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Strong didn’t seem like a powerful enough word.
Other thoughts passed through her mind, and one became so prevalent, she found she needed to voice it aloud.
“I wonder,” she said after they’d waited for another thirty minutes without any additional changes since Eloise had gone in. This was getting them nowhere. “If we bring things with HMW to a close sooner than later, maybe we can force the threatener’s hand.”
Hunter frowned. “That’s not a good idea.”
“I think it is,” Snow said. “You mentioned the finale. We’ll have all the bachelors on hand. The police too. You’ll be there to help. We can find out who it is.”
He was already shaking his head. “The last time you inadvertently forced the attacker’s hand, you were nearly killed.”
How could she make him understand? “I don’t want to prolong things anymore, Hunter. Not when you’re the one I want to be with. I wish I could choose you.”
“You can’t,” he said with so much sadness it ate at her.
She wanted to protest. She wanted to pose an argument, to bring up something—anything—that might open a way for them. But nothing came to mind. And so she let the argument fade.
Snow’s eyes almost drifted closed when the sound of Hunter clearing his throat sliced through the silence. “Hey,” he muttered in a gentle way, the way Snow suspected he might use to wake Kassie up for school. Talk about adorable. “She left.”
Snow hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep completely until she blinked enough sleep from her eyes to read the clock on his dashboard.
“It’s past midnight?”
“Yeah.”
She stretched a little. “And how long ago did Eloise leave?”
“About ten minutes ago. I waited to make sure she wasn’t coming back, but I think it’s time to call it.”
She stretched her legs and arched her back as much as she could in the confined space of his car. “Yeah,” she agreed. “Let’s head back.”
He hadn’t said anything after she’d admitted she wanted to choose him. Snow was glad. If he had, she might have done something foolish like kiss him.
He shifted into gear and began veering toward the end of the street.
“Was that the only time she came out?”
“Yeah,” he said, signaling before taking the opening onto the busier intersection back toward Oceanside. Snow calculated the time. She and Hunter had pulled up in front of Tys’s house before ten. That meant Eloise had been there for a little over two hours.
“What was she doing there?”
“I’ve run a few possible scenarios through my mind,” he said, taking the ramp onto the freeway. “She’s too old to be his lover. Maybe he wanted to meet in person about the terms of his appearance on the final show. What if he doesn’t want to come and had some demands to make of Eloise in order to agree?”
“If that was the case, why would she hear anything like that?”
“To appease him, maybe.”
“I don’t think she should give into any demands he makes,” Snow said. “Why should she?”
Hunter didn’t respond for several moments. “I don’t know. I’m going to ask her about this, though.”
“You can’t admit we were there spying on the house.”
“I just might,” he said. “It might be in our favor—and hers—to tell her what Luis told me. If Tys is dangerous, Eloise shouldn’t be anywhere near him.”
“So you’re going to talk to her?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” He merged into the traffic, which hadn’t lessened at all, even with the late hour. Cars and vehicles were still packed onto the freeway. “I also think you’re onto something. I had time to think it over after you fell asleep, and I think pushing things forward is a good idea. We can’t keep prolonging the show, waiting to see what will happen. It will be better if we take action. If we take matters into our own hands.”
