The Princess and the Pauper (16 page)

Chris straightened almost spasmodically. A poker face he did not possess, she thought to herself. “No.”

“If he’s done something to alarm you, I can vouch for this man’s integrity,” April said. “I think.”

Chris’s brows lifted, and he shot Jesse a quizzical look. Jesse stared right back until the store detective seemed to collect himself. He left soon afterward.

“You have a knack for attracting trouble,” April said, refusing to meet Jesse’s eyes. “Chris Daley’s the store detective. What did you do to get his attention?”

“I asked if you were in your office.”

His sensually gruff voice never failed to kick April’s heart into overdrive. She hid her feelings behind a tight smile. “You asked Chris? You knew he worked here? He’s supposed to be more subtle than that.”

“Actually Daley and I know each other from before.”

“Jesse, he was a cop before he came to work for us.”

“I know.”

Something squeezed April’s chest, leaving behind a tight, hot feeling. She half turned away, afraid to hear more. Jesse’s fingers curved around her upper arm and she shook him off, suddenly angry. “Are you going to tell me what it is you’re all about, or do you just like to keep me guessing?”

“Does it matter so much to you?”

“Yes. I don’t know why, but it does.”

He narrowed his gaze on the outer door. “Have lunch with me and I’ll tell you.”

“Tell me now.”

He turned the full power of his attention on her. She could see the shadowed depths of amber in his eyes, the hard masculinity of his face. “I’m a cop, too, April.”

Relief made her feel almost faint. A cop. Not a criminal. “I don’t believe you,” she said automatically, hating the tremulous sound of her voice. Impossible. Yet it explained so many things. All the jumbled pieces that were Jesse suddenly fell into place.

“Daley didn’t want me to come clean with you. He thinks I’m making a mistake.”

“What are you talking about?”

He indicated the door. “Over lunch. I don’t want to talk about it here.”

April allowed him to lead the way. Her mind was abuzz. Jesse a policeman? She should have guessed. The role fit him like a glove. The older brother with a keen sense of responsibility; the rebel who nevertheless favored justice; the dirt-poor boy who turned into a man eager to change the world. She’d just been too focused on thinking the worst of him.

“What kind of a cop are you?” she asked as she sat down across from him in a booth at a quiet café across the street from Hollis’s. Through the paned windows she could see the city, shrouded in a curtain of fog. She felt the intimacy like the soft rub of satin against skin. Taking in his appearance, she said, “My God. You’re some kind of a detective, aren’t you?”

He nodded and signaled for the waiter. “A draft. Whatever’s on tap. I don’t care.” He turned to April expectantly.

“Diet Coke.” Jesse’s mouth twisted and she added defiantly, “With a shot of rum, then.”

“Diet Coke and rum?” he asked on a soft laugh as soon as they were alone.

“Are you supposed to drink on duty? I thought cops weren’t supposed to drink on duty.”

“Who says I’m on duty?”

“Are you lying to me, Jesse?” She searched his softly mocking eyes. “Please tell me the truth.”

“I’m not lying.”

April sank back against the tucked, leather back of the seat. She felt completely confused. “I know you’re not lying,” she admitted with a sigh. “I just don’t…”

“What?”

She shook her head.

Their drinks arrived. The waiter hovered for a moment for their food order, then seemed to pick up the tension and discreetly left.

“I’m a detective with Portland PD,” Jesse admitted, staring out the window. “I took a job with them after I got out of the service.”

April sucked in air between her teeth. “And you wouldn’t tell your brother?”

“Jordan has just moved to Portland recently. I haven’t had much contact with my family. I didn’t really want him to see me.”

“Why?”

“My job’s been kind of risky.” He shrugged, and she had the impression he was deliberately understating things. “It seemed… safer.”

“You didn’t want him to know you were a detective.”

Jesse acknowledged her statement with a slight inclination of his head. “I didn’t want him to be involved without part of my life.”

“And Bettina?”

“She’s lived here a long time. Eventually she found out. It’s been a problem.”

“Oh, Jesse.” April’s skin was swept by a cold wave. She understood implicitly what he meant. “What kind of work have you been doing? No, don’t tell me. I get the picture.”

And she did. Now she understood his appearance. He’d been working undercover. To catch a criminal, he had to look like a criminal. He hadn’t wanted his family to even know him while he worked in the underworld.

“I’ve been assigned a new job,” he said, tossing back a long swallow of beer. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, a curiously seductive move that April was not immune to. “Ongoing theft.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

He cut swiftly to the heart of the matter. “Because it’s happening at your store.”

“Now you
are
lying.”

He shook his head. “Daley talked to your father about losses in inventory.”

April took that in, surprised that her father hadn’t confided in her. “I know we’ve had a few inventory losses recently. Mistakes. Wrong shipments… ” April trailed off, aware she’d maybe said too much, frighteningly aware that Jesse knew, too.

“No.”

The implications sank in. The police department was involved. That meant the inventory problem with much worse than she’d even imagined.

“Your father asked Daley to bring in the department.”

“And so here you are…” April felt almost betrayed. “Why doesn’t Daley want me to know?” Jesse’s silence was a telling answer. “You don’t think
I’m
involved?”

“I don’t.”

“But Daley does?” April was incensed. She half rose from the booth, then sank back limply when Jesse’s hand reach across in a lightning-swift gesture.

“Daley is playing it close to the vest. He’s working for your father, not you. And your father isn’t stealing from himself – especially since he’s been gone since this thing started.”

“Why don’t you think I’m involved?” she demanded.

Jesse didn’t have a ready answer for that. His gaze dropped to where her arm lay entrapped in his hand. “I need your help. I need access to all the stores accounting processes. I need to see the invoices. I need to know how it’s done.”

“You could have asked Jordan,” April said dully. “He could have helped you, and I would have never known.”

“I could have,” he allowed.

“You’re afraid Jordan’s the one,” April whispered in dawning realization. “No, Jesse!” She shook her head emphatically. “He’s not capable of it!”

“April, I’m taking a giant risk by trusting you. Do you have any idea what would happen if I trusted Jordan, then found I was wrong?”

She wanted to pry his fingers from her skin, yet couldn’t betray how much his touch affected her. He seemed to have forgotten he was holding her. “Whose neck are you worried about? Your own? Are you afraid the department wouldn’t understand if you allowed a member of your own family to dupe you? Better to let me dupe you, right?”

He dropped her arm as if it burned. “If Jordan’s involved…” He gritted his teeth, unable to finish.

“Go to hell, Jesse,” she said recklessly.

His mouth twisted. “Maybe I’m already there.”

The waiter reappeared. April turned to him blindly. In a strained voice, she ordered a salad. Jesse ordered a sandwich and another beer.

For what seemed like an eternity she gazed past him. She barely tasted her meal. Swallowing was an incredible effort. Eventually she pushed her plate aside.

The waiter came and took their empty plates. From a distance she heard Jesse ask, “Would you like coffee?”

She shook her head.

Jesse ordered a cup for himself and when it appeared, he turned the handle around several times, as if he couldn’t make up his mind what to say next. Finally he said wearily, “Tell me about your husband.”

That jolted her. “What about him?”

“How did you meet?”

“A mutual friend from college,” April answered warily.

“You said it was short-lived.”

“It was.”

“You didn’t keep his name?”

“No.”

“What was it?”

April narrowed her gaze on him. Her heart was pounding crazily. She felt her lips tremble and forced them into an uncompromising line.

To her surprise Jesse’s mouth relaxed into a lazy smile. “This isn’t an interrogation, you know. You can talk a little.”

“As I recall, you don’t like women who chatter.”

That got him. He looked momentarily frozen, his eyes darkening. Was his recall as exquisitely painful as her own?

“Do you want me to like you?” he asked quietly.

“Oh, stop it.” April turned her head sharply away from him.

He didn’t actually sigh, but she sensed him drawing back from her. “All right.” Perversely, as soon as he retreated, she regretted not opening up more.

When he picked up the check, she plucked it from his hands. “I’ll pay for my own.”

“Stop it,” he told her harshly. Grabbing the check, he stalked toward the maître d’s podium near the front door.

April burned with injustice. She had half a mind to just stride out of the restaurant and leave without so much as a thank-you. Instead she clenched her teeth and stood ten feet away from him, her arms crossed, her expression mutinous.

Jesse returned, picked up his jacket and didn’t even toss her a glance. “Come on,” he said, pushing the door and stepping onto the fog-shrouded street.

“You’re a regular prince, you know that,” she told him, her footsteps just as long and angry-sounding as his own as she fell into step beside him.

“I’m not a prince. I’m an insufferable egotist with an authority problem. Ask my sister. She’ll tell you.”

April stopped short, staring at his retreating back. Laughter bubbled from deep inside her chest and she actually clapped a hand to her mouth. Jesse’s furious pacing slowed, then came to a stop and he glanced back through the mist. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she saw a smile lurking somewhere along the sensual curves of his lips.

“All right, Jesse,” she said, covering the distance between them. “You can see the invoices. You can look at anything you damn well want to.”

“Without Jordan knowing.”

“Without Jordan knowing,” April agreed. “And if you discover who’s behind it—”

“
When
I discover who’s behind it.”

She nodded. “You are an egotist. I want to know who it is first, before anyone else.”

“What about your father? He’s the one who called the department.”

“I’m not counting my father. You can tell him whatever you like.” The sheer absurdity of Jesse reporting to her father made April mentally shake herself. Life was far too complicated. “But I don’t want Chris Daley or anyone else in the store to know what’s going on before I do. Agreed?”

Jesse’s rare smile appeared just for an instant, a flash of white in the thickening, gray fog. “Agreed. Come on, then. Let’s get to work.”

April found concentration next to impossible. She didn’t know how Jesse planned to keep Jordan in the dark, especially since he would be hanging around Hollis’s, digging into the store records. As soon as Jordan came back from lunch, however, she got her answer.

“Hey,” Jordan said upon seeing Jesse in April’s office. “What’s going on?”

“Jesse came to see you,” April jumped in, a trifle nervously. She wasn’t good at this cloak-and-dagger stuff. She always felt guilty.

“Actually,” Jesse drawled, his gaze lazily fastening on April’s mouth. “I have other reasons for being here, too.”

For half a beat April believed him. Her foolish heart somersaulted, thudding against her ribs. But the next moment she realized what he’d done – and hated herself for being so naïve and vulnerable.

Jordan couldn’t hide his surprise. “Well, now that’s news.”

“April and I have some catching up to do.” Jesse gazed over at her as if they were in cahoots on this.

He was excellent, she realized. Unbelievably adept at fitting himself into the scene. A master chameleon. But he couldn’t expect her to play a part. She was no actress. “Yes,” she said through stiff lips.

Jordan regarded her quizzically, then glanced at Jesse. “Well, when you’re done here, stop by my office. You and I have a little catching up to do, too.”

“You could have warned me,” April whispered as soon as Jordan’s footsteps faded down the hall.

“Why?”

“Don’t be dense. Now Jordan thinks you’re here to see
me.
I can just imagine what’s running through his mind right now.”

Jesse stretched luxuriously, then ran his hands through his hair. “I am here to see you,” he responded innocently.

“Not
that
way!”

“Does it matter so much to you what Jordan thinks? He’ll know the truth soon enough.”

April leaped to her feet. She slammed her chair against her desk, her fingers gripping the back of it. “Jesse, I haven’t forgotten what went on between us in Rock Springs, even if you have. I can’t forget it. I can’t look at you and think – oh, well, such is life. Water under the bridge. No big deal.” She swallowed against a tight throat. “It’s hard for me to see you,” she added softly, the words pulled from her chest. “It’s really hard.”