Engaging Sam Page 5

Sam rolled the can of cola against his forehead and thought longingly about the new heavy-duty unit that kept Xavier’s office a constant seventy-two degrees. “They hire temporary help?” he asked. “How do you know that?”

  “They did the graduation party for the mayor’s son a few months ago. I was able to obtain a detailed copy of their final bill. It had an itemized breakdown of the costs incurred, including the addition of some last-minute help.”

  “This just keeps getting better and better. If they needed extra help for a graduation party, they’ll need it for something as big as the Fitzpatrick wedding.”

  “The situation does appear to have potential.” The snick-tap of a computer keyboard sounded in the background before Xavier continued. “John McPherson has no criminal record, no traffic convictions, not even an outstanding parking fine. He’s been married for thirty-six years, supports his widowed mother-in-law, lives in the childhood home he inherited from his father and always pays his taxes on time. On top of all that, he donates his catering company’s services to homeless shelters every Thanksgiving and Christmas.”

  “So clean he squeaks,” Sam murmured.

  “Apparently. McPherson Catering has an excellent reputation. The mayor recommended them highly.”

  “Which is why Fitzpatrick would choose them for the kid’s wedding.”

  “Exactly.”

  As usual, Sam was impressed by the ease with which Xavier had been able to gather information, but from the sound of it, John McPherson had nothing he was trying to hide. Sam drained the rest of the cola, then carried the phone to the window and stood so that the stream of cooled air played over his back. “What about Audra? Did she check out?”

  “Same solid citizen as her father. No convictions, no arrests. She turned twenty-eight in April, never been married, has been working in the family business for the past five years.” He paused.

  “Anything else?”

  “I don’t have as much information on her as I’d like.”

  “That doesn’t mean she’ll be a risk.”

  “Give me a chance to keep digging before you approach her.”

  “Odds are you won’t find anything significant. I have to move fast if we’re going to take advantage of this opportunity. The sooner I get myself into the company—”

  “You’re not going in. If we can put a man inside, I’d prefer Bergstrom or Middleton to take the assignment.”

  “Why? I already know her. She’s bound to be more cooperative with me.”

  “Too risky,” Xavier said. “Your Tindale cover was breached.”

  “The men you arrested for breaking into my place don’t know for sure Tindale was a cop. I didn’t confront them, and I didn’t play a part in their arrest. For all they know, I was a bookkeeper who wanted to take his work home.”

  There was a brief silence. “That’s true. Disappearing the way you did was a good move.”

  “Besides, they’ll be busy for a few months at least, won’t they?”

  “In all probability, yes. Both of them had a string of priors, so chances are they’ll be doing time. But it’s still too risky.”

  “Fitzpatrick’s habit of separating himself from the dirty end of his business works to our advantage,” Sam persisted. “No one will recognize me, since he’s not going to invite any of his underlings to his daughter’s wedding. That’s not how he operates.”

  “We’ll see how it plays out I’m not making any decisions until I have all the facts.”

  “Audra’s been cooperating with me so far, so it wouldn’t hurt to feel her out about the family catering business. I’ll find out their hiring policies, things like that.”

  “I’m aware of how you like to work without a script, but I don’t want you going off on your own with this, Tucker. Groundwork, that’s all you’re doing.”

  “Right.”

  Groundwork, Sam thought with a tinge of impatience as he hung up the phone. Most of Xavier’s job was done within reach of a computer where everything functioned according to a logical sequence. He was one of the best cops Sam had worked with when it came to planning strategy and coordinating information. And on a personal level, there wasn’t anyone Sam respected more. But unlike his superior, Sam had to rely on the ability to adapt quickly to unforeseen situations, to make up a plan as he went along. While he usually tried to follow Xavier’s advice, Sam never discounted his instincts. He trusted his gut as often as he trusted his brain.

  And in this case, both were in agreement as far as Audra McPherson went. She could be the key that would get them close to Fitzpatrick. And now that her involvement with the wedding was confirmed, Sam had a legitimate reason for seeing her again.

  He flipped open the phone book, running his finger down the column of McPhersons. He found Audra’s number and punched it in, then listened to it ring.

  How much more should he tell her? How far could he trust her? Ideally, he’d keep her as far removed from the case as possible. All she needed to do was to put in a good word with her father, or whoever did the hiring for McPherson Catering. As long as she smoothed the way to place someone inside, he could take it from there. Or Bergstrom or Middleton would take it.

  The ringing continued. He turned around, bracing one hand against the window frame so that the outflow from the air conditioner cooled his chest. Xavier might be right about assigning someone else to go undercover. Ever since he’d landed in her bedroom, Sam hadn’t been able to get Audra off his mind. And the more he learned about her and her family, the clearer it was that he had no business thinking about her in anything other than a professional capacity. Considering her background, she definitely wasn’t the type of woman he usually sought out.

  A movement on the street in front of the apartment building caught his eye, a flash of blond hair and blue fabric. He leaned closer to the window and squinted through the wavering heat. That was Audra down there, her hair pulled into a bun on the top of her head, her figure skimmed by a loose-fitting sleeveless dress that nevertheless managed to look almost as enticing as her filmy nightgown.

  She’d looked enticing in an old robe, too. He couldn’t believe he’d almost kissed her when they’d been standing at the door together. He’d been pleased about getting a break in the case, but that didn’t excuse what he’d almost done. She was one distracting woman, he decided, focusing on the appealing sway of her hips as she crossed to the other side of the street...

  As she crossed to the other side of the street?

  “Damn,” he muttered, slamming the receiver into its cradle. Scowling, he grabbed his shirt and headed for the door.

  Audra could feel her dress sticking to her back by the time she reached the lot where she’d parked the van. She let the engine idle for a few minutes until the interior started to cool down, then backed out of her spot and steered the van toward the curb. She was waiting for a chance to pull onto the street when she noticed a tall, dark-haired man walking toward her.

  Her pulse jumped when she realized the man was Sam. Of course, it hadn’t completely slowed down from the last time she’d seen him.

  He waved, moving directly to the side of her door. “Hi,” he said as soon as she rolled down her window. He propped his forearms on the lower edge. “I was just trying to call you.”

  Audra felt the warmth in her cheeks and knew she was blushing like a schoolgirl. She hoped he’d attribute it to the heat. “Oh, yes, you mentioned something about that.”

  “Nice van,” he said, leaning back to look at the sign on the side. “Is it yours?”

  “It belongs to the company, but I use it from time to time. Jimmy painted the sign a few weeks ago.”

  “Did he do the background painting too?”

  She nodded.

  “Talented kid, your nephew. Are you on your way to work?”

  “Not really. I just need to deliver an extra carton of champagne flutes to the office where we’re doing a retirement party tomorrow.”

  He twisted his wrist to check his w
atch, then lifted his gaze to hers. “Mind if I come along for the ride?”

  “Why?”

  “I just wanted to talk to you, but if you have other plans after you deliver those glasses, I’d understand.”

  She chewed her lip for a moment. Other plans? Hardly. Just an evening of drawing up lists from the menus she and her mother had worked out this morning. What harm could it do to have company on the trip downtown? She might not want to have a man in her life, but he only wanted to be in her van.

  Here in the sunlight, his eyes were a vibrant blue, making his spiky lashes look long and lush. The skin on his jaw was taut and smooth from a fresh shave, accentuating his square jaw and dimpled chin. He’d changed his shirt, and although all the buttons except the top two were fastened, she could see a hint of the dark hair that covered his chest. Muscles corded his arms below his short sleeves, reminding her of the gentle strength he’d used the night before when he’d held her on her bed.

  But then, everything seemed to remind her of how it had felt to have him lying on top of her in her bed.

  A car horn sounded from behind her. She checked her side mirror and saw that a red station wagon was waiting on her bumper.

  “Audra?”

  Without stopping to analyze her decision further, she flipped the switch to unlock the passenger door. “All right,” she said.

  He rounded the hood and slipped into the seat beside her. “Thanks.”

  Awareness of his size and his proximity tingled over Audra’s nerves. She tried to concentrate on her driving as she eased the van onto the street. “If you’re still concerned that I’m going to tell people about your undercover work,” she said finally, “I’d like to assure you that I won’t.”

  “I believe you, Audra. You seemed to have handled the situation with your mother just fine.”

  She sighed. “My mom got the wrong impression about us.”

  “I kind of figured that, considering the time of day and the fact that you weren’t yet dressed. Is it going to be a problem for you?”

  “I don’t know. She considers herself modern, so she wasn’t scandalized when she saw you in my apartment. If anything, it’s the other way around. It might have been easier on me if she had been scandalized.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “She’s not as modern as she thinks. Mom still believes that no one can be really happy unless they’re married with at least half a dozen kids. She’s been trying to match me up with someone for the past few years. She’s even managed to get my sisters-in-law in on it. Now that she saw what she thinks she saw, she’s going to get her hopes up for nothing.”

  “I take it from what you said earlier that you’re not eager to get married.”

  “No.”

  “I guess this means I won’t be visited by a shotgun-toting papa?”

  The thought of the proper, respectable John McPherson forcing a shotgun wedding to preserve his daughter’s honor was so incongruous it made Audra chuckle. “I don’t think so. Not Dad. The twins are the hotheads in the family.”

  “Two of your brothers, I assume?”

  “Jake and Christopher.” She glanced at Sam. “I hope if my mother goes into full matchmaking mode it won’t cause problems for you. You’re not married, are you?”

  “No. My job keeps me busy enough already.” He shifted on the seat, leaning against the door so he could angle his legs under the dashboard. “Great air conditioning in this van.”

  Obviously, he wanted to change the subject. That was fine with her—marriage wasn’t something she liked to think about, anyway. “Sometimes we use the vans for transporting food, so we need good temperature control.”

  “Do you do any of the food preparation?”

  “I’ve done all the jobs at one time or another, but I do enjoy the hands-on creativity in the kitchen. Sometimes I work at home, testing new recipes or developing my own.”

  “That explains the smells.”

  “What smells?”

  He tapped his nose with his index finger. “From the day I moved next door to you I’ve been noticing all kinds of delicious aromas coming from your apartment. That’s how I knew you were already up when I passed by this morning.”

  The idea of Sam appreciating the smell of her cooking was oddly...intimate. And what had her mother said about certain scents working directly on the appetite center of a man’s brain? “I suppose in your profession you’re trained to be observant.”

  “You never know when some supposedly insignificant fact might lead to a breakthrough on a case.”

  “What’s it like to work undercover?”

  “It suits me, I suppose. Except for the paperwork. What about you? What’s it like working for your father?”

  “All right. Intense at times. Dad’s a perfectionist, and he’s very dedicated to the success of the company. Still, he’s fair about paying all of his employees what their work is worth.”

  “Sounds like an ideal employer.”

  “Oh, he is. It’s just that—” She hesitated.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing really. The only drawback of working for my father is that it’s difficult to stop working for him.” She glanced sideways at Sam. “I’ll be breaking a long family tradition when I quit the company, but I plan to start my own business one day.”

  “What kind of business?”

  While she drove, Audra found herself telling him about her dream of opening her own restaurant. He was a good listener, prompting her with pertinent questions and appearing genuinely interested in everything she said.

  It would be easy to feel flattered by Sam’s attention. It would be even easier to let his sexy good looks affect her good sense. Still, she barely knew him, so she didn’t drop her caution entirely. He’d told her he wanted to talk to her, but so far he’d been doing most of the listening.

  “Well, this is the place,” she said, flicking on her signal as she turned into the entrance of a parking garage. The carton of glasses clinked softly as she eased the van over a speed bump in the concrete. Since it was Sunday, it was easy to find a vacant space near the freight elevator. She pointed to the gleaming green van in the adjacent parking spot. A trompe l’oeil painting of fruit and pastries, courtesy of her talented nephew, took up most of the van’s side. “That belongs to my brother Norm, Jimmy’s dad. He’s meeting me in the forty-fifth floor conference room. I shouldn’t be long, so if you’d like to wait in the van—”

  “I’ll carry the box for you,” Sam said, opening his door. He walked to the back of the van and waited for her to unlock the rear doors, then reached in to pick up the carton.

  Audra glanced at the wheeled dolly she’d used yesterday when she’d picked the heavy box up from the equipment rental company, then moved her gaze to Sam. The muscles she’d noticed earlier bulged against his sleeves, but otherwise, he showed no signs of strain. “Um, thanks.”

  “No problem,” he said, falling into step beside her as she walked to the elevator.

  She pressed the button and watched as the floor indicator lights glowed in descending sequence. “Normally one of my other brothers handles the equipment, but we’ve been swamped with work lately.”

  “Maybe your father should hire some extra help.”

  “I wish he would. Especially with that big wedding coming up next month, we could use all the help we could get.”

  Sam shifted the box to his shoulder. “I know a couple of guys who are looking for work. How about if I tell them to call your father?”

  “There wouldn’t be any point.”

  “They’re not experienced caterers, but they could handle deliveries like this one.”

  “I’m sure they would be a great help, but they don’t stand a chance of being hired by my father unless their last names happen to be McPherson.”

  “What?”

  “It’s a family company, and my dad has a firm policy of only hiring relatives. Lord knows, we normally have enough around to do most jobs, but w
e’ve run into trouble more than once when some family crisis has left us short-staffed.” The elevator doors finally slid open. She stepped inside, then waited until Sam followed before she pressed the button for the forty-fifth floor. “I know it’s old-fashioned, but that’s the way my family is. Our clients don’t seem to mind. Actually, a lot of them like the fact that we don’t hire strangers.”

  “I don’t believe this,” he said slowly. “Your catering company has its own built-in security system.”

  “I’ve never heard it put that way, but yes, I suppose so.”

  “And your clients know your hiring policy?”

  “That’s right. I’m sorry we can’t help your friends. Maybe I could ask around with some of our suppliers to see if they have any job openings.”

  Sam put the box down and turned to face her. He watched her in silence while the elevator sped upward. “Audra,” he said finally. “Are you sure there’s no way anyone who isn’t related to you can work for McPherson Catering?”

  She shook her head. “Not unless they marry into the family, and since Thomas—that’s my youngest brother—got married at Easter, there aren’t any eligible McPhersons around.”

  His gaze sharpened. “Except for you.”

  “Technically, yes, but—”

  He slapped the side of his fist against the emergency stop button. Gears clunked and the cable whined as the elevator jerked to a halt.

  With a startled gasp, Audra stumbled against the box of glasses. “My God, Sam! What are you doing?”

  He stepped around the box and grasped her arms to steady her. “If you married someone, he’d be guaranteed a job in your father’s company, right?”

  “What’s going on? Why did you stop us?”

  He pulled her closer. “Answer me and I’ll tell you.”

  “Okay, yes, if he wanted. Sam, what—”

  “A marriage would be too sudden and too complicated,” he said, his eyebrows drawing together in a frown. “What about an engagement? Would he be able to work if you were engaged?”

  “I suppose so. One of my sisters-in-law took over designing the table settings right after their engagement party....” She flattened her palms against his shirtfront. “But this is ridiculous. Why should it matter—”