Smoke in Mirrors

dime that she did not tell him about her scam or the money. She was very cautious with her secrets. I certainly never knew her to confide them to those of the male persuasion.”
    He considered that briefly. “Good point.”
    “Not to change the subject, but what did you do with Wrench?”

    “He’s tied up outside where he can ogle females of the four-footed variety.”
    She raised her brows. “You mean he’s still capable of enjoying the opposite sex? I thought when you got a dog from a shelter they made you get the animal neutered.”
    “I never explained the details of the operation to Wrench. Figured it would depress him.”
    “Thoughtful of you to withhold the facts.”
    “He’s my buddy. A guy does stuff like that for a pal. You ready to leave? I’ll walk you back to the cottage.”
    “All right.” She got to her feet.
    He helped her into her coat. “By the way, while you were busy with your detective work, did you happen to notice Rhodes’s eyes?”
    “How could one fail to do so?”
    “Weird, huh? I’ve never seen anyone with eyes like that.”
    She smiled. “Tinted contact lenses.”

    “. . . And center yourself.” Cassie assumed a half-lotus position, one ankle tucked into the crease between torso and thigh. “Ground yourself, clear your mind and allow yourself to sink into the stillness.”
    Deke followed instructions, folding himself into the final pose of the session. He tried to concentrate on clearing his mind but the process was, of course, a contradiction in terms. If you concentrated on something, after all, you were not exactly clearing your mind.
    That was especially true when his concentration was focused almost entirely on the lush curves of Cassie’s thighs.
    The woman had outstanding thighs, full and ripe and elegantly curved. They were excellently showcased in hersnug, black tights. But, then, everything about Cassie was outstanding. She was magnificent, in his opinion.
    If he had any sense he would cancel these sessions. Doing yoga with her always made him hard. He was torturing himself.
    “. . . Relax and find the nexus of your energy lines . . .”
    He lived for these yoga lessons. They were the bright spot of his week. No need to search himself for the nexus of his energy lines. They were all fused into a stiff erection.
    “. . . And release . . .”
    Nothing he would like better, he thought, than a good release. If only . . .
    Cassie studied him with a troubled expression. “This was not one of our better sessions,” she said. “I got the feeling that you were unable to ground yourself today. Is something wrong?”
    He told himself that he should keep his own counsel. She was his fitness instructor, not his best friend or his therapist. But he needed to talk to someone and she was a woman. Women sometimes saw things that eluded men.
    “Do you think Thomas is sleeping with Leonora Hutton?” he asked.
    “I beg your pardon?”
    He had made a mistake. He knew that now. But it was too late to turn back.
    “You saw them together the day before yesterday when you arrived for our Tuesday session. I just wondered if you got the impression that they might be involved in a relationship.”
    “Deke, I only saw them for five minutes. They were on their way out the door, remember? How could I possibly tell what kind of relationship they have?” She gave him a scorching glare and uncoiled to her feet. “Besides,Thomas is your brother. You know him much better than I do. What do you think?”
    “I don’t know. Thomas can be hard to read sometimes, even for me. But it seemed to me that there was something different about the way he was with her. He couldn’t stop looking at her. And he seemed sort of restless. Like he wanted to get up and move around. Pace the room, maybe. That’s not like him. He’s the most laid-back guy I know, even when he’s with a woman he happens to be, uh—”
    “Even when he’s with a woman with whom he’s having an affair?” Cassie unzipped her gym bag and pulled out her sweatpants. “Is that what you were trying to say?”
    He’d been about to say that Thomas was always calm and centered and at ease with himself even when he was with a woman he happened to be screwing. But he did not want to use the word screw around Cassie. It sounded a little crude. She might find it offensive. Besides, she already seemed a little irritated for some reason.
    “Just thought I’d ask your opinion,” he muttered.
    Cassie yanked her sweatpants