“Yeah, not going to make that promise. I promise not to kidnap you though.”
Lainey laughed. “You have a key.”
“You should have one of mine. If there’s an emergency – especially with the animals…”
“Exactly.” She finished the rest of her cocoa. “Thank you. I’ll sleep well.”
“I’ll walk you back.”
“You don’t need to.”
Jake didn’t respond, just grabbed a coat off the row of hooks where everything was tidily put.
“Seriously, that whisky’s given me a nice buzz. I can manage a few footsteps to my back door.”
His eyes blazed. “I didn’t have you down as a backdoor sort of girl.”
Lainey slowly shook her head. “Seriously?”
He grinned and stuck his feet in a battered pair of trainers. “Humour me. Let me walk you home.”
He didn’t just walk her home. He followed her into her house, closing the door behind him and then started to check cupboards, wardrobes and under beds. She followed him, not entirely sure what questions she should be asking and whether or not she should be weirded out.
Jake did find one last frog.
“Thought I put eight in.”
Lainey stood there and stared at him.
“I’ll take him outside with me. Bolt the door at the top and bottom.”
“I will. I’m not at risk of getting kidnapped any more, you realise that, don’t you?” She peered at him, trying desperately to work him out somehow.
Jake shrugged. “If they kidnapped you now, they’d abandon you as soon as you started speaking, so you needn’t be worried. Sleep well.” He gave her a mock salute and backed out of the doorway, leaving her almost too confuddled to even think of going to bed.
The following morning,after completing her usual tasks and seeing one early client, she returned to her home to find a black van and half a dozen men drilling away at her walls. A tall, fair haired man who looked a little like a Viking was speaking to Jake; he gave her a nod as she approached. This was a Viking she knew, was related to and would’ve been her first port of call had she thought to do this herself.
“Jake.” She wasn’t sure how she was going to defend herself when she murdered him after this. “Jake, you do realise I’m not selling you the farm. This is still my property.” She looked at the Viking. “Hi, K. How’s Claire?”
The Viking gave her a subtle smile. “Jake told us he had an urgent job. He didn’t tell me it was on your place – you should’ve said. I’d have gotten this sorted sooner.”
Of course, Jake said it was urgent. Of course, Jake had a friend who looked like a Viking and owned a security firm. Why wouldn’t he? And now she’d be due a bollocking off Killian who took any chance he could to make sure all of the Callaghans and now the Greens were secured away against even a mouse infestation.
Lainey closed her eyes and counted to ten, knowing she probably couldn’t actually count high enough to calm herself down.
“Let me know the details to transfer the balance.” Because having security wasn’t a bad idea. Even in a place where people left their doors unlocked as a matter of course, she’d always have those nights when a strange sound would send her back twenty years to waking up with the dog growling and a man with a cloth and a sack in his hands.
Killian O’Hara, Viking security man, shook his head. “It’s taken care of.”
She stared at Jake who just grinned, his hands in his jeans pockets.
“By you?” Lainey couldn’t help but point her finger.
He shook his head. “The Severton Welcoming Committee. They didn’t know what to get you, hence there’s been a bit of delay since you moved in till now.”
Lainey nodded slowly, disbelieving. “The Severton Welcoming Committee. And who chairs this committee?”
“Gran.”
