“Oh, you are just the sweetest man.” I clasp my hands under my breasts, making them bounce a little, and yep. His gaze drops. “Handsome too. How long until I find a cell signal? My momma’s probably been callin’ me all day, and she don’t like it when she can’t reach me.”
“Oh, that’ll be a while, sugar. At least another hour of drivin’.”
I drop my chin, letting him see just how heartbroken I am, and bat my lashes a few times. “I don’t suppose you’d be even kinder and let me use your phone? I promise, I’ll keep the call nice and short. Just so momma won’t worry.”
His face hardens for a split second, but then he gets himself under control. “Give me just a minute, sweetness. I was folding laundry when you knocked, and well...” Harrow offers me a sheepish smile, but his eyes are as cold as Jack Frost himself, “a gentleman shouldn’t let a lady see his pile of briefs.”
If that isn’t the biggest crock of horse shit I’ve ever heard. The sunglasses transmit both image and sound, and I bet the rest of the team is rolling on the floor laughing right about now.
It’s close to three minutes before he returns. “Come on in, sugar. Phone’s right on the wall in the kitchen.”
This is risky as all get out, but we need ears in this house, and West is right. There’s no other way to get them.
The main room is sparse, but clean. Couch, coffee table, flat screen TV. No evidence of laundry, but like I believed that for a hot second. Harrow walks ahead of me, his jeans molded to a body that’s seen better days. Softer around the middle than his file photos, with his crisp button-down shirt tucked in but bulging at the sides.
A quick glance ahead of him at the kitchen reveals a dirty pan in the sink, along with a mug, three glasses, and a small stack of plates.
Harrow hands me the receiver on an old,cordedphone. Holy shit. I didn’t think anyone made these anymore.
“Bless your kind heart. Well, I don’t even know your name, handsome. I’m Ella Rae. Ella Rae Johnson.” Holding out my hand, I offer him the widest smile I can force, and he winks at me.
“James Logan. And it’s a pleasure, Ella Rae.” His grip is weak as shit, limp even, and he nods at the phone. “It’s all yours.”
Despite his words, he doesn’t go far, and I dial the burner phone number Ryker had me memorize on the flight from Seattle.
“Hello?” Wren says when the call connects.
“Momma? I’m so sorry. I got myself all turned around and lost and I’m not going to get to Salt Lake for hours now.”
“Ella Rae, Itoldyou to take a map with you, child. You tried to go the whole way with thatphoneof yours, didn’t you?”
“Yes, Momma. You were right. But I found a true gentleman out here in the middle of nowhere, and he set me to rights and let me use his phone. I’ll be on my way in two shakes.”
“Well, your brother had a little run-in with your uncle, and the two of them are havin’ a stand-off downstairs, so you best be gettin’ along.”
So Harrow’s accomplice is down in the basement with Quinton. Probably to keep him quiet.
“I will, Momma.” Hunching my shoulders like she just chastised me, I dip my hand into my pocket and pull out one of the bugs. I can feel the asshole’s eyes on me, so I wiggle my hips just enough to hopefully draw his gaze.
It’s the simplest drop ever, sticking the bug to the underside of the telephone, and it’s nowhere close enough to the basement to hear anything from Q, but at least we’ll be able to eavesdrop on Harrow and his accomplice. Land lines are a hell of a lot harder to tap on short notice than cell phones, so this is the only option. “Love you.”
When I hang up, Harrow’s leaning against the wall at the entrance of the kitchen, and he raises his eyes from the level of my ass to my tits. “All better now?”
“Oh, yes. She just worries so.”
Alec offers me his hand, and I take it, maintaining the facade of ditsy Southern blonde, even as warning bells go off in my head. But all he does is lead me towards the front door. The hallway is on my right, and I stumble, letting my hand slip from his as I fall.
“Are you okay?” he asks, bending over me and getting a damn fine view down my shirt.
Giggling is so far out of my area of expertise, I don’t even know if I’m doing it right, but I try, then pat the carpet for my key ring. I purposely tossed them two feet down the hall. “Oh my stars and garters, I am just the clumsiest! Now where are those keys?”
My fingers close around them, and with my free hand, I shove the second bug between the carpet and the baseboard. Fucking amateur hour, but it’s as close as I can get without risking exposure. The only bathroom on this floor is in the master bedroom, and I’d bet all of the rather generous salary McCabe offered me that Harrow won’t let me in there. Three minutes is plenty of time for Tweedle Dumb to head downstairs, but not enough to hide all evidence of a second person’s things.
“Well, Mr. Logan, you have been the absolute best. Just a total sweetheart, and I can’t thank you enough for rescuin’ little ole me when no one else could.” I let him help me to my feet, then lean in and give him a quick peck on the cheek. “I’d best be goin’ before I disappoint my momma any more than I already have. But if you’re ever in Salt Lake City for a spell, you look me up, you hear?”
“Oh, I will, sugar. You can count on it.” He watches me until I get into the dilapidated hatchback, and once the old girl turns over, I head back down his drive, make a left, and then floor it all the way to the RV.
* * *
