, the detective stepped between them. Finally, Roxanna seemed to see the other people in her shop. Her dark eyebrows dipped down in a fierce frown as she leaned past Kushner to look into the back room. “What are they doing?”
“Remember that hotline that scammed my ex?” Loyal asked.
Her head whipped around and all the color drained from her face. Her wide eyes met hi
s, full of fear. In that instant, he knew that she knew he’d found out. Exactly what, he didn’t know, but the detective did, didn’t he?
Seeing the guilt in her face…
His chest constricted so tight it hurt to breathe. He hadn’t thought anything could be worse than being left at the altar, but he’d been wrong. He hadn’t been in love with Lisa like he was with Roxanna. Lisa had left him, but she’d never really lied to him about who she was.
“Loyal,” Roxanna said, her voice vibrating with remorse. “It’s not what you think. I—”
He shook his head as even with his heart shattering into a million pieces, his first instinct was to protect her. “Shut up.”
She reached her hand toward him. “Let me explain.”
He gave another emphatic shake of his head.
“Got something,” the blond in the back room called out. They all turned to see her holding a handful of papers in the air as she slammed the file cabinet shut.
“What is that?” Roxanna asked.
“The evidence we’re looking for.” The woman handed her find to Kushner, who scanned the top page, then flipped through the others. Loyal saw the Spirit Guides Now logo on the top of the front page, and what looked like a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers.
“What exactly is this?” Kushner asked Roxanna.
“It’s an old client list.”
The confirmation of her deceit in her own voice twisted Loyal’s insides.
“It’s yours?”
“Yes, but it’s not what it looks like. I only have it because I offered them free readings when I first opened. All of them.”
She looked at Loyal as she explained, her voice pleading for him to believe her. He was still trying to process the fact she’d run the scam hotline with Tanner. So much for being upfront with each other.
The detective handed off the papers while pulling his handcuffs from his utility belt. “Roxanna Kent, you are under arrest for fraud, and conspiracy to commit fraud.”
Son-of-a-fucking-bitch.
Chapter 27
Oh my God. What the hell is happening?
Roxanna’s purse was taken from her, and a not so gentle hand grasped her shoulder to turn her around. While the officer instructed her to put her hands behind her back and shackled her wrists with cold, steel handcuffs, all she could think was, I should’ve told him.
Love Loyal and True Page 19