Brielle stilled. Should she question the brunette? Her gaze shot to Jack. His blue eyes were narrowed, but he just stared. At her. Not Carla. If he wasn’t going to respond to the woman’s words, she would.
“Is that a threat?” Brielle asked her quietly.
All eyes turned to the brunette.
Carla smiled sweetly. “No, it’s a warning. Since you’re new around here, I’ll cut you some slack.”
“Gee, thanks. I do appreciate it, but there’s no law against getting better acquainted, is there? You all have had a few weeks on me.” Playing up her roll, Brielle untangled her fingers from Matthew, slipped her arm through his and moved closer.
Carla’s eyes narrowed to match Jack’s.
“There’s no need to look at me like that. I promise I won’t do anything you wouldn’t do.” She turned to Matthew and smiled. “Shall we?”
“Do you think that was wise?” He asked when the security room door closed behind them and his cameraman.
“Yes. We don’t want anyone else to waltz in here,” she said, turning her attention to the wall of monitors.
“I’m talking about egging Carla on.”
She glanced up. “Oh, that. Yes, I think it was the right thing to do.”
“But if she’s the perpetrator, then more than your wardrobe and swim might get tampered with.” Matthew dropped into a chair and ran a hand through his hair. “I don’t like the direction things are going.”
The concern on his face and slope of his shoulders, as if a heavy weight pressed down, was enough to spur Brielle into action.
“Now you listen to me, Matthew Anderson. You have no control over what this psycho is doing.” She squeezed his shoulder and took a chance on talking openly in front of the cameraman. “I’m not here as a contestant, remember? I’m here to find out who’s making the threats. I have no problem using myself as bait. It’s my job. Okay?”
Matthew exhaled, and placed his hand over hers. “I know my parents hired you, but I still don’t want to see you get hurt.”
Her reply went unvoiced because the doorknob began to turn. Matthew’s gaze followed hers and before she could blink, he yanked her onto his lap and covered her opened mouth with his over-friendly lips.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Jack’s cold voice swept through the room, disrupting her pulse.
Dammit! Brielle jumped to her feet and eyed him wearily. “We were just…aah…”
“Save it. You don’t have to explain yourself.” He approached, mouth drawn into a thin line. “I just thought you two were in here to help with the investigation. Maybe you should get a room.”
Matthew laughed. “We are here to help.”
“Super. Then perhaps, Brielle, you could fix your robe? You may not mind being an exhibitionist, but I’ve seen enough.”
She glanced down. Great. Her parted robe gave the impression Matthew had been exploring. Heat flushed her face as she adjusted her cover-up and retied the belt. Her fingers stilled. Wait a minute. What did it matter what they’d been doing? She was supposed to act like a contestant trying to win Matthew’s heart.
“Exhibitionist?” She yanked the sash tighter and raised her chin to hit Jack with a level gaze. If he thought she was being an exhibitionist here, what the hell would he think of her role at The Limelight? “I supposed from where you stood, it could’ve appeared that way. But from where I was sitting...” She smiled sweetly at Matthew. “I was just getting to know your brother better.”
Jack grunted. “Good thing I came in when I did or you might have discovered Matthew’s…”
“Jack!” His brother frowned.
“…shoe size.”
“Twelve and a half,” Brielle shot back.
The artist’s brows shot up. “Hey, you’re right.” He glanced at his bare feet and wiggled his toes. “How’d you guess?”
She shrugged. “It’s a gift.”
Matthew and his cameraman laughed. Jack, however, just scowled and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there.
“As enjoyable as this conversation isn’t, can we get down to business?” Cold blue eyes stared directly at her.
“Okay, you two. Let’s call a truce and look at the feed.” Matthew twisted his chair around to face the monitors.
Five minutes later, he sighed and Brielle’s heart grew heavy.
“I told you not to get your hopes up,” Jack said, resting his backside on the console. “These cameras have yet to be of any help. Someone knows their way around this equipment.”
“I see what you mean.” She nodded, unhappy to find the feed had mysteriously turned snowy until just before she’d walked onto the patio with Danni. “Do you plan to…I mean, are there finger prints in this booth?”
Jack shook his head. “No, whoever it is uses some kind of electronic device. They don’t necessarily have to be in the control room. They can flip the switch from anywhere within 300 feet of the camera. Besides, why bother calling Franco’s men back? This has happened before and there are never any prints. He said the perp most likely wears gloves.”
Her senses screamed. Electronic device or not, this room needed to be processed. And if he knew it’d happened in the past, then this room should’ve been processed before they’d gone in. These were all things a security expert would know. What was going on? Was Jack hiding something?
Matthew rose and frowned at the screens. “This stinks. That snake couldn’t have just magically appeared outside. One of those cameras would’ve shown him coming down the stairs or being carried down.”
Something small and thin glinted from under the chair he’d just vacated. Brielle clenched her jaw. Should she draw attention to it? No. Jack was a suspect and his lack of initiative in processing this room proved he was a person she couldn’t trust with evidence.
“I’m sure one of the cameras would have if they hadn’t been tampered with,” Jack replied, glancing at the floor.
Her heart stopped.
Don’t see it. Don’t see it, she willed, holding her breath as she watched the Ranger’s gaze zero in on the object.
“I wondered where I dropped that.” He stooped to retrieve the evidence.
Shoot.
She forced her clenched fingers to relax. Brielle didn’t want Jack to be involved, but couldn’t ignore what had just happened. Evidence might’ve been lost, might’ve been plucked out from under her nose, but just because the man was hot, just because once-upon-a-time they’d had great dressing room sex didn’t mean she’d blow the opportunity to question him.
“So, Jack, tell me, when exactly did you lose that? Were you in here earlier?”
Matthew’s head snapped in her direction so fast it was a wonder he didn’t get whiplash. “Brielle, you don’t seriously suspect my brother?”
She kept her gaze glued to Jack’s stiffening form. “Correct me if I’m wrong, Jack, but wouldn’t anyone associated with this show be a suspect?”
He didn’t blink—didn’t move—but glared coldly at her. She refused to shiver or drop his gaze. She was right to question him. It just sucked she’d had reason to.
“Well?”
“You’re right, Ms. Bennett. Everyone is a suspect, but since I know I am not the one threatening my brother, I chose not to waste time investigating myself.” A deep scowl creased his brow as he held the object to her face. “This is the stylus from the PDA on my phone, see?” He pulled out a smart phone from his shirt pocket and slid the stick into a slot. “And yes, I was in here earlier, going through footage to see if we could determine who’d ruined your clothes.”
“And did you?” Unaffected by his hardened tone, she continued to hold his glare. He could also have been tampering with the equipment.
“No. The cameras had been snowy then, too.” His gaze dared her to pin that on him.
Her mind worked feverishly. She could either take him at his word or suspect him. Given her track record, she chose the latter. “How convenient.”
“Yes, isn’t it, thoug
h?” He scoffed, jamming the phone back into his pocket.
“So, we’ve established that you were in here earlier, picking your teeth or whatever with your stylus.”
Matthew’s laughter interrupted her. She spared him a glance before zeroing back in on Jack.
“You found the snowy footage from when my clothes were ruined, checked to make sure everything was functioning again, then continued on your merry way?”
His jaw cracked. “Something like that, yes.”
She had more questions, a lot more, but could tell he was beginning to wonder why an average dance instructor wouldn’t let it drop. Since it was out of her hands to enlighten him, she reluctantly jumped back into character.
“I’m sorry, Jack. I know you must think I’m crazy, but having my clothes turned into a pizza topping and my swim invaded by a breathing weapon tend to do that to me.” She forced her hand to tremble while pushing a strand of hair from her face.
He tilted his head and regarded her through narrowed eyes. When he made no effort to speak, she continued with the kiss up, her stomach souring at the task. Kissing up sucked.
“It doesn’t excuse my behavior, accusing you of wanting to harm your brother.” She paused when his eyes flashed. Did she hit the truth or was she way out in left field? “It’s just when I saw you pick up that stylus, it put you in here with the tampered cameras and…” Bile rose in her throat and prevented anything else from getting out. She swallowed, hating to have to make nice to a suspect—even if she was attraction to the damn man.
“No apology necessary.” His words were a surprise. “You’re absolutely right. Establishing someone’s presence in here—in this case, my presence—is cause for alarm and no reason to apologize.”
She cocked her head. Did he just forgive her or admit something?
“Now that that’s settled, Brielle, I want you to know how sorry I am that you’ve had such a rough day.” Matthew grabbed her hand and her attention when he kissed her knuckles.
Jack muttered an oath. She smiled, unwilling to dissect why that made her happy.
“You two want to be alone? Don’t let me stop you. I’m out of here, anyway. I need to have Franco run some prints I lifted from Carla’s room.”
“Did you find anything else?” Matthew asked before she had the chance.
“No, not a fiber out of place, and I’m sure these prints are Carla’s or one of the other girls. But I’ll have them checked anyway.” He stopped at the door and turned. “Look, Brielle, if you didn’t do this—”
“I didn’t.”
“Then you might want to reconsider staying.” A brilliant blue gaze bore into hers. “That’s two threats against you now. If there is another, it might not be as harmless.”
Freeing her hand from Matthew, she crossed her arms over her chest. “Thanks for your concern, but I’ll be fine.”
“I’m concerned for all the contestants.” He grabbed the doorknob before turning back to face her. “I don’t know what it is yet, but something’s not right about you, Ms. Bennett. Your reactions to these threats aren’t normal.”
Alarm swam through her veins. Shoot. He’d picked up on her lack of fear. She needed to throw him off the scent. But she would not play the fear card. No way.
“Why? Because I didn’t cry and carry on?”
His lips twitched. “Yes.”
“Then you’re right. I guess I’m not normal. I’m sorry if you think that’s the only type of woman in the world, Jack.” Her chin rose. “When someone pushes me, I push back.”
He eyed her for a long minute, then nodded and left the room.
“I think he likes you. I’ve never seen a woman puzzle him like you do.” Matthew chuckled and sat down.
“Well, bully for me, but I’m not here to confuse your brother.” Although that did hold incredible appeal. She shook her head and walked to the door. “I’m here to solve this case.”
Jack remained uppermost in Brielle’s mind, and not entirely because of her suspicions or the job. Her mind and body argued over the man as she shut the door, and smacked right into Danni.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.” She steadied the girl.
“It’s okay. I was just coming to see if you found anything on the tapes.”
Brielle’s gaze narrowed. Had Danni been listening to them? She released the brunette and stepped back. No. Jack would’ve seen her and no doubt still been around.
“I was also coming to tell you the studio finally delivered your clothes. They’re taking them to your room now.”
“Lovely,” she said with equal parts dread and terror. “I can hardly wait.”
“Yeah, and I’d like root canal,” Danni mocked, and together they laughed on the way to Brielle's room.
That woman was one tough cookie. And a beautiful one at that, a dark-clad figure observed from the shadows. I had fun with her today, but it’s time to change my focus.
Jack approached from the kitchen, his steps deliberate. “Matthew,” the former Ranger called, looking at his watch.
I thought he’d left? Backing against the wall, the figure sank deeper into the shadows as Matthew exited the security room. The Anderson brother’s were an interesting pair.
“Jack? You’re still here?”
“Yes,” the older one said, coming to a stop. “The studio delivered Brielle’s clothes. I wanted to make sure everything was okay.”
The dark figure smiled. For now…
“It’s about time. I felt bad for Brielle, stuck in that robe all day.” Matthew shook his head but his expression wasn’t all that contrite.
Well, he should feel bad. It was the artist’s fault the newcomer’s wardrobe had gotten wrecked. If it hadn’t been for Matthew and this show—
“Other than an inconvenience, it didn’t seem to faze her.” Admiration seeped into Jack’s voice, claiming the figure’s attention.
Interesting. Could the good captain actually have a pulse?
“That’s true,” Matthew said. “I’m almost grateful her clothes were trashed.”
Jack’s gaze snapped to Matthew’s. “Why?”
“Because she was forced to wear Carla’s extra bathing suit.”
A thoughtful smile spread across the captain’s face as he scratched his chin. “Yeah, that was some suit. Brielle looked—” He stopped and shook his head. “I’d better get to work on that print.”
The figure snickered again. He wouldn't find anything new there.
“I hope you’ll catch a break.”
“Me, too.” Jack nodded. “I came to see if you and Brielle were through. I thought you might want a ride back.”
His brother grinned. “Oh, I don’t know if Brielle and I are through, but I do need that ride. Bill wants me to pick a name out of a hat so I can take that contestant out on a date tomorrow night.”
Jack grimaced. “Lucky you.”
Matthew slapped a hand on his brother’s shoulder and smiled until dimples grooved his cheeks. “No, lucky you, bro. You get to hang out with the other three and watch a movie of your choice.”
“Ah hell. Is there no end to this madness?” The scowling captain scrubbed a hand over his face. “I still think you’re nuts to stay on this show.”
“I know. But it’s my choice, although I do appreciate your concern.” Matthew slapped his brother’s shoulder a second time as they strode down the hall. “You know, Jack, you worry too much. I promise you, I know what I’m doing.”
The figure snickered again. That man had no idea what he’s in for.
Chapter Six
The next afternoon, Brielle sat in the living room, pretending to read when Mandy rushed in carrying a big, black box. Where in the world had that come from? The doorbell never rang. And she’d been sitting there for an hour now, observing the girls’ comings and goings between the patio, kitchen and living room, while pretending to have her nose in a book.
“It’s here! The box is here!”
Danni and Carla appeared out
of nowhere, sweeping through like a sudden gust of wind, to help the blonde carry the parcel. Her queue to get back in character.
“What’s with the box?” Brielle asked, rising to her feet.
The trio stilled, their jaws dropping in unison. It took every ounce of willpower not to laugh or crack a smile.
“It contains the name of Matthew’s date tonight,” Danni replied, still blinking at her.
“And the location,” Carla added.
Brielle knew, but played dumb. “Oh, I thought maybe Jack was inside, you know—ready to pop out.”
“Good one, Brielle.” Danni tossed her head back and laughed.
The blonde frowned. “I don’t get it. Why would Jack be in the box when it's Matthew we’re interested in?”
Danni sighed and shook her head. “Haven’t you ever heard of a Jack-in-the-box?”
A beat passed before the hand model’s face lit up with thought. “Oh…now I get it. Brielle made a joke.”
Swallowing a sigh, Brielle nodded, ready for a nap. These women were trying. She had no idea watching them would be so tiring.
“Yeah, yeah, very funny.” Carla scowled. “Let’s just open the damn thing and see who gets Matthew to themselves.”
A sudden thought shot through Brielle, skyrocketing her pulse. What if it was another threat?
She stepped closer, but before she could voice her concern, Carla ripped off the lid, and Mandy snatched the card from inside. Brielle’s hand shot to her chest as she willed her heart beats to slow down. Thank God, it was only a card and not a snake or another yellow threatening note.
“Dear Danni...” the blonde paused, a full pout claiming her lips. “Darn it. I was hoping it was me.”
The teacher screamed, snatched the card from Mandy’s slackened hand and continued to read out loud. “Dear Danni, pick a team shirt and hat and be ready to cheer when we watch the baseball game from our private box seats in San Diego. See you soon. Love, Matthew.”
Carla dropped the lid onto the coffee table and twirled her finger like it was no big deal. Brielle knew it was just a tough act. All three of these women were interested in Matthew. She’d observed their posture and body language when the artist was around. No. They all wanted Matthew. Question was, how badly? And what would they do to get him?
She Does Know Jack Page 9
