Dog Collar Knockoff (28 page)

While her head was still down, he twisted his lips, hiding a smile. He’d never forget the shock of walking in on tiny Lucie beating the crap out of that guy. Of course, his first reaction was to haul her off, but hey, she’d had the upper hand, so he let her get a few extra licks in. For what that guy had put her through, she deserved extended time.

But now, the day had obviously crashed down on her. Tim reached across and ran his hand over her hair. “You’re okay, Lucie. All cleared.”

She lifted her head, grabbed his hand, and squeezed. “Thank you.”

“I didn’t do anything. I would have if necessary, but Lutz manned up. He did the right thing.”

“At least that’s something. And hey, now I can call my dad off. No need for him to terrify people while trying to figure out where those stupid suits came from.” She blew out a breath. “I can’t believe it. They were going to use my connections to scam people. Bart doesn’t know me that well. But Mr. L.? He knows how hard I’ve worked to be more than Joe Rizzo’s kid.
He knows
. How horrible is that? That he was willing to betray me that way.”

The choke in her voice nearly killed him. Dug right down to the core of him and jabbed at every protective instinct he possessed.

That’s when it hit him. When he knew he’d never walk away from this girl. That what he wanted was to be near her, keep her safe, and help her fight whatever battle she needed fought.

I’m so screwed.

“I’m sorry, Lucie. The guy got greedy.”

“He makes millions as an investment banker. Millions!”

“Not lately. He’s had a bad run. After you introduced him to Bart, they got together on this art fraud thing and Lutz said he’d be the initial seed money.”

“I’m not sure I even understand what they were doing.”

Tim sat back, rested his hands on his thighs. “Bart had a forger. The guy is good too. I guess he couldn’t make it on his own work, so he started doing copies. Bart figured he could have the guy forge paintings and sell them as the real deal. He made up some story about how Renaissance wasn’t selling and it would be a good investment for when the market turned around.”

“That’s how he got people to believe they were buying the real thing so cheap.”

“Yep. The forger needed to be paid though. A lot. Bart didn’t have that kind of liquid capital.”

Lucie smacked her hand against her forehead. “That’s where Lutz came in.”

“Yep. He gave Bart the money to pay the forger.” Tim shrugged. “When Bart sold the paintings, Lutz got half.”

“They had to know they’d get caught.”

“Not really. The art world can get pretty shady. And Bart was smart enough to target people who were novices and wouldn’t necessarily know the paintings were fakes. Along with the paintings, they received forged provenance.” Tim brushed his hands together. “Scam complete.”

“At least until my art history major employee spotted that Gomez.”

“Yep. I’m seriously entertained over Owens selling Lutz a fake. That’s some high-end street justice right there.”

Lucie laughed.
Hey, I did that.
Made her laugh after her rotten day.

“I can’t wait to tell Lauren this one. She’ll probably write a paper on it. Good God. What about that Robert guy Bart was arguing with? Is that related?”

She set her hands on the table and he grabbed them. “Not to the fakes. Before he and Lutz came up with this scam, Owens was desperate for some quick cash and sold Robert’s paintings to a gallery. He told Robert they were only on loan. How the hell he intended on getting out of that one, I don’t know, but he’s been ducking him.”

“He
sold
them? What a creep.”

“Yeah. We’re gonna see what we can do there, but the guy might get screwed out of his paintings. Anyway, Lutz and Owens will probably both make bail and be out in a few hours, but they’ll be punished. Owens mailed some of the paperwork involved in the Lutz transaction.”

“U.S. mail. That’s a federal offense.”

And knowing what he did about the Joe Rizzo trials, Tim knew Lucie understood the penalties federal offenses could rack up. “Sure is. They’ll do some time. Just depends on how good their lawyers are.”

“Such jerks. I’m so angry at Mr. Lutz. He totally betrayed me. I trusted him. And that’s not easy for someone like me. The worst of it is, I love Mr. Lutz’s dog. Now I won’t get to see him anymore. Everything was great and Lutz had to ruin it.”

Yeah. He did. For breaking Lucie’s heart alone, Tim wanted to pound on the guy. Make him think a little harder about his choices. She didn’t deserve this. “You never know,” he said. “Maybe the wife will divorce him and she’ll want you to keep walking the dog.”

“That would be great.” The minute it came out of her mouth she gasped. “Wow, that sounded bad. I didn’t mean…”

Tim cracked up. “I know what you meant. And, yeah, that would be great.”

Someone knocked and a second later, Rich Laslo stuck his head in. “Her brother is here to take her home.”

Tim nodded. “Thanks.”

The door closed again and Lucie sat back, letting out a long breath. “If Joey is wearing that damned velour tracksuit again, I’ll kill him.”

“C
lose your eyes.”

Two days later, Lucie and Ro stood in front of Coco Barknell while the workers removed the weathered Carlucci’s sign. A cute winking poodle, Coco Barknell’s giant-sized logo, would soon be splashed above the store’s awning. The entire block would see that poodle, and Lucie took plenty of satisfaction in that.

Plenty.

Her entire life, people in this town had been divided into three camps when it came to Joe Rizzo, and by extension, his family. The worshipers, the tolerators, and the haters.

Oddly, the ones Lucie liked the most were the tolerators. At least they were honest. They didn’t like Joe Rizzo’s lifestyle, but enjoyed the lack of violence in Franklin. In many ways, Franklin fell under the protection of her father.

“Come on,” Ro said. “Humor me. Close your eyes.”

“Why? I’ve seen the place.”

Ro flapped her arms. “Not finished you haven’t. You saw paint and tile. Now it’s done-done and I want you to close your damned eyes. Right now.”

“Yikes. You don’t have to get hostile.”

“Apparently, I do.”

Lucie closed her eyes. Might as well. Ro had pulled off a miracle and completed the project in plenty of time for them to move everything in and get the house back to normal for her father’s return in five days. Lucie owed her, at the very least, this little indulgence.

“Okay. Just don’t let me walk into a wall or anything. Tim is picking me up in half an hour and I can’t have any drama or bruises. I’m trying to lay low after the art fraud.”

“Honey, good luck with that.”

They both laughed as Ro led Lucie through the door, complete with jangling doggie bells. “Little bump here,” Ro said. “I talked to Joey about that. He’ll have someone fix it so nobody trips.”

Probably a good thing. A lawsuit they didn’t need.

A burst of cool air puckered Lucie’s bare legs. Yay. Working air conditioner. She should have brought a sweater though. Unaccustomed to dresses, something she vowed to change since she had a cute new guy who’d mentioned he liked them, she hadn’t even thought about the sweater. Maybe Ro had one in her car.

Lucie stopped walking. “Can I look now?”

“No. Not yet. Stay here. One second.”

Ro let go and stepped away, her high-heeled sandals clickety-clacking against the tile they’d picked out.

“Do you have a sweater in your car I can borrow for tonight? I forgot one.”

Ro huffed. “Honestly, my work is never done.”

Lucie grinned. In the next ten minutes, a sweater would miraculously appear.

“Open ’em!” Ro said.

Lucie did as she was told, blinking a few times to readjust to the light. Ro stood four feet in front of her, arms spread wide.

“Ta-da!”

Lucie drew a hard breath as she took it all in. The wooden blinds, the fresh paint, the silk screens separating the sewing area from reception. To Ro’s left, gleaming in the sunlight, was a giant mahogany desk with two chocolate-brown upholstered chairs in front of it. Across from that sat a smaller desk, also mahogany. The guest chairs were different though. Still upholstered, but with a more modern fabric. Tan with red, green and brown intertwined circles. Pretty.

Along the wall sat a long table. Probably for meetings or looking at samples.

“Is that a
dining
table?”

In awe, Lucie rushed over to it.

“Sure is, babe. Amazing, right?”

Total understatement. The entire space screamed warmth and professionalism and class. Simply stunning. Lucie’s heart froze. Just seemed to stop for a few seconds. Her BFF had most definitely pulled off a miracle.

Lucie held her hands out, swooping them around the room. “I’m… I don’t know. Floored. I can’t believe this is that rattrap we started with. It’s spectacular.”

“I know!”

Good old, Ro. Never one to mince words.

Lucie ran her hands over the gleaming top of the long table. Solid wood. Must have weighed a thousand pounds.

“Don’t panic,” Ro said. “I stayed in the budget you gave me.”

How? The table alone had to cost ten thousand. Easy.

Which meant… oh, no. Lucie turned to her friend, her best friend, but no, she couldn’t do it. Couldn’t ask where she’d gotten this expensive furniture so cheap.

“No,” Ro said. “It’s not off the truck, Dopey.”

Lucie tipped her head back.
Phew.
“Thank you. I didn’t want to ask.”

“I know. And thank you for not insulting me.”

“So how did you pull this off?”

“Thank the lady in Barrington who’s downsizing her fifteen-thousand-square-foot house into a condo. Total fire sale. I got all of this from her. The desks, chairs, table, screens, everything. I even picked up some stuff for my house. Joey got a truck and we hauled it all back here. Tell me you love it. Please. I know it’s a little more cozy than you probably expected, but with our clientele, I think it’ll work.”

“Are you crazy? It’s fantastic. I’m so grateful. And I can’t believe you got this done so fast.”

“I can’t take all the credit. Joey got the contractors in here so I could do my magic.”

Her brother. The big lug. She’d hear about this for years, but that was okay. She’d thank him every time he reminded her what he’d done for her. “I’m a little surprised he was so agreeable.”

“Eh. I made it worth his while.”

Ro winked and the vision of Joey and Ro reenacting Position Seven popped into her mind. “Blech. I don’t need those details. Thank you very much.”

The doggie bells hanging on the door jangled and Lucie and Ro turned to see Tim walking through. A little ping happened in Lucie’s ear and her chest blew open. Just a whoosh of happiness. Tim did that for her. Gave her a lightness she hadn’t known in a long time. She wouldn’t read too much into it because this thing was still in its early stages, but she’d enjoy him for now and not worry about the future.

He scanned the room. “Whoa, ladies, the place looks great.”

“I know!” Ro said.

Lucie walked to him, popped a quick kiss on his lips. “Ro and Joey pulled off a miracle. We can get everything moved in now. And our sign will be here tomorrow.”

Tim linked his hand with hers and gave it a squeeze. “I guess you’re all set then.”

Lucie turned back to the room, took it all in again, and visualized her mom sitting at a commercial-grade sewing machine and Ro sketching designs while Lucie handled the administrative tasks from the giant mahogany desk.
Coco Barknell.
Something told her this former rattrap would be the start of a very nice future.

She glanced down at Tim’s much bigger hand wrapped around hers. He’d hung in there with the entire art fraud mess and never questioned whether she, Joe Rizzo’s daughter, could be involved.

This was a good man.

She lifted their clasped hands and kissed the back of his. “Detective, I think you’re right. I do believe I’m all set.”

Dog Collar Couture

Mafia princess turned canine couturier Lucie Rizzo knows dogs are
woman’s
best friend. Thanks to her fashion-forward four-legged clients, Lucie’s dog walking/designer pet accessory business is booming. And for once her love life isn’t far behind.

Lucie devotes her days to building the Coco Barknell brand, but her nights are all about roguishly sexy Tim O’Brien. At least they will be if she and Detective O’Hottie finally take their relationship to the next level. But bring an Irish cop home to her mobster father?
Fuggetaboutit.

Lucie’s knack for finding trouble lands her in the doghouse—and on the six o’clock news. Someone’s absconded with a million-dollar piece of cinematic costume history, with Lucie the only witness to the crime. Not to mention the prime suspect. To clear her name, she’ll need an assist from her entire wacky crew: friends, family…and future (hopefully) lover.

Enter Here

Moving Target – Marquita Valentine

Evil Eye – Alyssa Day

Serve and Protect – Lori Ryan

USA Today
bestselling author Adrienne Giordano
writes romantic suspense and mystery. She is a Jersey girl at heart, but now lives in the Midwest with her workaholic husband, sports obsessed son and Buddy the Wheaten Terrorist (Terrier). She is a co-founder of Romance University blog and Lady Jane’s Salon-Naperville, a reading series dedicated to romantic fiction. For more information on Adrienne’s books, please visit
www.AdrienneGiordano.com
. Adrienne can also be found on Facebook at
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, Twitter at
twitter.com/AdriennGiordano
and Goodreads at
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Dangerous Darlings
, go to
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.