Under Wraps

“Here.” He took out his cell phone. “Vincent is on speed dial. Call your old boss at Premiere Properties and check out my story. He can tell you how seriously he’s taking this investigation.”

And although it stung a little to see how fast she reached for the phone and dialed, Jake knew the line separating the criminals from the cops—or P.I.’s—could be razor-thin sometimes. He’d left the force just because there was too much crossover in his opinion. He could hardly blame her if she found it difficult to know who to trust.

Still, he didn’t care for the lack of color in her face by the time she disconnected her call and handed him the phone in silence.

“You okay?” He didn’t want to crowd her when she’d had one hell of a night, but she sure looked as if she could use a shoulder.

“You’re right. He says 2.5 million dollars is missing. That’s a lot of money.” Her bleak tone was a far cry from her normal Friday-after-five voice. Usually she spent a good hour belting out tunes along with her radio.

And while he regretted bursting her bubble of ignorant bliss, she was better off knowing the truth. He had to consider her safety.

“Someone’s taking great pains not to get caught. That raises the chances they could resort to violence if they think we’re on his or her trail.”

This would have been a whole lot simpler if he hadn’t investigated her. Hadn’t lied to her and spied on her. If none of that had happened, he’d be dusting off seduction skills he hadn’t used in too damn long. Instead, he needed to tread carefully to convince Marnie to help him nab Vincent Galway’s embezzler. But it was the least he could do after all the ways Vince had been screwed by the justice system. Jake had always hated that one of the most honorable guys he knew—after his own dad—had had his integrity questioned. His life put under a microscope because he’d tried to do the right thing.

And yeah, he couldn’t deny an unexpected need to protect Marnie. His case had taken on a new slant after talking to her and he wanted to be sure the embezzler didn’t try something more drastic to point suspicion her way.

“I agree that it would be in my best interest to figure out who this person is before he targets me all over again.” Marnie stalked toward her work computer and sat down at the screen. At first, she simply squeezed her temples, as if she wanted to rub out all the worries in her head. Then, she peered up at him with new determination in her eyes. “Since I have this bastard to thank for putting me under suspicion and exposing me to a stranger, it would be worth the time off if I could help put him behind bars.”

Surprise, surprise.

She was going to agree to this without a fight. But she didn’t look happy about it. Figuring it would be in poor form to break out the victory dance while she was so clearly upset, he concentrated on all the plans he needed to make for this new strategy to work.

Jake watched her click through some keys to pull up a web page for a genteel-looking inn with wide white columns and a long veranda. Four stone chimneys dotted the roof. It could have been out of Gone with the Wind except for the fact that the place was surrounded by snow and decked with holiday evergreens. A cobalt-colored front door was the only feature of the building that didn’t fit with the classic Georgian architecture.

“You’ll get us into the Marquis?”

“Damn straight,” she muttered, clicking a code into the system that activated a reservation form he assumed wasn’t available to the general public. The photo of the Marquis didn’t even have a sign out front, though a caption under the photo gave an address in upstate New York. “I’ve gone through hell the past six months because of this. I had to move out of my house and into a room in the back of the business to protect my credit after I lost my job. My savings. All this time, I thought I’d done something wrong to make Vince question my capabilities, when in fact I just had an enemy I didn’t know about. An enemy who made me look like a criminal.”

He heard the hurt in her voice. Felt for her situation.

“Can you be ready to leave tomorrow?”

“Are you kidding?” She turned frosty eyes on him. “Someone wants me behind bars. And whoever it is, I have that person to thank for losing a great job at the worst possible time. So I can have my car gassed up and ready to head north in an hour.”

Surprised at her new level of commitment to the plan, he wondered if she had any idea how close they’d have to be throughout this trip.

“Are you sure you don’t want to wait for a flight out in the morning?”

“Tomorrow is a Saturday. We’ll be lucky to find an afternoon flight, let alone something in the morning.” She went back to her computer keys and started filling out information for the exclusive resort. “Besides, I won’t be able to get any sleep with this hanging over my head.”

Twenty-plus hours on the road with Marnie? His agenda shifted to accommodate the prospect.

“Fine, but you need to give an assumed name for check-in purposes, just in case the embezzler is someone who works on-site. We can pick up a wig or something on the way up.”

She nodded, lips pursed in a tight line.

“Plus, I want to take my SUV and we can spot each other in the driver’s seat so we can go straight through the night and into the day tomorrow.” Before she could protest, he added, “I’ve got four-wheel drive and it looks like we’ll need it where we’re going.”

“Fair enough.” She frowned as she paused her typing. “You can fill me in on how you think it’s going to be any safer for me there than here since—assuming you’re correct about where the embezzlement originated—we’ll be walking right into enemy terrain.”

“Easy.” He dug his keys out of his pocket. “You’ll be in disguise and hidden away in the room as much as possible. More importantly, you’ll be with me.”

She bit her lip but kept right on with the data entry thing, flipping to a new screen.

“And don’t forget,” he reminded her as he headed for the door. “We’ll need to stick together both for appearance’s sake and for safety purposes, so—only one room.”

At last, her typing fingers slowed. Stopped. He hadn’t expected to get that one past her.

“Is your client springing for the expense of this trip?” she asked, her eyes narrowing shrewdly.

“Yes. But while I’m sure he could afford two rooms—”

“That’s not necessary.” She went back to the keyboard, a golden brown lock of her hair sliding off her shoulder to frame her cheek. “I’ll get one room, but it’s going to be the biggest damn suite in the place. Vincent Galway and Premiere Properties owe me that much.”

IT WASN’T EXACTLY the kind of fantasy escape she tried to sell to her upscale clientele.

Even reclining in the leather passenger seat of Jake’s full-size SUV, Marnie didn’t think a twenty-five-hour car ride counted as decadent and indulgent. But at least—twelve hours into it—they were making excellent headway. Jake had shaved off some serious time overnight by tearing through Georgia and the Carolinas like a bat out of hell. Easy to do when traffic was so light. No one wanted to head north in the winter, except for a few die-hard skiers.

“You don’t think you could sleep if you leaned back the rest of the way?” Jake peered over at her from the driver’s side, his shades hiding his eyes now that the morning sun was well over the horizon.

He’d turned out to be a decent travel companion. He’d stocked up on bottled water prior to the trip and kept her cup holder stocked. Periodically, he pointed out rest areas and asked if she wanted to stop. Best of all, he’d given her control of the radio stations. Considering he had spied on her and played her for a fool by pretending he was a cute contractor instead of a dangerously deceptive P.I., Jake was turning out to be an okay guy.

She would have felt more comfortable around him, however, if she wasn’t still highly attracted.

“I can’t sleep when I’m wound up,” she told him finally. “Doesn’t matter if I’ve got the world’s best accommodations and total silence. If I’m upset, nothing short of an animal tranquilizer would help me close my eyes.”

“That explains a few late-night dart-throwing sessions.” He changed lanes to avoid a semitruck trying to merge into traffic.

All around them, the lush greenery had faded, leaving them in a brown and gray barren part of the country. No snow yet, but the temperature had dropped a good twenty-five degrees.

“You know, I don’t think it’s fair that you’ve got all kinds of inside dirt on me and I don’t know much of anything about you.”

Maybe her attraction would lessen as she got to know him better. Real life had a way of dousing the best fantasies. Besides, talking about his world would keep her from picturing him watching her dance around her office in her skivvies at midnight when she realized she’d left some notes out front that she wanted to work on.

The thought of him keeping tabs on her all that time sent a fresh wave of awareness through her. She so could not let herself start thinking he was an okay guy, damn it. She needed to help him with his investigation—find out who wanted to frame her—and get back to rebuilding her life.

“You want the life story?” He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel with a staccato beat that smacked of impatience.

Too bad. She was only too happy to turn the tables on him. Let him see how it felt to be the one under the microscope.

“A few highlights would be nice.”

“I’m a Midwestern farm boy turned Marine. I liked it a little too well. After my last tour was up, I figured I’d put the skills to use and became a cop.”

The life story was decidedly condensed.

“What brought you to Miami?” It seemed more appropriate than asking him how many women he’d spied on while they undressed.