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From the outside appearance, she expected softer furnishings in a cottage style with floral chintz and an abundance of throw pillows. Instead, the sleek, dark leather sofa and oversized chair cozied up to the brick fireplace were a welcome surprise. She could easily picture Carson stretched out, beer in hand and a basketball game on the flat screen television.
An oak drop-leaf dinette set had the place of honor in front of the other front window and the pale cabinets in the galley kitchen looked as conscientiously maintained as the rest of the house.
“This is a really nice place.” Shannon must love it here. The thought made her twitchy.
“It works.” He quirked an eyebrow. “Make yourself at home. I won’t be long.”
The urge to follow him back and see how he’d decorated his bedroom came out of nowhere. She shoved the errant train of thought off the track. His most personal space was absolutely none of her business. As a diversion, she studied a collection of photos near the fireplace. The age and style of the pictures reminded her of her own family.
She’d planned to go home for Christmas, if only to get away from the love-struck Ross and Rick and their brides-to-be. But now she was stuck. No way she’d put anyone back home in Bakr’s sights—it was bad enough the citizens of Haleswood were exposed by her proximity.
She rubbed her arms as her skin prickled with a sudden chill. If he’d dug up her cell phone number it wasn’t a big stretch to think he might have already tracked down where she came from.
She reached for her phone, momentarily forgetting it was in pieces in the car. There had to be a way to warn her family.Stop. Ross would have handled both the necessary notification as well as a security team as soon as he’d determined the threat was legit. Panic was exactly what Bakr wanted from her. From any of his victims. It was his standard operating procedure. He’d already used fear tactics to instigate action by following a worried Bart right to her office. She couldn’t keep getting sucked in—wouldn’t cave to the victim mentality.
“All set.”
She jumped at the sound of Carson’s voice. “Great.” She tried to smile as her heart slammed against her ribcage.
***
“Sorry to startle you.” Carson studied her for a moment. Her eyes were wide and haunted and her face was pale. Her knuckles were white where she gripped the back of the chair. “Did you get another text message?”
“What?” She glanced down and cleared her throat. “No. The phone’s still in pieces in the car. I’m just lost in thought.”
“You’ll make this harder on both of us if you lie to me.”
“I don’t lie,” she snapped, shooting him a scowl cold enough to freeze an ocean.
He stared back, grateful his sisters had given him a measure of immunity against lethal gazes.
“Withholding information for security purposes isn’t lying,” she said. “And I haven’t even done that. Besides, my phone’s out of commission, remember?” She spread her hands wide and turned a circle.
The move did nothing but tempt him. Between the body and attitude, she’d tempt a saint. This wasn’t the time, if only because they were too close to his bedroom and he could too easily picture her there, her dark hair fanned across his pillow.
“Something spooked you.” He motioned for her to lead the way to the door, a little concerned she didn’t grumble over his wording. Whistling for Sheldon, he recognized her dodging the question as she bent to love on the dog when he came racing around from the back of the house.
“He’s not coming with us?”
“No.” Was that disappointment he heard in her voice? “My brother will pick him up and take care of him for me until this is over.” He tried to sound confident it would be over—and quickly. It was obvious by the tension in her face that she wasn’t happy about disrupting lives.
“So tell me what spooked you,” he repeated, locking the door behind them.
“Points for tenacity,” she said, with a weak smile. “I had a moment. Thought I should warn my family.” She turned toward the car. “What if he did more than find my cell phone number?”
“Such as?”
“What if he found my family already? What if he’s cloned the phone?”
He’d never seen her rattled like this. She was always so steady, so untouchable with her immense self-confidence that bordered on cocky. One of them needed to be logical and under the circumstances, it looked like it fell to him. “Has anyone been hovering close enough to do that?”
“No. But everyone hovers in this town. Maybe he paid someone to do it.”
“Highly unlikely.” He tossed his bag into the back seat before sliding behind the wheel.
In the passenger seat, she practically vibrated with tension. “I know. But what if he’s managed to hack my personal information or the CS records?”
“Then he’s a step ahead and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
