“What?” His nose flared and she sensed that he too felt the unwelcome sexual energy bouncing between them.
To break the moment, she narrowed her eyes. “No way are you going to deny me the pleasure of seeing you buttoned into a tux.”
Jack frowned. “Sadist.”
She smiled and dropped her shoe, trying to compose herself as she pushed her bare foot inside. Her father would call back…of course he would. She wobbled and Jack reached out to steady her.
He gave a little laugh, his gold-colored eyes narrow with sudden concern. “Are you all right? You seem on edge.”
Carlotta stared at his big hand on her arm, reminding herself that if Jack Terry appeared concerned for her well-being, it was only because he was trying to get on her good side in the hope that she would lead him to her parents.
She pulled away. “I’m fine, Detective. Follow me.”
2
During the ride down the escalator, Carlotta’s neck burned with a fiery itch. She was certain Jack Terry could tell she was keeping something from him.
But the brawny detective appeared preoccupied himself. He wore what she was coming to recognize as his off-duty uniform: black T-shirt, worn jeans and black cowboy boots. And, she conceded begrudgingly, he wore it well. His rugged profile, close-cut dark hair and bronze skin made for a compelling view, yet he seemed completely unaware of women’s heads turning as they stepped off the escalator and headed toward the men’s department.
“So, what’s the occasion?” she asked.
“Hmm?”
“The bigwig department dinner.”
“Oh. An awards thing.”
She lifted an eyebrow as she led him toward the formal wear section. “Are you receiving an award?”
The blush that stained his cheeks spoke for him.
“You are,” she said, elbowing him. “What kind of an award?”
He cleared his throat. “Distinguished duty.”
“Distinguished, huh? Did you do something in particular to earn this recognition? Like save a kid from a runaway car?”
“Guess the department couldn’t think of anyone else to give it to.”
“That must be it,” Carlotta agreed, humoring his modesty. She angled her head and swept her gaze over the considerable length of him before pulling a jacket from a sleek wooden rack. “Black would be the obvious choice for a tux, but with your eyes and coloring, I’d go with charcoal gray. What are you, about a forty-four long, athletic cut?”
Jack looked surprised, then nodded. “Hey, I saw you this morning at a bank ATM on Piedmont.”
She frowned. “My bank is on Piedmont, but I wasn’t there this morning.”
“Really? Wow, the woman looked just like you, then.” He laughed. “No wonder she didn’t wave back when I honked. I thought you were ignoring me.”
“Apparently it was someone else ignoring you this time.” She held out the jacket for him.
He shrugged into it and she sighed in satisfaction as the luscious fabric slid into place, hugging his shoulders perfectly. She adjusted the lapels, dismayed at the little tremors of pleasure she felt when her hands met the brick wall of his chest. Avoiding his gaze, Carlotta steered him toward a mirror. He looked ill at ease…and slightly gorgeous, she realized with no small amount of consternation. Jack Terry was easier to dislike when he was rumpled and wearing one of his infamous ugly ties.
“What do you think?” She made wary eye contact in the mirror.
“It’s okay, I guess.”
“Just okay? Jack, this is one of the finest suits that money can buy.”
“I’m almost afraid to look at the price tag.”
“Don’t,” she agreed. “But a suit like this is an investment—you can wear it to formal dinners, to weddings.”
“I’m not much on weddings.”
“Funerals, then.”
“You’re not convincing me.”
“Look,” she said, smoothing a hand over his shoulder, “sometimes you just have to buy something because it looks so damn good on you.”
His eyebrows went up and a smile curled his mouth. “You think it looks damn good on me?”
Her cheeks warmed. “I do.”
For a few seconds, that sexy buzzing thing bounced back and forth between them.
“Then I’m convinced,” he said finally. “Ring me up.”
“You’ll need a shirt. And I’ll call the tailor to mark your pants.”
“I’m in your hands.”
Carlotta raised one eyebrow. “Gee, Detective, that almost sounds like trust.”
“I trust you—when it comes to clothes.”
She recognized the danger of discussing trust while the voice of her fugitive father still resonated in her head, so instead she pulled a smile from thin air. “You should. I promise you’ll look so good, no one will recognize you.”
He frowned. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
“How’s your brother?” he asked as they walked back to the clothing racks.
“Good,” she replied and meant it. “I think Wesley has a crush on his probation officer.”
“At least that’ll keep him motivated to check in every week.”
“That’s what I’m hoping.”
“Does he plan to keep working for Cooper Craft?”
She nodded, then sighed. “As gruesome as it sounds, this whole body-moving business seems to agree with him.” Then she remembered a phone call she’d gotten from her friend Hannah just before her father had called…if it indeed had been her father. “And now my friend Hannah has jumped on the body-moving bandwagon.”
“The girl with the pierced tongue and the dog collar?”
“Yeah. She has a thing for Coop, I think.”
“Funny, but I gathered that Coop had a thing for you.”
It was her turn to blush. “I hadn’t noticed.”
A dubious light came into his eyes. “Liar. Women know when men have a thing for them.”
Buzz, buzz.
“I’m not interested in Coop,” she said quickly. Although the man had saved her when Wesley’s six-foot python had cornered her in her bedroom. And she recalled the appreciation in his eyes to find her standing on her dresser wearing skimpy lingerie.
“I guess that means you and Ashford are back together,” Detective Terry said lightly.
Peter Ashford, her first love, the man who had dumped her when her parents had gone missing and the scandal had burst over the front page of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Peter had gone on to marry a debutante—the good customer of Carlotta’s who recently had been murdered in their palatial home in Buckhead, the wealthiest area in Atlanta. Many, Jack Terry included, had assumed Peter had killed his wife, but in the end, he’d been exonerated. And had expressed interest in picking up where he and Carlotta had left off years ago.
“No, Peter and I aren’t together,” she murmured, selecting a cream dress shirt and holding it up in front of him. She could feel the heat emanating from his body.
“Really.” Jack cleared his throat. “I actually thought about asking you to go to this awards thing…with me.”
Startled, she looked up. “You did?”
He suddenly looked as panicked as she felt. “But…considering the investigation into your father’s case has been reopened, that might not be such a good idea…right?”
He didn’t want to be seen with a fugitive’s daughter. That would be a conflict of interest and not good for a distinguished detective’s career. The same reason Peter Ashford had dumped her and ripped her heart out years ago when she’d needed him most. Did her father know how much he had damaged her and Wesley’s lives? Did he even care?
“Right?” Jack repeated, his expression anxious. He wanted her to let him off the hook.
“Right,” she said brightly. “Now let’s get the tailor down here and make sure that when your date opens her door, you take her breath away.”
He gave an uncomfortable little laugh and Ca
rlotta tamped down her own unease as she called the house tailor. The day was wearing on her—first the mysterious phone call, then Jack Terry dredging up all her troubles, plus this weird physical attraction that had sprung up between them. But the attraction was probably born of the knowledge that nothing could possibly come of it…there were simply too many obstacles.
While she described to the tailor what services they would need, she swung her gaze to Jack and was unnerved to find him blatantly studying her. She squirmed under his gaze and stumbled over her words. The man was too perceptive for his own good—if she spent much time in his company, she wouldn’t be able to keep secrets from him.
She hung up and gave him a shaky smile. “He’ll be right down.”
“Carlotta, is something bothering you?”
Damn those cop’s instincts. For one crazy second, she wanted to confess about the phone call, to see if he could trace it and….
And what? Hunt down her father and drag him back to Atlanta to stand trial on the investment-fraud charges, now trumped by charges for being a fugitive? And her mother for aiding and abetting? Would it really be better to have her parents in prison than to have them on the run? Either way, they would be unavailable to her and to Wesley. And if her parents were imprisoned, the stain on the family name would be even more permanently set.
“No, I’m fine. Now…let’s get you out of those jeans.”
His eyes lit with mischief. “Whatever you say.”
She smirked and pointed toward the dressing room. “I meant you need to put on the pants before the tailor gets here.”
He frowned and moved toward the dressing room, reluctance in his step.
Carlotta shook her head, but when the dressing room door slid open a bit, she couldn’t resist a naughty peek at Jack’s reflection as he shucked his boots and jeans, revealing white boxers and long, powerful legs, more tanned than she’d expected. Unexpected heat struck low in her stomach.
Plus ten points, she noted idly, wondering what the Alabama boy did in his free time to acquire that tan. Somehow she doubted it was playing tennis.
“See something you like?”
She glanced up to find him grinning at her as he stepped into the pants. Carlotta straightened. “Don’t flatter yourself, Detective.”
His rolling chuckle sent vibrations over her warm skin. The arrival of the tailor saved her from more embarrassing banter. Suddenly she wanted to put distance between herself and Jack Terry. The man triggered dangerous urges—the urge to tell the truth being the least hazardous of her impulsive reactions.
She stood back as the tailor, a distinguished older gentleman, took over. To her amusement, Jack seemed uncomfortable to have the man touching him.
“Do you dress right or left, sir?” the man asked as he knelt to mark the hem on the slacks.
Jack frowned. “Excuse me?”
Smothering a laugh, Carlotta silently signaled the detective by pointing to his crotch and flopping her hand right, then left.
When recognition dawned on Jack’s face, his neck flushed red. “What difference does that make?”
“It affects how your trousers hang, sir,” the tailor said crisply.
Carlotta’s shoulders were shaking. Jack glared at her and muttered, “Left.”
She turned away to enjoy a laugh at the big man’s expense, pretending to fold the dress shirt. It was nice to have something to lift her dour mood, if only temporarily…and the episode helped to level the field between her and the man who seemed to hold all the chips in their relationship.
Carlotta looked in his direction to see him holding up his arms while the tailor practically bear-hugged him to mark the waist on the pants. Not that she and Detective Jack Terry had a relationship. More of a…an association.
Jack flinched as the tailor made adjustments to the inside seam that had him putting his hands in places where another man’s hands obviously had never been. “Is this going to take much longer?” he asked irritably.
“That should do it,” the tailor said, standing and smoothing his hand over the back of the trousers—and Jack’s ass—which garnered the older man another stern look.
Carlotta pressed her lips together and managed to keep a straight face long enough to thank the tailor. But when the man was out of earshot, she glanced at Jack’s perturbed expression and burst out laughing.
“Are you finished humiliating me?”
“Yes, you can take off the pants.”
She watched him stride back into the dressing room and craned her neck to see if he would happen to leave the door ajar again. When it clicked shut, she frowned, then was irritated with herself. She had no business looking at Jack Terry or liking it—and the man’s ego probably didn’t need more feeding. Lots of women seemed to go for the base types.
She pursed her mouth as a memory surfaced. Jack had a history with Liz Fischer, her father’s former attorney…and lover. The woman had also come to Wesley’s aid when he’d been arrested, much to Carlotta’s dismay. She didn’t trust her, and the fact that Jack had admitted to bedding her was just one more reason to stop looking at him.
Something she had to keep reminding herself when he stepped back out in his snug jeans, the suit draped over his thick arm. Averting her gaze and walking in front of him, she led him to a register.
“I gave you my friends-and-family discount,” she said, holding up a little card.
“Thanks.”
“You might consider using the difference to buy a decent tie,” she suggested. “There’s a clearance table over there—two for the price of one.”
“Tempting. Maybe next time.”
Carlotta swiped his credit card. “You can come back tomorrow to pick up the suit. We can look for shoes then.”
“I thought I’d wear my boots.”
She made a face.
But Jack was staring at someone over her shoulder, the displeasure on his face clear as he returned his card to his wallet.
Carlotta turned and blinked in surprise to see Peter Ashford standing there, looking polished in dark designer slacks and shirt, his blond hair slicked back, his watch, signet ring and seriously expensive shoes befitting a successful investment broker. “Peter,” she breathed.
“Hi, Carly.” He eyed Jack Terry warily. “Hello, Detective.”
Jack nodded curtly. “Ashford. When did you get out of jail?”
Peter blanched slightly, but stood his ground. “Last night. The charges won’t be officially dropped until later this week, but my attorney and the D.A. arranged for an early release.”
D.A. Kelvin Lucas, the man who had ordered her father’s case be reopened and asked Jack Terry to make it a priority. For such a big city, it was a small world.
“I guess I owe you my thanks for nailing the person responsible for Angela’s death,” Peter said to Jack.
“Just doing my job,” Jack said. “Carlotta was the one who kept insisting you were innocent, even after you confessed. You should be thanking her.”
“I intend to,” Peter said, gazing at her with affection so palpable, she could feel it settle around her shoulders.
Jack cleared his throat, spearing Carlotta with his sardonic gaze. “See you around.”
She nodded absently as he walked away, thinking that the two men were a study in extremes—Jack Terry, rough and aggressive; Peter, cultured and subtle.
Carlotta glanced back at Peter, hoping that he hadn’t come to press her about renewing their relationship. She wasn’t ready, and neither was he, so soon after his wife’s death. “Peter, what are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you.” He looked around as if to ensure they were alone.
She realized that in the wake of Jack’s departure, his expression had grown grave and his hands were shaking. “What’s wrong?”
He stepped closer and seemed to grapple with what he had to say. “Carlotta, your father—Randolph—”
Her pulse skyrocketed. “What about him?”
“He—
he called me.”
3
Wesley Wren sat staring at the perspiration beading on the forehead of the real-estate broker sitting opposite him. Admittedly, it was hot as hell in the back of the west-end car repair shop where a game of Texas Hold ’Em had erupted on this stewing Sunday afternoon. But they’d been playing for over two hours and the guy’s sweat glands hadn’t kicked in until just now, when the last of five cards had been turned up in the community pot.
Wesley hoped that meant the three of clubs worsened the guy’s hand rather than giving him a fluky straight that would beat his own full house of three queens and two eights. Because they’d been dealt only two face-down pocket cards and since there were no pairs in the face-up community cards, the only other hand that could beat his full house, four of a kind, was out of the question.
The winner of this hand would walk away with the fifteen grand that was piled on the sticky table between them. Wesley tamped down a spike of excitement. He was in a sweet spot, but he’d been close to the payoff before only to have it snatched away. In fact, he was still smarting from a bad beat in a weekend-long tournament that had left him too broke to make payments to his loan sharks and even deeper in debt to his rich buddy Chance Hollander.
This game had started after he’d dropped off his sister’s car for some scratch-and-dent repair. Chance had tagged along and suggested a little gambling to the oily owner. A few phone calls later and a few bored professionals had shown up, ready to part with their easily-earned cash.
He was convinced he needed this money more than Real Estate Man, but two layers of deodorant and a puff of his sister Carlotta’s talc on his forehead kept his sweat glands under control at moments like these.
While he waited for his opponent to see the bet, raise or fold, Wesley nursed a pang of regret for once again reneging on his promise to his sister to stay away from gambling. He told himself that the fact that he’d sold the motorcycle that she hated would temper her anger if he wound up losing the five grand he’d gotten for it.
Poor Carlotta. They’d both taken it hard when their parents had been forced to leave town to keep his father out of prison for a crime he didn’t commit, but Carlotta had borne the brunt of the fallout, having to raise his smart ass and generally try to keep him out of trouble.
Body Movers: 2 Bodies for the Price of 1 Page 2
