Enamoured (Escape Fantasy Romance) (7 page)

He took a sip of his chilled beer. The forensic finance unit had already had a look at the documents found on Melanie’s flash disk. They’d found a list of properties that Lowry had managed to purchase on the quiet for below market price. There were still a few residences holding out, but local police reports in the Fairy Meadow area had shown an increase in crime and violence in the area. When cross-referenced with Lowry’s lists, it was interesting to note the crime sprees seemed to be popping up around the properties he had yet to buy.

And that information had come from Melanie. The beer left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. How had she known? How involved was she in the scare campaign? In the re-development project? She worked in real estate. Was she going to be selling the apartments after they were built? Based on the information in those documents, the forensic finance expert he’d spoken with had indicated a profit margin of tens of millions of dollars.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Lowry was using a shell company in China to order top quality materials. Only Cole had checked at the site he was working at—the materials there were inferior, perhaps even sub-standard. Lowry’s investors thought they were paying for a quality development, and were getting cheap rubbish instead. They just needed to prove that Lowry knew this.

“Hello, Colin, so glad you could make it.”

Cole straightened and turned to face Lowry and his partner, Robert Dunn. He saluted them with his beer bottle. “Thanks for inviting me.”

Dunn folded his arms, resting them on the gut that hung over the plaid shorts the man was wearing. “Lionel tells me you’re looking for more work?”

If that meant a chance to see some of their illegal activities, hell, yeah. Cole nodded. “You could say that.”

“I saw from your resume that you’ve had some trouble with the law,” Dunn said, tipping his head. The man looked at him sourly. Probably still chafing over his interference with Melanie at the fundraiser the other night.

Cole nodded. The fraud squad had given him a fake rap sheet that would make his mother cry. “Only a little,” he demurred.

Lionel glanced out at the sparkling waters of the river below. “Well, see Cole, occasionally we have…ad-hoc duties that need a special touch.”

Cole met the man’s gaze. There was interest, challenge, and something dark, sobering. He was beginning to see the shark behind the suit.

“I’m a labourer. I don’t mind getting my hands dirty, especially if there is a little extra cash involved.”

Lionel’s lips parted in a smile. “Ah, good. Well, we might have a job for you.”

Cole hid his triumph. They were taking the bait. “Great.”

“Let’s go to my office for a more private chat,” Lionel suggested, and stood aside for Cole to precede him into the house.

They were crossing the patio to enter through the large entertainer’s kitchen when Melanie walked up the steps from the drive. She halted when she saw all the people gathered at her home. Her lips parted a little when she noticed Cole.

“Melanie, I thought you’d be here earlier,” Lionel commented, and even Cole could hear the reproach in the man’s voice.

“I couldn’t get away from work,” she said by way of explanation as she headed into the kitchen. She glanced around. “Where’s Mum?”

“She’s having a lie-down, she wasn’t feeling up to company.”

Cole noticed the slight elevation of her shoulders, the tensing of the muscles along her jaw. “I see. I’ll go up and see how she is.”

“You do that. Then maybe you could come and say hello to our guests.”

“And lover boy, here,” Dunn interjected.

Melanie lowered her sunglasses and shot Cole a curious look. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.”

“I’m full of surprises,” he told her.

“That you are.” She gestured to the door. “I’d better check on Mum.”

“Hurry back,” Lionel called after her, and turned to grab three bottles of beer from the ice-filled esky by the door. He missed the mutinous glare Melanie shot over her shoulder as she left, but Cole didn’t.

Interesting.

“Come, let’s talk business,” Lionel said, and beckoned Cole toward the door, and Dunn dropped in behind to follow.

“So let me get this straight. You want me to go and ‘convince’ the old couple to leave?” Cole said, picking his words carefully.

Lionel nodded. “Yes. They won’t sell. You need to give them a reason to sell.”

Cole frowned. The couple were in their seventies, damn it. “How?”

“Use your imagination,” Dunn snapped from his position by the door. They were in Lowry’s study. Lots of dark timber, leather and stone finishes. He eyed the painting hanging above the fireplace. It depicted some Greek or Roman god, reclining on a bed with a naked woman. It was surprisingly tasteful, for a crook.

“Do they have any pets?”

Dunn shook his head. “No. I’ve already taken care of them, but it still wasn’t enough to make them want to leave.” He pointed the neck of his beer bottle at Cole. “You need to make it so they want to get the hell out of there, yesterday. Think you can do it?”

Cole nodded. “Sure.” These men were twisted. They were talking about an elderly, defenceless couple, for crying out loud.

“Your best bet would be to get rid of the old man. That should put the wife into a nursing home.”

Cole kept his features calm, managing to hide his distaste behind a mask of mild interest. “Makes sense.”

Lionel rose from behind his desk as Dunn cracked open the study door. “If you can do this, then you could have a bright future at L&D Constructions.”

Cole rose too. “Thanks for the opportunity.”

Lionel smiled. “I think you could prove useful to have around, Colin.” He cocked his head and gave him an assessing look. “I bet you like the ladies, right?” He turned to Dunn. “Give him Stacey’s number.” Lionel’s smile grew. “Stacey is a lovely girl. Very… accommodating. Tell her I sent you.”

A prostitute. Great. Lionel was fobbing him off to a prostitute, when he knew he was ‘dating’ his stepdaughter. Nice guy. “Oh, I don’t think I can afford…accommodating.”

Lionel waved a hand. “Don’t worry about that. She works for me. We file it under administration expenses.” He barked with laughter.

“What about Melanie?”

Lionel’s smile tightened. “Oh, I think you’ll find Stacey is well worth any hiccup you might face with Melanie. Besides, you’ve got to show that girl who’s boss.”

“Ah.” Cole understood. He could just imagine how Melanie would react if she found out one: her ‘date’ was visiting a prostitute; and two: he tried to show Melanie who was boss. He’d seen how that had worked for Dunn. No, Lowry just didn’t want him dating his stepdaughter.

He followed the men out of the study, sparing another brief look at the painting again. If there was a safe in the room, it could possibly be behind that painting. He’d sneak back in later and take a look.

Melanie turned from the view to see Lionel, Robert and Colin emerge onto the patio, and pressed a hand to her flip-flopping stomach. They’d talked. She’d popped downstairs to make a brief, cursory appearance after checking on her mother and had hoped to be gone by the time Lionel reappeared.

Her mother was resting, he’d told the truth there. He just hadn’t mentioned the handprint now visible on her mother’s cheek.

Bastard.

Melanie’s lips tightened. She’d managed to capture the image of Lionel’s marks on her sleeping mother’s face with the camera on her mobile phone. She’d even noted it in the diary she’d started almost a year ago to record all of her mother’s injuries.

Colin noticed her and approached, an easy smile spreading across his face. She clutched the railing. He was too gorgeous. In a white t-shirt and cargo shorts, he looked relaxed and fit, quite different to some of Lionel’s staid, overweight friends. His outfit showed off his broad shoulders, his long, muscled legs—stop staring, damn it. She was doing a great impression of a caught fish, mouth gaping. So not cool.

She wasn’t the only woman watching him cross the terrace like a lithe, graceful animal of prey. Well, he can pounce on me, any—no, no he can’t. He worked for her stepfather, was now getting chummy with her stepfather. Heaven only knows what they talked about in the den. Soccer. The weather. Flash drives with stolen data.

She knew her stepfather had bribed counsellors and inspectors for several of his projects—she’d even seen a cash handover about a year ago, when Lionel hadn’t realised she’d passed his parked car on her way to a property inspection. On another occasion she’d seen him dining with a well-known official and two very attractive, very attentive ladies. Neither of whom was her mother. She suspected he was at it again with this development down in the Illawarra—she just couldn’t prove it, damn it.

“Hi, Mel,” Colin greeted her, his green eyes twinkling. “How was work?”

“Fine,” she responded automatically, tilting her chin up to meet his gaze. “And you?”

Colin’s gaze flicked momentarily over to Lionel, toward the other end of the terrace, and she noticed his friendly, relaxed smile tighten, just for a moment, before his focus returned to her. Then his smile warmed. At least, it felt like it did. Melanie shifted, trying to catch some of the summer breeze off the water. It was a warm afternoon, right? It wasn’t just her, yeah? Colin rested his arm on the balcony railing, his shoulder touching hers. Okay, really, really warm. She blew a gust of breath up to her forehead in an effort to cool herself down, and found herself staring at the play of muscle and tendon on his forearm, so dark and tanned against her own.

“It’s been productive,” Colin said.

Melanie pulled her gaze away from how the hairs on his arm turned golden in the sunlight, and realised he’d spoken. “What?”

“Work. It’s been productive.” She frowned at him, until she realised he was trying to have a conversation with her while she ogled him as though he was a cast member of Manpower’s
Thunder from Down Under
tour.

“Oh, good,” she commented lamely. She cleared her throat. “Uh, so, I noticed you were inside talking to Lionel and Rob.”

Colin nodded, and gazed back out over the river. “Yep.”

She waited, but that was the only response forthcoming. “About work?” she asked, hoping he’d get the hint and tell her what was discussed—or rather, what wasn’t, like a flash drive.

“Yep.”

Melanie chewed the inside of her cheek. Swell. Up until now Colin had bothered her. He’d made demands. He’d teased. Now, when she wanted him to talk, he shut up. Huh.

She looked up at him, hoping he’d read her mind—okay, maybe not everything on her mind, particularly now that she had Manpower fantasies stripping—er, tripping, through her train of thought—and give her the information she desperately needed.

He slid her a sideways glance. “What?”

“Nothing.” Damn it. She glared out over the water, squinting against the sparkling waves turning golden under the setting sun. She didn’t want to call unnecessary attention to the flash drive, and if he’d forgotten about it, maybe that was a good thing. Maybe the less said, the better.

“So, tell me, Melanie, what made you get into real estate? Your stepfather?”

Melanie snorted before she could stop herself. “No. Lionel had nothing to do with my choice of career.”

“You’ve got a degree in business administration, you could work in any industry, so why real estate?”

She frowned. “How do you know I’ve got a degree in business admin?”

He paused, and he gazed at a point over her shoulder briefly. “I think maybe your mother mentioned it at the dinner.

“Oh.” He’d enquired about her. Either that or he’d politely endured one of those proud mama conversations. She wasn’t sure which was more disconcerting.

“So, real estate?” he prompted her.

She smiled. “Dad used to work in real estate.”

Colin shifted to look at her fully. “What happened to your father?”

Her lips turned down at the question. “He died. He and Mum were involved in a car accident when I was twelve. Some joy-rider wiped them out on the Old Princes Highway.”

Colin blinked. “I’m so sorry,” he said, his voice deep with sincerity.

Melanie shrugged. “It was years ago. I remember Dad used to take me to the open house inspections,” she laughed. “I used to make these remarks when people went through, things, like ‘Oh, Daddy, I love this bedroom, can it be mine?’ Dad used to call me his little secret weapon. It used to be our joke. I gave him one of those little locket rings, you know where spies used to hide their poison? That way he could always carry his little secret weapon with him.” She sighed. She missed her Dad. She’d stopped wondering what it would have been like if he hadn’t died, and her mother hadn’t married Lionel. That kind of thinking didn’t help her situation, all those dreamy-eyed what-ifs. Life is what it is, her father used to always say, and you have to make the best with what you’ve got.

“And then your mother met Lionel?”

Melanie scowled, and focused on a little motorboat powering its way through the waves toward them.

“Yes, she met Lionel. He was one of Dad’s associates, and really helped Mum out at the time. She was in hospital for a while.” She didn’t really want to think of that time, of her grandparents looking after her while her mother recuperated, of Dad just…gone.

The little runabout pulled up at the Lowry pontoon, and Melanie watched idly as the elderly couple worked with surprising agility to moor the boat.

“So, I work in real estate. What about you? Why are you in construction?”

Colin’s dimples deepened as he grinned, and he leaned over to answer. “I like working with my hands,” he murmured.

She trembled, his deep voice rumbling near her ear, vibrating along her neck. Her nipples peaked in her lacy bra, and all of a sudden her mind was filled with images of what his hands could do to her body.

She swallowed. “Oh,” she managed to squeak out. She locked gazes with him, and his head dipped lower. She could feel the warmth of his body so close to hers, his scent, dark and spicy, enveloped her, faint and seductive.

She forced herself to look away, to focus on something else. She glanced down at the trio walking along the dock toward the house and blinked.