Harlequin Romance: February 2022 Box Set by Rebecca Winters

Author:Rebecca Winters
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2021-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

* * *

He might have overdone it.

Zeke poured an inch of bourbon into a glass from his hotel room’s well-stocked bar rack and contemplated the day’s events. Perhaps he’d been a bit overzealous in confronting the young lady. He probably should have called a colleague more familiar with this sort of thing. It’s not as if he practiced criminal law. His specialty was in estate and trust planning, a completely different field.

Ms. Ducarne’s face kept reappearing in his mind’s eye. Her expression was as clear as if she stood in front of him at this very moment. If he didn’t know any better, he might say she’d looked scared.

Or maybe she was just a good actress and he was being influenced by a pretty face. A very pretty face. It had shocked him when he’d first walked into the shop just how attractive she was. The photos he’d found online had not done her justice. She had striking features—dark, almond-shaped eyes and curves in all the right places.

It had thrown him off, he had to admit.

Damn it.

He had no reason to feel guilty. Even if he had been a bit over-the-top. A highly valuable antique was missing. Just because Vivienne Ducarne was attractive didn’t mean something ugly hadn’t gone down involving her and Esther. Zeke owed it to his grandmother—and to Esther—to uncover the mystery.

He just might have if the shop owner hadn’t shown up at that moment. Zeke had never been afraid of a fight and had gotten into more than a few skirmishes in his lifetime. The man had certainly looked ready to defend his employee in any way necessary, despite having several years on him. Not that Zeke could blame him, given what the man must have been thinking if he’d overheard them. At that point, Zeke had figured the best thing to do was leave. He could have told the shop owner the truth about why he was there, but something made him hesitate. He hadn’t been quite ready to jeopardize Vivienne’s livelihood right then and there. Esther had given Vivienne the necklace, after all.

This isn’t over.

He’d actually uttered those very words as a parting warning before he left. How utterly dramatic. Like a scene out of a bad movie.

Still, he refused to feel remorseful. He’d learned the hard way, more than once, that when it came to a certain type of person—the type that had no qualms about taking advantage of others—it was always better to be safe rather than sorry.

Zeke had seen it firsthand, starting when he was only a child, how letting one’s guard down could not only destroy the life of those most gullible, but also everyone else within range.

To be trusting was to play the fool.

Zeke had no doubt in his mind that Ms. Ducarne was exactly the type who should make others wary. Sure, he could have handled things better today. But the facts were the facts. Vivienne Ducarne had somehow finagled her way into being gifted a near priceless piece of jewelry.

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