Downtown Debutante. Kara Lennox

as Sonya’s logic was, Brenna understood. After all, she hadn’t told her own parents that her wealthy, suave art-agent fiancé was a big phony. It was a very tough thing, admitting not just that you were a fool, but a destitute one. But at least Brenna’s family hadn’t gotten to the wedding-plan stage.

      “I’m sorry to leave you like this,” Sonya said. “I think you should give up the hunt for now. It’s not safe, and Marvin could be dangerous. Or…you could hook up with the FBI agent.”

      Brenna snorted. “Yeah, right. He thinks I’m protecting Marvin. Of all the stupid assumptions.”

      “He had to make sure,” Sonya said. “He was probably going by the statistics. After all, it would be easy for a naive woman to convince herself there’d been some mistake, that the love of her life hadn’t really stolen from her, that the FBI was in error. Agent Packer has no way of knowing you aren’t one of those women.”

      “I can’t believe you’re defending him. He sneaked into our room! He was probably looking through our underwear.”

      Sonya’s face hardened. “John-Michael is the one who broke in. Agent Packer was just trying to protect us.”

      Brenna supposed that was marginally true, at least if she could believe Packer’s story.

      “Promise me you won’t try to catch Marvin on your own,” Sonya said. “I don’t want to have to worry about you.”

      Under the circumstances, Brenna had no choice. “I promise. Don’t give me another thought. You just go home and take care of your mother.”

      Sonya zipped up her last suitcase. “I feel so guilty, making her worry.” She bit her lip. “I probably caused her heart attack.”

      “You didn’t know she was ill. Don’t do this to yourself, Sonya.” Brenna went to Sonya and hugged her. Other than coming from wealthy families, the two women didn’t have a lot in common. They never would have sought each other out as friends under ordinary circumstances. But over the past few weeks, they’d shared a lot.

      “With Cindy on her honeymoon and me going home,” Sonya said, “I guess The Blond Posse is officially disbanded.”

      “I have a feeling we’ll see each other again.” Brenna helped Sonya carry her suitcases out. The bodyguard loaded them all in the trunk of his rental SUV as if they weighed nothing. Packer was nowhere to be seen, the traitor.

      At the last minute Brenna took Sonya aside. “How well do you know this guy?”

      “Way better than I ever wanted to. We grew up together, though he’s a few years older than me. But Mother hired him as my bodyguard when I was eighteen.”

      “I could think of worse fates.” The bodyguard wasn’t hard to look at, but it was Heath Packer who’d caused Brenna’s hormones to jump up and take notice.

      “Ugh. Please.” Sonya gave a very un-Sonya-like sneer. Then she gave Brenna a quick parting hug, climbed into the bodyguard’s SUV and was whisked away.

      Brenna felt a wave of loneliness. What was she going to do now? Sit back and let the FBI go after Marvin? Yeah, like they’d been so effective up until now. That jerk Packer was wasting his time suspecting her, instead of going after the real criminal.

      She supposed she better pay her restaurant check before Willie-the-Cajun-Waiter-from-Hell came after her with his coffee pot.

      She returned to her room, pulled a twenty from her stash—at least neither of the room-breakers had found her money—and headed back to the restaurant.

      “Hey, Willie,” she called to their surly waiter. “I got the cash.” She waved her twenty at him. “I told you I was good for it.”

      Now Willie was all smiles. “Oh, not to worry, miss. Your bill was paid in full.”

      “Oh.” Had Sonya—no, the SUV had driven down the street in the opposite direction. Then, somehow, without even seeing him, Brenna knew. She felt a tickle at the back of her neck and turned to see Heath Packer in a booth, eating a bowl of gumbo.

      She marched over to the booth and slid in across from him. “So, you’re still here. I suppose you expect me to slobber in gratitude for paying our bill.”

      He looked up from his gumbo. “A simple thanks would do.”

      She slapped her twenty on the table. “Here. I refuse to be beholden to you.”

      “Now there’s no need—”

      “How dare you think I’m so stupid that I would protect a guy who totally humiliated me and wiped me out, not to mention the damage he’s done to my reputation? If I don’t show up at that IJC show with my jewelry, my career is over!”

      “I have to go with the information I have,” Heath said in an infuriatingly reasonable tone. “Agent Delacroix told me what happened in Faring, Louisiana. Your warning allowed Marvin Carter to escape.”

      “That was an accident. He wasn’t supposed to see Cindy peeking in his window. Oh, why am I trying to explain anything to you?” Brenna stole a package of saltines from Heath and opened it.

      “Didn’t you just have lunch?” he asked.

      “I have a fast metabolism.”

      Heath focused on his gumbo for a few minutes. He ate his way around the okra, she noticed. Obviously not a Southern boy.

      “So what brought you to New Orleans?” he finally asked after a long, awkward silence.

      “Internet sleuthing.” Brenna’s pride over how clever she and Sonya had been warred with her desire not to talk to Packer. Pride won out. “Sonya’s first contact with Marvin was in a chat room, so we figured he might use that MO again. Sure enough, we spotted him in a singles chat room. Different name, but using the same tired lines. He was flirting with a woman called ‘FrenchQuarterChic.’ Before we could learn more, they both dropped off. I discovered he’d downloaded maps of New Orleans from my computer.”

      Packer gave Brenna a nod. “Good work.”

      “She’s here, all right. And so is he.”

      “It’s a pretty big city.”

      “I know. But I figure he might try to fence some of the stolen jewelry here. There are a ton of estate jewelers on Royal Street. I looked in the Yellow Pages.”

      HEATH HAD TO HAND IT to Brenna. She had a sharp mind. That was a pretty good story she’d cooked up—improbable, but barely believable. She also had quite an appetite. She polished off the last saltine from the cellophane packet, then started eyeing his cornbread muffin.

      He pulled a paper napkin from the dispenser and set the muffin on it, pushing it toward her. “Jeez. I’d hate to see you if you missed a meal.”

      She dug into the muffin without so much as a thanks.

      “So what are your plans?” Heath asked casually.

      “I don’t have any. I promised Sonya I wouldn’t track down Marvin Carter on my own. She thinks it might be dangerous, and she doesn’t want to worry about me.”

      “And I’m sure you wouldn’t want to worry your old sorority sister.”

      Brenna surprised him by laughing. “That was pretty funny. Me, in a sorority. I wonder if Mr. Beefcake Bodyguard bought it?”

      “You thought he was good-looking?”

      She gave him a sideways look. “Oh, yeah.”

      And just what the hell had prompted him to ask a stupid question like that? Heath reminded himself to stick to business. Whom Ms. Brenna Thompson found attractive or unattractive was not his concern.

      “Why does Sonya need a bodyguard?” he asked.

      “She doesn’t. But her mom’s overprotective because Sonya’s father was murdered when