Page 56 of Married at Midnight

Connor raced up the stairs and toward the sound that had come from the master bedroom. Ellie followed in his wake. Inside the room, the paintings were askew and the furniture tipped over like below.

His heart pounded. He drew a breath, trying to keep his anger and frustration at bay. He needed a clear head to figure this all out.

“The robber was just up here.” Ellie’s breath hitched behind him. “And look—the window’s open.” Her eyes were wide, her face pale. She clutched her hands before her. Even so, he could see she was shaking.

With a growl of frustration, Connor moved to the window and threw the drapes completely aside in time to see a dark figure jump down from their six-foot fence and vanish from sight. He wanted to stay and comfort Ellie, who was visibly shaken, but he had to follow the intruder if they were ever going to have answers.

“Stay here,” Connor ground out. He turned to go, but stopped when Ellie placed a hand on his arm.

“Be careful,” she said, then released him.

He inclined his head to her. “Call the police.”

“I will.”

Without looking back, Connor tore after the intruder. He pounded down one street, then another, until only the echo of his own footfalls came to his ears. He’d lost him.

Just as he returned to Grayson House, the police arrived. Connor walked them inside. He found Ellie standing in the doorway with Zanzibar in her arms. He almost smiled at the sight of the two of them coming to terms with each other in a time of crisis.

“Any luck?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Whoever it was got away before I could get even a partial description. But the intruder must have been male judging by the height and build.”

Over the next forty minutes, he and Ellie gave the police what information they could and promised to call if they found anything missing. When they were finally gone, Connor leaned against the door. “We’re getting an alarm system today. I won’t allow anything to happen to you, not when I can do something to avoid it.”

She tried to smile, but her attempt was more like a grimace. He couldn’t blame her. The break-in was frightening, to say the least. “What could they possibly want from us or this house?”

He didn’t want to upset her any more, but she had to know they weren’t after her or anything in the house. “I’d bet they were after my research, if not the prototype of my car itself.”

“Is your car still here?” she asked, her voice pained as she placed a comforting hand on his arm.

“I didn’t bring it home last night. It’s safe and locked up at the lab.”

“How can you be sure? Is there someone you can call?”

“I’ll need to go in to the university and check.”

“Then go.”

He shook his head. “I want to be here for you. To help you set the house to rights.”

“I can take care of that. I’ll call Jordan and Olivia. They can help.”

He patted her hand, then reluctantly removed it from his arm. “I’ll call your dad. I’d feel better if you had a man here with you.”

Ellie frowned and grabbed a tipped-over glass vase from the kitchen table. “I’m perfectly capable of defending myself.”

One corner of his mouth quirked at the sight of her. She looked like a fierce warrior with that glass vase held up, poised to strike. “I have no doubts about your abilities to protect yourself or this house, but it would make me feel better knowing you weren’t alone. Please? Let me call your dad.”

“I’ll call him,” she said. “You get on your way to the lab.”

He nodded and let go of her hand, instantly feeling its loss as he headed out the door. He knew he needed to make certain his research was safe, yet he had the insane urge to stay with Ellie at any cost.

Once he reached the University of Washington and his robotics lab, he hurried inside. Only two members of his team had arrived. After a quick inspection, Connor was pleased to see his prototype was safely locked away in the lab and his research was secure in the safe.

As a precaution, he placed a call to university security, requesting an on-site officer for the next few weeks. Until he could finish his work, he would need to protect it.

If only he could be in two places at once.