Jennifer Morey - Armed and Famous

Jonas took a seat at the island and listened to his sisters and Remy, pretty soon joining the conversation. Something about positive thinking. Savanna was a motivational speaker.

Lincoln sat across from Arizona.

“The neighbor, huh?” Arizona wiggled her eyebrows at him as she put three cards into an envelope. “Remy, wasn’t it?”

He shouldn’t have told her Remy’s name. “Her dog keeps coming over.” Lincoln looked down at Maddie, who’d put her head on his thigh, the whites of her brown eyes flashing as she gazed up at him, tail wagging.

“Look at that. She loves you,” Arizona marveled. “Does the neighbor come with her?”

“She follows shortly thereafter.”

“I knew you were more interested than you would admit.”

“I’m not that interested.” He glanced over at Remy to make sure she couldn’t hear them. She answered questions from Savanna and Autumn on her job as a human-resource assistant while Jonas listened. Her vague replies made him wonder if that was why she was so tense. She didn’t like being asked personal questions. What was she hiding?

“Yeah, right,” Arizona said.

“She’s got a lot going on in her life,” he argued. Abusive men and bullets. “Too complicated for me.”

“What do you mean, complicated? All women are complicated.”

“No, I mean complicated.” He told her about Wade, leaving out their kidnapping.

“He threatened her?” She handed him some playing cards.

“And then he was murdered. The police came by to talk to her.”

She drew a sharp breath. “Murdered?” She glanced over at Remy. “Do you think she did it?”

“No. Be quiet.” He glanced around the kitchen. Mom and Dad were still busy preparing dinner, and Remy was listening to Jonas tell her about one of his rides.

“Why did the police question her?” she whispered.

“She was probably the last one to see him alive.”

“Why was he murdered?”

Braden joined them beside the table. “Someone was murdered?”

Tall and broad, he had short, dark brown hair and green eyes that had sobered. When he sat on the chair beside Lincoln, Maddie went over to investigate.

Lincoln told him about Tristan. “I haven’t had a chance to check him out yet.”

“Do you need help?” Braden asked. “I owe you after all.”

“No need. This time I can avoid involving more people than necessary.” Lincoln looked pointedly at Arizona.

“If you need help, we can help you,” she said.

“Me, not you,” Braden told her.

“Neither one of you. I do this for a living.” No way was Lincoln allowing them to get involved.

Arizona smiled her awareness of his determination. “Remy is in good hands with you.” She picked up a game piece. “I’m Professor Plum.”

He took it from her. “You were Plum last time. I’m Plum. You be Mrs. Peacock.”

Braden sat down next to Arizona. “I’ll play, too.”

“Did she rope you into these games, too?” Lincoln asked.

“She makes them fun.” He leaned over and kissed her, making his sister radiate love.

Lincoln didn’t press them on what kind of fun they had when they played board games. He was pretty sure they rarely finished them.

Checking on Remy again, he wondered if she was in good hands. Was she safe with him? He wasn’t so sure. Tristan wasn’t your average thug. And depending on what Lincoln learned about him, this could be more dangerous than he’d imagined so far. Too dangerous, even for him.

* * *

Remy watched Lincoln playing a game with his sister and her husband. She’d seen the way he looked at her and didn’t have to guess what the three were talking about. His freedom of communication was both admirable and disturbing. She wasn’t sure she wanted his family knowing the police had questioned her in connection to a murder.

Lincoln’s dad finished making chili for the chili dogs they’d decided to make tonight. Remy wasn’t sure how that was better than Lincoln’s casserole.

“Do you do this a lot?” she asked Autumn. Savanna and Jonas had moved over to the table to watch the game going on there.

“Have family parties?” Autumn looked around. Jackson Ivy swung Camille around for a dance in front of the giant pan of steaming chili, humming a tune, both of them smiling at each other. Jonas gave a shout as Lincoln found the murder weapon in the library, and everyone else laughed, except Arizona, who shouted, “I knew I should have made you let me be the professor!”

“Yeah. Mom loves to keep in touch,” Autumn said.

And could afford to fly in and out whenever the whim took her.

“She descends randomly. Last month it was Savanna’s house in Pagosa Springs. Savanna wasn’t happy about it. For a motivational speaker, she sure is morose.”

Remy looked over at the woman. She seemed to be enjoying this party, but Remy had seen the hint of sadness earlier when they’d talked briefly.

“Samúð,” Autumn said, the foreign language sounding beautiful on her rich, sultry voice.

She’d been slipping in words like that ever since she’d gotten here.

“What is sa-moo?” Remy asked.

“Icelandic for pity. I wish I could snap her out of it.” Autumn continued to watch her sister.

“You know languages?”

“Several. That’s what I do for a living. I’m an independent contractor for now.”

“Really?” Remy glanced around the crowd of people who didn’t have to do anything to earn a living but did.

There had been a time when she had worked hard to earn an above-average income. She was nowhere near the wealth surrounding her, but she’d managed to work her way to a comfortable living. That was before she’d met Wade.

“You all seem so normal, and then...” She looked back at Lincoln’s dad, who’d released his wife to stir the chili.

“Yeah. It was always important to Mom that we be raised as normally as possible. We were spanked and grounded just like other Americans, trust me. My parents believe that discipline is necessary no matter what walk of life you come from.”

Remy nodded. “I can see that.” She turned to Autumn. “You have an amazing family.”

“What about yours? Do you have family here?”

Family...

Remy contemplated avoiding that piece of conversation, putting her hands on the back of the kitchen island stool. “My mother died three years ago.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. That must have been hard on your family.”

“It was just the two of us.” Remy was too aware of the stark contrast between this family gathering and those she’d grown up with.

“No grandparents?”

“My grandfather died when my mother was an infant, and my grandmother never remarried. My mother was an only child like me. I never had a chance to meet my grandmother. She died when my mother was eighteen.”

“What about your dad?”

“He left before I was born. I guess single motherhood runs in the family.” She smiled past her difficulty in talking about her father. Many times she’d gotten curious about who he was and had always stopped taking action to try to find him. He obviously hadn’t been interested in her, so why should she bother tracking him down? Still, the curiosity had taken root. Seeing her mother die alone hadn’t helped. Her mother had loved the father of her child, and like her own mother, had never remarried.

“Well, if you wind up in this family, you’ll probably wish you were back in the days you were an only child.” Autumn breathed a laugh.

How would she end up in this family? Why had Autumn said that? Remy looked over her shoulder at Lincoln and caught him staring, intent blue eyes and sexy, messy blond hair. His arm was resting on the table, biceps round and strong.