Double Dealing (2013) (18 page)

Rae moved slowly around the herb garden, as the first waves of June’s summer heat beat down on her. She wiped the perspiration from her forehead and tried to ignore the noise of the heavy construction taking place directly across the river.

“Some wedding present,” she muttered under her breath, as she clipped fresh chervil from the thriving plants.

Jed had saved that little piece of news until after the wedding. At the time, she hadn’t been sure whether to kiss him or strangle him. Since the construction had begun, she was quite sure. She should have strangled him.

“Dammit, Rae! You know what the doctor said!”

Straightening with a groan, she watched her husband stride across the back lawn. “You are supposed to be at the office!”

“I stopped at the site, and it was a damned good thing I did.” Reaching her, he took the basket out
of her hands. “I saw you from across the river. It can’t be good for you, bending and straightening like that.”

“Will you relax, Jed!” she said in exasperation, absently resting her hands on her rounded belly. “I’m having a baby, for goodness’ sake! The doctor only said to be sensible about what I do. Cutting herbs is hardly the decathlon.”

“This heat is sure to make you sick again,” he said, concern evident in his hazel eyes. “And you were already sick this morning.”

“If you don’t knock off this mother hen bit, I’ll throw up on your shoes,” she vowed, as he put his arm around her.

He only laughed in answer.

“I love you,” she murmured, sliding her arms around his trim waist.

Jed kissed her hair. “Not as much as I love you.”

He held her tightly, and she marveled at how much his embrace could renew her. Like the garden, their love thrived on the complete trust they had in each other. The baby inside her kicked vigorously.

Jed chuckled indulgently. “Definitely a candidate for the Barkeley Club.”

“The Waters Club,” Rae corrected, snuggling as close to him as her six-month pregnancy would allow.

Across the river, the lunch whistle sounded, drawing their attention. Keeping an arm around each other, they looked across to the site.

“Isn’t it looking great?” Jed asked proudly as he
gazed at the steel girders thrusting up out of the ground.

“Great,” Rae said dryly.

“Well, I see I’ve missed the wedding!”

Startled, both of them turned around at the sound of the voice. Rae’s mouth dropped open in complete astonishment, as Merriman Barkeley smiled cheerfully at her. Tall, with silvery-dark hair, her uncle was elegantly dressed in a white suit. He also had his arms around two very young, very beautiful women, who walked on either side of him, as he made his way down the garden path.

“Uncle Merry! What are you doing here?” Rae asked, as her initial shock wore off. She hurried over to receive his exuberant hug.

“All in good time, dear child,” he said, chuckling. “First, I see everything worked out with Jed. And very well.”

“No thanks to you,” she said tartly, then grinned.

“Jed, my boy!” Merriman exclaimed, as Jed joined them. “Welcome to the family.”

“You old reprobate. How are you?” Jed laughed and shook hands with the older man. Rae stepped back to her husband’s side, and he put his arm around her waist again.

“I’ve never been fitter, my boy! Oh, children, let me introduce you to Nadine and Michelle. They don’t speak a word of English. Only French.”

The women smiled at the mention of their names. Smiling back, Rae murmured to Merriman. “Now why
don’t
I think you found them at a monastery?”

“Must have been one hell of a prayer,” Jed muttered, smiling at the women.

“Well, I did say a few grateful prayers after I met up with the girls,” Merriman admitted. “At my age, I had to.”

Giggling, Rae shook her head.

“What is this, Mr. Merriman?” Burrows demanded, striding toward the group.

“Burrows!” Merriman waved happily at him. “I was wondering where you were hiding.”

“I was in the house preparing lunch. I ask you again, sir, what is this?”

Merriman winked at Rae, then said, “I came back for the wedding, of course, and I brought Nadine for you, old fellow.”

He indicated the girl on his right, who smiled brilliantly at the butler.

Rae couldn’t stand it. She fell back into Jed’s arms in a fit of laughter. Jed was laughing so hard that she thought they would both collapse onto the brick-lined path.

“Mr. Merriman!” Burrows said sternly. “I can find my own women, thank you very much!”

“You’ll hurt the poor girl’s feelings, Burrows—”

“Please!” Jed broke in, trying to control himself. “You’ve got a lot of explaining to do, Merriman.”

“It’s quite simple, my boy. As you have probably surmised, I never retired to a monastery.” The old scoundrel smiled happily. “Thank goodness! Instead I have been relaxing under a Tahitian sun, where I met these two lovely creatures, while my little matchmaking attempt with you two took its course.”

“Matchmaking!” Rae and Jed exclaimed.

“Of course.” He waved an arm expansively. “I took one look at Jed, all grown up, and knew he’d be perfect for you, Rachel. You weren’t getting any younger, you know. So I agreed to sell the house, then deeded it to you. In the ruckus, I figured you two would make contact.” He jerked his head at Burrows. “Fortunately, my ‘spy’ here didn’t screw things up too much.”

“I beg to differ with you, sir,” Burrows said, glowering at Merriman. “I brought them through it quite handily, in spite of the quagmire you created.”

“Why you—” Rae turned to Jed. “Do you want to kill them, or should I?”

“We’ll kill them together,” Jed pronounced.

“Now, children.” Smiling, Merriman wagged a finger at them. “You must admit I was quite right.”

“He’s got us there,” Jed said, gazing at his wife.

Suddenly, Merriman pointed behind them. “Just what the hell is that?”

“The condominium complex,” Rae said sweetly. “That’s where it finally ended up.”

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Jed asked.

“No, it is not beautiful!” Merriman bellowed in outrage. “I won’t stand for this … this monstrosity in my backyard!”

“Whose backyard?” Rae asked, her voice dripping sugar.

“Well, of course, you’re going to give me back the house now,” Merriman said confidently. “I only deeded it over to you to get things rolling along.”

Rae looked at Jed. Jed gazed back at her. They
smiled evilly and turned to the man who had wreaked so much havoc.

“No.”

“What!” Merriman squawked. “It’s my house! Mine! You have to give it back!”

To everyone’s amazement, Burrows burst into raucous laughter.

“Well done!” he gasped out, tears beginning to stream down his cheeks. “Serves him right!”

“I suppose he could live in the trophy room,” Jed conceded, grinning at Rae.

“It has been his home for many years,” she admitted, winking at Jed. “And Harvey’s been lonely.”

“I’m not sleeping with any damn spider!”

“The trophy room or nothing,” Rae said, shrugging. She turned back to her husband, and they walked slowly toward the house, leaving Merriman shouting curses behind them.

“By the way, I’m kidnapping you for lunch, my love,” she said, rubbing her cheek against his shoulder. “Do you mind?”

Jed kissed her. “A pleasure, Mrs. Waters. As always.”

Welcome to Loveswept!

Whether you’re on the beach, in the park, or sitting poolside, there’s nothing like spending a warm summer day reading a good book – especially one that has romance, sizzling passion, and deeply felt emotion. Luckily, we have just the thing to make your summer even more sweltering – in the very best way.

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TEMPTING THE DEVIL
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THE STORY GUY
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SILVER BRACELETS
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DANNY’S GIRL
, Ruth Owen’s riveting
AND BABIES MAKE FOUR
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SINS OF INNOCENCE
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TIL THE END OF TIME
, and Katie Rose’s irresistible
A HINT OF MISCHIEF
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If you love romance … then you’re ready to be
Loveswept
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Gina Wachtel

Associate Publisher

P.S. Watch for these terrific Loveswept titles coming soon: August heats up with three e-originals: Stacey Kennedy’s intoxicating
CLAIMED
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SLOW SUMMER BURN
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BLUE LINES
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SURRENDER THE SHADOW
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COURTING TROUBLE
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CRESCENDO
, Iris Johansen’s tantalizing
YORK, THE RENEGADE
and Ruth Owen’s ultra-sexy
BODY HEAT
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THE JUDGE AND THE GYPSY, FIREBRAND
, and
THE LAST DANCE
, beloved author Iris Johansen’s
THE DELANEY’S OF KILLAROO
, Fran Baker’s enchanting
SEEING STARS
, as well as two original stories: Lauren Layne’s seductive
AFTER THE KISS
, and Mira Lyn Kelly’s sexy and sweet
TRUTH OR DARE
.

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Read on for excerpts from more
Loveswept
titles …

Read on for an excerpt from Ruthie Knox’s

Flirting with Disaster

Chapter One

“Yes,” Katie said, gripping the steering wheel harder. “Uh-huh, yes, I get it.” She glanced in the rearview mirror, signaled left, and changed lanes. The traffic was getting thicker as they approached Louisville.

Her brother kept talking, his voice robbed of its customary power by the cheap speakers of her cell phone, which sat in a cup-holder mount and broadcast Caleb’s warnings upward at her head. “If you have the slightest indication that there’s danger attached to this threat, you’re going to call me, and—”

“Yesssssss,” she droned.

The drama was wasted on Caleb, who was going to give her this lecture for the seventeenth time whether she wanted to hear it or not.

It was wasted on Katie’s traveling companion, too. Sean didn’t react to anything she did. Ever.

Katie glanced at the man in the passenger seat of her Jetta, just to be sure. His expression as he stared out the windshield matched the bleak, featureless expanse of southbound I-71. He was like a human wall of granite, completely impervious to everything about her.

A stern, gorgeous cliff face.

Suppressing a sigh, she tuned back in to Caleb’s speech. “—you to be in charge of anything along those lines, Sean. This is a trial run for Katie. I’m only letting her go because Judah insists she’s the one he wants to work with. You got that, Katie? It’s Sean’s show. I need you to play nice and stay out of his way.”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “I know the deal. I agreed to the deal. I am on board with the deal. Now can we stop talking about it, please?”

She flinched at the way her voice came out, sharper than she’d meant to sound. It was only because she was nervous about this trip. Her palms had gone clammy and slimed the leather wheel cover, so uncomfortable did it make her to venture into an unknown city to do an unfamiliar job with a man who didn’t like her.

She had a tendency to bristle when nervous.

One more bad habit she needed to make an effort to tame. Better to be professional. What Katie really needed to figure out was how to act cool and icy like some kind of Bond Girl assassin, slinking around and poisoning people by slipping strychnine into their drinks.

Except without the poisoning. Her goal was to win herself a promotion from office manager to agent for Caleb’s security company, not to become an assassin. Not unless her ex-husband strolled into town needing assassinating.

“We’ll stop talking about it when I’m positive you’re going to cooperate,” Caleb said. “Right now, you sound like you’re blowing smoke up my ass.”

“I’m not,” she replied levelly. “I promise. I understand that this is your company and Sean’s assignment, and I’m just a companion on this trip. I promise I’ll be quiet and helpful and learn things, okay?”