Embracing Danger (5 page)

“I’m asking for your help to find my father. I don’t have anywhere else to turn.”

He didn’t know what he’d expected her to say but that wasn’t it. It was his turn to stand and put some distance between the two of them. He leaned his hip against the stove and tried not to laugh. The entire situation was bordering on hilarious.

“You want me to help,” he repeated calmly. “What about the police? That’s their job.”

“They won’t do anything until he’s been gone for seventy-two hours, and even then I don’t think they’re taking me seriously because of that note. I need someone to start looking now.”

Not to mention most of the town would just as soon leave old Ben missing if they had a choice.

“Then hire a private investigator. I’m sure there’s one that would be glad of the work.”

Standing, Arden moved closer so she was looking up at him. He could smell the light floral and vanilla of her perfume and it made his gut contract painfully to gaze down into her pleading blue eyes.

“I could but I don’t know who to trust, honestly. I know you have connections, Shane. You, West, Jason, and your brothers too. I need someone I can trust and that I know will be discreet no matter what we find.”

His lips turned up at the corners. “You make me sound like some kind of secret spy. I’m a businessman, not a cop.”

“I told Grandmother you’d say no.” Arden was staring out of the window now, disappointment ringing clearly in her tone. “She insisted you’d say yes. She said you were the only person I could trust with this.”

Elaine Graham was a formidable woman but Shane wouldn’t have ever said he was close or even friendly with her. She lived in a large house just outside of town and didn’t venture out much these days, although she had when she was younger. She’d never made a big deal about Shane dating Arden but he hadn’t thought she was on their side either.

“Listen,” he began carefully, not wanting to upset Arden any more than she already was but needing to put an end to this request. She was asking too much. “I know you’re upset and worried. But you need to let the police do their job before jumping to any conclusions. Ben is probably just off with a lady friend or something. He’ll be home in a week or so with a big smile on his face and everything will be fine.”

It was true he knew people that could be helpful and he was more than capable of leading an investigation, but if he agreed to this he’d be around her, immersed in her world. He wasn’t sure he could survive being that close to her without breaking.

Arden turned and began shrugging on her coat, studiously avoiding looking at him. He had a sinking feeling she was crying and her tears had always been his kryptonite. “I’m sure you’re right. I’ll go before you have to throw me out. I’m sorry I bothered you.”

Now he felt like shit. “You’re not bothering me and I’d never throw you out, princess. I just think you need to give this a little time to shake out, that’s all.”

Her back was facing him as she slipped her purse strap over her shoulder. “Thank you for listening anyway. I…need to go now.”

She walked quickly out the same garage door she’d come in with Shane right at her heels and feeling about two inches tall. A part of him wanted to help her but dammit, he just couldn’t without ripping his heart into pieces again.

She was halfway out of the garage when she stopped abruptly, her hand reaching out to run her fingers over the chrome handlebars of his cycle, a small smile on her face.

Even after all these years, she remembered.

“You still have it.”

He came to stand beside her and patted the leather seat. “This is a different one, but I did the restoration on this one myself as well. I’m trying to get as much riding time in as I can before the snow comes.”

They were both thinking back to those hot summer rides down to the lake. Skinny-dipping and then making love in the moonlight. Kisses and whispers. Passion and giggles. It had been everything and then it was gone.

“What happened to your old one?”

“Wrecked,” he said flatly. “I laid it down when a car turned in front of me. Broke my wrist in two places and got a lecture from Mom so blistering that I can still hear it echoing in my brain. She was madder than a wet hen and begged me not to replace it. But of course I did as soon as I was healed enough to ride again.”

“Your mother hated that bike.”

“She hates this one just as much,” Shane assured her. “Maybe more because now she says I should have the good sense not to ride. She’s probably right. When was the last time you rode, princess?”

Her hand jerked away from the cycle as if she’d been burned.

“With you,” she whispered before turning on her heel and heading straight for her vehicle.

Emotion that he had long buried clawed at his heart, making itself known. Images that he thought he had forgotten flooded his consciousness, almost bringing him to his knees with their power. There was a time in his life when he could refuse this woman nothing.

He hadn’t changed, although he would have sworn he had. He would have told everyone that he’d moved on and his heart was mended. He’d lied.

“Wait,” he heard himself saying, knowing he’d regret it later. “I’ll help you. Not a full blown investigation but I’ll make a few inquiries, okay?”

Arden whirled around and for the first time he saw hope in her expression. “You mean it? You’ll really help me?”

He was an idiot and this female could tie him in knots without breaking a sweat. He’d known his answer to her request at the beginning and had only been fighting the inevitable. Turning her away was a non-starter. Sadly, he had a deep-seated and pathetic need to be her knight in shining armor.

“I’ll check around but I can’t promise anything. Understand?”

If Ben was holed up in a hotel somewhere with a couple of hookers and a case of gin, Shane was going to kick his ass for worrying Arden like this.

“I understand. Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Shane warned. “You may not like what I dig up.”

“I’ll take my chances. I’m so grateful that you’re doing this.”

The last thing he wanted was her gratitude.

“Go home, and if I find anything I’ll call you.”

He watched as she climbed into her car and left, her taillights fading into the darkness. Chilled, he went back into the house and stood in the center of the kitchen, his brain trying to comprehend his own stupidity. He’d agreed to help Arden and he couldn’t change his mind now. Racing for his cell, he swiped the screen and pressed a few buttons.

“West? It’s Shane. I need to talk to you about this Ben Cavendish thing. Can we meet? Yeah, that’s sounds good. I’ll meet you at the diner in thirty. Thanks.”

Pressing the end button, he reached for the keys to the cycle. It was colder than a witch’s tit in a brass bra but that was exactly the kind of weather he needed to slap some sense into him.

Maybe if he asked West nicely his cousin would punch him right in the face.

‡

S
hane waited until
the waitress had poured them two coffees and hurried away before he spoke.

“Arden visited me tonight. She wants me to help find her father.”

West shook his head and sighed. “I know she’s angry with me but my hands are tied. He left a note and he’s only been gone a day. Truthfully, I’ve already done too much.”

“Did you find anything?”

West tapped his fingers on the edge of his coffee cup. “The cab company says they never picked him up, which leads us to believe someone else did. That someone may or may not have been the same person that drove Arden off the road. We didn’t get anything at the traffic light, which means they went the other direction toward the highway instead of town.”

That made sense if Ben was taking a road trip somewhere.

“Did you run his credit cards?”

“Now that’s the interesting thing.” West sat back in the booth. “He hasn’t used them. His last transaction was lunch the day of the party, and that is strange. When you look at his transaction history he doesn’t appear to use much cash.”

“Any large withdrawals?”

“Nothing that made the police look twice, although they didn’t look closely. I told them not to spend too much time on this.”

Shane rubbed the back of his neck in frustration. “Have you analyzed his spending?”

West laughed and shook his head. “Hell, no. The police isn’t even supposed to be working on this case, remember? But it sounds like you’re going to.”

“I’m a fucking idiot but I said I would help her. I was thinking of calling Jason and getting a full background on Ben. It might tell me where he might have run off to so suddenly.”

“Why don’t you just hire Jason to do the digging for you?”

“I thought about that but they don’t really do private investigation work. They’re police consultants, right? I don’t mind asking for a dossier on Cavendish but I’m hesitant to ask for a field agent too.”

“I’m sure Jason would help you if you asked.”

West could barely look Shane in the eye and it was getting annoying. “If you’ve got something to say, cousin, just spit it out.”

“Do you think this is a good idea?”

Shane started laughing so hard a few heads whipped around at the other tables. “I certainly do not but I couldn’t say no.” He immediately sobered as an image of Arden’s worried face appeared before him. “She’s terrified for him, West. Now that she knows what her father has done and the company he keeps, she’s afraid something bad has happened to him. Frankly, I don’t blame her, although I’m not convinced that he’s anywhere against his will.”

West leaned forward, his expression strained. “Mark my words, Shane. Nothing good can come from this. Either you find out he’s playing roulette and drinking scotch in Vegas or even worse, you find out he’s gotten in with some bad dudes that don’t play. It won’t end well for anyone, and Ben sure as hell isn’t going to change his mind about you. He’d never bless a union between you and Arden.”

Shane sucked in a sharp breath. “There isn’t going to be any union. That’s all in the past.”

“You’re just helping her as one fellow Tremont resident to the other, I suppose,” West jeered with a grin. “Don’t bullshit a bullshitter. You’re still in love with her.”

Done. Shane was done with this conversation. All of it. He stood and threw down some bills to cover the coffee. “Thanks for your help. I’ll take it from here.”

West was up and out of the booth before Shane could move past him. “Hey, I didn’t mean to piss you off. I’m just saying that you need to be honest with yourself as to why you’re doing this or you’re going to end up in a world of hurt when this is all over. I hate to see that happen to you, man.”

Shane simply shrugged into his coat and palmed his keys.

“I’m already in hell, West. This isn’t going to make any difference.”

*     *     *

The next evening,
Arden shouldn’t have been surprised by Shane standing at her door holding a brown paper bag but she was. Somewhere in her over-emotional brain she’d fooled herself into thinking that him helping her wouldn’t mean they’d be thrown together in close proximity.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

“We need to talk,” he stated, holding up the bag. Mouthwatering aromas wafted from its contents and her stomach growled in response. “I brought dinner. We have a lot of work to get through.”

Stepping back to let him enter, her hand automatically shot up to smooth her still damp curls. She’d showered after school but hadn’t bothered to do her hair or put on any makeup.

“What did you bring to eat?”

Shane smiled over his shoulder as he headed straight for the kitchen. “All your favorites. I know you love breakfast for dinner. Pancakes, biscuits with some fresh honey, hash browns, and of course, bacon.”

She was practically drooling. The years had added a few pounds here and there and she had to watch her figure now, unlike the young girl she’d once been. She had a vivid memory of the two of them demolishing an order of chili cheese fries right before eating the largest hot fudge sundae she’d ever seen.

She closed the front door and trailed after him. “I’ll get fat.”