Paine? Damn right he would. Any red-blooded man would want her. But after spending less than an hour with her this afternoon, he understood why she was still single, why, as she had told him, most of the Paine women died old maids. If all the others, past and present, were or had been anything like she was…
“This is it,” Penny Sue said.
Surprised that she’d spoken, he snapped his head around and looked at her. She was gazing at the house at the end of the sidewalk. Three stories high and covered with elaborate wooden trim, the pink-and-green Victorian structure looked like something from the past. A grand old lady who was well preserved.
Penny Sue reached for the handle on the fancy black iron gate attached to the decorative iron fence that surrounded the large triple lot on which the Paine house sat. Vic slipped his arm alongside hers and flipped the latch, then moved to her side and opened the gate for her. She smiled, tilted her head in an I’m-pleased-with-you gesture and sauntered up the brick walkway in front of him. Following several feet behind her, he watched the seductive sway of her hips and wondered if she realized that with every move, her body was flirting, sending out come-here-big-boy signals. If she was as modest and well-mannered as she’d said the Paine women were, then she probably didn’t know. The fact that she was a sexy woman who wasn’t fully aware of just how sexy she was made her all the more desirable.
Desirable, yes. But off limits to you, he reminded himself.
He followed behind her like an obedient servant—or a devoted lap dog. Inwardly he cringed. Was this how his next few weeks would be spent? He and Lucky traipsing along behind Miss Penny Sue?
He had every intention of calling Daisy first thing in the morning to tell her he wanted out of this job ASAP. He’d forego any overtime pay if she could get him out of Alabaster Creek and away from Penny Sue. If the woman didn’t drive him crazy first, he’d wind up dragging her off to a dark corner somewhere and having his way with her. And if their relationship reached that stage, there would be hell to pay. This was no one-night-stand kind of gal. No, this one would want orange blossoms and wedding bells. As far as he was concerned that was too high a price to pay for a piece of ass, no matter how shapely that ass might be.
When they approached the front door, it flew open and a gray Siamese cat zipped out onto the porch and past them, pausing long enough to hiss at them before running into the yard.
“Get back here, you naughty boy,” the woman standing in the doorway cried. “That cat will be the death of me. His antics play havoc on my poor nerves.” She looked Vic over, studied him admiringly and smiled. “Well, hello. Who are you?”
“Aunt Dottie, this is Mr. Noble,” Penny Sue said. “He’s the bodyguard I hired for Lucky. He’ll be staying with us for a while.”
The woman’s keen black eyes opened wide. “You’ve hired a bodyguard for—”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Penny Sue told her aunt. “Val stopped by the shop earlier and told me all about the meeting here tonight.”
“Oh, dear, you aren’t angry with me, are you? Val can be so persuasive. And I didn’t see what harm it would do for the family to get together and discuss things.”
Vic wondered just how old Aunt Dottie was. Past sixty, maybe even past seventy. She was tiny, no more than five-one and possibly a hundred pounds soaking wet. Her hair was short, stylish and jet-black. Her face was as smooth as a baby’s butt, the skin drawn tightly over her cheeks and forehead. He’d bet his last dollar that the lady had undergone more than one facelift. Even with the changes age and cosmetic surgery had done to her face, it was obvious that Dottie Paine had once been a young beauty and there was a strong family resemblance between her and her niece.
“There really isn’t anything to discuss.” Penny Sue confronted her aunt, who backed down immediately and eased into the foyer. “I’ve hired a bodyguard for Lucky, to protect him from a potential killer. And I’m using the money Aunt Lottie left Lucky to pay for Mr. Noble’s bodyguard duties as well as his investigative skills.”
“He’s an investigator, too?” Dottie asked.
“Come in, please, Vic.” Penny Sue motioned for him to enter the house, so he complied with her wishes.
Just as Penny Sue started to close the door, Dottie cried out, “I can’t leave Puff outside. He’s liable to run off and Lord knows what would happen to him. He’s not accustomed to life on the street.”
Penny Sue shut the door. Dottie gasped.
“Oh, pooh. That spoiled cat isn’t going anywhere,” Penny Sue said. “He’ll be scratching on the door in a couple of minutes.”
Dottie eyed Vic. He tried to ignore the old woman’s scrutiny.
“Do you think it proper for him to stay here in the house with us?” Dottie asked. “After all, he’s a man and we’re two single ladies. You know how people talk.”
“Ruby and Tully live here, too,” Penny Sue said. “Besides, what do we care about wagging tongues?”
“Who are Ruby and Tully?” Vic asked.
“They’re the housekeeper and her husband,” Dottie replied. “He’s the gardener and does all the upkeep around the place. They have two rooms in the back. They used to live in their own house, but once their children grew up and moved away, we agreed it would be nice all the way around to have them living in.”
“Oh.” A high percentage of Dundee clients were wealthy and therefore had servants. Some servants were treated like members of the family, while others were treated little better than serfs. His mother, who’d cleaned houses for several well-to-do families back in Lafayette, Kentucky, had been treated like trash.
Turning to her aunt, Penny Sue asked, “Did you let Ruby know we’re having guests over this evening?”
“Of course,” Dottie replied. “I told her just coffee and tea, along with some little sandwiches and perhaps some homemade cookies or tarts.”
Penny Sue glanced at Vic. “We would normally serve wine, too, but Cousin Clayton is a minister and he frowns on liquor of any kind.”
“Believe me, Mr. Noble, Clayton would preach us all a sermon if we served liquor.” Dottie tsk-tsked. “The man’s a fanatic, if you ask me. Can you imagine anyone being rude enough to tell me that I shouldn’t dye my hair and wear so much makeup because it’s pure vanity and vanity is a sin?”
“Clayton was a real hell-raiser when he was a boy, but when he went off to college he met Phyllis, whose father and brother were both ministers, and before we knew what was happening, Clayton got religion and up and joined that Unity Church,” Penny Sue explained. “Generations of Paines turned over in their graves when that happened. We’ve been Methodists since the first Paine set foot on American soil.”
“Valerie married a Baptist preacher, the first time,” Dottie said. “That was another disappointment for the family. But she got a divorce and remarried. Dylan is a good Methodist boy. He used to come to church every Sunday with Penny Sue, back when—” As if suddenly realizing she had said something inappropriate, Dottie hushed immediately. Her rouged cheeks darkened. She cleared her throat and changed the subject as she looked at her niece. “Perhaps you should show Mr. Noble up to his room. Douglas’s old room should do nicely.”
God, yes, Vic thought,
