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“Who would do that?”
“Your girlfriend springs to mind.”
“Annie? Why would she do that?”
“Qualifying in a top position is important, Jared. Who else would want me to not get the pole?”
“I can think of a number of other drivers.”
“Yeah, but they weren’t hanging around my garage this morning, were they?”
He rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t know who’d tampered with Tucker’s car, but he’d bet all of his money that it wasn’t Annie.
“I’ll ask her if she did anything to your car.”
“Do you honestly think she’ll tell you?”
He thought of the way she’d reacted to the bracelet, and in his gut, he knew the truth. Annie wasn’t going to lie to him about anything. That wasn’t the way she was wired. She reacted to things, good or bad, with honest emotion.
“Yes, I do.”
“Hell, you’re a fool.”
“Maybe you’re the one who is.”
Tucker hung up and Jared glanced at the closed door to the suite.
ANNIE TRIED TO STOP staring at the bracelet, but since Jared was out of the room she felt like it was okay. She touched the small charm that dangled from the half-inch-thick platinum band. It was a small palm tree with a diamond nestled in the middle of the tree.
Don’t read too much in to the gift, she warned herself.
The door opened and she dropped her arm, putting her hands behind her back. But Jared wasn’t really paying attention to her hands.
A frown firmly in place on his face, he walked into the room. His shoulders were tense and he wouldn’t meet her gaze when she looked at him.
“Is something wrong?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, taking a deep breath. “Come and sit down, Annie. I have something I need to ask you.”
She crossed the room and sat on the couch next to him.
“Okay, ask me.”
He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on his knees. “What were you doing in Tucker’s garage bay earlier?”
She frowned. This wasn’t what she’d been expecting. “Looking for you.”
“How did you know I’d be there?” he asked, his expression carefully neutral and his tone very calm.
He sounded almost too calm and emotionless. Not at all like he had just a few minutes earlier.
“I saw you while I was sitting in Dave’s garage bay talking to Vinnie.”
“Vinnie, Dave’s crew chief?” Jared asked.
“Yes.”
“Did he suggest you come down to find me?”
“What exactly are you getting at here?” she countered, feeling as if she were a suspect in a police interrogation room.
“Someone tampered with Tucker’s car.”
“What? Is he okay? I didn’t see a crash, so it couldn’t have been too serious.” And the cars were inspected before they went out on the track and when they came off. Tampering wasn’t something that was easy to do. She tried to think of things she knew drivers and their teams had tried over the years, but nothing came to mind. She drew a complete blank.
“The tampering would only have slowed him down, not hurt him.”
Silence bloomed between them and for the first time it wasn’t comfortable. She felt all that he wasn’t saying, the accusation that he was trying to tiptoe around.
“Do you think I did something to Tucker’s car?” she asked at last.
He shrugged those big shoulders of his and then leaned back on the couch as if the conversation wasn’t that important. But it was to her. She had foolishly thought she was building something with Jared.
“Not really. But I want to hear you say that you didn’t,” he said.
She pushed to her feet, standing over him. She put her hands on her hips and felt the bracelet move over her skin. Was this the price of his gift? This demand that she prove that she didn’t sabotage another driver’s car?
Carefully she removed the bracelet and held it out to him. He refused to take it from her. She pivoted on her heel and went back to the table where she’d left the box. She put the bracelet in the box and then looked back at him.
He hadn’t moved from the couch and she had the feeling he’d let her walk out the door. Annie couldn’t stop herself from walking away. She knew another type of person would have stayed there and forced him to see that she couldn’t possibly have done anything to Tucker’s car. But she wasn’t like that. She didn’t like conflict and never had.
Besides, Jared wasn’t anything other than a man she knew. They’d only had one date and it was better that she get to know the man he was now. But she still felt as if she’d been betrayed. Damn. He’d seemed so different.
