"You believe her?" Benjamin asked.
"Yes, I do. That's not because I'm taking her side, either. She's just so open about her herbal remedies, so committed to their safe use, it doesn't make sense that she'd be so sneaky. If she thought tincture of bistort and agrimony would help Stan, she'd hand him a bottle and give him a lengthy lecture on how to use it and why he needs it." Piper threw up her hands in frustration, letting them drop to her wet, sandy sides. "Come on, guys. You know that's what she'd do."
"Unless she's slipping," Andrew said, and for an instant, Piper could see that the prospect of their great-aunt, a steady presence in all their lives, losing it bothered him.
"Stan could have made up the incident just to save face by making Hannah look worse. Or someone else in town decided to capitalize on the tea story and get his goat."
"A copycat poisoning? I doubt it, Piper."
"It wasn't a poisoning in either case. Hannah's tea didn't agree with Stan."
"I'm not going to argue with you," Andrew snarled.
Benjamin gestured at his sister, taking in her disheveled state. "You should go in and change before you freeze to death."
"Why'd you go swimming in your clothes?" Andrew demanded, his tone suggesting it was just the sort of thing his moronic little sister would do. Then his eyebrows drew together. "Jesus. You and Jackson jump into the bay together?"
"No, we did not jump into the bay together, not that it's any of your damned business." She launched herself to her back door. Tell your brothers, Piper. Yeah, right. "I'm going in. You two done?"
Benjamin glanced uncomfortably at Andrew. "You want me to tell her?"
"Go ahead."
Benjamin breathed out, shifting back to his sister. "Clate Jackson or someone from his company has been making discreet inquiries into land development on this part of the Cape."
The flush of embarrassment she'd felt a moment ago cooled to ice. "What? How do you know?"
"We hear things," Andrew said before Benjamin could give her a better answer. Payback time for Piper holding out on them. But his expression softened. "Look, it's on good authority, but I don't know if any of it's true. It just seems to me this guy's got a different agenda from yours, that's all. We just wanted to give you a heads-up."
Too late, she thought, remembering the feel of Clate's hard body on hers in the wet sand, the aching need to touch, taste, explore every inch of him, remembering his interest in her, who she was, how she lived, what she wanted out of life, over dinner. No wonder her brothers were warning her. She was out of her mind.
She gave them a faltering smile. "Thanks. I guess I'd do the same for you."
Andrew smiled. "Damned straight you would."
"You go on and get cleaned up," Benjamin said. "Andrew and I will drop in on Hannah tomorrow, see what she says, and draw our own conclusions." At Piper's start, he added, "Don't worry, we'll be subtle. Liddy's going to stop by tomorrow with the boys, too. Maybe we haven't been paying enough attention to her lately."
Piper gave him a noncommittal smile. "Hannah always enjoys seeing Liddy and the boys—and you and Andrew, of course. Pop going with you?"
"We haven't told him all this yet," Andrew said. He was still leaning back on his heels, studying her suspiciously. "Piper, does Hannah have you on some other mission since the valerian root?"
She hated lying, but she couldn't tell them the truth. She'd promised Hannah her discretion, and if they doubted their aunt on the tincture of bistort and agrimony, her brothers would never believe her on buried Russian treasure. "I'm taking the Fifth."
Andrew swore under his breath.
"She doesn't need to get into any more trouble, Piper," Benjamin said, "and neither do you. Remember that, okay? Now, go get cleaned up. We'll talk tomorrow."
If she played the tape from her message machine for them, they'd talk right now. They'd never leave. They'd call their father, have a Macintosh-male powwow, decide her next moves from then on, until they had everything sewn up and resolved. Clate might not know how her brothers worked, but she did.
"Sure. Tomorrow." She pasted a phony smile on her face. "Thanks for stopping by. I really think we need to be careful of making mountains of molehills."
"Or vice versa," Andrew muttered.
"You need us," Benjamin said, "we'll be there."
That much, Piper knew, and always had known. Which didn't make life with her two big brothers any easier.
* * *
Chapter 10
Thunderstorms were moving in over Cape Cod. The air was muggy by northern standards, and Piper Macintosh was pedaling toward town like the proverbial bat out of hell. Clate slowed down alongside her. She gave him a scathing look from under her helmet and kept pedaling.