Engaging Alex

“It’s Mack—M-A-C-K.”

“Hold on,” he said in a clipped voice. She could hear voices in the background, as well as the shuffle of papers and the rapid-fire click of computer keys.

“Yes, we’ve got an Alex Mack in custody,” the sergeant said a few moments later. “He just posted bail. Alex Mack aka Alexander Mackopoulos.”

“Alexander who?” Paige couldn’t have heard him right.

“Alex Mack is an alias,” the sergeant informed him. “His legal name is Alexander Mackopoulos.”

Her grip tightened on the phone. “Are you absolutely certain we’re talking about the same man?”

“I’m positive. Alexander Mackopoulos was brought in this past Saturday night on charges of trespassing, destruction of private property and attempted assault.”

“Those were the charges,” Paige concurred, “but are you sure about the name?”

“It’s the same name that was on file when he was released from county jail a week ago,” Sergeant Phelps replied. “The fingerprints are the same, too.”

“Did you say county jail?”

His tone grew impatient. “Do you have a hearing problem, ma’am?”

“Why was Alex in jail?”

“We’re not allowed to release that information over the telephone. If you plan to drop the charges against him, then you’ll need to come down to the station and fill out the paperwork.”

“I will. Thank you, Sergeant.” Her head whirled as she hung up the phone. Alex Mack wasn’t Alex Mack. He was Alexander Mackopoulos. Ex-fiancé and ex-convict.

A complete stranger. She hadn’t even known the real name of the man she’d been about to marry. When Alex had shown up Saturday night and confessed that he’d been assigned to romance her, she’d just assumed he was a cop. A silly assumption, now that she thought about it. Would the police have arrested one of their own so easily? The officers who had taken him away in handcuffs Saturday night certainly hadn’t seemed to recognize him.

So if Alex wasn’t a cop, why had he been looking for her stepfather? Why had he been in jail? And why had he suddenly popped back into her life after all this time?

And the most important question of all—what was Paige going to do now?

LATE MONDAY MORNING, Alex walked out of the San Francisco county jail a free man. Temporarily, anyway.

His older half brother, Nico, waited for him in the narrow hallway, one burly shoulder propped against the painted cinder block. “I think we need to have a talk.”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Alex said, walking past him. Nico had always had an annoying habit of trying to tell him what to do. It had gotten even worse after their father died three months ago, when Nico had declared himself the head of the Mackopoulos family.

But his brother didn’t give up easily. “I just shelled out five hundred dollars, so I think you can listen to what I have to say.”

Listening to Nico was what had gotten him into this mess with Paige in the first place. “Don’t worry, I’ll pay you back every penny.”

Five hundred dollars had been the price of his bond, set by the judge less than an hour ago. His court date was scheduled for one month from today.

“I don’t give a damn about the money,” Nico said as they walked out of the courthouse and into bright California sunshine. “But I am worried about our mother getting wind of this. She’s been through enough lately.”

Alex couldn’t argue with that. The death of Lucian Mackopoulos had hit his wife Thea very hard. It amazed Alex that she could love that old man so much. Enough to forgive him for cheating on her twenty-nine years ago.

Enough to take his bastard son into her home.

Thea had always treated Alex as one of her own. She’d loved him unconditionally, even though he must have been a daily reminder of her husband’s infidelity. She’d never made him feel like an interloper in the Mackopoulos home, expecting everyone to treat him like a member of the family or face her wrath.

Not that his stepmother was the least bit intimidating. She was warm and loving, with a talent for cooking that had earned her a reputation for serving some of the best Greek cuisine in San Francisco. She’d toyed with the idea of opening a restaurant, but she had never followed through, insisting that her family came first. That was only one of the reasons Alex would protect her with his life. And why he’d gone to jail for her.

“Just explain to me why you’d be crazy enough to pay a visit to Paige Hanover after all this time?” Nico dug in his pocket for his car keys.

Alex stopped next to the vintage red Corvette that belonged to his brother. “None of your damn business.”

“If it affects this family, then it is my business.” Nico pushed the unlock button on his remote control, then popped open the door. “What exactly did you tell her, Alex?”

“Enough to get me thrown into jail.” Alex slid into the front passenger seat, then unspooled the seat belt. He was in no mood to deal with his overbearing brother today.

“Do you know what your problem is?” Nico asked.

Alex clenched his jaw. “I’m sure you’ll be happy to tell me.”

“You’re too damn noble. You probably went to see her so you could apologize. Am I right?”

“You think you are. That’s all that ever matters.”

Nico gripped the steering wheel of the parked car as he stared straight ahead. “Just tell me you didn’t spill all the family secrets to clear your conscience.”

Alex turned to look at him. “I went to jail for almost a year to keep our father’s secret. A Mackopoulos never breaks his word.”

“Then promise me you won’t see her again.”

Alex stared out the passenger window. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?”

He couldn’t tell Nico the real reason. That Paige had gotten under his skin a year ago and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to forget her. Need for her pulsed through his veins, even after she’d had him thrown in jail. But Alex wasn’t about to give up. A Mackopoulos never surrendered.

Unfortunately, his brother shared that same trait. Which made it difficult to deal with him whenever they disagreed. Like now, for instance.

“Just drop me off at Bay Bouquets in the Embarcadero Center. We’ll talk about this later.”

Nico narrowed his eyes. “Paige’s flower shop? Are you crazy? She had you locked up the last time you saw her. She might shoot you this time.”

“She’s not a violent person,” Alex said, hoping it was true. He’d never seen Paige as angry as she’d been the other night, her cheeks flushed with indignation and her blue eyes flashing fire. But passion burned underneath that fire. He could see it in the way she looked at him.

“How much does she know?” Nico asked, pulling out of the parking lot.

Alex turned to him. “She knows I dated her to try and gather information about her stepfather. She doesn’t know why. Or that you were the one who sent her that damn e-mail proposal.”

“I only sent it because you weren’t making any progress in locating Stanley Weaver. It’s obvious to me now that I should have done the job myself.”

The thought of Nico romancing Paige set Alex’s teeth on edge. “She couldn’t have told you what she didn’t know.”

“Maybe,” Nico conceded. “But it looks like I’ll be making her acquaintance anyway.”

Alex frowned at him. “Why?”

“To convince her to drop these ridiculous charges against you. I don’t want you spending another minute in jail. Not when I should have gone in your place.”

He was talking about the year Alex had been incarcerated on contempt charges for refusing to testify before a grand jury. It had been his bad luck to draw a hardnosed judge who routinely jailed witnesses until they agreed to talk. A judge who didn’t care that Lucian Mackopoulos, the owner of the company under investigation for illegal distribution of funds, was too ill to even realize what was happening.

Alex thought back to how it had all started, when Nico had come across a blackmail threat meant for their father. There was an audiotape, proving that Lucian had recently had a fling with a stripper in his private office, along with a threat promising to send the tape to Thea unless their father handed over twenty thousand dollars.

The blackmailer obviously didn’t know that Lucian had just suffered his first heart attack the day before. Nico, shocked by the evidence of his father’s betrayal, had paid the money to protect his mother. That had been his first mistake. His second had been withdrawing the funds from the company account.

By the time he’d confided in Alex, it had been too late. An overzealous IRS agent had caught the discrepancy months later and an investigation had begun.

Alex and Nico had begun an investigation of their own during that time, after the security firm they’d hired had pegged Stanley Weaver as the probable blackmailer. That’s when Alex had gone undercover as Paige’s boyfriend, hoping to discover Stanley’s whereabouts and try to find the original of the explosive audiotape.

But nothing had turned out as they’d planned. And neither Alex nor Nico could reveal the truth behind the missing twenty thousand dollars. Not without breaking their mother’s heart.

If Lucian hadn’t died of heart complications three months ago, Alex might still be in jail. They’d let him out just long enough to tell his father goodbye. Just long enough for Lucian to extract a promise from both his sons to take good care of their mother.

A promise they both intended to keep.

With Lucian’s death, the investigation against Mackopoulos Imports came to a grinding halt. But it still took almost twelve weeks before the case was officially closed and Alex was released from jail. He certainly didn’t intend to go back again.

“I’ll talk to Paige myself,” Alex said.

“Are you sure?” Nico asked him, turning into the Embarcadero Center. “I’ll be happy to handle it for you.”

“I’m sure,” he said firmly.

Alex tried to ignore the thrill of anticipation in the pit of his stomach. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about her all weekend. Despite the fact that she’d had him thrown in jail, he still wanted her.

In truth, he wanted her more now than when he’d been forced to leave her a year ago. But he still couldn’t tell her about the grand-jury proceedings. Or the contempt charges. Not without revealing everything.

Alex rubbed one hand over his face, realizing Paige would probably never let him near her again. But at least now he had an excuse. A reason to see her again. It was a step in the right direction.

Nico pulled up to the curb in front of Bay Bouquets. “Just let me know if she gives you any more trouble.”

“Thanks for the ride,” Alex said, climbing out of the Corvette. He didn’t want Nico within one hundred feet of Paige. The intensity of his possessiveness shocked him. It also made one thing perfectly clear.

He wanted Paige back. For real this time.

Alex walked into the shop as the Corvette spun away. The scent of roses hit him immediately and he remembered the day he’d come to pick her up here for their first date. He’d intended to approach the project without emotion, just like he approached his job as the financial manager for his father’s company. But those intentions had evaporated the first time Paige had smiled at him.

And he’d never recovered.

When Alex walked inside the shop, his arrival set off a door chime and he saw Paige’s mother, Margo Weaver, turn from the potted rosebush she was grooming to greet him.

But the moment she saw his face, she fell to the floor in a dead faint.

Alex rushed around the counter, kneeling down beside her. He picked up the pruning shears that lay partially beneath her, then softly called her name. “Margo?”

The sound of footsteps made him look up. He saw Paige gaping at him, horror in her big blue eyes as she looked at her unconscious mother on the floor, then at the pruning shears he still held in his hand.

“Get away from my mother!”

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