Undercover Escort_Madam Diary Mysteries Page 2

  A little devil prodded Taylor, and this time it wasn’t Michelle. Well, it was Michelle that Taylor decided to exact a little revenge on for making her image the call girl prototype and for talking her into this ridiculous plan. “She didn’t hire me. Well, not for today...”

  His brow furrowed. “But you said -”

  “That she sent me.”

  “Yes.”

  “I work for her.”

  “Are you saying that my sister...” he sputtered, and his face reddened more. “...that my sister is a – a...”

  “Madam,” Taylor finished for him, and she struggled to hold back a laugh. Michelle had appointed herself their pimp; the make-believe madam deserved all the credit for their little fake escort service.

  He shook his head. “No, no, that’s not possible. My sister is brilliant and rich. She wouldn’t do something like this...”

  “Like what?” Taylor asked, and her pride stinging, she was goading him now. While she was used to the affluent people of St. Bart’s looking down on her, she didn’t like it. Compared to their wealth, she was just white trash. She was the little orphan girl who’d been lucky her elderly aunt had taken her in after her drunken father killed himself and her mother in a car crash; otherwise she would have wound up in foster care instead of a swanky boarding school and college.

  He flushed some more. “No offense. I’m sure you have your reasons for being in this kind of business. But Michelle...”

  “Is a good friend of mine,” Taylor admitted. “That’s how she talked me into doing this.” That much, at least, was completely true. Of course after Michelle learned she’d outed her, they might no longer be friends.

  He shook his head again. “No. No, I don’t believe it.”

  She pointed toward the card in his hand. “Call the number and see if you recognize the voice of the person who answers...”

  Yeah, she was probably going to lose a friend. But she doubted there was any other way she would convince him to let her stay at the hotel let alone attend the wedding with him. And she needed to go to that wedding – needed to get the exclusive photos and behind the scenes scoop so she could sell her story to the highest bidding tabloid.

  Taylor needed that money – to pay off some of her debts but most of all for security. After she’d lost her parents, she’d had very little of that – especially since her aunt had already been so old when she’d become Taylor’s guardian. But the old reporter was still kicking. Hopefully Taylor would have time to pay her back and to make her proud before Aunt Mattie went to that great press room in the sky.

  Dominic Rowe studied the card in his hand. “I do need to call this number,” he agreed. “To let whoever your boss is know that I do not require your services.”

  “My services?” Did he think she was a whore?

  Of course he did. She was posing as a call girl. And Michelle had insisted she commit to the role.

  She stepped closer to him and trailed her finger tips over the soft cashmere of his sweater. Hard muscles rippled beneath her touch. “You have no idea what my services even entail,” she told him. She rose up on tiptoe and leaned very close so that only an inch or so separated her mouth from his. Then she added, “You shouldn’t knock what you haven’t tried...”

  His green eyes darkened, the pupils dilating, as he stared down at her. “Oh, I’m not knocking anything,” he assured her. “I just don’t want to get arrested.”

  Maybe she’d played her part too well since he actually believed she was an escort. And he wanted no more to do with her than if she’d been a reporter.

  Usually men found her irresistible. Maybe she’d gone so long without sex that she’d lost her appeal. She leaned even closer, so that her lips just brushed across his and she whispered, “I won’t tell if you don’t...”

  Chapter Two

  May 15

  Early afternoon...

  I am not worried about Taylor like I worried about Elaine. While Elaine is smart, she is also sweet and can be quite naïve. Taylor’s tough. She’s been through a lot, which has made her street smart and cynical. She will be able to handle whatever comes up while she’s undercover.

  And is it horrible of me to hope that she and Dominic actually wind up undercover...together? She would say that I am horrible and accuse me of playing matchmaking again. She thought I’d done that for Elaine. She can’t argue with my results, though, since everything worked out so well for Elaine. Our sweet friend is happier than she’s ever been.

  Taylor deserves that kind of happiness too. Of course Taylor has never let herself fall for anyone because she doesn’t want to wind up like her mother – dead. Not that Dominic would pose any risk to her safety – unless he finds out she’s a reporter. Then he might lose it and gently toss her out of his hotel room. But Taylor needs this story even more than she needs a relationship. She deserves to no longer have to worry about security or money.

  I have tried to help her, but the offer has only hurt her pride and made her even more determined to make it on her own. She even insists on paying me rent for living in the apartment above my garage. Yes, she needs this story. And Dominic needs –

  A vibration made Michelle jump, and she jerked the pen, sending a scribble of ink across the diary page. A cell phone vibrated on the top of the mahogany secretary desk at which she sat. Her pulse began to race because it was that phone – the one for FANTASY ENTERTAINMENT.

  Could it be him? Detective Sam Butler? Ever since he’d found the FANTASY ENTERTAINMENT card at a murder scene, he called sporadically, trying to catch her. Of course she’d committed no crime. But he didn’t know that. He didn’t know that she was just a make-believe madam.

  She didn’t bother glancing at the cell screen since Detective Butler always called from a private number. She just clicked the button and answered in a sing-song voice, “FANTASY ENTERTAINMENT. We will make your every fantasy a reality.”

  “Michelle?”

  Her heart slammed against her ribs with fear that Detective Butler had learned her identity. But then he would be at her door if that was the case, slapping cuffs on her. The thought of him doing that quickened her pulse. He was so damn good looking. She’d seen him at Elaine’s dad’s wedding, but she’d been careful not to talk to him. She couldn’t have risked his recognizing her voice. But it wasn’t his deep voice that had uttered her name.

  She laughed as she realized who had called her and why. Taylor had thrown her under the bus. But even if she hadn’t, Michelle had considered it a possibility that her brother would try to track down the number for the escort service – because he would not want to bring an escort to his narcissistic twin’s wedding. Dominic would be worried that the paparazzi might find out and hound him even more than they already did. That was why he spent so much time in his studio – not just for his art but to avoid any place where the media might be and recognize him as the twin and son of movie stars.

  “Do you like my surprise?” she asked him.

  “Surprise is an understatement,” he murmured. “I can’t believe...”

  “What? That I started my own business?” she asked.

  He groaned. “Michelle, this is crazy – even for you. What happens if you get caught?”

  “I don’t intend to get caught.” Especially when she was doing nothing wrong.

  “But – but -” he sputtered.

  “You don’t intend to turn me in, do you?” she asked.

  He groaned again. “You know I wouldn’t do that. But what about...”

  “Roderick?” she asked when he trailed off. “Of course he will turn me in if he discovers the truth.”

  “Of course,” Dominic agreed. “That’s why you shouldn’t have sent...”

  She waited for him to continue because she had no idea what Taylor had decided to call herself. Knowing her friend, it was probably something either hilarious or naughty or both.

  “Taylor to serve as my plus one,” he finished.

  So she’d used her real na
me? Interesting...

  Maybe Michelle’s matchmaking plan would work. Again.

  “Taylor’s good,” Michelle assured him. “No one will suspect that she’s a call girl.” Since she wasn’t one...

  “It’s still a risk we shouldn’t take,” he said. “I need to send her back.”

  Michelle chuckled. “She’s not a present you can refuse to accept.”

  “Michelle -”

  “Enjoy,” she told him.

  “I’m not going to...”

  “Make Roderick insanely jealous,” she finished for him. “Because you will – make both the groom and the bride go out of their minds when they see your date.”

  He sighed. “I don’t want to make anyone go out of their minds,” he said. “And I want to keep from losing mine.”

  Taylor could make him lose his mind and probably some of his reservations if he’d give her the chance. But Michelle was beginning to suspect her favorite stepbrother was too morally righteous to even give her that much. Or maybe he was too scared. Courtney wasn’t the only girlfriend Roderick had stolen from him. So he hadn’t had any personal success with relationships, and he certainly had had no examples of successful relationships not with all his father’s failed marriages and affairs.

  “I tried to help you,” she said with sincere disappointment.

  Dominic flinched at the disappointment he heard in his sister’s voice. He really loved Michelle and hated to not give her what she wanted. “You tried to help,” he agreed, “at the risk of getting me arrested.”

  And herself. But he couldn’t think about the dangers she was putting herself in, or he would lose his mind. So he clicked off the phone.

  “You wouldn’t get arrested,” the blonde assured him as he hung up the hotel phone.

  He’d used it to call the number on the escort service card because he hadn’t wanted it traced back to his cell. But it could probably still be traced back to the hotel and his room and him anyway. He was definitely not cut out for a life of crime.

  He snorted. “Yeah, right.”

  “You didn’t hire me,” she pointed out. “And no money has exchanged hands, so no crime has been committed.”

  “Great, I’m a freebie...” As if it wasn’t humiliating enough that he was attending the wedding of his brother to his former girlfriend.

  She laughed – just like Michelle had – like their escort business was just a joke. He hoped like hell that it was – for all their sakes.

  He narrowed his eyes and studied her gorgeous face. She looked vaguely familiar to him, like he’d seen her before. But since she was a friend of Michelle’s, that was probably why. Michelle had probably posted pictures of her online – not that Dominic spent that much time on social media. He abhorred any form of media.

  “Being a freebie is a good thing,” she told him, and she stepped closer to him. Lifting her hand, she trailed her fingertips along his jaw. “Nobody would need money to want to sleep with you.”

  He sucked in a breath as desire punched him hard in the stomach and lower, as his cock hardened. She was so damn beautiful...

  Her face flushed, and she stepped back, dropping her hand from his jaw. “Not that I intend to sleep with you. Michelle told me that I was just to be your date for the wedding.”

  Despite the desire nearly overwhelming him, he retained control. He would not reach for her. He would not touch her...

  “Are you sure you know what Michelle’s intentions are?” he asked. Because he was never certain what his sister was really up to...

  She nodded and replied, “She didn’t want you to attend this wedding alone.”

  “I would rather attend it alone than with a...”

  “Call girl,” she finished for him.

  “Stranger,” he corrected her. “Actually I would rather attend it alone than even with someone I know.” It was going to be hard enough to get through without having someone witness his discomfort. He headed toward the door. “I really need to ask you to leave...” But when he opened the door, he found the hall wasn’t empty this time.

  Roderick and Courtney stood outside his door, his twin’s arm around the small waist of Dominic’s former girlfriend. Had they overhead their conversation? Their mouths weren’t hanging open in shock, so he doubted it. In fact they looked hesitant – like they’d been debating whether or not to knock on his door.

  “Is that the room service we ordered, sweetheart?” a husky female voice purred, and an arm wound round his waist. Then the call girl looked at the couple standing in the doorway, and a giggle slipped out of her sexy-looking lips. “I’m sorry. You’re not the waiter.”

  “No, we’re not,” Roderick replied. He glanced from Dominic to the blonde wound around him. “Who – who is this?” he asked his brother.

  Dominic’s tongue was tied – with desire – and confusion. He had no idea what to say, but he damn well knew it couldn’t be the truth.

  “I’m Taylor,” she replied. Then she laughed again. “I’m sure Dominic has told you nothing about me.”

  Courtney’s thin lips pursed with disapproval. Everything about her was thin: her body and her tiger striped hair. “No. He hasn’t.”

  The blonde rose up on tiptoe and pressed a kiss against his lips. The contact was brief but shook Dominic to his core. “You silly,” she said, a bit breathlessly. “You’re always so distracted.”

  “I can understand why,” Roderick said as his gaze traveled over Taylor’s exquisite figure.

  Dominic wrapped his arm around her then – protectively. He didn’t want his brother looking at her the way he’d looked at Courtney – like he could take her. He didn’t want Roderick taking Taylor, which was silly – because he or anyone else could have Taylor – for a price. All they had to do was call her madam – his sister.

  “Yes, she is a distraction,” Dominic agreed. One he couldn’t afford to have right now – even if she was free for the moment.

  “That’s your problem, bro,” Roderick said. “You don’t pay attention to what you’ve got – until it’s too late.”

  Of course. It was Dominic’s fault that Roderick had stolen Courtney away from him. Michelle was right. His twin was a narcissist, unwilling to take responsibility for anything he did.

  Taylor emitted a breathy giggle that quickened his pulse. “Oh, he’s been paying plenty of attention to me,” she assured his brother as she leaned against Dominic’s side.

  His body tensed everywhere it came into contact with hers. She was killing him – with her closeness and with her suggestive words.

  Courtney drew in a sharp breath and looked as though she’d sucked on a lemon, her whole face puckering like her lips had. “Really, Dominic, you RSVP’d that you were coming alone. I’m not sure we have room for an extra guest.”

  Roderick chuckled. “Of course we do. Taylor is very welcome.”

  Dominic could imagine just how his twin would like to welcome her – the same way he had Courtney. Had the man forgotten he was about to get married? But then when he’d gone after Courtney, he had actually been married. Apparently vows didn’t matter any more to Roderick than they did to their father. So much for what Dominic had told Michelle about Courtney and Roderick really being in love. She had been right about them.

  Had she been right to send Taylor to him?

  “Thank you,” Taylor said. “Since Dominic and I first met, we’ve been inseparable.” She snuggled even more closely against his side.

  “How did you meet?” Courtney asked, her voice sharp with suspicion.

  Had she heard something outside the door?

  Dominic fell silent again. Unlike the rest of his family, he was not into acting. He wasn’t into anything but honesty.

  Taylor saw the suspicion and jealousy on his ex’s face; it had turned her hazel eyes to almost pure green. Pea green, though. Not a pretty green like Dominic’s. Taylor smiled even broader. Michelle’s plan was working very well. But it would all fall apart if Taylor said the wrong thing. I
t was clear that the bride knew Dominic very well and knew that he wouldn’t have been an easy man to accidentally meet.

  “I fell in love with one of his sculptures,” Taylor said. That much was true. He’d done a small, delicate figurine of small, delicate Michelle that she loved like she loved her friend. With every nuance he’d captured of his sister, he’d shown how much he loved her, too. “And I pestered him until he agreed to meet and show me more of his work.”

  Dominic’s face flushed but he nodded in agreement to her lie.

  “How are you ever going to make it big if you don’t show off your art?” Roderick asked and shook his head pityingly.