“Thanks, Cammie.I’ll call you later with an update.”
“Be careful, Jace.”
“I will.”He hung up the phone and found himself in front of Aurelie.She’d sat with two women, both in scrubs as if they’d just gotten off shift.
“Can I borrow you a sec?”he asked.Her frown could have been answer enough, but she hesitated, then said something to the women and got up to meet him.
“Thanks.I’ve got something to tell you, something that can’t wait.”He slid them into an empty booth and waved the server over with a smile.
“Everything can wait.The right time and place exist for a reason, Jace.”
“Says the woman who eviscerated me in front of my new neighbors,” Jace teased.When her eyes pooled with moisture, he cringed, regretting the stab.“To be fair, I’m here to have a good time, too, but this can’t wait.”
And just like that, her wounded expression was replaced with the familiar ire aimed at him.
“I’m not here to have a good time.I’m here to find out information about who is ruining my town so I can mobilize people to help me fix it before…well, before I can’t anymore.”
His curiosity was piqued.Until she couldn’t?But he—they—had bigger fish to fry.Sly, dangerous fish.
He pulled the newspaper he’d swiped from the restaurant entrance and slapped it on the table.Jace made a mental note to call the paper and subscribe.After the scoop that morning, he couldn’t get away with not being on top of the news around there.
Jace didn’t take his eyes off of her as she read, noting the same anger he’d felt flit across her face, only to be replaced by a steely determination set in her jaw.Thatwas the woman who’d blown him away the day—and night—before.
“Yes, that’s why I’m here.To get to the bottom of this.Someone in this town has to be aware, and no more cowboys can sell this idiot their ranch.You, included.”
“I’m not selling.I’m staying.”
Her eyes flashed with something else, then.Surprise?Maybe.But something more intense, too.He couldn’t get a read on it.
“You had better tell me what the devil is going on in the next two minutes, Jace, or I’m leaving.”There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that she meant that, too.
The server came over then.Ignoring a penetrating glance from Aurelie, Jace ordered another round of whiskeys.
“A rum, for me, please,” Aurelie added.“On his tab.”
“I’ll take theirs, too,” he said, pointing to her friends and chuckling.Aurelie actually smiled at him, with teeth and everything.Damn, she was cute when she didn’t seem to want him dead.
It didn’t take long for him to grow serious, however, and he launched into what Cammie had discovered.As he recapped their conversation, the gravity of the situation settled in around them both.
Her eyes grew soft around the edges, and she met his gaze, an apology written in her expression, supported by her hand clasped over his.
“Now I wish itwereyou,” she said, her voice as quiet as he’d ever heard it.He hadn’t thought Aurelie understood the concept of an inside voice until just then.“This is worse than I thought.”He nodded in agreement.
“Can you get a hold of Sophie?I think we need to let her know what’s going on since she put the guy away.This might be just a coincidence, but it could also be the start of a calculated manipulation meant to retaliate.”
Aurelie sat back against the red leather and let out a long sigh.
“She’s in court tomorrow morning, so she’s likely already asleep.But she’ll be home in the evening.I can go to the main house when she’s off and tell her.I have to.Isaac’s ex-wife is Sophie’s business partner.They’re opening a clinic and shelter for women who were hurt like she was.”
“Shit.So, this is bigger than just Sophie.”
“It would seem.”
“Shit.”
Aurelie giggled.“You already said that.”
He’d gotten used to being attracted to her surliness, her singular need to destroy everything dangerous in her path, but this… This side of her was alarmingly captivating and disarming.And sexy as hell.
