She shrugged. “We mostly talked about travel, vacation spots, that kind of thing. He had a list of places he wanted to see here, too.” Marianna wrinkled her nose. “The Great Barrier Reef, and he’s going to some valley this weekend—”
Simon cut her off. “What’s the name of that valley?”
She shook her head. “I don’t remember, but it was somewhere with wineries. Not too far from here.”
The mood shifted in the room, suddenly more serious.
“The Hunter Valley?” asked Derek slowly.
“I think so.”
All three men were silent now. Derek glanced over at Simon and raised his eyebrows a little. Simon must have given him some kind of answer because Derek turned to her, his expression serious.
“The Goodwin Enterprises warehouse is in the middle of the Hunter Valley.”
Her stomach tightened into a familiar knot. It was the same knot she had hoped would disappear after her divorce. The knot that came back when William had pulled up onto her front lawn in Miami. The one Simon helped to ease that day.
“It could just be a coincidence, or he could have been fishing for information, checking to see if you were following the shipment.” Derek rubbed his jaw. “What did you tell him?”
Marianna went back through her arrival, the memory hazy in the fog of jet lag. Until Simon came up. Then it was clearer.
“I don’t think I said anything. We were in the arrivals hall and Simon...” Simon came up and scared the guy off. How did she put this in business-appropriate terms? “The conversation ended when Simon found us.”
Max smothered smirk with his hand. “Got it.”
Simon grumbled something under his breath to Max, who stifled laugh.
Derek took over. “Blackmore Inc. usually doesn’t take last-minute jobs like this. There are a lot of question marks and not much time to answer them.”
She nodded.
“So I’m going to ask you something that’s more personal.”
“Okay.”
Derek glanced over at Simon one more time and took a deep breath. “Has your ex-husband ever done anything to make you feel physically threatened?”
