problems.
Cassidy’s phone ringing punctuated the tense silence and he saw the quick flash in her eyes that suggested she’d like to ignore it, before a reluctant sigh had her off the couch and headed for the hallway. Bailey glanced up at her with an adoring expression as she moved toward the back of the shop—another sign of just how in this together the women of Elegance and Lace and the men of Dragon Designs were.
Even the dog had adopted the women as his own.
Reed’s gaze drifted to Lilah and he fought the swell of attraction that always punctuated his interactions with her.
How had it come to this?
His thoughts had been consumed by a woman who lived and breathed pink and who perpetually smelled like vanilla frosting. And even if the vanilla was a side effect of her job as baker extraordinaire, the pink was just a flat-out choice.
He liked long, lithe women who dressed in all black and avoided commitment like the plague.
Instead, he’d found himself increasingly intrigued with a woman who looked like a cross between a guardian angel and a pixie with a Pepto-Bismol addiction.
Cassidy waved from the hallway, the dark expression on her face a match for the somber words she murmured over and over. “When? How? Who would do that?”
Tucker crossed to her, his arms around her as she continued to murmur in shocked surprise.
“What is it?” Violet spoke first as soon as Cassidy had hung up the phone.
“Robert was found dead. Out in an empty field near Fair Park.”
Robert, the ex-fiancé who’d tried to kidnap her.
“Murdered, more like.” The words were out before Reed could pull them back or soften the implication, and he was already reaching for his phone to contact the investigating officer.
Lilah spoke first, her vivid features going ashen with the question. “But wasn’t he in jail?”
“Which means whoever’s been behind all this got to him or managed to post bail for him.” Reed dropped his phone back into his pocket. The call could wait.
“Where the hell did he find a judge who would let him post bail?” Tucker’s anger exploded like a gunshot. “The bastard attempted premeditated murder.”
“That’s what I need to find out.”
* * *
Lilah busied herself in her kitchen, the long, sleek countertops shining like a homing beacon as she set out trays of ingredients. Cupcakes today, for a wedding shower in Highland Park, followed by a delivery of a luscious Italian crème cake for a ninetieth-birthday party. The grandmother of a happy bride they’d taken care of the previous spring.
It was a light day, relatively speaking, and Lilah thought she might work on a few designs for an upcoming holiday wedding. She’d tried several poinsettia designs in fondant and hadn’t yet settled on what she wanted.
Anything to keep her mind off the matter at hand.
Attempted kidnapping. Stolen jewels. Murder.
A hard shiver gripped her shoulders as she thought of Cassidy’s former fiancé. She’d never liked Robert Barrington, even if she’d never been exactly sure why, but she certainly had never wished the man dead.
Of course, that was before he’d attempted to kidnap and attack her best friend.
Lilah wrapped her arms around her midsection at the all-too-recent memory. She was deeply grateful Cassidy was okay, but knew her friend still had a long road ahead. Robert had almost gleefully shared the horrific news that Cassidy’s sister had been murdered by her husband years earlier.
Cassidy had worked so hard to move on from the loss of her sister. To have the truth revealed in such a callous manner only reinforced what an evil man Robert had truly been.
She fought off another shiver at the memories of her ex that always hovered just beneath the surface. The angry words. The dismissive statements. But when the statements had turned to fists...
“Fitzgerald shower?”
Cassidy’s statement pulled Lilah from her dark place, the memories skittering back into the shadows. “Yep.”
“Champagne frosting?”
“Of course.”
“Yum.” Cassidy ran a hand down Lilah’s back, the comforting gesture at odds with their casual words.
Lilah should have known her friend had seen the memories reflected in her eyes.
True to form, Cassidy hovered an extra moment—waiting—but when Lilah said nothing, she moved on, pouring a cup of coffee at the counter before refilling Lilah’s own mug. “I’d offer to help, but since a Betty Crocker box mix and Rice Krispies treats are the limits of my baking abilities, I’ll keep you company instead.”
“Never underestimate a woman who can microwave marshmallows.”
“It’s a gift.” Cassidy laid the coffee down.
“And the company’s always welcome.”
They drifted through odds and ends of conversation. An upcoming wedding they each had a role in. Violet’s latest report from the Design District’s last town hall, including a collective promise from the nearby businesses to help keep a closer watch. And a new boutique that had opened in Uptown that they wanted to do some advance recon on.
Normal. Comfortable. And deftly avoiding the elephant that sat on their chests like a lead weight.
“You didn’t stay on long with your mom last night.” Lilah disengaged the paddles from her hand mixer, scraping each with a spatula before giving them to Cassidy. She knew her friend and her pleading puppy-dog eyes were a match for Bailey’s. Cassidy let out a small sigh of contentment.
“No one’s batter tastes like yours.”
“Naturally.”
Lilah waited her own beat before pressing her point. “You haven’t told your mother what happened yet.”
“No.” Cassidy shook her head, her blue eyes going wide.
Lilah knew she wasn’t one to tell others how to make their family decisions, but, well, this was them. They were a unit and she’d be damned if she was going to keep her mouth shut.
The news of Robert Barrington’s death was one more confirmation that things were spiraling out of control. “You need to tell her. For her own protection, she and your father need to know.”
“She won’t keep it to herself.”
Lilah began to transfer the rich, cream-colored batter into cupcake trays. “Then we need to convince her why she has to. We’ll give her enough information to make her understand and keep the rest to ourselves.”
“She won’t. Not coming
