Rarities Unlimited 03 - Die in Plain Sight

Thank you, Sheriff. Sorry to bother you.”
    “No problem. If you notice any other cars or anything else odd, let me know.”
    Susa watched Ian as he replaced the cell phone. “Everything okay?”
    “They’re on the side of the angels.”
    She let out a breath. “Okay. Let’s get Lacey and do some painting. She has to be back by eleven o’clock to open her shop.”
    “You’re hoping she’ll tell you her real name all by herself.”
    “Aren’t you?”
    “Yeah. Then I’m hoping she’ll tell me why she wanted a fake name in the first place.”

Newport Beach
    Early Thursday morning
21
    L acey stood in the door of Lost Treasures Found and looked at Ian with eyes that were too dark against skin that was too pale. If she’d gotten any sleep last night, it didn’t show. The bruises beneath her eyes were big enough to frame.
    “I’m sorry,” Lacey said tightly to Ian. “Something has come up. I can’t go painting with Susa.”
    He smiled with gentle understanding and was inside the shop with the door closed behind him before she could blink.
    “What could be more important than painting with the premier living artist in the United States?” he asked.
    Lacey said the first thing that came to her mind. “I’m sick. I don’t want to infect anyone else.”
    He might have bought it just on her looks alone, but she was such a bad liar that he didn’t even hesitate. “You’re not sick, you’re worried. What’s wrong? Is it something to do with your fake name?”
    For an instant tears stood in her eyes. Then she turned her back and got herself under control. “Give Susa my regrets.”
    “No. You’ll have to do that yourself.”
    “I told you, I don’t want to infect anyone else.”
    “Susa’s tough.” He put his hands on Lacey’s shoulders. “So am I. What’s wrong?”
    Blindly, Lacey shook her head. “I can’t.”
    “Why not? I’m discreet. I haven’t told anyone who asked me about your real name.” Which was the truth—Susa hadn’t asked.
    The sudden stiffness of Lacey’s body told Ian all he needed to know. Bingo.
    “That’s what this is all about, isn’t it,” he said, no question in his voice. “Your fake name.”
    She turned around and faced him.
    His hands lifted, then settled on her shoulders again.
    She felt the warm weight of his touch and wished that things were different. It had been a long, long time since any man had intrigued her on as many levels as he did. But things weren’t different. They were what they were, and she had a family to protect.
    “Good-bye,” she said huskily. “Please give Susa my regrets. Her encouragement of my own painting is something I’ll never forget.”
    He saw both the determination and the shadows in her eyes. “Lacey, whatever it is, let me help.”
    “I can’t.”
    “That means you won’t.”
    She closed her eyes. “If it was just me, I would. But it’s not.” She opened her eyes and gave him a crooked smile. “Don’t forget to take your movie poster.”
    That pissed him off. “Here’s your hat, what’s your hurry, and don’t come back again, is that it?”
    Her smile wavered. “It’s better that way.”
    “No, it’s better this way.”
    His hands tightened, his mouth lowered, and he kissed her, surprising both of them. Neither of them stayed surprised very long. Both of them had been wanting this since the teasing kiss over her easel in Cross Country Canyon.
    Lacey went up on tiptoe, pressing into the kiss. Into him. His handsshifted and drew her close, then closer. She tasted hot, exotic, ripe with possibilities. In a heartbeat the kiss went nuclear. Before he knew what he was doing, he wrapped his arms around her, turned, and flattened her between his body and the shop door.
    Even as he told himself to back up and back off, her arms tightened around his neck and she made a throaty sound that told him she was with him every bit of the way. He groaned and went in deeper, trying to get all of her sweet female heat he could. When his hands pushed under her sweatshirt, she hesitated, then shuddered with pleasure as his thumbs teased her nipples through her bra. She twisted her hips against him, moving against the erection he couldn’t have concealed if he’d tried.
    Heat exploded through him. Distantly he realized that one of them had better come up for air or he would strip off her jeans and take her right where they were, right now, picking her up and wrapping her legs around his waist and watching her and