Free Mad, Bad and Blonde by Cathie Linz Page A

inserting the white earbuds and playing Carbon Leaf’s “A Life Less Ordinary.”
    “You can ignore me, but I’m not going away,” Caine said.
    “You are going away if I sic Yuri on you.”
    “Who’s that? Your bodyguard?”
    “Close enough. Yuri is my doorman.” She looked over her shoulder to wave him toward her only to find that Yuri wasn’t at his post at the moment.
    “I heard you’ve gone to work for your father,” Caine said.
    She paused her music. “Why do you care?”
    “I don’t.”
    “Then why are you here bothering me?”
    Instead of answering, Caine said, “Was that your plan all along? Was your sob story as a jilted bride just a cover for your real reason for visiting Italy? To steal one of King Investigations’ clients?”
    She stared at him in amazement. And not the complimentary kind of amazement. “You are as delusional as your boss.”
    “Did you tell your father about us?”
    “There is no us .”
    “There was. In Positano that night.”
    “Why are you so nervous about my father finding out? Are you afraid he’ll beat you up?”
    “Your father is the one who should be afraid.”
    “How dare you threaten him!”
    “How dare your father mess up the investigation so badly that he killed my father.”
    “My father assures me that the investigation was very thorough and no mistakes were made.”
    “Did he offer to show you the case file? No? I didn’t think so.”
    “He would if I asked him to.”
    “Dream on.”
    “You’re just trying to make trouble. Stop following me around.”
    “I’m not following you.”
    “So you just happened to be standing here outside my condo building?”
    “No, I wanted to find out why you lied in Italy.”
    “Me? You’re the one who lied.”
    “You said you were a children’s librarian.”
    “I was. I’m not anymore.”
    “Why?”
    She almost blurted out a litany of reasons. Because she wanted to teach Caine a lesson. Because she wanted to prove that her father had done nothing wrong. Because she wanted to be tougher and meaner so that no other man would ever take advantage of her again.
    There were tons of reasons.
    “Why?” he repeated.
    That, sir, is no business of yours . That’s what Jane Austen would say. But Faith wasn’t Jane Austen, and she needed a tougher author mentor now. Unfortunately, she couldn’t think of one right at the moment, but she would soon. Her ability to channel Jennifer Garner from Alias seemed to have disappeared.
    Since Faith couldn’t think of something stinging and brilliant to say, she turned her back on Caine and looked for Yuri again.
    Removing her earbuds, she called out, “Yuri, I need you.” The doorman quickly appeared at her side. He was a stocky man built like a wrestler. “Is there a problem?” he asked.
    Faith nodded. “This man is giving me a hard time.”
    “Yo, Bentley, is that you?” Caine said.
    Yuri glared at Caine before blinking. “Hunter? Caine Hunter? What the hell are you doing here?”
    “Me? What about you?” Caine slapped him on the back. “What’s with the uniform? What happened to your dress blues, Gunny?”
    “That was a long time ago.”
    “You two know each other?” Faith had to ask, even though the answer seemed obvious.
    Caine nodded. “Bentley here was a Marine. Semper fi.”
    She turned to look at her doorman. “You were a Marine?”
    Yuri shrugged. “Like I said, that was a long time ago. Nearly ten years.”
    Faith eyed both men suspiciously. “Did you pay Yuri off to say he knew you?”
    Her question was directed to Caine, but both men gave her an offended look.
    “What?” she said.
    “You don’t pay someone off to say they were a Marine,” Caine stated.
    “Why not? Yuri does a lot of community theater work. He’s a good actor.”
    “I’m just starting out,” Yuri said modestly.
    “He was an extra on an episode of ER last year,” she said.
    Caine frowned. “Gunny, you’re an actor?”
    Yuri nodded sheepishly.
    “Why are you