Lie with me, p.1
Lie With Me, page 1
LIE WITH ME
The President’s Daughters
Book 2
Kathryn Shay
Lie With Me
Copyright © 2022 by Kathryn Shay
All Rights Reserved
Smashwords Edition
Published by Ocean View Books
Cover Design by Shelley Kay at Web Crafters
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the bookseller and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Table of Contents
Cast of Characters
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Author’s Note
Don’t Miss All of The President’s Daughters Stories
BE MINE AGAIN Excerpt
About the Author
Cast of Characters
Main Characters:
Sasha Masters—dancer, owns dance studio DanceWorks in Rockford, NY
Dan West—journalist investigating the Manwarings
The President’s Daughters:
Annalise Masters Manwaring—twin of Andraya, member of the House of Representatives
Andraya Masters Manwaring—twin of Annalise, teacher at the Marcello School in Italy
Hannah Masters Manwaring—lives a self-sustaining lifestyle in Rockford, NY
Sasha Masters Manwaring—youngest daughter and sister
James Manwaring—president of the United States for eight years, retired
Karen Masters Manwaring—mother of the girls, former first lady, former attorney
Other Characters in Sasha’s Life:
Mrs. Bruni—owns Bruni’s Bakery
Liam Murray—firefighter
Billy Compton—janitor for DanceWorks
Holly Littman—Liam’s girlfriend; takes dance class at DanceWorks.
The Gentileschi Family: Queen Renata, King Alessio, Princesses Calla and Alexandra
Other Characters in Dan’s Life:
Emmett Ellis—editor in charge of investigations at the Washington Times
Casey Ellis—Emmett’s son, friend to Dan
Bobby Competti—part of a Mafia Family
Bodyguards:
FBI
Agent Luke Max FBI agent
Agent Carl Langdon—in charge of the Organized Crime Unit
Special Agent Jake Stewart—in charge of the Secret Service
Special Agent Mike Connelly—in charge of the FBI
Secret Service
Agent Eddie Porter
Agent Milt Smith
Agent Brett Zemanski
Agent Bryan Zemanski
Agent Jenny Summers
Minor Characters helping in the bakery:
Will Williams
Joanie Carroll
Thomas Adams
Places frequented:
Bruni’s Bakery
DanceWorks
The Rockford Hotel
DeLuca’s Diner
Bright Oaks Country Club
Café Italiano
Black and Blue
Casa Largo Vineyards
Magnolia’s
Animals in the story:
The inimitable Trouble—the goat
Prince—Hannah’s black lab
Chapter 1
The phone shrilled into the darkness. Sasha startled awake. With shaky hands, she grabbed it from the nightstand.
“H-hello.”
“Is this Sasha Masters, the owner of DanceWorks?” She’d chosen to use her mother’s last name for privacy when she moved to Rockford.
“It is.” She glanced at the clock. Three in the morning. This wasn’t going to be good.
“Lieutenant Liam Murray here, from The Rockford Fire Department. Your building caught fire, in the bakery. It’s contained on the first floor.”
“Is Mrs. Bruni hurt? Anybody?”
“Nobody’s hurt. But her shop is a mess with a shitlo—oops, sorry, a whole lotta water damage.”
“Oh, no.”
“She’s at the site, now. She gave us your contact information. There’s smoke damage in your studio but you’re one lucky dog. The sprinklers stopped the fire from reaching the second level.”
“Just so no one was hurt. I’ll be right there.”
“Thank you. Mrs. Bruni’s all alone.”
“I’ll hurry.”
Throwing on clothes, Sasha thought about calling her sister Hannah, but she was still recovering from her arm surgery and she’d want to come, too. Sasha could handle this by herself.
She took a moment to breathe in and out deeply for calmness, then dashed out to the car. On the short drive she uttered the mantra, “No one’s hurt. No one’s hurt.”
Flashing red lights from police vehicles blocked off the entrance but they let her through. More red lights and the loud rumble of firetrucks greeted her as she arrived at the building and hurried out of the car. A man in tan-and-yellow gear approached her. “Ms. Masters?”
“Yes.”
“Liam Murray. I called you.” He angled his head. “Mrs. Bruni’s over there.”
“Can you tell me how the fire started first? And the extent of the damage?”
“Looks like an electrical outlet sparked in the bakery near the deep frier.”
“That’s terrible.”
“We got here fast and put it out with a special extinguisher. The flames did damage, but the water is the big culprit.”
“Did you explain this to her?”
“Uh-huh. She asked if she did anything wrong.”
“Aw. Poor woman. I’ll go over to her.”
The stalwart widow of a war veteran, Angela Bruni was slump-shouldered and pale. When she saw Sasha, she started to cry. “Cara. My shop.”
It was dark so Sasha couldn’t see inside. “Mi dispiace tanto.” Mrs. Bruni had been teaching her Italian so she knew the words for I’m sorry.
“Dio mia. This is all I have left of Gus.” She and her husband started the bakery together. “That nice firefighter said it was not my fault.”
“Apparently the electrical outlet was old and sparked.”
Mrs. Bruni shook her head. “Your studio?”
“Smoke damage. Easier to clean up.” But water damage? That was huge.
“He said I can rebuild. But how?”
“The building’s insured. I promise, you’ll have your store back.” If Sasha had to pay extra for repairs herself. She owned the structure and was up to code on her inspections. This must have been a fluke.
Another woman approached them. “Angie, dear Angie, I’m so sorry.” Sasha had met Mrs. Bruni’s sister, who often helped out at the bakery.
They hugged then Mrs. Bruni said, “Coso posso fare, Millie.”
“We’ll figure out what we can do.” Mildred looked over her sister’s shoulder at Sasha. “There’ll be a way.”
“Excuse me.” Lt. Murray stood behind them. “Ms. Masters would you like to go up and see your studio? The private entrance staircase’s intact.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” She said to the women, “I’ll be right back.”
He handed her something. “I got some goggles from the truck and some gloves. Put them on. And don’t touch anything.”
He went ahead of her to the door. “I’m afraid we had to break your lock.”
“I’m glad you didn’t have to break down the door.”
They climbed the steep staircase and he opened the studio door. Immediately, she began to cough.
“We should go back.”
“No, I’ll be all right.” She pulled out a scarf she’d grabbed at home and covered her mouth and nose to dilute the acrid, putrid smell.
The symptoms dwindled and her eyes adjusted. Everything was intact—the two dance barres, the set of mirrors. She saw the door was closed to the office so that might have helped to keep it cleaner.
“We can’t stay, but I wanted you to know it’s just smoke damage.” When she didn’t respond, he went on, “There’ll be soot everywhere. But luckily no water damage. The alarm went off and we got here fast.”
“I had a layer of fireproof compounds and mortar laid between the floors when I remodeled upstairs.”
“Good thinking. Let’s go back to the street.”
Ironically, it was a lovely July night, with stars twinkling and the streetlights glowing. Too lovely, for what had happened here.
Sasha had a thought. “I forgot to ask how I go about cleaning all this up.”
“Call Pro Serve. They’ve worked with us a lot. You’ll have to wait to do anything inside, though, until the arson squad checks things out.”
“Arson? This could be arson?”
“Doesn’t seem like it to me, but for most commercial fires, the squad comes to make sure. I already told this to Mrs. Bruni.”
“Oh. My heart stopped there for a minute. But, again, thanks.”
Sasha walked over to Mrs. Bruni, who now sat on one of the benches that lined the street. Mildred’s arm circled around the shoulders of her sister’s flow ered house dress. Sasha joined them. As soon as she sat and took the old woman’s hand, she felt gutted by her pain.
Sasha ignored it. She would be here for her friend.
* * *
Dan stood across the street on the sidewalk as he watched Sasha come out of the studio entrance with a fireman and head over to a bench. Amidst the noise of the trucks and officers shouting orders, Dan crossed to where she sat with Mrs. Bruni. Her curly brown hair was back in a ponytail and she wore a light purple workout suit. “Sasha, are you all right?”
“Danny? Um, physically, I’m fine. What are you doing here?”
“I have a small apartment down the street and heard the commotion outside my window.”
“I forgot where you lived.”
“Mrs. Bruni, I’m so sorry about all this,” he said.
The older woman stared at him with bruised eyes. He tried not to react but she was so sad even his hardened heart softened. “Danny. Thank you.”
“You two know each other?” Sasha asked.
“I go to the bakery almost every day.”
“You’re a nice boy,” she said squeezing his hand.
Ha! He was anything but that.
“What can I do for you?” he asked Sasha
“We don’t know yet.”
When Mrs. Bruni turned to her sister, Dan dropped down next to Sasha. Taking her hand would be too forward, so he made sure their hips and shoulders touched. Her face was ragged, her violet eyes turbulent, something else that elicited unwanted emotion from him. “This is so awful.”
“I know. You’re insured, aren’t you?”
“I am. But Mrs. Bruni has a high deductible. She won’t be able to cover all the repairs.”
“There must be something we can do.” He used we intentionally.
“The town has to help.”
“I agree. How bad was your studio damaged?”
“Smoke damage. The flames didn’t reach it so the sprinklers didn’t go off.”
“That’s good to hear. At least it didn’t burn.”
“I have to remember that.” She gave him a small smile. “I like that you’re so optimistic.”
Again, the foreign twist in his heart. Which he couldn’t afford. He’d come to Rockford to do a job and he certainly couldn’t develop feelings for his target. After all, he was planning to destroy her life as she knew it.
* * *
Hannah walked into Sasha’s house at nine on the morning of the fire. She’d awoken to find her sister’s email, telling her about the incident after the fact. She found Sasha dressed in a tracksuit and staring out the window. “What the hell, Sash?” Hannah said, her heart still pumping at the news.
Sasha turned. They rarely, if ever, had harsh words. “I didn’t call at three a.m. because I didn’t want you to come with me. You’re still recovering.”
Hannah shook her head. Sasha was the kind sister, always thoughtful, even at her own expense. The notion calmed her. Crossing into the room, she said, “Come sit with me.”
They sat. Sasha was expert at reading people. She had a certain sense about things including fearful concerns when someone in the family was in trouble or emotionally overwrought.
“I’m sorry I yelled. You’re too careful with others. You needed someone with you. You shouldn’t have handled this alone.”
“I wasn’t alone. A very sweet fire lieutenant stayed close. Then Danny showed up.”
“My Danny?”
“Yeah, you know, the guy who works for you.” It was good to hear humor in her tone.
Danny Larson was Hannah’s hired help. He had an Agricultural Studies degree and wanted to get his PhD at Cornell in the same field. He was doing internship-type work to become a more attractive student when he applied, but he also had to save money to attend. And he had the hots for her sister.
“Still, you should have called me.”
“This was my decision, Hannah. I was fine. Sad. Nervous, but I wasn’t alone.”
Shaking her head, Hannah looked away. She hated when others tried to make decisions for her, so she needed to get a grip and not do it for her sister, despite the fact that her whole family saw Sasha as fragile.
Hannah sniffed. “I smell coffee already made.”
“I put on a pot for you. I knew you’d come over.”
She stood and went the counter. “You want something?”
“No, thanks. I’ve had herbal tea.”
Hannah sipped the strong brew, appreciating the flavor. “So how bad was the damage to the bakery?”
“It’s mostly water damage. All the walls were soaked. Unfortunately, Angie Bruni had irreplaceable paintings of Italy that she brought to the U.S. And she had a shelf full of old and rare cookbooks. They’re gone, too.”
“The poor woman.”
“Thanks, I—”
The doorbell rang, cutting off her sentence.
“I wonder who that could be,” Sasha commented.
“Maybe Danny.”
Sasha crossed to the back door and opened it. Hannah could hear the conversation.
“Hi. I’m Liam Murray, from last night. I thought maybe you wouldn’t recognize me.”
“I didn’t, for a few seconds. Hi, Lieutenant.”
“Liam, please. I came out to check on you.” He had a sexy voice. Or maybe it was the tone he used with Sasha.
“What a nice thing to do. Come on in.”
He followed Sasha out of a closet area/mud room and she introduced Hannah. “Hello.”
“This is Liam, the firefight from last night. He literally saved Mrs. Bruni’s shop.”
“It’s my job, Sasha.”
But Hannah bet this visit wasn’t in the firefighter manual. “Nice to meet you. Thanks for all you did for Sasha.”
“Want some coffee or tea?” Sasha again.
“I don’t do caffeine.”
“Neither do I. Tea’s herbal.”
“I’d love some, then.”
The guy showed all the signs of being interested in Sasha. Hannah wondered if she should leave. But then her sister placed homemade bread on the table and the scent of sweet apples and dough was too hard for Hannah to resist.
Apparently, neither could Liam. He said, after one bite, “Wow, this is great,” devoured it, then plucked up another. He was kind of cute with short blond hair, long-lashed hazel eyes and a smile that almost matched Sasha’s. They’d make a cute couple. And what the hell was Hannah doing matchmaking at a time like this?
A knock at the back door again. “Another visitor?” Hannah quipped as she got up and crossed to it.
On the other side stood Danny. Her farm worker who went agape when he first saw Sasha. The one who asked about her all the time. Well, this was going to be interesting.
* * *
What the fuck? Dan thought as he walked into the kitchen. Who the hell was the guy sitting next to Sasha? Struggling to tamp down his reaction, he said, “How are you today, Sash?”
“Tired. Mostly feeling bad for Mrs. Bruni.”
He glanced at the other man.
“This is Lt. Liam Murray. The firefighter in charge last night.”
“Hey, Lieutenant.” Dan hadn’t recognized him out of uniform. Hmm, this wasn’t an official visit. And he looked at Sasha like she was tonight’s dessert. That would never work. She couldn’t get involved with someone else. It would ruin his plan. He struggled not to show his displeasure.
Then Sasha smiled. God, he never expected to delight in that smile. It wasn’t just her appearance, though those violet eyes had sucked him in right away. Something emanated from Sasha Masters that would be hard for any man to resist.
“Sit and have coffee, Danny.”
“If you’re sure I’m not interrupting something.”
“Of course not.” Sasha touched his arm, poured him coffee then sat, too.
He dropped down and studied the firefighter. He wore khaki shorts and a navy shirt; he sported toned muscles. At least Dan could compete with those, as he worked out religiously. And taking care of the farm had increased the strength he needed for his job. His real job.
