Tempt Me Again by Wendy Etherington

Author:Wendy Etherington [Etherington, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Category
ISBN: 9780373795284
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-01-31T23:00:00+00:00

“HAVE A SEAT, Mr. Hastings,” Tyler said firmly, but gently, to his suspect.

His girlfriend’s brother.Hell, could he even call her his girlfriend? They had a tenuous bond—in bed. Outside their cocoon of closeness, however, they seemed to rarely agree, and right then, they stood on opposite sides of a deep ravine of suspicion and disappointment.

To think he’d made fun of crime on his sleepy hometown island. Rose and palmetto bush vandals would be welcomed with open arms at the moment. Anything that didn’t involve the woman he…

Well, the woman he had the hots for and wanted to be with, glaring at him as if he was a particularly pesky bug she needed to squash.

He ran through the pertinent questions about both thefts with Finn, easily noticing a lawyer’s touch in the coaching. It was his right, so Tyler had no issue with the consultation. Still, he couldn’t help wondering if this could be cleared up much quicker without the protective hovering of Carr Hamilton.

But maybe that was simply a personal bias.

“Did you take Mrs. Jackson’s silver tea set?” he asked, forcing himself not to glance at Andrea.

“No, sir.”

“Did you ever touch it?”

“No, sir. She kept it—” He stopped after a quick glance at Hamilton. “I didn’t touch it.”

“But you know where she kept the set,” Tyler pressed.

After a short hesitation, Finn nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Where did she keep it?”

“In a glass cabinet in the den.”

“How did you notice it was there? Did you admire it?”

Finn let out a barking laugh. “No.”

Tyler braced his hand on the kitchen table and leaned toward Finn. “How, Mr. Hastings?”

His gaze, which had just enough green to mark him as related to Andrea, met Tyler’s and held. “She bragged about it. She was mostly background noise, you know? But she loved that stupid tea set, ’cause she went on and on about it until some of the stuff sunk in.”

“And what sunk in?”

“It belonged to Andrew Jackson. The president,” he clarified with an uncertain look around. “He took it with him to the White House.”

When he stopped, Tyler prompted, “Anything else?”

After a long pause, Finn stared at the floor. “It was priceless.”

Hamilton rose. “That’s enough. If you have follow-up questions, Deputy, you can arrange them at another time. Mr. Hastings has been more than cooperative with this abrupt request for an interview.”

“So have I, Counselor,” Tyler returned, putting some heat in his tone. “Two thefts inside a week is practically a crime spree for Palmer’s Island. I could have insisted on calling him to the station. I didn’t, out of respect for Andrea.”

Hamilton nodded, then not-so-subtly nudged him toward the front door. “We have full confidence that you’ll bring this…spree—” he seemed to be amused by the word “—to a satisfactory end.”

“And I will.” Before Hamilton could open the door and shove Tyler outside, he planted his feet, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’d like to talk to Andrea.”

“I suggest you call—”

“Thanks, Carr,” Andrea said as she appeared at the end of the hall. “I have a few things to say to Deputy Landry.

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