A Bad Boy is Good to Find (27 page)

“No, thanks,” said Lizzie, digging her nails into her palms. “We’re very much enjoying our stay in Dumas House. It is a fine old place. Must cost a fortune to maintain.”

“Labor of love, my dear. Labor of love. The place loses money hand over fist. Would have fallen down years ago if I hadn’t poured every penny I own into it. My wife wrings her hands over it every year, but to me it’s just my duty as a citizen of the parish.” He gave her a saccharine smile. “Now back to the matter at hand. As I said, it may be impossible to find Mr. Beale…”

“Your secretary said the renovations on the house are paid for by a trust,” cut in Lizzie. “A legacy that came with the house.”

“Why, yes, that is true. It was important to perform necessary repairs in order to preserve the integrity of the estate.” He linked his fingers together, looking relaxed as if they were discussing the weather prospects for his weekend golf game.

“Exactly how much is in that legacy?”

“Sadly, almost nothing at all, I’m afraid. It’s shocking the amount of money a place like that will eat through. As I said, it’s been a labor of love. I’m just glad of opportunities such as the one provided by the fine production company you’re working with. How many more days of filming do you have? Two, wasn’t it?”

“It could be a few more since the power outage has slowed things down.”

“I don’t know if that will be possible. I believe we have a long-standing rental next week that will require the property to be vacant. I’ve taken measures to make sure the electrical problems will be solved immediately so there should be no further delays in your filming.”

“Look,” Con leaned forward. “I’m not here to talk about the damn house. Can you help me find my brother or not?”

Lizzie’s ears pricked up at his aggressive tone.

“Regretfully, I suspect your brother has gone the way of so many of the men of your family.” The lawyer tipped his head to one side and lifted an eyebrow. “A fate most of us around here had sadly assumed to be yours.”

“Yeah? Well, guess what, I’m alive and kicking and I bet my brother is too.”

“I see you’ve inherited the Beale temper.” Stapleton leaned back in his chair and
chuckled
. “I bet you like a drink too, don’t you, son? Bourbon?” He reached into his desk and drew out a small bottle.

Con blew out a disgusted snort and placed a clenched fist on Eric Stapleton, esq.’s cluttered desk. “I didn’t plan to come back here—ever—but Lizzie brought me down here and now I’m up to my neck in the mess I left behind and I’m not leaving until I get some answers.”

Lizzie stared at him.

“I have reason to believe you know where my brother is, and if you’ll give me that information you won’t see me again.”

“I have absolutely no idea where your brother is. Drunk in a ditch somewhere, I expect, so don’t you come in here with that tone of voice. I remember you when you were just a snot-nosed punk brought into court for stealing a frozen turkey.” He broke into a grating laugh. Con seemed to shrink back a little. “You probably don’t even remember that, but I do. Another one of
those
Beale’s. Like father like son.”

“Don’t you talk to him like that!” Lizzie was on her feet before she knew what was happening. “We happen to know that he and his brother are the heirs of Dumas House and that you are deliberately concealing that knowledge from everyone in the hope of taking possession of the property yourself!” Her shrill voice startled her.

Stapleton’s lips parted for second, then he drew them back together in a crooked line. “You have no idea what you’re talking about, and I want you out of this office, now!”

He pressed his finger on the intercom. “Vera! Escort our visitors out immediately.”

“You haven’t heard the end of this, Mr. Stapleton,” Lizzie said calmly. “Conroy Beale is back and he plans to demand his rights.”

As Vera escorted them down the cramped hallway, Lizzie couldn’t resist asking, “So is Mr. Milford’s will kept in this office?”

“Oh, yes, Mr. Stapleton is the executor of his estate, but of course there’s a copy filed with the—”

“Loose lips sink ships, Vera!” boomed the lawyer’s voice from behind them. “Get them out of here and come into my office immediately.”

“Y…yes sir,” she stammered, giving Lizzie a wary glance.

Out on the tiny lawn Con ran his hands through his hair. “Why’d you have to go off on a tangent like that? We should have played it cool. Now he knows we know and he’s basically the enemy. We’ll never get anything out of him.”

“That house is your right, Con.”

“Bullshit. It’s my nothing. That mean old bastard left my mother to die. Didn’t even open her letters. I don’t want nothing of his. You expect me to think about a house when we don’t even know if my brother is—” He shuddered and broke off.

“So you feel you don’t deserve it because you abandoned your brother? Help me out here. You didn’t have any problem with planning to live the good life on the proceeds of
my
Grandfather’s corporate greed, and now you’re too moral to inherit your own wealth?”

Con’s head kicked back. His eyes shone, fierce. “Look, I already said I was wrong to have tried to marry you the way I did. That’s why I agreed to go along with your crazy TV wedding scheme and how I ended up back down here in the first place. Now I’m here, the only, and I mean it, the
only
thing I want is to find my brother. Stapleton can go live in that house himself and party all day and night for all I care.”

Lizzie growled with frustration. “This is why poor people don’t get ahead. You’re afraid to stir up trouble so you let people walk all over you. I liked you better when you were a big faker trying to marry money and claim your place on top of the pie!”

“Can we get the hell out of here before he has us arrested for something?” Con turned to where Dino had parked the Jeep and they both noticed Dino at the same time, backed up against the outside of the building, camera rolling.

“Uh, hi Dino.” Lizzie racked her brain to figure out what they’d revealed.
That Con had tried to marry her for her money
. Her face turned beet red. “Can you, uh, turn it off?”

He lowered the camera. A smile crept across his face. “I’ll rewind over this on two conditions.”

“What?” snapped Con.

“One, you have to buy me a six pack of beer.”

“Done.”

“Two, you have to go after that sonofabitch. I was listening at the window. His type makes me want to spit nails. Con, wouldn’t you like to see Maisie sharpen her journalistic claws on that bastard?”

Con raised an eyebrow very slightly. “When you put it that way, I think we can make a deal.”

“Any fine local brew will be acceptable.”

Lizzie let out a silent sigh of relief. “Dino, you are a man in a million.”

“And for the record, I think you two are made for each other.”

Lizzie frowned and tossed her hair. “Let’s go find a grocery store.”

Chapter 20

T
he power was still out when the local news crew arrived to do the arranged interview with Con. They brought their own lighting, which was lucky as dusk was falling and candles didn’t do more than punctuate the sweaty darkness descending on the house. The dining room was ablaze with spotlights and floodlights and people milled about, stepping over trailing wires and talking urgently into cell phones.

The perky local reporter with her spackled-on makeup and molded wire hair made Maisie look washed out and girlish by comparison, but Maisie didn’t seem to notice. She was too busy glad handing and name dropping.

Lizzie shook her head. She had ample opportunity to shake her head since she wasn’t wanted on camera. No, it was
The Con Beale Show
and his impending wedding rated only a brief mention in the interviewer’s introduction.

“The camera does love him, doesn’t it,” whispered Raoul, as he and Lizzie stood side by side in the shadows, watching Con’s elegant profile on a monitor. “Cool under pressure, that one. You picked a winner when you chose him. And you didn’t even know he owned this place!” Raoul slid his arm around Lizzie’s shoulders and squeezed her affectionately.

A spore of guilt exploded inside her. Did Raoul really think she loved Con? Despite overhearing them in the bedroom, he didn’t seem to get that they were just doing this for the money. Amazing what people will believe when they want to badly enough.

She knew how that went
.

“He doesn’t own it yet,” she muttered.

“But these reporters are hot on the trail. Miss Thing there just said it.” He nodded his head at the female reporter. “He’ll get his due. I know it. You’ll be living the high life again, by his side. It’s like a fairy tale.”

She froze. The script she’d written for her and Con didn’t extend past payday, and here was Raoul conjuring up a Spanish-moss-bedecked happily-ever-after. Somehow, after last night’s unexpected intimacy, that scared the hell out of her.

She blew out a slow, silent breath. “Can you really see Con living here in swamp-ville again?”

“Yes.” He didn’t even look at her. “He loves this place. Can’t you tell? The way he’s always pointing out the birds and the trees and all that. He’s right at home here.”

Huh? Were they talking about the same person? Or was Con giving jovial swamp tours while she holed up in the bedroom?

What did it matter? “Even if the house does turn out to be his, he couldn’t afford to keep it. The lawyer’s already spent the money and a place like this costs a fortune to maintain.”

“Con will think of something. He’s a hustler,” Raoul said cheerfully.

“I won’t argue with that,” she murmured.

The reporter turned to face the camera. “So, Daniel Beale, Danny, Tiny, if you are out there, or if anyone out there knows where he is, please contact Eyewitness News at the number on your screen and reunite this family torn apart by tragedy.”

“I guess they dub the violins in later.” Dino snuck up behind them.

“Shut your mouth,” whispered Raoul. “I’m all choked up.”

He wasn’t kidding. Raoul still had his arm around her, and Lizzie could feel his chest heaving. She slid her arm around him and patted his back. “You’re a very caring person, Raoul.”

“It’s my downfall, sweetheart.”

“That’s a wrap,” called the female reporter. “We’re going to head back and cut a segment for the late news. We’ll pass any information we get right along to you. Thanks so much, Conroy, I think your story will touch a lot of hearts.”

Con said something inaudible and shook her hand. He searched the darkness, and when he found Lizzie, the look he gave her made her catch her breath.

This was all your idea
.

“Excuse me.” She disentangled herself from Raoul and pushed past Dino toward Con. “You did great.” She stepped over a lighting cable just as someone swished it from between her legs.

“It feels weird to have people know so much about me.” He looked rather dazed.

“Weird but good, though, right?” She squeezed his upper arm.

“Let’s go outside.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the back door.

With a burst of excitement she followed him out into the darkened garden. The screech of tree frogs filled her ears and grass pricked her toes through her sandals as he pulled her off the slate patio out onto the lawn.

“Where are we going? I can’t see a thing!”

She swatted at mosquitoes she could hear but not see. A firefly glow in front of her face made her gasp.

Con’s gripped her hand tightly and sped into a run as they plunged deeper into the muggy blackness. He untucked his shirt with his other hand, and she smelled the raw tang of his sweat.

“You stink!” She laughed.

“No kidding!”

Lizzie stumbled over her sandal and he steadied her, then drew her in for a quick, hard kiss on the mouth that made her belly quiver.

Breathless, not knowing whether to gasp or laugh, Lizzie did both. Con unbuttoned his shirt and stripped it off, then unbuckled his belt.

“What are you doing?”

“Going in for a swim. Get undressed.”

“What?” She glanced to her right and saw the sinuous movement of reflected moonlight on the black surface of the bayou.

“In there?”

“Where else?” Con kicked off his shoes and shucked off his pants. Moonlight glazed his face and shoulders as he grabbed her around the waist and kissed her again. She felt his erection hard against her belly, through her thin shirt.

“Get undressed,” he growled, tugging at the waistband of her shorts. Suddenly he pushed up her shirt and closed his mouth over her bra-covered nipple with force, lashing it with his tongue through the satin fabric as his hands settled on her waist.

She gripped his hair with her hands, explosive laughter and fierce arousal surging inside her. Con’s tongue on her breasts was driving her half wild.

But not wild enough to get into a muddy black river slithering with all kinds of creepy creatures.

“There’s no way I’m going in there!” she rasped, hardly able to catch her breath.

“Oh, yeah?” In one deft movement he swept her off her feet—which didn’t feel nearly as romantic as it sounded—and slung her against his hard chest.

“There could be alligators, snakes, anything!”

Con chuckled. He swiped a bite at her neck, grazing it with his teeth. “Snap snap.”

“Con, please, agggghhhhh!” she screamed as he charged right into the bayou with her held firm in his arms. Water splashed her face and closed over her legs as she clung to him, shrieking.

“Shhh, they’ll think I’m drowning you.” Con’s hot dark voice and the warm dark water swirled around her. “Feels good, huh?”

“It is cooler than the air.” She tried to sound calm. Her arms were around his neck in a noose hold. “Don’t put me down. I don’t want my feet on the bottom.”

“No prob. I’ll just hold you. I’m enjoying the view.”

She glanced down at her chest where her shirt was bunched up to reveal breasts lifted and separated by her now totally transparent bra.

“My clothes are all wet.”

“You’re a keen observer.” The low vibration of his voice shivered into her ear. “Now all we need to do is get ’em off.”