9781631050275TheirPerfectMatchMarshNC Read Free Page B

spite of what may have happened in the past.”
    “I’m not the sort of man who lives in the past. I think you know that.”
    “I do know. And again, I’m grateful, Zane.”
    Zane snorted. Alaric didn’t often address him by his first name…or acknowledge his existence at all, for that matter.
     His silence had the desired effect. Alaric sounded even more panicky this time. “You are going to help me, aren’t you, Zane? I mean, I’m really counting on you here.”
    “I’ll see what I can do,” he announced when he was ready. “On two conditions.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “Glad to hear it. The first is that I call the shots, not you. You might think I ought to dress up and play Alaric Scott, but I have my own techniques and I’ll expect you to respect that.” Zane waited until Alaric slowly mumbled his agreement. “The second is that you live with my findings. If this is just some botched-up theory of yours, and I prove that Molly Grayson had nothing to do with it, you back off and look in some other direction.”
    “Why would I disagree? Since you claim to know what you’re doing, I have no cause to doubt you.”
    Zane heard the unspoken “but” in that sentence. “You’re not allowed to doubt me. That’s my point. Do we have a deal?”
    Alaric was predictably slow to agree, but he came around all the same. “Yeah. Sure.”
    “Okay, then.” Relieved to end the conversation, Zane pressed the disconnect button and stuffed the phone back in his leather jacket.
    Still, it did seem as though his brother had stumbled onto something shady. The questionnaire he’d filled out could easily provide anyone at Lovelines with enough information to do real damage. For all he knew, Alaric wasn’t the only client who’d been ripped off.
    In a way, he felt sorry for his brother. Not because of the stolen money—Zane was confident they’d get most of that back, and Alaric had plenty more. He also had the respectability—not to mention the family fortune—that would never be Zane’s. Still, Alaric was so busy getting ahead that he never took time to enjoy the simple things in life, like a cold beer at a waterfront bar, a good book—or a beautiful woman. Like Molly Grayson, for example.
    Molly didn’t strike him as a con artist—if anything, he’d pegged her as the overly conscientious type, scrupulously honest even if it ended up hurting her—but on the other hand, who knew what people were secretly capable of?
    As far as Zane was concerned, the subject of Molly Grayson, and her possible wholesale fleecing of Alaric’s bank accounts, was more than a financial issue, or even a matter of family honor. Now that he’d met the woman in question, for reasons he couldn’t exactly define, the interest he’d taken in the case was distinctly—even urgently—personal.
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
     “I’ve been thinking,” Brenda announced late the next day. “Maybe we should use that new guy in an ad. You know, a sexy photograph in the newspaper, maybe even a TV spot. Those small stations don’t charge an arm and a leg.”
     “By new guy, I assume you’re referring to Mr. Bishop.” Molly stood at the copy machine, duplicating a sheaf of client questionnaires for her files. Zane’s wasn’t among them, since she’d run his off the day before, soon after he’d left the office. The originals had gone down the hall to Todd’s office so he could proceed with the necessary background and credit inquiries. All afternoon, Molly had resisted the urge to ask about the results, or to think about Zane Bishop at all. Now, thanks to Brenda, she was right back where she’d started.
    “See? You knew right away who I was talking about. Admit it, Mol, I’m onto something here.”
    “I knew who you were talking about because our only other new client was Miss Caldwell. I’m running off her forms right now.”
    “Don’t play clueless with me. You’re always saying we need to build a bigger client