The Professional Page 13

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve found out a little more about her myself and…I wondered if you could do a little more poking around for me.”

  “Of course,” she told him.

  Jeb leaned forward, trying to find the right words to explain his request. “She’s clear of any suspicion as far as my case goes,” he explained. “In fact, she’s helping me.”

  Charlie’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

  “This would strictly be for my own benefit.” He cleared his throat, feeling heat climb his neck. “It’s personal.”

  Impossibly, her eyes rounded further and when she “oh’ed” again, no sound emerged from her mouth.

  “I think she’s in some sort of danger, only I can’t get it out of her,” he added. “Every time I ask her a question, she finds a way to avoid telling me anything. I don’t want to press her, but—” He shook his head. “—something’s not right. She’s afraid of someone. Her father, I think, quite honestly.” He told Charlie about the scar on her arm, the double fence, the near panic attack when she thought he’d been hired to spy on her. “She told me last night that her grandmother had kept her maiden name and that she’d taken it. The grandmother she’s talking about was her paternal grandmother, so—”

  Understanding dawned in Charlie’s eyes. “So she purposely abandoned her father’s name.” She nodded once. “Right. I’ll look into it and get back to you.”

  He breathed a small sigh of relief, caught her gaze once more. “Thanks. And I’d appreciate it if you wouldn’t mention this to—”

  “Mum’s the word,” she said. “I could blackmail every one of y’all if I was a dishonest woman. There isn’t a man working here who hasn’t had me do something similar.” She smiled and waved him off. “Don’t sweat it.”

  “There was one other thing,” he said. “I need to get into a password protected computer and I was told that you were the woman to see about that.”

  “Piffle,” she said. “It’s child’s play.” She reached into her desk and handed him a simple USB drive. “Plug this little baby in and it’ll do the rest.”

  He whistled low. “Really?”

  “Really. I wrote the program myself. You can even save the files you’re looking for onto it.”

  He looked at it once more, then glanced at her and smiled. “You’re a little scary, you know that?”

  She preened. “Thanks.”

  Confident that things were finally moving in the right direction, Jeb left the building and made his way to his truck. Because he knew he couldn’t put it off much longer, he decided to go ahead and let his brother know that he was fine. He punched in the number, called up the message screen.

  Other phone is dead. New number. I’m fine. He paused, winced. Swore.

  It’s a woman.

  There, Jeb thought with a smile. That ought to explain everything.

  And it wasn’t just any woman, either. It was possibly the woman. Because he grimly suspected that she was going to ruin him for anyone else, that after everything was said and done, she was going to be the one he wasn’t going to be able to let go.

  He’d just shifted into reverse when his cell phone rang. “Dammit, Judd, I don’t have…” He frowned, not recognizing the number. But it wasn’t Judd. “Jeb Anderson,” he answered.

  “Yes, yes, I know!” Foy snapped. “I called you, didn’t I? Why wouldn’t I know who I was calling?”

  Foy? “But I just got this—”

  “Phone,” Foy finished. “I’ve been trying the other number for hours, but you didn’t ever answer, so I just called your boss and got the new number from him.”

  Brilliant. “What did you need, Foy?”

  “I need you to get over here and figure out who has stolen my Annie’s engagement ring out of my safe, that’s what I need! It’s gone.” Panic and despair made the older man’s voice break. “Gone,” he repeated. “Someone’s taken it. Someone’s taken her ring.”

  Jeb felt his expression darken. “Have you told anyone, Foy?”

  “No,” he said. “I thought it was best to talk to you first.”

  “That’s right. Keep it to yourself and let me do my job. Sophie’s helping me now and we’re going to get to the bottom of this.”

  “Do you have any idea who it might be?”

  “Not yet, no,” he admitted, unwilling to lie. “But I know who it’s not and sometimes that’s more important. We’ll get Annie’s ring back, Foy. I promise.”

  “You shouldn’t make promises it’s not in your power to keep, son,” Foy told him, his tone weary. “It only makes you feel helpless when you break it.”

  “I have no intention of breaking it,” Jeb said determinedly. “I’m on my way. Stick around the house because there are some more questions that I need to ask you.”

  Foy sighed heavily, the sound laden with heartache. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  He wasn’t either, Jeb thought, until he’d nailed this bastard to the wall.

  * * *

  UNABLE TO EAT, Sophie pushed her food around her plate and kept glancing toward Marjorie’s office, waiting for the lights to go out.

  “Looking every few seconds isn’t going to make her leave any faster, Sophie,” Jeb told her, shooting her an indulgent smile.

  She grinned, tucked her hair behind her ear. “I know. I’m just impatient.”

  She still couldn’t believe that Foy had been a victim. Everyone knew and loved Foy and more importantly, everyone knew how much he’d loved his late wife. It was a shameful thing to take her engagement ring from him. Utterly horrible. She glanced around the diner, took in the beloved faces around her and realized with a sickening since of dread that, more than likely, one of these people was responsible.

  Looking more than a little pleased with herself, Cora strolled up to their table. “Evening, Sophie, Jeb.”

  Sophie nodded at her, returned the grin. “Evening, Cora.”

  “Y’all are looking like quite the pair,” she remarked. “I couldn’t help but notice that both of you left the dance a little early.”

  Sophie was surprised Cora had been able to notice anything at all from last night, all things considered.

  “We did,” Jeb said. “We ended up at Sophie’s place so that we could have a proper chat.” He made “a proper chat” sound wicked and depraved, as though they’d done things Cora had only ever read about.

  Cora’s brows winged up her forehead and she shot a knowing look at Sophie. “Really?” she drawled knowingly. “Well, isn’t that nice?”

  Jeb glanced across the table at her, his gaze so hot she felt her skin scorch. It might have been for Cora’s benefit, but it was sending her heart into arrhythmia. “Oh, it was,” he remarked, his voice rife with innuendo. “I don’t know when I’ve enjoyed an evening more.”

  Though there was a hint of truth in that last statement, Sophie nevertheless grinned and kicked him under the table. He grunted with pain and his eyes widened. “It was harmless, really.”

  “I spent the night,” Jeb confided, evidently to punish her for the kick to his shin.

  Before Cora’s eyebrows completely disappeared, Sophie quickly interjected, “In the guest bedroom. He spent the night in the guest bedroom and I slept in my own room. We did not sleep together, at all.”

  Her older friend’s expression fell, clearly disappointed. “Oh.”

  Jeb gestured to Cora, who leaned down and he whispered something in her ear.

  Cora gasped delightedly, drew back and shot him a wink. “Atta boy,” she said. “I knew you had it in you.”

  Smiling happily, Cora grinned at her and then twinkled her fingers in goodbye.

  “What did you say to her?” Sophie asked suspiciously, her smile taking the heat out of the question.

  “That’s between me and Cora,” he said. “It’s a secret.”

  “You told her you were spending the night again tonight, didn’t you?”

  His blue eyes twinkled with devilish humor.
“I might have said something like that.”

  She lifted an unconcerned shoulder. “Oh, well. I might have told your brother the same thing, so it’s all good.”

  He choked on his tea. “What?” he wheezed. “My brother? Why are you talking to my brother?”

  “Strictly speaking, we’re not talking.” She popped a fry in her mouth. “We’ve been texting.”

  His expression went comically blank. “You’ve been texting my brother. But—” His eyes widened as understanding dawned. “I texted him from your phone,” he said with a resigned nod. “Right.”

  “He’s concerned about you,” she told him, eyes twinkling. “He says he’s been picking up some weird vibes.”

  Jeb chuckled darkly. “Oh, he did, did he? Wonderful. Brilliant. I appreciate that.”

  “I couldn’t ignore him,” Sophie protested. She withdrew her cell phone from her purse and held it up so that Jeb could see. “See? He even sent me a picture. Isn’t this gorgeous?” she said. “That’s the view from his apartment. Look at that water. It’s so blue. It reminds me of your—” She stopped short. Oh, hell.

  Naturally, he hadn’t missed the slip. A grin tugged at both corners of his lips, making that increasingly dear dimple wink in his cheek. “It reminds you of my what?” he asked.

  She took a sip of her drink, looking at a speck on the table. “S’not important.”

  “What?”

  Oh, geez. “It’s not important.”

  “That’s cruel,” he said. “I sense you were on the verge of paying me a very sincere compliment and now you’re refusing.” He tsked under his breath, as though he was heartbroken.

  “Oh, please,” she said with an exasperated sigh, feeling the tops of her ears burn with humiliation. It was a constant state where he was concerned. “I was just going to say that the color of the ocean there reminds me of your eyes.” She met his gaze, drawn in, as usual. “You have the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen.” Her breath thinned in her lungs. “They’re quite…compelling.”

  He swallowed. “See? I knew it. A compliment.” He looked away and drummed his fingers on the table, almost as if he was embarrassed. “Thank you.”

  She leaned forward, studied him a little closer. A hint of pink stained his cheeks, confirming her suspicions. For whatever reason, that little bit of color cheered her, made her feel like she wasn’t alone in this—whatever it was—happening between them. If she could make this badass former Ranger blush with a little compliment about his pretty eyes, then anything was possible, right?

  “Can I get you anything else?” Ethel asked, her plump face wreathed in a smile. She looked particularly happy for them, as though she, too, had been a part of the match-making scheme. “A slice of cake? A cup of cobbler?”

  Jeb shook his head. “Nothing for me, thanks. I’m fine.” He glanced at Sophie and lifted a brow. “Would you like something?”

  Sophie shook her head. “No, thanks.”

  Ethel frowned at her, put a hand against her forehead, checking for a temperature. “You all right, Sophie? You’re not getting sick, are you?”

  “Er…no,” she said, mortified. “I’m just full.” Geez, it wasn’t like she’d never turned down dessert before. Granted, it wasn’t often, but it wasn’t such a damned phenomenon either.

  “But you love my chocolate cobbler,” she persisted.

  Jeb’s lips twitched with humor, the wretch. “I do,” Sophie admitted. “But I’m going to pass tonight, all the same.”

  Ethel tsked. “Nothing to share, even? I could bring two spoons.”

  “How about an order to go?” Jeb suggested, an odd gleam lighting his gaze. It was almost…wicked. A shiver slid down her spine as his gaze fastened on her mouth and lingered. Remembered heat bloomed on her lips, the taste him of him on her tongue.

  “Excellent,” Ethel enthused, beaming. “I’ll fix that right up for you.”

  Sophie shook herself and considered him for a moment, her gaze narrowed in thought. “You like chocolate cobbler?” she asked.

  He shrugged a single massive shoulder. “I don’t know, I’ve never had it.”

  She grinned. “Then why did you order it?”

  “Because I like chocolate. It reminds me of your eyes,” he confided, leaning forward so that he could better look at them. “Melting and sweet and a little sinful.”

  Holy hell, Sophie thought, feeling her jaw go marginally slack. She blinked, almost drunkenly, taken aback at this description, then dredged her vocabulary for some sort of response. She finally settled for, “Oh.”

  “It was one of the first things I noticed about you,” he said. “They’re quite lovely. And so expressive.”

  She cleared her throat. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. Do you know what else I noticed about you?” he asked, lowering his voice. It was a little rough and foggy and sexy as hell.

  She tried to respond, but squeaked instead.

  “Your skin. It’s beautiful,” he said, his gaze tracing her face. “It practically glows with an inner light, one that’s just yours. And it’s so soft,” he added, issuing a soft masculine growl. “It makes me wonder what the rest of you feels like, if there are bits that are even softer.”

  She was going to drool all over herself if she didn’t close her mouth, Sophie thought, feeling suddenly under the influence of…something.

  Him, she realized. This is what he did to her. With a few words, he’d turned her body into a puddling pool of heat, her brain to mush.

  Need contracted her muscles, vibrated along her nerve endings and warmth mushroomed in her belly, spread up into her breasts, making her nipples tighten behind her bra and her feminine muscles clench. She squeezed her legs together in an effort to alleviate some of the mounting pressure, the desire to squirm.

  “Oh,” she managed to say again.

  Looking entirely too pleased with himself, masculine humor clinging to his grin, he reached across the table and took her hand, pressing a lingering kiss into her palm. Who would have ever thought that was such a sensitive area, that it would have been mysteriously linked to her core? Certainly not her, she thought, sinking her teeth into her bottom lip as sensation flooded her.

  “Guess what?” he asked.

  Probably, she didn’t care. She moaned a little, squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them in a vain attempt to regain some sort of control. “What?”

  “Marjorie left five minutes ago.”

  11

  JEB WATCHED AS she blinked the desire out of her eyes, then chuckled as she started and gave her head a shake. “Come on, then,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  “Ethel still hasn’t brought my to-go order.” More to the point, he couldn’t get up without everyone noticing that he was…up. He should have known better than to taunt her, that it would only result in his own frustration, but he just couldn’t seem to help himself.

  It was just too damned easy.

  And knowing that she wanted him, that he made her hot, that he made her lose control, was so damned powerful it was difficult to ignore. Impossible to resist.

  “Forget the to-go order,” she said, sliding out of the booth. “Let’s go.”

  Thankfully, Ethel arrived and handed over his container. “Here, darlin’,” she said. “If you’ve got a little ice cream to add to it, then all the better.”

  Grinning his thanks, Jeb left enough cash to cover the bill, plus a generous tip, then followed Sophie’s lead and exited the booth. He was still hard enough to upend the table, but he tugged his sweater down and prayed that no one would notice.

  Naturally, she did.

  Her eyes dropped below his waist, rounded, then she visibly swallowed. “Oh,” she said. “I see.”

  He chuckled grimly. “Just walk in front of me, would you?”

  Seemingly unable to tear her gaze away from his crotch—which, naturally wasn’t helping matters—she nodded distractedly and licked her lips. “Right. Sure.”

  He groaned. “Sophie, yo
u’re killing me.”

  She gave herself a little shake, then blushed. “Sorry. I’m just— That’s—”

  He wheeled her around and nudged her toward the door. “—distracting,” he finished. “Believe me, I know,” he added drolly.

  Having already agreed upon a strategy for getting into Marjorie’s office, Sophie had parked her car close to the director’s building in order to make it look like they were simply getting ready to leave. At the last minute, they veered off the lighted path, then snuck into the garden.

  Sophie went unerringly to the hide-a-key rock, slipped it from the bottom of the enclosure, then carefully opened the door. She dropped down into a crouch once they were inside the office, then he closed the door, locked it behind him and adjusted the curtain until there wasn’t any discernible opening anyone could see through.

  “All right,” Jeb said. “First things first.” He withdrew the USB device he’d gotten from Charlie and plugged it into Marjorie’s computer. The screen immediately glowed to life, prompted for the password, then a series of asterisks streaked across the text box and, like magic, they were in. The home screen loaded, revealing a picture of the Twilight Acres sign. He clicked through a few desktop files, grimacing when they revealed nothing.

  “Well?” Sophie asked. “Do you see anything suspicious?”

  The light from the aquarium glowed touched the side of her face and she was so close, her sweet breath whispered across his ear. “No,” he said, trying to concentrate on the task at hand. “Nothing yet.”

  He loaded her documents and scrolled through them, then felt a smile curve his lips. “Ah,” he said. “Bingo.”

  Finding a file marked simply “Benchmark,” which was the name of the safe company, he clicked on it, his anticipation spiking. It withered, deflated, when he was once again prompted for a password.

  “Shit,” he said. “This file is password protected.”

  “The little thingy won’t work?” she said gesturing to the device. Her terminology made him grin.

  “I don’t know.” He was tempted to remove it, then install it again just to see what would happen, but was afraid that it would shut the whole computer down, or at the very least, alert Marjorie to the fact that she’d been hacked. The director was obviously very concerned about protecting her privacy and that of her residents, but something was beginning to feel off. Why password protect the document? He attempted to open another file, only to have the same thing happen again.