The Virgin Mistress Read online

  Far from appeased, Meredith only sniffed. “If you like that sort of thing. But she still doesn’t follow orders worth a damn.”

  Studying his aunt, Austin frowned slightly, surprised by her attitude. From what he remembered, Meredith and Inez had never had an employer-servant type of relationship. They’d always worked together to make the house a comfortable and inviting home, so there’d been no such thing as orders between them. When had that changed?

  “She said something about starting supper,” he said. “Maybe she just forgot.”

  “She always forgets, but at least she does serve the meals on time. I suppose that’s something.” Dismissing the subject with a shrug of her slender shoulders, she turned a bright smile on Austin. “There won’t be any chicken enchiladas for supper, but there is chocolate cake for dessert. Inez just made one yesterday. You are staying to eat with us, aren’t you? It’s just the family—the boys and Rebecca. I had planned to include Senator Hays—he and his wife know everyone who’s anyone in the California social scene—but Joe wanted a quiet evening at home.”

  Grimacing as if she couldn’t understand that, she added, “Please stay. It’s been so long since we’ve seen you, and I’m just dying to know how you’re going to find out who tried to kill Joe. Where do you even begin? Obviously, you’re smarter than the police—”

  “Leave the boy alone, Meredith,” Joe growled. “He just got here, for God’s sake! He hasn’t even had time to read my notes, and when he does start investigating the case, you can be damn sure he’s not going to talk about it to you or anyone else. So don’t pester him. He’ll let me know when he’s narrowed down a suspect.”

  For just a second, her brown eyes snapped with fire, and Austin thought she was going to let his uncle have it with a few choice words, which was surprising. All couples had their moments when they irritated each other, but from what Austin remembered, there had always been a deep affection between Joe and Meredith that had been obvious even when they disagreed. But not today. If Austin hadn’t known better, he’d have sworn they thoroughly disliked each other. What the devil was going on here?

  Before he could even think about asking, Meredith smiled coolly and confided to Austin, “Don’t pay any attention to him when he growls, Austin. I don’t. Will you stay for dinner?”

  Already on the job and intrigued by the tension that crackled between his aunt and uncle, Austin wouldn’t have missed it for the world. “I’d be delighted.”

  The food was great, just as Austin had expected, and the best home cooking he’d had in a long time. But it was the company that held his full attention. Joe and Meredith were civil to each other, and to all appearances, they seemed to be like any other couple who’d made up after a disagreement. Austin, however, had learned a long time ago not to be taken in by appearances. Whatever was going on between his aunt and uncle went deep.

  And then there were the kids—Emily, Joe Junior, and Teddy. Austin supposed he could hardly call Emily a child anymore. Adopted by Joe and Meredith when she was just a toddler, she was now eighteen and a sweet, pretty, self-possessed young woman. Her brothers, however, weren’t nearly as mature. Nine and seven respectively, Joe Junior and Teddy were both good-looking boys and growing like weeds. And much to their discomfort, they were the apple of their mother’s eye. She watched over their every move, fussing over them until they both squirmed. “Don’t slouch, Joe. Teddy, eat your vegetables. You know you can’t have cake later if you don’t clean your plate.”

  “Geez, Mom!”

  “I don’t know why we have to eat broccoli. Dad doesn’t.”

  “Because Mother knows what’s best for you, and if your father doesn’t want to eat properly so he’ll be healthy, he’s the one who’ll pay the price. Teddy, you know better than to use your salad fork for the entree. Please eat correctly.”

  They both shot her rebellious looks when she wasn’t looking, and Austin couldn’t say he blamed them. He’d always hated someone picking at him when he ate when he was a kid. As far as he could remember, Meredith had never done that with the older children. She certainly wasn’t with Emily—she hardly spared her a glance. Why was she so protective of the boys?

  And then there was Rebecca Powell, who sat across the table from him. Where did she fit in in the family dynamics? He knew he’d met her before, when she’d first come to the ranch as a foster child after Meredith had come to her aid at the Hopechest Ranch, a shelter for children from troubled homes where she’d donated much of her time. He didn’t remember—if he’d ever known—the circumstances that had brought Rebecca to the shelter, but she’d touched Meredith’s heart so deeply that she and Joe had offered her a home with them, just as they had other lost children over the years. Now in her early thirties, Rebecca was still very much a part of the family.

  And far more beautiful than he remembered.

  Caught off guard by the direction of his thoughts, Austin stiffened. Oh, no, he told himself. He wasn’t going there. Rebecca was pretty—he’d give her that. Tall and willowy, with the grace and height of a dancer, she was modestly dressed in a skirt and blouse and wore her long brown hair in a French braid that fell halfway down her back. Normally, Austin doubted he would have even noticed her because she was quiet and shy and did little to call attention to herself. But for some reason, that only made her harder to ignore. She didn’t say much, but beneath her thick, dark lashes, she sneaked a peek at him, and one look at those soulful, blue-gray eyes of hers and Austin felt like he’d been kicked in the heart.

  Surprised, he frowned and tried to convince himself he’d imagined his reaction to her. Since his wife, Jenny, and their baby had died years ago, he’d been the love-and-leave-’em ladies’ man. He’d wanted nothing to do with commitment, with any kind of feelings that could lead to hurt, and the fast and loose women he’d gone out with hadn’t had a problem with that.

  He didn’t have to know anything at all about Rebecca to know that there was nothing fast and loose about her. She had love and marriage written all over her, and that made her the kind of woman he avoided like the plague. The investigation would keep him busy, and once he discovered who wanted Joe dead, he’d go back to Portland, where he didn’t have to worry about a quiet woman with blue-gray eyes who disturbed him far more than she should have.

  Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice that Rebecca was now openly studying him until she said softly, “Joe said you needed to interview everyone at the party. Since you don’t know the city, I can help you with that if you like.”

  “That’s a good idea, honey,” Joe said, pleased. “Rebecca’s a teacher at a year-round school,” he told Austin. “She’s usually home by three-thirty every afternoon, so she could help you after that.”

  “But she has a heavy schedule at school,” Meredith reminded him as she shot Rebecca a worried frown. “Are you sure you want to do this, sweetheart? I thought you were going to do some extra work with the Thompson boy after school.”

  “I am. We start Monday, in fact. But that’s only once in a while. The rest of the time, I’m free. And then, there’s the weekends.”

  When Meredith’s frown only intensified, Austin stepped in, not wanting to be the cause of a family argument, though why Meredith would care if Rebecca helped him, he didn’t know. “I appreciate the offer,” he said quietly, “but I’m used to working alone. It’s just better that way.”

  For a moment, he thought he saw disappointment darken her eyes, but then she lowered her gaze to her plate. “It was just a thought,” she said with a shrug. “If you change your mind, just let me know.”

  He wouldn’t, but she didn’t have to know that. There was no use hurting her feelings any more than he already had. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  When he returned to his hotel room after dinner, he was sure he wouldn’t call her. It just wouldn’t be smart. Not when he was drawn to her in a way he hadn’t been to a woman in a long time. He didn’t need that kind of complication i
n his life.

  But over the course of the next few days, he found himself thinking of her more than he should have, and it didn’t help matters that the investigation wasn’t going anywhere. Using the guest list Joe had given him, he systematically began interviewing the guests, starting with the family members and friends who’d been standing near Joe when the shot rang out. But after talking to well over twenty people—and the detectives who were handling the case—he was no further along than when he’d started. None of them claimed to have seen anything. And questioning them about possible suspects hadn’t helped, either. Trying to help, all they’d talked about was old slights and resentments that hadn’t amounted to a hill of beans.

  “This is unbelievable,” Austin muttered in disgust as he left the law office of one of Joe’s oldest neighbors, who’d gone on and on about another neighbor who had never forgiven Joe for some perceived transgression or another. “I don’t care about petty grievances. A bullet grazed Joe’s cheek, for God’s sake! He’s got a serious enemy out there.”

  The question was, who? Over three hundred people had been at Joe’s party, but so far, no one had admitted seeing anything. And some of them were standing right there next to him! Someone had to be lying, but there was no way for Austin to know who, not at this point. He didn’t know the dynamics of Joe’s family and friends, didn’t know who had old grudges and new, who could lie with a straight face and who would need to. And without that information, his job would only be that much more difficult.

  So call Rebecca. She’s like family, but she’s not. She’ll be objective, and she already offered to help you.

  Irritated with the needling voice that was quick to whisper the suggestion in his ear, he scowled as he slipped behind the wheel of his rental car and told himself to forget it. He wasn’t calling her. He’d spent all of an hour with her the other night and he could still see that shy, hesitant smile of hers. It was far too memorable for his peace of mind.

  Knowing that, he should have never reached for his cell phone. He did it, anyway.

  “Rebecca? This is Austin McGrath.”

  Her heart suddenly skipping in her breast, Rebecca sank down onto a stool at her kitchen counter. “Austin! H-hi. How are you?”

  “Actually, I’m in a bit of a bind,” he admitted. “Are you busy? I was hoping I could drop by your place and run a few things by you.”

  “Now?”

  “If that’s okay with you. I could use your help.”

  “Oh…yes, of course. You have the address, don’t you? I just live a few miles down the road from the estate at the Ocean Bluff Apartments. I’m in 323.”

  “I’ll be right there,” he assured her, and hung up.

  Rebecca knew it was foolish, but for a moment, she’d thought he was calling to tell her he wanted to see her again. Not that a man like Austin would look twice at her, she admitted wryly. She’d been in the family long enough to hear the stories about him. She knew about his wife and baby’s tragic deaths in childbirth, how he hadn’t let a woman get close to him since. Instead, he’d found comfort in the arms of a bevy of beauties who weren’t anymore interested in a commitment than he was.

  That wasn’t who she was, and she supposed Austin only had to look at her to know that. And that, she acknowledged sadly, was for the best. Because the only thing he wanted from a woman was the one thing she couldn’t give him.

  Pain squeezed her heart, and for a moment, she couldn’t stop herself from hoping that maybe someday soon, things would be different. But even as she clung to the thought, she knew better than to let herself fall into that trap. She hadn’t been able to let a man touch her since she was a teenager, and that was never going to change.

  And that hurt. Why couldn’t she be normal like other women? Why couldn’t she feel comfort in the arms of a man she liked and cared about instead of fear?

  But even as she asked, she knew the answer to that. Her childhood hadn’t been an easy one. She’d never known her real father, and her mother was an alcoholic who was always bringing home all sorts of men. Then when she was fourteen, one of those men—Frank—nearly assaulted her. Frightened and feeling like she had no one to turn to for help, she ran away from home. But she’d only jumped from the frying pan into the fire. She’d lived on the streets for six months and was in constant danger. One night while she was staying in a homeless shelter, she was almost raped. That forever traumatized her, and after years of therapy, she still couldn’t allow herself to share physical intimacy with a man.

  And that hurt. She couldn’t be normal like other women, and she’d learned to deal with that by focusing all her emotions on children. A caring policewoman had gotten her to the Hopechest Ranch after the near rape, and it was there that she’d met Meredith. After she came to live with her and Joe, Rebecca began to help her with the younger children and found great comfort in that. When she later started college, she naturally gravitated to teaching and helping children with learning disabilities.

  But she still shrank away from a man’s touch.

  That didn’t mean she hadn’t tried. She had. But regardless of how much she liked a man, she could never get past her own fears from the past. After years of disappointment and dashed expectations, she’d finally accepted the fact that she was never going to be able to have a relationship with a man. So she’d stopped dating. It was just too painful.

  But, oh, how Austin tempted her. There was something about him that pulled at her, an attraction she was afraid she couldn’t hide, and that horrified her. He would be there any moment, and she was terribly afraid she was going to make a fool of herself.

  “He just wants help with the case,” she muttered to herself as she hurriedly straightened the pillows on the couch and checked the rest of the living room to make sure that it was neat and presentable. “He’s not interested in you as a woman.”

  To make sure she remembered that, she tried to picture him with a bevy of gorgeous blondes doing things with him she could never do. It didn’t help. When the doorbell rang, she was suddenly breathless.

  Later, she never knew how she faced him with any degree of composure. Her heart was racing, her palms slightly damp, and she felt as giddy as a schoolgirl. But when she opened the door to him, she greeted him with a smile that was calm and serene. If her heart was thundering like a locomotive on a downhill run, no one had to know that but her. “Hi.”

  “Thanks for seeing me like this, with no notice,” he said gruffly as he stepped into her living room. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

  “No, not at all,” she assured him. Dropping down into her favorite chair in front of the fireplace, she motioned for him to take a seat on the couch. “Now what’s this you wanted to run past me? Have you tracked down a suspect?”

  “Not exactly,” he said in disgust. “According to everyone I’ve talked to, Joe doesn’t have any major enemies, but he’s ticked off more than a few people over the years. And he invited them all to his party. I was hoping you could help me eliminate some of the names on the list.”

  “I’ll try,” she promised. “What do you want to know?”

  “Start with the immediate family and tell me everything you can about each person’s relationship with Joe. Who’s close to him, who’s not, who argues with him or owes him money or doesn’t like his business practices. And don’t worry about this going anywhere beyond this room. Whatever you tell me is privileged information.”

  He was strictly business and somber as a judge, and Rebecca felt like a fool for thinking he might have stopped by for any other reason than to talk about the case. Thankful he couldn’t read her mind, she deliberately focused her thoughts on the family. If he could be all business, so could she.

  “I guess I should start with Meredith,” she said quietly. “They argue sometimes, but it’s usually over minor things—like having dinner with just the family. She likes to entertain a lot and it drives him nuts.”

  Surprised, Austin frowned. “When I was a kid, I
got the impression she didn’t care much for the social scene. When did that change?”

  “I don’t know,” she replied, trying to remember. “I guess it was after Joe, Jr. and Teddy were born. Once they were in school, she had more time on her hands and really enjoyed having people over. It just seemed to mushroom after that.”

  “And their marriage? It’s okay?”

  “Oh, I think so,” she replied, surprised that he asked. “It’s not all lovey-dovey like it was when they were younger, but that’s pretty normal, isn’t it, when people have been married as long as they have? And Meredith changed after the accident.”

  The entire family knew about the car accident nine years ago when Meredith was driven off the road by a drunk driver when she was taking Emily for a visit with her natural grandmother. Shaken by the near tragedy, Meredith hadn’t been quite the same since.

  “She never recovered from that, did she?” Austin asked quietly.

  “She’s harsher,” Rebecca said. “More on edge. I guess that’s what happens when you come so close to death.”

  Noncommittal, Austin only shrugged. “Then what about the kids? Do all of them get along with him? I’m not just talking about now,” he said quickly, before she could answer. “Were there any fights or disagreements in the past? Any resentments that might have festered over the years into rage?”

  Frowning, Rebecca didn’t even have to think about that. “Oh, no. Joe’s always been supportive of the kids. He never missed one of Rand’s football games if he could help it, and he’s crazy about the girls. Drake …” Searching for words to describe Drake, she smiled sadly. “I don’t think Drake ever got over Michael’s death. I never had a brother and can’t imagine what it would be like to lose one, especially a twin. He doesn’t let anyone get close to him, but I don’t think he harbors any resentment against Joe. He just stays to himself.”

  Unable to think of anything else, she grimaced. “This isn’t what you wanted to hear, is it? Obviously, Joe’s infuriated someone but I don’t see how it could be anyone in the family. They’re too close-knit for that. It’s got to be someone he works with. Have you talked to Graham or Emmett yet? They’d be able to help you with that more than I would. You have their numbers, don’t you?”