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  “You sound surprised,” he noted. “It’s probably an alias. And this Ethan, or whatever his name really is, wasn’t smart enough to create a corresponding identity for his alias,” he surmised.

  Scottie started to say something then decided it was best just to agree with Bryce. If he thought Ethan’s name was an alias, at least he wouldn’t be looking into her brother.

  The problem was, right now, neither could she, and that drove her absolutely crazy. Ethan must have found a way to erase all traces of himself. He wouldn’t have done that without a reason.

  Just how deep are you in this? she silently demanded of her brother.

  “Probably,” Scottie agreed out loud, struggling not to let Bryce see just how upset all of this made her.

  * * *

  She didn’t have much time, Scottie thought, glancing at her watch the next day. It was almost twelve. Cavanaugh had said he’d be by at one to pick her up and she intended to be long gone by then. If he asked her about it come Monday morning, she was just going to tell him she’d found a possible lead to pursue—one that wound up leading nowhere—and had forgotten all about the party she’d promised to attend.

  Hurrying, Scottie didn’t even bother checking her makeup as she grabbed her purse and headed for the front door. Yanking it open, she stifled a scream as she stumbled backward.

  Her escape route was blocked by all six foot two of her partner.

  Clearing her throat and trying to regain her composure, Scottie demanded indignantly, “What are you doing here?”

  He looked at her as if she’d had a complete loss of memory. “Picking you up for the party, remember?”

  “You weren’t supposed to be here until one,” she retorted.

  His smile was guileless and despite the fact that she was annoyed with him, she had to admit it was almost lethally sexy. She blamed her annoying reaction on that unexpected kiss that had happened right after the ambulance had taken Noelle and her baby to the hospital. Over and over again, she’d tried to tell herself it was “just one of those things” but it had turned out to be one of those things that insisted on lingering. Indefinitely.

  “Sometimes I’m early,” Bryce told her. “This is one of those times. Good thing, too, because you looked like I just caught you on your way out. You weren’t thinking of pulling a vanishing act now, were you?”

  The question sounded innocent enough but the expression on Bryce’s face told her he already knew the answer.

  She gave squirming out of the invitation one final try. “This is a family gathering you’re having. I’m going to be out of place there.”

  If that was the best argument she had to offer, Bryce thought, then he’d already won. “As my uncle Andrew likes to say, there are a lot of definitions of the word family. Blood is not the only criteria. You, for instance, belong to the family of law-enforcement agents.”

  “So did J. Edgar Hoover,” she countered. “I don’t think you would have wanted him attending your family gathering.”

  “Can’t really say,” he told her. “But I do know that Noelle asked me if you were coming.”

  “Really?”

  He was just saying that, Scottie thought. The man was as stubborn as they came. If she’d acted indifferent to the invitation in the first place, she had a feeling he wouldn’t be pushing nearly this hard. She should have realized it was the challenge that engaged him.

  “Really,” Bryce assured her. “So did Duncan.” His eyes held hers as he told her, “So did Uncle Andrew.”

  Okay, he was making all this up. “They wouldn’t even know if I didn’t show up,” she insisted. “Not with all those people attending.”

  “They’d know,” he told her with certainty. Putting his hand to the small of her back, Bryce gently but forcefully ushered her out the door. “C’mon, Scottie. You’ve got nothing to lose and maybe, just maybe, something to gain,” he coaxed. Getting her outside, he pulled the front door shut behind him. “I do know that you could use the break.”

  She reached into her purse for her keys, but even as she did so, she challenged, “And if I said no?”

  His eyes met hers. Just for a moment, held her prisoner. “Don’t,” he told her quietly.

  She sighed and locked her door. Dropping her keys into her purse, she followed him to his car, which was parked in her driveway. She was still trying to bargain. “Can I set a time limit?”

  “Sure.” Bryce had no desire to come off too unreasonable.

  “Half an hour,” she said as she got into the vehicle.

  Getting in himself, Bryce gave her a look that told her what he thought of her suggestion.

  “A reasonable time limit,” he elaborated. “Like two hours.”

  One hundred and twenty minutes. That was longer than she was happy about, but still, she supposed she could live with it. “And if after two hours, I want to leave, you’ll let me?”

  He nodded. “I’ll bring you right back to your front door without any complaint,” he promised. “Do we have a deal?”

  She had no choice but to agree. But he was a man of his word so she was going to trust that he would let her leave when she wanted to.

  “We have a deal,” she told him reluctantly.

  “Good.” He turned the ignition on. “I knew you’d come around.”

  He made it sound like this was a good thing. She saw it as a huge inconvenience. She was only going along for the sake of peace. “You don’t have to look so happy about it.”

  “I could scowl if you want,” Bryce offered, then did just that, giving her a preview.

  Scottie waved his words away and turned her face toward the side window, watching the scenery going by quickly. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was worried about Ethan, she supposed there was a chance she could enjoy herself, at least a little. But she was worried and that made all the difference in the world.

  “What I want,” she told him, “is to understand why it’s so important for me to attend.”

  “I think we’ve already had this conversation,” he reminded her patiently. For the sake of harmony, he went over it again. “Because if you hadn’t been there, things might have gone very wrong. The family just wants to show their gratitude and this is the best way they know how.” Bryce paused for a moment then asked, “Want my advice?”

  She shifted and faced forward. “I don’t think I have a choice. Go ahead.”

  “Just sit back and enjoy this afternoon. Who knows? It might even be good for you.”

  She slanted a look at him. “I wouldn’t count on it. But, okay, I’ll give this a shot. For two hours,” she confirmed, her tone underscoring the time limit.

  * * *

  It didn’t take long to reach their destination. She was surprised at how close she lived to the former chief. She was even more surprised when they finally arrived in the vicinity of Andrew Cavanaugh’s house, that there were more cars parked in and around the area than on the lot of a used-car dealership.

  Her eyes widened as she took in the sight. “You weren’t kidding about all the cars parked around here.”

  “No, I wasn’t,” he agreed good-naturedly.

  She gave up counting the number of cars. Obviously this party was going to be huge. “Just proves my point. I wouldn’t be missed if I wasn’t here.”

  “You’d be missed,” Bryce assured her, scanning the area for an open spot. “Haven’t you figured it out yet? You’re not just a cog in the machinery. You’re part of the team, Scottie. Time to really get to know them away from the crime scenes and the autopsy reports and all the rest of it.”

  All she said in response was, “You said two hours, right?”

  He decided to stop trying to sell her on the idea. Attending the party would do it for him. “Two hours,” he repeated.

  “That is,
if we even find parking,” Scottie noted, looking at the daisy chain of automobiles.

  “This isn’t as bad as it can get,” Bryce told her.

  She couldn’t picture it getting any worse. “Maybe you people should rent a bus, like they do for school field trips.” She was only half kidding.

  “There’s an idea,” Bryce commented. “You might want to pass that along to Uncle Andrew.”

  Right, like he would take any advice from an outsider, she thought. And then she sat straighter. “There’s a space right there,” she told him, spotting one near the end of the next block.

  “I see it.” He headed straight for it, managing to effortlessly pull in between two cars. She didn’t realize she was holding her breath until he straightened out his wheels. The man had hidden talents, she thought in grudging admiration. “We make a good team,” he commented. Turning off the ignition, he said, “I want you to promise me something.”

  Scottie braced herself. “What?”

  He got out of the car and came around to her side, prepared to help her out. She ignored the hand he offered. “That for the next two hours, you are going to relax and enjoy yourself.”

  She was just focused on the finish line. “And then we’ll leave?”

  “And then we’ll leave,” he told her.

  He’d said it far too cheerfully. She didn’t believe him, but pretended that she did. For now, as she followed him to the front door, what else could she do?

  Chapter 12

  “Your two hours starts now,” Scottie said just as her partner rang the doorbell.

  “I’ll synchronize my watch,” he deadpanned. A moment later the front door opened.

  The former chief of police, Andrew Cavanaugh, looking decidedly younger than his age despite the mane of silver-gray hair, stood in the doorway. There was a warm smile on his unlined face as he looked from Bryce to her.

  “I see you got her to come,” Andrew said with approval. “I knew you would.” He took Scottie’s hand in both of his, gently coaxing her across the threshold and into the house itself. “Come in, come in. I’m sure you know at least a few of the people here. If not, Bryce can serve as your guide. Get her something cool to drink, Bryce. You know where everything is,” he instructed, still holding Scottie’s hand sandwiched between his own.

  “Noelle, Duncan and the baby are on the patio. They’ll be really glad to see you,” Andrew went on to tell her. A pulsing buzzer went off and he looked over his shoulder toward the kitchen, releasing her hand as he did so. “Sounds like part of the main course is done, so if you’ll excuse me.” Inclining his head, Andrew retreated, making his way to the kitchen.

  “Well, you heard the man. Let’s get you watered and circulated,” Bryce told her with a laugh. He slipped his arm around her shoulders as if they had been friends and comrades-in-arms for years rather than just for a short while.

  Drawing her toward the back of the sprawling, spacious house, weaving in between members of his family, Bryce leaned in and whispered into her ear. “This’ll all be painless, I promise.”

  Right now, she wasn’t thinking about meeting new people. She was focusing on trying her best not to react to the way her partner’s warm breath had zipped along not just her ear, but her cheek and her neck, as well, stirring her the way she definitely didn’t want to be stirred.

  “You don’t have to patronize me,” Scottie whispered back between gritted teeth.

  “That wasn’t patronizing,” he told her in all innocence, still moving toward the patio. “That was just trying to calm you down.”

  She was about to tell him she didn’t need that, either, but she never got the chance because, stepping out onto the patio, she suddenly found herself being swallowed up in a huge, enthusiastic hug.

  “Thank you!” Duncan cried, all but lifting her off the floor. “Thank you for being there for Noelle and for bringing Scottie into the world.”

  “‘Scottie’?” Scottie repeated, confused and trying desperately to get at least some of her bearings and her dignity back.

  “Duncan, let her go before you break something,” Noelle ordered, looking incredibly well for a woman who had just given birth a few days ago. As her husband released Scottie, she explained, “We’re naming the baby after you.”

  Scottie looked from Duncan, to Noelle, to the baby in the layette situated right beside Noelle’s patio chair.

  “I don’t know what to say,” she finally managed to get out, then added, “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “Absolutely,” Noelle told her without any hesitation. She linked her hand with Duncan’s. “It’s our small way of saying thank you.”

  “I was there, too,” Bryce pointed out, pretending to feel slighted.

  “Sorry, bro.” Duncan put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “But ‘Scottie Bryce’ just doesn’t have a good ring to it.”

  “Cav—Bryce has a point,” Scottie said, forcing herself to use her partner’s first name as she backed him up. She just wasn’t used to being singled out like this and it made her feel somewhat awkward. “He was there and he is your brother.”

  “But you’re family now, too,” Brian Cavanaugh told her, coming up behind her to join in the discussion. Sharp green eyes looked at her and Scottie could have sworn the man was reading her mind. “No point in fighting it,” he advised. “Family is defined by actions, not just by blood.”

  “You heard the chief,” Bryce told her, putting a tall, frosted glass of lemonade into her hand. “Don’t argue,” he warned, his intense look underscoring his point. “You’re family.”

  For some reason she suddenly felt a lump forming in her throat. Because she didn’t trust herself to say anything coherent, Scottie stalled for time and deliberately took a long sip of the lemonade Bryce had just brought her.

  All of her life, she had more or less felt as if she was on her own, struggling to survive. Granted, she’d had a mother, but Joanne Scott had been an incredibly weak woman with an addictive personality who would disappear for days, sometimes weeks on end. From a very young age, Scottie had felt like it was up to her to take care of her mother as well as her little half brother.

  Ethan was her only family and she was his after their mother had overdosed. But she would have been lying if she had said there hadn’t been times when she would lie in bed, fantasizing about what it would be like not to have everything on her shoulders. Fantasizing about having a loving family, a family like some of the ones she’d occasionally see on TV in half-hour comedies where rules were strategically bent but everything was always resolved within thirty minutes—not counting commercials—and most important of all, everyone within that family knew that they were loved and protected.

  She had never felt that way for even a few minutes of her life, much less a day.

  Noticing the expression on her face, the first opportunity he had, Bryce ushered her away from Duncan and his family, steering her toward one of the buffet tables in the crowded backyard.

  “Want something to eat?” he asked, indicating the table nearest them as well as a couple of others, each just a few feet away. “Uncle Andrew always makes sure there’s more than enough different dishes to choose from,” he told her. Then, lowering his voice, he looked at her and quietly asked, “You okay?”

  She didn’t have to think about becoming defensive. That had become her go-to mode and it took over now. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “No reason.” He kept his voice light. Nothing would be simple with this new partner of his, Bryce concluded. Still, he had a feeling that, in the end, if he stuck it out, it would be well worth it. Because there was something about Alexandra Scott that was different as well as compelling. Under that steely exterior, she was vulnerable and he intended to be there for her.

  “I just thought I saw something in your eyes back t
here. My mistake,” he told her, willingly breezing right along to spare her having to explain anything.

  Scottie paused for a moment, appearing to deliberate between a plate of fried veal cutlets and a bowl of shrimp scampi. What she was really doing was trying to decide whether or not to say anything to Bryce or just to let things go.

  Although she couldn’t have explained why, she decided to open up a tiny bit. Scottie spared her partner a look. “You know, you’re more intuitive than I gave you credit for.”

  Bryce grinned. “That’s me. Hard shell on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside.”

  She laughed then. “You just described a piece of candy.”

  He winked at her and she felt her stomach do a tiny flip. “I can be sweet, too,” he told her.

  Scottie tried to shut down and found that she wasn’t completely successful. For better or worse, Bryce had managed to bore a little hole through what she’d always thought was the impregnable wall she kept around herself.

  “I’ll take your word for it,” she answered.

  “Try the veal,” a bright-eyed blonde recommended. “It’s to die for.” Shifting her plate over to her left hand, she extended her right hand to Scottie. “Hi, I’m Moira, one of Bryce’s long-suffering sisters. We met the other night at Malone’s. I’m also one of two Moiras here today.” She pointed in the general direction of the house. “The other is Moira McCormick, the actress, who also happens to be one of Andrew’s daughters-in-law. She’s married to Shaw,” Moira confided. About to say more, she abruptly stopped, a wide smile on her face. “Is your head swimming yet?” she asked Scottie knowingly.

  “Actually, yes,” Scottie admitted. Another first, she realized, because she didn’t ordinarily admit to any shortcomings. “I feel like I should be taking notes.”

  “Well, I suppose you can if you want to,” Moira said glibly, “but you’ll get the hang of this eventually, especially if you keep coming to Uncle Andrew’s get-togethers, which Bryce probably told you take place a lot.”