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Fine, she decided, either/or.
Her leg was beginning to ache again and she wasn’t in the mood to play games. If she was going to be here long enough to catch whoever seemed determined to abduct Bliss, then she wasn’t going t
o pussyfoot around where the answers she needed were concerned.
With that in mind she made her way into the house, the sound of the security system’s mechanical voice announcing the opening of the kitchen door barely noticed now. It was a strength in the event of an enemy sneaking in, a weakness if the enemy was already in and she needed to slip past it.
She’d use the patio door in the suite to figure that one out later, she decided.
She was nearing the door into the hallway when movement in the family room had her changing direction and striding to the wide doorway between the kitchen and the connecting room. Closing the door behind him Natches was just leaving the office.
“Angel?” His expression was somber, though his bright green eyes were still wild with inner turmoil.
“I need one of you to step outside and answer some questions about the property.” She propped one hand on the hilt of her knife where it was strapped to her right thigh, her jaw clenching with the certainty he would probably brush her off.
He almost paused for a moment, something in his expression softening before he shook it off and continued toward her.
“Questions of what kind?” he asked, a small frown brewing on his forehead as he watched her. “Is there a problem?”
“Only if I need to get through that fence you managed to convince to grow at the property line,” she informed him with resigned impatience. “I know how a Mackay’s mind works. You have a way to get through the damned thing at any point. I’m just not figuring it out. I need to know the secret.”
He paused, tipped his head to the side just a bit, amusement invading his gaze.
“How a Mackay’s mind works?” he repeated, curious now. “How does it work?”
“Like a steel trap searching for prey,” she fired back instantly. “And that fence is just waiting for me to get my ass caught in it. Admit it.”
That gleam in his eye assured her she was right. That fence was a trap just waiting for the unwary.
“You haven’t figured it out?” Male satisfaction just covered his face.
Yep, Mackay.
“Listen, puzzles aren’t my forte, all right?” She propped her weight to her good leg and arched her brow mockingly. “Need someone small enough to wiggle through a sewer drain? Come find me. You need someone to catch, kill, clean, and cook wild game on a little flame barely big enough to warm your hands? I’m your girl.” She shrugged, pointing an index finger back toward herself. “You need someone to help you put a puzzle together, then you better get hold of Tracker or Chance, ’cause I’m just going to confuse you and me both. So, in the interest of not messing my head up any further, could you please bring your intelligent self outside and show me what I need to know?”
He was on the verge of grinning, which was a good thing. She hadn’t seen so much as a hint of a grin since they’d arrived and she knew that wasn’t like Natches.
“My intelligent self, huh?” he asked with no small amount of male satisfaction.
Jeez, men were just so easy. Even Tracker and Chance fell for that one.
What was it Dawg often said? God bless their hearts?
“Don’t let the compliment go to your head,” she advised him somberly. “I say that to Duke all the time.”
It took him about a second.
He chuckled, shaking his head almost helplessly as he stared back at her.
“I heard you call Duke a slack-jawed moron when the two of you were standing outside earlier. I might have to be offended,” he warned her, finally grinning, his green eyes going emerald.
She brushed back her bangs with blithe unconcern. “Yeah, well. We have a complicated relationship maybe.”
“Complicated?” His brow arched, that supreme male arrogance that was so much a part of him reigning on his expression. “Is that what you call it?”
“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” she promised with a tight nod. “So what is it? You going to explain this to me or do I have to take my chances and convince Duke to go through it first?”
He snorted at the suggestion.
