The lights in her eyes cooled and then dimmed. She stiffened in his arms before clambering out of his lap. She hit the passenger seat, her head twisted to the side window so he saw only the back of her head.
He lifted a shaky hand and pulled off his hat. Fuck. What just happened? Didn’t women want declarations of love? When she looked at him, he swore he read the same thing on her face. Had he completely misread her?
Tense silence filled the truck, equal to the weight of being held at gunpoint. Neither of them spoke. Minutes ticked by. To avoid looking at her, he glanced at the gas gauge and saw it dropping. Cutting the engine would mean they’d lose precious time if they had to find a quick escape. But they couldn’t go anywhere without gas.
He’d never confessed his love before. Well, not since third grade when Amanda Grace Richards gave him a pink paper heart on Valentine’s Day. To finally say the words and receive only silence in response had him swerving between confused and pissed off.
Should he say something else to cover it up? And why the hell didn’t she love him too? Her body reacted to his every look and touch. She laughed at all his jokes. When she told him she didn’t have any interest in Ryan Letters, he believed her. If there wasn’t someone else, then what stopped her from having feelings for him?
“Dammit,” he said under his breath. Her shoulder tensed but she didn’t turn.
Turning his worries to her safety, he withdrew his phone and called Roman to ask if he could see anything and received a joking reply that he was a whole twelve feet in front of them and their angles were the same.
Then he called Josiah, who told him the calf was doing better and it would most likely live. Also, Boone had reached Seattle and was now networking with security at the hotel and conference center. These small discussions didn’t help his mood or distract him from the mute woman seated beside him.
“I found something in Pippa’s spam folder, too,” Josiah said.
Clutching the phone to his ear, he waited for more.
“An email that bounced between about ten different IP addresses. It could be nothing—or it could be something.”
“Forward it to me and I’ll take a look. Did you run it past Shanie?” he referred to Silas by his last name.
“Yup. He thinks it might hold some weight in this case too.”
After he ended the call, he sent a sidelong look at Pippa’s ramrod-stiff spine.
“Pippa—”
She twisted in her seat to face the front. “What did Josiah say?”
In total Pippa Hamlin style, she changed the subject. What choice did he have but to roll with it? He wasn’t about to argue about love, and he wouldn’t say it a second time.
“They discovered something in your spam folder they want me to have a look at.” They didn’t look at each other, which had his blood boiling in his veins. Minutes before, she rubbed her pussy on his cock and kissed him like she meant it. Now she was ice-cold.
Maybe she didn’t want more than sex from him, and he’d crossed that line. In this scenario, he was taking the typical role of the female who wanted more than the man did. Now he saw why some women hated on men.
He flipped up the screen containing the email.
“Well?” she asked. “What is it?”
He gave a slow shake of his head. “It doesn’t appear to be spam to me. It looks like it came through the chain of command at MIZR.”
She finally turned her head to pierce him in her gaze. “I don’t know how it’s possible I’d miss something associated with my company. Everything comes through a filter but doesn’t go to spam.”
“I think this might be why.” He held up the phone for her to read.
As her gaze moved down the screen, they widened until the whites showed around the hazel irises. “Oh my God.” Her voice rasped with fear. Over their days together, her voice had grown clearer, healing from her injury. But it still held a womanly husk that echoed like a gong inside him. Now, the throatiness returned full force.
She reached as if to snatch the phone from him but dropped her hand to her lap. Her fingers clamped on her leg until the knuckles turned white. “Someone offered me money for my breakthrough?”
“Looks that way.”
“MIZR doesn’t operate that way.”
“Seems as if someone is acting on his own. And he has enough money behind him to pay you a lump sum of twenty-five million dollars.”
“That’s…” She broke off, shaking her head. “It has to be a scam. One of those men from Europe who found my name in his mother’s will and is going to send me the inheritance if I provide him with my bank account number.”
“I don’t think so, Pippa.”
When she met his stare, he saw shock mingled with sadness there. “You’re suggesting someone in MIZR offered to pay me off and when I didn’t respond to that email, they turned to hunting me for it?”
Pain pulsed in her tone. Her eyes flooded with tears, causing them to sparkle brighter. He could be an asshole and hold back any comfort he could give her because she didn’t return his feelings. But he would never do that.
“I’m sorry, honey. C’mere.” He reached out for her and pulled her into his arms. She rested her head on his chest, and he waited to hear the hitching sounds of her crying, but when he glanced down at her, he found her cheeks dry.
She didn’t make a move to slide into her seat. In fact, she seemed pretty damn content to be curled against his chest as she processed the new clue as to who could want her dead.
Even if she didn’t love him in return, she did want his support.
And he loved her enough to provide everything she needed and then some.
“Ross.”
“Yes?”
“I need you to do something for me.”
“Anything.”
“I want you to get me a weapon. Because I’m not going into that conference center unarmed.”
By now, he shouldn’t be surprised by anything she said or did. The woman had more ability than some security officers or prison guards he’d met.
“I’m not going to ask if you know how to shoot. I know your father would have taken you to the range.”
“Yes. He’s an outdoorsman, and he taught me everything he knows.”
“I can’t give you a weapon, Pippa. I can’t put you at more risk. You asked me to protect you—now trust me that I will.”
A shiver shook her, and he tightened his arms to safeguard her from the worst of the storm.
“If it really is someone who heads MIZR—and I can’t imagine who else would have that kind of money—then I feel I’ve lost everything.”
“What do you mean?” He smoothed his hand over her silky hair.
“I’ve believed in this company since I was a teen, when they paid for my way through college and to get me through a doctorate degree in trade for working for them.” She lifted her head and looked at Ross. “I feel like a sow that’s been fattened up for market. They gave me every opportunity to learn. For them. They trained me and provided me with the facility to discover this thing that will change the world. Now they want to pay me off or kill me to get it. Well, I’m not giving up my secrets, and I’m willing to die to keep it out of their hands.”