Free Secrets and Seduction: 5 Romance Novels by Shay Lacy Page A

was going to get burned.
    • • •
    Nick glanced again and again at Marisa’s strained profile. He’d done that, stressed her by pressing the mutual attraction they shared. Even now it was uncomfortable to sit in the car with a killer hard-on. He wanted her like he’d never wanted another woman. He could have ravished her right there at Belhurst in broad daylight.
    She was everything a man could want in a partner: intelligent, caring, community-minded, a loyal friend, a loving daughter, beautiful, sexy, and full of life. He hungered to possess her vitality. She made him feel alive again, and he didn’t want to go back to the dark deadness that had been his life for so many months.
    Yet she was right. His life wasn’t here and hers was. He couldn’t ruin what she had in Watkins Glen by sating both their sexual needs. She was hurting and in need of comfort. She didn’t need a fiery sexual liaison.
    Yes she did. And so did he. But he couldn’t do that to her. That would hurt her.
    She drove into the parking lot of the restaurant where they’d witnessed her friend’s death. Together they crisscrossed the area surrounding the promenade for twenty minutes before accepting that Marisa was right — there was no trash of any kind on or near the railroad crossing. If Carolyn had dropped something, the town of Watkins Glen was too thorough in cleaning the scene.
    “Do you really think Carolyn dropping something?” Marisa asked.
    Nick ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “I don’t know. Eyewitness accounts are known to contradict one another.”
    “Then it’s a dead end.” She winced when she said it and looked out over the lake. Then she frowned. “I wonder what’s going on out there.”
    There seemed to be a lot of activity in the harbor. A number of boats were heading out. Nick knew a situation response when he saw one. He spotted Brian directing.
    “C’mon. We’ll find out.”
    They reached his buddy just as another boat sped away from the dock.
    “What’s happening?” Nick asked.
    Brian looked up from his clipboard. “The salt plant’s intake pipe is blocked. Production’s been halted. I’m sending out every licensed diver. Do you dive, Nick?” He looked hopeful.
    Nick shook his head. “Nope.”
    “Too bad. I need every able-bodied hand.”
    “Deputy, don’t you think the timing’s a bit coincidental?” Marisa asked. “There are two meetings concerning the plant today.”
    Brian glanced from her to Nick. Nick wasn’t sure if he saw a question in his friend’s eyes before the deputy answered Marisa.
    “You think someone purposely stopped production?”
    “I don’t know. Have you checked Scott Wentworth’s whereabouts?”
    “Miss Avalos, Scott Wentworth owns the plant. He wants to sell it. He’s not going to sabotage it. And it’s probably not a good idea for you to make unfounded accusations against him.”
    Marisa raised her stubborn chin. “I’m not afraid of Scott Wentworth. Do I have a reason to be?”
    Again Brian glanced at Nick. Nick shrugged. “Tell her why she should fear her best friend’s husband.”
    “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
    “Nick, tell him about the psychiatrist,” Marisa said.
    Nick told his friend what he’d learned and the conclusions he and Marisa had drawn. When he finished, Brian wore a fierce frown.
    “Why didn’t you bring this to me first?”
    “Because you’re afraid of Scott and I’m not. It’s a motive,” Nick said.
    “It deserves to be investigated,” Marisa said. “I’ll do it if you don’t.”
    “All right.” Brian sounded harried. He lowered his voice. “But I won’t tell the sheriff. He knows who holds the money power in this town. I’ll make some calls. But you’d better keep quiet about your suspicions. You don’t want Wentworth to run.”
    Marisa straightened and lifted her chin. “I’m going up against him twice today. If I have to use what I know about him to fight him, I will.”
    “But you