Shite. “Sorry.” He hadn’t meant to scare her, for goodness’ sake. “You okay?”
“Um, yes.” She gathered papers into a pile, busying her hands. “Sorry. Iwas thinking.”
“Obviously.” He slung his pack over his other shoulder, wanting to give his healed scars a break. “Are you walking to the day care? I could accompany you.” Why did she look so sad, and what could he do to fix that? Nothing, if she didn’t givehim the chance.
Even her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “The day care is having a special science party and the kids were excited. I won’t pick Trudy up until seven, so I thought I’d get some extra work completed.”
Ah. He was never a chap to let an opportunity go, and if nothing else, the woman truly needed to get out of the office. “How about we grab dinner just around the corner?” He held up one hand before she could refuse. “My pantry is empty and I was just going to hit a drive-through, but I’d rather have Italian food and debate game theory.” Then he waited, surprised by how badly he wanted her to accept his invitation. “It’s on me. I could use a relaxing dinner.” Which was the truth. He still didn’t have a line on his brother and hated the thought that it would take another dead body to give him a lead.
She stared at him, obviously thinking it over. “Justas colleagues?”
Well, that was a mite insulting. “Of course,” hesaid smoothly.
“Okay,” she said, a hint of suspicion in her tone. “I guess that wouldbe all right.”
He grinned. “If I’d had an ego, you just destroyedit completely.”
Her laugh came more naturally than had her smile as she stood and reached for the ugly wool coat. “I have no doubt your ego is still nicely sized and in a healthy state.”
He stepped back to allow her to precede him into the hallway and out the door, into the chilly night. “I’m parked over here,” he said, somewhat surprised she’d acceptedhis invitation.
They didn’t speak on the way to the restaurant or as they were seated in a secluded corner.
She looked around at the intimate interior. In the candlelight her features appeared even more delicate than usual. “This seems romantic.” Based on her frown she didn’t like that.
“They have great food,” Jethro said. “Although I usually pop over for lunch and it isn’t so dark,to be honest.”
The words seemed to relax her. They ordered and each had a glass of wine. By the end of dinner, he’d learned that she was more than qualified to teach the upper division game theory classes if she wanted. It was one of the most relaxing and enjoyable meals he’d had in years, and as he paid the check, he wished he had the right to ask her about her fears. About the way she stiffened when anybody came too close and then had to make an obvious attempt torelax herself.
Somebody had scared her and somebody had hurt her.
So he ignored his urge to place his hand at the base of her spine as they left and instead kept his hands to himself. The more he was around her, the more he wantedto touch her.
They strode out into the night, where it had startedto snow again.
She sighed and looked up, blinking away moisture. “Any idea when the weather will get nicer?”
He barked out a laugh and escorted her to his vehicle, down the lot. “Yes. A few months from now.”
Her laughter was a warm sound that dug into his chest and took root. He let the sound fill him, so in tune to her that he let his constant vigilance slip, just for a second.
It was a second too long.
“Hey. Wallet.” The guy came out from behind a tree, gun extended, a dark blue ski maskover his face.
Gemma gasped.
Jethro pivoted and concealed her with his body. “Sure. There’s no need for a weapon.” He reached into his front pocket to hand over his wallet, his peripheral vision already taking in the scene. Two other guys, one wearing a red ski mask and the other a purple one, jumped up from behind an adjacent car. Purple held a knife and Red held nothing, both twitching. Had they been waiting specifically for him?
His vehicle was the nicest in the lot, so perhapsthey had been.
He catalogued them. All around six feet and in their early twenties. One white, one black, and one he couldn’t quite tell through the mask. The masks did a good job of shroudingtheir features.
He pressed back until he could feel Gemma behind him. “We don’t want any problems on this fine night. I have nearly a thousand dollars in my wallet and it’s all yours.”
“A thousand?” Red burst out, his gloved hands sweeping. “Awesome.”
Purple nudged him. “We’re supposed to, um, take the woman.”
