Cider Brook. Carla Neggers

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СКАЧАТЬ he have good instincts about people?” Julius asked.

      “Sometimes. I don’t know.” Loretta sprang to her feet. “It’s a mess.”

      Julius eyed her from the couch. “If Samantha slipped into Knights Bridge before she met Duncan, how did she know he was there?”

      “She’s part of the treasure-hunting community.” Loretta realized she had resumed pacing in front of the patio doors. “Apparently word got out that he’d been to Knights Bridge. Everyone assumed it was for personal reasons, which it was.”

      “So this Samantha heard he was there and tried to see him, missed him, and came out to L.A. What’s the big deal?”

      “The big deal is that she didn’t tell him. Duncan didn’t fire her because she’s a Bennett or because she sneaked into Knights Bridge. He fired her because she didn’t tell him the truth about herself. Trust is vital in the treasure-hunting world, given the stakes, the controversies.”

      “It’s vital in any relationship,” Julius said.

      Loretta frowned at him. “Yes. Right. I’m just pointing out its value in Duncan’s world.”

      “He was worried this Bennett woman was a spy for her father or grandfather—”

      “Her grandfather was already dead when she and Duncan met. He died the previous fall.”

      “My point stands. Was she good at what she did for him?”

      “Very good, apparently. She was in Portugal with him and his team right before he died. She was involved in planning that trip.”

      “Not his fall, I hope.”

      Loretta gave him a cool look. “Duncan had a heart attack. The heart attack caused his fall.”

      Julius shrugged. “Don’t tell me it didn’t occur to you there was a connection.”

      “You and I obviously live in different worlds, Julius, because you’re wrong, it didn’t occur to me. I knew this wouldn’t move your needle given the scandals and skulduggery you’ve unearthed up in Hollywood.”

      “But this Samantha is sneaking around your Dylan, and that concerns you and therefore it definitely moves my needle.” He walked over to the patio doors and looked out at the pool, a classic kidney shape, its water sparkling under the blue sky. “How did Duncan find out what was up with Samantha? Did you investigate her for him?”

      “Investigate isn’t the word I would use,” Loretta said, easing next to him. “I looked into her background once Duncan became aware she’d been to Knights Bridge. That by itself set off alarms. It wasn’t hard once I got started. She hadn’t lied so much as omitted things.”

      “Why do you think she’s in Knights Bridge now?”

      “Because Dylan’s there. Other than that, I don’t know.”

      “Is she looking for treasure?”

      “In Knights Bridge?”

      Julius grimaced. “Right. What was I thinking? Goats, herbs, country roads, antique houses and hardheaded people. Although Duncan was after stolen British jewels. Think Samantha got wind of them?”

      “I told you, I don’t know what she was up to then or now. I just know that she didn’t tell the truth, and Duncan fired her.”

      “Did he give her a chance to explain?”

      “Explain what? No. There was no point. He said he wanted her to go on her way.”

      Julius looked at her. “Did you two discuss his work?”

      His scrutiny made her feel self-conscious. It wasn’t like her. She shook off her discomfort and said, matter-of-fact, “I didn’t know Duncan that well. I’ve known Dylan for years, but I didn’t meet his father until a few months before his death.”

      “Ah,” Julius said, knowing. “Regrets?”

      “I don’t have a lot of serious regrets, but I’m in my fifties, Julius. You are, too.” She avoided his eye and watched the pool water ripple in a breeze. “If we don’t have regrets at our age, we haven’t been living.”

      He slung an arm over her shoulders. “Does Dylan know about you and his father?”

      She swallowed. “Yes, but we don’t discuss it.”

      “Does that mean you’re not discussing it with me?”

      “Tenfold.”

      “Dylan had never heard the name Samantha Bennett until she showed up in Knights Bridge this afternoon?”

      “That’s right. His father never told him about her. Neither did I. Why would I?”

      Loretta didn’t wait for an answer. Instead she quickly relayed what Dylan had told her about the fire at an old cider mill up the road from Carriage Hill.

      Julius grinned. “A cider mill? You’re kidding, right?”

      “People could have been killed, Julius.”

      “Yeah, but...” He shook his head. “All right, all right. I’m glad no one was hurt.”

      “I haven’t told Dylan what I know about Samantha, but I will. Whatever she’s doing in Knights Bridge, he can handle her without my help.”

      “You want to believe that, but you don’t.” Julius drew her close and kissed her on the top of her head. She was almost as tall as he was. “Let’s grab something to eat. You’re a desk lawyer, Loretta. You know contracts and money. You don’t have a sixth sense about people.”

      She gave him a skeptical look. “And you do?”

      “Damn straight. Come on. We can walk. It’ll be good for us.”

      She grabbed a lightweight jacket, and they headed out. It was cool, but it would be cooler in Knights Bridge. She’d found she liked to check the weather there. She supposed it helped her feel as if she was still a part of Dylan’s life. The emotions of this new chapter in his life had hit her hard—harder than they would have, no doubt, if she hadn’t slept with his father during his last days. Duncan had died before their relationship had had a chance to move beyond a mad night of sex to wherever it could have gone.

      Now, two years later, here she was holding hands with Julius Hartley. Was he a new chapter in her life, or was he a passing fling? A distraction?

      “How can you walk in those shoes?” he asked her, interrupting her thoughts.

      She glanced down at her strappy sandals. “They’re fine. What’s wrong with them?”

      “The heels. Don’t they kill you?”

      “I’m used to them. I like them. I think they make my legs look sexier, don’t you?”

      “Sexier than what?”

      She СКАЧАТЬ