Lethal Exposure

He hated when she called him Mr. Black. It made him feel like his father and he was nothing like his old man. “Don’t forget my razor-sharp wit.”

Blanche rolled her eyes. “Mark my word, one of these days you’re going to get your comeuppance.”

“Comeuppance? Which millennium is that from?”

She ignored his comment. “At some point the wine, women and song have got to come to an end.”

“It still works for some,” Sebastian said.

She waved a hand at the file. “You have a first-class seat booked on the ten a.m. flight to DFW. With the time difference and plane change, you should arrive in Austin on schedule for your dinner appointment with the Confidential Rejuvenations’ owners. I checked the weather in Austin, storms are expected this evening so I packed your raincoat. Would you like me to drive you to the airport, sir?”

“No, thanks,” Sebastian said. Blanche had driven him to the airport before and she followed the speed limit as if it was one of the Ten Commandments. “I’ll get Linc to do it.”

“As you wish.”

He chuckled, but the minute Blanche was out the door, he dropped his feet to the floor, leaned forward and flipped the file open. Truth was, he loved a challenge of this magnitude.

Sebastian saw himself as a modern-day knight in shining armor. Swooping in on his fire engine-red Ferrari, saving the day with a glib turn of phrase, a wink and a grin for the media and then swooping out again, with money lining his pockets and kudos ringing in his ears. Returning to his lavish 90210 area code and bachelor lifestyle. It was the kind of life he’d daydreamed about as a poor kid growing up on a run-down farm in Bakersfield with his little brother Lincoln, his ditzy, hippie aunt Bunnie and all the other eccentrics at the commune.

He was just about to buzz Lincoln’s office when his brother appeared in the doorway, jangling his car keys. Even though Linc was the younger brother, he was a good two inches taller than Sebastian’s own six-foot height, and where Sebastian had black hair and black eyes, Lincoln possessed green eyes and auburn hair. They had the same mother. Different fathers. But being half brothers hadn’t affected the close bond between them.

Growing up, Sebastian had been the one to look after Linc, get him off to school, make sure he did his homework. He taught him how to ride a bike and then later, drive a car. Aunt Bunnie and her friends had been too busy making clothes out of hemp, drinking wine, spouting liberal politics, writing poetry and playing guitar to pay much attention to what he and Linc were up to.

“Blanche said you needed a lift to LAX.” Even though Linc was eleven months back from Iraq, he still kept his hair trimmed in a precision military cut.

“Do you mind? Blanche drives like a prison warden.”

“Not at all. It’ll give us a chance to talk.”

Sebastian pushed back his chair, stood up, took his designer suit jacket off the coatrack and shrugged into it. “What’s up?”

“It’s about Keeley.”

“Did you guys break up?” he asked hopefully.

Sebastian couldn’t say he was surprised. While Keeley was a good person, he didn’t think she was right for Linc. She was one of those tree-hugging idealists who chided Sebastian for leaving “a big carbon footprint.” Whatever the hell that meant. He shrugged. Bottom line, she thought he should drive a Prius and live in a hut made out of manure and eat berries and twigs. Since Keeley was a peacenik and Linc was a soldier, he’d just been waiting for the sonic boom.

He tucked the Confidential Rejuvenations file into his wheeled carry-on bag and spied the present he had tucked away for Linc. He’d been waiting for the right moment to make him an equal partner in the PR company and give him the solid gold nameplate he’d had made for Linc’s desk. He snapped the case shut.

Sebastian crossed to the door, pulling the suitcase behind him and clamped his brother on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about Keeley. Plenty of fish in the Pacific Ocean. I’ll take you out when I get back from Austin. We’ll hit all the trendy clubs and get rip-roaring drunk.”

Linc met Sebastian’s eyes. “Keeley and I didn’t break up.”

Uh-oh. His brother had that defiant expression on his face that he used when they were kids and Sebastian told him to do something and Linc wasn’t of a mind to obey. His brother was generally a pretty accommodating guy, but when he dug in his heels, he dug in his heels. Sebastian couldn’t count the number of wrestling matches they’d had as he’d imposed his will on his younger sibling. Linc had never won, but he’d come damn close a time or two.

“No?” Sebastian turned and started toward the elevator, and his shoes suddenly felt heavy, as if he was trudging through mud.

Linc hurried after him. “I know you two don’t get along.”

“Of course we get along.” Sebastian stepped into the elevator and Linc followed. “I get along with everyone.”

“On the surface, yeah, because you’re great at keeping up appearances, but I know Keeley rubs you the wrong way.”

Sebastian punched the button for the parking lot. “Hey, I don’t have to sleep with her. If you like her…”

Linc hardened his jaw. “I want you to make more of an effort to see her side of things.”

“Look, she’s entitled to her opinion, I’m entitled to mine. We don’t have to like each other.”

“Could you do it for me?”

“Why push us on each other, Linc? This affair will burn out and then you’ll have a new girlfriend. I can’t be best buddies with all of them.”

“You’re wrong about that.”

Sebastian felt a cold prickle of apprehension slide down his spine. “What do you mean?”

“I wanted you to be the first to know.”

He didn’t want to ask because he feared the answer, but Linc had a hand on his shoulder. “Know what?”

“Keeley and I are getting married. We’ve set a date for April. I want you to be my best man.”

That grabbed Sebastian by the short hairs. He jerked his gaze to Linc. “You’re what?”

His brother wasn’t backing down. “You heard me.”

“Aw, come on, buddy. You can’t be serious.”

“I am.”

“You’re not thinking clearly. Marriage is a huge step and April is only six months away. Why so fast? You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”

“We’re getting married in Austin where her parents live. They want to throw us an engagement party at the end of the month. I can give you their address if you’d like to drop by and meet them while you’re in town. Keeley’s father is the one who recommended us to Confidential Rejuvenations. ”

“I appreciate the recommendation her father threw our way, but you don’t have to marry Keeley over it,” Sebastian joked.

Linc shot him a chiding glance. “Keeley says she’ll make an effort to get along with you, if you’ll make an effort to get along with her.”

“But come on, marriage?”

“She wants you to like her.”

It was as if they were having parallel conversations, both talking but neither really hearing the other. “You can’t be getting married. You’re barely twenty-five and she’s what? Twenty? Twenty-one? She’s not even through college. That’s way too young to get married.”

Especially to someone as uptight and uncompromising as Keeley Marshall.

Linc stopped beside his silver Toyota Camry. “My mind is made up, can’t you just be happy for us?”