Clair stared at him, aghast that he’d come to such a conclusion.
Alec nodded. “Celia stayed light-headed when she was pregnant. Especially when she got too warm.”
Laughing, Harris said, “Clair’s not even dating, so unless you can get pregnant from a toilet seat, I don’t think that’s the problem.” He again tried to reach for her top button.
Clair swatted at him. “I’m not preg—”
“She dates,” Dane argued. “Okay, not much, but I know a few months back she was seeing some guy.”
Harris scowled. “She was?” He turned to Clair. “When were you dating? Who was he?”
Ohmigod. No way in hell was Clair going to talk about Kyle. Not with his photographic efforts spread out in all their lack of glory on Dane’s desk. She swallowed, found her voice, and rasped, “Enough. From all of you.”
They stared at her. Three pairs of discriminating, curious eyes. Eyes that had just been looking at her in the most revealing poses.
“My personal business is none of your concern.” And before Harris could object, Clair added, “We jog together, Harris. In no way does that entitle you to pry.” Even if you have seen me in the nude.
Harris’s eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms over his chest. “Keeping secrets?” His hot stare threatened to bring on a swoon. “I’ll find out, you know.”
Over her dead body! She tucked in her chin and summoned her most serious, meanest voice. “You’ll leave me alone.”
Dane cleared his throat. “So you two are good friends? I thought you were just neighbors.”
Harris kept his gaze trained on Clair. “I told Dane and Alec that I learned about them through you.”
Alec gave her a fierce, speculative glance. “You make me sound fearsome, Clair. I’m not sure if I should thank you or not.”
She rolled her eyes. Alec Sharpe lived up to his reputation and he knew it. Marriage and kids hadn’t softened him. He was still dark as the devil and so strong and imposing that even in his mid-forties, he intimidated men with a mere glance. Dane wasn’t much better. Both men were walking icons of masculinity. Not that Harris seemed intimidated. No, if anything, he’d bonded. But then, in her opinion, Harris fit right in.
Dane put an arm around her. “Harris is right, Clair. You still look a little shaky. You want to take the day off?”
So they could get back to perusing her photos? Not a chance. “Of course not.” Inspiration struck and she said, “You want me to take something to the developers for you? You mentioned enlarging some photos.”
“I can do it on the scanner,” Alec said, ruining her chances to steal the photos. “You just rest up and regain your breath. You sound wheezy.”
Dane steered her toward her desk. “If you really want to help, you can do a search and find out who leased the building where the pictures and notes were found.”
Alec picked up the photo of her putting on her panties, making her go pale, then red-hot again. “Assuming the last guy who lived there took them, we can hunt him up and ask him about the...model.”
All three men grinned, and their humor in light of her disgrace rubbed Clair the wrong way.
“You know damn good and well that woman wasn’t modeling.”
“Probably not,” Dane agreed. “But neither was she objecting.”
Ready to blast him for his misassumption, Clair opened her mouth, but snapped it shut again. How could she explain without giving herself away? No, she hadn’t objected because she hadn’t even known the pervert was looking at her, much less that he had a camera. She’d only slept with Kyle twice, and both times were disastrous.
She hadn’t realized how disastrous until she saw the sneaky photos.
Clair closed her eyes. “All right. Sure.” She’d hunt from now till the end of time without giving them Kyle’s name. If they had a name, Alec and Dane would find Kyle. And then the jig would be up.
In fact, if she forced herself to face reality, she knew they’d eventually find him even without her help. They were good. Better than good, they were the best. They were, as she’d often bragged to Harris, awesome. If enough opportunities arose for her to sabotage their efforts, she maybe had a month. Less, if they did some of the computer work themselves, as they occasionally did.
Harris paced to a window overlooking the back lot. “I hope you can find him. It’s driving me nuts not knowing who she is.”
If Dane and Alec hadn’t been in the room, Clair would have kicked Harris in his sexy backside for that remark.
“We’ll find him,” Alec assured Harris. “Even if we don’t, we’ll figure out who she is. She had to be local, someone you come into contact with, maybe on a daily basis. Eventually someone will recognize her.”
Spots danced in front of Clair’s eyes. She gasped, drawing a lot of male attention. In a raw whisper, she pleaded, “Don’t tell me you intend to show those photos to people?”
“No.” Dane’s statement allowed her heart to slow to a more normal pace, until he added, “At least not yet. We’ll try other routes first.”
“What other routes?”
He shrugged. “We’ll hunt for the owner.”
And with any luck, she’d find Kyle before they did and rip his heart out—or at least his tongue, so he couldn’t tell them about her.
“We’ll talk to photography shops to see if anyone remembers developing any photos like those.”
A dead end for sure, since Kyle did his own developing. Not that it mattered, because by then her photos would have made the rounds of the neighborhood.
“But eventually it might come down to going door-to-door and asking about him or her or both.”
“That’s an invasion of her privacy,” Alec explained, “so a last resort. But if all else fails...”
Clair knew that if she didn’t get out of there right then, she was going to be sick. She plastered on a very false smile. “Well then, by all means, let me do my best to find him on the computer first.” She went to her desk.
Unfortunately, Harris followed on her heels. “You feeling better?”
No, never. “I keep telling you, I’m fine.”
“You’re sure?”
She stared at him, adjusted her glasses, and said with succinct finality, “I’m. Fine.”
Harris held up both hands. “All right, all right. Don’t get in a temper. I have to get to work and I wanted to make sure you’re up to jogging tonight, that’s all. If you’re not, then I don’t want you to push it.”
She didn’t want to. She wanted to hide. But any variance in their routine right now might tip him off. She forced another fake smile. “I wouldn’t miss it.”
He nodded, still watching her curiously. “Great.” He started backing toward the door. “I’ll see you then.”
Once the door closed behind him, Clair started to relax, but Alec didn’t give her time. He came out of the office with the pictures in hand.
Straightening in her chair, Clair said, “He left them with you?” Maybe she could swipe them after all. Or spill coffee on them. Or...
“Not a chance. These are copies we ran off when he first got here. Your friend Harris is carrying the originals in his front pocket like a lovesick swain.” Alec smiled. “Funny guy.”
“He’s