Hot as Hell (13 page)

Noah did not know whether to hug or strangle her. “Damn it, Lexy. That’s nuts.”

“And dangerous.” Gray hovered over her. “Did you ever think to call me in on this?”

“This was something I needed to do alone.”

“Because you have a death wish?” Noah asked.

Her knuckles whitened from the strength of her grip on the edge of the desk. “Because I was walking away from the company and wanted to make sure everything was fine. I owed the family.”

Gray pointed at her. “You owed Noah.”

She shook her head. Shook it a bit too hard and fast for Noah’s liking. “We were over.”

“Stop saying that.” Noah kept losing ground on this issue. He had hoped their night of lovemaking might soften her, or at least make her stop declaring the end of their relationship to everyone who would listen.

“It’s true,” she insisted.

“That’s bullshit and you know it,” Gray said, his anger obvious.

But it did not come close to matching Lexy’s fury. “Excuse me?”

Gray’s defense stunned Noah. Rather than jump in, he waited to see what Gray would say next.

“Alexa, who are you kidding here? You did all of this with Frank and Henderson and the investigation because of Noah. That’s the same reason I backed off and made it easy for him to come find you.”

Silence filled the small hotel room after Gray’s pronouncement. Noah thought about clapping, but refrained for fear Lexy would smash the television over his head.

“The point is that Frank has not pressed charges out of respect for our past work association. He put his butt on the line. He has been monitoring the accounts and files for more activity, even set up a few traps, but everything stopped once Henderson left town.”

“What did you talk to Henderson about yesterday?” Noah asked.

Gray’s eyes grew wide. “You talked to the man?”

“I was going to search his office and he stopped me.”

Noah took a calming breath. He wanted to yell, but he wanted answers more. “What exactly did he say?”

“That he knew you and Gray. That he figured out I was following him.”

“Good job, sis.”

“Obviously someone else at the resort has information on all of this.” To Noah, the bigger issue was whether this entire episode could be traced back to the blackmail attempts against him.

Someone had been sending threats via e-mail. Someone claimed to know about his past and planned to disseminate bits of information along with some twisted facts, enough to ruin his reputation, or so the blackmailer thought. No one knew about the e-mails. Noah kept the information quiet as he tried to track down the perpetrator.

The blackmailer said he or she would be back in touch with his demands. Noah worked day and night trying to come up with a list of suspects. God knew he did not have a more interesting way to spend his evenings.

Then Lexy took off and his priorities changed. Let the blackmailer, whoever it was, try to ruin him. Noah was more concerned with making sure Lexy was safe and that their relationship was back on track. Interestingly enough, the blackmail messages stopped once he left town. Now he wondered if the attempts to frame him for theft and the threats to expose him pointed to one person. Hard to imagine there were two people out there who wanted to destroy him.

“No one else affiliated with Scanlon or our company is here.” Lexy sighed. “Well, not that I can tell.”

“It is possible someone was after Henderson for another reason. If he is involved in scams and thefts, he’d have enemies.” Gray sat back down. The energy pounding off him a minute earlier had faded a bit.

“If his body turned up anywhere else on the resort grounds but Lexy’s room, I’d agree.” Noah knew in his gut the death had something to do with the theft. He never ignored that stabbing feeling in his gut. “No, this connects to Lexy somehow.”

“Then she should leave here. It’s not safe.” Gray looked around as if wanting to pack her up and go.

Noah understood the protective feelings, but running away was not going to happen. Whoever was tracking Lexy would follow her back to San Diego. At least here in the middle of nowhere, with fewer people and a police mandate to stay put, he had a shot at narrowing the suspects. He planned to start with Tate.

“
She
can’t,” Lexy said. “The detectives want us in Utah.”

“And I want us here where I can look into this and into everyone staying or working at the resort.” Noah dreaded doing all of that work with Lexy around. He just knew she would insist on helping. More like bossing.

“She needs to have one of us with her at all times,” Gray said.

“
She
is a big girl and has gotten this far by herself, so stop treating
her
like a child,” she said.

“You’ve been lucky not to get hurt,” Noah pointed out. “Now you’re stuck with us.”

“I’d rather take my chances with the killer.”

“Never going to happen, babe.”

Her shoulders slumped. “I’m starting to hate Utah.”

Funny, but he was starting to appreciate the place.

“W
hat is this? And don’t say food.” Gray hovered over the dinner options in the dining room with an empty plate.

“I wouldn’t.”

“It sure as hell isn’t edible.”

“You don’t see me eating it, do you?” Noah stood next to his friend while drinking from the beer he smuggled into the resort after the morning trip to the police station.

Gray used a serving spoon to poke around in a bowl of vegetables, but did not take anything. “I refuse to believe people pay to eat like this.”

“You’ll notice no one else is in here.” Noah glanced around. A half-hour into the two-hour lunchtime and they were alone in the large room. Quite a difference from the pre-murder packed-to-capacity crowd.

“I thought the dead guy was keeping them away.” Gray let a blob of mashed something plop back into the bowl. “Now I’m not so sure.”

“I stopped at a fast-food joint before you got here. Actually drove twenty miles out of my way, over your sister’s protests, just to get my hands on a hamburger.” And had to go back through the drive-through a second time when Lexy ate his food.

“Where is she?”

“Aerobics class.”

“You let her go alone?”

“I walked her there.”

“Bet she complained every step of the way.”

“Nagged and complained. Your sister excels at that sort of thing.” Noah shook his head at the memory. “But I’m convinced this isn’t a case of a serial killer running around mad at the resort. The clues, what little there are, point to someone taking Henderson out for a specific reason. Lexy is safe, but I’m sticking close just in case.”

“She better be.”

“I’ll make sure of it.” And that was a promise he intended to keep. The only reason he wasn’t hovering around outside the exercise studio right now was because Gray showed up.

“At the very least, I’m surprised you’re not watching the aerobics class.” Gray’s eyebrows lifted as if he was contemplating the idea of a workout. “I’m kind of shocked
I’m
not in there. Ladies in tiny outfits. Sounds good to me.”

Noah nodded in a moment of male understanding. Oh, he had tried to weasel his way in for a peek at Lexy in her workout shorts. Even sat on the mats and tried to blend into the background, but then that bouncy instructor Marie spotted him and kicked him out.

“The resort has some dumb-ass no-visitors rule about the classes. You think I’d miss an opportunity to see Lexy dance around otherwise?”

“Show some respect.” Gray looked out the glass doors as a few women walked by.

“I respect every single part of your sister.”

“Shame you couldn’t convince her to take a two-week stay at a place that serves food.” Gray strained so his gaze could follow a younger woman as she walked out of sight.

“I’d give every dime in my bank account for a hot dog about now.”

“The owner insists that crap is good for you.” Not that Noah ever planned to eat any of it.

“The hell with that.” Gray dropped the spoon in the crystal bowl. The clanking sound echoed in the empty room.

“Blame your sister.”

“Why should I? This is all your fault.”

Noah coughed over a mouthful of beer. “How do you figure?”

“Stop being an ass and tell Alexa whatever she needs to know about your past.” Plates crashed against each other as Gray set his empty one back on the stack.

“It’s not that easy.”

“Of course it is. You’re just making it hard.” Gray dragged out a chair and sat down at the nearest table. “You know what your problem is?”

“Lexy?”

Gray motioned to Noah to take a seat. “Your ego.”

Noah thought about cracking his beer bottle over Gray’s head, but decided that would be a waste of a perfectly good beverage. He only had four left, after all.

“How do you figure my head is the problem?”

“It’s this cover thing you have going on.”

Noah could not remember a time when Gray did not side with him on a personal issue. This was a first, and not a welcome one. “My background is irrelevant to my engagement to your sister.”

“The one that’s over?”

“It. Is. Not. Over.” He was getting tired of pointing that fact out to everyone. Repetition must not be working because no one seemed to believe him.

“If your work and personal history are so unimportant, then there’s no problem to talk with her about them.”

“You’re much more logical in San Diego.” In Utah, Gray sounded like Lexy, which, in this case and by Noah’s way of thinking, was not a good thing.

Gray leaned his elbows on the table and exhaled. “Look, I get that you’re not proud of everything that came before her. About who you were in the past.”

“There’s an understatement.”

“Get over it. You are who you are today.”

Finally someone agreed with him
. “That’s my point. The man I am right now is what matters.”

Gray laughed. “Don’t try to talk in circles. I’ve known you too long to fall for that shit. This is a simple problem. You want my sister, then spill it. You want to lose her and sleep alone while someone else wins her over, keep with your current strategy.”

A wave of pain washed over him. Every cell inside Noah fought against the idea of Lexy with someone else.

Disclosing the sordid details of his life did not sit well with him, either. He learned a long time ago to keep secrets. He grew up in a family where disagreements meant punches and broken bones. Where black eyes and his mother’s tears were common. Lexy knew part of that. He had skipped over the worst when he had seen a mixture of sadness and pity in her eyes. He never wanted to see that look again.

The rest she knew only as lines from his résumé. His time in the military and later with DIA depended on his discretion and ability to separate his private persona from the one that carried a gun. He did not want to be that person or have anyone associate him with that person. Certainly not Lexy.

He could protect her, and would, but he packed the dangerous and violent side away a long time ago. Dragging all of that history out now could only cause trouble. Trouble for his former bosses and trouble for anyone who tried to care about him.

“I’ll think about it,” he mumbled.

“She just wants to feel included.”

“I said okay.”

“She’s lived with secrets a long time. I don’t think she wants more.”

“Do you not know that you should shut up when you win an argument?” The deficiency appeared to run in the family.

The tension at the corners of Gray’s mouth eased. “I was talking about my parents.”

“Now there’s an interesting duo.” Many words described his future in-laws. Interesting was the least offensive. Despite that, he liked the older couple. They were smart and loved their kids, even though they saddled them with strange baggage.

“Scary is the word you’re looking for.” Gray stared at something on the other side of the door.

Noah wanted to turn around, but he refrained. “But harmless.”

“Tell that to the squirrel my father chased around the golf course with a club a few years back.”

Noah had heard the animal-stalking story more as a country-club rumor than as a fact. From what he could tell, the meds calmed some of his future father-in-law’s rougher edges. If that ever wasn’t the case, he would act then. Until that time, he did what he could to help with the family’s hoarding issues and ignore the rest.

“About Lexy—”

Noah decided to end the man-to-man chat before one of them got killed. “Since when do you know so much about women?”

“Oh, hell.” Gray dropped back in his chair. “I don’t know a damn thing about women other than they’re utterly indecipherable.”

“Your sister is a woman, you know.”

“Her I get.” Gray’s eyes narrowed. “And I’d like to get that one.”

“Who?”

Gray hitched his chin toward the door. “The one at the door.”

This time Noah did look. Part of him wanted to smile, but the other part—the part where he groaned in frustration—won out.

“That, is Detective Ellen Sommerville. Petite and scary as hell.”

The detective picked that minute to look in the door. There was no hiding now. The woman was on the prowl and he looked like the target. Again.

Gray’s mouth broke into a smile. “Cute.”

“If you say so.”

“I’m a fan of dark curly hair. And…well, I can’t quite see what’s under that uniform, but it looks promising.”

The desert air had melted his friend’s brain cells. Noah decided that was the only explanation. “She carries a gun.”

“That’s not a turnoff.”

“A big gun.”

“Keep talking. What else?”

The detective opened the door with enough force to make it bounce against the inside wall.

“Damn, she’s hot,” Gray said with more than a little awe in his voice.

“Did I mention that she knows how to use that weapon strapped to her side?”

“That’s a bit more problematic, but still workable.”

“And she thinks I killed a guy.” Since the detective was only a few feet away, Noah whispered that last part.

Gray’s smile faded. “Oh, that Detective Sommerville.”

“Yes, that Detective Sommerville,” she said. “That would be me.”

Playing the role of the perfect gentleman, Gray rose to his feet and held out his hand. Even wore his best hunting-for-a-willing-woman smile. “I’m Gray. Alexa’s brother.”

The detective stared at the outstretched palm for a second before joining in the handshake. “I thought she went by Lexy.”

Gray shrugged. “She answers to both.”

“But Lexy fits her better,” Noah said.

“I heard you were coming.” The detective glanced around. “Isn’t someone supposed to be with you.”

“Dex. He’ll be here in a few hours.”

The detective reached for her notepad with her free hand. “Dex?”

“Is that why you’re here? To interview more people who didn’t have anything to do with the murder?” Noah asked without standing up. He figured he and the good detective had gotten past the false friendship stage.

“Actually, yes.” She broke the contact with Gray. “I was hoping Mr. Stuart—”

“Call me Gray.”

“—brought the missing documents with him.”

Noah knew the exact moment Gray realized his flirting was not working. Happened about a second after the temperature in the room dropped and the smile froze on his face. The fact the detective’s hand moved to the top of her gun played a role as well.

“Excuse me?” Gray asked.

“Documents mysteriously disappeared from the crime scene.” The detective scowled at Noah before continuing. “I assumed you were running an extra set over for all of us to review.”

Gray’s mouth dropped open. “Do you not have fax machines in Utah?”

If the detective got the joke, she wasn’t letting on. “Did you or did you not bring the documents, Mr. Stuart?”

“I didn’t know I was supposed to bring anything.”

“Because you weren’t,” Noah mumbled.

“I came here because I was worried about my sister. I heard she was being questioned by you. That’s a new thing in her life.”

The detective nodded. “It’s my job to talk to everyone associated with Mr. Henderson’s murder.”

“I wanted to see if Alexa and Noah needed anything.” Gray held up his hands. “That’s it. Promise.”

“They seem to be doing fine without you. Mr. Paxton has done quite a job of protecting your sister’s interests.”

Gray tried another smile. “Better not use those words around Alexa.”

When his friend’s flirting failed, Noah decided to turn the conversation away from Henderson and the paperwork, which was now in the safe in his room. “Where’s your partner?”

“With your girlfriend.”

That got Noah up and out of his chair. “Where?”

“Are you worried about Ms. Stuart being interviewed without you for some reason?”

Hell, yeah
. “Lexy can take care of herself.”

The detective smiled. “Interesting.”

“What’s so interesting?” Gray asked.

“You gentlemen. Never seen two guys go from flirting to angry so fast. Usually the gun turns men off. Seems to have had the opposite effect on your friend here.” The detective nodded in Gray’s general direction when she said that.

No way. Noah refused to agree. “I was not flirting.”

“I’m naturally friendly,” Gray muttered.

“I’m sure you are.”

“Was there something you wanted, detective?” Noah asked.

“No, I have everything I need at the moment.”

Noah guessed the detective was so satisfied because she and her partner managed to get Lexy alone. Something Noah vowed would not happen again.

“I’ll leave you two to your meal.” The detective left the room with a smile as wide as the doorway.

“Still think she’s cute?” Noah asked once they were alone again.

“Cute, but dangerous.”

“I’m not touching that.”

“Think we should find Alexa?”

Noah exhaled as he stood up. “Yeah, with my luck she’s convinced the other detective I killed Henderson by now.”

Gray cuffed Noah on the shoulder. “You’re the one who proposed.”

“Marriage seemed like such a good idea a few months ago.”

“If you say so.”