help her. They both stood on the street, Marisol’s anger simmering.
“Your father has been keeping me up-to-date with what you’ve been doing,” he said. “But I haven’t talked to him in a few weeks. I thought maybe he was up here visiting.”
Marisol knew immediately what he’d come for. He needed his painting and he couldn’t find it. But he didn’t know she had it. “Don’t lie to me. I know what you’re here for.” She drew back and slapped him across the face, his head snapping to the side with the force of her blow. “That’s for the Brazilian bimbo in my bed. And no, there’s no chance that I would ever want you back in my life. So turn around and go back to New York.”
David’s friendly expression instantly turned hard. “You might not want to be so quick to judge me.”
“No?” she asked. “I’ve had six months to judge you, David, and I’m afraid you’ve come off looking like the biggest ass on the East Coast.”
He chuckled, the sound grating on her nerves. “I’m in town to see the Templetons, but I’m not due there until dinner. I’ve taken a room over in Newport. I thought I’d check out some of the other galleries in my spare time, look around for some promising new artists. I could use a tour guide.”
Marisol took care not to react when he mentioned the Templetons. Was he planning to steal the forgery and sell that to his client? If he was, then David had to be desperate. “I’m busy. I’ll be busy for the rest of the year. In other words, I really don’t want to spend any time with you, David. We have nothing more to say to each other.” She walked toward the front door of the gallery.
“Marisol, I know things didn’t end-”
“Stop!” she snapped, turning on him. “Nothing you have to say to me will make me change my mind about you. Go away, David, and leave me alone.”
She hurried to the door and unlocked it, then slipped inside. With a sigh, Marisol slid down to the floor and wrapped her arms around her knees, her back braced against the entryway wall.
She closed her eyes and wished that Ian were with her, to soothe her frayed nerves and to distract her thoughts, to make her feel safe and protected. But this was her problem to deal with, and unless she could solve it, there would be no Ian. If things fell to pieces, he would be coming to her door with his handcuffs-to arrest her.
5
THE PUB WAS PACKED, the Saturday-night crowd gathered around the bar to watch a Red Sox game. Ian grabbed a pitcher of beer from the bartender and headed to the pool table, set in an alcove near the back of the bar. Marcus and Declan were caught up in a game of pool with two of the regulars and Ian set the beer on a nearby table then found a seat on an empty stool.
He glanced at his watch as he’d done so many times over the past hour. He’d promised Marisol he’d call her before he came over, but if he waited too long, it might seem more like a booty call than a genuine desire to be with her.
He and Dec and Marcus had been forced to cancel their regular Friday night out last night because Dec had a security job scheduled, so they’d agreed to meet at Finnerty’s on Saturday.
A few weeks ago, Ian would have looked forward to a night out with his brothers. But now that Marisol had entered his life, he’d lost all interest in hanging out, in playing pool or darts or in trying to analyze the female sex over a pitcher of beer. From the moment he’d first touched Marisol, Ian couldn’t explain why he wanted her. He didn’t care why. His affair with Marisol was exciting and unpredictable and confusing. Trying to figure it all out would only make it seem ordinary.
Marcus sank the eight ball in the corner pocket, ending the game, then held out the cue to Ian. Ian shook his head. “I’m done.”
Marcus glanced at Dec and they turned the table over to the next pair of players. He sat down next to Ian and sipped at his beer, watching as the players racked the balls. Dec returned the cues and wandered over to his brothers. A pretty blonde stopped him, her hand coming to rest on his arm. He bent close to listen to what she said, then nodded and grinned, before she joined her friends at a nearby booth.
“You’re never going to last,” Ian warned as Dec found another stool.
“Just because I converse with a woman does not mean I feel compelled to sleep with her. She asked if I wanted to play a game of pool and I said no, that I had to leave soon.” He took a long drink of his beer. “So what’s the topic of conversation for tonight?”
“Jealousy,” Marcus suggested. “Ian and I were talking about that the other night.”
Ian shot his brother an irritated look, but Dec seemed to find the topic intriguing. “Who are you jealous of?” he asked.
“No one,” Ian said. “It was just hypothetical.”
“Tell him about your other hypothetical,” Marcus urged. “The one where you meet the girl of your dreams and you have to break the pact.”
Ian knew that Marcus was goading him on, but he wasn’t going to take the bait. “Hey, I was just wondering what would happen. Let’s be real. Which one of us is going to turn a woman down because of this silly deal we made?”
“I would,” Marcus said, raising his hand.
“That’s because you’ve got no game in the first place,” Dec teased. “But, I’d turn a woman down, for the greater good.”
“We swore on the medallion,” Marcus said. “We can’t break the pact.”
“Even if you met some nymphomaniac swimsuit model who was going back to Australia tomorrow? You wouldn’t sleep with her?” Ian asked.
His brothers shook their heads.
“Bollocks,” Ian said. “You are both bleedin’ liars.”
“We swore on the medallion,” Dec said. “You can’t break a promise like that. You’d probably be cursed.” He studied Ian’s expression. “Or did you already break the pact?”
Ian stood. “I have to go. I’ve got to work tomorrow at the fire department picnic.”
“I’m gonna stay,” Marcus said. “Maybe win some more money at pool. These guys can’t play worth shite.”
Dec clapped Ian on the shoulder. “I’ll walk you out. I’ve got a presentation in Manhattan tomorrow morning and I need to drive down there tonight. I’m doing background checks for a company down there.”
They wove their way through the crowd in the bar and when they reached the street, Ian stopped. “So what do you find out in these background checks?”
“Pretty much the same thing law enforcement has. But we also check into personal history. Employment, marriages, boyfriends and girlfriends. Even schooling.”
“Answers to all the questions,” Ian murmured.
“All the important questions,” Dec replied.
“Could you do a check for me?” The moment Ian made the request, he wanted to take it back. Sure, he’d been curious about Marisol’s past. It was in his nature to be cautious. And if he was going to fall in love with her, he deserved to know a little more about her. But still, it seemed a bit underhanded to use his connections to learn more.
“What’s the name?”
Ian paused, then brushed aside his qualms. What would the report say? Not much more than he already knew. So it really wasn’t a big deal. After all, it wasn’t as though he expected to find a string of arrests and a prison record. “Her name is Marisol Arantes. She’s from New York and she drives a Triumph Spitfire and she’s an artist who just moved into town. That’s about all I know about her.”
He wasn’t about to tell his brother about Marisol’s beautiful body or about the way her hair felt when he ran his fingers through it or about how her face flushed in the moments before she came. Ian knew those details, but not a whole lot more.
“And why do you want to know about her?” Declan asked.
“Curiosity. That’s not breaking the deal we made, is it?”
“Depends on how far you take your curiosity,” Dec said. He considered the request, then nodded. “Hell, if it will
