Sex and Trouble Read Free

distract.
    “I suppose so, Mr. Burns. If you don’t mind, however, I’d like to just explore the house on my own for a bit. Would it be convenient for me to come to your office tomorrow or later in the week to discuss the rest of my father’s will?”
    11

    Marilu Mann
    “Of course, I am at your service. I left my card for you in the library. Just call and come by whenever you wish.” With another murmured condolence, the stodgy older man left. Mari let the front door support her for a moment, then glanced up the stairs.
    Somewhere up there was another mystery she had to figure out. Just who exactly was Rosier and what was his purpose in her father’s house?
    With one hand clutching the round locket that nestled at her throat and the other trailing on the wood banister, Mari started slowly up the stairs. Her father had given her the locket on her sixth birthday, the last time her family had all been together. She’d rediscovered his gift in her mother’s jewelry box two years ago.
    When she’d touched it, her skin had tingled. She’d put it back where she found it, but had given in to the overwhelming need to put it on. Holding it gave her a feeling of calm that had helped her through her mother’s death. Without Marcus there, she’d been a wreck, so anything that settled her a bit helped.
    The stairs were familiar old friends. She smiled as the fourth step from the bottom creaked when her foot struck it. The last one from the top still had a scratch in the wood from where Marcus had dragged his ice skate across it.
    Six closed doors, three on each side of the hall, and an open door at the opposite end of the hallway from where she stood, held memories. She knew four of the closed doors led to bedrooms, one to a shared bath for the last two bedrooms on the left and the open door led to the master suite. The largest four bedrooms each had a private bath. It surprised Mari that she could remember it all so well.
    Mari’s childhood room had been the second door on the right and her brother’s the first on the left. Resisting the urge to open those doors to see if her father had kept things the way they were when they’d left, Mari headed straight for the master suite.
    Before she reached it, however, the last bedroom on the right caught her attention.
    Light shone from under the closed door. She could hear, almost feel, the beat of music coming from the room. Tapping on the door, she waited a moment, then knocked a bit 12

    Sex and Trouble
    harder. The door was yanked open from the inside and every question Mari had for him went right out of her mind.
    Rosier stood there, hair tousled and one hand on the edge of the door, the other on the doorframe as though to block her way. That wasn’t what had her so tongue-tied, though. It was the man himself. He’d taken off the black t-shirt and the first two buttons on his black jeans were unbuttoned. Mari had a hard time not staring at the vee of skin exposed there. When she did manage to drag her eyes back up to his handsome face, it was to see the same pissed-off expression he’d sported downstairs.
    “So, all your questions answered, then?”
    “Not hardly. My father was never the most forthcoming man. I still don’t know who you are or why you’re here.”
    “Ask.”
    “Excuse me?”
    “You’re the new owner of this house. If you command me to tell you the truth and ask the correct questions, I can answer them.”
    “Wait…command you?” Mari wondered if he shared her father’s craziness.
    “Yes, command me to tell you the truth. As the owner of this house, you have that right.”
    “Fine.” Crossing her arms over her chest, Mari stared straight into Rosier’s green eyes. “I command you to tell me the truth. Were you and my father lovers?”
    For a moment Rosier didn’t even seem to be breathing, then he burst into laughter.
    He stepped back, one arm wrapped over his stomach, the other still holding onto the doorframe. He laughed until tears ran