Double the Heat by Deirdre Martin, Lori Foster, Elizabeth Bevarly, Christie Ridgway Read Free Book Online Page A

said, “when the situation calls for raising some hell.”
    But Lisa barely heard Dex. Staring at Hart, she said, “You believe in marital bliss?”
    Lounging back in his chair, fingers laced over his stomach, Hart treated her to a slow, knowing smile. “I’ll have to introduce you to my other cousins. They’ve all settled down and started families, and they’re the happiest bunch of ex-bachelors you’d ever want to meet.”
    Joe bobbed his eyebrows suggestively. “Very happy.” He nodded across the table. “Old Dex here will be tying the knot soon enough too.”
    Amazing. Lisa forced her gaze away from Hart to his brother. “You’re engaged?”
    “Funny story,” Dex said, “but I met the right woman while pretending to be Hart. Talk about awkward . . .”
    The men all laughed over some inside joke.
    Fascinated, Lisa wondered how in the world Dex ever managed such subterfuge. The differences between the two men, in her mind, were quite noticeable. “How did you fool her?”
    Hart perked up at that, but before he could say anything, the waiter returned with their drinks. When he asked for their orders, Joe told him to give them a little more time.
    As soon as he was gone, Dex leaned forward to share the story with Lisa. “Hart wanted some private time to train without the family knowing, so I moved into his place, and just claimed to be him. No one suspected a thing—except Christy. She picked up on differences right off.”
    “I’m sure she did.”
    Hart looked between them with heightened awareness.
    Dex slanted a look at his brother. “She barely knew Hart, and what she did know, she didn’t like all that much.”
    Lisa grinned.
    “When I behaved differently from Hart, it confused her.”
    “Especially his pursuit of her,” Hart pointed out, “given that I’d made a point not to get too friendly with any of the women in my apartment complex.”
    “I think when she found out the truth, she was more relieved than anything.” Dex smiled. “She forgave me, and finally started calling me by my name, instead of Hart’s.”
    Lisa could only imagine how uncomfortable that had to have been for both of them. “But you were truly able to fool her?”
    Dex shrugged. “You had the advantage of already knowing that Hart had a twin brother.”
    Brows drawn in confusion, Hart leaned forward, saying to his brother, “Did she—”
    “She did,” Joe told him.
    Hart stared at her. “You knew he wasn’t me?”
    She rolled her eyes. “As soon as I approached the table, yes.”
    “How?”
    Lisa gave him a long look, considered explaining, but then narrowed her eyes instead. “I’m really not talking to you right now.”
    Affront straightened his back. “What the hell did I do?”
    Dex elbowed him before saying, “Christy is planning the wedding, but in the meantime, she lives with me instead of next door to my brother.”
    “Dex doesn’t trust me,” Hart said.
    And Lisa agreed. “I don’t either.” She pushed back her chair.
    Joe forestalled her with a hand to her forearm. “We haven’t even ordered yet.”
    And she wasn’t going to. Sitting across from Hart, knowing the indifference he felt, was nearly painful. Her demure clothing might dissuade him from lascivious thoughts, but it did nothing to make her yearning ebb. “I didn’t really come to eat, just to share what I know, and that’s done.”
    Joe stood, too, as did the brothers. Dex looked uneasy; Hart, frustrated.
    “What are your evenings like?” Joe asked.
    Boring, but she wouldn’t admit it. “Why?”
    “I’d like to get everyone together at this place where the fighters hang out. Maybe the guys will show up there and you’ll recognize them.”
    “Oh, um . . .” She did not want to spend an evening with Hart. “Why not just report them to the authorities? Surely they could investigate.”
    “We can’t prove anything. They could say you misunderstood their conversation—but I don’t think you did. I want to catch them