It was just after eight o’clock but the noise level in the tavern was climbing rapidly. Lyle had vanished into the darkened interior twenty minutes earlier. There had been no sign of him since, but the rez-rock music and the roars of masculine laughter booming out of the doorway that separated the bar from the lobby did not bode well in Sedona’s opinion.
She was about to leave her post behind the front desk to check on the situation when a six-foot-tall Amazon with endless waves of blond hair and a bust that would have done credit to a lingerie model came through the lobby doors. Hannah Holbrook was dressed in her trademark head-to-toe leather and all of it—jacket, vest, and trousers—clung to her centerfold-worthy figure like a hand-tailored glove. High-heeled boots and a leather computer bag completed the look.
“Hey, Sedona.” She flashed her camera-ready smile. “Sounds like you’ve got a crowd in the tavern tonight.”
“Hi, Hannah. Knox is getting rich but I’m getting a little worried about Lyle.”
“I’ve always heard that dust bunnies can take care of themselves.” Hannah glanced toward the doorway. “I could really use a drink but it looks like I’m going to have to wade through a bunch of drunken ghost hunters to get it.”
“I’ll be happy to have Knox bring one out to you.”
Hannah chuckled. “Thanks, but I’ll take my chances in the bar. I am in desperate need of information and who better to get it from than a crowd of inebriated hunters?”
Hannah might look like Miss July but she had a reporter’s eyes. She had arrived on the island a few days earlier and it had immediately become clear that she was determined to use all of her impressive assets and her journalist’s savvy to get her story.
“I’m not so sure you’ll get anything out of them, even if they are drunk,” Sedona said. “I hear they’ve been given strict orders not to talk to the press. The local authorities are trying to keep a lid on the rumors that are circulating about the Preserve.”
“Fat chance.”
Sedona smiled. “True.”
Hannah gave her a suspiciously sweet smile. “The new Guild boss seems to be determined to run a tight operation. I caught Jones on the street today, but all I got from him was the same thing I got from Harry Sebastian and the police chief. ‘No comment.’”
“As I’m sure you’re aware, the Foundation controls most of Rainshadow,” Sedona said. “It doesn’t want any publicity. Neither do the local residents.”
“In that case, they shouldn’t have announced Halloween Week.”
“I’ll give you that. All I can say is that when the new mayor proposed the idea, the town council thought it was a good idea at the time.”
Hannah narrowed her eyes. “There’s a story here, I can feel it. Sooner or later it will be covered in the media.”
“Not if the Rainshadow Foundation and the Guild have anything to say about it.”
Hannah groaned. “That’s becoming more obvious by the minute. All I’ve got are rumors of monsters running around in the Preserve. But according to the local legends, that’s not exactly news on Rainshadow.”
“Nope, it’s not.”
Hannah got a crafty look. “I heard that Brock Prescott is on the island.”
“Mmm.”
“I find that rather interesting under the circumstances.” Hannah crossed the lobby to lounge against the front desk. She winked in a conspiratorial fashion. “Not like his family’s company has any interests here on Rainshadow. Most of this island, and anything found inside the Preserve, belong to Sebastian, Inc.”
“Don’t look at me,” Sedona said. “I have no idea what he’s doing here.”
“According to my research, you and Prescott were in an MC not so long ago.”
“That’s old history,” Sedona said, going for casual.
“Men like Prescott don’t usually follow an ex to a remote island in the Amber Sea if they believe that the relationship is actually over,” Hannah said.
Sedona folded her arms on the counter. “It’s over.”
The truth was, she’d been expecting Brock to show up at the inn ever since she had arrived at work that morning. Each time the front door of the lobby opened she braced herself for the confrontation. But there had been no sign of him all day. She had begun to hope that he had left the island.
Another wave of shouts and laughter rolled through the doorway. Hannah looked in that direction.
“Sounds like a real party going on in there,” she said.
“Yes, it does, doesn’t it?” Sedona straightened, rounded the end of the counter, and started toward the tavern door. “And I’ll bet I know who is wearing the lampshade.”
Hannah perked up. “Yeah?”
Sedona went through the doorway.
“Look out,” a hunter shouted. “Incoming dust bunny.”
A man’s hand closed around Sedona’s upper arm and hauled her aside just as a small, makeshift trapeze sailed past her. She caught a glimpse of Lyle riding the wooden platform.
He chortled exuberantly. When the trapeze reached the end of its arc he leaped nimbly off the platform and onto the bar.
A cheer went up around the room. Lyle bounced up and down and chortled wildly.
“I knew it,” Sedona said, resigned. “Always the life of the party.”
“Doesn’t take much to entertain a bunch of ghost hunters,” Hannah said.
“Or a dust bunny,” Sedona said.
The hunter who had whisked Sedona aside released her as if he’d been burned.
“Sorry, ma’am,” he said. “Didn’t mean to grab you like that. I was afraid you would get hit by the trapeze we built for the little guy.”
“It’s okay,” Sedona said. “You probably saved me from getting clunked on the head.”
The hunter looked relieved. “Just having a little fun with the dust bunny.” He raised his voice. “Let’s lower the rez level, people. The boss’s lady is here.”
The reaction from the crowd was almost as jolting as the hunter’s description of her. The noise level immediately dropped several decibels.
The boss’s lady.
Crap, Sedona thought. The word that Cyrus had spent the night at her place had spread far and wide. She had worked with ghost hunters long enough to know there was no stuffing the toothpaste back into the tube. As far as Cyrus’s men were concerned she was now officially the boss’s lady.
“If you don’t mind, I’ll take Lyle and leave now,” she said politely. “He needs his rest.”
A path through the throng of hunters opened up as if by magic. She went to the bar and collected Lyle.
Knox frowned, his bushy brows bobbing up and down over his sun-faded eyes. “You’re going home now?”
“Yes, I am. Call the police department if things get out of hand.”
Knox leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I’m not worried about these hunters. After what happened last night I’m worried about you going back to your place alone.”
“I’ll be fine,” Sedona said.
“You should wait until Jones gets here to walk you home and keep an eye on you.”
The boss’s lady.
“I know you mean well, Knox, however, Cyrus is very busy these days.”
Knox glanced toward the door and looked relieved. “There he is now. Jones will take care of you. Off you go.”
Sedona turned her head and saw Cyrus filling the tavern doorway. Everyone else in the room noticed him at the same time. There was an abrupt silence. Chairs scraped and hunters got to their feet.
“Good evening, gentlemen,” Cyrus said. “Go back to your burgers and drinks. Report to headquarters in the morning at oh-seven-hundred. We’ll be clearing Sector One tomorrow. I will expect everyone to be at full rez.”
There was a chorus of “Yes, sir.”
Cyrus looked at Sedona. “Ready to go home?”
She considered the options and concluded that all but one of them would make her look foolish or, worse yet, like a sulky teenager. She went with the only remaining alternative.
“Yes,” she said.
With Lyle under one arm, she walked through the gauntlet of hunters to where Cyrus waited in the doorway. He stood aside for her. She did not pause, but kept moving across the lobby. Cyrus followed her.
“Don’t know about you, but I’m hungry,” he said when he caught up with her. “What do you say we get some dinner over at the Marina Café?”
Well, she did need to eat, Sedona thought. And really, how much more damage could it do to have dinner with Cyrus?
The boss’s lady.
“Okay,” she said.
Hannah surveyed the crowded tavern with a sparkling smile.
“I know the boss probably told you all not to talk to me about your work in the tunnels,” she said cheerfully. “But would anyone like to buy me a drink?”
Chairs scraped again and every man in the room shot to his feet. There was a great deal of pushing and shoving.
“Over here, Miss Holbrook.”
“Be my pleasure, ma’am.”
Hannah laughed a throaty, sexy laugh and headed toward the bar. “No need to fight over me, gentlemen. I plan to be here for a while. Not like there’s anything else to do on this rock at night.”
Someone cranked up the music.
Sedona went out into the night with Cyrus.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Cyrus said.
“I’m thinking I’m hungry.”