Deception (Carrington Hill Investigations Book 1) (15 page)

She sat lost in thought
for a moment until she shook her head. “I’ve only ever wanted him to be happy. I’ve seen the women he dated, so it wasn’t a stretch for me to think that you were like them. They were gold diggers. They never cared about him…not like you do.”

“Mrs. Hathaway. It was just like you said. It was a business deal. We both had reasons for entering the marriage, and I can tell you it wasn’t for love. Although I was never after his money, I had other motives
, and so did he.”

She nodded her acknowledgement. “I know it started out that way, but I think somewhere along the way, you two fell in love.” She waved her hand. “Now
, my Trip is too stubborn to admit it, but I saw it in his eyes and on his face. He did love you, dear, and I believe he still does.”

Lexi let out a resigned breath. “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, but he couldn’t possibly
—”

“He does.”

Lexi shook her head. “I can’t.”

Mrs. Hathaway leaned over the table and squeezed her hand. “What do you have to lose?”

“Mrs. Hathaway—”

“Call me Lillian
, dear.”

Lexi cleared her throat and stood. “I’m sorry
, Lillian. I really must go.”

Lillian stood and walked her back inside. “We all app
reciate what you did for Celia. I’m hosting a party next Saturday night, and you’re the guest of honor.” She grinned. “I’ve already cleared it with your director, and he’s going to make sure all of your friends are invited.”

Lexi’s
eyes widened. The last thing she wanted was to be put in a spotlight, especially where the Hathaway’s were concerned. She shook her head, not believing this was happening to her again. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

Lillian patted her hand. “Don’t be ridiculous
. It’s the only way I know how to thank you for everything you’ve done. We’ll forever be in your debt, Lexi. If there is ever anything you need, please call me.”

Lexi nodded
, and this time gave the woman a genuine smile. She wouldn’t be calling, but that didn’t make Mrs. Hathaway’s statement any less believable. “Thank you.”  Lexi pointed over her shoulder. “I just need to grab some stuff for Ethan, and I’ll be on my way.”

Lillian nodded. Lexi stopped at the top of the stairs. “
Can you have Trip give me a call when he gets home? It’s important I speak with him.”

“Sure
, dear.”

Lexi breathed a sigh of relief watching Lillian finally walk into the study. The
older woman meant well, but their talk wouldn’t be changing anything. Lexi still had an attempted murderer and thief to catch, and only then would she finally be able to nurse her heart and forget about the whole Hathaway clan.

She bounded down the stairs with Ethan’s bag over her shoulder and pulled the door open. She froze
, cursing in her mind. Standing in front of her was none other than the man she was trying her best to avoid, her ex-husband, and damn, did he look good. His pressed suit had signs of wrinkles, but he was still just as sexy as she remembered. Yep, she was definitely going to have to avoid him if she ever had a chance of getting over him.

“Lexi.
What are you doing here?”

She shook herself out of the haze and lifted the bag on her shoulder. “Ethan needs some clothes. I’m not sure when he’ll be back.”

She moved down the steps to her SUV, hoping he wouldn’t follow. He did.

“What do you mean you don’t know when he’ll be back? We have a merger next week.”

She gave him a sympathetic look as she tossed Ethan’s bag in the back seat and tried to calm her raging heart. “I’m sorry, Trip.” She shut the back door and pulled the front one open. “Catherine is starting to remember, and he wanted to be with her. I couldn’t tell him no again. He was a mess.”

T
rip let his head fall forward and squeezed the knots in his shoulders. He glanced up. “What does she remember?”

Lexi slid into the seat and lowered her window then shut her door. “The last thing she remembers is Director Johnson assign
ing her your case.” She shrugged one shoulder. “I’m hoping with Ethan there she’ll remember the rest.” She held his gaze. “I’m still going to solve this regardless of whether her memory returns.”

Trip rested his arms on her window. “
I’ve missed you, Lexi.”

She bit the inside of her cheek and clenched the steering wheel to stop
herself from reaching for him. “I’ve missed you too, Trip. I kinda got used to waking up with you next to me in bed.”

He reached in through her window and cupped her cheek, turning her face to his. He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers and lingered. If she
hadn’t been clutching the steering wheel for dear life she would have reached for him, held him to her, wanting more.

He broke the kiss. “This isn’t over.”

She swallowed around the lump in her throat. “I’ve got to go.”

Trip pushed off the SUV and tapped the
edge of the window. “I’ll be seeing you, Lexi.” He turned to walk back to the house. She thought she heard him mumble, “You can count on it,” as he walked away.

****

Trip jogged up the stairs with a
new spring in his step. A smile he couldn’t contain stretched across his face. That was the first time he’d seen her since she’d saved Celia’s life. She looked damn sexy too. Every night he’d missed her, and each night it never got easier. He still loved her, and he knew it. He’d realized it too late, but he wasn’t dead yet. There was still time to change her mind, make her believe that they could work things out. They were perfect for each other. She completed him in every sense of the word.

He whistled walking into the house. His mother walked out of the library. “I can tell by the look on your face that you saw her.”

He nodded. “I was just down the road when you called. Thanks for stalling her when you got the call from the guard at the gate.”

Trip threw his arm around his mom’s shoulder and le
d her to the kitchen. “How did it go?”

Lillian shook her head. “She sure is a stubborn one, but I’ve planted the seed
that you two belong together. You just have to give it time to grow and continue to be persistent. I’ve told her we were throwing her a party to thank her for saving Celia’s life. She tried her best to get out of it, but you know how persistent I can be.”

He grinned. “I’m sure you were. You know how much fun she had last time.”

“The Director invited everyone in her division and all of her friends. Just leave everything up to me.” She patted his stomach. “I know you’re up for the challenge.”

He chuckled. “This is one fight I won’t be losing. I can’t.”

Trip pulled a beer from the fridge and walked with his mom out on the veranda.

“She
’s special, Trip. Next time you have her, you better not let her go.”

“Why the change of heart
, mother? Is it because she’s rich and has her own money?”

Lillian didn’t even act insulted. “No dear.” She sipped her tea. “It has nothing to do with her money, or yours. She’s the first woman to stand up to me. The first woman to really capture your heart, and not to mention, she put her life on the line to protect not only her friends but this family too. She’s earned my respect and she is truly meant to be a Hathaway by all my standards. Now it’s up to you son, when you get her again, don’t let her go.”

He leaned back in the chair, stretching his legs out in front of him as he took a slow sip of his beer. “I don’t plan to, Mother.” He pursed his lips. “Not in this lifetime. I’m just waiting for the right time to sweep her off her feet.”

Lillian stood. “Don’t wait too long, dear
. She’s a good catch, and I’m sure you aren’t the only one who notices.”

The thought of another man touching her, kissing her, making her laugh made him see red. Jealousy was an unfamiliar feeling to him. He’d never cared about a woman enough to really care what she did or whom she
spent time with. Lexi was…different…special, something he hadn’t expected when all this started.  His mother was clever. She’d not only planted the seed in Lexi but now him too, and he was glad she had. It was time he reminded Lexi of their pending honeymoon. She might be pissed at first, but he’d win her over…again.

Lexi arrived home and tossed her purse and keys on the foyer table, intent on pouring over Hathaway Enterprises’ books once again. She was missing something. It had never taken her this long to find her suspect and bring them to justice. She shook her head as she headed into the kitchen where she’d left her laptop. She was too emotionally invested in the outcome.

She poured herself a cup of coffee and grabbed her laptop and
closed herself into her study. She was going to continue to put in long nights until she wrapped up the investigation.

She’d just turned her laptop on when Jonathan knocked on the door before pushing it open. He carried in a big beautiful vase with two
-dozen long-stem red roses arranged with baby’s breath and greenery along with a small box and a letter. “Lexi, these were just delivered for you.”

She rose from her chair and ran her fingers
over the red petals before leaning down and inhaling their fragrance. Jonathan handed her a sealed envelope. She slid her finger under the flap and pulled it out. Her eyes widened as she read the card, and she plopped unceremoniously down in the chair behind her legs and read the letter again.

My Dearest Lexi,

I know when we started this it was unconventional, but I’m not ready to give you up. You are the woman I never realized I needed and wanted. You’ve opened my heart in ways I thought impossible. You’ve given me so much, and I’ve given you so little. In the box is a ring, not the one from our marriage but my grandmother’s. Consider it a symbol of my promise to you.  I hope in time you’ll come to realize that you feel the same way in return. I’m looking forward to the honeymoon you promised. A full week of just you and me.

With all my love,

Trip

Lexi looked up, expecting Jonathan to be hovering nearby, but he wasn’t. He’d left without even asking whom the flowers were from. She moved them to a nearby table, and over the next two hours, she caught herself more than once letting her mind wander to Trip and how she could get out of the promise she’d made to him. Not once had he hinted that he loved her. Affection and respect were one thing, but what she wanted was love, a passionate love where the man wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

Garrett
pushed through the office door dressed in jeans that sculpted his legs and a black T-shirt stretched across taut muscles with a sexy smile stretched across his lips. His comment about a date had changed things between them. Well, not really, he was a flirt after all, but if she ever actually did go out with him, it would change things. He spotted the flowers, and the muscle in his jaw tightened before he sat down in front of her. “Let me guess. The ex is trying to win you back?”

Lexi’s
face heated as she moved to grab the letter sitting next to the flowers and shoved it in her back pocket. She didn’t hear Garrett move behind her and didn’t know he was there until he placed his palms on her hips and whispered in her ear. “Can’t say I blame him. Want to know the difference between him and me?”

He eased her back against his chest and placed a light kiss on her neck. “I would
never have let you go.”

She turned in the cramped space and placed her palms on his chest. “
Garrett…”

He sho
ok his head. “You’re not a married woman anymore.”

Her breath hitched as he leaned down and planted his firm lips on hers.
The kiss was hot, passionate, everything she’d thought it would be. He pulled her closer, pressing her body against his. His arms moved around her back. Damn, the man could kiss.

He broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against hers. “We should have done that a long time ago.”

“Garrett…” She didn’t know if she wanted to kick his ass or kiss him again. She shook her head. Just lust, she reminded herself. That was all it was.

He kissed her again before he let her go.
“Just wanted to give you something to think about before you decide to take him back.”

He stepped back and
moved to a seat across from the desk. “Believe it or not, that wasn’t the reason why I came. We’ve got a lead on who’s taking the money.”

How did the man go from
the unexpected kiss back to business in thirty seconds flat? She returned to her chair behind the barrier of her desk, putting as much space between them as possible. His sexy grin returned. He knew what he did to her. He’d given her a taste of what it would be like with him, just enough to drive her crazy, as if she needed that on top of everything else.

She shook the thoughts from her head. “What’s the lead?”

“Seemed your plan to bring Ethan to help jog Catherine’s memory worked. I also got a call from forensics right after she started to remember everything. They cracked her code. The numbers were bank accounts that the money was transferred through, and it took them awhile and some heavy digging to finally locate it in an account in the Cayman Islands.”

Lexi rubbed her temples.
“Whose account?”

Garrett
stood. “Celia Hathaway’s.”

Lexi rose to her feet. “They haven’t tipped their hand yet, have they? Please tell me they haven’t picked her up for questioning.”

Garrett’s brows knit together. “No. Why?”

“
Tell them to hold off. I know how to get her to come to me.” She rubbed her hands together as a plan started to form in her head. “It’s time I made good on a promise.”

Garret
t crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, Lexi. In another day or so they’ll have enough on her to arrest her. You don’t need to make yourself a target, and what promise are you talking about?”

The butterflies in
Lexi’s stomach started to somersault. “My honeymoon.”

He
rounded the desk and pulled her in his arms so fast she hadn’t had time to move. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

She shook her head. “I promised him a honeymoon.” A smile speared her lips. “Wait until C
elia hears that he and I will be going to the Cayman Islands and I start laying it on thick that I’m narrowing down the thief. She’ll make a mistake when her back is pressed against the wall. If she doesn’t attack me at the party Saturday night, then she’ll follow us.”

He rested his head on top of hers, not letting her out of his hold. “I don’t like it.”

She stepped out of his embrace, walked to the office door, and pulled it open. “I don’t recall asking.”

He nodded and followed behind her, stopping at the door
. He cupped her cheek and pressed his lips to hers once again, only pulling back when she started to lean into his body. “You feel it to.” He said it as more of a statement than a question as his eyes searched hers. “I know you do.”

Lexi closed the door and leaned back against the hard wood. She needed
Garrett’s advances like she needed a damn hole in the head. He was clouding her judgment, probably just as he had planned. Trip wanted her back; he’d said so in the card. And Garrett was interested too. What the hell was she doing? She pushed the thoughts away and moved back to her chair. She speed dialed the director and explained her plan and then went to bed. She had three days left before Saturday night, and there was only one place she knew that would relieve her stress.