Page 96 of Colton's Last Resort

“I’m sorry.” She grabbed his arm before he could walk away. “I couldn’t tell you. He needed intimate knowledge of Mariposa’s staff and guests. He needed to know the resort from the ground up, every operation, inside and outside.”

“I knew he was hiding something,” Joshua muttered. “I just didn’t think you were in on it. We’ve always told each othereverything, Laura.”

“I know,” she said, forcing herself to look him in the eye, however much the accusation in his wounded. “I’m so sorry.”

“What’s going on?” Adam asked.

Joshua pointed. “Our sister’s been keeping things from us.”

“About?” Adam prompted.

“Steele,” Joshua said. “He’s a cop.”

“I know.”

Joshua stared, aghast. “You know?”

“Yes,” Adam said.

“So you’ve both been keeping things from me.”

“Mariposa had to continue as usual,” Adam stated, not missing a beat, “with no one the wiser except Laura and myself.”

“Why not me?” Joshua asked. “You didn’t think you could trust me?”

“Of course we trust you,” Laura told him.

“But you have a tendency to wear your heart on your sleeve,” Adam informed him. “You also party and socialize more extensively than the two of us. I’m sure you would have had every intention of keeping Steele’s actual reasons for being here to yourself. But it would have been all too easy to let something slip.”

Joshua’s jaw worked as he digested the information. His accusing gaze sought Laura again. “He spent the night with you.”

Adam shifted uncomfortably beside her. Awkwardness pressed against her. It clung like shrink-wrap. “He did,” she said.

“You don’t think that’s taking your role a little too seriously?” Joshua questioned.

She swallowed when the taste of anger coated her mouth. “I’m not going to take that—from you or anyone else. I don’t have to explain what Noah and I have to either of you.”

“I’m not asking,” Adam pointed out.

“Not now,” she granted. “But you have questioned it.”

“Because I thought you would get hurt.”

“I’m in love with him,” she blurted. “If we’re being honest, I might as well throw it out there. I’ve fallen in love with him and we’re all going to have to come to terms with that.”

Neither of her brothers seemed to know what to say anymore. Laura was relieved by the reprieve, though she sensed this wasn’t over. They would need to discuss this more at another time and place. She and Adam would need to address Joshua’s hurt. He would need to know the full details of Noah’s investigation. There was no going back, no hiding anything from him anymore.

“He’s making an arrest soon,” she told them both.

“When?” Joshua asked. “Tonight?”

“I don’t know precisely,” she said. “I haven’t heard from him since this morning. But he’s gathering evidence to secure a warrant. Soon, he’ll go, and this will all be over.” There was relief and dread in the finality of that. With luck, Allison’s killer would be locked away for good.

But Noah would be leaving Mariposa.

“Who?” Adam asked quietly.

She searched the crowd for the person she couldn’t deny she had been keeping tabs on since the party began. She located him over at the buffet table, not far from CJ. “I’m afraid I can’t say. Not without Noah’s authorization.”

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