He shrugged and flashed me his sly grin. “I always thought she was hot. Why not live out a fantasy? Besides, sleeping with her would have pissed you off, so what other reason do I need?”
He raked his hand through his hair and his expression turned grim. “I can’t believe what happened to her. I always liked her. Out of the few you actually brought around, she was the best. She never treated me like I was a pathetic little boy whose father was murdered. She treated me like anyone else.”
The kid needed some insight. “Would you like to know why I dumped her?”
“I’ve always wondered. She was great. I figured she dumped your sorry ass. She sure didn’t have a problem turning me down.” I leaned against the rail as he took a seat on the bottom stair and put his back against the wall.
“No, she didn’t dump me. In fact, I told her never to come around me or my family again, which is probably why she turned you down.”
“Thanks for nothing.” He stared at his shoes and frowned.
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his disappointment. He had no idea what a bullet he’d dodged. “Trust me, I did you a favor. Besides, she knows who controls your money.” He looked up, meeting my eyes with a sideways glance, so I took a deep breath as I prepared to explain.
“After I found myself falling hard for her, I found out I wasn’t the first man she dated for his money. She’d been engaged three times to wealthy men and even took one for a large sum. His lawyer contacted me with a warning.
“At first, I thought it was a scam and that the man was jealous or playing a game, but then I heard it from a more reliable source – you know him as your Uncle Joe. He told me that she was seen uptown with another wealthy prospect not two days before she’d hooked up with me, and that he’d followed her and seen her with that same man again after we were together.”
“You have shitty luck with women. Now look what you’ve gotten into.” He shook his head and tapped the banister with his foot.
Shitty luck was a little harsh. I found Luna, after all. I wished I could say those words aloud to Harbor, but he wasn’t interested in my declarations of feelings, but I had to set him straight on his opinion of her.
“All of the things you’ve said about Luna aren’t true. She’s agreed to sign away any right to my wealth in exchange for an annulment, so I think you owe her an apology.”
“Why would she do that? Is she mental? No offense, but if I’d been able to hook someone, I don’t think I’d let them off that easy.” He shrugged. “Guess she’s not that bad. She’s kind of hot, too.”
Trying to control myself from revealing that Luna had told me all about the little incident at the pool, I cleared my throat. I decided to take another approach. “You do realize she’s your aunt?” That brought things into perspective and he curled his lip in disgust.
His lips spread into wicked grin. “Not for long.”
The reminder hit hard. I hated to think that one day soon I’d go up to bed and she wouldn’t be there. The annulment would bring me back to the lonely life of a bachelor. I’d only see her at work, and would that be enough? A strong need to declare otherwise overcame me. “She’s not going anywhere soon, so you should get used to her.”
“At least until you’re no longer wanted for murder, right? You wouldn’t want to tarnish our precious name.” He got to his feet and started up the stairs.
“All I’m saying is, don’t confront her again.”
He continued up the stairs without another word, and before I could slip back into my office, Joe entered the hallway with Kim. The two had locked arms and strolled side by side like two lovers in the park. She stared up at him with stars in her eyes, like he was an angel fallen from the heavens; if she only knew how lethal the man could be. His early military training had prepped him for more than stunt work, and I’d put the man to use because of the talents he’d acquired long before his time behind the camera.
“Everyone else has gone up to bed. I was about to go up, too,” I said, as if I needed an excuse to be standing around in my own house.
“Thank you for a lovely chat, Joe. I guess I better head up to bed.” Kim could hardly speak from smiling, and I wondered what kind of love spell my bodyguard had put on her. He had a way with the ladies when he wanted, but he’d always kept that part of his life private. I saw more than most being so close to him and I wondered what he had going in life that I didn’t know about.
Joe unlocked his arm and stepped back. “Would you like some help? I could walk you to your door. We wouldn’t want you to fall over anyone else.” Their laughter filled the hallway.
“I think I can manage. But thanks.” She walked to the end of the hall where she’d fallen before and called back to my friend. “Will you be around tomorrow?”
“I’ll make a point of it.” He turned and entered my office as she took to the stairs.
“What’s that all about?” I hadn’t seen Joe work his magic so quickly in quite a while and was shocked he was interested in Kim – not that she wasn’t gorgeous, but he usually liked them a little older.
“She’s a nice girl and a lot of fun. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.” His face had even turned red as he put his hands in his pocket and rattled his change.
I liked seeing the man happy; it was long overdue. His wife had left him years ago when his daughter was just a baby. Even though he barely got to see the girl, she was the one true joy in his life.
“Did you see anything while you were out there?”
Joe and I had been out back when the commotion happened, looking for an intruder. The gate had called him after Harbor had entered to say that there was a man on foot running away from my fence line when the cops pulled in. I wasn’t sure if it was anything to be concerned about, since we did have neighbors and it wasn’t unlikely that one of their workmen had been wandering around.
“Not a soul. I’ll keep an eye on things for a bit longer, but I wouldn’t worry. I think it was a local.”