Cat Burglar in Training (14 page)

I lost the argument. The next morning I picked up the phone to ring Inspector Kahu Williams. The scent of bacon and toast hung heavily in the air. I should have felt hunger but nerves made my stomach dip and dance. I was a step away from nausea and food would only aid the process.

“Get on with it,” Father snapped.

I preferred to contact him without an audience but didn’t want the terrible trio to call me on not using the landline. Keeping them in line was a delicate balancing act. While I glared at him, he speared a piece of bacon and dipped it in runny egg yolk. I hurriedly looked away. The deep breaths I sucked in were full of breakfast smells. I puffed them out in a hurry.

“I can’t understand what’s so difficult about ringing the man,” Father said.

Yep, he was genuinely confused. Forehead pleated. Brows drawn together.

“Men.” Hannah plopped a slice of whole-wheat toast on a plate. “Eat,” she ordered, handing it to me. “It will settle your nerves.”

Anything to put off the call. I set the phone down with a click and dragged out a chair to join the terrible trio at the table. I eyed the toast with disfavor but picked up a knife and a jar of Hannah’s homemade strawberry jam.

“Amber is much better this morning,” I said.

“Poor lamb. She’s upset about missing pet day at school. She wanted to take her rabbit.” Hannah sipped her tea.

A pang of sympathy struck me. I’d wanted to attend the pet day too. “The spots are out this morning. I’d bet a few of her classmates miss pet day.”

“Make the phone call.” Father dragged another piece of bacon through his egg and looked up with a grimace. “I can’t abide this waiting around.”

I picked up my toast and crunched down. Better a full mouth than uttering the unforgivable words trembling at the tip of my tongue. I tried to make allowances for Father’s arthritis. The pain made him irascible but sometimes I wanted to lash out in return. I was doing my best.

“Fine,” I said after swallowing. I leapt to my feet and grabbed the phone off the counter. Kahu’s business card sat beside the phone, his name and details taunting me. I dialed his mobile and listened to the ring tones with a sinking sensation in my stomach.

Get a grip. It’s only a phone call, a date.
But it still felt as if I were playing with fire.

The phone rang for so long I almost hung up. The ringing cut off abruptly.

“Williams.”

I swallowed and transferred the phone to my other hand. Stupid nerves again.

“Hello?” He sounded impatient, making me suspect he’d hang up if I didn’t speak soon.

“It’s me,” I said quickly to allay disaster.

“Eve?” This time pleasure shaded his voice. “Hang on. Let me grab a towel. You’ve got me out of the shower.”

I swallowed while my mind dived right into fantasy. Man. Naked.
Ooh-la-la!

“What is it?” Hannah had witnessed my expression.

I glanced at the breakfast table. Big-time mistake. Each of the terrible trio leaned forward, eyes bright with curiosity. “He’s…ah…getting a towel.”

Father led the chuckle session at my expense.

“I’m back,” Kahu said, his voice low and husky.

My confidence took a nosedive. Who was I kidding, thinking I could control this situation? I was floundering way out of my comfort level.

“I missed you last night. I kept thinking about kissing you. I wanted to…very badly.”

Phone sex. He wasn’t. He couldn’t! In front of the terrible trio.

“Actually, licking came into the equation as well,” he murmured with a wicked laugh.

Oh. My. God.
“I’m not alone.”

“Not Seth?” His voice cooled.

“The terrible trio.” I whirled away so I couldn’t see their smirking faces.

“Ah,” Kahu said. “I see your problem. Were you out with Seth last night?”

Was that jealousy I heard? My arrangement with Seth would create problems. Although I’d already admitted to Kahu there was nothing between us, I still attended balls and parties with Seth. I’d have to ask Seth if I could tell Kahu the truth. It was either that or I’d have to stop seeing Seth for the duration of the plan.

“No, I visited friends with Father and Ben,” I said. “We arrived home late.”

“That’s all right, then. There are no obstacles to me kissing you.” The slight inflection on kissing told me the man’s mind was way ahead.

“We’ll see,” I said in the distinct school-missish tone I used with Amber when she was being naughty.

“Ah, character plays. Very good. I can see fun ahead for us.”

I squeezed my eyes shut. Lord, save me from sexy men.

“You rang me,” I reminded him. I wasn’t having much luck maneuvering the conversation.

“So I did,” he said. “Are you busy tonight? Would you like to go out to dinner?”

“Where?” I’d no idea where Kahu lived. In London somewhere? “Am I still the main suspect in the necklace theft? If this is business, we don’t need to go for dinner.”

“You’ve been cleared, and we’re chasing down a few other leads. This dinner is purely personal.”

The smoky tone of his voice cinched my stomach tight. I almost missed his next words.

“I’ve got to visit Shalford Green,” he said, naming a village not far from Oakthorpe. “Why don’t we eat somewhere down your way?”

“Have you had chicken pox?”

“Is that a trick question?”

“Amber has chicken pox so maybe we should leave dinner for another time.”

Kahu laughed, low and rich, reminding me of picnics on a lazy summer day, sleep-ins, breakfast in bed—
Whoa! Stop the train, I wanna get off.
It was ludicrous combining Kahu with thoughts like this, not to mention dangerous to my sanity.

“My brother and I almost drove my mother mad when we had chicken pox.”

I pictured two small boys with brown eyes and mischievous grins. Actually, strike the grins—they had chicken pox, and I recalled experiencing acute itchiness and Hannah covering me with pink splotches of calamine lotion.

“We can still do dinner,” Kahu said. “As long as you don’t mind leaving Amber.”

“Hannah will watch her.”

“Great. What time works best for you? Around seven?”

“Seven is fine. The local pub does a good meal.” Thank goodness he’d interrupted my runaway thoughts.
Concentrate on keeping Amber safe. That’s all you need to do
.
Do not get your emotions involved.
My chest heaved as I turned to lean my butt against the kitchen counter. The terrible trio. Yea, gods! I’d forgotten their presence. I was in deeper trouble than I’d suspected.

“See you later.”

I nodded even though Kahu couldn’t see. “Seven.”

“Seven,” he confirmed again, but when he said it, the word sounded like a caress.

Aghast, I pulled the phone from my ear and stabbed the talk button. My heart thudded erratically. Inside, anticipation surged, strong enough to rouse alarm bells in my sluggish brain.

“Good job, Evie.” Hannah bustled past me to grab two slices of toast freshly popped from the toaster. On her return journey, she propelled me to my chair in a silent order to sit.

I applied myself to another slice of toast, but I might as well have been eating sawdust. Dropping the toast back on my plate, I dabbed the crumbs from my mouth with a linen napkin. After a deep breath, I looked up to face the inquisition of the male members of the trio.

“What?”

Father gave me a stink eye. “You’d better not go soft on that man.”

Stung and more than a little guilty because of my wayward hormones, I said, “It wasn’t my idea in the first place.”

“True,” Ben agreed.

“More toast, anyone?” Hannah asked.

“No, thanks,” Father said.

Hannah joined us at the table with a fresh pot of tea and went about the business of refilling cups. “I keep thinking about the mystery cat,” she said, a shade of puzzlement in her voice. “We use the social whirl to scout targets. What if we managed to get hold of the guest lists of as many social gatherings as we could and I cross-reference them to work out a list of suspects?”

Silence greeted Hannah’s suggestion. I felt awe. Not at the idea, but on learning she had the skill to carry out her suggestion. I grinned at the stunned expressions on Father and Ben’s faces.

“And here I thought those computer courses you were taking were a waste of time.” Admiration shone on Ben’s face as he walked around the table to Hannah. He planted a smacking kiss on her mouth, leaving her blushing and wearing a beam at the same time.

Father scratched his head. “Complicated things, computers. Give me a set of blueprints to decipher anytime.”

“What are we going to do about making the payment?” I asked. “We’re still a few thousand short.”

“I think we need to pay what we can and hope that’s enough to appease them for now,” Hannah said.

Father sighed. “Ben and I will make the drop-off in the usual place.”

We stared at each other in uneasy silence.

“Okay,” I said finally. “Let’s hope for the best.”

Kahu arrived right on time. I peered out my bedroom window to confirm that the car pulling up in the drive belonged to him before turning back to cast a rueful glance at the mess of clothes on my bed. They bore mute testimony to my inner panic. A date. It was only a date. Deep down I knew this was a step into murky waters, far away from my prior, safe relationships with men.

I wouldn’t be human if I didn’t let memories of my rape affect my present. Rape was the ultimate indignity a woman could face, and it was impossible to go through the experience without change. I was no longer the trusting, open person I’d been at eighteen. But even so, I was one of the lucky victims—if you could call a victim lucky—because I’d been drugged and didn’t remember the experience. This date with Kahu was a new departure. The only man I’d trusted so far was Seth.

In the distance, a doorbell chimed. One of the terrible trio would answer the summons. In truth, they were as nervous as I was, although none of them admitted it.

“Evie! Your dinner date’s arrived.” Hannah knocked on my bedroom door and stuck her head in. Her gaze swept the tangle of clothes littering the bed and the pile of shoes by the wardrobe. She stepped inside and shut the door with a firm click. “Don’t worry. Nerves are natural. He’s a lovely young man. Thoughtful, too. He brought a present for Amber, a puzzle she can play with while she’s confined to bed and a painting set for later. You’ll be fine with him. Besides, you’re on home territory down at the local. If he steps out of line, give the nod to Reg behind the bar. He’ll sort him out for you.”

“Thanks. Are my nerves that obvious?”

“Only to me.” Hannah tugged me into her arms and patted me on the back in the same way she used to when I was a child. “You look beautiful. Black suits you,” she said, referring to my full black skirt and matching sleeveless blouse. “I look washed out in black, but you—you look lovely. Inspector Williams won’t know what’s hit him.”

“I feel guilty. I don’t want to lead him on, to give him ideas about a future. I mean, how can we have a future when we work on opposite poles of the law?”

“Don’t worry about the future. Take one day at a time. That’s all we can do at the moment. Besides, despite what Charlie and Ben say, the Shadow can go into retirement once our debt is paid off.”

Grateful for the feminine support, I hugged the woman who was mother to me. “I’d better not keep him waiting.”

“He’s in good hands. Charlie and Ben are with him.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” I said dryly.

The drive to the Wheat Sheaf pub was conducted mostly in silence with a little small talk sprinkled here and there. We covered the weather—unseasonably warm heading for a summer heat wave—and the terrible trio. An apology for their overprotectiveness from me, and amusement but understanding from Kahu.

“Thank you for thinking of Amber,” I said, desperate to fill the yawning silence. “It was kind of you to bring her a gift.”

“She’s a good kid,” Kahu said, taking his gaze off the road to look at me. “Is her father around?”

“No.” Even though I tried to keep inflection from my voice, the one-word answer emerged short and terse.

A thoughtful frown creased Kahu’s brow before he pulled into the Wheat Sheaf’s crowded car park. I could almost hear him processing my response and formulating an opinion.

“And Seth? Where does he fit into the picture?”

“I’ve told you before. We’re friends. There’s nothing romantic between us. Seth is like my brother.”

Kahu switched off the ignition. “I wanted to clarify things,” he said, his voice even and controlled. “People have told me different.”

“You should have asked me,” I said, not bothering to hold back on the flash of temper. “I’m the one in the know.”

Kahu picked up my right hand. My senses narrowed to the point of contact. His hands were calloused instead of smooth and manicured like the men in my circle of acquaintances. Warmth sped up my arm to settle around my heart.

“Of course you are.” A soft smile curved his mouth. Eyes shone with echoes of amusement. “That’s why I wanted to check with you. Don’t want to get too carried away with thoughts of kisses and licking if—”

“I get the picture,” I said hastily, attempting to tug my hand from his grasp. “We’d better hurry or they’ll shut the kitchen before we order.”

Kahu chuckled and took his sweet time releasing my hand. “Just so I have things clear, Seth is your brother and Amber’s father is not in the picture. I’m the only man you’re seeing.”

Intent stated concisely, so clear a child could understand. Unable to think of a suitable answer, blonde bimbo deserted me, leaving Eve Fawkner to deal with the fallout.

“Come on. Forget the kisses for now,” he said. “Dinner and conversation, that’s all.”

Kahu read my confusion with ease. Damn, I was so out of touch with this dating stuff. Well-meaning advice from the terrible trio fluttered around inside my head like a flock of seagulls on speed.
Flirt. Make eye contact. Stroke his ego. Men like that. Smile. Wear a low-cut top.

Oh, boy.

“Sure.” My agreement came out low and breathy. Unintentionally sexy.
Take a deep breath. The man’s hardly going to jump you in a pub full of neighbors and friends.
The extra intake of air helped calm me. I opened the door of Kahu’s saloon and slipped out.