Maybe she shouldn't have conspired to keep the truth of the situation from her sisters. It was hard to carry the burden alone.
Not quite alone. Josh shared it with her.
Drying her hands, Michelle headed for the living room. She’d offer to help him with the office work. She’d done quite a bit over the last couple of weeks and knew exactly what he expected.
He looked up when she stepped into the room, a look of inquiry on his face.
“I thought I could help,” she said, feeling flustered again. When would she be beyond that. Granted he was a good looking man. But she’d seen good looking men before and didn’t feel this way.
“This is the last of the backlog. If I can get caught up by the end of the weekend, then things will be back to normal at the office. I offered the temp a permanent job today. She’s going to let me know on Monday. If she stays, I’ll bring her up to speed with the rest of the procedures. So far she’s a hard worker and keeps up with the day-to-day load.”
“Good.”
Michelle took a folder and began to read.
Except for the odd tension that seemed to hum between them, the evening was not very different from others they’d shared. Josh worked diligently through the files, scanning reports, checking the billing records, and jotting notes on a sheet of paper where he wanted to do further follow-up.
Michelle looked up to watch him every time she finished with a folder. He looked tired. Her heart lurched. Was he working too hard?
She knew that, despite the work of his two operatives, things had fallen behind when he’d had the difficulty with Penny’s day care, but surely things were getting better there now.
“Why don’t you go up to bed, Josh,’’ she said when the clock chimed ten. “You look tired.”
He shrugged, but didn’t raise his gaze from the folder on his lap.
“You have all day tomorrow to work on these folders.”
“No, I have an assignment tomorrow.”
“Oh.” So much for Caroline’s brilliant idea of giving them time together.
He looked up. After a minute, he said, “Want to go with me?”
Michelle didn’t hesitate. “I’d love to. Are you going undercover?”
“You’ve been watching too many TV detective shows. There’s rarely a need to go undercover in my line of work.”
“Okay, so what are you doing tomorrow?”
“Watching a place in the Quarter to see if we can spot who’s been passing counterfeit bills.”
“Isn’t that something the cops would do?”
“They have a stakeout, but the owner suspects a member of his extended family and if he can discover who's doing it before the cops, he might be able to minimize the fallout.”
Michelle gazed off into space, envisioning her and Josh on a case together. Smiling, she realized once again he'd thrown her off balance. And offered her a chance at something extraordinary.
“Thanks, Josh. This’ll be fun.”
“It’ll probably be tedious, boring and get old real fast. But if you’re game, we leave at nine.”
Michelle jumped up. “I better get to bed, then, so I can get up early and be ready to go. What should I wear?”
“Whatever you usually do if you’re browsing around the Quarter. The key here is to make sure you don’t look obvious.”
He stacked the folders and held his hand for the one she’d been working on.
She brought it over almost dancing with excitement. This would be fun! And give her time with Josh.
He rose and switched off the lamp. When he turned, he almost bumped into Michelle.
She flung her arms around him and hugged him tightly.
“Thanks. This will be different, but exciting, don’t you think?”
Josh resisted with every ounce of willpower he possessed. She hadn't a clue how difficult she made it for him to keep the distance he’d vowed to keep after last night. She wasn’t interested, end of subject. Once he found her father, she’d be gone and wanted no complications to confuse the issue.
But it didn’t feel like the end of the subject with her soft body pressed against his, with her arms holding him tightly. And her smile was enough to melt icebergs. How was one man to resist?
She almost had him considering extending the end of the relationship beyond what they’d agreed to, but he knew how that went. Hadn’t he learned from Sylvia that he wasn’t cut out for marriage? He had his daughter and once she was in school, they could establish a routine that’d see them through the years until she was grown and on her own.
Michelle stepped back, dropping her arms.
“Good night,” she said and turned to hurry to the stairs.
Josh watched her go, feeling old and tired and lonely.
By five o’clock the next afternoon, Josh suspected Michelle was ready to throw in the towel.
They’d been pretending to be shopping at the one store in the French Quarter all day. Fortunately, it was large and had an extensive inventory. Nevertheless, he knew he could itemize everything in the place from the lovely ceramic masks, to the elaborate be-feathered Mardi Gras masks to the tacky souvenirs lining the shelves right inside the door. He expected the day would cure Michelle of thinking the work of a private investigator was glamorous.
Josh showed none of the boredom he was feeling. He was annoyed the suspected family member hadn’t shown up this day.
“Ready to leave?” he asked moving closer to Michelle.
“Yes.”
He smiled at her enthusiastic response.
Josh called a good night to the owner and took Michelle’s arm, leading her to the street.
“Want to get a bite to eat before we head for home?”
“Sure. Do you do this kind of thing a lot? It was a very long day.”
She rotated one foot then the other to ease the ache.
‘‘I used to when I was starting out. Now I have others who have less experience and can use the training. But every once in a while I
