in love with was an agent. Especially right now.
Samantha started to reach for her cell phone but he placed a hand on her arm to stop her.
“Let me handle this,” he said. “It’s my family. Can you give me this? I know you’re an agent. I’ve accepted that.” Her look said she didn’t believe it. He wasn’t sure he did, either. “I have to handle this in a way that Caroline will be hurt the least. Do you understand?”
“You know I do.”
“Then no agents. Just let me go alone.”
“I can’t do that, Alex. Maybe Presley’s only crime was falling in love with a rich woman. Maybe it’s swindling your family. But one of Weddings Your Way’s clients is still missing after her abduction in front of the shop. There still hasn’t been a ransom demand. For all I know Presley is somehow connected to all of it. And if that’s the case, I can’t leave the agency out of it.”
“But you can give me a little time,” Alex said, knowing that he was using her feelings for him. Wasn’t he just as bad as Presley? He saw the pain in her expression.
“I won’t make the call yet,” she said. “But don’t try to stop me from coming with you.”
“Would it do any good?”
She shook her head.
“That’s what I thought.”
“Let’s take my car,” Samantha said. “He doesn’t know it.” A set of car lights blinked in the lot.
The headlights Alex saw were connected to a sleek black sports car convertible, the top up. “That’s yours? You had someone deliver it?” He couldn’t help his surprise. But then how could he forget the body she’d been hiding under those baggy suits? Or the brain and determination of the woman she’d been hiding behind the role of wedding planner?
SAMANTHA TOSSED Alex the keys. He looked surprised, then grinned at her. All she could think about now was Presley. How could she have been so wrong about him? She hadn’t stopped believing in him—even when all the evidence was so weighted against him. Until tonight.
Caroline had taken her brother’s PDA. Unless Samantha missed her guess, it would contain passwords to Graham accounts. Presley could clean out whatever funds Brian managed for the family. Why else get Caroline to steal it for him?
“Ready?” Alex asked as he slid behind the wheel.
“You do know how to drive something other than a truck, don’t you?”
He cranked up the engine. As it roared to life, he shot her a look. “What the hell’s under that hood?”
She grinned back at him. “You’re about to find out.”
He hit the gas and they careened out of the parking lot. “I think in this we might be able to beat Presley to the Graham building.”
Samantha nodded, her thoughts on what she’d agreed to do. She should have called Rachel. She should have had the team meet them. She’d broken one of the cardinal rules of Weddings Your Way. It might cost her her job.
But as she looked over at Alex, she also knew that he needed to do this on his own. The team was standing by. All she had to do was call them and they would be there in minutes. She could give Alex a little time. And it wasn’t as if she was letting him go in alone.
“There is something you should know,” she said as Alex took a corner. “Brian’s in financial trouble. Possibly on the verge of losing everything your father entrusted to him.”
Alex didn’t ask how she knew this. He seemed to remember who she was, what she was. His face clouded. “You’re sure?”
She nodded. “So the only thing Presley can steal is the rest of Caroline’s trust fund.”
Alex seemed to concentrate on his driving without looking at her. “Do you have any idea what my father is going to do when he hears about this? How much did my father invest with Presley?”
“A lot, but,” she added quickly, “not enough to jeopardize the family fortune.”
“And Brian. He invested, too, right?”
“Apparently not. At least not on paper.”
Alex let out a low whistle. “What about Caroline and Presley?”
She hesitated. “They both sank most everything into this condominium project near the water.”
“Presley had some money?” Alex asked, sounding surprised.
“Some. Not as much as Caroline of course.”
“You think Brian invested with Presley under the table knowing how risky it was. Maybe made a deal to bring our father into it to sweeten the pot. That would be like Brian. So Brian lied to C.B. about how risky the venture