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Those tourists didn’t live in Kentucky, and they had no idea how powerful her brother thought he was. A quick call to one of them, Amy Seavers, had resulted in a fake ID and a train ticket, as well as a ride to the train station.
She was all set and ready to go. All she had to do was slip out with her bags and be waiting at the designated location when Amy’s sister, Gypsy, arrived.
Blowing out a hard breath, Piper glanced at the patio doors, her heart beating hard and fast with the thought that Jed didn’t make idle threats. There was no doubt in her mind that he knew exactly how to pick the locks on her doors. There was no doubt he would pick them if he were in the right mood.
She rather doubted he’d learned that trick in the construction business. Just as she doubted her sister’s fiancé, Brogan Campbell, was slipping into the upper story of the inn in the middle of the night because he missed anyone there.
Hell, no. Those nights Piper had watched the shadowed figure easily pull himself to the second-floor balcony and slip through the glass doors that led to Tim’s office, she’d known exactly why he was there.
Timothy liked to tell anyone and everyone who dared to ask that he was retired. Learn the definition of the word, he’d growled at the lawyer who’d shown up several weeks before in regard to the deaths of several suspected homeland terrorists the summer before.
Piper had heard the words “Eve” . . . “kidnapping” . . . “boat,” and “Campbell” just before he dared to say, “Special Agent Cranston.”
She bit back a smile at the thought of how quickly Tim had cut him down and informed him in no uncertain terms that retirement was a glorious thing.
Retirement, her ass. Timothy, or Tim as she and her sisters often called him, was about as retired as Dawg and her cousins were. Just retired enough to be able to claim they weren’t involved in anything, but involved enough to ensure they all knew exactly what was going on in their little corner of the world.
Closing the cases quickly, Piper moved to the closet and stored them out of sight, just in case Jed decided to make a midnight visit.
If he saw her bags and realized they were packed, he would immediately demand to know where she was going. Once he knew . . . hell, she may as well take out an ad.
There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that Jed would tell Dawg just as fast as he could make the call. Then Dawg and her cousins would arrive and insist on accompanying her.
If she allowed it to happen.
There wasn’t a chance in hell she would allow it, she thought wearily. The very thought of it was enough to send a shudder racing through her body.
She closed the door and moved toward the bed, then came to a hard stop.
Swinging around, Piper moved to the door that led to the sitting room of the suite and swung it open as her heart began pounding with enough force that she swore she could feel it in her throat.
And there he stood.
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and leaned against the doorframe that connected the sitting room with the bedroom.
“What the hell are you doing here?” It was all she could do to fight back her amusement as well as the surge of sexual intensity sweeping through her.
He wasn’t wearing a shirt.
The broad, muscled expanse of his chest was bare. A light covering of dark blond curls feathered over the dark flesh and arrowed into the snug band of his jeans. And he was aroused.
Standing in the middle of her sitting room, bare chested and barefoot, he stared back at her with pure sensual intent burning in his dark, navy blue eyes.
“You’re dressed,” he accused her, his voice rough as he paced closer to her. “I thought you were naked and playing with toys.”
“No, you didn’t.” Piper could feel herself trembling from the force of the need racing through her. “That’s just an excuse, Jed.”
“Yeah, it’s just an excuse,” he agreed as he stopped before her. “An excuse for this.”
She hadn’t expected it to happen so fast—that his lips would be on hers, his fingers curving around the back of her neck, holding her in place as his lips took possession of hers.
She hadn’t expected she would weaken so fast. That her nails would dig instantly into his shoulders, that she would lean into him, against him, so eager for him that her body was quivering in excitement.
What the hell was this? What was he doing to her?
Then thought became impossible. Any possible chance of a denial evaporated as pleasure began to build with a fiery force.
Oh, hell, yes.
