Under His Cover-nook (8 page)

“I’ll take this one to my friend in the fingerprint lab as well, when I get the other ones back.”

He only nodded. “They’re threatening her,” he said quietly.

But underneath the veil of his voice, she heard the anger. Sensed the simmering rage.

“She’s only a child. She’s just entering the exciting time of her life.” He turned to her. “I won’t let anything happen to her. I can’t.” Rhys pointed a corner of the envelope at her. “You have to find out who’s doing this.”

The tightness in her neck and shoulders slowly ebbed away. No matter his secrets. No matter his refusal to acknowledge this child publicly, he loved her. Jade saw it in his eyes, heard it in his voice. The emotion mirrored in his face was undeniable. And for that, and only that, she’d do her damnedest to find out who was threatening them both.

Later at the library, with scores of newspapers scattered around her, Jade perused the high society section of every Sunday’s paper for the last year. She had stacks in front of her, beside her in chairs, below her on the floor. And on a yellow notepad, she’d listed four names. Including Jackie’s. What was curious, pictures of Rhys with Jackie came before, in between, and after the other three women. Was Jackie a sucker for punishment? Did she really think if she acted like she didn’t care about the other women, Rhys would eventually choose her? Marry her?

They were obviously close, and he appeared to enjoy her company made evident by the frequent visits to his office, the breakfast date they had this morning, and the many phone calls Jade had buzzed through to him throughout the day. If that were true, why didn’t he settle down with her and make her Mrs. Rhys Cunningham.

Something she didn’t want to define clinched in her stomach. She began to gather up all the papers and put them back in date order so the librarian could easily put them away in the archives. As she did so, her thoughts drifted back to Maya and the implications of the apparent relationship her birth resulted from. She wasn’t the first African American woman he’d been attracted to. Even one of the ladies listed on her paper, Cynthia, was African American.

And for some odd reason, a little flutter of joy seized her heart. Was there a chance for her in Rhys’ life after all? But as she glanced at the names on the list, Jackie’s name seemed to lift and hover over the page. This woman wasn’t going anywhere. That much was sure. Plus, all of those ladies were slim, athletic types. Jade glanced down. She was not. She wasn’t Winona the Whale, but her full hips and bosom didn’t look anything like what he was used to dating. Her mood soured at the thought. Why was she doing this to herself again?

However much she fantasized about being with Rhys, she wasn’t going to put herself in the position to be one of those women who enjoyed casual sex with him and went on about her merry way. She wouldn’t put herself in a position to be hurt. Unlike those other women, she was well aware of the power Rhys Cunningham had over her. He had the power to make her fall in love with him. Yes, admittedly, he was attracted to her as far as sex went. The huge erection that hummed in his pants the night of the fundraiser was proof of that. But she was sure that was all it was.

Back in her car, she dug inside her purse for her cell phone and zoomed through the names in her address book until she got to her contact at the telephone company. She dialed the number and waited for him to answer.

“Hey, Bill, this is Jade. Can you get some numbers for me?”

“Sure, beautiful. Who you got?”

“Hold on,” she said, unfolding the list she’d stuck inside her bag.

She read the names off and grabbed a pen while she waited for him to look them up.

“You want addresses too?”

“Yes, you might as well go ahead and give them to me. I’ll probably need them at some point.”

She jotted them all down, including Jackie’s, even though she saw her enough, and stuffed the piece of paper back in her purse. “Thanks, Bill. I owe you.”

“No problem, sweetheart. I’m still making up for what you did for me.”

“Bye,” she said, smiling as she ended the connection.

About two years ago, Bill had hired Private Jane Inc. to find out if his wife was cheating on him. She’d been very secretive the previous few months, going to non-existent appointments and coming home late from work. Bill was a six-foot-five country boy,
so
in love with his wife he’d been driving himself crazy and needed to know what she was doing.

Jade had found out what his wife was
really
up to; planning a twentieth year surprise wedding celebration for the both of them. After she reassured him, he told her to consider him her go-to guy for any information she needed.

In the drive-thru line at her favorite fast food restaurant, Jade decided to make a couple of calls. She dialed the first number on her list. Cynthia didn’t answer, so she left a call back number then dialed the next. This time, a woman picked up.

“May I speak with Summer?”

She heard panting on the other end. God, she hoped she hadn’t interrupted anything. “This is Summer.”

“Um… Hi, Summer, my name is…”

Damn, she hadn’t thought up a good cover story. She couldn’t very well say that she was Jade Conner, a private investigator looking for information about who was threatening Lieutenant Governor Rhys Cunningham.

“My name is Michelle Conner and I’m a reporter for the
The Herald
.”

Think of something.

Think of something.

“We’ve heard rumors that the lieutenant governor is about to announce his engagement this week, and I wanted to ask you about your relationship with him.”

That was terrible, Jade. Some private investigator you are.

But it was all she could think of.

She heard the woman huff again. “Sorry…I’m working out.”

“No problem,” Jade replied.

“Well, whoever she is, she’s one lucky woman.”

“You think so, huh?”

“Definitely.”

“So, you’re not still involved with the lieutenant governor?”

“Oh no, that was months ago and it was all in good fun. I wasn’t exactly what Rhys was looking for.”

“So, you two had an amicable break up.”

“There wasn’t anything really to break up.”

“So, you weren’t trying to become Mrs. Rhys Cunningham?”

“Oh no, honey. I would not make a good political wife. I’m positive Rhys will someday make it to Washington. That’s too much time in the spotlight for me. Too many people like you in my business. No thank you. We had fun, but marriage was not in the cards for us.”

“Well…okay. Thank you for your time.”

“No problem.” She breathed heavily into the phone before hanging up.

“Damn.” Scratch her name off the list. She sounded far from a woman holding a grudge.

Jade had an almost identical conversation with Misty before she made it back to the office. She said the same thing as Summer. They had a great time and, and Jade had to stop her from going on and on about the great sex.

But where Rhys was going, they had no desire to follow. So Misty made strike number two on her list. She still had to figure out how to corner Jackie and ask her about Rhys, but as much time as they spent together, and the way she looked at Rhys, Jade doubted Jackie was the mysterious person leaving the letters in Rhys’ office. However, she’d make the time to question Jackie anyway. She called, left another message for Cynthia, then climbed the stairs to her office.

When Jade walked in her office, Rhys was setting a stack of papers on her desk. He turned to her and smiled. “Have a nice lunch?”

“It was…informative.”

A quizzical look crossed his features as he leaned back against the edge of her desk. “I just had two very interesting phone calls.”

Not caring what those conversations were about, she walked around him and sat down. “That’s nice.”

“Two women I haven’t spoken to in several months just called to congratulate me on my engagement. They wanted to know who the lucky woman was.”

Jade focused on the papers on her desk, while butterflies zinged around in her stomach. She should have guessed something like this would happen.

He turned and leaned forward, placing both his hands flat on top of the table. “Both said some woman from the The Herald called and told them I would be announcing my engagement in the next few days.”

Still not looking at him, she nodded her head. “Uh huh.”

“A woman by the name of Michelle
Conner
.”

“Wow.” She picked up a note that had been left on her desk and scanned the print. What in the world had she been thinking? She should have come up with a better cover story before she picked up the phone and called those women.

Rhys took the paper she was holding. “Michelle
Conner
. Jade
Conner
. Coincidence, don’t you think? This reporter and you both have the same last name.”

“Definitely,” she said, nodding her head. “There are probably a thousand and one people with the last name Conner.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?”

Her gaze snapped up to his. “Okay fine, it was me.”

He spread his hands wide before placing them back on the desk. “Why?”

“I’m a private investigator, Rhys. I’m conducting an investigation. I told you my theories this morning. It could be a former lover.”

“But why contact these women?” he queried.

She stood so her eyes were level with his. “Because they are the ones I’ve seen you with the most. Look, I can only come up with three possible motives, or people who have it out for you. Someone who wants revenge for something you did to them, someone who knew you and spent time around you when Maya was born, or an angry ex-lover.”

He looked at her incredulously. “So, you think one of them is threatening me?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “Why not? It’s a possibility. Every red-blooded woman in Tennessee you’ve dumped probably wanted to be Mrs. Rhys Cunningham.”

“Neither one of those ladies were the least bit unhappy with our break up. If you would have told me who you were planning to talk to, I could have saved you the trouble.”

Jade rolled her eyes and sank back down into her chair, crossing her arms over her chest. “So, I’ve heard. They were more than happy to tell me how wonderful you are, how much they enjoyed spending time with you, and how great you are in bed.” Okay they didn’t actually say that, but it was implied. She picked up a folder sitting on her desk, then slammed it back down again, got up and went to the coffee pot sitting in the corner and poured herself a cup. “And I still have two more to question on my list.”

“
What
? Who?”

 “Cynthia and…Jackie.”

“It’s not Jackie.”

“Right, because she worships the ground you walk on? Because you know just how to
spoil
a woman?”

“It’s not Jackie…” He hesitated, as if he should say something but wasn’t sure he wanted to say it. “It’s not Jackie. And I doubt its Cynthia either.”

Jade turned and faced the wall, sipping her coffee, anything to stop looking at him and imagining him doing all the things he did to those women to her. Plus, she hated hearing the way he said her name. “Why, because you’re so sure you made each and every one of them a happy woman?”

Before she even realized it, Rhys had come up close behind her, so close his breath whispered over the back of her neck. “Definitely. I aim to please… And I make sure I always do.”

Delicious tingles zipped across her skin. She set her cup on the counter and turned around, bumping into him, her breasts brushing across the front of his shirt. Pinpoints of desire shot through her body and her nipples turned to hard pebbles under her bra.

Rhys trapped her with his arms as he placed a hand on either side of her hips on the counter. “So, they both told you I was great in bed, huh?”

Big mouth.
She had an extremely big freaking mouth
.

“Did I please you?”

All speech was robbed from her throat as she gazed into his eyes. A delicious prickle of awareness gathered between her legs. This was not supposed to be happening. She pushed at his chest. “I…that’s not the point.”

His hands slid around her waist. After days of avoiding and resisting temptation and erotic dreams in the night, here in the middle of her office, it finally happened again. He kissed her. And it wasn’t just a kiss. Closing the small amount of space that still existed between them, she pressed against him. The heat and hard muscle of his body couldn’t be hidden by the expensive suit he wore. Pleasure inundated her as he ran his hands down her body, molding her to him, the insistent pressure of his hard cock against her belly. She wanted him inside her, on top of her. She wanted him to consume her.

Jade slid her arms around his neck as his tongue skimmed her lower lip then slipped inside. He explored her mouth, his tongue tangling with hers in a dance meant for lovers. It was everything she remembered and more. She should stop him. But the slick heat coating the lips of her pussy forbade her, urged her to go on and on.

After a moment, he released her lips and dipped lower, running a line of kisses down her neck, over her shoulder as his hand cupped her breast. Every nerve ending in her body leapt to life. Her heart pounded, and she couldn’t seem to draw a decent amount of breath into her lungs.

What was wrong with her? Ever since she’d spoken to those two women on the phone, describing in too much detail the pleasure he’d given them, she’d wanted it again for herself. This man had been with both those women. Hell, he’d been with Jackie the night of the fundraiser, the same night he’d tried to seduce her, but she didn’t care. The thoughts running through her head should shock her, scare her, make her stop. They didn’t.

Jade gasped when Rhys’ mouth grazed her nipple.  So lost in the euphoria of his touch, she hadn’t realized he’d unbuttoned her blouse. Her nipples were now so tight they ached. The rational part of her brain screamed
stop.
They were, after all, at work, but an unfamiliar voice inside her head whispered, almost pleaded with her, to give in, give herself over to the miraculous sensations cascading through her, over her, making her moan his name.