Get a Clue

want, especially with the particular men you picked.'

'I don't follow you.'

Yes, you do. 'You picked men who weren't going to love you, not the way you want to be loved.'

She stared up at him.

He stroked her silky hair. 'Am I close?'

'No.' But she swallowed hard. 'No.'

'I'm different, Bree. What we could have is different.'

'It's a chemical attraction. Period.'

It was so much more than that, but she was standing there, arms tight around herself, breathing a little ragged, her poor bruised heart in her eyes, and he found he couldn't tell her. It was something she had to see herself.

Unfortunately for him, she wouldn't see it, because willing as she was to share her body, she wasn't willing to share mill h else. She shied away from true intimacy, and apparently that bothered him more than he would have thought possible.

'I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that this was supposed to be my honeymoon,' she said, closing her eyes. 'I didn't count on meeting you, Cooper.'

'Yeah, well, you weren't on my calendar, either. But I'm glad it happened.'

This brought a ghost of a smile to her lips. 'I wanted to talk to you about Edward.'

He sighed. From lovers to spies.

'They were all afraid of him.'

'I know.'

'I think he was rough.'

'Physically?' he asked.

'I don't know, but he yelled at them. A lot.'

'Even Dante and Patrick?'

'Patrick, yes,' she said. 'Lariana said he totally demeaned him at every turn, and he only put up with it because-'

'Because they're related.'

'Yes.' She sounded surprised. 'How did you know?'

'Dante told me that much. What else?'

'Patrick has trouble keeping jobs. He's sweet and kind, but not all that great at what he does. Apparently he really wants to be an artist, but he needs the money from this job. He's a painter. That's how he and Lariana got together-she bought one of his paintings as a gift for her father. Shelly said that Patrick was late for work the morning before we got here because he'd been up all night painting, and he and Edward had a terrible fight about it.'

'A physical fight?'

'I don't know.'

'Did Shelly tell you what Edward yelled at her for that morning?' Cooper asked.

'No. That she didn't mention.'

'I can picture Edward yelling at the women,' Cooper said. 'Possibly even Patrick. But Dante?'

'Supposedly none of them escaped the wrath.'

He shook his head. 'The problem is, I just can't see Dante standing for it, job or no job.'

'And you know what else I can't see,' Breanne said slowly, 'is Dante standing idly by while Edward treated either of those women badly.'

'Me, either.'

She tipped her head up to his. 'So what does all this mean?'

It meant that there were too many motives, and too many suspects. It meant there were going to be lots and lots of questions once the authorities got here. It meant unpleasant times ahead for all of them. Exhausted at the thought, he leaned back against the door and sighed. 'We need to round everyone up and start digging.'

'It's still snowing.'

'I know, but we should do it now, while we have lots of daylight hours left. I don't know how long it'll take to reach town.'

'You really think someone can get that far on the snowmobile without a problem?'

'I'm counting on it,' he said grimly.

'Yeah.' She let her arms fall to her sides and stepped close. Reaching up, she touched his face, her fingers warm now. Her touch was so unexpected and sweet, he closed his eyes to savor it.

'I'm glad we happened, too,' she whispered, making him open his eyes again in surprise.

For her, it was equal to a shouted declaration of her feelings, and he felt his chest tighten, more so when she set her head against his shoulder and let him hold her.

'There's two snowmobiles,' she said. 'Who's going?'

'Hopefully, Dante and me. I think he'd be more capable than Patrick if we got stuck out there.'

She slowly fisted her fingers in his shirt, staring at them as she said, 'I dreamed about you.'

'Yeah?' His hands squeezed her hips. 'Tell me.'

'I was running through the dark hallways here. Something was chasing me.' She frowned. 'Or someone.'

'You should have woken me up.'

'You had me wrapped up in your arms tight and snug, and I knew I was safe.'

'You are safe.'

She'd been watching her fingers move in little circles on his chest, but now she lifted her gaze to his, and he could see her uncertainty, her fear. 'Once you leave on that snowmobile, no one left here is safe.'

'Bree.' He sank his fingers into her hair, leaning in, but just as his mouth touched hers, the doors slid open.

Lariana stood there with a DVD in hand, staring at them.

'Whoops,' she said, and handed them the case. 'Just found this and wanted to put it back. Uh… carry on.' With a smile, she slid the door shut again.

Breanne winced. She knew the staff was probably used to such indiscretions, but she sure wasn't. 'Well, that was… awkward.'

Cooper just lifted an oh, well shoulder. His shirt was wrinkled, from her. His hair stood up on end. Also from her. And he was wearing one of those after-sex expressions that there was no hiding. He looked thoroughly debauched, and so rough-and-tumble sexy that she wanted him all over again.

Oh God, she wanted him all over again.

But that had to stop. Sex was sex, and they'd just had it. The end. But wow, he was potent. And something else… with Cooper, it never felt like just sex.