Rich (Benson Security #5) - Janet Elizabeth Henderson Page 0,30
that a gnome?” He stepped into the room, grinning at the giant concrete gnome perched on the edge of the pool as though fishing in it. “Doesn’t exactly go with the rest of your décor.”
“My brother, Sebastian, gave it to me for my birthday. It was his idea of a joke. As soon as I get around to it, I’ll have it deposited at the bottom of the Thames, where it belongs.”
Harvard suspected she’d take years to get around to it and wondered how long it had been there already. He didn’t plan to ask though; there was no way Rachel would admit to being sentimental over a gift.
They left the pool room and Rachel led him to a set of stairs that headed downward, winding around until they stopped in a short hallway. There were four doors.
She pointed to the one farthest away. “That leads out to the fire escape stairway and service elevator. There’s a small entryway beyond that door that I never use. Both the interior door and the one leading into the rest of the building are locked and alarmed.” She cocked a thumb over her shoulder to the door behind her. “That’s my bedroom.” She stepped past him and threw open the door nearest Harvard. “This will be your room.”
Harvard entered to find that it was decorated in yet more shades of cream. There was a king-sized bed, which, thankfully, meant he wouldn’t be sleeping with his feet hanging off the end, a desk and chair, a dresser, and two armchairs positioned by the window but angled for a view of the TV facing the bed.
“Bathroom is through there.” She indicated one of the doors. “The other door is to the closet.”
“Thanks,” he said. “What’s on the other side of the last door on this floor?”
“Just another guest room that looks much like this one. I keep some exercise equipment in there, but I rarely use it. I prefer the pool.”
“Mind if I check it out?” He headed back into the hallway.
“Be my guest. Oh wait, I’d have to have invited you for that to apply.”
He grinned as he stuck his head inside the other bedroom. It was almost identical to his, but with a treadmill and elliptical trainer instead of armchairs. “You okay if I set up this room as command center? Whiteboards and computers, that sort of thing.”
“Do whatever you like. Just be invisible while you do it.” She turned toward her bedroom, clearly done with him for the day.
“Are you going to show me your room?” he couldn’t resist asking.
“Yes.” She opened her door. “I’ve penciled that in for right after I apologize to Ryan. I’ll see you in the morning, which thrills me no end.” And then she closed the door in his face.
Chapter Nine
Three days later, the team congregated around Rachel’s dining table to discuss their progress—which, to Harvard’s dismay, wasn’t a whole lot.
“Are any of you listening to me?” Ryan said, showing the irritation everyone else felt. “Or am I wasting my time giving my report?”
“I’m listening.” Harvard reached for his beer, which sat in front of him on the dining room table.
As had been the case for the past three days, Rachel sat as far away from Harvard as possible and pretended he was invisible. Oh, she was polite enough when they met in the hallway or drove to work together. And she was polite in front of her colleagues and workmates at TayFor. Yeah, she was very polite. What she wasn’t being was what everybody expected a fiancée to be, and that worried him.
“And?” Ryan demanded as he reached for the bag of chips and proceeded to demolish them. “What do you think?”
“About what?” Rachel asked as she studied her manicure. “Your update hasn’t exactly added anything to the investigation. It’s fabulous you’ve managed to bug all of the executive offices, but it hasn’t produced anything of use yet. And discovering that Cousin Marcus is having an affair with one of the sales reps isn’t exactly a shock. Everyone in the family knows his second marriage is already on the rocks.”
“Divorce costs money,” Ryan said around a mouthful of food.
“Yeah, but Marcus isn’t his father,” Rachel said, sounding bored. “He has a prenup. The divorce won’t affect his finances too much; Preston saw to that.”
“For a dude who’s supposed to be an expert in company law, that Preston guy seems to write a whole lot of prenups,” Ryan said. “As for Marcus, I still don’t like the