Tropical Wounded Wolf: BBW Wolf Shifter Paranormal Romance (Shifting Sands Resort Book 2)
Page 13
“Hello, Handsome,” she trilled at him. “I've seen you talking with all the guests and was beginning to feel a little left out.”
Tony had considered his efforts to get information out of the other guests and staff to be subtle, and was left a little dumbfounded by her odd mix of flirtatious and deeply genuine.
“I'm Magnolia,” she said, extending one hand just a little.
Tony reached forward to shake it obediently, finding unexpected strength in her thick fingers. Her nails, he noted, were perfectly manicured.
“I'm looking for someone who knew Angelica Grayman, a guest here about three months ago. I understand you've been here that long?” Tony wondered if he sounded to her as much as if they were on opposite sides of an interview table as he did to himself.
“Honey, I've been here for more than a year,” Magnolia said expansively. “I thought I was coming for a short vacation, but Shifting Sands will get under your skin like sand in your shoes if you let it.”
Tony refrained from arguing against the appeal, but found himself feeling hopeful that possibly he had finally met someone who could help him find answers. The staff had been close-lipped across the board, and the owner was the worst of them. The other guests were largely short-term: happy to help but not useful.
“Did you know Angelica?”
“She was a shy thing,” Magnolia confirmed. “Kept to herself, took meals early. She was a gorgeous Borneo bay cat, if I recall. Kind, but a little distant. Is she in some kind of trouble?”
Tony wished he knew, but gave the same brush-off that he answered other curiosity with. “I'm just trying to find out where she went from here. Did she ever mention another possible destination? Was there anyone she spoke about?”
Magnolia rolled one shoulder in a shrug. “Not to me, she didn't. Sorry I can't be of more help, cherie.”
Tony believed her. “Thank you anyway,” he said gruffly.
Magnolia smiled at him, and he realized that she was one of the most unsettlingly beautiful people that he'd ever met, every inch of her generous flesh glowing with self-confidence and sincerity. He felt somehow better after talking with her, even so briefly.
He looked up to see Jimmy, one of the oddsbodies who worked for Scarlet, coming out of the pool mechanical and laundry rooms. Any peaceful feeling that Magnolia had left him with vanished into irritation with the idea of Scarlet.
He got up abruptly, muttered a standard farewell, and walked past the pool to head for his cottage. It was time to stop pussy-footing around and get some answers from Scarlet.
But first, he'd put on clothes.
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