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“My friend Byron is the one who left dinner for us. When he left the military, his mother Ms. Annie, moved from Charleston to Pennsylvania to help him and his wifetake care of their first child and she never moved back. He bought Ms. Annie a place not far from his. She loves cooking and for years he’s tried to convince her to open a restaurant.”
“She should. Everything was incredible. And the apple pie that Byron left us for dessert looks delicious, but I can’t eat any more tonight. I’ll wait until tomorrow.”
“Good idea.”
Lennox leaned back in her chair and glanced out the window. “It’s gotten dark.”
“I noticed.”
“I’m tired. I think I’ll take a shower and go to bed, if that’s okay. How long will we be here?”
“At least a week. I want to know for sure that the bad guys have taken the bait the FBI is setting up.”
“Then where are we headed?”
“Not sure of that yet. A week here will give my network time to set up the next place for us.”
She looked at him quizzically. “How many people are in this network of yours?”
He shrugged. “Around eight. They are spread all over the United States.”
“That’s good to know.” She paused. “I noticed there’s only one bedroom. Where do you plan to sleep?”
“The sofa. It pulls out into a bed.” At that moment he noted a flash of something--relief, maybe?—in her gaze.
“I’ll help you clear off the table and–”
“I can handle it. At least there are no dishes to wash. Everything was disposable. So clean-up will be a piece of cake. Go ahead and take your shower, then go to bed. You’ve had a busy day.”
“You sure?” she asked.
“I am positive. I’ve got this.”
She stood. “In that case, I’ll see you in the morning.”
As he watched her hurry off toward the bedroom, he realized that, no matter how tired he was, he wouldn’t be getting much sleep tonight.
FRAZIER EASED INTO THEchair behind the desk in his home office. True to her word, Mattie had uploaded Rylee Danville’s HR records and sent them to him. He’d decided to wait until he was home to take a look at them, though he didn’t want to look too closely at his reasons for that.
In a way, he’d hoped the drive home would make him reconsider what he was about to do--to find out far more about the woman than he needed to know—at least, professionally. But that hadn’t happened. So now, he was booting up his home computer as he did his best to convince himself that since she was his employee he had every right to know whatever he wanted about her.
Of course, that was bullshit and he knew it. He’d never felt the need to read one of his employee’s files before. But hell, there was a first time for everything. And his preoccupation with Ms. Danville was definitely something new.
He’d always had his pick of women and had dated whoever, and whenever, it pleased him. Hell, he’d even had alive-in mistress a time or two. Possibly three. However, the last one, Liz Tillman, had had the wordGold-diggerwritten not only across her forehead but that delectable ass he’d enjoyed so much. He’d put up with her longer than he had the others and that was probably the reason she’d assumed she could replace his niece as the most important female in his life.
Although Margo had never brought it to his attention, he’d been well aware of Liz’s jealousy of Margo. It had been obvious, especially whenever Margo and Liz were in the same place. They just didn’t get along. And Margo got along with everyone. So when he’d noticed the antagonist between her and Liz, he took heed; especially when his niece stopped visiting him as much as she used to.
When Liz had given him an ultimatum—her or Margo—she’d been on thin ice. And he’d already decided to give Liz her walking papers when he’d learned that Goldwyn, the family’s trusted butler for years, said he’d overheard conversations Liz had had with a private investigator. She’d hired him to dig into the Connelly family’s past, hoping to find information she could use to blackmail Frazier into marrying her.
When he’d kicked her off the Connelly’s estate and closed the very generous bank account he’d opened for her, she had flipped, going so far as to try to kill his niece. Now Liz was serving time and Frazier didn’t give a damn if she rotted in jail.
But ever since then, he’d learned to be cautious about getting involved with someone, though he enjoyed the company of women in his bed now and then. But he’d neverinvited another woman to live under his roof again and didn’t intend to.
The only reason he wanted to learn more about the very professional, very beautiful Rylee Danville was because he was attracted to her. She hadn’t spent more than an hour in his office, yet he was still thinking about the time she’d been there. He didn’t feel guilty about that. He was a man after all--a man who would be forty-nine his next birthday.
The moment he opened her file and saw her picture, he sat there, entranced. What woman looked that good on her employment photo? He checked the date and saw it had been taken ten years ago. At the time, she’d been twenty-eight.
No way! How could a thirty-eight-year-old woman look so young? Hell, he’d studied her features closely--there hadn’t been a wrinkle in sight. Not even around the eyes. And she definitely had the hands of a much younger woman. In fact, she hadn’t appeared to age from the time this photo had been taken.
