“Undoubtedly.”
“And don’t you think it would be a shame to project my crappy j-peg files and blurry PDFs onto such a nice screen?”
“It certainly would.”
Which explains how we end up camped out in front of the television with wine, popcorn, candy, and Magic Mike when Baxter finds us.
“Working hard or hardly working?”
“Funny man,” I say, then toss a box of Junior Mints at him.
“I give this hotel five stars,” Gabby announces. “There’s a movie-style candy tray under the TV. It’s fabulous.”
Baxter chuckles, then takes a seat on the couch and opens the candy. “Pause for a sec and I’ll update you.”
We do, though not as eagerly as we should—it’s an awesome scene, and neither one of us wants to return to reality. Still, best to know the score.
“No hit yet on the facial recognition,” he says. “But the program’s projecting the run will be complete by morning. Fingers crossed.”
“And you put in William and his family, right?”
“Right,” Baxter says. “We used several images we found online just to be dead certain. But nothing.”
I meet Gabby’s eyes. “Bad news for solving this, but hopefully it means your biological family isn’t trying to kill you.”
She clinks her wine glass against mine. “Cheers to that.”
“Glad you two are taking things in stride,” Baxter says to me. “But instead of eliminating, I want to find the fucker that did that to you.”
“Wait,” Gabby says. “Did what?” She looks between me and Baxter. “And now that I think about it, whose face are you trying to match?”
I wince, realizing that she didn’t know about the man who’d come into my room.
“We don’t know.” Ryan’s voice rises from behind me as he climbs the last few stairs. “But when we find him, it’s going to take a hell of a lot of self-restraint for me not to kill him.”
Gabby turns to look at Ryan. She studies him for a moment, then shifts her attention to me beside her. “Okay. Tell me.”
I don’t want to say anything. I’m freaked enough by what happened to me. If it had been Gabby in that bed, I don’t doubt he would have increased the dosage to a lethal amount. Or just wrung her neck.
Now, though, she’s looking at me with such trust and hope that I can’t justify keeping anything back. Forewarned is forearmed and all that jazz. And if nothing else, she deserves to know what she’s up against.
“She can handle it,” Ryan says, obviously knowing exactly where my mind has wandered. He focuses on Gabby. “If you’re anything like your sister, I promise you can handle more than you think.”
“It’s nice hearing that,” Gabby says.
He nods. “I’d help you even if she wasn’t, but knowing what I do about Felicia, I’m sure that this is what she’d want, too.”
And it’s a way to atone.
He doesn’t say the last, but I’m certain it’s what he’s thinking. And while I hate that he thinks that he needs atonement, I’m weirdly glad that this chance—this woman—dropped into our lives.
Gabby nods slowly. “I wish I’d known her. I mean, we’re identical, so maybe I do, but…” She trails off, then wipes her damp eyes. “Anyway, this isn’t the point. Whose face are you matching? The person who’s after me?”
“He was here,” I tell her bluntly. “Or someone was. And it was probably him.”
“Here?” She gestures around the room.
“In the hotel,” I say, then draw in a breath. “And, well, yeah. He was in here, too. Our bedroom. Today. Earlier.” I hug myself, because it’s still all very fresh and fucked up. And was it just today? How is that even possible?
“Oh my God. How?”
“He—well, Ryan was out and I was dozing, and he got in and drugged me.” I’m not sure when Ryan joined us on the couch or when I moved, but I’m curled up in Ryan’s lap now, his arms tight around me.
“How did he get in?”
“He cloned a maid’s key. And I can assure you that will never happen again at a Stark property.”
“Oh.” She exhales loudly. “Wow. I’m glad you told me. And not glad all at the same time. But I’m definitely glad that you’re helping me. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Ryan says. “But it’s not just you. It’s not even just Felicia. The son-of-a-bitch violated my wife. This is ours now as much as yours. Which means you have our help whether you want it or not.”
“Believe me, I do. Can you show me the face? Maybe I know it.”
“Of course,” Ryan says.
“I’ve got it on my phone,” Baxter says. “Hang on.”
Ryan shakes his head, obviously annoyed. “Things are moving fast. We should have done that already.”
“It wasn’t that long ago that you had me slammed against the wall with your arm against my neck. Cut yourself some slack.”
He winces, then holds out the phone that Baxter passes him. “Familiar?”
She studies it but shakes her head. “Not at all. And I’m betting the ball cap isn’t helping the program.”
“It slows it down,” Baxter says. “But we’ll get there.”
Gabby meets his eyes, then looks back to me. “I like his confidence,” she says, and I swear I see Baxter blush again. “Is it okay if I leave my computer stuff up here? I’ll get back to it in the morning.”
“Of course,” Ryan says. “Are you crashing?”
She nods. “I doubt I’ll sleep.”
Baxter clears his throat and tells her that they can watch a movie if she needs a distraction, and because my mind always goes there, I have to look down at my feet and press my lips together tight in order to keep from sharing with the class the kind of distraction I think he’s hoping for.
“Naughty,” Ryan whispers to me as we all head downstairs moments later.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say primly.
We tell them goodnight, and when the connecting door closes behind him, I take my husband’s hands in mine. “You think she’ll be okay?” I ask. “Really?”
“We’ll see that she is.” He lets go of my hand to cup my cheek. “And as for tonight, Baxter has a great bedside manner. She’ll be fine. Right now I want to know how you are.”
I sigh as I tilt my head into the warmth of his palm. “Well, I’m better than she is. At least there’s no target on my back.” I frown, then look into Hunter’s icy blue eyes. “Is there?”
His expression is grim. “As long as I’m helping her, you may have a bull’s-eye. That sedative was just a warning.”
“Oh. Great.” I draw in a long breath. “Well, fortunately I look good in black and white and red. Because you can’t not help her.”
“And that’s why I love you.” His soft voice is like a caress. “You pretend like you’re tough.”
“Pretend.” I bite my lower lip as if considering. “Yeah, pretty much.”