Page 24 of In the Dead of Night

The question snapped her attention back to Nick. He looked slightly belligerent standing there, his dark eyes probing hers with such intensity that she had to look away.

“I’ll keep the doors locked,” she said. “I’ll stay aware. Keep my cell phone handy. Watch my back.”

Lowering his head, he pinched the bridge of his nose. “That’s not good enough.”

“Look, I realize this isn’t an ideal situation—”

“It’s a hell of a lot worse than that. For God’s sake, someone broke into your house. They accosted you in the attic and stole notes that may or may not have anything to do with any of this. It could have turned out a lot worse.”

“If you’re suggesting I hightail it back to San Diego with my tail between my legs, you have another thing coming. My father might have been murdered. If that’s the case, I owe it to him to clear his name.”

“If your father didn’t pull the trigger that night, it means someone in this town is guilty of triple murder.”

The words scraped up her spine like a cold fingertip. Nick must have noticed because for an instant, she thought he was going to cross to her, put his arms around her, comfort her. But he didn’t. Instead, his gaze hardened. He shook his head as if he were a teacher dealing with an unruly student. “It’s not safe for you to stay here by yourself.”

“I don’t have a choice,” she snapped.

“You could check into one of the bed-and-breakfasts in town.”

“Nick, I was going to do that. When the trip was still in the planning stage, I went out to the Internet to book reservations. That was when I found out your mother owns both B&Bs. I knew staying there would be…uncomfortable. Now I’m glad I listened to my instincts. In case you haven’t noticed, she hates me.” Remembering the ugly scene at the antique store, she sighed. “Besides, I’m going to look for the manuscript. If it’s here in this house, I’m going to find it.”

“That’s incredibly irresponsible.”

“Or maybe that’s just the way it is.”

“The manuscript may not even exist! Someone could be pulling your chain. Have you considered that?”

“Nick, I saw the manuscript. In the photo. I know it exists.”

“That could have been any manuscript.”

“Or it could be the key to what happened that night.” Sara crossed to the sink and grabbed a towel.

He shook his head as if at wit’s end. “I guess it would be way too reasonable to assume I can talk you out of staying up here by yourself.”

“That would be correct.” Striding to the French doors, she knelt and began to scrub the muddy footprints.

“I guess there’s only one way to handle it then.”

An odd sense of discomfort washed over her. She glanced at him over her shoulder. “What’s that?”

“I’ll just have to spend the night with you.”

* * *

NICK CHIDED himself for volunteering for an assignment that was only going to bring him grief. He knew better than to get involved in some crazy crusade that would garner nothing more than disappointment and would possibly get Sara hurt in the process.

But it wasn’t his intellect that had gotten him into a position he didn’t want to be in. It was a bad case of neglected hormones that had him jumping into the fire feet first and thinking of the consequences after the fact. Hell of a thing considering he was not in the market for a woman, no matter how damn pretty. If he wasn’t careful, he might just get burned.

But Nick had always possessed some misplaced, testosterone-driven need to protect the female species. Even if the female in question didn’t want a damn thing to do with him. Sara Douglas with her gypsy eyes, curvy body and misplaced determination was no exception.

“Nick, you don’t have to do that.”

Her voice pulled him from his thoughts. “Maybe you’d rather take your chances with the guy who roughed you up and stole those notes.”

She looked away. “I don’t think he was out to hurt me. I think he wanted the notebook.”

Annoyed, he turned on her. “You’ve got to be kidding. If you’d put up a fight or gotten in his way, he might have gone into a rage and shot you.” The mere thought made him grit his teeth. “Are you willing to bet your life on that?”