“What?” He looked mortified. “I don’t steal money from work!”
“Really?” She tilted her head and stared at him for a moment. No. He might not be stealing money, but that didn’t make him squeaky clean. “Wine then?”
It was like puncturing a balloon. He just emptied out right there against her cabinet and sort of sagged in place. His wine sloshed in his glass as he drank it down. Poor Angie Turner. She really had her hands full with this one. Kylie could definitely see why divorce might look attractive to the poor girl. How were you supposed to help someone who didn’t think they needed it?
“Joe,” Kylie said after a moment or two. “Let’s talk about my suspension. Was that actually official?”
He was squirming now, fidgeting with his glass and refusing to meet her gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I mean did that actually come with the proper paperwork for suspension or did you just make that up and burn the vacation time I’d been storing up?”
“Oh. Well, I suppose you were on a leave of absence,” Joe said lamely. “It was just—ah, unpaid.”
“You bastard,” Kylie muttered. But an idea was forming in her mind that would get her back into the office and out of this current pity party she had going on. She had never intended to get mixed up in this Titus Holbrook mess. That had been her first mistake. She needed to rectify that and this seemed like a likely way to do it.
“Kylie. I kind of need you to do me a favor,” Joe said suddenly. “I need you to pretend this conversation never happened. And then I need you to let me take a selfie of us kissing.”
She stared at him and rolled her eyes. The man was an absolute idiot. Of course, he was also more than a little tipsy with the half a bottle of red wine he’d consumed—probably on an empty stomach—and he was desperate. The guy was a gambling addict. He could never be trusted to think straight until he got his addiction figured out and under control.
“Joe, you’re going to rehab.”
“What? No!” He started to back away, but he banged his hip on the corner of her counter and nearly went sprawling to the floor. “I don’t want to go!”
“Angie would approve, I think,” Kylie decided. “I’ll tell her what I’ve done in fact. She might not leave you if you get help.”
“I’ll lose my job!”
“Maybe, but you’ll still have your life,” Kylie argued. “Besides, you’re married to the Dashwoods. They’re not going to fire one of their own. They’ll just find some nice desk for you to sit at where you can get paid. Angie will have control of the checkbook and that will be that. You’ll be much happier.”
“I don’t believe that!” he protested.
Then Kylie pulled her trump card. “Hilary Allenwood can’t bother you in rehab and by the time you’re out in thirty days, all of this will be over and she won’t even be around to push your buttons.”
That seemed to decide him. “All right. I’ll do it.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Kylie wasn’t answering her phone. She wouldn’t come to the door. Titus wound up in the parking lot in front of his office the following morning staring at his dashboard and wishing he could somehow rewind time and go back to the moment when he had heard Caroline preparing to enter his house through the front door. What would have happened if he had just opened it and confronted her right there on his doorstep? Would she have pushed her way inside? Would he have let her? What if he hadn’t allowed her to come into the house in the hope of gleaning some useful information from her?
Titus put his head in his hands. No matter how he wanted to spin it, the truth was he had screwed up—severely. He had allowed Caroline to manipulate him for far too long when she’d been employed at the office and then he’d done it again last night. He thought he was so much better than she was. On top of it, she’d showed him to his face that he’d been wrong.
Shoving open his driver’s door, Titus got out of his truck and grumbled his way through the rest of the motions of walking into the office. He closed his door, locked his truck, and stomped through the gravel on the way to the door. And that’s probably why he didn’t notice the strange car on the lot until he was already opening the front door of his office. It was one of those nondescript delivery looking vans.
“Whose van is that?” Titus asked as he walked into the office. He’d intended to address the question to Mindy sitting at her desk, but she wasn’t there. And when he swiveled his head to find her, Titus had an unpleasant surprise. “What. The. Hell?”
His office had erupted in fabric. That was the only way to describe it. Or rather, not just fabric. A closer inspection determined he was looking at suits. Lots of them. Multiple colors, multiple styles were hanging or draped across every inch of available surface. Titus’s hardworking, loyal employees were gathered in the center of the room around what looked like a tiny old woman with a gray beehive-style hairdo. She wielded a piece of chalk in one hand and a measuring tape in the other.
“Now!” The woman spoke with so much volume that Titus couldn’t believe her tiny little body could possibly contain it. “This style makes you look dashing, yes?”
Since Duke was the guy on display at the moment, he turned right and then left and peered at a full length mirror that had been propped right up against the back of Titus’s own desk. “I don’t know. Mindy, Ellie, what do you think?”
“I like it.” Ellie tilted her head to one side. “That whole double-breasted thing looks good on you. Plus, your chest is huge.”
Mindy was nodding. “Sure. It suits you pretty well. I think the color is nice too. Did Olivia tell you she wanted gray?”
“The blushing bride says gray or black,” the seamstress announced. Then the old lady tittered behind her hand. “No white for you. The bride says you’re no virgin!”
They were all laughing when Titus bungled the rest of the way into the office and looked around. He was sure he’d come to the right place, but this certainly did not appear to be his office. “Who scheduled this?”
“It’s on your calendar,” Mindy told him with a wave of her hand. “The entire morning actually.”
“What?” Titus staggered back a step. He needed to get out of there.
“Oh no you don’t!” Mindy called out. She snapped her fingers and suddenly both Ash and Younger were there to grab Titus’s arms. “You’re not going anywhere. You’re getting a tux for the wedding.”
“What wedding?” Titus was sure that this was all wrong. “I know that Duke and Olivia are getting married, but I thought they were going to be sensible like Ash and Mindy.”
But Duke only shrugged. “Olivia wants a wedding.”
“At the theater, remember?” Mindy rolled her eyes. “One would think you never remember any conversations you have with anyone.”
Titus scowled at Mindy. “I have been a bit preoccupied lately. Thanks.”
“So I’ve seen.” Mindy pursed her lips. “Are you all right, Titus? You seem really stressed out. Hilary Allenwood left a message for you. It’s on your desk. She actually walked in here herself and hand delivered it. The nerve of that woman! But so help me, if you try to leave this office before your tux gets fitted, we will estimate and you’ll be stuck wearing it anyway. Even if it’s so tight in the chest that you can’t breathe and your eyeballs threaten to pop out of their sockets.”
Good gracious, the girl could be fierce! Titus grumbled and stomped over to his desk, which required him to go right past Duke, who was still preening in the mirror. Duke spoke without looking away from his reflection. “I think I’ll take this one, Madame. It’s a good color and a good fit. And that means everyone else has to be exactly the same, right?”
“Not exactly, but close,” Madam agreed.
“Wait a second!” Titus said suddenly. “I’m assuming Mindy and Laurie are participating in this mess. So, who do I get to walk down the aisle with?”
“Me,” Ellie told him with a look of extreme satisfaction on her face. “They figure I can
at least keep you in line for the duration of the ceremony.”
Titus made a face at Ellie. “Great. I’ll look forward to it.”
“Yes, you will. The wedding is in three weeks at the Moonrise Theater. Your ass had better be there or you can count on us hunting you down like a dog and hogtying you to get you there.”
They really didn’t know who they were messing with, but that was all Titus’s fault anyway. He had never told them who or what he really was, so they could not know he might just shift into a wolf and disappear before the ceremony if he wanted.
Except, why would Titus do that? He exhaled a huge sigh and sank into his chair. He thought about the absolute terror on Kylie’s face the night before. The idea he would just leave her behind because he could. These were his friends and they had become the closest thing to a family that Titus had ever really had. They were certainly closer to him than his own parents and brother had been.
Duke hooted with excitement and then raised his arms. Of course, the sleeves of the suit jacket weren’t actually attached, so the arms more or less came off in the process. Duke looked mortified and apologized profusely to the seamstress but she waved him off. They were all laughing. The whole scene was almost idyllic. Not something that generally went in the horror novel that was Titus’s life.
Titus exhaled and looked down at his desktop. As promised, there was a neat cream-colored envelope on top of his desk, presumably from Hilary Allenwood. He opened it and slid the thick stationary from the envelope. He read the contents. Then he set it down, watched Ash get fitted for a debonair-looking tux, and then picked up the note and read it a second time. He was reading it for a third time when Ellie came over and perched on the edge of his desk.
“You look worried,” she observed.
Titus wasn’t entirely sure how to answer. Worried wasn’t the right word. “Hilary has some information about me. She’s threatening to put it in her newspaper if I don’t turn myself into the police here in Branson for a murder she claims I committed back in Montana.”
Ellie was silent for a moment. She tilted her head and pursed her lips, no doubt contemplating half a dozen possible responses in her head before she finally settled on one she liked. “Is the personal information she’s threatening you with really all that important?”
“What?” Titus was floored. The neatly handwritten note specified that Hilary was going to print a story about Titus’s family having Hypertrichosis and how he is actually a murderous werewolf who was responsible for the brutal death of Hilary’s sister and has now been living under his middle name because she still refused to believe Jason was a separate person. “Yes! It’s not personal information I want people in town made aware of.”
“But would they believe it?” Ellie pressed. She gazed at him with that steadiness that Titus had admired in the young former FBI field agent the moment he’d met her. “It’s your personal information and I’m sure it would be uncomfortable to have it printed for all to see, but take a step back and ask yourself if people would believe anything Hilary had to say at this point.”
It was a valid thought. Titus wasn’t going to argue that; however, at the same time, he was having difficulty “taking a step back” to see this from an outside perspective. “I can’t let her print my personal information.”
“All right.” Ellie sounded utterly nonplussed. “So, what happens if you go down to the police station and you turn yourself in? Did the note say you have to confess to the crime? Or just that you’re supposed to turn yourself in?”
“Turn myself in.” Titus spoke slowly as he absorbed what Ellie was saying. “You’re telling me they’re going to what? Investigate?”
“I don’t know. Have you talked to Lowell?”
Titus made a face. “Lowell isn’t a cop.”
“But he was with the department. He would know the protocol. That would have been part of his briefing before he went undercover in the department. Talk to him and ask him his opinion. Do you actually know who committed this hypothetical murder?”
“It was my brother,” Titus murmured. “And he’s dead. It’s complicated.”
Titus could see the wheels of Ellie’s FBI-educated brain turning very quickly. The entire tuxedo-fitting session was far behind her at the moment as she sort through theories and possibilities and probably all sorts of interstate laws that were pertinent to murder investigations taking place across state lines.
Finally, she began to speak slowly. “Branson PD would have to get in touch with the local authorities there in Montana first. They would have to establish there was even a crime for you to commit.”
“It’s a closed case.”
“And she wants you to reopen it and claim responsibility?” Ellie frowned. “She’s crazy, Titus. Why?”
“She is convinced her sister’s killer went free.” Titus realized he wasn’t making any sense. He rubbed a tired hand down his face. “This thing is ruining my life, Ellie. You have no idea. You can’t… I just…”
“You’ve been keeping something from us,” Ellie told him softly. “Always. We’ve always known. Little things say a lot, you know? Maybe it’s just time to come clean with all of it and let us help you. Duke was a state cop, I was with the FBI, and Younger is ex-military. Hell, Ash was a US Marshal. Let us help you, Titus.”
It was tempting but telling Kylie about his true nature had been one person too many and now she wouldn’t speak to him. She figured his wolf shifter nature was probably what made him promiscuous instead of the opposite. Wolves were monogamous—they mated for life. It was in his nature to be with one woman. But Titus wouldn’t be able to convince Kylie right now. Plus, it didn’t help him with his Hilary problem.
“Titus, what’s wrong?” Ellie said in a low, chiding voice. “You’ve been fidgety and weird for weeks now. Is it because of this murder thing? You’re afraid Hilary is going to plaster that across the front page of the Register?” She paused and looked thoughtful. “And is that why she was having Caroline poke around our files? She was looking for dirt on you?”
“I think so,” Titus managed to say. “I believe she thought I kept information about that murder case here in the office. But none of it was that simple. And even though she has been told the truth, she doesn’t want to hear it.”
“Of course not.” Ellie turned back toward the fittings. It was Younger’s turn and soon it would be Titus’s. “Nobody wants to hear that their life’s work—the one thing they have gone out of their way their whole adult life to do—has all been based on misinformation. Can you imagine?”
Titus realized he had not actually viewed it from this perspective. Not quite like that. “You’re right. Hilary is going to print that stuff about me no matter what. Either now or later, but she won’t be able to keep it under wraps for long.”
“Unless you can give a boost to this libel case that Kylie Overton has going,” Ellie said absently. “If you can get a gag order, it might at least stop her from printing the information. She’ll just go blabbing it by word of mouth. But that’s like playing telephone. You never know how that will end up and very likely it will be so outlandish that nobody will buy it anyway and it will hurt her case for sanity.” Ellie actually looked as though she might enjoy that possibility.
Titus couldn’t blame her. “Hilary is the bottom feeding journalist everyone dreads to find in their town. I can’t even imagine how she began to become that way, but I feel like it’s a done deal. She’s got her foothold in the Register and she’s the one driving that bus now.”
“I don’t know, Titus,” Ellie said doubtfully. “I might just leave Hilary be and try to help Kylie get her case pushed through to the top. Maybe if you show Kylie’s attorney that note you just got from Hilary and explain your situation, he’ll be able to add it to the fire as proof to the judge that a gag order really needs to be issued.”
It was a brilliant idea. Titus jumped up from his desk to go do just that when Ellie grabbed his arm and shook her head. Younger wa
s nearly done getting with his fitting and Titus realized there was no way he was going to get out of the office without being measured for a tux for Duke’s wedding. Maybe it was time to just accept what was coming. One way or the other.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Trying to convince a grown man to commit himself to an in-patient gambling rehab facility for thirty days wasn’t easy. Kylie didn’t envy Joe’s journey. You could dry out from alcohol and you could be forced to stop taking drugs, but gambling was different. Understanding that addiction and overcoming took a force of will that Kylie was not entirely sure Joe had at the moment. Something else was going to have to bolster his own willpower. Kylie had called his wife Angie, but Kylie wasn’t sure that was enough.
Nevertheless, that wasn’t Kylie’s main problem. She needed to get back to the winery and back to the office and see what Joe had been up to since Kylie’s “suspension.” It felt good to pull into her usual spot and get out of the car. She had her work clothes in a neat little duffle beside her on the passenger seat and she was all ready to go back to work. Going back to work would surely be enough to keep her mind off of… No. She wasn’t going to think about him. There was just no point in it.
“Kylie, what are you doing here?”
Funny, but as Kylie strolled through the entry area where customers gathered for wine tours, she could not say she was actually surprised to hear the note of panic in Frederick’s voice. He was behind the counter in the hospitality room again. The oval-shaped counter area allowed for more customers to belly up to the bar and the area beneath the waist-high counters stacked with case after case of wine carefully labeled so the staff knew exactly what they were handing out.
Several of the other hospitality room employees waved to Kylie, but theirs were friendly waves that included smiles and a welcoming attitude. Frederick was scowling. Kylie didn’t go to Joe’s office just yet. She started right there at the counter in front of Frederick.
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