Deke must have guessed her feelings on the subject. “If it makes you feel any better, I can promise you that even if he succeeds in talking Arganbright into putting him on the Foundation staff, Hatch will be under the equivalent of house arrest,” he said.“He may have all the money in the world, but he’ll be wearing a psychic ankle bracelet.”
“Well, that’s something, I suppose,” she muttered.
“It’s the least Arganbright can do,” Luke said. “Hatch was responsible for a lot of really bad art.”
The Foundation had taken charge of what was left of the Fool’s Gold Canyon Art Colony. The experts could not wait to start excavating the scene. There was, Deke said, nothing like the discovery of a previously unknown Bluestone lab to get Victor Arganbright excited.
Agents were dispatched to search for the Tuxedo Twins and Victoria Ellsworth.
It had been late afternoon when Luke pulled into the resort parking lot. They had all headed for their rooms with the gear they had picked up at the shopping mall.
This was, Sophy thought, the first time she and Luke had been alone since they had found Bea and Deke in the old lab. Well, make that the first time she and Luke and Bruce had been alone.
She looked at the new nightgown in the shopping bag. “I wasn’t fretting about my virtue.”
Luke paused in the act of taking a package of briefs out of his own shopping bag. He watched her from the far side of the room. In spite of his exhaustion there was a lot of heat in his eyes. Energy shifted in the atmosphere.
“Just to clarify,” he said, “are you not fretting about the safety of your virtue because I’m too tired to be a threat tonight?”
“You will never be a threat,” she said.
He winced. “That squishing noise is the sound of my ego being squashed flat.”
Horrified, she stared at him. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“How did you mean it?”
She felt the heat rise in her face. “I meant I know you would never hurt me. I trust you.”
“Since when?”
She thought about that. “I’m not sure. From the start, I think.”
His mouth kicked up at the corner. “So you’ve trusted a Wells for a little more than three days?”
“That sounds weird, doesn’t it? I told myself I shouldn’t trust you because you’re a Wells, but somehow I knew that if you made a promise, you would keep it. What about you? Do you trust me? I know you’re not afraid of me or my talent, but do youtrustme?”
“From the start.”
“Even though I come from a long line of psychics who have a talent for lockpicking and safecracking?”
“That doesn’t worry me because I come from a long line of engineers who invent state-of-the-art security equipment.”
She wasn’t sure how to decipher that, so she plunged ahead. “I guess we don’t have to worry about the stupid feud anymore.”
“I’d say Deke and Bea took care of that issue for us.”
“Yes, they did.” Her spirits rose out of the depths and soared into the stratosphere. “Do you realize what this means?”
“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me.”
She swept out her arms. “You and I can try dating.”
Laughter flashed in his eyes. “Okay, but can we skip the crime scenes in dark alleys? Maybe go to some nice restaurants instead? For the sake of variety?”
“Absolutely,” she said.
“Can I assume I am not a failed experiment?”
