Have Gown, Need Groom (12 page)

“I spent the day with the Hartwell family.”

“Well, do tell. Anything going on with that daughter of his?”

“Wiley has three daughters.”

“You know which one I mean. The doctor you seem so taken with.”

Jake grimaced. When had he told Muldoon he was attracted to Hannah? “You’re reading between the lines again, partner.”

Muldoon laughed. “Yeah, right. Now, tell me about the doc.”

“There’s nothing to tell. Do you have an update?”

“Always working, Tippins. Maybe you need to get a good woman and settle down.”

A little white house with a picket fence and three kids? With Hannah?

“You’re the one who told me the chief wants this thing solved before Christmas. I’m working on a deadline here, I don’t have time for women.”

Muldoon chuckled. “All right. I don’t have much, but we did confirm that the dates Hartwell traveled to various cities to tape commercials coincide with dates of major movements of stolen cars.”

Jake nodded. “Any of the contacts Hartwell made suspicious?”

“Two of the men he had lunch with in L.A. have priors for fraud, and his daughter, Mimi, accompanied him on three of the trips.”

Jake heard Muldoon’s wife calling him. He wondered how it felt to have a wife at home.

Something he would never know.

“That’s it for now. I’ll keep you posted,” Muldoon said. “Gotta go read my boy a bedtime story.”

Jake thanked him and hung up, his mind envisioning the homey scene, his thoughts straying. He imagined himself reading to a small child, a little boy of his own. Snuggling with a wife after the kids were asleep.

Disgusted with himself, he turned the radio to a country and western song, grimacing as the twangy voice of a popular singer belted out the nineties hit, “Achy Breaky Heart.” Just listening to the words reinforced his vow to forget a personal relationship with Hannah.

His heart wouldn’t be broken—because he would never
ever
let himself fall in love. Because after love, rejection, pain or heartache followed.

Chapter Thirteen

After Hannah had arranged the collection in the curio cabinet, she dragged herself from her nostalgic state and tried to focus on the paperwork her father had asked her to examine. She’d been studying the figures for over an hour, but something seemed off, just as her father had said. She still hadn’t quite figured out the discrepancy when the doorbell rang. Her fingers momentarily tightened over the edges of the folder—who could be at the door?

Jake?

No, he wouldn’t be so bold as to come over this late. Not after the way they’d parted.

Uncomfortable, she glanced down at her flannel pj’s and frowned. Seconds later, she decided if her guest was Jake, flannel would be best—neither one of them needed the temptation of anything slinkier.

The buzzer cut through the air, ringing two, then three times in rapid succession. Whoever it was seemed awfully impatient. Scrambling into her robe, she hurried toward the door, checked the peephole and saw a tear-streaked face—Mimi.

“What’s wrong?” Hannah quickly opened the door and ushered her sister inside.

“I don’t know,” Mimi wailed, throwing her hands in the air dramatically. “But Joey deserted me again!”

Hannah frowned, handing her sister a tissue to dab at her mascara-stained eyes and puffy cheeks. Mimi looked like a raccoon. “Sit down and tell me what happened.”

Mimi slumped into the big armchair and flopped her long legs in front of her, sniffing. “I don’t know. We were having a good time, we’d gone back to my place and he loved my dessert.”

“I can’t believe he could eat anything else after that Thanksgiving feast—”

“Oh, Hannah, honey, you are
so
naive, sometimes I can’t believe you were engaged.”

Hannah suddenly saw erotic images, only not of Mimi and Joey, but of her and Jake. Irritated, she said, “Sorry, I thought you were being literal. Go on.”

Mimi shook her head as if Hannah were a lost cause, jumped up and hurried into the kitchen, then returned with a bottle of wine. She poured them each a glass and made herself comfortable on the sofa again. Hannah ran her finger around the rim of the glass, waiting for Mimi to elaborate.

“Well, like I said, we were enjoying our dessert, then Joey’s pager went off and he got up and ran off without even finishing….” Mimi hesitated, actually blushing as if she didn’t want to blurt out the particulars. It must have been wicked, Hannah thought, for her sister’s cheeks to redden.

“Did he give an explanation?”

“He said he had work to do.” Mimi hugged her knees to her chest. “What kind of work is so important he would have to rush off on Thanksgiving to do it? For heaven’s sakes, he’s not a doctor or even a veterinarian! Used-car salesmen don’t have work emergencies.”

Hannah studied Mimi’s disappointed expression and wished she had some answers. Unfortunately, Mimi was right. “So why do you think he left?”

“He’s found another woman,” Mimi said in a shrill voice. “I just know he’s in bed with her right now.”

“Now, Mimi, don’t jump to conclusions. You don’t know anything for sure.”

“I know the woman’s name.”

“Her name?”

“Yes, some floozy named Buffy.” Mimi downed her drink and poured another.

Hannah wrinkled her nose. She’d discovered a woman’s name scrawled in the margins of one of Joey’s files that her father had given her, the name
Buffy.

What exactly was Mimi’s boyfriend up to?

J
AKE SAW
J
OEY
slip into the used-car lot office. He sank lower into his Cherokee, hoping not to be noticed. Joey had raced up minutes before, jumped from his BMW and hauled inside like a bat out of hell. Jake peered through the glass-encased front of the building, saw lights flicker on and he tracked Joey with his eyes as he darted through the building. Minutes later, DeLito emerged, looking frazzled and out of sorts. He dashed into his Beamer and raced from the parking lot on two wheels.

Jake cranked his Jeep and followed, making sure to keep a safe distance through traffic, always lagging behind a car or two so Joey wouldn’t notice the tail. They wound through the central part of town, past a row of warehouses where he suspected DeLito might stop, but the man traveled on, finally pulling in at a local pub.

Jake parked across the street and watched DeLito climb out, his shoulders hunched against the evening wind, his jaw tight. He strode into the bar as if he had a definite purpose. Jake slipped from his Jeep and followed, hiding in the crowd a few stools down so DeLito wouldn’t spot him. The stench of cigarettes and sweat surrounded him, country tunes trilling out through an old-fashioned jukebox.

A brassy, hard-edged blonde wearing leather pants and a biker’s jacket wove between the patrons and settled in a nearby booth with DeLito. Jake couldn’t make out what they were saying, but they ordered drinks and talked in hushed voices. He nursed a beer and tried to figure out the relationship—personal or business? The woman was a distinctive change from Hannah’s sister, then again, he’d never seen the connection between Mimi and DeLito. Mimi obviously preferred to live on the edge a little more than her older sister.

DeLito lit a cigarette, blew a puff of smoke in the air and glared at the woman, his other hand pounding the table once to emphasize his words. A few customers nearby glanced their way and DeLito seemed to realize he’d drawn attention, so he leaned toward the woman as if to shield them from curious onlookers. A heated exchange took place, then the woman slid a plain manila envelope across the scarred table. DeLito picked it up, stuffed it inside his leather jacket and hurried away. Jake tossed a few bills on the table to cover his tab and stalked outside, more certain than ever that Wiley’s right-hand man was involved in the theft ring.

H
ANNAH’S EARS
still burned from gossip as she drove toward her father’s car lot the next day. The nurses’ lounge had buzzed with rumors that Seth had left town because he was devastated over their canceled wedding. It was also whispered he’d run off with a nurse from obstetrics. And still others claimed he’d gone to a New Age retreat to lock himself in with a bunch of naked people and rediscover his inner soul. Something about washing and anointing each other’s bodies with ginseng oil and singing to the moon….

Of course, the rumors were all false; she couldn’t imagine Seth doing anything so outlandish as rubbing any kind of oil over a stranger’s naked body, but the chief of staff’s look of disapproval when she’d passed him in the hall had scorched her. Maybe she’d have to move across the country to escape the gossip—although she’d probably have to
leave
the country since her dad’s ads ran from the east coast all the way to the west, where his latest car lot had opened.

Christmas decorations glittered from the sidewalks, garland was draped around phone poles, and miniature trees lit with white lights were interspersed throughout the town. She steered past the newly erected Christmas-tree lot, past the old-fashioned soda shop and Cindy’s Cut & Curl until she reached her father’s car lot. She was supposed to meet Mimi and Alison here so they could go tree hunting together. With any luck, her father would go instead of sending Jake and Joey as he’d mentioned the day before.

A laugh bubbled in her throat when she saw the car her father had fashioned as a sleigh. He’d decorated the red Cadillac with bows and garland and candy canes, and he sat on the back wearing a Santa costume, his black-booted feet dangling over into the back seat. Apparently Wiley was offering free Santa visits to the customers’ kids, along with candy and a specially designed coloring book featuring a dozen different kinds of cars. He’d strategically placed a fully enlarged picture of the cover on a huge sign hanging above the makeshift sleigh. Already a line of eager kids snaked through the used cars, while a photographer stayed on hand to capture the tender moment for a mere five dollars. A toddler sat in her father’s lap, clutching a half-eaten sucker in one hand, tugging at Wiley’s fake white beard with the other. The child was obviously determined to find out if Hannah’s father was the real Santa.

A brief moment of insanity passed through her again as her imagination swung into overdrive—she saw a dark-haired little boy with black eyes climbing onto Santa’s lap, a little boy who resembled Jake. Her son.

Dear heavens—she was hallucinating.

Shaking herself from the stupor, she parked the car, then saw the real, fully grown man emerging from the building. Jake wore a denim shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing dark arms dusted with fine black hair. A pair of khaki slacks hugged his muscular hips and thighs. His shiny black hair gleamed in the sunlight.

The breath whooshed from her chest, and she paused to steady herself before approaching him. The memory of his hot, wild kisses surfaced, sending a tingle of awareness up her spine. For her own peace of mind, she prayed he’d changed his mind and would bow out of the Christmas-tree hunt.

J
AKE SAW
H
ANNAH
approach and willed himself to behave. He was so close to cracking this case that he couldn’t allow himself to become emotionally entangled with the beautiful doctor. Surely he could resist temptation a little longer. Although the sight of her in that pale pink sweater hugging her soft curves and that pair of tight, well-worn jeans sheared his careful control into shreds.

Damn. The morning had been frustrating enough without having his body cramped from unsated arousal. All morning DeLito had been hovering in his office, situated right next to Wiley’s, so Jake’s plan to explore Wiley’s files had been nixed. He’d decided to keep his promise to Wiley and go on the tree hunt, hoping to watch Mimi a little more closely.

But he didn’t know the first thing about Christmas trees. He’d never had one before, much less gone and cut one down. Thank goodness he didn’t have to play Santa. Wiley insisted they hike into the woods and find a real tree instead of buying one from the tree lot in town. He claimed his daughters believed in tradition. Tradition to Jake meant finding whatever local bar was open and forgetting the cheery day with beer and pretzels.

“L
ET’S GET
that big pine!” Mimi shouted.

“I love it,” Alison agreed. “The branches are so full.”

“It’s too big,” Hannah argued.

“No, it’s perfect. It’ll look great in Dad’s den. Don’t you think so, Joey?” Mimi asked.

Joey slanted a look at the gigantic pine tree and shrugged. He’d been quiet and moody all day. Hannah wondered if he was two-timing her sister but was too big a coward to tell her.

“Come on, let’s cut it down,” Mimi said.

“I’ll get the saw,” Alison offered.

Hannah eyed the height from base to top. “You’ll probably have to cut off the top to get the tree in the den.” She glanced at Jake, hoping for backup, but he’d staunchly avoided offering an opinion on any of the possibilities so far. And they’d been searching for over an hour. Every tree Hannah found, Mimi refused, saying it was too puny. Mimi always wanted the biggest, gaudiest one she could find. She was so much like their father. Jake’s steady gaze didn’t waver, as if to say he didn’t care one way or the other.

“Please, Hannah, Dad has a ton of ornaments, too,” Alison begged. “And I know he bought a new set of lights, I think the package said there are a thousand of them.”

Hannah imagined the den filled with the huge tree, the branches shimmering with so many lights they would nearly be blinded. But she couldn’t disappoint her sisters, so she finally agreed. “All right, but you two have to haul it in.”

Mimi laughed with delight and handed Joey the saw. “We’ll cut this one down if you two want to go look for your own tree, Hannah. I’ve already picked out one for my apartment.”

“You want to come with us, Alison?”

Alison gave her a devious look. “No, I think they’ll need my help to carry this one. You two have fun.”

Hannah bit down on her lip. She doubted it would be a good idea to be alone with Jake in the woods. Of course they were only hiking, hunting for a tree. And it was daylight. And Jake did work for her father, so she supposed he was trustworthy.

“All right,” she agreed, thinking they would have a simple, quick trip—completely unromantic.

“Don’t get lost,” Mimi teased as they started to walk down the path.

Hannah paused. “Maybe we’d better come back another day. It’ll be dark soon.”

Jake shrugged. “We can come back tomorrow if you want, but I can find my way. All we have to do is look for the North Star.”

“Okay, let’s go ahead while we’re here,” Hannah said, knowing every minute with Jake only presented temptation. The fading remnants of daylight filtered through the branches of the trees, creating shadows and slivers of light that danced when the breeze fluttered through the woods. Fresh air steeped with the scents of moss and wildflowers only heightened her awareness of Jake and his masculine musky smell. His stark raw power seemed magnified amidst the quiet serenity and beauty of the woods.

“I’m considering not putting up a tree this year,” Hannah said, trying to fill the awkward silence as she traipsed behind Jake. He seemed to have a natural sixth sense for directions and had wound them through the thick of the forest with ease.

“My mother never bothered either. The only tree we ever had was this little silver thing.” A chuckle rumbled from his chest. “Looked like a pitiful piece of aluminum foil.”

His tone held no accusation or hint of hurt, just quiet acceptance. Hannah stopped, stunned by his words and not sure she liked being compared to his mother. She’d sensed his mother was an awful person, but was she becoming just as jaded?

“Do you want to turn back?” Jake asked.

A shadow fell across his face as he turned to stare at her. Somewhere in the distance she heard a bird chirp, the rustle of leaves as squirrels scampered for food.

Hannah suddenly spotted a tall, sturdy-looking spruce jutting from the ground in the clearing. The tree stood all alone, seemingly abandoned by nature in the twilight. The North Star shone straight above it, reminding her of Jake’s comment.