Chapter Six
Stone spotted Jack two booths back. Mindful of not acknowledging the other man, he skimmed his gaze straight past. Their plan relied on Hagar not discovering their relationship—or anyone else, for that matter. As far as anyone knew, Stone and Soph were a normal couple out enjoying the gorgeous summer day.
They’d arrived at the festival about thirty minutes ago. Wandering from booth to booth, they’d admired crafts, eaten local food and even partaken in a local beverage known as Booze. The last had been an under-the-table transaction that had him raising his eyebrows but sampling anyway. He’d barely had a sip but the alcohol content was so potent, he’d taken a punch to the gut as though he’d slung back a keg of the stuff. He could imagine the locals—and presumably a good number of out-of-towners—getting well and truly hammered on the town’s brand of moonshine.
Not that anyone needed to get drunk for Sapphire Falls’ annual festival to be a hit. The town square was wall-to-wall people. Locals and visitors laughed and ate, drank and had a great time. Kids ran here and there, parents trailing behind. It was a kaleidoscope of faces and so far neither he, nor Soph, nor Jack had seen the one visitor they sought. Hagar. Not that any of them had a clear idea of what the man looked like.
Chip had managed to get a copy of the image taken by Customs when Hagar exited Australia, but once again his features were indistinguishable due to the full beard he wore. How Landlocked’s resident computer geek got into the government system to obtain the picture, Stone didn’t know, and was safernotknowing. Although he had to admit having a computer genius at their disposal worked in their favor, regardless of his possibly illegal methods.
After studying the image Chip had acquired, the entire Landlocked team came to the same conclusion. Hagar’s beard was fake. Unfortunately, the computer-altered image of Hagar minus facial hair wasn’t a good one. A five-year-old could do better with a crayon and paper. Okay, not really, but the frustration of not knowing exactly who they were looking for was getting to Stone.
He liked to know his enemy. Looks, behavior, location. Currently he knew none of those things about Soph’s stalker, and to say he was edgy was an understatement.
“Here. Try this.” Soph shoved a corncob in front of his face.
His stomach cramped in protest. She’d been buying every food item on offer since they’d gotten here. He took the latest offering with a forced smile. “Thanks.”
“Don’t thank me until you eat it.”
Stone arched an eyebrow as he brought the sweet-smelling cob to his mouth.
“It might taste like crap.” She smirked at him.
Ready to take a bite, he said, “I find that hard to believe. It’s a corncob. How can you screw that up? And isn’t corn the primary crop in this area?”
She shrugged a bare shoulder. “How would I know? Do I look like a farmer to you?”
He sank his teeth into hot, juicy corn and glanced down her body. Starting with her smooth shoulders, exposed by her sleeveless dress, he moved down her chest to the lush curves of her breasts, where they peaked out of her low-cut neckline, and felt himself harden at the thought of having those beauties in his mouth again.
In fear of developing a hard-on he couldn’t hide in public, he reversed his gaze and met her stare head-on. “No. Nothing farmer about you.”
She laughed. A rich, deep, joy-soaked sound that rang around them, drawing gazes and making Stone want to hear it all the time.
Smiling, he placed a hand on her lower back and urged her forward. “C’mon, let’s walk over to the petting zoo. See if we can’t find your inner farmer.”
Soph’s nose scrunched up. “It’ll smell over there, and I’d better not get anything other than a little dirt on these shoes.”
He looked at her shoes. Definitely not footwear for farming country but she’d insisted on wearing them and the sexy dress when they’d gotten ready earlier. “I’m more worried about you breaking an ankle than getting them dirty.”
“Said like a typical man.”
“In case you missed the memo, I am a man.”
She shot him a sultry smile. “Oh, don’t worry. I got that memo. I got itgooood,” she sang with a flutter of her lashes.
Stone laughed, slipped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into his side. “I’ll resend it after we deal with Hagar.”
Pouting up at him, Soph grumbled, “I was hoping you’d resend it when we got back to the room.”
He couldn’t think of anything better except he’d decided not to cross that line again. Not until she was safe and the threat to her no longer in play. He’d even made the decision not to purchase any more condoms. They’d used his one and only last night so they’d have to abstain until he could cover that threat too.
“I’m going to assume your silence means we won’t be re-examining your man card this evening.”
The excited chatter of children gave him the perfect opportunity to ignore her remark. He steered Soph around the group and off to the side where they could see what was going on. Peering into the pen area, Stone saw a bunch of fluff balls racing around on the grass.
“Bunnies!” Soph squealed beside him. “Oh my god, they’re so cute. I want one.”
“Um… Not a farmer, remember?” He moved her in front of him so she could see better.
