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He really was a jerk sometimes. “What kind?”
“I’m tracking birth certificates. I’ve been to the county clerk’s office. She’s going to get me mine this afternoon. And a few other things.”
“And those other things involve you finally admitting you have it bad for me and we’re going to run off into the sunset together? Have five-point-eight kids? I think Pen has to be the point.” The teenaged sister she’d raised had to be almost nineteen now, he thought. A good kid, with a freaky high IQ, who looked a good deal like the goddess in front of him now. Give her a few years, and Penelope would be just as dangerous to a man’s soul as her older sister.
“Hardly. I need access to the old medical clinic. You know how to get into it?”
That was not what he’d expected. The Garrity Medical Clinic had closed more than fifteen years ago. “I have a key in case I ever need to go in there again. Owner’s attorney left it with me. Had a few vandals about six months back. Someone searched the place, it looked like. I couldn’t tell if anything was missing, but there were a few old filing cabinets that were damaged. Like someone was trying to get into them. You buy me lunch on the governor’s dime at the diner, catch me up on what you’ve been doing on your adventures and what Pen’s been up to, and I’ll take you out there. We can hold hands and get the entire town in a tizzy. You know we were their favorite form of entertainment around here for a while. Then tonight, I’ll take you to the reservoir, and we can cuddle and watch the stars. You, me…and that fancy bodyguard I’m sure you have somewhere.”
It was a probing question. She shook her head.
“Well, well, well. Little Miss Rule Follower slipped her bodyguard? I can’t believe it.”
“I won that fight—no more bodyguard, except during times of high threat potential. I’m tagged, after all. The tag is a compromise my brother is just going to have to accept.”
She waved her wrist in front of him, where a gold bracelet with a tiny nugget rested. If he looked closely, he’d probably see components of some type deep inside that little nugget. She’d told him what it was before. When he’d made some snide comment about her lover giving her fancy jewelry.
Hell, he’d been lovesick, and the jewelry had been new. “That’s not a bad thing. Considering.”
There was a biometric monitor in there to rival the best of smartwatches on the market. And a tracking device. Plus a way for her to immediately activate it to send up a satellite distress signal, he thought. To whichever batch of bodyguards hired by her brother were closest.
She’d told him the only time she took it off was when showering, swimming, or the damned thing had to charge. Someone hired by her billionaire tech-genius brother in St. Louis monitored her location at all times.
That probably ate at her, too. You couldn’t cage a woman like her.
Murdoch had slept better at night knowing the billionaire had a way to find his wayward sister if it was needed. She could be wily. Sneaky. And the world they lived in was dangerous.
This woman was Murdoch’s heart and soul. Even if…that was a secret she was never going to learn. A man had hisprideif he had nothing else.
“I just need in to get a look around inside. I was born there. So was Pen. Yet our records might not be…authentic. I need to see.”
“You have a warrant?”
Miss By the Book would have a warrant. He’d bet lunch on that.
“Marc arranged one this morning.” She pulled it out and handed it to him.
“Handy having the governor in your sister’s…pocket…like that. How is she doing?” He’d met the First Lady of Texas more than once. Ariella Deane had a sweet air about her that made everyone who met her ready to slay dragons with just a wave of her delicate hand. Witches, these women. No denying that.
Able to steal a man’s heart and soul with a smile.
“She’s doing great. So…the key?”
“Nope. It doesn’t work that way, and you know it.” She had a warrant. Well, she also now had backup. She had to have expected that. Otherwise, his favorite firecracker would have already been fighting him. “I’m going to be your shadow. Let me just tell good old Neilie boy that I’m yours for the rest of the day. Night, too, if you’ll just have me.”
“Can it. Before I have you written up.”
Murdoch smirked. She was damned gorgeous when she was pissed at him. No denying that. One reason he’d always loved to…get her passionsflowingas often as he could.
“Babe, we don’t work together anymore. You’re a civilian now, right?” He’d heard rumors of the exact opposite. A look went across her face. Most wouldn’t have caught it. But he’d spent plenty of hours analyzing everything about this creature in front of him. “Or are the rumors of the governor’s secret band of goons true?”
“Just get your keys, Lake. I have things to accomplish today.”
“Your every wish is my command. I live only to serve.”
Funny thing about it was, he did.
All he could ever want was this one woman he knew better than to even think about having. She deserved a far better man than a total screwup like him. Hell, he was inGarrityto begin with because he’d angered some Wichita Falls bigwigs with too much time on their hands. Damned paper pushers.
