Caught on Camera. Tawny Weber

      Chapter Four

      “SO TELL ME everything you know about Sierra Donovan.”

      Reece straddled the chair in his cousin’s kitchen as he made the demand, a bottle of beer dangling between two fingers. Seeing as it was just him and Mitch this afternoon, he didn’t bother removing his Stetson.

      “I thought you were protecting her, not investigating her,” Mitch teased.

      “Same difference,” he defended, looking at the tips of his black boots instead of at his cousin’s all-too-knowing face as he lied. “I need to know everything I can about my client if I’m going to figure out who’s pulling this shit on her.”

      “Like what kind of guy she dates? How long her relationships tend to be?” Mitch gave him a searching look before slapping a hunk of ham, along with a fat slice of cheddar, on the bread he was grilling at the stove. “Her favorite flower?”

      “Stargazer lily,” Reece muttered into his bottle as he took a swig of the beer.

      Mitch’s snort was loud and clear, even over the sizzling butter. Reece had never been able to keep a secret from his favorite cousin. And Mitch had never been able to keep from teasing him about it.

      “Just admit it, cuz. You’ve got it bad for Sierra.”

      Reece frowned, then shrugged. “It’s just lust. She’s hot. But like anything that incendiary, it’ll burn out if we spend time together.”

      “Time in bed, you mean.”

      Reece sneered at the innuendo that all he wanted from Sierra was sex. Damn, it was one thing to get that from her. She had no reason to trust him. Yet. And he’d noticed she had a miledeep cynicism that lent itself to thinking the worst of men. But his own cousin?

      Mitch should realize there was more to Reece’s interest than just sex. Yeah, maybe it’d been lust at first sight when he’d seen Sierra six years ago. When he’d hit on her, then spent his entire leave trying to convince her that one date with him wouldn’t betray her friend, who’d just left his cousin at the altar. But lust alone would have burned out after six years apart. Not been kept alive all those nights when he’d bunked down in the desert.

      It wouldn’t have been secretly nurtured during his illfated marriage.

      Even obsessive lust would have been slaked a couple months ago when she’d kissed him and he’d lost all control. He’d like to claim it was shock that had sent his libido into overdrive and his finesse out the window. But that’d be a lie and he never lied. At least, not to himself.

      Nope, it’d been idiot lust that had him taking her up against the wall like a horny teenager chasing his first glimpse of heaven.

      Just sex? Hell, no. This was bigger than just wanting to get laid.

      But he realized how it would sound if he tried to defend himself. Lovesick and pitiful. Wincing, he sucked down another swallow of beer. Nope. Innuendo was better.

      “Not saying I don’t want to get her in my bed,” he admitted as Mitch slid two overflowing plates onto the small kitchen table and sat opposite him. “But I hardly need to resort to grade-school games to get her there. I’m asking for the case.”

      Mitch rolled his eyes before he bit into his own sandwich. Then, after a swig of beer, he shrugged. “Sierra doesn’t really date. I mean, sure, she’ll do dinner or the theater with a guy here or there. But in the month Belle and I have been living together, I’ve never met a guy Sierra’s been out with.”

      “Maybe she just keeps them to herself?”

      “She doesn’t keep anything from Belle.”

      “And Belle doesn’t keep anything from you?” Reece was the one smirking this time. Women, in his experience, weren’t known for their forthcoming honesty or willingness to share. Even if he did think Belle was the sweetest thing since melted chocolate, she was still female.

      “Belle’s not Shawna,” Mitch said tonelessly.

      Reece grimaced. Whether at the mention of his ex-wife or at the fact that he’d just pissed off his cousin, he wasn’t sure. Didn’t matter.

      “Look, I’m not saying Belle hides things from you,” Reece said, biting into his sandwich. He chewed and swallowed before clarifying. “I’m just wondering if she’d waste your lovey-dovey couple time talking about her business partner’s love life.”

      “Hey, she told me Sierra did you up against a wall,” Mitch said with a snicker as he polished off his lunch.

      Nonplussed, Reece dropped his sandwich and stared. God, did women really share everything? He blamed the heat warming his cheeks on the beer and forced himself not to take the bait and ask for details. He would ask Sierra himself if she’d liked it, thank you. No way was he fishing for that info via his smirking cousin.

      “Whoever is stalking her has a personal vendetta and the pictures are definitely a sexual message.”

      Changing the subject before Mitch could rib him, Reece thought of the file in his briefcase. He’d copied all the photos and threatening messages. He forced himself to think unemotionally. “If you’re right and the only sex she’s been talking about is with me, then we need to look at a different motive,” he decided.