Her Mysterious Houseguest

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“He’s one of a kind,” Rachel told her.

“Figures. I never get there first. You both gonna have the perch tonight?”

While they waited for their order, Mikel checked out the place, a habit he couldn’t break, even when he wasn’t on an agency case. He’d also chosen the only table left where his back could be to the wall. Rustic, without any attempt to be cutesy as well, Metrovich’s looked like what it was, an older, out-of-the-way eating place in the Michigan woods. A place where the local folk gathered.

“What do you think?” Rachel asked. “Acceptable to a New Yorker?”

“I always wait until the food comes to comment. That’s what counts.”

“In that case, you’ll give Metrovich’s five stars.”

At the moment, anyplace he could be with her would suit him, even a moderately noisy, definitely crowded restaurant.

The perch was as good as advertised and so was the lemon meringue pie that finished off the meal. “Okay, five stars it is,” he told her as they walked to his car. “The pie rivaled my grandmother’s, not that I’d ever tell her.”

After pulling onto the highway, he said, “In case you didn’t notice, you were the sensation of the evening.”

“Not as far as Kelly was concerned. By the way, did you notice both you and I wore black tonight?”

“Immediately. Had no idea I might have infected you with my color taste, but you can wear black for me anytime. I really—” He broke off, braking as a large black animal lumbered across the road in front of the car. “Damned if that’s not a bear!”

“We do have those,” she agreed. “Also deer, wolves and other assorted wildlife.”

“In the woods, yes. It’s just that I didn’t expect to see a bear in the middle of the road.”

“One never does—it’s always a surprise when they show up at the farm searching for windfall apples or culls left on those old trees way out in back. Poor Fitzgerald. When he was still alive, he used to hide for days after he smelled a bear anywhere around. It was like he was saying, ‘Hey, I’m a rabbit hound. I don’t do bears.’”

“So tomorrow I’m going to be convincing your Scouts to plant apple seedlings for the eventual gratification of bears.”

She laughed.

After he pulled into the farm driveway, he said, “My invitation still stands. I might add I do make a mean cup of coffee.”

Rachel knew very well she ought to decline. She’d learned early to avoid situations that might turn into wrestling matches. If the man had been anyone but Mikel she would’ve said no, but somehow she trusted him not to try to rush her into anything she didn’t want. Which was sort of scary, because she wasn’t at all sure what she did want from him. Except, of course, to know who’d sent him here. Which was reason enough to accept his invitation.

“As for me, I’m perfectly harmless,” he added as he parked the car.

How could he claim to be harmless with those green predator’s eyes? “The better to see you with, my dear,” she muttered without thinking.

“I didn’t quite catch that.”

She certainly wasn’t going to admit she’d quoted the wolf’s lines from Little Red Riding Hood. “Thank you, I’d love some coffee,” she told him. “If you’ve done your homework, we can discuss tomorrow’s Scout session while we drink it.”

He opened the cottage door to usher her in. “If I think of anything I need to know, you’ll be the first I’ll ask.”

“You sound pretty confident.”

“That’s the secret to coming out ahead.”

Rachel thought about that as she seated herself in a chair near the fireplace. “Do you always come out ahead?” she asked finally.

He turned on the coffeemaker and sank down into the old chair on the opposite side of the fireplace. “Often enough to pay the bills.”

“How about in the rest of your life?”

He shrugged. “We all make mistakes. I try not to repeat mine.”

She’d just bet he usually succeeded, too. Hoping to work the conversation around to where he might reveal information she needed, Rachel said, “I’ve never actually met a private investigator before. What’s it like being one?”

He sprang to his feet. “Forgot to light the fire.” As he proceeded to do so, he spoke with his back to her. “A job is a job. If you’re good at what you do and like it, then you stay interested. I imagine that’s how you feel about teaching.”

“More or less. But teaching students is rewarding in itself.”

He rose and turned to her. “Catching bad guys can be, too.”

“I’m sure. Do you think there’s a bad guy in the case you’re on now?”

“I don’t yet have enough information to know one way or the other.” He headed for the coffeemaker. “If that red light’s any indication, the coffee’s done. While we drink it, maybe you can help by telling me what you remember about Leo.”

Rachel tensed. “You still think he was involved in the girl’s disappearance?”

“I can’t be positive one way or the other. I came here to find out.”

“But he didn’t have anyone but his wife and daughter with him when he came home to Ojibway.”

“Apparently not. Still, that really only proves Renee Reynaud wasn’t with him when he arrived here, not that he wasn’t involved in some way.” Having poured coffee into the two mugs he’d bought, he carried one to her, saying, “As I recall, you drink yours black.”

She nodded, not really wanting to talk about Leo, but at the same time certain he’d wonder why, if she didn’t. Trying to find a place to begin, she started with “Leo was a good teacher. He inspired both Eva and me to become teachers, too.”

“Why was he good?”

“He was a quiet man who cared about children. He really listened to what they said to him and never turned a child away without the best answer he could find.”

“You were fond of him.”

It wasn’t a question, but she responded, anyway. “He was like a father to me—the right kind of father.” After a moment she added, “Being an orphan, that meant a lot.” She sipped the hot coffee and essayed a smile. “I thought maybe I was being invited into the wolf’s den for an attempted seduction tonight, but I see I was wrong.”

Mikel grinned at her. “Do you prefer being seduced? I always aim to please.”

She wished he wouldn’t look at her like that, his green eyes glowing as he let his gaze drift over her. She also wished it made her angry rather than making her wonder what it would be like if he kissed her. He had the most beautiful mouth, well-shaped and enticing.

“To be truthful, something like seduction did lurk in the back of my mind,” he admitted.

“Well, at least you haven’t lit any candles yet.”

“So you prefer a romantic seduction? I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Actually, no. I happen to think candles and soft music is overkill.”

“Then we’re okay here?” He gestured toward the fireplace. “We at least have the warm fire, the eager male and the ambivalent female.”