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When he glanced up again, the girl was staring at his chest, Well, more precisely, the bruises still visible on his shoulders and chest. Those were from getting shot in his vest. Had Kyle and Flowers been using armor-piercing rounds, that would have been it. Most of the bruising had faded to a Halloween-themed green and yellow, but the discoloration was probably startling to anyone who wasn’t prepared, and he wished he’d taken the time to do more than pull on his jeans. He had zero interest in giving the good folks of Twinkleton something else to talk about.

He watched her gaze move to the array of medications on the nightstand, and sighed inwardly.

“Here you go. Thanks for lugging all this upstairs.” He handed her the money, which she took automatically.

Something about that wide-eyed troubled blue gaze was familiar, but he couldn’t quite place her.

“Do I know you?” he asked. Although the real question was probably do you know me?

Her gaze jerked up to his, and her expression returned to the haughty disapproval of the day before.

“Do you?” she inquired.

She delivered the line perfectly, which amused him, given that she couldn’t be more than twenty-one or twenty-two. Granted, twenty-one could do a lot of damage. Kyle had been twenty-one.

His gaze dropped to her name badge.

SCARLETT

He knew that name. Why did he know that name?

Archie’s heart sank. “You’re Beau’s kid sister. One of the twins.”

Scarlett and Chase. That was it. Now that he knew what he was looking for, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t spotted the strong family resemblance at once—especially the disapproving glare.

“And you’re Archie Crane.”

He was pretty sure there was a not very flattering characterization to follow; if so, she decided to keep it to herself.

He remembered little about either of Beau’s younger siblings. Just that they had often been underfoot and he and Beau regarded them as a nuisance to be dealt with in whatever way would not bring parental wrath crashing down upon them.

“How’ve you been?” he asked.

He wasn’t sure why he was trying to make conversation with a woman who clearly did not want to speak to him. He was still working through the implications of staying in a hotel where Beau’s kid sister had a front row view of everything he did.

“Better than you, I guess.” Scarlett glanced pointedly at his bruises.

Archie grinned. “Yeah, it’s tough getting a window seat on Southwest these days.”

Scarlett’s lip curled in derision. “Dr. Perry never flew Southwest Airlines in his life.”

That was true. John did not squander money, but he also didn’t hesitate to pay top dollar for the things he needed or wanted. He and Archie had flown back from Wyoming first class, which had gone a long way toward mitigating the misery of the trip for Archie. Uncle Sam rarely treated federal employees to first class air fare.

The real point was that Scarlett knew John and Archie had traveled from Wyoming together, and that was already more information about his personal business than Archie wanted people to know. But Twinkleton was a little town and keeping secrets here had always been difficult.

“How’s Chase?”

“He’s in the Marines.” She made it sound somehow like a threat, which struck him as funny, but Scarlett was already on her way out the door. Archie let her go without further comment.

He had to be at Madison Law by two o’clock, which allowed him plenty of time to eat, shower and dress. He wanted to be prepared, and currently, he did not do well rushing.

The breakfast, pancakes which appeared to have been made with coconut and key lime, was surprisingly good, as was the fresh coffee, and by the time he cautiously lowered himself into the whirlpool bath, he felt better than he had in weeks.

Granted, that wasn’t saying a lot.

As his muscles relaxed in the swirling heat of the water, he considered reasons why Judith might want to cut him out of the reading of John’s will. It hadn’t made sense last night and it still didn’t make sense in the light of day. Not that he was entirely surprised she didn’t want him there—and not that it would ever have occurred to him on his own that he should attend.

For the first time he gave Judith’s long-running antipathy his full attention.