“Fair enough,” she murmured and placed the bowl on the nightstand. “I promise to feed you.”
“Good. Remember I told you about a job offer in D.C.?” His next thought was interrupted by loud banging on Charlotte’s door. The steady ringing of her buzzer followed.
She jumped up from the bed. “It’s Rick. I asked him to come over so I could find out—” She stopped herself before she could finish.
“Find out what, Charlotte?” But he already knew. Just as he thought. She’d been looking for him.
“Nothing you need to worry about.” She blushed, but before he could respond, Rick pounded on the door once more. “I need to see Rick about something else, too. You’ll find it interesting, I promise.”
More interesting than them? Roman doubted it. “Okay, let the pain in the ass in.”
He rose from the comfortable bed and followed Charlotte into the living area, greeting his brother with a practiced glare.
“I didn’t know he was back.” Rick gestured to Roman. “Welcome home … oh, shit.”
“Not the greeting I was expecting.”
“You two aren’t going to believe this.” Rick shook his head. “Hell, I don’t believe this.”
“Well, before you launch into any story, I’ve got something to tell you,” Charlotte said.
Roman shook his head. “You’ve both got me curious.” Rick exhaled hard.
“Okay, then, ladies first.”
“Right.” She wrung her hands before her in a gesture so un-Charlotte-like, Roman grew concerned.
“No,” she said, changing her mind. “Wrong. You go first.”
Rick shrugged. “I got home planning to come straight here, but we got some calls at the station. Several in fact. It seems the panty thief struck again.”
“What?” Roman and Charlotte said at once.
“In reverse, actually. The panties were returned.”
Roman started to laugh. “You’ve got to be kidding.”
“Nope. Every last one of them was left either inside the house or on the front porch. Even though we never officially considered Roman a suspect, I’d planned on telling Charlotte that the ladies around town were going to have to give up their notion of Roman as a panty thief.” Rick ran a hand through his hair.
“Why? Did you catch the guy?” Charlotte asked warily.
“No, dammit.”
Was it Roman’s imagination, or did she just heave a giant sigh of relief?
“But with Roman out of town, they’d have to give up their fantasies regarding my baby brother,” Rick continued.
“What’s the matter? Jealous they weren’t flashing their undies at you?” Roman grinned.
“Funny.” Rick shook his head. “But it’s just occurred to me here that with you back in town, looks like you’re going to have to live with the stigma.” He chuckled at the thought.
To Roman’s complete astonishment, Charlotte came up beside him and slipped her warm, soft hand in his. She stood by his side as she looked at Rick and said, “No, he won’t.”
“You know something about this, don’t you?” Roman asked.
“I might.” She squeezed his hand tighter. Although he didn’t need her looking out for him, he liked this protective side of her. Especially since they hadn’t come close to straightening things out between them, yet she was defending him anyway.
“Come on, Charlotte. You can’t withhold information from me,” Rick said.
“Oh, I don’t know, Rick. I never said I knew anything.” She glanced up at Roman, her eyes wide and imploring. “Did anyone see you tonight? Anyone know you’re back other than us?”
He shook his head. “Despite the small-town bit, I really don’t think anyone noticed me.” He’d kept to himself intentionally, though he didn’t think Rick would appreciate him pointing that out.
“Rick, if I did know something, I wouldn’t tell you unless you promised me two things. One is to never use the information I give you and the second is to never tell another soul Roman was back in town tonight.”
His brother’s face flushed a deep shade of red. “You can’t mean to bribe a police officer.”
She rolled her eyes. “In that case, I don’t know anything. It’s been nice seeing you, Rick. Good night.”
Roman hadn’t a clue what was going on, but he was putting an end to it now. “This is ridiculous. Charlotte, whatever you know, you have to talk. And Rick, you promise her anything she asks.”
Rick burst out laughing. “Yeah, right.”
“Samson’s responsible for the panty thefts and if you repeat that, arrest him, question him, or so much as lift an eyebrow his way, I’ll deny ever having said anything. I’ll pay for his lawyer and we’ll sue you for harassment. No hard feelings, by the way. I really do like you, Rick.” She treated Roman’s stunned brother to her sweetest smile.
That sugary grin would have Roman groveling at her feet. Unfortunately, Rick wasn’t Roman, and his cop brother was livid. He turned even redder. “You knew this and withheld the information? For how long?”
“What good would it have done to tell? He’s a harmless old man who was looking out for me. I’m nice to him, so he figured he’d drum up interest in my business. Roman being blamed was completely unplanned.”
“But beneficial.” Roman saw the humor in the situation even if Rick didn’t. His high school prank benefited Samson’s cause.
“What he did was illegal,” Rick pointed out. “Or did you lose sight of that?”
She jerked her hand out of Roman’s and placed her hands on her hips. “Tell me who got hurt. And then tell me who will benefit by hauling the poor man in for anything. It’s over now. I promise. He won’t do it again.”
Roman leaned close and whispered in her ear. “You probably shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, sweetheart. You have no control over the man.” No more control than Roman had over his body now that he’d inhaled her delicious scent and those long strands of tousled hair had tickled his nose and cheek, arousing him.
It was time his brother made a quick exit, Roman thought. “She’s right and you know it, Rick. You aren’t doing anyone justice if you prosecute the guy.”
“He won’t do it again. Please?” Charlotte asked in a soft, pleading voice.
“Argh. Fine. Since I don’t have a witness, I’ll lay off Samson, but if this happens again—”
“It won’t,” Charlotte and Roman said at once. Roman assumed they’d be making a joint trip to visit the “duck man” and make sure he understood the break he’d been given.
“And since Samson went to the trouble of replacing the underwear in order to exonerate Roman during his absence, you never saw Roman in town tonight, right?” She said in a determined voice. “The first time you’ll have seen him since he left over a week ago is—”
“Twenty-four hours from now, when I knock on your door,” Roman decided. “Until then, we’re incommunicado.” He put his palm on Rick’s back and shoved him toward the door. “If anyone asks, Charlotte’s got the flu.”