Fiance by Friday (19 page)

Karen ran into Eliza’s embrace. “We came back as soon as possible.”

“Thanks. I’m sorry we had to interrupt your vacation,” Eliza said to both of them.

“Dead neighbors and missing people sounds more like something I’d find in a movie script than real life,” Michael pointed out.

Eliza nodded. “I’m sorry. We haven’t met,” she said pushing her hand in front of his to shake.

“Oh…my bad. Michael, this is Eliza Billings.” Karen introduced them, watched them shake hands. “Eliza, Michael Wolfe…my temporary husband,” she whispered so only the three of them heard.

Michael winked at her. “No introduction needed for the First Lady of the state.”

“Back at ya, movie star.”

Michael smiled, already at ease in Eliza’s presence.

They moved to a waiting limousine, with a security detail following them. Karen waited until they were in the back, the window between the passenger and driver sealed before she spoke.

“What happened?”

“I don’t think any of us really know. That’s why we need you to share any information you know to help us figure it out.”

“I was in France. How can I know anything?”

“You’ve been living with Gwen…knew all about the neighbors’ hot tub habits…you know plenty.”

“All I know is Gwen and Neil have disappeared and the neighbors are dead. Michael and I laughed about the hairy naked neighbor throughout France. God, I feel bad now.”

“How were you to know?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t. The first time they were out there, I was all
come quick, Gwen. Look.
” She shook the once joyful memory from her head. “They’re dead?”

Eliza’s gaze moved from Michael to Karen. “Electrocuted.”

“And it wasn’t an accident?”

“No…or at least, we don’t think so.”

There was a hesitation in Eliza’s voice. “You don’t
think
so?”

“Neil phoned Blake shortly after it happened. Gwen called me. Neil sounded lethal.”

“Lethal?” Karen interrupted. “Neil is never anything other than painfully silent.”

“In Carter’s words, ‘I’ve never heard a more deadly voice in my life.’ He had Carter call in a favor so he could investigate the neighbors’ backyard after the police arrived. According to Dean, they found a bunch of dead birds in the Jacuzzi and Neil freaked.”

Karen’s body chilled. “Birds?”

“Yeah, ravens. We don’t even have ravens in this part of Southern California.”

Karen ran her hands up her suddenly chilled arms.

“Karen?” Michael asked…looking at her. “You OK?”

No! She was anything but OK. The memory of the dead bird, a bird she assumed was a crow but could have been a raven, on the sill and again at the door of the car at the restaurant. Now two people were dead.

“Karen?”

“Are you sure it was a raven?”

“A couple actually…why?”

“I think they were murdered. Neil needed to get her out of there.” And there was no guarantee she was safe either.

“Chew this.” Neil shoved a stick of gum in her mouth.

They were sitting on a dark road on the outskirts of town. From the looks of the lights in the distance, it was a small town with only a half dozen hotels at best.

“Why?” she asked, accepting the gum and making quick work of bringing the stiff substance into submission.

“Chew with your mouth open?”

She opened her mouth and tried. Then started to laugh.

“Sleeping in the backseat sound good to you, Gwendolyn?”

She tried harder. But chewing with her mouth open went against every grain in her body.

“Better?”

He nodded. “Now slouch.”

She pushed her shoulders forward and thought of a hot shower.

“Good,” Neil praised.

She sat, hunched in the passenger seat chewing her gum like a cow in a field.

“OK…good.” Neil rubbed his hands on his jeans before gripping the wheel. “I’m going to go in and book the room. I’ll use the name of Rex Smith.”

“Sounds generic.”

“It is. All you need to do is step out of the car and lean over the hood. If I look out at you, smile and think of every porn movie you’ve ever watched.”

She gasped. “I’ve never—”

He stopped her denial with a look. “Do I need to remind you who’s been listening to your conversations over the last year?”

“That is not fair! I simply said, once by the way, that I’ve yet to see an attractive man in any of those films.” And it was a conversation on the eve of Eliza’s wedding during which she was quite intoxicated.

Neil waited for her patient denial to end. “Like I was saying…think of the women in those films and play for the camera.”

“Is there anything you don’t know about me?”

His gaze dropped to her breasts and back to her face.

Heat rushed through her body.

“Plenty.”

She diverted her gaze and stared out the window. “Well let’s go. Clean sheets and a hot shower await.”

As the last remaining miles passed, Gwen felt more comfortable chewing her gum with it nearly falling out of her mouth.

Neil drove through the town, twice, before settling on a small strip hotel with a vacancy sign.

“The show starts when we pull in the place. You’re my night’s entertainment and anyone watching needs to see it.”

Gwen unhooked her seat belt and scooted closer. She rested her hand on his thigh and curled close. “This good?”

Neil stretched his thick neck. “Fine.”

If she had to act the part, she might as well enjoy it.

A fan blew hot air around the reception desk of the motel lobby. Lobby being a loose term for the small space designed to register
overnight guests. Neil rang the bell and kept his face as angled as he could from the camera pointing at him. Even dives like this liked some security. Chances were, the tapes were recorded over in a matter of days to keep from having to store data. Places like this didn’t often feel the need to upgrade their systems so video files could be stored on a computer and nothing would have to be erased. The attitude “It’s worked this well this long, no need to change it” often won at the end of the day.

Neil rang the bell a second time and glanced over his shoulder at Gwen.

She leaned against the car with one leg bent. Her hand waved in the air as she fanned herself and lifted her chin to the sky, pushing her breasts against the fabric of her shirt.

He had to admit she was sexy as hell.

The sound of the TV in the other room went down and Neil hit the bell a third time.

“Comin’,” someone said.

A middle-aged man lumbered from the back room, his beer gut preceding him by about a foot.

“Sorry ’bout that. Didn’t hear ya over the set.”

Probably an old one with a turn knob and everything.

“No problem.”

“Need a room?” No. He was standing there for his health.

“One night,” Neil told him.

“Got a credit card?” the guy asked as he pulled his register book in front of him.

“Yeah…about that.” Neil moved to the side and glanced over at Gwen.

Beer-Gut followed his gaze.

C’mon, Gwendolyn. Make it good.

Gwen met his eyes and turned toward the car. She stuck her ass in the air and leaned over the hood so her breasts spilled over the
material of her clearly visible bra. After blowing him a kiss, she licked her lips in a slow easy fashion that would do a Vegas hooker proud.

“I need to pay cash,” Neil said, nodding toward the show.

He turned to see the lust-filled eyes of Beer-Gut focus on Gwen.

Neil stepped in front of the view. “Don’t need the charge coming up on the card…for others to see.”

Beer-Gut raised his brow. “I’d leave the one looking and take her,” he said.

“And give up the trailer? I don’t think so.” Neil pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tapped them in his hand.

The hotel owner looked over Neil’s shoulder again and wrote in his book. “Want TV?”

“How about AC and a TV?”

“Fifty bucks.”

Neil looked around.
For this dive?
He pulled the money from his wallet, added to it. “Don’t need the missus, or her brother knowing I’m here.”

Beer-Gut swiveled the book in front of Neil and he wrote his fake name.

“Room’s around back.”

Neil added another twenty, which disappeared into the guy’s pocket.

Once he finished booking the room, Beer-Gut wished him a fun night and watched him walk out the door.

Neil walked straight toward Gwen and wrapped an arm around her thin waist. He nestled closer to her ear. “He still looking?”

He felt her lift a leg and slide it along his. “Yes,” she said, nibbling his ear.

Heat shot to his dick. He kissed her neck and pulled her off before opening her door. And then, just because he couldn’t stop himself, he pinched the cheek of her ass before shoving her inside.

Gwen squealed and sent him a wicked grin.

Once they made it to the back of the motel, he backed the car into the parking space and jumped out of the car along with Gwen. There was a row of twelve rooms, three of which were lit up.
Quiet night.

“I can’t wait for that shower,” Gwen said as they walked to the room.

“Don’t expect much.”

“How bad can it be?”

The air conditioners shoved into the walls of the cheap motel struggled and gasped in an effort to work. It was still ninety degrees even after the sun set.

He swiped the key over the lock and waited for the green light. Something told Neil that the modern key lock was going to be the only luxury this dive would afford.

He opened the door. “Pretty bad.”

The king-size bed sporting a dark green and red comforter filled the center of the room. There was a dresser to the right of the bed, another holding a chunky television, and a chair that looked like a petri dish. Topping it all off was the smell of stale beer and shame, all of which boiled in a temperature ten degrees higher than that of the outdoors.

The shock on Gwen’s face twisted into a fit of laughter.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

She pushed around him. “Nothing is keeping me from a shower.” As she moved into the room, her laughter elevated. Her gaze moved up the peeling paper on the walls to the dark splotch on the ceiling. “Good thing it’s not raining.”

Her giggle was starting to infect him. Despite the disparity of the room and the angelic nature of the woman in it, he found a smile on his face. Neil leaned down to the air conditioner and turned it on high. “I’ll get our things.”

Gwen glanced over her shoulder as she looked around the corner in the bathroom.

He swung her bag and his over his shoulder and grasped the case holding his weapons. He took one last look around the outside and didn’t notice anything out of place. A dive in a two-stoplight town. He didn’t think anyone was on their trail, but he wasn’t going to make it easy on them if they were.

Neil tossed their belongings on the bed and kicked the door shut.

“Neil…can you come here?”

He moved into the tight space of the bathroom and found Gwen with a large sticklike bug in her palm.

“Is this a praying mantis?” she asked, laughing.

“I think so. Where did you find it?”

“On the less than clean towel.”

The stained towel may have once been white, but now leaned toward a shade of gray. “You said a bed and running water.” He reached over and turned the knob in the sink. “Water’s running.”

She laughed and handed him the bug. “I’ve slept among the insects for two nights. Kindly take this one outside.”

The bug accepted his ride outside and sat on the railing before lumbering away. Once again, Gwen impressed him. Not only was she not squeamish about the bug taking up residency on the filthy towel, but instead of turning around and walking out the door of the dive, she laughed.

When he stepped back into the room she’d stripped the comforter from the bed and placed it on the dirty chair. She changed her mind and spread the cover on the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“The floor is filthy and everyone knows hotel bedspreads are never cleaned. No need to shower and end up with dirty feet.”

This woman didn’t cease to amaze him. Just when he thought she’d lost some of the Ladyship, the Princess in her came out to play.