A Bad Boy is Good to Find(59)

He was horny.

And she’d gone soft on him.

Sucker.



“Maisie, do you have a minute?” Con wiped his forehead with his sleeve. Where was Lizzie?

“Shoot.”

“Any word on Danny?”

“They’ve had eighty-three calls and more than three hundred emails, though a lot of those are just people who are interested but don’t know anything. I think eight different people have claimed to be Danny.”

Con swallowed. Would he even know Danny after ten years’ absence? He sure didn’t look anything like his scrawny fourteen-year old-self. “Anyway, the PA is updating me every half-hour. They’re going to run something again on the evening news. The story is a local sensation.”

He took a deep breath. “Could I ask you something in total confidence.”

“Of course,” she whispered, moving closer. Her eyes shone. “What is it?”

“Well,” he shoved his fingers through his hair. “I was wondering if, maybe,” he hesitated, his stomach tight. Where had Lizzie gone? “If maybe this story about me trying to find my brother might be enough to earn Lizzie the fifty thousand.”

Maisie’s eyes narrowed and her head cocked to the side like a coyote that just heard a rabbit in the bushes. “You don’t want to go through with the wedding?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to, it’s just that maybe…the timing isn’t right.”

“I can see your point.” Her eyes narrowed to slits. “Your life is about to change very dramatically, so maybe now is not the time to make any permanent commitments.”

Maisie’s ill-concealed glee at his request deepened the unease in his gut.

“I’ll have to have another chat with Don. We did line up a lot of donations for the wedding, people who are expecting sponsor credit and that kind of thing, but he loves this new long-lost heir/missing brother story. Perhaps we can use the wedding stuff for a follow-up series? A takeoff of The Bachelor, where beautiful young women compete for your—”

“Oh no, no that’s not…Um, no. I was just hoping that Lizzie could still get her money if we didn’t do the wedding.”

“I’ll talk to Don. Obviously, the series will need a climax, but since we’ve got two options—you inheriting this place and you finding your brother, I don’t think it’ll be too much of a problem.” She leaned into him, conspiratorial. “Thanks for coming to me, Conroy. I appreciate your trust. I won’t breathe a word to Lizzie.” With a look of compassion, she capped her pen and walked off to talk to one of the news crews.

Con sagged with relief. He hated himself for letting it all come this far. Lizzie didn’t deserve to have her wedding—a once-in-a-lifetime event that should be a person’s most cherished memory—be a cheap fraud for cold cash. He cared for her far too much to marry her under false pretenses. He’d brought her to this low point, and he’d get her out of it without her throwing away her dignity and integrity. If he was going to marry her it would be the real deal, from the heart, and for ever.



“Did Michiko manage to alter the dress yet?” Lizzie couldn’t understand why everyone seemed to have forgotten the reason they were all here.

“Um, I’m not sure.” Maisie seemed preoccupied, scratching something off her clipboard.

“What?” Yes, the power was still off, but surely even if the wedding didn’t take place tomorrow as planned, it would be the following day or the day after that.

“This story about Con’s family is taking up everyone’s time for now. I just got the go-ahead to visit the storage facility where part of Con’s inheritance is being held. We’re heading out there right now.”

“Oh, I guess I’ll get changed.” Lizzie smoothed the front of her wrinkled shirt. She’d spent most of the morning lying on the bed reading a paperback.

“There’s no need. You can stay right here if you want. I’m sure it won’t be all that interesting. Probably just a dusty box of stock certificates or something.” Maisie scratched away at her clipboard.

“I’ll get dressed.” Alarm sizzled along her nerves as Maisie scurried off outside. Suddenly, she’d become totally irrelevant. No one had mentioned a single word about the ceremony. The arbor hadn’t been decorated as planned; there had been no discussion of the intimate wedding banquet happening after the ceremony. It was all Con this, Con that, Con’s brother, Con’s legacy. What about her? She was going to be Con’s wife for crying out loud!

Well, not really. Her breathing quickened. As far as Con knew, they were still getting a divorce right after the wedding as she’d decreed when she came up with this crazy idea.

She hadn’t breathed a word about her fresh hopes that maybe they could forget about the divorce and…

Live happily ever after?

The house phone rang.

Where the heck was everyone? Probably outside doing more interviews. It certainly was peaceful inside with no power until the phone started ringing. The polished black antique had a painfully loud bell-driven ring. Was no one going to answer it? Her nerves were fraying.

She picked it up. “Hello.”

“May I speak to Maisie Dixon please?”

Ah, she’d know those clipped pompous tones anywhere. “Hi, Dwight, it’s Lizzie.”

“Lizzie, thank goodness. I can’t get hold of Maisie. I’ve left several messages on her cell but she hasn’t returned them.”

“She’s been insanely busy. I’m sure she just hasn’t had time.”

“May I speak to her?”

“Actually, I can see her through the window and she’s talking on her cell right now. Do you want me to give her a message?”

“Um, yes. She left me a message saying she won’t be able to meet me in the Berkshires this weekend as planned.”

“Oh, right. We’re kind of stuck here. A power outage has delayed everything.” That and Con’s past exploding in my face.

“It’s imperative that I speak to her. I’ve been trying to schedule some time with her for weeks now. Months, in fact. She’s been so busy I haven’t been able to… Anyway, I’m coming down there. I’m flying into New Orleans early this evening, and I’ve chartered a car to bring me there. I’m on my way to the airport right now, in fact.”

“Okaaay.”

“According to my itinerary, I should be arriving between 7:00 and 7:15 p.m. central time.”

“I’ll let her know.” Lizzie tried not to laugh. Maisie with her clipboard and Dwight with his “itinerary” really were a perfect match. So self-satisfied and snooty they deserved each other. “See ya later, Dwight.”

He’d love the lack of electricity. And the heat and the bugs. She chuckled. And Maisie probably wouldn’t be too excited about being distracted from her work either. How long had they been engaged? They couldn’t schedule time to have sex, let alone get married. In fact the very idea of them having sex… She shuddered as a vision of reptiles mating crowded her brain.