Sizzle and Burn

family.”

Fifteen
    A n hour later Zack leaned a shoulder against the inn room wall, folded his arms and watched Raine place a toiletries kit into her small overnight suitcase. She had looked different after that conversation in the dining room, he thought. She was back inside her safe zone.
    “The interview with the detectives didn’t last long,” he said.
    “Mostly because they weren’t interested in talking to me.” She zipped the small suitcase closed. “They’re too busy working the crime scene. Also, I got the feeling that Chief Langdon had warned them that I wasn’t quite right in the head.”
    “Did he tell you when you could get back inside the house?”
    “No, but it will probably be several days, at least.” She made a face. “For all the good it will do me to put it on the market now.”
    “You never know. You might get some wack job of a buyer who will get a little thrill out of owning a genuine house of horror.”
    “In Shelbyville?” She made a small, derisive sound. “Fat chance.”
    “Well, at least you did a good job staying out of the limelight. This place is filled with reporters and camera crews. I counted two more news vans in the parking lot this morning. But no one is paying any attention to you.”
    “Thank goodness.”
    “According to the local morning paper, Spicer is getting the credit for rescuing the girl.”
    “He’s welcome to it. Langdon probably finessed things to throw the spotlight his way.”
    “What are you going to do about Mitchell?”
    “Nothing, at least not right away.” She put on her raincoat.
    “He’s not going to give up.”
    “Probably not.” She took a last look around the room, checking to see if she had missed anything. “He thinks that the book Cutler wants to write will make his career.”
    “He’s going to have a hard time maintaining his glittering track record without your help.”
    “Bradley solved a lot of cases before he met me,” she said quietly. “He’s a good cop.”
    “What did he say to you this morning that made you go back behind your barricades?”
    She looked at him, eyes widening. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
    He said nothing, waiting.
    She gripped the handle of the suitcase very tightly. “Okay, he pointed out that my relationship with you had gone from zero to sixty in a very short length of time. He seemed to think that I had allowed myself to be seduced and that you probably wanted something from me other than hot, sweaty sex.”
    He whistled softly. “Had a feeling that might be it. A comment like that would definitely account for the dimming of the postcoital glow.”
    She flushed and stalked toward the door, suitcase in tow. “I’m leaving now. See you in Oriana.”
    “You’ll see me in your rearview mirror.” He dropped his arms and straightened away from the wall. “I’ll be right behind you. Couple things before you leave.”
    She paused at the door and regarded him with steady suspicion. “What?”
    He moved closer and caught her chin on the edge of his hand.
    “Mitchell was right,” he said. “I do want something from you.”
    “I know.” She lifted her chin free of his hand. “But it’s okay because I’ve got an agenda, too.”
    “You want to find out if your aunt was murdered.”
    “Yes.”
    “In other words, when it comes to using each other, we’re even,” he said.
    “Right,” she agreed.
    “The other thing you should remember,” he said deliberately, “is that the hot, sweaty sex came after we made our deal.”
    She blinked twice, watching him cautiously through her dark lashes.
    “So?” she said, her voice laced with subtle challenge.
    “I didn’t go to bed with you in order to get you to cooperate. You had already agreed to help me because there was something in it for you. I went to bed with you because I wanted to have hot, sweaty sex with you. I was under the impression that you wanted to have hot, sweaty sex with me. Was I wrong?”
    “No,” she said, cornered and defiant. “You’re not wrong. The hot, sweaty sex had nothing to do with our business arrangement.”
    He kissed her quickly, before she could pull away.
    “Glad we got that settled,” he said.
    She stepped back, opened the door and moved out into the hall.
    “But the more I think about it,” she said, speaking over her shoulder as she walked toward the stairs, “the more I agree with the old advice on the subject of mixing business with pleasure. It’s never a good