Conceal, Protect - By Carol Ericson Page 0,29
the family.” He bumped her with his shoulder.
Was he kidding? She was about as lacking in charm these days as that soggy mitten crumpled on the floor.
Clearing his throat, J.D. rose from the fireplace and held out his hand to her. “What’s the story with him, if you don’t mind my asking? He doesn’t look much older than you. Did your father have a relationship before he married your mother?”
When she got to her feet, she snatched her hand away from his. “Actually, Ted’s my younger brother.”
“Oops, sorry, didn’t mean to pry.” He hunched his shoulders in his black duster, which made them look even broader.
She waved her hand to dismiss the past. “It’s old news. My father committed an...indiscretion a few years into the marriage with my mother.”
And who could blame him? Her mother had been a controlling neat freak who’d hated life on the ranch. Mom had driven her to make her own bad marriage just so she could get out of the house.
Noelle clenched her jaw. Her marriage to Alex hadn’t been all bad. They could’ve worked things out.
“What about Ted’s mother?” J.D. had placed his hand on the small of her back and was steering her through the skiers and boarders as they headed to the lodge’s après-ski.
“Let’s just say Ted inherited his predilection for drugs and alcohol from her.” In fact, Ted’s mother had been the polar opposite of Noelle’s.
“Sounds like a soap opera.”
“Just life, I guess.” She stopped on the wide stone steps in front of the lodge and grabbed J.D.’s arm. “Good job.”
“Huh?”
“Good job distracting me from the fact that some stranger lured me up here on false pretenses for God knows what.”
Pinching her chin between his thumb and index finger, he tilted back her head. “Nothing we can do about it right now. Let’s go back to the ranch and get ready for dinner with Pierpont. Maybe we can get something out of him. Whether or not we do, I’m not letting you out of my sight.”
She sighed. That sounded too good to be true.
* * *
HOW THE HELL had Zendaris’s guys known about Ted and Noelle’s tendency to rush to his rescue? How’d they know she’d go alone to the ski resort? Maybe they were just throwing tactics against the wall like strands of spaghetti to see what stuck.
More to the point, what had they planned to do with her once they got her alone? He knew they wouldn’t harm her—at least not right away. They wanted to find out what she knew about Abby first.
Hell, he wanted to find out what she knew about Abby.
Pushing back his damp hair, he inspected his teeth in the mirror. If he planned to go up against Bruce Chandler Pierpont the Third, he’d better not have any spinach between his teeth.
He slammed the door of the guesthouse and climbed into his truck. Seemed kind of dumb to pick up his date when she lived a stone’s throw away, but he cranked on the engine and rolled the truck across the yard to the ranch house anyway.
He hopped out of the truck and strode toward the house, but Noelle stopped him when she floated onto the porch dressed in a pair of skinny jeans and furry boots with a Russian-style hat topping her glossy black hair.
“You look...Russian.” He shoved his hands in his pockets and swallowed. What an idiotic thing to say. He’d been ready to pay her another compliment, but she didn’t seem to like his compliments.
She patted the sides of the hat with both hands. “This? I bought it the last time I was in New York.”
He opened the door of the truck for her and gave her a hand in.
He avoided the subject of the break-ins and the text, and Noelle didn’t seem to want to bring them up either. They could be going on a regular date except for the menace that overshadowed them...and Noelle had no idea who he really was. Other than all that—regular date.
But this wasn’t a regular date. He took a deep breath. “Did Pierpont call you back after you left him that message?”
“Yes.” She pulled on her gloves as he swung the car into the resort parking lot, sparser than earlier in the day, but still populated with the vehicles of night skiers and lodge guests.
“Did his name appear on your display when he called you back?” He threw the car into Park, and she didn’t wait for him to get the door. Didn’t answer him