My Special Angel (23 page)

Reece nodded. “Do tell. I once had a date jam the bouquet of roses I brought as an apology into her garbage disposal and then proceeded to hurl the thorny stems at my head.”

Tennie grinned at the picture of him dodging flying stems. “That was rude of her.”

“It was the third time in a row I stood her up. I guess understanding only goes so far.”

“I guess so. It looks like we’re both destined to be single unless some crazy or saintly person comes along.” She pulled her legs up onto the chair and rested her chin on top of her knees. “You have my sincerest sympathy, Reece.”

“Why?”

“At least I have Montana and Sue Ellen producing all those darling grandchildren for my parents. It keeps the heat off my back. But you’re an only child.”

“It’s funny but my mom never worried about me being single until she met and married Utah. Now that she’s experiencing marital bliss she has been hinting to me about settling down and giving her a grandchild to spoil.”

A devilish smile lit Tennie’s face. “I bet Utah hasn’t been that meek in his opinion.”

A fiery flush swept Reece’s face. “When have you known Utah to be meek?”

Tennie laughed. “Let me guess. He said something along these lines.” Her voice dropped to an amazing likeness of Utah’s deep drawl. “If my Celeste wants a grandchild, by hell, son, you should give her one. Go out and find yourself some sweet young thing and wed her and bed her, and not particularly in that order.” Tennie imitated Utah’s booming laughter. “I missed having a child of my own, but the thought of grandchildren running all over the house can bring a tear to this old man’s eye, son.”

Reece applauded. “Remarkable, Tennie. Are you sure you weren’t there when that speech was given? You had it nearly perfect.”

“Only nearly perfect?” She frowned. Uncle Utah had been one of her favorites to imitate since she was ten. “What did I miss?”

“You missed the part where he offered to adopt me so the grandchild would bear the Montgomery name.”

Tennie slowly shook her head and chuckled. “I should have seen that one coming.” She gazed at Reece. “I hope you told him to stuff it.”

“Those weren’t my exact words.” Reece grinned. “But he got my message loud and clear.”

“Good. If you don’t stand up to Uncle Utah, he’ll walk all over you.”

“I noticed that trait in him—and the rest of the Montgomery clan.”

Her delicately arched brow shot back up. “Really?”

Reece’s grin couldn’t have gotten any larger. “Really.”

Tennie huffed, but lowered her brow. The man was absolutely correct. Montgomerys tended to be a pushy lot. Piqued at his observation she sweetly asked, “So what did you find out about the murder?”

Reece conceded defeat for the moment and allowed the grin to disappear. “Not much more than what Aunt Maine told me on the phone. A guy named Tailpipe met the underside of a pickup truck and lost. The locals are blaming your uncle Colorado because presumably he was fooling around with Tailpipe’s wife, Emma Sue.”

“You don’t think it was a faulty hydraulic lift?”

“Nope.” Reece stepped over the pile of junk on the floor and paced back to the window. “Your family wouldn’t have pulled this reunion with such a shoddy ending. The lift had to be tampered with.” His fingers played with the drapes as he stared off into the night. “The first place we need to go is the garage.”

“Being the scene of the murder, it’s roped off to the general public.”

Reece glanced over his shoulder and frowned. “Damn.”

Tennie smiled sweetly. “We have permission to examine the site at ten o’clock tomorrow morning. I had to promise that we wouldn’t fiddle with the lift, though. A specialist from the manufacturer will be here tomorrow afternoon and will be issuing a report on his findings.”

“Another actor?”

“Of course. If there wasn’t a real murder, how could the lift fail?”

“I really wish that one year your family would hold its reunion at the scene of a real murder so we wouldn’t have to figure out who were actors and who were real players.”

“Don’t you think that would be depressing?” Tennie sadly shook her head. “How can we have a great time if someone really dies?”

Reece thought about having the entire Montgomery family at the scene of a real murder and shuddered. The Montgomerys invented the word competitiveness. Now the reunions were sort of laid back with everyone having a good time, visiting, sightseeing, and polishing up on their detective skills. The only one besides himself who relished the win was Tennie. She was born and bred a Montgomery. It seemed to irk her no end to see a Carpenter solve the mystery. “You have a point there.” A frown pulled at his mouth. “How did we end up with permission to visit the scene?”

“Jake the Fake.”

“Ah, yes. Good old Jake the Fake.” The frown deepened. “Care to elaborate on how you know he’s a fake, and why he’s granting us permission to visit the scene of the crime?”

“It didn’t take a genius to figure out he’s a fake. The man doesn’t know his penal code. Actors playing the more complicated roles are easier to detect. It’s the ones playing ordinary people feeding you a bunch of false clues that are harder to recognize.”

“So how come he invited us to visit the garage?”

“I hinted that I’d be in town around ten tomorrow morning.”

“And?”

“That I would love to see the inside of the garage.”

“And?”

Her smile slipped a notch. “Did I mention his overactive hormones?”

Reece thrust a hand through his hair. “Does Jake the Fake know I’ll be with you?”

“I seemed to have forgotten that piece of information.”

“Great. You seduced a cop.”

“He’s not a cop and I didn’t seduce him.”

“What would you call it?”

“Asking nicely. He’s an actor paid to play a certain part. As far as I know he’s being paid to distract me.”

Reece glanced at her in disbelief. She was curled up in the chair like a little girl all warm and cuddly in her oversize sweat suit. Her face was bare of any makeup and not one flash of jewelry distracted from her beauty. Her long golden hair was haphazardly pulled back and tied with a white silky ribbon. Hazel eyes gleamed with intelligence, mystery, and a touch of vulnerability. Tennessee was the most vibrant woman he had ever encountered. The thought of paying someone to woo her was preposterous. She didn’t realize her own appeal and that was what made her so dangerous. Any man who backed off because of the career she had chosen was a fool. Reece pulled his mind off such an alarming path. “What do you think he’ll do when I show up with you?”

. . .

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