A Billionaire for Breakfast (7 page)

Once inside the frilly pink boudoir,
Angel flung off his jacket, unwrapped his cummerbund and unzipped his trousers.
Then he hiked up Tess’ skirts and yanked her blue panties aside. She moaned as
he slid into her wet flesh, gave herself up to his thrusting without a second
thought. She covered her mouth to keep from screaming as he popped a breast out
of the strapless bodice and caressed it with his steaming hot lips. He backed
her up against a wall, trapped her there while he kissed her and licked her and
spun her into a delicious case of vertigo. The room blurred around her, she
squealed in delight and glorious pleasure, coming like a gush of liquid fire.
Angel growled as he felt it then reciprocated with his own blast of heat. They
moved in a desperate, animal rhythm until there was nothing beyond the few
square feet of space they took up in the world – just them and their cries of
passion and their sweaty, prickling flesh.

“Damn that was insane!” Angel sighed
as he let her go and fell upon the bed. Tess scooted out of her dress, joined
him. They stared at the teak ceiling, allowing their body temperatures to
resume a calmer level. Tess watched him breathe; impulsively leaned over and
kissed him again.

“You’re the best, Angel! Or should I
say Mr. Garrett?”

“Angel is what I want you to call me.
Anthony Garrett is just some name on a credit card.”

“You mean you actually have a credit
card?”

“Sure, how do you think I got this
tux, and that slick ride out in the driveway?”

“Must be some limit on that card!”
she laughed. “But Angel, seriously, are you safe being here like this?”

“I don’t see why not. If Mercer knows
about me, he hasn’t shown it. Still, I’ve got the feeling something’s up.”

“What?”

“I’m not sure exactly.”

“Angel, how well do you know Diamond
Scott?”

“Pretty well, I’d say. Why?”

“When we were coming up here I saw
him staring at Patrick with sheer hatred in his eyes. I’ve never seen Diamond
look like that. He’s about the most carefree, gentle spirit I’ve ever known.
But now I’m wondering if it’s all an act.”

“You can’t accept anyone on face
value, Tess. The kindest, most beautiful people on the surface can turn out to
be the cruelest underneath it all.”

“Are you talking about Patrick, or
Gayle?”

“She was no sweetheart.”

“She hurt you. I should imagine she
hurt lots of men.”

“She did. Diamond offered to watch
her. He told me who she was with and how she used them. I told him to stop. I
didn’t want to hear anymore, to know anything about her.”

“How did he not see what was going on
with Patrick?”

“He did, the tip of it anyway. He
didn’t know about the beating.”

“Angel, who else did he see her with?
I mean, if there’s a list they could all be suspects.”

“I guess that’s true. Well, there was
Mercer and Leonardi …”

“Jack? You’re kidding?”

“No, she was thick with him for
awhile. Then there was that lawyer guy, Fielding, and me …”

“You shouldn’t be on the list.”

“Why not? I could’ve killed her, once
I found out what she was.”

“Did you?”

“What do you think?”

She peered deep into his eyes; they
were steady, staring straight back into hers with an honesty that was
unmistakable.

“I know you didn’t. Maybe we should
get all these men in the pool room then badger them somehow until the killer
breaks?”

“Who are you now, Hercule Poirot? But
I do like the idea of getting them all together, without anybody else around.
Say, the old man never had a bachelor party, did he?”

“No, he hasn’t even thought about it.
But after five marriages I don’t imagine he’d want one.”

“Get your friend to corner him and
the other guys. I’ll bet she could draw them in.”

“Kylie? You want to use her as bait?
Isn’t that dangerous?”

“I won’t let anything happen. I
failed with Gayle because I let someone else take responsibility. This time I’m
going to be right here, with you!”

He kissed her, swept her up into a
fever again.

The afternoon had settled into a
warm, sweet cadence. The guests were either sunning down at the beach or
napping or tinkling ice in colorful drinks in the pool room.

Tess had rounded up Kylie and
delicately explained the situation to her. The woman seemed far more interested
in Tess’ relationship with the handsome Angel than in playing a game of chase
with the suspects in a murder.

“I knew you’d be after that guy, I
could tell he did something to you! Some girls have all the luck!”

“Will you help us, Kylie?”

“I don’t know. Where are the police
in all this?”

“They didn’t have enough evidence to
arrest anyone. And Angel thinks some of them were paid off, anyway.”

“So why would they listen to us even
if we did find a killer?”

“He has a friend on the force, a
Captain Pettigrew, who will take any new evidence we can show him.”

“And what do I have to do again?”

“Just talk all of these men into
meeting you in the guest house out back for a mini bachelor party. Say you have
a surprise for them.”

“What kind of surprise?”

“There isn’t one. That’s a ruse, to
get them out there.”

“Oh, I see. Well, what makes you
think they’ll meet me?”

“They’ll meet you, if you put all
that
Kama Sutra
stuff to good use.”

“Whoa, girl, I’m not signing on for
that!”

Tess grinned. “I was kidding. Just be
yourself, you know, and lure them in.”

“All right, I’ll do it! Goodness
knows it’ll bring some excitement to this dull afternoon! I can tell you,
darling, I’ve about had it with the Caymans and their cruel, dreary men!”

“I thought you and James Fielding …”

“Oh, God, Tess, don’t mention his
name! What a creep! I think I’d take old Jack over him! At least he’s good in
bed!”

“Poor Kylie. This hasn’t been the
best experience for you. I’m sorry your plans fell apart.”

“Oh, I’m not. Who was I to think I
could come down here and wrap up a billionaire like a stuffed fish and take him
home? Trouble is, the ones round here smell like stuffed fish!”

They laughed. Tess had been worried
about Kylie but she saw then she had no reason to be afraid. Kylie would pick
herself up and start over yet again. The woman was as resilient as a willow,
and just as enduring, too.

Angel and Tess watched silently
through a partition in a bedroom closet as the suspects entered the guest house.
It had a shell-shaped roof as well, but was much smaller than the main house,
with open screen walls that let the breeze flow through at will.

Jack Leonardi came in first then
James Fielding and Diamond Scott and finally Patrick Mercer, who seemed very
annoyed at his companions.

“What’s going on here?”

“I heard it was a private bachelor
party,” Jack said.

“Well, if it’s private, what the hell
are you doing here? I never would have invited you!”

“Somebody did.”

“You mean Kylie Preston did! I’ll
have her fired for this!”

Tess was wounded at the tone of
Patrick’s voice.

“I thought there’d be some music
here,” Diamond sighed. “What kind of party is this?”

Just then Angel pulled a string which
let drop a huge poster of Gayle Stewart. The four men jumped.

“Someone’s playing a morbid game! Who
did this? Was it you, Jack?”

“No, I … I’d never …” He seemed
genuinely shocked.

“Diamond?”

“No, man. I ain’t the playing kind.”

“James?”

“Of course not!”

“I did it, Mr. Mercer!” Angel called
from the closet. He stepped out into the main room in spite of Tess’ quiet
pleading.

“Who the hell … oh, it’s you! That
bum Tess was asking me about. What do you want here?”

“The truth, about Gayle Stewart and
how she died.”

“What business is that of yours?”
James Fielding asked.

“She was my fiancée at one point in
her life.”

“Join the club!” James shrugged,
raising a glass of scotch.

“I’m calling the police!” Patrick
shouted.

“Wait! Don’t!”

Tess walked out of the closet.
Patrick lost his cool.

“Tess, I don’t believe it! What are
you doing here? Is everything I’ve heard true? You are involved with this bum?”

“I’m involved all right! I love him,
but he’s no bum!”

“Diamond, I thought you said you
would handle this?”

Tess and Angel glared at Diamond. He
shrank away from them, hung his head.

“I am really confused here,” Jack
stated. “I’m going back up to the house!”

“No, you’re not!” Angel barred his
way. “No one leaves this room until we hear the truth about what happened to
Gayle.”

“The cops dealt with this. They were
satisfied with Mr. Mercer’s theory that Gayle committed suicide.”

“No, they weren’t, Fielding. They
were paid off to say that. But not all of them. One, in particular, is waiting
for me to find some evidence so he can reopen the case.”

Everyone became silent; eyes darting
from face to face. It was like a Western showdown without the guns.

“Well, if we must be interrogated,
get it over with! I have to attend a wedding at sunset!”

“Fine. I’ll start with you. Where
exactly were you at
10:45
the
night Gayle died?”

“As I told the police I was in my
room, changing shirts. We’d had an argument earlier and she threw champagne all
over me.”

“What was the argument about?”

“It isn’t important.”

“Yes, it is, Patrick,” Tess
disagreed. “Please answer.”

He stared at her then nodded. “She
was angry because she wanted to marry me and I refused.”

“Why did you refuse?”

“I wasn’t about to become one of her
victims! Just ask the other men here. They all had relationships with her.”

“Even Diamond?” Tess asked.

“Yeah, I did, after she dumped Angel
I got sucked into her schemes. She paid me well to investigate potential
husbands. She said she needed somebody on the side, to keep her happy in bed,
and she picked me. But I called it off pretty quick once I realized she’d never
care about me. I’m sorry, Angel.”

“In the past, man. But why did you
keep watching her?”

“I guess you could say I’m a double
agent. Mr. Mercer paid me to spy on her.”

“Why, Patrick?”

“I wanted to know everything that was
going on with her. For a brief moment I fancied myself in love with Gayle
Stewart. But then Diamond told me about her affairs with half the men in the
Caymans! That snapped me out of it. That’s why I was so disappointed when Jack
said you were like her, Tess. I didn’t want my own child to end up like that.
But I’ve realized you aren’t like her at all.”

“Did you kill her, Patrick? If there
was a scuffle during your fight and she fell accidentally wouldn’t it be better
to own up to it and face the consequences?”

“But she didn’t fall while I was
there! I swear it!”

“Diamond, where were you that night?”

“In the kitchen, flirting with the
new sou chef; Bernadine is her name. She told the police about it.”

“Leonardi?”

“I was at the bar as usual.”

“Did anyone see you?”

“Sure but they were all drunk, so no
one remembers.”

“Fielding?”

“I was in the den, going over some
papers.”

“What kind of papers?”

“I don’t recall.”

“Yes, you do, James. They were
Diamond’s reports, about Gayle.”

“Of course that’s right, Patrick. You
asked me to read them.”