No. Not a stranger.
Lucas St. Clair.
Slamming her hands flat on her desk as her knees threatened to give way, Mia studied the tall, dark-haired man. Disbelief shuddered through her.
It’d been fifteen years since she’d last seen him in the flesh, but nothing had changed.
He was still indecently gorgeous. Maybe even more so. His features were more finely chiseled, emphasizing his male beauty. His hair was still a glossy black and smoothed from his face. And his body was honed with sleek muscles beneath his white dress shirt that he wore with the sleeves rolled up, and pressed black chinos.
He reminded her of a predatory cat.
Sleek. Lethal. Ruthless.
Even worse, the mere sight of him managed to set off the shivers of explosive awareness that no other man had ever managed to create.
Damn him to hell and back.
“Hello, Taylor,” he murmured, ignoring the secretary’s glare of death as he stepped toward the center of the office, his gaze locked on Mia’s face. “Mia.”
Pain sliced through her heart.
Once she’d loved this man with every fiber of her being.
She’d been young and passionate and unable to contain her vulnerable emotions. Why would she? Lucas had made her believe they were perfect soul mates, destined to be together for all of eternity.
Jackass.
And then he’d left Shreveport to attend military school and she’d been forgotten as easily as if she was something he’d scraped off the bottom of his shoe on his way out of town.
“What are you doing here?” she said between clenched teeth.
His lips twitched. “I’m fine, thanks for asking. It’s good to see you too.”
“‘Good’ and ‘seeing you again’ shouldn’t be in the same sentence,” she said between clenched teeth.
“Do you want me to get my stun gun?” Taylor offered.
Tempting. But probably not wise.
“Not yet.” Mia’s lips tightened as the phone abruptly rang. “Will you get that, Taylor?”
For a second the secretary hesitated, clearly wanting to zap the hell out of Lucas. Then, as Mia sent her an impatient frown, she held up her hands in defeat.
“Yeah, yeah,” she muttered, heading out of the office.
A few moments later the ringing stopped and Mia returned her attention to the man watching her with a disturbing intensity.
She felt a burst of anger. Dammit. He didn’t have the right to look at her like that.
Not anymore.
“I asked you a question,” she snapped.
“You look good, Mia.” He stepped forward, his indigo gaze moving slowly down the stiff lines of her body. “More than good.”
Her stomach clenched, tingles of anticipation racing through her blood, which pissed her off.
What was wrong with her? She should be longing to kick him in the nads, not wondering how fast she could strip off his clothes so she could lick him from head to toe.
“I don’t have time for this,” she said. “If you want to hire a gardener I suggest you call one of my competitors. We only take care of commercial properties.”
He folded his arms over his chest—an unspoken warning he wasn’t going to be easily dismissed.
“Ramon Landscaping and Nursery,” he murmured. “I’m impressed, Mia. I always knew you would make a success of yourself, but you’ve taken your father’s small business and turned it into the beginning of an empire.”
A glow of pride filled her heart even as she pointed toward the door.
“Morgan’s Mowing Service is just down the road. I’m sure they’d be happy to help you.”
“I’m not here for a gardener.”
“We don’t have anything else to discuss.” She turned back toward the desk, silently willing him to leave.
She was a strong, independent woman, but having Lucas standing so close made her feel . . . vulnerable.
“Tony Hughes,” he said softly.
She froze before slowly turning to meet his grim gaze. “Tony?”
“You remember him, don’t you?”
She unconsciously unbuttoned her jacket and shrugged it off. It felt like it was strangling her.
And when the hell did her office get so warm?
Had Taylor turned up the heater?
“Of course I remember him, but I haven’t seen him in months,” she said, tossing the jacket on the chair where she’d left her briefcase. “If you’re looking for him—”
“He’s dead.”
“What?” Mia blinked, suddenly feeling light-headed as she swayed forward.
Straight into Lucas’s waiting arms.
* * *
Lucas tugged Mia tightly against his chest, briefly savoring the feel of her soft body and the sweet scent of honeysuckle.
This was what he’d wanted from the minute he’d walked into the office. The sight of her had been like a punch to his gut, the regrets and aching need suddenly as raw as they’d been the day he’d driven away from Shreveport.
At the time he’d convinced himself he was doing what was best for Mia. Best for both of them.
Now he knew he’d been full of shit.
He’d been a coward. And he’d paid for it every day since leaving this fabulous, passionate woman.
But while he was happy as hell to hold her in his arms, he realized he’d been a jackass to share the news about Tony’s death without easing the blow.
“Crap, I’m sorry,” he murmured, running a soothing hand up and down the curve of her spine. “I didn’t mean to tell you like that.”
“Mia?” Taylor charged back into the office, taking in Mia’s pale face before she was glaring at Lucas. “What the hell did you do to her?”
“It’s okay, Taylor,” Mia assured her friend, pushing her hands against Lucas’s chest until he reluctantly allowed her to step back. “Can we have some privacy?”
Taylor scowled. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to be at my desk.” She deliberately glanced toward Lucas. “Where I keep my stun gun. Just yell if you need me.”
Her warning delivered, the woman turned to leave the office, while Lucas chuckled.
“I’ve always liked her,” he said with perfect sincerity.
Taylor was fiercely loyal to Mia. He admired that in a friend.
Mia shoved a shaky hand through her hair, her face still pale with shock. “What happened to Tony?” she demanded. “Was he in an accident?”
“No.” Lucas grimaced. There was no easy way to say it. “He was shot.”
She bit her lower lip. “A drug deal?”
Ah. So his first instinct hadn’t been wrong. Tony hadn’t changed over the years.
“It’s being investigated,” he said. “But the cops aren’t treating it like a random crime.”
“God, this is horrible.” She shivered. “Why wasn’t it on the news?”
“It happened in Houston.”
“Really?” Her brows pulled together in confusion. “What was he doing in Houston?”
“The cops think he was coming to see me.”
“You?” Her confusion deepened. “Why would they think that?”
“He had my name and address scribbled on a piece of paper.”
“You live in Houston?”
His lips twisted. What had he expected? That she’d kept track of his career? Just because he’d remained obsessed with her didn’t mean she was equally fascinated with him.
Hell, she’d probably shoved all thoughts of him from her life years ago.
“I don’t crawl beneath a rock every night,” he said in dry tones.
She hesitated, then cleared her throat. “I heard that you were”—she struggled for the word—“captured in Afghanistan. I’m sorry.”
He stiffened. Of course that would be the one part of his past she would know about.
The part he never discussed. Not with anyone but his ARES brothers.
&nbs
p; “I survived,” he muttered.
Easily sensing his discomfort, she backed away.
Regretting his inability to accept even a polite show of sympathy for what he’d endured, Lucas swallowed a sigh. No one could understand, so there was no point in trying to explain.
“Do you know why Tony was coming to see you?”
“No idea,” he said with a shrug. “I haven’t seen or talked to him in fifteen years. Is there any reason he’d be in Houston?”
She took a minute to actually consider his question. “Not that I can think of,” she finally said. “His brothers have stayed in the area and he never mentioned having friends or distant family in Texas.”
His gaze slid over her delicate features, the past briefly colliding with the present. It’d been Tony who’d brought them together.
Granted, Lucas had caught brief glimpses of Mia on the rare occasions when she was helping her father during the summer. George Ramon had been the gardener for his parents as well as several other families in the exclusive subdivision of Shreveport.
But it wasn’t until Tony had invited Lucas to a party deep in the wetlands that he’d finally had a chance to meet Mia face-to-face.
He’d been stunned by her beauty.
Hell, he was still stunned.
With an effort he forced himself to concentrate on the reason he’d spent the night tying up loose ends so he could leave Houston at the crack of dawn.
Right now nothing mattered but ensuring that this woman wasn’t in danger.
“How well did you know Tony over the past few years?” he asked.
She gave a lift of her shoulder. “I hired him when he needed extra cash.”
“You always did rush to take care of the underdog,” he murmured.
Mia shrugged aside his soft words.
“Unfortunately, last summer he was busted in one of my vehicles with a bag of weed.” Regret darkened her velvet brown eyes. She’d always had a soft spot for their mutual friend, even when he was acting like a complete idiot. “I told him he couldn’t work here anymore.”
He reached to brush the silky dark hair from her cheek, his body clenching at the feel of her warm skin. Thankfully, she was too distracted to notice that he allowed his fingers to linger.
“So you wouldn’t know if someone wanted him dead?”
She flinched. “No.”
Lucas squashed his instinct to back away from his questioning. Mia was still reeling from the shock of Tony’s death and in no place to discuss the gruesome details of why someone might have murdered him. But once again he reminded himself that the sooner they found the killer, the sooner he could be certain Mia was safe.
“No ex-wife?” he pressed.
She shook her head. “Tony never married.”
“Girlfriend? Mistress?” He paused. “Secret male lover?”
“I didn’t keep up with his private life.” She wrinkled her nose. It was a habit she’d had when she was young. He swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. “To be honest, I never saw him date anyone,” she admitted.
Lucas frowned, trying to think back. It was true. Tony had always been the life of the party. And he’d occasionally walked off into the swamps with a girl. But Lucas couldn’t remember seeing him with a steady date.
Of course, he hadn’t really paid attention.
“Odd,” he muttered.
There was a short silence before Mia was sucking in a deep breath, as if trying to clear the fog from her mind. Then, she studied him with a growing puzzlement.
“Are you with the police?”
“No.”
“Then why are you investigating his death?”
“I want to know why he was coming to see me.”
Her eyes narrowed. There was more than one reason why he’d been fascinated by this female.
Her beauty, of course.
Her passionate heart.
And her incisive intelligence that had kept him on his toes whenever they’d debated an issue.
There was something deeply sexy about a smart woman.
Unfortunately it meant that she easily sensed that he was keeping something from her.
“And?” she prompted.
“And why he was holding your picture when he was shot,” he grudgingly added.
“That’s exactly the question I was about to ask.” The unexpected male voice intruded into their private conversation.
Turning his head, Lucas cast a frustrated glance toward the intruder. “Who the hell are you?” he demanded.
“Detective Brian Cooper.” The man offered a self-depreciating smile. “I believe you met my uncle in Houston.”
Lucas scowled, easily picking up the family resemblance to Detective Sam Cooper. The same dark blond hair, although this man’s was still thick and currently in need of a cut. The same solid body and bulldog features. He even had the same taste in clothing. An off-the-rack jacket, khakis, and cheap shoes.
“Damn,” he muttered beneath his breath.
Chapter Three
Mia frowned, staring at the stranger in confusion.
She was still reeling. How was she supposed to process Lucas’s startling appearance, followed by the news that Tony was dead? That didn’t even include the last bit of information—that her old friend had been carrying a picture of her.
Now she struggled to clear her fuzzy thoughts as she ran her gaze over the intruder.
He looked harmless enough with his dark blond hair rumpled from the breeze and his guileless brown eyes. Certainly he was handsome, but in an engaging, nonthreatening way.
At least until she caught sight of the gun holstered beneath his unbuttoned jacket.
“What’s going on?” she demanded.
The man reached into his pocket to pull out a slender wallet. “I’m Detective Brian Cooper from the Caddo Parish Sheriff’s Office,” he said, flashing his credentials.
Taylor muscled her way past the lawman, her face tight with frustration. First Lucas had snuck past her, and now this stranger. The younger woman was clearly in the mood to knock some heads together.
“I’m sorry, Mia, I tried to stop him,” she said through gritted teeth. “He was very insistent.”
“It seems to be a theme today,” Mia muttered, trying to muster a smile for her friend. “Why don’t you make some fresh coffee, Taylor?” Waiting until her secretary had stomped out of the office, Mia turned her attention to her latest visitor. “I suppose this is about Tony.”
“It is. I have a few questions,” the detective said, glancing toward the silent Lucas. “You’ll excuse us, Mr. St. Clair?”
Lucas folded his arms over his chest. “No.”
The detective’s jaw hardened, hinting at a ruthless temperament below his facade of just another good ol’ boy. “That really wasn’t a request.”
Lucas gazed down his nose with all the arrogance that came from being born into a family that considered themselves a part of some superior species.
“Aren’t you out of your jurisdiction? Tony was murdered in Houston.”
“My uncle asked me to help with the investigation. Tony lived here, after all,” the lawman smoothly answered. “It’s important to retrace the steps of the victim. Now, if you don’t mind—”
“I do mind,” Lucas interrupted. “I’m staying.”
Detective Cooper didn’t budge. Suddenly Mia’s respect for him inched up a notch.
“That’s not up to you.”
Lucas turned toward her, his expression impossible to read as he held out a hand. “Mia?”
“I . . .” She bit back her instinctive desire to kick him the hell out of her office. He hadn’t been around when she’d needed him for the past fifteen years, had he? But if she was being honest, she was still reeling from the thought that her childhood friend was dead. Right now she’d take any support she could get. “Yes.” She reached out to allow him to wrap his fingers around her hand. “I’d like for Lucas to stay.”
Something flared through the dee
p blue of his eyes. “Thank you.”
Detective Cooper thinned his lips, but he seemed to decide this wasn’t a battle he was willing to fight.
“Very well.” He glanced toward the desk. “Do you want to have a seat?”
She shook her head, just wanting to get it over with. “No.”
Tucking away his badge, the detective pulled out a small notepad and pencil. Then, with a smile that was intended to put her at ease, he began asking her the usual questions.
Mia answered with as much information as possible.
Yes, she’d known Tony since grade school in Bossier City. Yes, they’d stayed friends despite him going to a fancy prep school across the river in Shreveport. She admitted they’d briefly lost touch after high school, but that she’d hired him when he showed up at her door five years ago.
She also admitted that Tony had been caught with weed and that she’d fired him the past summer.
Then Detective Cooper’s questioning became far more pointed. Did she have a relationship with Tony? Did she have any enemies?
Mia unconsciously shifted closer to Lucas, allowing his heat to combat the chill that was shivering through her body.
“I think that’s enough, Detective.” Lucas immediately took charge, his arm wrapping around her shoulder to pull her tight against his side. “Ms. Ramon has had a shock. If you have more questions you should speak to her lawyer.”
“Lawyer?” Mia blinked in shock, for the first time realizing there might be more to the detective’s visit than to gain info on Tony. “Do you think I’m involved?”
“Mia—”
She interrupted Lucas’s protest. “I want to know.”
Detective Cooper reached into the pocket of his jacket to pull out a photocopy of a picture. “We found this clutched in Tony Hughes’s fingers,” he said, holding it out so Mia could see the enlarged black-and-white picture.
Her stomach clenched as she recognized the image of herself walking into the office building, with the words “Kill her or else” scrawled across her face.
What the hell?
“Tony had this?” she breathed.
“Yes.”
She lifted her gaze to find Cooper watching her with a piercing intensity.
“Why?”
“That’s what we intend to find out.” The detective nodded toward the photo. “Do you know when this would have been taken?”