here.”
The deep voice came from behind her. Natalie felt every single nerve ending go on tactical alert at the same moment that all the hairs at the back of her neck stood up.
Despite the fact that it had been eight years, she would have recognized his voice anywhere.
“What can I…do for you?” The break in the question came because she turned around in the middle of his inquiry.
Natalie.
For a fraction of a heartbeat, Matt Schaffer stopped breathing. He’d known that, most likely, it would be just a matter of time before their paths crossed. Knew when he had reluctantly agreed to Luke Montgomery’s proposition that he transfer to Vegas to oversee security at The Janus because there’d been a problem with the last man who’d been in charge. His only condition had been that the transfer be temporary, lasting only until someone reliable could be found to fill the slot.
If luck had been with him, he might have been able to avoid this.
But deep down in his bones, he’d known all along that this was destined to happen. Maybe even unconsciously he’d actually wished that it would. Now that it had, that same old feeling he’d always had around Natalie slipped over him.
If anything, Natalie had gotten more beautiful, not less. Her straight brown hair was still lustrous, still silky, and her eyes were that incredible shade of blue that could pull him in without warning. Maturity sat well on her, like a rosebud that had bloomed into a breathtaking flower. He felt that old magic, that crackle of chemistry humming between them.
The reasons he had walked away from her all those years ago were still valid, still in play. Leaving hadn’t been a mistake. He’d done it for her, but God, he’d missed her all these years. So much so that it almost hurt to look at her. To look at her and realize all that he had missed. All that he would continue to miss, because nothing had changed.
“Natalie.” He said her name warmly.
She raised her chin in that way he’d always found both endearing and amusing. More than once he’d wanted to give in to impulse and just nibble on it. He’d refrained, knowing the action would have earned him an indignant right cross because when she raised her chin like that, she wanted to be taken seriously. It was her tell, he thought, a sign that gamblers looked for in other gamblers because it was used to clue them in on what was to come next.
“Hello, Matt.” Her voice was formal, devoid of any emotion, her body almost rigid. He could remember how fluid she felt in his arms. It made him ache. “It’s been a long time.”
And he’d been acutely aware of every moment of that passage of time without her. More than once he had thought about the way things could have been, if he had only been able to go back and change things, be someone different…
But he’d always come to the same conclusion—that it was useless to waste time wishing. Things were the way they were and that was that.
“Yes, it has,” he agreed quietly. “What can I do for you?”
She made it cut and dried. All she wanted was to get this over with. “You can answer some questions and give me access to all of last night’s surveillance tapes.”
Whatever he was expecting, it wasn’t this. “I don’t understand—”
It was then that Natalie took out her badge again and held it up for him to look at. When they’d last been together, she’d just graduated college. Being a policewoman hadn’t even entered her mind. All she wanted to do was spend her days and nights loving Matt. Just showed how naive and stupid the very young could be, she thought cynically.
“Candace Rothchild was here last night,” she told him crisply.
“Yes, she was.” Was this about his making her sister leave?
“She was also found dead in her condo early this morning. Time of death was sometime last night.”
He stared at her, trying to process what she was telling him. “Your sister’s dead?” he asked incredulously.
“Yes.” The answer came out in a hiss between her teeth. Their paths hardly ever intersected anymore, but it was hard imagining a world without Candace in it. There’d be no more promises to make in fleeting moments of remorse only to break again the very next day. No more publicity-fraught attempts at trying to be a better mother to Mick and David. All that was gone now.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Natalie.”
“Thanks.” The single word was said without any emotion.
She saw the look of concern that came over his face. He’d become an accomplished actor since she’d last seen him, she thought cynically. One would have even thought he cared—except that she knew better. The only one Matt cared about was himself.
“Let’s go to my office,” he said in a low voice, turning on his heel to lead the way.
She had no choice but to follow.
Chapter 4
The moment Matt pushed the door open and walked into his spacious glass-enclosed office, the phone on his desk began ringing.
Talk about timing. An exasperated sound escaped his lips, and he looked over his shoulder at Natalie. “Do you mind if I get that?”
She gestured toward the multilined console on his desk. “Go ahead.”
His being on the phone would give her a few more seconds to pull herself together, she thought. She hadn’t realized seeing him again would affect her like this, shaking her to the core. If anything, his physique seemed more buff, harder, somehow. And looking into his blue eyes had her reliving bits and pieces of the past that made her feel so vulnerable. So much for being over him.
“Schaffer,” Matt said as he put the receiver to his ear.
Natalie caught the shadow of a frown forming on his lips just before he turned his back to her. Matt lowered his voice, and even though she couldn’t actually make out all the words, there was no missing the annoyed undercurrent.
“I don’t have time for this, Scott,” Matt finally said, cutting his older brother short on the other end of the line. He’d been in town less than two weeks and already Scott was seeking him out, dumping his problems in his lap. He wasn’t about to allow himself to get sucked back into this kind of a rut again. He was done with all that. Done. “This time, you’re going to have to bail yourself out of trouble.”
The voice on the other end of the line begged indulgence.
Because this was his brother and because, God-only-knew-why but family still meant something to him despite all the turmoil it had caused in his life, Matt spared his older brother a minute more.
He sighed again, weary. “All right, I’ll call you later. Until then, don’t do anything stupid.” Matt broke the connection before Scott could add another layer to the tale of woe that he’d been spinning.
Replacing the receiver in its cradle, Matt turned back around to look at Natalie. She looked stern,
