4

“No points for originality,” Brenda Smith said as she considered the graffiti spray-painted across the front of the old church building. She looked up at the stony-faced man beside her. “Do you think they drew the penis because they couldn’t spell the word?”

Deke looked down at her, quite a way down, as even in heels Brenda barely came up to his shoulder. “I don’t think that’s the word they would have written.”

“I’ve always wondered about the words we use for penis.” And she wasn’t lying. There was a lot Brenda wondered about. This was just the tip of the iceberg. “‘Cock’ sounds so aggressive and ‘dick’ makes me think of thick, as in dumb. And—”

Deke groaned. He seemed to do that a lot around her. “Please, stop talking.”

“Fine.” She pressed her lips together but couldn’t keep it in. She just couldn’t. He was a guy. The chances of him knowing the answer were high, so she had to ask. She had to. “Why do American men call it a Johnson?”

“Kill me now,” Deke said. His soft green eyes met hers and, as usual, her heart stuttered. His eyes were just too pretty. Especially in that oh-so-masculine face. In fact, his eyes were the only soft thing about Deke Miller. “Do I sound American? Why don’t you ask one of the Americans in town? We’re overrun with them. You shouldn’t be stuck for choices.”

Brenda was silent for as long as she could manage it. Which wasn’t very long. She couldn’t help it. She was curious by nature. It was one of the reasons she’d managed to get into so much trouble in such a short life. Okay, well, maybe twenty-seven wasn’t so short. If she lived until she was ninety, then she wouldn’t even have made it through a third of her lifespan yet. Which meant that there were still two-thirds left to screw up. Yay for her.

“Brenda!”

The name snapped her back to the world outside her head. Deke was staring at her, clearly irritated.

“Did you say something?” Brenda gave him her winning smile.

“I said why don’t you get back to sorting out the spa and I’ll deal with this mess?”

Yep, she should probably do that. Scurry away. No doubt Deke would feel a lot more relaxed if she wasn’t standing so close to him. She’d noticed, in the two weeks since she’d arrived at the spa, that whenever she got within two feet of the man, he stepped away from her. It had become a bit of a game. She’d deliberately get too close to see if she could get him to back into furniture. It was the small things in life that amused her.

“You’re doing it again.” The words broke through her thoughts.

She frowned up at the man. Honestly, it was hard not to drool around him. At over six foot tall, he towered over Brenda. He was broad and muscled and had the roundest backside. It made a woman want to pat it every time she passed him. Okay, maybe not all women, maybe just Brenda. His hair was military short, a covering of fluff over his scalp that teased you to touch and see if it was soft or bristled. And although he’d been out of the Army for a couple of years, he seemed to dress as though he was still in it. In the time she’d been living at the spa, she’d only ever seen him in combat trousers, boots and various army-green t-shirts.

He also seemed to be waiting for a reply. “Doing what?”

“Zoning out.”

“I don’t zone out. I think. Don’t be fooled, Deke. Just because this hair is blond doesn’t mean the head is empty.”

He looked at her like she was the crazy one. Just for that, Brenda took a step closer to him. And sure enough, he retreated. It took all of her self-control not to giggle.

“I’m happy to wash the wall,” she told him.

The spa was pretty much set up. That side of the business was opening before the restaurant because Deke and Jodie thought staggering the starting dates would mean fewer problems to deal with. For the past two weeks, Brenda had helped unpack and set up the spa equipment that Jodie had ordered. She now had a beautifully equipped treatment room ready for all her massage clientele, and very little to do until opening day.

“No. I’ll deal with this.” Deke looked immovable. Which made her want to move him. So she took another step towards him and watched his retreat.

His brow furrowed, as though he suspected she was doing it deliberately but wasn’t quite sure enough to call her on it. Brenda widened her blue eyes and aimed for innocence. She was a short, curvy blonde with blue eyes, which meant her innocent look had a ninety-eight per cent success rate.

“Okay then,” he said. “Why don’t you go set up the staff housing? Benson Security is finishing up the alarm installation today, which means you lot can move in tonight.”

“I suppose I could do that.” She took another step towards him and watched him back up. Inside she was laughing hysterically. Deke was so much fun. “Are you sure you don’t need any help in the kitchen? I hear you’re interviewing more wait staff today. I could sit in on the interviews.”

“Why the hell would I want that?”

“Because you scare them off.”

“If they’re too soft to deal with me during a half-hour interview, they’d be no good during an evening service.”

He had a point, but according to Robin, who worked front of house, Deke ran the kitchen like he was still in the Army. Carly, the pastry chef, said that half the time he told her to do something, she had to resist the urge to salute.

“Still.” She stepped closer, making him step back—into a bush. “I could help.”

Deke moved to the side of the bush and folded his bulging arms over his green tee. “I don’t need help. Go sort out the staff house. I need to go.” He spun round, almost tripping over the same bush he’d just sidestepped.

Muttering under his breath, he practically ran for the restaurant. Giving her a front-row seat for that fabulous backside.

“You are so mean to him,” came an amused voice.

Brenda looked over her shoulder to see Robin. Out of all the women Jodie and Deke had hired for the business, she’d known Robin the longest. They’d crossed paths a couple of times over the years. Although last time they’d met, Robin was going by the name Joanne.

“I’m just playing.” Brenda wished she wasn’t, but that was the state of things. A girl like her wasn’t attractive to a man like Deke. No matter how much she wished she was.

Robin came up beside her and together they stared at the awful writing on the wall.

Men Rule! Women Suck—followed by a huge, badly drawn penis.

Brenda knew the words didn’t have anything to do with them. It was fallout from the town meeting the evening before. Still, she couldn’t stop the feeling of dread that went through her at the sight.

“I was hoping this would be my last stop,” Robin said, as though reading her mind.

“This will pass. It’s just kids messing around.” She hoped her words were the truth. “Benson Security are finished securing the old manse. We can move in today.”

“That’s good.” Robin didn’t sound particularly excited, and Brenda couldn’t blame her. Both women had lost count of how many houses they’d called home over the years. “It will be nice not to be under Jodie’s feet. The manse is big enough so that we won’t feel like we’re on top of one another.”

What she didn’t say was that none of them dared to move out into a house where they lived alone. There was safety in numbers. Another reason they’d been camping in Jodie’s apartment above the business for the past two weeks. The thought of taking a room at the hotel, or renting a house far from the spa, was just too stressful.

“He’s got a thing for you, you know?” Robin’s words made Brenda’s head turn.

“No he doesn’t.” But her heart raced at the thought.

“When he knows you aren’t looking, he stares at you. He looks kind of like a lovesick puppy.”

Brenda forced a laugh that was far more light-hearted than she felt. “Deke Miller isn’t the type of guy to go for women like us. He’s just being protective. It’s what he does. It’s hardwired into him.”

Robin bumped shoulders with her. “Trust me, his looks aren’t protective. They’re hungry.”

“I wish!” Brenda linked arms with her friend and headed for the manse at the back of the property. “I think the fact he retreats whenever I’m close to him says more than a few wayward looks. He’s terrified of me.”

“Not you, sweetie. He’s terrified of hurting you.”

Brenda sighed. “Story of my life: the men who should have been terrified of hurting me weren’t, and the man who shouldn’t be terrified is.”

“Maybe you could convince him to get over his fear.” Robin gave her a wicked smile.

“I’ll get right on that,” Brenda said. “If I ever get to spend more than five minutes with him without him running away.”

No, Brenda wasn’t going to delude herself. Men like Deke couldn’t see past the fact they thought she was broken. They treated her like spun glass. Terrified to get close in case she shattered. Still, that didn’t mean she couldn’t have her fantasies.

“Tell me again about the way he looks at me,” she ordered Robin.

The women were laughing as they approached the old Victorian building that would be their new home.

––––––––

Jodie didn’t make it back to the spa until mid-morning. She ran upstairs to her apartment, showered and changed, before going back downstairs to meet with her brother and Benson Security.

The renovation work on the old church, in order to turn it into a boutique spa and restaurant, was nearly complete. The church had been built in the hills outside of town, and although it hadn’t been built with views in mind, it still had a great overview of Invertary and the loch behind it. The church itself was really a mix of three different buildings. There was the old stone church at the front, with its grey brickwork and stained glass windows. Then there were two more add-on sections attached to the original church. One to the rear and one off to the side. The one to the side had been built in the same style as the church, even going so far as to include a sloping roof and mini bell tower—that was the part they were using as a restaurant. The section at the rear had been built with no style in mind. It was basically a concrete cube wedged onto the main church. It housed a couple of consultation rooms as well as their offices.

Although the church only had one level, the ground floor, the ceilings had been high enough to enable a second level to be built into it. They’d turned the new level into a large apartment for Jodie. There had been space enough to build two apartments, but Deke said that was too close to his sister for his liking. Instead, he’d had the old garage at the back of the property turned into a little house.

Deke was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs, a steaming mug of coffee in his hand.

“You want to tell me where you were all night?” Deke asked casually, between sips of his coffee.

“Nope.” Jodie headed towards the manse. The old Victorian building used to be the vicar’s house. It was set at the back of the property, hidden from the road. In fact, unless you knew it was there, you would never guess that the land around the church hid such a large house.

“I see you’ve got the builders water-blasting the graffiti off,” Jodie said. “Thanks.”

“They’ll sandblast it, if the water doesn’t work.”

“Good to know.”

“Want to tell me who you were with then?”

She didn’t even answer that question. Deke put a hand on her arm to stop her, and she did, with a sigh. She looked up into her younger brother’s face and saw only concern.

“You need to talk, I’m here. You want me to hit someone, just ask. You deserve to be treated right, Jo. I know the dickhead ex messed with your mind and your confidence. I’m here if you need anything. Okay?”

Jodie freaking loved her brother. How he turned out to be such a great guy after everything they’d gone through, she didn’t know. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him tight, revelling in the comfort.

“You’re a good guy, Deke.”

“Feel free to spread that around.” He kissed the top of her head then disengaged. Obviously he’d reached his limit for showing affection for the day—possibly even the month.

“You also know I can take care of myself.” She felt the need to remind him—after all, she had more martial arts experience than he did.

“I know, but good guys offer.” He winked at her, making her roll her eyes at him. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s see what Lake wants. I’ll be glad when the security system is up and running. A loud alarm might have cut last night’s art attack short.”

“I saw what was left of the drawing. There was nothing artistic about it. I know guys are obsessed with their junk; the least they could do would be to learn to doodle it accurately. What is it with guys and their penises, anyway?”

“Not you too.” Deke groaned. “I don’t want to talk about penises with you or anyone else. Got it?”

“Fine, Mr. Touchy, what did the police say?”

“That it’s probably local hooligans who were wound up by last night’s meeting and thought they’d get in on the protest.”

“I didn’t know Invertary had hooligans.”

Deke’s lips thinned. “Apparently we import them at this time of year. There’s a whole bunch come in from the local towns for the fishing tournament. Matt says things will quieten down in a couple of weeks, although he doesn’t think we’ll get any more trouble in the meantime.”

“I hope he’s right.”

They found Lake Benson in the large kitchen at the back of the old Victorian manse. The building had been designed with the needs of a functioning parish in mind; therefore, the social areas of the house were cavernous rooms.

Lake was talking to one of his guys when they walked in. Grunt was a scary American guy who’d married a local woman. They were expecting their first child. He was massive, stony-faced and rarely spoke. He was one of the scariest men Jodie had ever met. If she hadn’t seen him with his wife she wouldn’t have let him near her business. But around Claire he was a pussycat. He doted on her, pandered to her every whim and fawned over her like she was his princess. The first time Jodie had seen the transformation happen, she’d literally stood there with her jaw hanging open until her brother had elbowed her and told her to get a grip.

“Deke, Jodie,” Lake said by way of hello.

Grunt grunted.

Brenda walked into the kitchen, mug in hand. She smiled, spun on her heels and left again.

“They’re meeting,” Jodie heard her say. “Trust me, you don’t want to go in there. The air is thick with testosterone. If we breathe too much of that stuff in, we might grow chest hair.”

“And then Betty will have to wax us,” Robin said. “Let’s get coffee at the spa.”

“Good thinking,” Brenda said, and Jodie smiled at the exchange.

“What’s up?” Deke said as he refilled his mug from the warming coffee pot on the kitchen counter. “Any problems with the system?”

Lake got up, stuck his head outside the back door and whistled. A minute later, Officer Matt Donaldson sauntered into the room.

“Do I look like your dog?” he asked Lake.

Jodie and Deke shared an anxious glance at the sight of the cop. Matt nodded hello to them, then helped himself to coffee.

“What’s going on?” Deke asked Matt. “I thought we’d dealt with the vandalism this morning.”

“This is about something else.” Matt helped himself to coffee.

Jodie focused on remaining calm and not showing any reaction to the sombre attitudes of the men in front of her. She felt as though she had been called up before the principal. A feeling she’d grown used to during her school years, when she’d attracted trouble like a magnet. She thought of Mitch. Not much had changed over the years—she was still attracting trouble.

Lake stared at them for a moment and Jodie knew he was taking note that neither of the Millers were intimidated by the amount of testosterone in the room. Deke because—well, he had his own excessive amount, and Jodie because she knew she could hold her own with any of the men.

“This isn’t run-of-the-mill accommodation for staff,” Lake said. “The security system is state of the art. There are panic buttons in every room and a secure outside phone line that’s buried deep in a metal tube. The basement is set up to function as a panic room. The windows are triple-glazed, tinted to stop people from peering in and are near impenetrable. The property is landscaped to hide the house from the road, while making sure that no one can get close to the building without being seen. This is a safe house.”

There was silence after Lake’s revelations. Jodie wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say, and there was no way she’d give information out freely—especially with a police officer sitting there.

“We’d like to know what the purpose of this house is,” Matt said calmly, and every muscle in Jodie’s body went taut.

“It’s for the staff,” Deke said, equally calmly.

Matt watched him for a moment. “See, here’s the thing. You two were here when we had gunmen attacking the castle in an attempt to kidnap my sister.”

There was a low, menacing growl. “My wife,” Grunt said.

Jodie took one look at the terrifying man-beast and mentally amended her assessment that she could hold her own with him in a fight. Grunt was in a category all of his own. One reserved for mythical monsters and Viking marauders.

“Before Claire’s attempted kidnapping, we had a film producer who went nuts and trashed an RV,” Matt continued, as though his brother-in-law hadn’t suddenly turned feral. “Before that, we had an American mob wannabe here who blew up the old mine and almost killed my wife in the process. Before that, Caroline McInnes had to deal with a stalker who crashed her wedding. And before that, Lake here took out his wife’s ex-boyfriend after the idiot set fire to her shop.”

Jodie stared at the man before she blinked at her brother. “I’m thinking we should have picked a different quiet little town to set up shop in.”

“No kidding,” Deke mumbled.

Matt sat back in his chair. “You can understand why we might have become a bit worried when we realised you were building Fort Knox in our midst. You are looking at the sum total of law enforcement in town.” He pointed to his own chest. “I’d very much appreciate it if the chaos and mayhem were kept to the minimum, but after last night’s episode, and the security level around here, I’m beginning to get a tad worried that there’s something going on I should know about.”

“You said the graffiti was most likely dumb teenagers acting out,” Deke pointed out.

“Aye, but the security system isn’t in place to keep out dumb teenagers,” Matt said. “Something else is going on. Do I need to interview your staff and ask them what it is?”

Jodie felt Deke stiffen beside her, but he gave no outward indication he was feeling anything but calm and unbothered. She forced a smile, one she hoped looked relaxed and genuine. “We’re just running a spa and restaurant. The security may seem over the top, but we’re used to London. It’s second nature to us to take these precautions.”

“I came from London,” Lake said. “Your precautions aren’t the norm.”

Jodie shrugged. “I was married to a professional footballer. His fans were nuts. He attracted lots of unwanted attention. This is the sort of security I’m used to.”

Matt looked sceptical. “My cousin Flynn was a professional footballer and his idea of security is tying an empty beer can to his doorknob to alert him to intruders.”

Jodie knew Flynn. Her ex-husband had spent some time with the same club as the guy. He’d seemed a decent guy and had talked often about his home town of Invertary. It was one of the reasons she’d looked the place up when they were scouting for a quiet location.

“Flynn obviously isn’t as paranoid as my ex-husband was,” Jodie said. “Some celebrities need more security than others.”

“Josh McInnes is about as famous as you get,” Matt said, “and you make his security measures look like amateur hour.”

“Maybe we should talk to him.” Jodie smiled. “Give him some tips.”

There was a stare-off for a couple of minutes as Jodie and Deke declined to offer up any further information. Eventually the men got fed up with the Miller sibling silence. Matt and Lake shared a look that said they weren’t pleased with the situation and then the men stood.

“If you’re doing something illegal.” Matt put his empty cup in the sink before the three men headed for the door. “I will find out.”

“I should hope you would,” Jodie said.

Lake’s lip twitched in an approximation of a smile. “I wanted to do this the easy way. Now I’ve got some digging to do. We’ll talk again.”

“Leave our staff alone.” Deke’s tone was pleasant, but his meaning wasn’t. It was clearly a warning. “They don’t need you two hassling them when all they want is to do their jobs and live their lives.”

The three men stared at them, but none of them promised anything.

“Thanks for sorting out the alarm system.” Jodie stepped into the silence before her brother started talking with his fists. Okay, that was unfair. She was the sibling known for flying off the handle. Deke was all about cool control. Still, he would have given too much away if he kept pressing the men to leave their staff alone.

Lake nodded, Grunt grunted, Matt frowned and then they were gone. Jodie turned to the window to watch them walk down the path back to the carpark area.

“They won’t find anything when they dig,” Deke said beside her. “It isn’t possible.”

“I hope you’re right,” Jodie said.

As she watched, the men greeted someone just out of sight and stopped to talk. The new figure took a step to the right and suddenly came into view—Mitch.

“What is he doing here?” Jodie felt her hackles rise. He was carrying a takeout bag from Dougal’s pub and was heading towards the spa.

Deke cast her a curious glance before his attention shifted to Mitch. “You mean Harris? Why would you worry about—” He shook his head. “I’m guessing he’s the reason for the mystery night away.”

“Butt out,” Jodie snapped.

“I didn’t say a word.” Deke calmly sipped his coffee.

“He isn’t supposed to be here.”

“Does he know that?”

“He will in about five seconds.” With that, Jodie stomped off to deal with the next in a long line of problems—Mitch Harris.