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“Payback.”
“I guessed.”
He didn’t say anything else, and after a moment she shifted her weight. “Was that all you wanted, just to say that?”
He looked around, as if he’d drifted off into a reverie and was faintly surprised by her presence. “Don’t just stand there, come out here and sit down.”
Just thinking about doing so gave her the sense of running into a wall. “I can’t.”
That got a quick smile from him as he realized she was still housebound. He didn’t say anything, but immediately the mental wall disappeared.
“Crap,” she said, stepping outside and going to sit beside him.
“What?”
“You didn’t say anything, you just thought it. I’d hoped you had to speak the command out loud, that I had to hear it, before it would work.”
“Sorry. All I have to do is think it. I was tempted to use the gift yesterday afternoon and tell a few people to go jump in the lake, but I restrained myself.”
“You’re a saint among men,” she said dryly, and he gave her a quick grin.
“I was dealing with the media, so, considering the level of temptation, I tend to agree with you.”
Media, huh? No wonder he had refused to take her with him.
“I called last night to tell you I wouldn’t make it back until late, but you didn’t answer the phone.”
“Why would I? I’m not your secretary.”
“The call was for you.”
“I didn’t know that, did I?”
“I left a message for you.”
“I didn’t hear it.” The answering machine was in the kitchen; she’d been in his bedroom when the last phone call came in, which must have been him calling her.
“That’s because you didn’t bother to play it back.” He sounded annoyed now.
“Why would I? I’m not—”
“My secretary. I know. You’re a pain in the ass, you know that?”
“I try,” she said, giving him a smile that was more a baring of her teeth than anything related to humor.
He grunted and sipped coffee for a while. Lorna pulled her bare feet up in the chair and looked out over the mountains and broad valleys, enjoying being outside after an entire day cooped up in the house. The morning was cool enough to make her wish she had on socks, but not so cool that she was forced to go inside.
“Do you want to go with me today?” he finally asked, with obvious reluctance.
“Depends. What are you doing?”
“Overseeing cleanup, talking to insurance adjusters, and I still don’t have an answer to why two detectives were asking questions immediately after the fire, so I’m pursuing that by going directly to the source.”
“Sounds like fun.”
“I’m glad someone thinks so,” he said wryly. “Get ready and we’ll eat breakfast out. For some reason, I don’t trust the food here.”
SIXTEEN
