LITMIR.BIZ

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woman rising from behind the reception desk froze into a startled mask. The colour rose in her cheeks. 'Liam.' She breathed the name in a way Rogan couldn't interpret. Disbelief? Hope? Perhaps both.

      'I'm Liam's twin brother, Rogan.' He made no move to offer her his hand, and he doubted she would have taken it anyway. She seemed more stunned than he would have anticipated. Her gaze flicked behind him, and he turned as a man walked across the waiting area towards him.

      'Mr Kennedy,' he gestured to the doorway behind him, 'I'm James Montgomery. Please come in.' He stood aside and waited for Rogan to walk into the room. Rogan was surprised when the receptionist followed them, then he realised that she must be Paige Montgomery. She perched on a chair near the side wall as though she expected to leave at any minute.

      'I'm sorry to hear about your brother,' James said as he sat behind his desk. 'It must be very worrying for you. We'll do everything we can to help.'

      'When did you last hear from Liam?' Rogan asked. He looked at James, but noticed Paige's top teeth nip into her bottom lip.

      'Well, that would have been over a week ago, wouldn't it, Paige?'

      'Yes, Uncle James.' The dutiful reply had a hesitancy in it that worried Rogan, but James appeared not to notice. Paige's wavy brunette hair fell across her forehead as she lowered her head, but Rogan caught her expression and got the feeling she wasn't telling the truth. He wanted to question her, but suppressed the urge. Liam's life could be at stake here, he couldn't afford to risk putting either of these two people offside.

      'Can you fill me in on what's happened? Keith Reynolds only gave me a brief rundown.'

      James nodded sympathetically. 'Of course. I understand how worried you must be. A little over two weeks ago, my niece, Breeanna, didn't show up for work, so I accompanied Paige to Breeanna's house to look for her.'

      'Where does Breeanna work?' Rogan interrupted.

      'Here at the institute. In the laboratories. Breeanna's always been a little … strange, but she's a brilliant research scientist. When we looked through her house, Paige discovered drugs and a syringe that Breeanna had been using. We were shocked, but …'

      'So you hired Liam to look for her.'

      'That's right. Last Tuesday we received a message from him saying that he had a lead but it might take some time to follow up so if we didn't hear from him for a while we weren't to worry.'

      'Do you know what that lead was?'

      James shook his head. 'No. I'm sorry. I wish we did. We're very worried about Breeanna and most anxious to find her. As you must be about your brother,' he added. 'If there's any way we can help …'

      Rogan hesitated. This wasn't his scene. He was way out of his depth in Liam's world. But he had to try. 'Do you have a photo of Breeanna I could have?' he asked. At least he would know what she looked like in case he came across her.

      'I have one.' Paige spoke quickly as though anxious to contribute. She walked from the room.

      Rogan stood up and offered his hand to James. 'Thanks for seeing me. I'll let you know when I find Liam.'

      'Please do. I feel responsible for this terrible mess. If I hadn't encouraged Paige to use a private detective your brother wouldn't have been involved.' He shook his head and walked with Rogan to the office door. 'I hate to think what may have happened to Breeanna,' he sighed.

      Paige was searching through her handbag, a frown creasing her pale forehead. She shared James' slim build but not his narrow face, and Rogan noted the soft prettiness in her high cheekbones and rosebud lips. With a breath of relief she brought out a small thin folder and flipped it open. She took out a photo, handed it to Rogan, and stood, hovering like an anxious butterfly while he looked at it. He guessed the photo was several years old as Paige's hair was now longer, but the woman standing next to her, arm protectively curved around Paige's shoulders, focused his attention.

      Not beautiful, not pretty, with strong facial bones, flyaway black hair and dark eyes that looked as though they held secrets that a man would like to get to know. Her full lips were slightly parted, not smiling, but hinting that something humorous just might happen that she could laugh at. Breeanna Montgomery was a striking woman.

      'Can I keep this for now?' he asked.

      Paige hesitated for only a second. 'Of course.' Her mouth opened as though she wanted to say more, but quickly closed again.

      'Thanks.' Rogan put the photo in his shirt pocket. His instincts told him Paige was hiding something, but he didn't know how to go about getting her to tell him without scaring her off. Diplomacy was Liam's forte, not his.

      'I hope you find your brother soon.'

      Rogan nodded and walked to the front door. As his fingers touched the handle he turned back to Paige. 'If you remember anything that will be of help,' he said, 'can you please give me a call?'

      Paige nodded, looking almost relieved, and wrote quickly as Rogan gave his mobile phone number.

      The gnawing unease in his gut stayed with Rogan as he walked out and got into his Rodeo. The electronic gates swung open as he drove up to them, and clanged behind the Rodeo as it crossed the footpath.

      Before he could turn into the street to drive away, a red Falcon shot out from a parking space up the road and screeched to a halt in front of his vehicle.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      The blonde who emerged from the Falcon with a slam of the door and a toss of her head was built like every sailor's dream. If the blue figure-hugging knit top wasn't lying, she had breasts that had enough uplift to make a bra superfluous. Her waist didn't so much curve as flow, and Rogan would have placed bets that her jeans-encased derriere was equally delightful.

      A reaction of pure lust shot through him and reminded him how long it had been since he'd been to bed with a woman. The look on the woman's face indicated the situation wasn't likely to change.

      She marched up to his window and wrenched open the door.

      'Where the hell have you been, Liam?' Her eyes narrowed. 'Sunning yourself on some tropical resort by the look of that tan. I thought we had a deal?'

      Rogan wasn't sure if he needed to cop the flak this woman was intending for Liam, but at the moment he had no leads on Liam's disappearance, and he'd pretend to be the Pope if it would give him even one clue to his brother's whereabouts. 'And what deal was that?'

      'Don't get smart with me, Liam. I got you the lead Breeanna Montgomery, now where's my exclusive interview with her?'

      'What makes you think I've found her?' Rogan countered.

      Exasperation showed on the woman's face. 'You told me you were following through on the lead. Then you disappear for a week! And you don't answer your phone. It was only good luck that I spotted you driving into here,' she nodded towards the research institute. She frowned at his Rodeo. 'Whose vehicle is this? It has a Queensland number plate. Is that where you've been?'

      Rogan thought quickly. If what this woman said about giving Liam the information he needed to find Breeanna Montgomery was true, he had to keep her thinking he was Liam. At least for long enough to find out what it was so he could trace Liam's movements.

      'Yes,' he replied. 'But I didn't find her. It looks like we'll have to go over that information of yours again and see if there's something we missed. At the moment,' he nodded towards the street where a car was negotiating its way around the Falcon, 'you're holding up traffic.'

      The blonde smiled, a seductive curve to lips that just missed being labelled 'pouty'. 'All right. We'll go to my place. Just follow me.'

      Rogan watched, fascinated, as the blonde returned to her car. And changed his mind about 'delightful'. Firm flesh undulating beneath clinging denim was definitely 'delectable'.

      As he followed the Falcon through a maze of streets that left him knowing which direction they had taken but confused as to what suburbs they passed through, his mind

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