“I overheard him talking on the phone in his study.”
“You heard one side of a conversation, and you know it was my fault?”
“He specifically mentioned your name. Don’t think I’m stupid. I know you. Always acting like you’re better than all of us.” Belle fluttered her eyelashes and her voice turned falsetto. “I have the highest grade in all my classes, and I didn’t even have to study that hard. And this guy I dated in Europe is soooooo interesting. And his family is soooooo nice and rich. Very classy and traditional. Do you know his father is an Italian count?” Belle would probably have continued with her impression, but she sneezed.
“I never called you stupid or bragged about my grades or boyfriends.”
“Might as well have.” Belle dug into her purse, pulled out a tissue, and blew her nose. “The thing is, if it weren’t for Mom and Dad adopting you, you’d be nothing!”
“So we’re back to that again?” Natalie compressed her lips. The guilt-trip and the demand for gratitude had been going on ever since she could remember.
“Because you act like you don’t get it!”
“Careful, Belle. If anyone hears you scream like that, it could damage Brian’s reputation.”
“You’re the one who’s going to ruin Dad! Stop your investigation before it turns into something more serious.”
“For your information, I didn’t hire anyone. So if someone’s snooping for dirt, it’s not my fault. I don’t even talk to reporters.” Natalie threw her hands up in the air. “I don’t know why everyone wants to blame me for everything, but I’m not the cause of this particular problem. If you want to help Brian, you can start by not barging into my place and making groundless accusations.”
Belle took a single step toward Natalie, giving her a look that was equal parts disdain and disgust. “Just. Call. It. Off.” Then she turned on her heel and left, slamming the door after her.
Natalie took a deep, calming breath and went to the kitchen to put a kettle of water on the stove. The purple flower prints on the cream wall sat like dark shadows.
Now that you know, call off your hounds.
Louise’s comment the day before made more sense now—she also apparently thought Natalie was to blame for the problem and had probably decided to send Belle to make sure she got the message loud and clear. Paranoid, all of them. She hadn’t hired anyone.
The doorbell rang again, and Natalie glanced upward in mute appeal. She briefly debated ignoring it, but Belle would just keep ringing.
She yanked the door open. “What?”
“No need to be hostile.” Alex stood in the entryway, with a black shirt covering his V-shaped torso and a pair of dark blue jeans hugging his lean hips. He held up both hands, palms toward her. “I’m not here to make you work.”
Heat rose from Natalie’s neck and spread to her cheeks. “Sorry. I thought you were someone else.” She smoothed her hair and realized that it wasn’t bound. And she didn’t have any makeup on. Great. She stared down at her pink manicured toes. “Umm… What are you doing here?”
“I was in the neighborhood and thought I’d drop by… Is there something on the floor?”
She raised her head. “No, nothing.”
“Okay.” He stood there for a moment. “Are we going to talk out here?”
“Oh, sorry. Come in.”
Matto came out from wherever he had hidden and trotted toward Alex. She shut the door before the cat decided to explore the neighborhood on his own. But he sniffed Alex once and walked away, tail held regally high.
“I was just making tea. Want some?”
“Do you have any coffee? Otherwise, no thanks.”
“Sorry, I don’t.”
On cue, the kettle whistled. She went to the stove, poured herself a mug of green tea, then took it into the living room where she sat on the Turkish rug in front of the coffee table. Alex was examining a set of jade figures on the rosewood shelves. There was something erotically disconcerting about such a dark, masculine figure in her bright, feminine living room.
He pointed at them. “May I?”
She nodded.
His finger skimmed over the scales of the coiled dragon. Two delicate stag antlers grew out of its head, and a red pearl glowed between its teeth. Then he explored the smooth contours of the piece next to it—its tortoise back, snake neck and stag’s hindquarters.