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“Don’t sound so surprised,” he said with a laugh, appearing to take no offense.
Since she was being honest, she told him, “I admit that I am a little.” Maybe he had misunderstood her. “This is the dark web I’m talking about.” His expression didn’t change. Marlowe began to entertain hope. She had to ask, “Do you know your way around the dark web?”
Bowie laughed softly under his breath. “Let’s just say that I know people who know people who might be able to help out in this case.”
“You are just full of surprises, aren’t you?” Marlowe marveled.
“I’d like to think so. In the meantime, it looks like we’ve arrived at your designated castle, Your Highness, safe and sound,” he added, looking in his rearview mirror for the umpteenth time.
“Time to play house,” she said flippantly. The next moment, she realized what that had to sound like. “I mean—” Her voice failed her as she turned a rather bright shade of scarlet.
“I know what you meant,” Bowie told her, gallantly taking her off the hook. “You go inside. I’ll get your bag,” he said.
“I can carry my own bag,” she informed him, following him to the trunk of his car.
He popped open the trunk and pulled out the suitcase before she could reach for it. “Will you relax and stop seeing everything as a challenge to your authority, or position or whatever?” he said. “Learning how to accept help is every bit as important as offering help to someone else.”
She rolled her eyes impatiently. “You know, you really should start writing down all these golden gems of yours, Robertson. Maybe even put them all into a gift book.”
Taking the suitcase, he went toward the cabin. “Please relax a bit, Marlowe. You could probably use the rest. I know I certainly could.”
Her eyebrows drew together as she fisted one of her hands at her waist. “Is that an insult?” she asked, her back already going up.
“That’s just an observation,” Bowie informed her calmly. “I promise you’ll know if I’m insulting you. For now, all I’m trying to do is get a truce going—between us, and then, hopefully, between our two families.” Opening the front door, he deposited her suitcase just inside the cabin. His mouth curved into a grin. “How’m I doing so far?”
Marlowe sighed. Maybe she was being too touchy. “Apparently a lot better than I am,” she answered honestly.
Bowie stood in the doorway, facing out. She could see the cabin was elevated enough to give him a decent panoramic view of the immediate area surrounding it. “I’d say that it’s safe to assume nobody followed us,” he told her.
Clearly satisfied, he stepped back inside, then closed the door and secured the locks.
“Just in case,” he explained, then proceeded to tell her why he had made sure that all the locks were in place.
“Now what?” she asked, looking around the spacious cabin. From where she stood, she could see the entire living space all at once, except for a bedroom that was in the back. But the way she felt right now, having had that bullet come so close to Bowie and to her, Marlowe sincerely doubted that she would be able to ever sleep again.
Bowie had a different take on the situation, however. “Now you do what your brother suggested you do,” he told her. Bowie evidently knew better than to use the phrase “told you to do.”
“Easy for him to say,” she commented.
“No, I really doubt that,” Bowie contradicted. “I think he knows that asking you to do something is far from easy and far from a guarantee that you would actually do it.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Just what are you saying?” she demanded.
“Only what we both know to be true,” he answered. “You’re a very strong-willed woman who isn’t about to obediently comply with something unless she really wants to.”
Marlowe pursed her lips. “Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you, Robertson?”
“Maybe,” he allowed. He raised his brows as he asked, “You buying any of it?”
He suddenly looked so boyish as he asked her that question that Marlowe found she was having a problem keeping a straight face.
“Maybe,” she answered, parroting the word he’d used back to him. It suddenly felt as if it was getting warm in here, she thought. Marlowe changed the subject. “How long do you think we’re going to have to be here?”
“Spoken like a prisoner who’s ready to fly the coop at any second,” he commented.
She raised her chin. “I just like to know what I’m in for and what’s ahead of me.”
“Maybe what your brother had in mind,” Bowie suggested delicately, “is for you just to kick back for a bit and let things unfold naturally.”
