voice made him smile.
“Yes.”
“How do you know you can trust me?”
“I knew you way back when,” he reminded her, even as he tried to reconcile the tomboy she’d once been with the confident and sexy woman sitting next to him. “I figure you couldn’t have changed too much.”
Head tilted, she considered him. “You know, despite your kind memories of me, I’m not at all like you apparently think I am. I’m not a saint.”
Her words brought a rush of selfish gladness, which he wisely kept to himself. It would be a sin to be a saint with a body like hers. “I never said you were.”
“Despite that, to be honest I wasn’t planning on skipping out on court. I wouldn’t do that to T.C., Reid and Alanna.”
“That’s what I thought.” He considered her right back, suppressing the tingle of desire he felt. “My suggestion is a win for both of us. I’ll help you investigate what really happened to Eldridge, and you can help me—” He stopped, unable to believe how close he’d come to telling her about Renee.
Of course she picked up on that. “Help you what?”
Should he? Why not. Like her, he had nothing to lose by telling her. “Since my sister died two years ago, I’ve been trying to raise my niece, Renee,” he said, keeping all emotion out of his voice. “She ran away a few weeks ago. I’ve been looking for her ever since.”
Piper swallowed. One corner of her sensual mouth quirked in the beginnings of a smile. “Without success?”
“Exactly.”
He could see her thoughts written plainly on her face. “I normally have a very high success rate. But just because I’m licensed as a private investigator and fugitive recovery specialist doesn’t mean I never run into trouble.”
“Good to know.” The ghost of a smile vanished before it ever actually came into being. He found himself wishing he could have seen it.
“Why not?” she finally said, apparently coming to a quick decision. Her lack of prevaricating was another trait he admired. “Sure, I’m in. I’ll help you find your niece and you help me learn the truth about what happened to Eldridge.”
He noticed again she didn’t say murder, which made him realize she truly didn’t believe her adoptive father was dead. The flicker of interest he had at the thought was the first he’d experienced in any case since Renee had disappeared. Worry and guilt had basically consumed him, blotting out the potential for anything else.
“Sounds good,” he managed, realizing he’d gone a bit too long lost in his thoughts. He held out his hand. “Partners?”
Without hesitation she shook. Once again, he felt that sizzle along his nerve endings and the touch of her fingers in his. Weird. But he could deal with it.
“Where are you staying?” he asked, now that they’d sealed the bargain.
“The Budget Inn off I-20.”
“Let’s go gather your stuff. You’re staying with me from now on.”
Arms crossed, she shook her head. “If you think that authoritative command is going to make me fall right in line with your plans, you’re dead wrong,” she drawled. “In fact, whenever someone tries to order me around, I want to do the exact opposite.”
A laugh escaped him; he couldn’t help it. “I like you,” he said, surprised.
“I’m reserving judgment until I know you better.” There it was again, the smile sneaking onto a corner of her mouth.
He found himself holding his breath waiting for it. When she looked down instead, he pushed away his disappointment. “Fair enough,” he said. “We’re a lot alike. I think we’ll get along just fine.”
“Maybe.” She didn’t sound too concerned. “Now I’m going to go back to the flea market and check it out. After that, I’ll think about considering your kind offer of shelter.”
As she browsed the flea market, pretending an extreme interest in just about every booth, from homemade baked goods to used tires, Piper ignored her keen awareness of the large man silently shadowing her. Due to his size and the masculinity he radiated, he drew a lot of stares from other women.
Though she couldn’t blame them, she wasn’t sure what to think of Cord Maxwell. As he’d pointed out, they’d known each other as children, but she also knew a lot could happen to a person in the years between childhood and adulthood.
Despite that, she’d kept distant track of him, the way most everyone did in a small town. She knew he’d inherited Sam Ater’s business when Sam died and had heard Cord had a good reputation as a steady, honest man. She’d planned to hire him, after all. Until she’d realized he not only knew she’d been arrested for murder, but that Fowler had beat her to him.
Did that mean she could trust him? As she examined a beautiful, amber-colored jar of local honey, she considered. Cord had told her the truth up front—that he was working for Fowler—despite the possibility that doing so might make her run. That had to count for something, right?
She’d always been a big believer in trusting her instincts. And her gut feeling told her she could trust him.
Decision made, she turned to tell him, only to catch him regarding her with such intensity that his eyes had darkened. Unbidden, she felt an answering shiver of awareness before squashing it right back into nothing.
“We have a deal,” she told him, about to offer him a handshake but thinking better of it at the last moment.
“I’m not nuts about staying in the same place as you,” she admitted, swallowing hard as she brazened it out. “It’s too intimate.”
He stared at her for a second before a slow grin spread across his rugged face. “Intimate? Only if you make it so. You’ll have your own room and bathroom. The only common areas will be the kitchen and living room. More like a roommate scenario. There’s nothing remotely intimate about that.”
His expression and voice said one thing, but the heat in his eyes said another. Her face warmed and she knew her skin had turned the color of a ripe tomato. She considered herself a strong, self-sufficient woman. Surely she could resist this tug of sexual attraction she felt whenever she so much as looked at him.
“You’re probably right.” Squaring her shoulders, she didn’t let a single trace of regret sound in her voice. “All right. Let me pick up my gear and I’ll follow you there in my car.”
Though he nodded, he stared at her like he thought if he granted her access to her vehicle, she’d jump in and speed away. Irritated, she glared back at him. “My word’s as good as yours, you know.”
“That obvious, huh?”
“Yes. I guess you might have to deal with a lot of lowlifes in your profession, but I’m not one of them.”
