Sizzle and Burn

seven-hundred-and-fifty-thousand-dollar advance and a potential TV series in the toilet all because Raine Tallentyre is pissed at you.”
    Bradley went very still. “You never said anything about a TV series.”
    “My agent mentioned it today. I didn’t want to tell you about it until it’s a sure thing.”
    “Damn,” he muttered. “A TV series.”
    Cassidy thought about the problem some more. “All right, Raine doesn’t want the publicity. How does she feel about money?”
    “Huh?”
    “She’s a businesswoman. An entrepreneur. She must be interested in money. Did you ever pay her for the work she did with you?”
    “How the hell was I supposed to pay her? Not like I got any bonuses for closing those cold cases. Besides, she never asked for money.”
    “There’s a lot riding on this book,” Cassidy said. “Maybe I should point out the financial advantages to her.”

Twenty
    T he drive back to Raine’s condominium complex took about five short minutes. Zack didn’t try to break the silence in the car until he pulled into a parking space and shut down the engine. He folded his arms on the wheel and contemplated the lobby entrance.
    “All in all, I thought that went well,” he said. Might as well go for a positive spin.
    “Gordon threatened to break both your legs,” she said without inflection.
    He grinned. “You heard that?”
    “Yes.”
    “He’s just looking out for your best interests. That’s what family does. Sometimes they screw up the job royally, but it isn’t for lack of trying to do the right thing.”
    She shot him a speculative look. “Has your family ever screwed up that way?”
    “Let’s just say they’re applying a lot of pressure at the moment. They want me to pursue a different career path.”
    “You mean, they don’t approve of you working for J&J? I can understand that. Sounds like it’s risky work at times.”
    “It’s not that so much, although Mom has never been happy with that aspect of my work. The thing is they all want me to go into the family business.”
    “Ah, got it. The old tradition of following in your father’s footsteps.”
    “My grandfather’s, in this case. Dad escaped. He’s a high-grade sensitive with a talent for strategy. He owns a law firm.”
    “What’s the family business?” she asked.
    “It’s a mid-sized corporation. A holding company with a lot of diversified interests.”
    “No offense, but it sounds boring.”
    “No,” he said, not taking his eyes off the entrance. “It isn’t. Until a year ago I thought I wanted to run the business when the time came. I’d planned on taking Granddad’s place ever since I was a kid. You could say I was trained for it from the cradle.”
    “What changed your mind?”
    He shrugged and unbuckled his seat belt. “I finally realized a year ago that I wasn’t cut out for the job.”
    He opened the door and climbed out before she could ask any more questions.
    By the time he got around to her side of the car she seemed to have understood that he no longer wanted to discuss his future career prospects. That was a very good thing. He’d come damn close to telling her about Jenna. He never talked about Jenna. Not with anyone.
    They walked toward the building entrance.
    “What did you tell Andrew about your reasons for working with me?” he asked when she paused to dig out her key.
    “I explained that there’s a chance I might find out what really happened to Vella. He and Gordon know I was never satisfied with the natural-causes verdict.”
    “So you didn’t mention the hot, sweaty sex angle?”
    She gave him a severe glare as she unlocked the security door.
    “It isn’t a sexual thing,” she said crisply. “Not anymore. I told you, it’s not smart to mix business with pleasure.”
    “Who said anything about me being smart? I could be a lot dumber than I look.”
    She laughed. “Not a chance.”
    He pushed the door open for her. “But it was a hot, sweaty sex thing for a while,” he said as she went past him. “Right?”
    “One night, that’s all,” she said gruffly. She started toward the stairs to the second floor. “Tell me, where does Wilder Jones fit on the Jones family tree?”
    An ominous sense of impending disaster swept over him.
    “Wilder was one of my uncles,” he said, cautious now. “I’ve got several.”
    “Were you aware that your uncle and my aunt had a red-hot affair? Andrew told me that Wilder Jones seduced Vella in order to find out the location