Christmas Awakening by Ann Voss Peterson

Author:Ann Voss Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2008-09-09T04:00:00+00:00

BRANDON HAD NEVER BEEN as glad to leave a place as he was walking back to the car from Cliff’s boathouse. Every moment of that encounter had been awkward and painful and teeth-grindingly frustrating.

“Did you hear the venom in her voice?” Marie asked.

“Isabella has a few issues.” To put it mildly.

“Issues like she wants to be the lady of Drake House.”

“Or The Manor at Drake Acres. I don’t think it matters much to her.” He let out a pent-up breath. “I think we’re going to need to keep an eye on her.”

“Do you think she might have killed Charlotte?”

“I don’t see it. She couldn’t have gotten Charlotte into the car and crashed it by herself.” He still wasn’t sure how anyone could have done that except for Charlotte herself. But since he wasn’t about to get into a debate with Marie about the existence of ghosts, he’d let that part slide for now. “Isabella could have gotten someone to help her. She’s good at convincing men to do things for her.”

“Men? Like who? Cliff was racing one of his yachts.”

“There are men besides Cliff.” They rounded the far corner of the house and started toward the circle in front of the house’s grand entrance where his car waited. Josef spotted them and climbed out of the car. Brandon kept his voice low. “Take Josef. He lost his fiancée about a year ago. He’s got to be lonely. And he knows his way around cars.”

“You think Josef—”

“Or Phil Cardon.”

Marie frowned, as if searching her memory for the name. “The guy who works at Thornton Garden Center?”

Brandon nodded. “He has done some work at Drake House from time to time. And he worked on the gardens with Lexie. He was pretty interested in Isabella.”

“I can imagine. But was he interested enough to help her commit murder?”

Brandon shrugged.

“How about the guy from Drake Enterprises? The one who came to Drake House?”

“Doug Heller? I could see it.” Truthfully, he couldn’t see it at all. Any of it. He still couldn’t wrap his mind around the idea that Charlotte was murdered. That someone he knew was responsible. Maybe he was just in denial, but this whole conversation with Marie didn’t seem real to him. More like a guessing game played purely for amusement. He was much more concerned with finding who had tried to kill Marie. “Do you think Isabella could have been the one who tried to throw you off the roof last night?”

Marie’s steps slowed. “Maybe. She’s taller than I am. And strong. I don’t know.”

“Maybe that’s what we should focus on.”

“I told you, I think it’s all related.”

He nodded. He was waiting for her to say that. “Think and know are two different things. And until we know it’s related and know who wants you dead, we need to keep our options open. I don’t want to overlook anyone.”

They walked for a moment without speaking, the click of their shoes on the brick path the only sound. The sun beamed down from a sky that seemed shockingly blue after the dreariness of the day before.

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