Read Online Secret Seduction by Lori Wilde - Free Book Online Page B

but he still wasn’t convinced.
    In the far corner a ficus tree sat in a painted red clay pot and several other green plants hung in front of the window—a dumb cane, an English ivy, an aloe vera cactus. One wall housed a built-in bookcase loaded with medical tomes and even more plants.
    The only personal item in the place was the hand-beaded necklace that looked like something a child had made dangling from the desk lamp. The necklace was out of place with the rest of the room, not fitting either the elegant doctor or the expensive surroundings.
    Was the necklace a talisman of some kind? Had someone made it for Vanessa? A sister perhaps? A niece? Or maybe one of her patients?
    The woman was a fascinating enigma, and the fact that Robert wouldn’t share the exact details of how Vanessa had got involved with Carlo Vega intrigued Tanner all the more. Curiosity had sent him to the newspaper morgue to research the trial, but he’d found little press coverage of the El Paso case in the Austin newspapers, and no mention of Vanessa’s name in the newspaper accounts. There had been a seventeen-year-old girl named Trudy Valdez, who’d been the main witness against Vega, but she’d been a dancer in one of Vega’s strip clubs.
    How had Vanessa figured into the murder trial? Was Robert lying about the whole thing? But why would he do that? Tanner wondered if he was being played for a fool.
    Vanessa watched him assess the room, hands cocked on her hips. “I don’t believe in coincidences, Mr. Doyle.”
    “You can call me Tanner.” It might be perverse, but he was getting a kick out of irritating her.
    “No,” she said. “This is a professional relationship. I will call you Mr. Doyle and you can call me Dr. Rodriquez.”
    She was pulling rank, setting him straight. He bit down on the provocative and completely inappropriate response on the tip of his tongue. She hadn’t been so formal when she’d cried out his name in the middle of the night.
    “Yes, Doctor,” Tanner said, injecting his voice with more than a measure of sarcasm.
    She ignored the dig. “First you’re at Emilio’s and now you’re working at the same place I am. Were you following me on Friday night? When you took this job, did you decide to case all the doctors? Are we suspects?”
    The woman got straight to the point. She was a sharp cookie. Tanner hated lying, but he knew it was necessary. Robert had been adamant. He didn’t want Vanessa knowing he’d been assigned to guard her.
    “I was doing some freelance security work for Emilio,” Tanner said, surprised at how easily the fib rolled off his tongue.
    “Still,” she said, her eyes narrowing, “it’s pretty coincidental.”
    “How do I know you weren’t following me?” he asked, turning the tables on her.
    Confusion replaced the suspicion in her eyes. “Excuse me?” She sounded annoyed.
    He stuck his hands in his pockets to keep from touching her, which was all Tanner wanted to do. Palm his hands over her skin. Hook two fingers under her chin to raise her face up for a kiss. “I was here on Friday afternoon for a meeting with Covey and Butler. How do I know you didn’t see me, take a liking to me and then follow me to Emilio’s?”
    Her delicate nostrils flared indignantly and it was all he could do to keep from smiling. “That’s an insulting suggestion.”
    “My point exactly.”
    Her gaze was steady, but he saw a flicker of doubt in her chocolate-brown eyes. She didn’t apologize. He understood. An apology could look like a weakness. She took a seat behind her desk and said, “Let’s get this over with. Just tell me what you need from me.”
    Tanner pushed aside the gouge of frustration digging deep into his gut. The truth was he didn’t know what he needed from her. Hell, he didn’t want to need anything from her.
    But he did.
    He wanted her to smile at him the way she had on Friday night. He wanted to dance with her again. And he wanted to feel the way she’d made him