stubbornness he knew she possessed? Traced that small tattoo on the base of her—
“Hello, Vince.”
Her voice washed over him, sultry, intoxicating. How two words could hold so much—a greeting, a promise, a reminder—was beyond him. Then again, he’d stopped trying to figure out Simone Armstrong around the time he’d served her with divorce papers.
As if by rote, he reached for a bottle of Riesling. He poured her a glass before her tempting smile captured him completely. “You’re looking good.” As if Simone could ever look bad.
Beside him, Travis guffawed and blinked wide eyes at Vince as if he’d become his idol.
Simone still had that classic Hollywood blond bombshell thing going for her. But beyond the seductive touch of Veronica Lake and the fulsomeness of Marilyn’s curves, there was more than a fair share of the smart spitfire combo of Hepburn and Bacall.
“So are you.” With a slight nod, she accepted the wine he offered. “Hello.” She offered her other hand to Travis, who scrubbed both his palms hard against his chest before taking her hand. “I’m Simone Armstrong.”
“She means Deputy District Attorney Armstrong. The Avenging Angel,” Vince added with enough venom in his voice to make Simone’s eye twitch. “And this, Simone, is Mr. Travis Fielding. I’m betting he’ll find his voice once he picks it up off the floor along with his tongue.” His gaze skimmed her as low as he dared. “I see you haven’t exhausted the fashion industry’s supply of white fabric yet.” His eyes stopped on the tiny pearl button between her full breasts, and then on the pendant at the base of her throat. The open collar of her tailored silk shirt dipped respectfully enough for office attire, but allowed a peek at those luscious curves of hers. Did she still invest in that barely there underwear? His fingers itched to discover whether she wore lace or silk. Or anything at all.
“Why change what works?” Simone flicked an annoyed expression at him before offering a warm smile to Travis. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Travis. Do you mind if I have a word with your boss for a few minutes?”
“N-no.” Travis’s breath came out in a shudder.
Vince walked around the kid to move beyond the bar. “Don’t forget those shots for your customers. And take two pitchers to the back table for me. The construction workers are getting restless.”
Travis nodded and blinked himself out of whatever hormonal trance Simone had put him in.
“Do you mind?” Simone stopped him when he led her to a booth by the front window. “Back there?” She gestured to the cubby beside the bar where he normally did the daily books. The stubble of hair on the back of his neck prickled as he noticed the tight grip she had on her briefcase. Simone was nothing if not professional, but now he saw something he wasn’t quite used to.
His ex-wife was nervous.
Whatever pleasure he might have taken in causing her some temporary discomfort vanished as every ounce of training—from his service in the Marines to his subsequent years as a private investigator—put him on guard. Whatever was going on had to be bad for Simone to turn up on his doorstep.
“Sit wherever you’d like.” He maneuvered her ahead of him, getting her situated before he sat facing the room. He kept one leg out and braced in his usual “just in case” posture. “What’s going on, Simone? You don’t do social calls on a whim.” Or ever. “And certainly not after this much time had gone by.”
She cringed, her knuckles going white around her glass as she drank half its contents. “I want to hire you.”
If she’d come in here saying she wanted to reconcile she couldn’t have surprised him more. “You need a bartender for a private party?”
“I need an investigator I can trust.”
For an instant, the desire for a beer overtook his power of speech. He shook his head and shifted his attention to the bar, keeping the memories—and the nightmares—at bay. “I’m out of that business.”
The brief flash of sympathy that crossed her face had him gnashing his teeth. Of course she knew what had happened. Everyone in the whole valley knew what happened.
“I heard about the Walker case. That you’d taken a break after...” Her soft voice hit his heart like a sledgehammer. “I didn’t realize you’d decided to make it permanent.”
“Now you know.” Vince had made it permanent because it was the only way to save his sanity. A man could only witness the sickening things people did to one another for so long before he started to expect the worst. Not that anything would change the endless nights he spent wondering if he’d missed something, if anything he could have done might have stopped a young girl’s murder. If he’d been a day, hours, even minutes faster. “This is my focus now.” He indicated the polished wood paneling and brass fixtures, the tables he’d refinished himself. “The building’s mine free and clear. I’ve got a steady clientele, one that doesn’t expect anything other than a topped-up glass and a full plate. Best of all? I don’t answer to anyone other than myself and my employees.”
“I really don’t want to be difficult about this,” Simone said.
“Since when?”
“I can’t take no for an answer, Vince.”
He smirked. “Want to bet?”
“Oh, for...”
She scrubbed a hand across her forehead and only then did he notice the tired, dark circles under her eyes. He’d always worried that her job would eventually get to her. Clearly he’d been right.
“If this is about Jason—” she began.
“It’s not.”
Her eyebrow arched so high it almost disappeared into her hairline.
“It’s not just about Jason, Simone. But since you brought it up.” He rested his arms on the table and leaned toward her. “You sent my brother to prison.” It took all his effort to keep his voice down. “Without a second thought. You never once allowed yourself to consider the extenuating circumstances that happened during that robbery. To top it all off, you and I were barely back from our honeymoon when you advised the prosecuting attorney to throw the book at him, at a kid who’d gotten in with the wrong crowd.”
“First.” Simone leaned far enough in that he could feel the warmth of her breath on his face. “Jason always ran with the wrong crowd. Second, I can’t believe you’re still blaming me for doing my job. And, not to repeat myself, but at the time I had no idea what specific case they were asking about. I read the notes and gave them my opinion. I didn’t realize they’d use the strategy I came up with to prosecute your brother.”
“Nor did you step in and try to stop it when they did. He’s family, Simone. He was your family.”
“I can’t believe we’re still having this conversation.” She pressed her fingers into her temple and squeezed her eyes shut. She was trying to hide it under all that fancy makeup, but she looked as if she was doing more than burning the candle at both ends. It looked like she’d torched an entire candle shop. She took a deep breath and released it. “There was more to the case against Jason and you know it. He could have taken the deal he was offered
