P.I. Bear (Return to Bear Creek Book 7)

by Harmony Raines

  “I’ve come to fix the problem with the smell,” Sam said quietly, seductively. As seductive as you can be when you are discussing a bad smell. “If you point me in the right direction of the gentleman’s restroom, I’ll get out of your way.”

  “What smell?” Penny asked, leaning towards him to catch what he said.

  “You didn’t call me?” Sam let his boyish charm turn to confusion. Pulling out a work docket, he placed it down on the desk. “My boss said floor seven.” He frowned. “Damn, if I’ve messed up again, he is going to be so pissed with me.”

  “You are looking for Titanium Focus. They are floor eleven.” She smiled at him, with sympathy.

  “I am such a screw-up. And now I’m late.” He looked at his watch.

  “Come on, I’ll take you. It’s time I had a break. And I know Cynthia on the desk up there. I’m sure we can get you logged in so that your boss doesn’t know how late you are.”

  “Would you do that for me?” Sam asked seductively.

  “Sure, I would.” She got up from her desk, her breasts heaving. “I just need to tell Harry I’m gone, he can come keep watch here.”

  She slipped away, her head high, and a sway to her hips that she wanted him to see. A pang of guilt swept through him, but then he swept it aside. He’d send her flowers tomorrow, and she would be happy, she might even dream about him for a night or two. He had that effect on women.

  Was Lia dreaming about him right now? He smiled at that thought as he headed down the corridor, and toward the office of Mr. Delamere. Time to make his services available and figure out exactly what the hell was going on with the necklace and the earrings.

  Because one thing for sure, the more he thought about it and tried to figure out the mystery, the more he didn’t like it. He didn’t like it one bit.

  Chapter Nine – Lia

  Lia hadn’t skipped since she was a little girl, but she sure felt like skipping today. Her heart was light, filled with love for a man she had just met, a man who meant the world to her already.

  All she needed now, for that world to be complete, was to get Mr. Delamere off her back, and out of her life.

  “Someone looks happy this morning,” Theo remarked as she walked into the office, purse swinging in her hand. She hummed a tune and smiled as she hung her coat up and put her purse in her desk, trying to avoid the questioning gaze of her boss. “I take it you had a good evening?”

  “I did, thank you,” Lia replied.

  “Teagan said you had met your mate.” Theo was bursting to ask questions, but he was being indirect, leaving her to dodge them if she really wanted to.

  “I did. Sam Spencer. Do you know him?” Lia asked.

  “More by reputation than anything. I know he helped Harlan and Chrysi. I don’t know the details.” Theo turned to look at his computer screen. “Does this mean you are going to stay here in Bear Creek?”

  “What made you think I wasn’t going to stay anyway?” Lia asked, showing her obvious interest in his question.

  “Little things,” Theo replied.

  She filled the coffee pot, and said, “I wasn’t sure. When I first came here.” She turned to face him. “I fully intended to disappear into the mountains for a few months. I wanted to find myself.”

  “And instead you found us in total need of saving,” Teagan said as she came into the office and plopped herself down at her desk.

  “Decaf?” Lia asked.

  Teagan groaned. “Yes, please. I feel terrible, but I actually got a few more hours sleep last night.” She shook her head. “I just need to kick my caffeine dependency, and my sleep deprivation will be a thing of the past.” She looked across to Theo. “So whatever you are badgering Lia about, drop it, we need her to stay.”

  “I wasn’t badgering, I was simply asking about her mate,” Theo replied.

  “Oh, yes, how did it go?” Teagan asked, perking up as if she had consumed two cups of coffee, one after the other.

  “It went well.” Lia kept her gaze lowered, hoping her cheeks hadn’t turned the same shade as a ripe strawberry.

  “You slept together!” Teagan said, grinning.

  Lia frowned. “What makes you think that?”

  “Oh, I can still remember the first time with my mate. And I think I had that same look on my face for a good week or more.” She sighed, reminiscing. “Those days were so simple.”

  “And now your life is complicated in the best kind of way,” Theo said. “Kids make us a look at everything through their eyes.”

  “Well, when my child is born, I will remember that.” A voice from the doorway made them all turn.

  “Fiona, what are you doing up and about so early?” Teagan got to her feet and walked across the office to hug the woman who was heavily pregnant. Was there something in the water in Bear Creek that made all females exceptionally fertile?

  “I can’t sleep very well. Baby keeps moving around, and I swear he has talons.” She rubbed her stomach.

  “You don’t mean he’s a…” Teagan leaned forward and whispered, her next words, but Lia still heard them. “A dragon. Inside you.”

  “No.” Fiona shook her head. “He’ll come out like a real baby. At least, I hope he will. He doesn’t like sleeping at night, that’s for sure.”

  “You know it’s a boy?” Theo asked.

  “Yes, we saw it on the scan. Poor thing,” Fiona crooned softly.

  “Why?” Theo asked.

  “He’s going to be surrounded by doting females. I have never seen two girls quite so excited about the birth as Ruby and Sapphi are.” Fiona’s eyes shone bright with happiness.

  Lia made herself busy making coffee while she listened. She had never heard of a dragon shifter before. Were they really a thing?

  “Oh, Fiona, I should introduce you to Lia.” Teagan brought Fiona across the room to stand in front of Lia. “Lia, this is Fiona.”

  “Hi, Fiona,” Lia said casually. “Can I get you some coffee?”

  “No thanks. Oh, you have decaf, maybe I’ll have a cup of that,” Fiona said.

  “I’m on the decaf too,” Teagan replied. “Thanks to Lia, I might actually be able to go back to sleeping through the night once the caffeine is out of my system.”

  “Lia has been a godsend,” Theo chimed in.

  “She’s also Sam’s mate,” Teagan confided.

  “Sam? Sam Spencer?” Fiona asked.

  “Yes,” Lia answered.

  “Aren’t you a lucky girl,” Fiona said, her interest overflowing.

  “I think so,” Lia replied, not sure what to say. What history had Sam with a dragon shifter?

  Lia found herself staring at Fiona and abruptly turned away. Walking across to Theo’s desk, Lia placed a cup of coffee down on it.

  “Sam helped us out when we were trying to adopt Sapphi and Ruby.” Fiona smiled, her face filled with love.

  “He’s a good man,” Lia agreed.

  “He is.” Fiona nodded, scrutinizing Lia. “We must invite you over to dinner; Harlan would love to meet you.” She stroked her stomach. “If this young man doesn’t pop out before that.”

  “They come when they are ready,” Teagan said.

  “I hope it’s soon, I’m on maternity leave, and I don’t like it,” Fiona grumbled. “Suzie is in charge of my…department.”

  “What do you do, Fiona?” Lia studied the woman before her. She was a little older than most pregnant women Lia had ever met.

  “I work for social services. I take a particular interest in shifter children in need of a home,” Fiona said. “That makes me sound as if I work at the dog pound.”

  “Talking about dogs, how are you getting on with Muffin?” Teagan asked, and the conversation drifted off, leaving Lia to think of Sam.

  Had Sam gone to see Mr. Delamere? She glanced at her desk and was tempted to pull her phone from her purse and call him to tell him to forget all about what she said last night. She didn’t want him in danger.

  “He’s certainly a man w
ho can look after himself,” Fiona was saying to Lia. “I’ve met a lot of men in my time, but Sam is one of the biggest.”

  “He is,” Lia said, dragging her attention back to the office at the mention of her mate’s name.

  “Sam’s a man who knows how to take care of himself,” Fiona said, aiming the kind of knowing look at Lia that made her think Fiona was a mind-reader.

  “He is,” Lia agreed. She might not have known Sam long, but it was easy to see he could handle himself. And there was a lot of him to handle. No one would get into a fight with Sam unless they were stupid.

  “And men do like to be in a position to prove themselves,” Fiona continued. “These days women are so much their equal that they need to go out and bring home the bacon every once in a while.”

  Teagan nearly sprayed her coffee across the room. “Bring home the bacon? Where did you get that phrase from?”

  “I have no idea. Probably one of those TV shows the girls like to watch.” Fiona sighed. “TV, I never thought I would have one in my house.”

  “Times have changed, Fiona, kids aren’t expected to spend all their time working the fields and collecting firewood,” Theo volunteered.

  “That is what is wrong with the world,” Fiona said. “In my day there was no leisure time.”

  “You’ll soon remember what it’s like to have no leisure time when you have your baby,” Teagan said sagely.

  Fiona rubbed her hand over her swollen belly. “I can’t wait.” She drained her coffee cup. “I will let you all get back to work. I have an urge for a trip to the bakery. My son has a sweet tooth.”

  “Look after yourself, Fiona.” Teagan kissed the older woman’s cheeks.

  “Bye, nice to meet you,” Lia said.

  “Good to meet you, Lia. Tell Sam I said hello.” Fiona gave her one last penetrating stare, and then added, “And if you need fire poured on someone, aim them in my direction when I’m in labor and I might just oblige.”

  “That is one birth I will be steering well clear of, Fiona,” Theo called after her.

  “She really is a dragon?” Lia asked quietly as Fiona walked away.

  “Yes,” Teagan answered.

  Fiona must have heard because smoke seemed to swathe her as she exited the building.

  “I never knew they existed.” Lia was filled with awe.

  “She keeps it quiet. But since you are Sam’s mate, she trusts you,” Teagan said. Her face cracked into a beaming smile. “You fit right in here, Lia. Right in.”

  “That’s a compliment,” Theo said. “Although it means you are as crazy as the rest of us.”

  “Speak for yourself, Theo.” Teagan sat down at her desk and started her work.

  “If you want to reorganize my day?” Theo asked hopefully.

  “Sure,” Lia replied. As she sorted through Theo’s appointments, she stopped feeling like a busybody and allowed herself to believe she was going to become part of the Bear Creek community and finally get Mr. Delamere off her back.

  However, her fear for Sam did not go away. All she could do was draw on the knowledge that a dragon thought he was a good man, and capable of getting the job done.

  Chapter Ten – Sam

  Sam slipped into the restroom, and deposited his toolbox, and took off the coveralls he had pulled on over his normal clothes. Normal for Sam was worn denim jeans, a blue shirt, and his favorite leather jacket, also worn. What could he say, he liked what he liked and could never see the point in suits and ties.

  But as he left the restroom and sauntered down the hallway toward Mr. Delamere’s office, he realized he was somewhat underdressed. Oh well, he had other skills that were more valuable than a designer suit.

  “Can I help you?” the woman at the desk outside Mr. Delamere’s office asked.

  “Hi there, Marty is expecting me.” Sam flashed her his best smile. The smile that said he belonged, even if his clothes didn’t.

  “I’m sorry, you are not in Mr. Delamere’s appointment book.” He cast his eyes over said book, even though they both knew she was right. But Sam was never going to let on.

  “Really! Marty is slipping.” Sam pulled out his phone and scrolled through, before turning it toward the woman who Sam supposed had Lia’s job. “See, I texted him last night to say I was in town and Marty replied to let me know he was free around eleven.”

  It all sounded so plausible. “He’s not really free.”

  “He’s taking his nap, good old Marty, always a creature of habit.” Sam gave the secretary a wink. “But he would rather see me than sleep. He said to just go on in when I get here.” Sam nodded his head, indicating the message on the phone. “His old PA, Lia, knows me, and never asks questions. I’m sure Marty simply forgot to tell you I was coming.”

  “Well, I am under strict instructions not to disturb him at this time.” She looked unsure, and Sam felt his usual gut-wrenching feeling of uneasiness that hit him every time he put someone’s job on the line. But he had to get into Martin Delamere’s office, and this was the quickest way since he had no appointment.

  “Well,” Sam said, sucking his breath in through his teeth, and looking at the closed office door behind him. “You could always go and wake him up.” He raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes. “Actually, that might not be a bad idea, he can vent his crabbiness on you instead of me.”

  “Well. I don’t know…” Her voice trailed off as she glanced at Sam to the door behind which her sleeping boss lay. It was a good thing Lia had filled Sam in on Mr. Delamere’s regular routine.

  “Listen… I’m sorry, honey, what is your name?” Sam asked.

  “Angela.”

  “Angela. I should have guessed, you have the air of an angel all around you.” He waved his hand and then gazed into her eyes. “And what man wouldn’t want to see an angel when he opens his eyes.” Sam got off the desk. “I’ll wait for you to wake him.”

  Angela didn’t move. “Mr. Delamere is not going to want to see me.”

  “He’s a grump, isn’t he?” Sam said conspiratorially.

  Angela kept a diplomatic silence but didn’t disagree.

  “OK, I have a solution.” He looked on Angela with kindness. “Why don’t you go and get a coffee, and I’ll let myself in? That way he can’t blame you. Not that there will be any blame. Unless I walk out of here. It is not often that Marty and I on the same continent, let alone the same building.”

  “I’ll go and get some coffee. Mr. Delamere always likes a fresh cup when he wakes up.” Angela got up and scurried away.

  “White, no sugar for me,” Sam called after her retreating back.

  He watched for a moment, making sure there was no one else around to question him being there, then he took out his phone. He dialed Mr. Delamere’s private number and waited for the answer. It was groggy and non-too happy.

  “Hello.”

  “Hello, Mr. Delamere. This is Sam Spencer.”

  “Who?” Martin Delamere answered grumpily. Angela was right to want to avoid waking up her boss.

  “Sam Spencer. I have some information you might be interested in.” Sam kept his words deliberately vague.

  “What kind of information?” Mr. Delamere said.

  “About certain items of jewelry.”

  There was a brief pause. Hitting Mr. Delamere during his power nap had the desired effect. “I don’t know what you mean.”

  “Ah, OK, in that case, sorry to have bothered you. I will tell my contact to hand the information over to the relevant authorities.” Sam hesitated, mentally counting to five. Giving Mr. Delamere a chance to react.

  “Wait!” Another small pause. “What do you want?”

  “A job.”

  “I’m not hiring. I have enough men working for me.” Suspicion filled Mr. Delamere’s voice, and Sam took it as his time to act. He walked straight up to the office door and, without knocking, walked straight in.

  “They are not doing a very good job, are they?” Sam asked, towering above Mr. Delame
re who was even less impressive in the flesh than his photographs online.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Mr. Delamere squared up to Sam for about five seconds before he stepped back. Looking around furtively, he headed to his desk, but Sam got there first.

  “Offering you my services,” Sam said, carrying on the conversation. “Since your men have had little success in figuring out exactly what happened.”

  “And you know what happened?” Mr. Delamere scoffed, but his voice showed his nerves at being faced with a man who could likely snap him in two very easily.

  “Give me forty-eight hours and access to whatever I need, and I will tell you.” Sam already had his suspicions. His knowledge of human nature and his online search had confirmed the idea that his conversation with Lia had spawned last night. He also had an idea about Lia’s foreign visitors. But he wanted to get an insight into this man, and a look at the safe.

  “You already know a great deal about things you shouldn’t,” Mr. Delamere sounded threatening, but his whole demeanor did not carry it off. He was a weak man. A man who could easily be manipulated.

  “Let’s just say that I keep my ear to the ground. Deep underground.” Sam empathized the words, and Mr. Delamere’s eyes widened. “It’s very dark down there. Very dark.”

  Mr. Delamere broke eye contact, and Sam sensed victory. “Forty-eight-hours, you say?”

  “And all the access I need. If I think you are hiding something, I will draw my conclusions and make my report.”

  “Your report?” Mr. Delamere asked sharply.

  “You are not the only interested party,” Sam said, his eyes fixed on Mr. Delamere until the suited man turned away.

  Sam wasn’t lying. He was simply bending the truth, shaping it to press the right buttons in the right order. It worked. It usually did.

  “Forty-eight-hours. In that time I expect you to find both the goods and the culprit. Are we clear?” Mr. Delamere, sham CEO, was trying to reassert his authority. Authority that he never had to begin with. The sad thing was, he knew it.

  “Very clear. I’ll take half of my fee now, and half on completion.” Sam held out his hand and a reluctant Mr. Delamere shook on the deal, before wiping his hand on his pressed trousers. “Now, if I could see the safe.”