Tease Me (12 page)

She opened her mouth to speak, but he held up a hand. She recrossed her arms and shifted
her weight to the other foot, using one raised eyebrow to indicate that he should
continue.

“She tried to find out with a few casually asked questions, but still nothing. It
bothered her; her intuition was telling her something wasn’t right, but she didn’t
see what else she could do.”

“Why didn’t she come right out and ask about it?”

“Partly because she wasn’t sure what was going on and she didn’t want to hurt or embarrass
her friends by saying the wrong thing to the wrong person. And partly because she
was a little hurt that whatever it was, she hadn’t been included.” He shrugged, and
Lainey detected the smallest hint of a smile ghosting his lips.

Her body leaped in response, which only frustrated her more. What did she have to
do? Hit her hormones over their squirmy little heads with a sledgehammer?

“And partly,” he continued, “because she loves a good mystery and it was killing her
that she couldn’t figure this one out.”

“So she hired you.”

“Not at that point. She had one possible contact left. You.”

Lainey blinked but otherwise forced herself not to react. She knew with a certain
dread exactly where his
story was leading. Damn, damn, damn. This was already complicated enough without Lillian’s
well-intentioned meddling and her sort-of-nephew’s interference.

“She couldn’t talk to you around the café, and you weren’t a regular salon client.
She knew you went to Sam’s to buy fish on Saturdays, so she followed you in the hopes
of talking to you privately about the whole thing.”

And she saw me talking to Damian
. Tucker didn’t have to finish. “I get the picture.”

“Well, would you mind sharing it with the rest of us? She tried to talk to you after
the guy left, but you hurried out of there before she could get to you. That was last
week. I flew in to see her earlier this week, and she confided the whole thing to
me. I’ll admit I was skeptical, but we talked and somehow she managed to …” His words
trailed off, and he shifted his gaze toward a spot on the ground.

It took Lainey a moment of studying him to realize what had stopped his strident speech.
“And she snookered you into being a masseur to the seniors in the hopes that while
your hands worked them into a state of mindless relaxation, they’d open up and tell
you everything.”

He lifted his head, his expression aiming for cool non-chalance and missing by a mile.
His pink neck told the whole story. She let out a hoot of laughter and clapped her
hands together. “A change of careers, huh? Tell me something: Was the rest of the
story a setup too? You’re really a stockbroker or something, right? Just here on vacation.”

“Oh, I was in securities, all right,” he said stubbornly, over her laughter, “but
not the kind traded on Wall Street.”

She sat down on the bench and tried to catch her breath. “Oh, this is almost too ridiculous,
even for me.” She shook her head and stifled another giggle. “Conrad’s mother would
have a field day with this one.”

Tucker sat down next to her but kept his gaze straight ahead. “Ah, yes, Conrad, the
infamous Mrs. Maitland’s little golden boy.”

Lainey swung her head up, surprised at his sharp sarcasm. His profile was as unrelenting
as his determination. His jaw jutted out, under cheekbones cast in stark relief, eyes
focused on some faraway point in the gulf.

“You have no idea what kind of man Conrad was.” Why in the name of heaven she was
defending him, she had no idea. Or maybe it wasn’t so much a defense of Conrad as
of herself.

“I know he was one of your bad judgments in men,” Tucker stated flatly. “And I know
Mrs. Maitland is a control freak with more money than common sense. It doesn’t take
a rocket scientist to add it all up.”

“Oh, thanks. Thank you very much.” It hurt that he saw so clearly what she had not.
It hurt even worse that he apparently thought less of her for her blindness in the
matter. But what was most horrifying was that he was capable of hurting her at all.
She wasn’t supposed to care what Tucker Morgan thought of her. Mrs. Maitland was right,
not for the right reasons, but the bottom line was the same. She really was a lost
cause.

Lainey sighed and stood. “This has all been so very illuminating, but I really must
go now.” She half expected him to lunge out and grab her, but he didn’t so much as
blink when she turned and walked away. That shouldn’t have hurt, either.

She’d gone about ten yards or so when he called her name. She stopped but didn’t turn.

“Lainey,” he said again. He didn’t shout. He didn’t have to.

After a silent debate, she turned around, but she didn’t take a step back in his direction.
“What?”

“I quit.”

She propped her hands on her hips. “Quit what?”

“Being a masseur-slash-spy for Lillian.”

Lainey didn’t hide her skepticism. “Have you told
her
that?”

She hardened herself to the smile that struggled and finally broke free, curving his
mouth slightly and crinkling the corners of his eyes oh-so-charmingly.

“You can’t really tell Lillian anything she doesn’t want to hear.” His smile faded.
“But I knew when you left yesterday that my brief career as a masseur was over.”

She took a step closer. “Why?” she demanded. “Was it because you figured I was your
ticket to solving the mystery? Is that why you really followed me to Sam’s?”

“Solving the mystery was a convenient reason to follow you to Sam’s, but I did it
because I wanted to see you again. You intrigue me, Lainey. I didn’t want you to walk
away. I still don’t.”

“Let’s not get into that again.” She hoped she sounded strong and sure, because she
didn’t feel it. She tried to remember all the reasons why she shouldn’t care how Tucker
Morgan felt about her.

“I also knew I couldn’t go on because it wasn’t right,” he continued. “No matter that
Lillian’s heart is in the right place. She really is worried about her friends, and
she thought she saw a way to help them without hurting anyone. Against my better judgment,
I agreed to help her.
I still plan to help, since I’m pretty certain she has good reason to worry.”

“You’ll help her nose around, just not as a masseur.” Her heart told her to share
what she knew, join forces. But her head warned her that she was making hasty decisions
again, being impulsive. Frustration with him, with the situation and her apparent
inability to make a decent judgment on anything, reached maximum load. “So how is
she going to explain you to her friends now? A young boyfriend? And what happens when
this is over and you visit her the next time? Or did you both figure that maybe after
another seven years that anyone who was here during your last visit would either be
dead or too senile to remember your face?”

“Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?”

She did, but until she had time to sort things out, she had to protect herself and,
more important, Minerva. Lainey didn’t have a handle on how she was going to fix the
situation, but involving Tucker could be a mistake on more than one level. If she
kept him angry enough at her, maybe he’d give up on grilling her and find his information
elsewhere. That thought stopped her cold. Could she risk that alternative?

She wanted to clutch her hair and scream. She hated being indecisive, which was likely
how her impulses had grown so healthy and strong. But this time she wanted to be smart,
think things through and make the logical, wise choice on how to proceed. She eyed
Tucker. His face was a picture of determination. Once again, she didn’t think she
was going to have the fleeting luxury of time.

And a moment later she was proved right, but not for the reason she’d thought. Tucker
was a real problem, but the man she spied walking across the park behind Tucker
could prove to be an even bigger one. Damian. If he saw her … Or worse, if Tucker
saw him and realized who he was …

She had to get out of there. Now. “Listen,” she said, trying to appear cool and rational.
“I’m the last one to judge other people’s decisions or how they choose to handle things.
But in this case I think you should tell Lillian to stop worrying about it. Things
will work out.”

“Will they, Lainey? You have to know something of what’s going on, and I know you’re
worried about it too. Do you plan to talk to Minerva about this?”

She worked to maintain eye contact with Tucker and keep Damian’s progress in her peripheral
vision at the same time. “I’ll do what I can, Tucker,” she said sincerely. And she
would. As soon as she could ditch Tucker and make a beeline for the nearest exit from
the park. “You know, we’ve gotten involved in all of this pretty quickly. I think
we ought to back away from it for a while and give them a chance to work things out.
Then, if we still think it’s necessary, we’ll come up with a plan.”

Tucker cocked his head to one side.

Damn, she thought, he wasn’t buying into it. She swallowed a sigh of impatience.

“Lainey, I really don’t see how waiting will help. It may hurt. If you tell me what’s
going on, maybe I—”

Damian was almost in her direct line of vision. She shifted casually to place Tucker
between them, even at the risk of blocking Damian from her sight. Desperate now, she
said, “You’re right. I—I should. I mean, we should. Talk, that is. Tonight.” She smiled
too brightly, knowing she was babbling and, gauging Tucker’s frown, only raising his
suspicions further. “Why don’t we meet later tonight
and talk? You can pick me up at the café, say around seven-thirty?”

“I can do that, but—”

“Great. Listen, I gotta run. I just remembered something I have to do and … well,
maybe we shouldn’t say anything else until tonight, okay?” She was already backing
up.

Tucker folded his arms, his expression more than skeptical. “You promise you’ll show?”

She wondered, half hysterically, why her word would mean anything if he didn’t trust
her, but she nodded. “Promise.” She spied a path to her left that led into a landscaped
area of dense palmettos and pampas grass, which would provide quick cover. “Tonight,
seven-thirty.”

She didn’t wait for him to answer but turned and made her getaway. She prayed that
Damian wouldn’t see her, she prayed harder that Tucker wouldn’t recognize him as the
mystery man. She had no idea how detailed a description Lillian had given him. Damian
would blend in fairly well in a general population, but among all these seniors, a
long-haired male stood out.

“Lainey,” Tucker called out, just as she hit the path. “I won’t settle for less than
the whole story, including what has you running. That’s a promise too.”

She didn’t answer as she ducked down the path.

Tucker watched her escape. Something had very clearly spooked her. Something … or
someone. He glanced casually around the park. There were several seniors strolling
along the paths and sitting on various benches. He caught a flicker of movement to
his left, but
it was just someone ducking into the public rest room. He debated whether to check
that person out or follow Lainey. Maybe it was another appointment with the mystery
man that had her rushing off in a hurry.

Or maybe she just wanted to get the hell away from you, Morgan, and did it the only
way she knew how
.

He headed toward the path. In his former line of work, he’d had ample cause to learn
how to shadow a person inconspicuously. There were many individuals who, for a variety
of reasons, required the services of a bodyguard but didn’t want anyone to notice
the fact. In the last several years, as his business had gone international, he hadn’t
handled cases personally, spending most of his time in MMSI’s various global offices.
But some skills, like riding a bike, once learned, stuck with you. And the one he
prided himself on was the art of blending in with the scenery.

The path was narrow and curvy with lush vegetation crowding the edges, making it easy
to follow without being seen. He jogged slowly, taking the curves carefully until
he spied a flash of red and white. He’d found her. He slowed to a walk, confident
for the time being that she intended to stay on the path. He wasn’t certain how long
it winded through the park property, but it seemed to be heading slowly back toward
the main street rather than toward the shore. Good. Perhaps she’d leave the park and
head back to the café or, better yet, home.

Tucker realized that made no sense. If he truly wanted to solve the mystery, then
he should be hoping that she was going to meet the mystery man, not heading home.
But there had been something about the way she’d acted before leaving that had made
him uneasy. He replayed
the scene again in his mind and realized immediately what it was. Fear. There had
been a flicker of fear in her eyes as she’d verbally scrambled to get away from him.

He was fairly certain she wasn’t afraid of him; she hadn’t reacted that way to his
parting warning. She hadn’t reacted at all. She’d been too distracted.

Tucker was pulled out of his musings when Lainey stopped suddenly and stepped off
the path between two spiky palmetto bushes. He barely stopped in time to duck behind
the twisted trunks of two palm trees.

Damn.
Where are you going
,
Lainey?
He waited a few seconds, then crept closer. She pressed on into the narrow strip
of lushly designed landscaping that bordered the path. He watched her pick her way
around sharp palmetto blades and push past bushy stalks of pampas grass, then stop
behind a fat palm at the edge of the carefully tended area. She was scanning the park
grounds, particularly the area they’d recently vacated.

Was she checking to see if he was gone? If so, why?

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Apparently satisfied that the coast was clear,
Lainey stepped from behind the palm and quickly crossed the manicured park grounds,
heading directly back toward the bench they’d shared. Tucker was forced to take up
Lainey’s hiding place as there was nowhere else for him to hide beyond that point.
However, he had a clear view of Lainey’s progression.