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She folded her arms over her chest, refusing to be intimidated by the big barbarian any longer. “I have my sources.”
He stood and stalked toward her until he halted mere inches away. “I want an answer, Samantha. Who told you?”
She moved to the side, alarmed by his violent reaction.
His hands came down on the countertop on either side of her.
She stood trapped for his interrogation. It was a vivid reminder of the times he’d pulled her out of teen scrapes with the usual lecture on proper ladylike behavior. There was just one difference now. She wasn’t going to take it anymore.
She tossed her hair back and glared at him. “Does it matter? I know the truth, and you’re a big liar, Ramsey.”
“Shut up.”
She saw a nerve pulse in his jaw and knew she’d hit a sore point. Still, she couldn’t resist prodding him further. “Make me.”
He took a deep breath. “Let’s settle down. There’s no need to get into a fight. You’d never win, and you know it.”
She bristled at his condescending tone. She had to restrain herself from lashing out at his sore knee again. “Don’t be so damned patronizing. I’m not some dumb teenager you can order around anymore.”
He waited a moment and then let out a heavy sigh. “Look, I know this is a rough way to find out that I’m here to haul your baby brother’s ass out of trouble. You might say his life depends on me. And, if you don’t want things to get complicated real fast, you’d better settle down.”
Chapter 3
Jake’s anger vanished. Samantha sagged against the cabinet and he cursed how she’d made him lose control.
Her hand went to her throat. “Oh, my God.”
“You didn’t know.” He’d shot his mouth off, complicating things to no end, and she hadn’t known.
He glanced at the hickey peeking above her primly buttoned-up blouse and frowned. She had him acting like a love-starved teenage kid, and he’d made a rookie mistake. The reason for his slip-up was simple. She had him rattled.
He wondered for a moment if taking her to bed would cure what ailed him. Not that she’d have him on a bet anymore.
She placed her hands on his chest and tried to push him away.
He stood fast, refusing to budge. She needed to understand the precarious situation they were in. He wasn’t worried about himself or Tad. He was concerned about her. She let her hands drop to her sides and glared at him.
“Just what kind of trouble is Tad supposed to be in?”
He snapped his thoughts back into a businesslike mode. He was a professional, damn it, and she was his charge, whether she liked it or not. Her distress was palpable, but he had a job to do.
“There’s been a loss of technology from Logan Industries. We traced it down to a handful of people.”
A faint smile curved the corners of her lips. “Doesn’t that show you it’s probably somebody else?”
He saw a glimmer of hope flare in her eyes, and he sought to squelch it immediately. Hope could be a dangerous thing. “I intercepted an inter-office email that said there was going to be an exchange at the boathouse. Who else would know about the old family vacation spot?”
“Lots of people.”
Her words were defiant, but Jake could sense her doubt. She wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“So, what do you plan to do?”
“I’m going to catch him in the act, read him the riot act, and turn him over to the cops.”
She gasped. “You can’t do that, Jake. If you’re right and Tad is involved, there has to be a logical explanation. He’s probably trying to ferret out who’s responsible.”
The idea of Tad as a detective was laughable. He was too busy having fun to do anything so serious. Tad Logan was six months out of college and still in frat boy party mode. Only his father’s influence had him ensconced in the executive suite of Logan Industries. “Get real, Samantha. You’re grasping at straws, and you know it.”
