With Private Eyes

Claudia believed in facing her own deficits straightforwardly. After her last romantic disaster—the one with Drake—she’d done quite a bit of soul-searching. In the end, there had been only one possible conclusion: her sexual antennae were tuned to the wrong channel.

Strong, take-charge men revved Claudia’s motor. Men who ran businesses or rose to the top of their chosen fields, deliciously male beings who could match her wit for wit, strength for strength.

Men who didn’t want her back.

It had come as a shock when she finally accepted that the kind of men she was attracted to were in turn attracted to female pillows—soft women, squishy and delicate. Women who, by contrast, made their men feel even more hard and strong and male. Exceptions did exist, but were so rare as to be statistically negligible. Look at Tony’s new wife, or either of Max’s wives—the one he’d been rebounding from when he and Claudia were together, or the one he married a month after they broke up. Then there was that bit of fluff Hal had been sleeping with on the side…no, she couldn’t count that. Hal belonged outside her test sample. Infidelity was the symptom of a weak character, not a strong one.

After Hal had come Drake. She’d been in recovery from that humiliation when she’d finally woken up and smelled the testosterone. All of Drake’s other romantic liaisons had been Pillow Women. Every one except her. That should have warned her, but she hadn’t wanted to see the truth until she’d overheard him at a party.

He’d been planning to dump her. He’d laughed at her with his friend, and said horrible, humiliating things about her lack of femininity, her—well, never mind. She’d been particularly foolish about Drake, but she’d learned her lesson.

The men she wanted sometimes did want her back, but they got over it. This made for a pretty good-sized flaw, but she had a plan. She—

“Claudia?” Nicholas waved a hand back and forth. “Where did you go?”

“Oh. Sorry.” Frantically she cast her mind back over the last minute or so and grabbed a wisp of memory before it evaporated. “Respecting an employee’s privacy is all very well, Nicholas, but this is a criminal investigation.”

“Yes, but Mr. Mallory is not the police. As I just pointed out.”

Whoops. She’d missed that.

Ethan was leaning back in his chair, his legs outstretched, as at ease as if they were talking about football. Or traffic. It was not the reaction most men had to Nicholas. They were such muscular legs, too…. Behave, she told herself firmly.

“I can give you my word,” Ethan said, “that nothing I learn from a personnel file will be used unless it bears directly on the crimes I’m investigating.”

Damn that deep, rumbly voice of his. It seemed to vibrate things inside of her. “That seems reasonable, Nicholas.”

His brows twitched up. “Trust him, do you?”

“Oh, no. I’m sure he’s a good liar. He would have to be, in his profession, wouldn’t he? But what earthly use could he make of Ed Norblusky’s employment history outside of this investigation? I don’t think we need to worry about him selling the man’s phone number to a telemarketer.”

“No telemarketers,” Ethan said dryly, “I promise.”

Nicholas shook his head, but said, “All right. You can look, Mallory. Claudia, you go with him and make sure he doesn’t slip anything into his pocket. And I want to know what you learn when you find this man.”

“I’ll keep you posted,” she assured him.

“If I find any evidence,” Ethan said, “it will go to the police. They’ll keep you informed, I imagine.”

Nicholas’s smile was a masterpiece of cool skepticism. “No doubt.” He leaned forward to punch in a number on his speakerphone and asked someone to pull the file on Ed Norblusky. “My cousin Claudia will be down in a few minutes with a man named Ethan Mallory. They may look at the file, but it’s not to leave your office.” He disconnected. “Satisfied?”

Ethan nodded. “Thanks again.” He stood. “You recognized Norblusky’s name. Mind telling me why?”

“You’ll find out soon enough. Norblusky drove the truck that transported the gelato that was tampered with.”

“Nicholas!” Claudia bounced to her feet. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“I wanted to know Mr. Mallory’s reasons for looking for the man.” He stood. “Good to meet you, Mr. Mallory.” This time, he offered his hand.

Claudia wondered what mysterious male test Ethan had passed to rate the handshake. “I’ll see you soon, I’m sure. Tell Gail hello, and give Molly a big, sloppy kiss for me.”

“Will do. I’d like a word with you before you leave.” He glanced at Ethan. “Family matters. If you wouldn’t mind waiting outside—?”

“No problem.” Ethan’s smile was wide, almost sleepy.

He didn’t look like a shark, but Claudia’s antennae were quivering. “You can talk to Mrs. Peabody. Nicholas’s assistant? She’s very nice.” And she really needed a home for those puppies.

He gave her a wry look. “Think I’ll read the report instead. I don’t need a puppy.” With a last nod at Nicholas, he headed for the door.

Claudia frowned at him. He’d seen right through her. How annoying.

As soon as the door closed behind Ethan, Nicholas turned those laser eyes on her, trying to slice through to the back of her head. “I don’t like the look in his eyes when he’s watching you.”

“Really?” Surprised pleasure hummed in her middle. She ignored that. Involuntary responses didn’t count. “I hadn’t noticed that kind of look on his face.”

“He doesn’t do it when you can see. Claudia.” He shook his head. “Mallory intends to trick you.”

“Oh, I know that.” She waved it aside. “He doesn’t know me very well.”

Nicholas’s lips twitched once before he smoothed them out. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

She smiled brightly, easily, at him and tried to make her eyes crinkle. “Of course. Don’t I always?”

Three

By the time Ethan left the building, he was feeling quite satisfied with the bargain he’d struck with his tame dragon. Norblusky’s personnel file had been all he’d hoped it would be—references, social security number, the works. Derrick Barone had played least-in-sight, but Gina Barone Kingman had been helpful.

And the report Nicholas had given Ethan was extremely interesting.

Whoever had handled the in-house investigation had done a good job of reconstructing events. The report concluded that the gelato had been adulterated when a person or persons unknown had entered the back of the refrigerated truck ferrying the gelato to the tasting while the truck was stuck in traffic.

Nothing amazing about a truck getting caught in traffic, but Ethan’s curiosity was snagged by the reason for that particular traffic jam. A produce truck had spilled bushels of habanero peppers all over the street.

Life was full of bizarre coincidences, and that was probably all this was. But he thought he’d check out the driver of the produce truck, anyway.

Ethan glanced at the woman beside him. Claudia had been elated by the news of Norblusky’s connection, then irritated when they learned her brother was gone—to a luncheon appointment, according to his secretary. Two hours before noon. Ethan was definitely curious about Derrick Barone.

It didn’t take a body-language genius to interpret the way Claudia tensed up every time Derrick’s name was mentioned. Ethan figured that Derrick was the Barones’ problem child. Most families had one. That by itself wouldn’t make him suspicious, but the report Nicholas had given him had confirmed what Ethan had suspected: the gelato tampering had been an inside job.

The people with the most knowledge and best access to the gelato were all Barones. Admittedly, an employee made a more likely saboteur than someone who was getting rich off Baronessa, but the Barone problem child had expensive tastes. Offered a big-enough bribe from one of Baronessa’s competitors, he might have chosen money now over money later.

All of which meant Ethan had to ditch the blonde. Pity, but given half a chance, Ms. Claudia Barone would put herself in charge of his investigation—and she wasn’t likely to investigate her brother.

Bossy woman. He smiled, thinking of the way she’d primmed up when he’d referred to her as a tame dragon.

“What’s that about?” she asked, all blue-eyed suspicion.

“What?” He opened the passenger door for her.