Linda Goodnight - Lone Star Bachelor

His smile faltered, replaced by a look of bewilderment. “You’re the private investigator my father hired?”

“Yes. Is there a problem?” She braced for it.

“Does my dad know you’re...?”

Her hackles rose. “A woman?”

“I was going to say pretty.” He flashed the smile again, eyes alight with mischief, and stepped to one side. “Come in. I was about to have a Coke. Want one?”

She shook her head. “Too early in the morning.”

“That’s what I’ve been told.” He led the way into the living room. The interior surprised her somewhat. Given his reputation, she’d expected a bachelor’s lair but was met with clean, simple lines in tones of gray and white with splashes of maroon. Masculine. Tasteful. Jade settled on the dove-gray sofa. Directly in front of it was a big-screen television mounted above a small tiled fireplace.

While Sawyer disappeared around a wall for his caffeine, she took out a notebook and jotted a few lines.

He popped back into the room. “I have coffee.”

“I’m good, thank you.”

He held up a single-serving coffee pod. “K-cups. Only take a minute. Would you rather have hot chocolate? Cider?” He turned the packet up close to his eyes and pretended to squint. “Caramel vanilla cream?”

She loved caramel vanilla cream. So, apparently, did his legion of girlfriends. Probably including the shapely redhead.

With a soft hum, she scribbled player on her pad. Now he was showing his true colors. “Do you stock every flavor?”

“Never know when you’ll need them.” He grinned. “I aim to please.”

Jade didn’t roll her eyes but she came close. Give it a rest, Romeo. I know your kind. I even have the scars to prove it.

“How nice.” She didn’t smile. “I’d prefer to get down to business if you don’t mind.”

“Okay.” Coke can in hand, he stood in the doorway between the living room and whatever was behind the wall. Kitchen, apparently. “Shoot.”

She wished he would sit down. From her place on the couch she had to look up and it made her feel inferior. At a disadvantage. He was a good six feet tall but not particularly broad. Just fit and lean with the right amount of shoulders. Strong and muscular as she’d expect of a man who made his living with a hammer and his hands.

Not that she noticed shoulders. She’d never known any worth leaning on.

Nor did she allow herself to be intimidated. Maintaining a businesslike tone, she held his gaze and absolutely refused to blink first.

“I’m here to investigate the vandalism plaguing Buchanon Built Construction projects. Your father shared some background with my boss and I have the police reports, but I’ll need you to fill me in on details from your perspective.”

“You’d do better to discuss this with Brady. He’s the site manager and COO of Buchanon Built.” A pair of eyebrows, as black as sin’s underbelly, twitched with a hint of amusement. “But he’s in Italy on his honeymoon. Lucky duck.”

Jade flipped through her notes. “Brady. Your older brother. A pet project of his burned to the ground on New Year’s Eve.”

The handsome face darkened. “Arson. Abby’s house. He was building it for her as a Christmas makeover.”

“Abby. Brady’s wife.”

“Fiancée at the time of the fire.”

She scribbled a note. “Interesting, but your father is more concerned about the photo recently found after a break-in.”

Sawyer made a noise deep in his throat. “Dad has it in his head that Dawson or me—Dawson’s my twin—is somehow to blame for all this trouble.”

“Why would he think that?”

“Beats me. You’d think he’d focus on Brady. After all, Brady’s project was torched, not mine, but someone leaves a picture and Dad suddenly points at us. Me in particular.”

“Why you over Dawson?”

“The hair. His is different.”

“And this was apparent in the photo?”

Sawyer emitted a frustrated breath. “Yep.”

“I’ll want to see that photo and speak to your brother, of course.”

He jacked a thumb to the south. “He lives next door.”

“Yes, I know.”

He looked discomfited. “Exactly how much do you know about us?”

She curved her lips for the first time, a cat’s smile that had nothing to do with humor. “The more I know, the faster I can solve this case.”

“Buchanon Built has dealt with a vandalism problem off and on for going on two years.” He pushed away from the wall, his body language clearly indicating he doubted her. “Do you seriously think you can discover something the police and fire investigators can’t?”

He had no idea how much fuel his doubts added to her determination. “They have other cases. You have my full focus.”

The smile appeared again. He was good at that. Flashing those white teeth against Texas-tanned skin with stunning effectiveness. “And you’ll have mine.”

His entire focus? She doubted that, not with gorgeous redheads coming and going at random. Women crawling out of the woodwork.

She held his gaze and refused to acknowledge the zip of energy caused by staring into eyes that flashed like blue lightning and were every bit as mesmerizing.

Cam was like this, charming and magnetic. And dangerous.

She ducked her head, annoyed at the direction of her thoughts. The ugly business with Cam was eons behind her and that’s where it needed to remain.

During her four-year stint as a police officer, before joining Paris Investigations, she’d interviewed plenty of nice-looking men and dozens of creeps. A pretty face and infectious smile did not sway her. Not anymore. Cam had taught her a painful lesson she wasn’t likely to forget.

So save your smiles for someone else, Mr. Buchanon. I know your kind.

“Do you have anything to hide? Anything you’d rather the rest of the world didn’t know?”

He blinked, startled by the vehemence of the question. Good. She’d knocked the grin off his face.

After sipping at his soda in contemplation, he ambled across the living room and sank onto a chair across from her. Lanky, agile and oozing manly appeal.

“Are we exchanging secrets?”

She cocked an eyebrow at him, keeping her stare as cool as November. Get this straight, buster. I know the ploys of a handsome man and I will never, ever fall for that again.

“Okay.” He lifted a hand in surrender. “I guess that would be a negative. In which case, my answer is no. No secrets. No skeletons. Except for a couple of speeding tickets and maybe that one other time.”

She sat up straighter. “What other time?”

He chuckled and pointed his Coke, clearly trying to rile her. “Got you interested, didn’t I?”

Jade’s insides did a slow burn. Mr. Playboy refused to take her seriously.

“Mr. Buchanon, this is a legal investigation, not a contest, and certainly not a joking matter. Do you, or do you not, want to find out who is sabotaging your building projects?”

He sobered. “Sorry. It’s just that the whole idea of hiring a PI is ludicrous. A waste of money.”

A red flag rose. Did he indeed have something to hide? Some reason he didn’t want her to discover? “You object to the investigation?”

“I object to wasting time and money.”

Maybe. But Buchanons had plenty. Maybe the money comment was a smoke screen. “Will I have your cooperation?”

“You will, but I don’t know anything that’s not in the police reports.”

Her lips curved again in a humorless smile.

“Let me be the judge of that.”

* * *

Sawyer squinted at the woman sitting on his couch and rubbed a hand over the discombobulated feeling in his chest while mulling the previous ten minutes.

Jade Warren, for some reason, had decided not to like him, and he tried to understand why. When he’d seemed surprised at seeing her standing on his itty-bitty porch, she’d jumped to immediate conclusions and practically accused him of misogyny.