Authors: Susan Andersen
And you think that’s by accident, genius?
Zach swore. Well, duh. Keep a guy’s attention focused on disheveled blonde hair and a well-rounded little fuck-me body, and it sure as hell won’t be his
mind
doing the thinking. Lily Morrisette might be about the girliest female he’d ever clapped eyes on, but she had a habit of meeting both gazes and situations head-on, a way of refusing to ever back down, that was almost masculine in its determination. She knew precisely what she was doing.
He didn’t think he was jumping to any hasty conclusions by questioning her motives. Glynnis certainly had a record of trusting the wrong people. She’d run afoul of some real losers in her life, and more than one young buck had thought to score himself a free ride by attaching himself to her. But they hadn’t
all
been out to take her, so it wasn’t as if he automatically suspected every person she came into contact with. She’d managed to make some regular friends; he’d give her that. Every one of his sister’s girlfriends he’d met up until now, though, had been her own age—young women in their early twenties
who’d tended either to start giggling or to flirt blatantly whenever he tried to have anything resembling an intelligent conversation with them.
They were nothing like Lily. They lacked that aura she had of knowing the score, for one thing. It took years and experience to gain that kind of worldliness. He might not be the greatest judge of age, but he’d put money on Lily being quite a bit older than his sister—somewhere closer to his own thirty-six than to Glynnis’s not-quite twenty-five.
And all things considered, he had to wonder: What would someone as self-assured as Lily want with an ingenuous girl who was nine or ten years younger if it wasn’t her money?
The origins of their association definitely bore closer examination.
Lily paced her room, seriously irritated. And to think she used to dream of having a big brother! If Mr. I-Am-the-Commandant-of-All-I-Survey was any example, she could count herself fortunate she’d been an only child.
She made a conscious effort to unclench her teeth. But, really! She’d excused his rudeness last night because he’d obviously been tired and not thinking clearly, but how dare he continue to heedlessly assume she had no integrity? Yes, she was a busty, blue-eyed blonde who loved makeup and jewelry; so rarely in her life had any man bothered to look deeper than that. But there was a big difference between being considered a dumb blonde and Zach’s careless assassination of her character.
She plopped down on the edge of the bed and concentrated on regaining her equilibrium, trying to look at the situation without all the emotion that had her blood churning. It took her a while, but her pulse finally began to settle down.
Then the pounding on her door commenced. Lily jerked and to her disgust made a sound like a startled screech owl. Popping off the bed, she faced the closed door with her hands fisted on her hips, all her high-minded promises forgotten as her heart once again pounded double time. “Go away!”
“Open up, Lily. I want to talk to you.”
“Oh, well, then,” she muttered. “Let me just trot right over and let you in. Your wishes make
all
the difference in the world.”
“I heard that.” He had the effrontery to sound amused. But his good humor apparently didn’t last. He thumped the portal. “Open the damn door.”
She crossed the room in several angry strides, ripped the door open, and stared up in annoyance at his tanned face. “Are you incapable of completing one lousy sentence without cursing?”
He blinked, then to her surprise gave her a sheepish look. “Sorry,” he rumbled in that deep voice. “I’ve been a soldier so long I sometimes forget that conversations are more refined in the civilian world. I’ll try to do better.” Then he seemed to recall he was conversing with the enemy. He stepped into the room, forcing her to take a step back before she caught herself and stood her ground. “But that’s not why I’m here,” he said. “Tell me how you met my sister.”
He was back to being his imperious, give-me-the-
facts-and-give-’em-to-me-
now
self, and Lily’s knee-jerk reaction was to invite him to kiss her rosy red cheeks. Recalling she’d already done that, however, sent blood hot enough to blister rushing through her veins—particularly when she thought of his response. A better idea would be to get a handle on this anger once and for all. So she took a deep breath, eased it out, and told him the truth. “We met at a yoga class.”
“Where?”
“At Headlands, over on Harbor Drive in Dana Point.”
“And who joined the class first?” He snapped out his questions for all the world as if he were a drill instructor and she his raw recruit. “You, or Glynnis?”
“Glynnis,” she said through her teeth.
He looked down at her as if she’d just confirmed his lowest suspicion. “Uh-
huh
.”
“What do you mean,
uh-huh
?” As if it took a wizard to see where
this
was going. Her back went ramrod straight. “I lived about a mile away at the time, between San Juan Capistrano and Dana Point. Glynnis is the one who travelled out of her way to attend that particular class. Does your paranoia know no
bounds
?”
“Well, let me see,” he said, looking down at her. “A thirtysomething woman with no visible means of support just happens to join the same yoga class as my very wealthy twenty-four-year-old sister—and the next thing we know, she’s moved right in with her.” He raised his eyebrows. “Oh, yeah, sounds paranoid to me, all right. The two of you having so much in common, and all.”
“I’ve told you I’m paying rent! Your ‘very wealthy sister’ is flat broke half the time, and this has been a way for both of us to benefit until I find a new place! Be
sides, you’ve known me one day! What makes you just assume I don’t support myself?”
“You’re right, that remains to be seen. But today’s a workday, lollipop, and as far as I can see, you’ve gotten yourself all dolled up to lounge around the house.” His cool, gray gaze did a fast slide over her before coming back to meet her own. “But, hey, if you’re subsidizing Glynnis’s trust fund, there’s an easy enough way to prove it, isn’t there? Show me a canceled check.”
Oh, swell.
Lily’s heart sank. “The bank doesn’t return my canceled checks. I can request photocopies, but it might take a day or two.”
“I just bet it will.”
Itching for the first time in her life to strike a person, she closed the distance separating them. “I’ve had enough of your attitude. I want you to leave my room.”
He looked down at her and didn’t move until she poked him in the chest. Then he took a slow, indolent step backward and didn’t take another until she poked him again. He stepped over the threshold out into the hall.
Lily stared up at him. “You want to know what Glynnis and I have in common, soldier boy?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“We both marvel at what absolute cretins some men can be,” she said and recited the complaints of every woman she’d ever known who’d been on the dating circuit for a while. “It seems they either want to change you, take you for a ride, or run your life. You oughtta be able to identify with that.” With a sharp little click, she closed the door in his face.
There was silence from the other side for a moment. Then Zach said, “I want to know where my sister is.”
“And I want an end to world hunger. Looks like we’re both going to be disappointed.”
“No, ma’am. Maybe you’ve got your work cut out to meet your goal, but I don’t intend to fail in mine. You
will
tell me. Count on it.”
Not blooming likely
, she thought, staring at the closed portal. There was no way on earth she intended to be the one to break the news to Control Freak Taylor that the sister he apparently thought was too clueless to be left to her own devices was on her way to Washington state to meet her new fiancé’s family.
“W
HY DON
’
T YOU JUST TELL THE BIG JERK WHAT YOU
do for a living and be done with it?”
Lily looked at her friend Mimi across the restaurant table and smiled ruefully. “That would be the reasonable thing to do, I’m sure. But he makes me so darn mad that reason just flies right out the window whenever I’m anywhere near him.”
“Which is exactly why you should let me guide you back to the smart side of the street.” Mimi moved aside her leopard-skin handbag to make room for her elbows on the ecru linen tablecloth and leaned forward earnestly. “Show him one of your pay stubs, Lil, and enjoy yourself when he’s forced to eat his words. Seeing all those zeros is bound to make him feel like an idiot.”
“If I had my way, they’d make him
choke
,” Lily muttered. Then taken aback by her own savagery, she said, “Okay, maybe not literally.” She shook her head in confusion. “Good Grief. Until I met Zach Taylor, I always considered myself to be a live-and-let-live sort of person. But he just makes me so…so darn…”
“Passionate?”
“Furious!” Amid the clink of silverware, the muted conversations, and the classical music purling out of hidden speakers, she sat ramrod straight on her tapestry upholstered chair. “And you know what? I don’t owe him any explanations. He’s the one who jumped to the idiotic conclusion I’m some sort of larcenous bimbo. Why should I knock myself out providing him proof that I’m not?”
“Because it’d make life easier?” Then Mimi shook her head. “Okay. I recognize that mulish look. For someone usually so mellow, you sure can dig your heels in once you’ve got your back up.”
“I know, it’s stupid and no doubt adolescent as well; but that’s the way I feel. Maybe after a nice relaxing luncheon with you, my outlook will be more mature.”
“Then just let me ask you this and I’ll drop it: don’t you think there’s an elegant sort of irony at work here? I mean, if there’s
one
thing you’re particularly good at, it’s money management.”
“It’s what comes from having grown up poor,” Lily agreed. “I was probably only eight when I swore I’d find a way to make myself financially secure when I grew up.”
“And you’ve achieved that,” Mimi said gently. “You’ve met every one of your short-term goals and you’re well on your way to realizing most of your long-term ones as well.”
Lily’s spine unbent a little. It was true. The career she’d forged for herself netted her very good money, and the investments she’d made over the years had paid off even more handsomely. So to
hades
with Zachariah
Taylor and his unfounded accusations! Let him stew in his own suspicions. As long as she knew that contrary to his nasty little digs she’d actually been teaching his sister a little financial responsibility, what did it matter what he believed? Her mouth curved up on one side. “So what you’re saying is I oughtta lighten up?”
“Listen, sweetie, I know that’s easy for me to say when it’s not my integrity under attack, but maybe just a little. Or at least try not to take his crap so much to heart. What are you going to do about the sister?”
“Glynnis?”
“Yes. Taylor sounds like a first-class bastard, but to play devil’s advocate for a minute, you said yourself he probably has experience on his side when it comes to dealing with his sister’s character judgment skills. Her track record in that department sounds less than impressive.”
“It is, and I did.” Despite her newfound resolve, however, Lily realized she still wasn’t in the mood to give him the benefit of the doubt. “Is this going somewhere, Mimi?”
“Not in a straightforward manner, apparently.” Her friend laughed. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, maybe his wanting to know her whereabouts is more than a control issue. What if he’s just genuinely concerned for her welfare? How do you balance that against his hounding you for information?”
“By keeping out of it. Glynnis can be too wide-eyed for her own good sometimes—heck, we got to talking in the first place because she was torn up from discovering the very charming young man currently sweeping her off her feet had his eye firmly on her bank account.
But the fact is, she’s of age. If she’d wanted her brother to know her plans, she would have left him a note or called by now, so it’s sure as sugar not up to me to fill in the blanks. Plus, I really like David, and I genuinely think he’ll be good for her.” She took a sip of wine. “If the commando king learns David dared whisk her away, though…. Well, I shudder to think what he’ll do. Frothing at the mouth would just be the beginning.” She looked across the table at her friend. “Boy, I’m starting to think maybe I should’ve just bought the darn apartment when it went condo. At least then I wouldn’t be smack in the middle of this opera.”
“No, you’d be thirty grand short of your goal, instead. And for what? Not your dream digs, that’s for sure. Your place was a nice enough, but they wanted way too much for a piece of real estate that’s not even seven hundred square feet. Hell, I usually equate an asking price like that with something that provides at least a partial view, even if it’s one you have to hang out a window to see.”
It cheered Lily to hear her decision validated. “You’re right. Bless you for reminding me I wasn’t particularly attached to it—not enough, at least, to dig into my savings for the down payment and closing costs.”
Brilliant sunshine poured through the window. And glancing out at the palm trees rustling their green fronds in the gentle breeze, she let her long-held dream of finally settling in one place to open her own restaurant give her a moment’s peace before turning back to the problem at hand. “One thing’s for sure,” she told her friend. “I’m gonna have to step up my search for some
where else to live. I was hoping to hold off until I got back from my next gig aboard the
Argosy
, but the writing’s on the wall. Much as I detest letting him get away with driving me off, there’s just no living with the guy.”
“Now that’s not necessarily so.” A long skein of artfully streaked butterscotch-colored hair slipped over Mimi’s shoulder and she scooped it back behind her. “I’m telling you, sweetie, tell the man the truth. He’ll probably be so mortified by how badly he misjudged you that he’ll offer you room and board for free.” She flashed a cheeky grin. “Then your restaurant kitty will be that much closer to a grand opening.”
Lily’s laugh was short and skeptical. “I doubt Zach Taylor’s spent an embarrassed moment in his life. Besides, I think we’re way beyond the kiss-and-make-up stage.” A fleeting image of that mouth of his with its thin white scar reminded her libido it still possessed a few red corpuscles capable of generating heat, and she shifted in her seat. “No,” she said with extra firmness to make up for it. “My dream will simply have to wait a month or two.”
“Well, okay,” Mimi said, “but I think you’re making a mistake.”
Lily gave her a lopsided smile. “Like
that
would be a first.” Then she picked up the menu. “So. Do you know what you’re going to have for dessert? I keep hearing great things about the tiramisu here. I have really got to check it out.”
Zach opened the front door in response to an authoritative knock and froze in surprise when he saw who
stood on the other side. Of all the people he might have expected to land on his porch, John Miglionni wouldn’t have even made the top twenty.
But there stood his former Marine buddy all the same, one muscular shoulder propped against the stucco arch, his hands shoved in his slacks pockets as he proffered a lazy smile, teeth startlingly white against his olive-skinned complexion. “Midnight, you ugly son of a bitch,” he said easily. “Long time, no see.”
“Rocket!” A surge of genuine pleasure shattered Zach’s paralysis. Breaking into a huge smile, he stepped forward, and the two men pounded each other on the back in greeting. As they stepped back, Zach’s hand whipped out to grasp the other man’s sleek black ponytail and give it a tug. “What’s this? I may be ugly, but at least I’m a clean-cut American guy. When did you turn into a pinko radical chick?”
“Screw you, Taylor.”
“I don’t think so, pal. Some of us still go for the ladies.”
They grinned at each other, satisfied to be exchanging insults once again, and for the first time since arriving home, Zach felt like his old self. He waved his friend through the doorway. “Haul your ass in here,” he commanded. “God, what’s it been, nearly two years? What brings you to my neck of the woods?”
“I had a case that ended up in L.A.” John followed Zach into the kitchen, where Zach retrieved a couple of beers from the refrigerator. “Once it was wrapped up, I figured I could hardly be this close and not drop by to say hello.”
“You got that right, buddy.” He passed the other man
a beer and they twisted off the caps, snapped their fingers to send the tops zinging toward the sink, then moved to the kitchen table. “Damn. It’s good to see you, John.” Gesturing to his friend to take a seat, he pulled out a chair for himself. “How’ve you been—still getting a big charge out of doing the Sam Spade thing?”
“Yeah, I really like it.” Rocket lounged back, his long legs stretched out in front of him and his beer bottle cradled against his flat stomach. “Most of the time, anyhow. Can’t say I was crazy about it when it prevented me from making Coop’s wedding, but I was right in the middle of a couple of cases that paid the overhead, and I couldn’t afford to leave them dangling. Sure hated to miss out on the big event, though. I was dying to meet the bride, since I’m having a hard time picturing the woman capable of getting Ice to the altar.”
“You’d like Veronica. She looks a lot like Snow White would’ve if she’d been getting any.”
“You mean she
wasn’t
?” Rocket stared at him as if he’d just been told Santa Claus was dead. “You can’t tell me she wasn’t messing around with the dwarves, man. Why the hell you think Dopey had that goofy grin?”
“Lack of oxygen at birth, maybe?” Zach laughed. “You gotta admit she was pretty damn good at keeping up the virginal façade. Or maybe it was just the high, trilly voice that had me fooled. As for Veronica, think our girl Snow with hot blood, and that would be her. She’s cute, she’s fun, and she’s talented. And she’s just wild about Coop.”
“Sweet. Still, the only way she’ll ever get the Miglionni stamp of approval is if I meet her for myself.” He took a drink of his beer, then smiled. “Which I actu
ally finally get to do. The case I just finished put me between jobs for the first time in over a year and a half, and I’m taking a little vacation to go up to Fogey, Washington, and spend a few days with them.”
“Fossil, you moron,” Zach corrected automatically. Then he realized what John’s vacation meant for his own plans and swore. When Rocket’s jet-black eyes leveled on him and his dark eyebrows raised in easygoing inquiry, however, he merely shrugged. “Sorry,” he said. “That’ll be good for you. It’s just not so great for me. I was about to call you about running a check on someone.”
“Hey, I can run checks any time, anywhere. Have laptop, will travel—I’m never far from my trusty titanium. Who do you want investigated?”
“A woman by the name of Lily Morrisette.” He explained the situation.
“And you’re absolutely sure she’s pulling a con?” Rocket asked when he finished.
“About as sure as I can be without your background check. I gave her a chance to prove otherwise and she put me off.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know, John, maybe this is my fault.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Look at this place. I wanted to give Glynnie what she gave up when she came to live with me at Lejeune. But I might as well have taken out an advertisement that read, ‘Naive rich girl, left on her own a lot. Come and get it.’”
Rocket shook his head. “I’d tell you to cut yourself some slack here, bud, but I know you when it comes to
your sister. So give me everything you know about Morrisette.”
Zach provided what he knew, which admittedly wasn’t a lot. The only thing he didn’t tell John was what a struggle he found it to resist the pull of Lily’s sexuality. It wasn’t pertinent anyhow. The attraction was strictly involuntary, and he planned to get a grip on it.
But he must be slipping, because when he finished laying everything out Rocket crossed his ankles beneath the table, sank a little deeper onto his tailbone, and studied him intently as he sipped his beer.
And Zach knew he’d somehow given himself away.
For a moment, John didn’t say a word. Then he scratched the tip of his thumbnail across his chin. “From what I’ve seen since hitting L.A., these California girls are something else again. The solution seems like a no-brainer to me.”
“Give me a clue then, Miglionni, because I’m not seeing it.”
“She’s built, she’s blond, and she’s no better than she oughtta be, right?”
“Yeah. So?”
He shrugged. “So, why not make her an offer she can’t refuse? Hell, Zach, she sounds like every girl you’ve ever pursued. Buy the chick a few baubles. Become her sugar daddy for a while.”
Zach snapped upright in his chair. “What are you,
crazy
?”
“Crazy like a fox, maybe.” Rocket’s grin was all teeth. “It’s a win-win situation. You’ve got the funds to keep her happy; sounds to me like she’s got the goods to
keep
you
happy; and if she’s occupied taking care of your needs, she won’t have the time or energy to hustle Baby Sis.”
For several heartbeats the urge to take his friend’s suggestion and run with it was sweeter than the sing of narcotics through a junkie’s veins. The sheer temptation of it caught Zach by surprise.
Then he came to his senses.
“I prefer not to buy my women,” he said with a coolly sardonic smile. But he had to take a long pull on his beer to wet his suddenly dry throat.
“Ah, well, if you’re gonna be
fussy
about it.” Rocket shrugged. “Now, me, I’ll take the little darlins any way I can get ’em. Just as long as the end result is me getting my hands on them.”
Zach laughed. “You’re so full of shit, John.” Raising his beer bottle to his lips, he studied his friend over the top of the amber glass for a moment. “Though, come to think of it, you never were all that discriminating, were you? Still chasing skirts as fast as you can?”