The Right Twin

He didn’t have the faintest idea what she’d just asked, but something about the way she looked at him made him want to agree to any request she made of him. “Let me move my car away from the pump and I’ll meet you inside,” he said.

The return of her generous smile rewarded him. “Thank you. I knew you would help. See you inside.”

He watched as she turned and all but sprinted for the door of the station, her shoulder-length blond curls bouncing against her shoulders. The back side of her was every bit as appealing as the front, he thought, his gaze lingering on those snug shorts. Making himself look away, he climbed into his car. He would park and then join Shelby inside. Maybe when she finally ran out of steam he would find a chance to break it to her that she had embraced the wrong twin.

There was something different about Andrew Walker, but Shelby Bell couldn’t quite put a finger on what it was. It wasn’t just his hair, though he’d worn it almost militarily short when she’d met him last year. The color of strong, rich coffee, it looked much softer now that he’d let it grow. A girl’s fingers could get lost in there for a while. His eyes were the same deep brown she remembered, and his facial structure was classically handsome. But something had changed.…

She’d met Andrew almost a year ago when he’d spent nearly two weeks at the resort, helping her family with a sensitive legal matter. Her dad and grandfather had hired the private investigator from a Dallas firm, and Andrew had pretty much single-handedly saved the family business from a spiteful con man. By the time he’d left, he’d been the family hero, invited to return for free lodging whenever he needed a vacation from his demanding job.

Like the rest of the family, Shelby had been extremely grateful to Andrew for what he’d done for them. She had liked him very much, and she’d certainly noticed how good-looking he was, but there had been no romantic chemistry between them. She had spent little time alone with him, always surrounded by family and guests of the resort. And she’d been dating Pete then, so she hadn’t really thought of Andrew in that way. Nor had he seemed particularly interested in her other than as a member of the family he had worked for and befriended.

She couldn’t quite figure out what had changed, why she was suddenly noticing things like the shallow indention in his chin and the way his T-shirt outlined the hard, lean body beneath. Why her toes were curling in her flip-flops just because of the way he smiled at her from across the table. She didn’t remember him smiling quite like that before. Maybe it had been too long since she’d been alone with an attractive man. She’d broken up with Pete last winter—well, okay, Pete had dumped her, but it sounded better her way—and she had been too busy to even go on a date since.

Drawing her thoughts from such an irrelevant path, she started talking as soon as they were seated in a small snack corner of the station with their drinks—iced tea for him, a frozen cherry-flavored drink for her. Now she needed to quickly outline what she wanted to ask him before he had a chance to dismiss her concerns without hearing her out, as her family was prone to do.

“So, I know you’ve just gotten here and you’re probably hoping for a nice, relaxing vacation,” she began in a rush of words. “And I know it’s presumptuous of me to ask a favor before you even get to the resort, especially after all you did for my family last summer—and even more especially since I can’t afford to hire you, exactly. But what I ask would only take a few minutes, and I’ll make sure you have a great time at the resort in return. Well, not that I wouldn’t do that, anyway—I mean, we all invited you to come back anytime and to make use of all our facilities for a nice, relaxing vacation, which we all figured you needed because you work so hard.”

“Shelby—”

She was making such a mess of this. In frustration, she powered on. “There’s this guy who’s been staying at the resort. He’s quiet, doesn’t make any trouble, is all paid up, even tips very well. But I don’t trust him. There’s something hinky going on with him, and no one in the family will listen to me when I try to tell them. You know how they are—’Oh, you’re just being Shelby again,’ they say. And, okay, I know I get carried away sometimes and maybe overreact a little, but wasn’t I the one who just knew the evil ex had been stealing from us last year? I kept saying that if we looked hard enough, we’d find plenty of ammunition against him and his stupid, greedy lawsuits, and I was right, wasn’t I?”

“Okay.” He took a sip of his iced tea, and she had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying not to grin. “Why don’t you finish telling me about this ‘hinky’ guy, and then I’ll talk?”

She didn’t know what it was about her that made people not take her seriously. Just because she was energetic and enthusiastic, quick to show her feelings, a little too prone to jump to conclusions, everyone seemed to think they should just brush off her suggestions and ideas. But Andrew had listened to her last year when she insisted her cousin Hannah’s ex-husband had been stealthily stealing from the family business, and that he had then falsified legal claims against them that could have put the resort in serious financial straits had he won. She had even helped Andrew come up with a plan to prove her suspicions, though she had suggested perhaps a half-dozen schemes before she’d stumbled onto one he’d approved. She hoped he would be inclined to listen to her again now.

“So, this guy—he says his name is Terrence Landon, but he doesn’t really look like a Terrence, you know? Anyway, he’s been at the resort for about two weeks. He pays in cash. Says he’s on an extended vacation from a high-stress marketing job in Austin that almost put him in the hospital with high blood pressure and ulcers. Every other day or so, he has men join him—associates, he calls them—for fishing and business talks. They always bring stuff in boxes and cases, and they never seem to leave with the same stuff they brought. And either they’re the world’s worst fishermen or they just don’t try very hard, but they hardly ever bring in a good catch.”

“And you think he’s—what? Dealing drugs? Weapons?”

She narrowed her eyes on his face, but he didn’t seem to be mocking her. It sounded like a legitimate question.

“Maybe,” she said cautiously. “Or maybe he’s just baking brownies for their kids. Who knows? Dad and Steven both say I’m misinterpreting things and Dad told me to stay away from the guy before I run off a good-paying customer with my ‘crazy imagination,’ to quote him. Maggie thinks I got a little too enthusiastic about all the private investigating last summer and I’m looking for a way to relive that excitement. As if I’d want to relive that horrible time,” she added indignantly. “Poor Hannah still hasn’t gotten over the stress and humiliation, which is probably how she ended up …”

She swallowed and shook her head, deciding to focus on one mystery at a time. “Anyway, I’m willing to concede that there’s nothing at all suspicious going on with Terrence Landon, but since you’re going to be with us for a few days, and since you’re trained to look for things like that, maybe if you just happen to bump into him while you’re here? Talk with him for a couple minutes or sort of discreetly observe one of his meetings with his associates? Then you can tell me if I’m seeing things that aren’t there, or if there really is any reason for me to worry about him staying at the resort.”

He had set down his paper cup of iced tea and laced his fingers on the table, looking at her more seriously now.

She swallowed hard in response to his expression. “I’m sorry, was I out of line asking? I know you said you’re here for a vacation, and I certainly didn’t mean to ruin it for you before you’ve even unpacked your car. Forget I asked, okay? It’s probably nothing. I’ll keep an eye on the guy just in case, but you should just relax and have a good time.”

He was shaking his head before she finished apologizing. “It isn’t that, Shelby. What you asked sounded perfectly reasonable—if I was who you think I am.”

She felt a quick jolt of pleasure at having her concerns called reasonable, something she’d yet to hear from her family—but then the rest of his words sank in. “I don’t understand.”

“You see, the thing is, you’ve made a mistake. I’m not Andrew Walker.”

Chapter Two

Aaron’s head was spinning a little—both from confusion at trying to follow Shelby’s convoluted request and from a growing fascination with her. He liked the way she looked, but he was even more intrigued by the way her mind worked. She was different from the women he’d spent time with lately—and that was a good thing.

He had been almost tempted to allow Shelby to continue believing he was Andrew, just to see how long he could get away with it. It wouldn’t be the first time he and his brother had switched places for one reason or another, though it had been years since they’d pulled such a stunt. But then he’d realized he wanted those generous smiles of hers aimed at him, not Andrew, and he’d known it was time to tell her the truth.

“I’m Aaron,” he said gently. “Andrew’s brother.”

She blinked rapidly, her long lashes sweeping her pinkening cheeks. “Twins?”

“Identical,” he said, though she’d probably already figured that out. “Though we’re told it doesn’t run in families, our dad is an identical twin, too. Coincidence, I suppose, but here we are.”

“Wow.” Her face had turned as cherry-red as her icy drink. “It never even occurred to me—”

“I take it Andrew didn’t mention he has a twin?”

She shook her head slowly. “No, but then he didn’t talk about himself that much. He was here on a job, after all, though we all got very friendly with him. You’re Aaron?”

He nodded, familiar with the reaction of new acquaintances shocked by how much he and Andrew looked alike. If it wasn’t for their different hair and clothing styles—he favored a more casual and colorful look than his brother—few people outside their family would be able to tell them apart.

She covered her cheeks with her hands. “Oh, my gosh. You must have thought I was crazy when I threw my arms around you out there.”

He chuckled. “Actually, I thought I’d just gotten very lucky.”

She didn’t even seem to catch the joke. She was still shaking her head and looking embarrassed. “And I didn’t give you a chance to correct me, did I?”

“Well, no, you—”

“I just kept talking and talking and then I practically dragged you in here to hit you up for a favor.”

“Shelby, it’s—”

“My family is right. I do get carried away,” she muttered in self-recrimination. “I really do need to—”

“Shelby.” This time it was he who interrupted, reaching across the table to catch her hands in his just to make sure he had her attention. “My turn to talk, remember?”

She nodded, her slender throat working with the words she must be swallowing.

He squeezed her fingers, then rather reluctantly released her. “I don’t think you’re crazy. You certainly aren’t the first person to mistake me for my brother and you won’t be the last. And you didn’t have to drag me in here. I’m pleased to have met you.”

Her bright blue eyes widened, her humor returning as her blush faded. “Oh, my gosh, we haven’t actually met, have we? I’m Shelby. Shelby Bell. It’s very nice to meet you, Aaron.”

“Bell as in Bell Resort and Marina?”

She nodded. “My paternal great-grandfather built a little bait shop on the river back in the early 1940s. They owned some land on what would become the banks of Lake Livingston when the river was dammed to form a reservoir in the late sixties. My grandfather started Bell Resort with a small marina, bait shop and a few campsites in 1970, and now it’s a family-run business. My grandparents have two sons—my dad, Carl Jr., and my uncle, Bryan. Both sons and their wives work in the resort. My brother, Steven, and I have jobs there, along with our cousins, Hannah and Maggie. My youngest sister, Lori, is still in college. She hasn’t decided yet if she’s going into the family resort or if she wants to do something else. Our parents and grandparents always say they want the kids to follow their own dreams, do whatever they want, but there’s still a lot of pressure to stick with the family and keep the resort running. I think poor Steven feels that obligation the most.”

Aaron couldn’t help wincing a little. “I’m familiar with family pressure.”

“Oh, right. The D’Alessandro-Walker Agency. That’s how we met Andrew, of course. My cousin’s evil ex-husband, Wade Cavender, had been embezzling from the resort for a couple years, and then the bastard had the nerve to try to sue us for a ton of settlement money he wasn’t due—extortion, really—and Andrew helped us find proof it was all a scam. He turned over evidence of the embezzlement to the police, which is why Wade is currently in jail, which is exactly where he deserves to be. His sentence wasn’t nearly long enough, but I don’t think he’ll mess with us again when he gets out.”

She’d given him a lot of information to process at once. “Um—”

She shook her head quickly. “But maybe you know all that, since I’m sure the case is on file at the D’Alessandro-Walker Agency. It’s a family-run business, too, right?”