by Nancy Warren
Nick couldn’t settle. As a private investigator, he spent a lot of time trailing unpleasant people doing unpleasant things who deserved to be exposed for whatever bad behavior they were engaged in, whether cheating on a spouse, selling company secrets, using disability payments to fund their golf game, or any other of a hundred deceitful activities a human being could engage in.
And then he’d been hired to try and seduce a nice woman. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Kate since he’d returned to Seattle.
He hadn’t wanted the job. He’d taken it to help out an old friend. And, in a bitter twist of fate, he’d fallen for his old buddy’s woman. He’d fallen hard and fast. And the irony was that because she was a decent, loyal woman, he didn’t have a chance in hell with her.
He was glad he was busy because work distracted him from a pair of big blue eyes, a mouth made for kissing, a trim body and—
He’d given Kate his business card. Stupid, foolish thing to do, but he had and every time his phone rang he hoped against hope it might be her.
But, in two days she hadn’t called. The woman was getting married. He had to accept that she wasn’t going to call. Which made him a lot less courteous on the phone.
“Mansfield.” Nick answered the phone curtly hoping to convey to whomever his secretary had put through that he was in no mood for chit chat. If they had a problem he’d solve it, a missing person, he’d find them, evidence to be gathered, he was on it. A bride to test for fidelity, he was your man.
The last statement had his frown deepening. And only getting heavier when the caller identified himself as Ted Carnarvon.
“Ted. What can I do for you?”
As he listened to his old college roommate relate how Kate had not only overheard him giving his report, but had thrown Ted’s fat diamond engagement ring in his face, his scowl lightened.
By the time Ted said, “She’s disappeared and no one can find her,” the scowl had reversed itself to a broad grin.
“That’s really too bad, Ted,” he said, barely attempting to conceal his contempt for a man who had so little faith in the woman he was about to marry that he set her up to be seduced by another man.
He’d liked Kate immediately. One look at her and a man with a single functioning brain cell could tell she was the true blue kind of woman who would never cheat. How could Ted be such a dick?
But Ted had always been a dick.
Back in college he used to cover for his roommate when he was cheating on whichever blue blood he was dating. Ted dated the kind of women his family would approve of, and then secretly hooked up with exactly the opposite type of girl.
When Nick had met Kate he’d thought that Ted had finally figured it out. He’d found a woman with the pedigree and breeding his parents would love, plus there was a certain something about her that was so subtle you could miss it if you weren’t looking carefully. It was a hint of devilry. The way she’d say the expected thing but a twinkle in her eye suggested she was thinking the opposite. The way she’d been so carefully polite but once she started blurting out her true feelings she couldn’t stop. He’d found it fascinating.
He’d thought that Ted was the luckiest guy alive. Now he began to wonder if Ted had even noticed the most interesting things about Kate.
“We’re not canceling the wedding,” Ted said with an edge of desperation.
“I still can’t make the ceremony,” he said. He’d rather saw off his own toe than watch that amazing woman settle for Ted.
“No. You don’t understand. I can’t find her. Her own mother can’t find her. No one can.”
“Wait a second, you mean you haven’t talked to her?”
“Not since Friday night. She threw the ring in my face and then she left. She’s not at her apartment. Her phone’s turned off. She’s disappeared.”
“You know, Ted, when a woman throws a ring in your face and tells you it’s over, maybe you should start canceling the caterer and sending back the gifts.”
“You don’t understand. I have to get her back. I can’t let her make a fool of me and my family like this.”
Seemed to Nick that Ted had made a fool of himself without any help, but he didn’t point that out. He said, “Well, good luck.”
“I want to hire you. You have to find her.’
“I’m all booked up.”
“I’ll pay you whatever you want. Her mother thinks something’s happened to her daughter. She blames me. And you.”
He gazed out the window at another gray Seattle day. “She hasn’t contacted her mother?”
“No. She disappeared.” He sighed heavily. “It was late when she left my place. She didn’t have a car. Maybe something did happen to her.”
“Wait. You left her to find her way home? After suffering a shock like that? Knowing she had no transport? You live miles from town.” If they’d been having this conversation face to face he knew he’d be tempted to throttle Ted.
“I—my cheek was bleeding where the ring hit it, her mother was hysterical and I—I had something I needed to do.”
He knew that tone and even those same words. “Nick, buddy, I’ve got something I need to do later. Cover for me if Stacy/Miranda/Claire/Deb of the week calls.”
The years rolled away. “Tell me you aren’t still seeing her.”
There was a silence. Finally, Ted said, “Find Kate for me. Please.”
When he got off the phone, Nick flipped back through his notes. He’d done a lot of research on Kate prior to meeting her so that he could find a way to appeal to her immediately. He’d wanted to know her politics, her favorite sports and movies and anything that would make him interesting to her.
He’d done a background check on her for Ted’s family as well as a credit check. Ted’s family demanded the platinum level of service and were willing to pay the platinum level price. He’d been happy to oblige.
Now things were different. She wasn’t a billing number. She was an articulate, intelligent woman who’d given him a hint of fascinating fires burning under a façade of cool reserve. She was a woman who deserved a hell of a lot better than Ted Carnarvon. The chances that she was a victim of foul play were slim to none. However, he knew from his background check how very sheltered her life had been. She was upset, angry, probably broken-hearted. She was vulnerable. Ted, prince among men, had let her go off into the night alone. His precious parents, even her own mother, hadn’t gone after her.
And now she was missing.
He scoffed at himself. She wasn’t a helpless little kid. She was a grown woman with friends, a cell phone, credit cards. She’d called a cab, or phoned a friend for a ride.
Not even her mother had heard from her.
Not in three days.
In truth, he wasn’t that busy.
And Kate was no longer engaged.
He finished up a report on a really rich guy who’d been caught cheating on his wife. The only interesting aspect to the case was that he was fairly certain it was the girlfriend who’d planted the evidence the wife had found. He suspected she was hoping to grab the soon-to-be-vacant role of wife herself.
By the time he signed his name to his report, he’d made up his mind.
He called a meeting of his staff. They weren’t a large outfit but he had an assistant and two other private investigators so he had people to take up the slack if he was out of the office for a few weeks. He explained that an important client had asked him to track down a missing girlfriend.
The four of them sat down and went over the caseload and distributed tasks until he was free and clear. He’d be available for consultation but he was unavailable to work until further notice.
His mind kept skipping back to that night, after dinner, when he’d followed her out of the restaurant. When he’d nearly kissed her. Or she’d nearly kissed him.
She hadn’t been single then. Now she was.
And all he had to do was find her.
