what he considered weekend or casual attire: a pair of khaki pants and a polo knit shirt. Aiden worked out, and he had the muscles in his upper arms to prove it. He looked tired, though, but then he always did. Building an empire apparently required putting in a twenty-four-hour day.
Spencer, on the other hand, didn’t look jet-lagged or tired at all. He was sitting on her sofa and was hunched over another file folder he’d spread on her coffee table.
“Hey, you,” she called out.
Spencer quickly stood and then stretched his arms over his shoulders. His clothing really was casual, an old pair of jeans and a well-worn blue rugby shirt.
She crossed the office and hugged him. “I didn’t get to tell you last night how happy I am that you’re home.”
“Me too,” he said. “Unfortunately, I won’t be here long.”
She stepped back. “How long?”
“That depends.”
Aiden distracted her when he came up behind her and put his arm around her shoulder.
“Are you doing okay?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered. She folded her arms across her chest and asked, “Are you ready to talk?”
“About what?”
“Oh, please.”
“The stress is getting to you, isn’t it?” Spencer said.
Before she could answer, Spencer turned to Aiden and said, “I talked to a man with the police, a guy named Lewis, and he told me the investigation was progressing nicely.”
“Lewis doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” Aiden said. “But the detective Lewis put in charge is good. Talk to him,” he suggested. “His name is John Wincott.”
“Don’t pester him,” Regan said. “Let him do his job.”
Her brothers stood side by side facing her, and as she looked from one to the other, she suddenly realized how handsome they were. She’d never really noticed how much they looked alike. They also shared some of the same mannerisms. Like the frowns they were giving her now. Those were definitely identical.
“They don’t have anything yet, do they?” Spencer asked.
Aiden answered. “Talk to Wincott.”
Spencer rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, I will. Maybe we ought to hire more security, just until we leave.”
Regan shook her head. “I’m tripping over security guards now. I don’t want you to hire more men. I mean it, Aiden. Promise me.”
“I’m going to do what I think is necessary to keep you safe.”
Spencer agreed. “You’re our little sister, and if we don’t look out for you, who will?”
“We know that under normal circumstances you can take care of yourself, but this isn’t a normal circumstance,” added Aiden.
“I think he should hire more guards. For God’s sake, there’s a killer out there just waiting for the opportunity, and that’s why Aiden and I…” Spencer paused.
“Yes?”
“We both thought you would be safe in Melbourne.”
They were doing it again, she realized. Ganging up on her. She couldn’t blame them. The tactic had always worked on her. They were used to wearing her down until she agreed to whatever it was they wanted. She wasn’t upset. In the past, she had always caved. But those days were over. Her brothers just didn’t know it yet.
She couldn’t wait to enlighten them.
“You think I’ll be safer in Melbourne?”
“Yes,” Spencer said. “We’ll fly back together, and we’ll find a nice, safe, secluded place for you to stay.”
She smiled. “And it will be safe because killers don’t get on planes. Is that what you think?”
“No need to be sarcastic, Regan,” Spencer said.
“Spence, why don’t you tell it like it is? You’ve already found that nice, safe, secluded place, haven’t you?”
“As a matter of fact, I have.”
“I’m not going.”
Before he could argue, she turned to Aiden. “What made you think you had the right to get rid of my car?”
“Didn’t he buy you a BMW?”
“Stay out of this, Spencer.”
“The only reason you kept that piece of junk was to irritate me. Isn’t that right?” Aiden asked. Before she could answer, he plunged ahead. “If you had had a new car when you left that seminar, you could have pushed the panic button on the key, and maybe, just maybe, someone would have come to your aid when that maniac was chasing you.”
“When I think what could have happened to you,” Spencer said with a disapproving shake of his head. “You’ve got to know how important you are to us.”
“Running from him… look what you did to your knee,” Aiden said.
“Are you suggesting I shouldn’t have run?”
“Don’t be a smart…” Spencer started and then stopped.
“You had surgery,” Aiden reminded her. “And when did we find out about it?”
“After the fact,” Spencer answered. He was getting angry now. “You should have told us.”
“It was a minor surgery,” she said.
She walked over to the desk and leaned against it. “I didn’t want it to become a big production. I didn’t even tell Cordie or Sophie.”
“We’re your family,” Spencer said. “You should have told us.”
“Look, Regan, I know you want to be independent, but you take it to the extreme.”
Spencer dropped down on the sofa, but Aiden continued to stand. He looked as if he wanted to tell her something but wasn’t sure how.
She sighed. Now she was trying to read his mind. “About the car…” she began.
“We’re finished talking about the car,” Aiden said.
There was a time she would have backed down. Not today. “No, we aren’t. I’m only just getting started. I’ll admit that I was being childish. I kept the car because I knew it irritated you, so, yes, Aiden, you were right about that. However, I don’t agree with or like what you did. You should have asked me before you had my car towed away.”
“You would have said no.”
“Aiden, you had no right-” she began.
“I agree with Aiden,” Spencer said.
She glared at him. “When don’t you agree with him?”
He looked shocked. He wasn’t used to her arguing with him. “When I don’t agree with Aiden, I tell him I don’t agree.”
“It’s done,” Aiden said. “Let it go.”
“We’ve got some important things to discuss,” Spencer added. “And I want to get to them.”
“Maybe we should go into the boardroom,” Alec suggested as he gathered the papers and slipped them back into the file folder.
“Do you want to have the annual meeting now? Are you prepared?”
Spencer stood and walked forward. “Actually Aiden and I already did that.”
She was furious. “When?”
“Early this morning. You’ve got so much on your mind that we didn’t think you would want to be bothered,” Spencer said. “Everything we went over is in that black binder on your desk. Take your time looking it over.”
She didn’t say a word, but she was so angry with the two of them she thought steam might be coming out of her ears.
“Okay,” she said quietly.
