“That rat stole Hope’s photos, discredited her, and ruined her. That enough for now?”
“We should have thumped him,” the Texan snarled.
“It was in the forefront of my mind, but we don’t want blood on Mac’s stuff, so we’ll get round to it soon.”
“Here when required,” Tex added.
“Thanks for following my lead.” He shook the Texan’s hand, then Mac’s. “It’s important to Hope.”
“And what’s important to Hope is important to you, is my guess?”
“She’s a friend.”
His friend smiled. “Of course she is, and if you think I’m leaving now, you can think again. Besides, Annabelle will kill me.”
“You’re so whipped.” Newman threw the words over his shoulder as he went to find Hope.
“You’ll need backup when she tries to unman you anyways!”
Ignoring Ethan’s words, he looked down the aisles and in the storeroom. Stepping back out the door, he looked right and found her behind a large bookshelf. Forehead pressed to the wood, she had her eyes closed and fists clenched. It didn’t bode well for him, was his guess.
“Hope.”
“How could you?”
“Come out here, and let’s talk about it.”
She did, sliding sideways, and when she faced him her eyes were slits.
“You bastard!”
“Now, Hope.”
“You lied, and now I’ll look stupid when he realizes you lied. Hell, Newman. What were you two thinking?” she raged. “Clearly you weren’t, and now when John Finch doesn’t arrive in Howling, it will simply reinforce what Jay has told Wildlife.”
She was pacing now, around the chairs away from him and then back again.
“How about credit for trying?” he said, hoping she’d lighten up. She didn’t, if anything her scowl darkened. “We needed a plan, now we have one.” Newman kept his voice calm and reasonable. He was good at this. Placating people was his thing.
“We,” she said loudly, “don’t have shit! What we have is a monumental fuckup!”
“Don’t cuss.”
“Excuse me?” She stalked back to stand before him, her face now inches from his. “You cuss constantly, so don’t you tell me not to.”
“You, however, don’t,” he said as his temper began to climb.
“Of course I do, all the time, and add to that, I’m an adult, so I can say whatever the hell I want!”
Her face was so close her breath brushed his lips when she talked, and he felt it again, the need. Even though his anger was climbing, he wanted this woman.
“It’ll be okay, Hope. We’ll work this out. Tex and I have just started the ball rolling.”
“How? You lied to Jay, but not just a small lie, a great big, huge one. One so big, I’ll never live it down! John Finch is like the rock star of nature photography!”
“If I may interject?”
They turned to face Tex, who was watching them with an amused expression.
