A Bad Boy is Good to Find(37)

“Aren’t you getting changed?” Lizzie’s voice interrupted his dark memories.

“No, I’m okay.” He brushed some dust off his pants.

“You’re not going to put a shirt on?” She frowned at him, her voice rising.

Oh, so now she didn’t want him walking around shirtless?

“Nope. It’s hot, and I’m in the mood to keep it real.” He shot her a glance and she looked away. “You look nice.” She’d changed into a fresh pair of pale blue capris and a matching flowered shirt. Fresh as a spring flower. The lovely woman he’d hoped would help him forget the past and build a new life.

The woman who’d slapped him down when he told her who he really was. Or wasn’t. And she didn’t even know the half of it.

“Could you help me get this mess into a ponytail?” She held out a white scrunchie.

“Sure.” He took it and smoothed her hair back, gathered it into a single cascading fall, and stretched the scrunchie around it. Doubled it and pulled the hair through again. Smoothed a flyaway strand and tucked it behind her ear.

The kind of intimate gesture he loved. And apparently didn’t deserve to enjoy except under false pretenses.

“What’s the matter with you? I’ve never seen you look so down.” She stared at him, brown eyes penetrating. Did she actually care, or was she looking for another opportunity to grind him under her heel?

“I’m fine.”

“So you keep saying, but I know better than to believe you.” She brushed dust off his shoulder. The thoughtful gesture and the touch of her soft fingers made him swallow.

“Hey, what’s this?” She crouched and picked something up off the floor.

He glanced down as she picked up a yellowed envelope from under a crumpled brocade bed curtain.

“A letter, and it’s not opened. How odd. And look, here’s another.” She pushed back the heavy brocade to reveal a little stack of letters splayed on the wood floor. “I wonder what they were doing in the bed? Look, they have stamps and postmarks on them. They’ve been through the mail. I wonder why they were never opened?”

She knelt down on the floor and held up one of the letters to the light. A nasty sensation snuck up his back.

Those letters gave him a bad feeling.

“It’s none of our business. Let’s go eat.”

“In a minute, wait.” She gathered up the fallen envelopes. “They were hidden inside this bedpost. Look, it broke right where the hollow compartment was. It’s exactly where I hit it with my shoe. I can see the mark made by the heel.” She brushed dust off the splintered wood. “How odd. Doesn’t this make you burn with curiosity to know who lived here?”

“Curiosity killed the cat. Come on, let’s go.” Some dead person’s letters? Gave him the creeps, shivers right up his spine. “I’m going anyway. Are you still pretending to be my fiancée or have you gone off that idea?”

He held his breath a little while he waited for her reply. On the one hand this whole charade stank to high heaven, but on the other, if it worked out they’d end up legally married, and then there was always hope that…

The old warm loving Lizzie would come back?

Sweat prickled his neck.

Get over it, Con. She didn’t love you, she loved your Richie Rich alter ego.

“I’m coming, I’m coming.” She scrambled to her feet, clutching the letters. “Don’t mention these to anyone, okay? I’m going to put them in my suitcase.”

“I won’t say a word.” He held out his arm, and she took it.

“So now you’ve met Maisie, what did you think?” Her arm tightened as she asked.

“She’s tall,” he said diplomatically.

“Tall, blonde, beautiful and a complete bitch. Don’t make me look like an ass in front of her.”

“I’ll do my best, but as you’ve pointed out, my manners can sometimes be lacking.”

She stopped, grabbed his arm. “I’m serious. You owe me, remember?”

“I agreed to help you earn some money, not to have you try and break me down on national TV. If I’d known we were coming back here, I’d never have—”

“I know, I know, that’s why I didn’t tell you. But now we’re here, can we just make a go of it? There’s fifty thousand dollars for maybe a week’s work and half of it is yours.”

He let out a low whistle. She’d never mentioned the exact dollar amount before and he was impressed. “I’ll try to be on my best behavior.”

“Darlings!” Maisie’s voice rang out in the hallway. “I was just coming to see what happened to you. I know you lovebirds need your privacy, but we have a show to shoot here. Come on, come on.” She gestured for them to hurry. “The reason I rushed down here is because Don and I agreed that I should appear in the show as on-camera talent, as your cousin, of course, but also as a sort of Barbara Walters-style interviewer.”

“What?” Lizzie froze. “I thought you were an associate producer.”

“I am, I am, but in a small company like ours, one person can take on many roles. That’s why it’s such a marvelous place to grow my career.”

“Doesn’t Barbara Walters make everyone cry?” Con asked dryly.

Maisie chuckled. “Conroy, you’re a card. I can see we’re going to have a lot of fun together. I love this shirtless thing you have going here.”

“Lizzie made me take it off. She thought I looked hot.”

Maisie raised a pale eyebrow. “I heartily concur. And no shoes either?”

“They were getting in the way.” He squeezed Lizzie’s arm and felt her stiffen. That under-the-table hanky-panky had been pure fun.

“I love it. Very natural. Our chef has risen to the occasion and come up with a marvelous barbequed shrimp recipe. Do hurry or it’ll all be gone. They’re like ravening wolves!”

Maisie strode off and Lizzie sagged with relief.

“Hey, this wasn’t my idea,” he muttered.

“Shut up,” she snapped. Then she shoved her arm more tightly through his, and marched him down the stairs.





Chapter 14





“What time is it?” Lizzie pulled the sheet over her as the door opened.

“One.” The light from the doorway turned Con into a silhouette. Still shirtless, with his clothes under his arm. He unbuttoned his pants and slid them off, then headed for the bed.

“Floor.”

“Come on, babe, you know you won’t be able to sleep without me.”

“Wheelock Engineering. That’s all I have to say.”

She turned her back to him. Not wanting her eyes to adjust to the silvery outline of his muscled body in the moonlight. She was going to wean herself off him, starting tonight.

“Alright, babe. But if you change your mind…” Without so much as rolling some clothes into a pillow, he eased himself down on to the bare wood.