Their Virgin Secretary (Masters of Ménage #6)(108)

Tears splashed on her cheeks, and Tate knew he was making the right decision. Now he just needed to make Belle understand that he wasn't walking away. Too many people had disappeared from her life. He refused to be another.

He tilted her chin up, forcing her to look in his eyes. "If you let me into your life, Annabelle, I will never leave you. I love you. I won't regret anything except losing you."

Her eyes closed briefly. "I hope you mean that."

It wasn't exactly what he wanted to hear. She hadn't told him she loved him back. She hadn't agreed to marry him, but she also hadn't run away. She stood here with him. As long as she was in his arms, he had a shot and he intended to take it.

Sir lay between them, but he didn't seem to mind being squished. The puppy simply chose the most important moment of his life to start licking his ankles. "Belle, look at me."

Her eyes opened and widened before she laughed. "Sir, stop."

Instead, Sir pranced with a happy bark, then tried to mount his leg. Tate sighed. "I'm pretty sure he licks his own butt, and I may die of some horrible puppy venereal disease. Would any man who didn't love you to the core of his being allow himself to be molested like this?"

"Definitely not. Will you come to bed with me?"

He would go anywhere to be with her. He would even study for another damn bar exam. "Yes."

He took her hand and led her up the stairs.





Chapter Sixteen



Kellan frowned as he looked down at the massive stack of information Tate had compiled in a short period of time. "I don't see how this changes anything."

Afternoon light filtered through the stained glass, making the floors Belle had splurged on to have sanded and stained again absolutely gleam. Another knock sounded at the door, and he heard Eric begrudgingly welcome back the electrician inside the house again.

"Where's Belle?" Mike asked with a grin.

Kell wanted to punch him until he lay flat on the floor. "Busy."

Mike shrugged. "Tell her I said hi."

"Maybe we should try someone new," Tate muttered as Mike made his way toward the stairs. "I don't care how old and complex the wiring is in this house, he should have fixed it by now. And you should really read all of that info before you start telling me I'm wrong."

Between the endless contractors and Tate's newfound belief in the paranormal, Kellan's day was rapidly going to hell. "I don't see how a bunch of rumors help us figure out what's going on in this house. I don't need to know the history. I need to know who's trying to scare Belle out of it right now."

Eric shouldered his way back into the kitchen. "That's an electrician, a plumber, a carpenter, and some woman with a god-awful amount of something she calls swatches. Belle's trying to pick between five colors that all look the exact same to me, but apparently they have different names so the decision is massive. Who are our most likely suspects here?"



       
         
       
        

So many people walking in and out of the house. Every single one of them was a suspect in his mind. "Don't forget the landscaper she brought in. And someone's coming in today to look at all the old photos. Belle wants to restore some she found in the attic. I put them over by the copy machine."

The photos didn't matter now. "Process of elimination. Who was here that first day? Mike, Gates, Captain Ron-"

"Who?" Tate looked confused.

"Mullet guy," Kell supplied. "Big belly, lots of crack."

"Oh, the plumber." Tate sighed. "Who else was here that first day? The interns."

"They haven't been back," Eric pointed out.

"And nothing else has happened." Kell crossed his arms over his chest. "Any one of them could have done it and none of them appear to have a motive. This isn't getting us anywhere."

"Wow," Tate exclaimed, looking at a framed photo in his hands before he passed it over.

Kell took the big black-and-white picture of Belle's grandmother and a bunch of women. They were all standing in front of the house, smiling and looking like they were ready for an evening at the disco. It had been taken in the seventies from all appearances. Wow was right. Belle's grandma had clearly had some gorgeous girlfriends. Every single woman in the photo was stunning.

"See? Maybe we can't find a motive because none of those people left Belle the warning on the wall." Tate looked more animated than he had in days, surprising Kell.

"You're back to the ghost theory?"

"Hear me out. So a few owners before Marie Wright bought this place, a man named Fredrick Peterman lived here with his two daughters. Peterman was rich, and the rumor around town was he was involved in the local voodoo scene."