By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс
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dropped by Ms. MacPherson’s apartment on my way into the office.”
Not good, Duncan thought. Mike lived in Maryland and a jaunt through Georgetown was not on his way.
“I figured I’d pick up the flower delivery and save a uniformed officer the trip. I got there about the time she’d be going out for her run just in case someone showed up. No one did.”
“But …” Duncan prompted again.
“Someone had visited the place before I did, and they left another bouquet of red roses in front of her door.”
“Was there a message?”
“‘Till next time.’”
Duncan let out a breath he hadn’t been aware he was holding. Whoever was after her wasn’t letting up.
“I went in to collect the delivery from last night. Different florist shop. But the messages are written in the same block letters. I’ll have someone check both stores out today. Thought you’d want to know.”
“Thanks, Mike,” Duncan said.
“Serve and protect. That’s the job description,” Mike said with a yawn. “I’ll keep you updated. You keep her safe. She’s taking a hell of a beating in the press here. Suddenly, she’s the new poster girl for setting a serial killer free. Getting her out of town for a bit was a good idea.”
Duncan was about to repocket his phone when it rang again. This time it was his boss.
“Adrienne, what’s up?”
“Just checking in. I’m assuming you and Ms. MacPherson are together and safe.”
“That was my assignment,” Duncan said.
“I’m worried. The press coverage she’s getting makes her out to be an even bigger villain than my brother. That can bring the crazies out of the closet.”
Duncan watched as an overnight delivery service truck appeared in the drive that ended at the castle doors. Piper noticed it also and then seemed to notice him.
As she moved in his direction, he filled Adrienne in on the two flower deliveries.
There were several beats of silence on the other end of the line. He could picture Adrienne in her office pacing. Thinking. He let the beats continue.
“I never asked where you were going. And I don’t want to know. Abe has already called me to find out where Piper is in case he needs to ask questions about the Bronwell trial. She hasn’t been picking up her cell.”
“Tell him to keep trying,” Duncan said.
“Tell her to keep a lid on her location. It might have been someone in Abe’s office who leaked the information that she was involved in the Lightman brief.”
As the deliveryman in the truck walked toward him, Duncan thought of how easy it might be to figure out exactly where he was. And exactly where Piper MacPherson might have sought temporary refuge. “You’re worried.”
“All the media attention could get Lightman focused on her. Find something that will allow us to put him back in jail.”
“Consider it done. I’m taking delivery on the files I shipped as we speak.” Duncan moved toward the deliveryman so that he could sign.
“Thanks,” Adrienne said.
Duncan repocketed his cell. Adrienne had come to him at her brother’s request to get Piper safely out of the way. Now she suspected someone in his office might have played a role in what was happening to her. Did she suspect Abe?
An interesting question, Duncan thought. And one he’d been trained to find the answer to.
He’d also been trained about what to do with regards to his feelings for Piper MacPherson. Considering the danger she was in—the danger she could be in—he should put anything personal on hold. He thought about that as she walked to join him on the driveway, the dog at her heels.
He could keep her safe from whoever had left the sheet and the roses. He wished he could be equally certain about keeping either of them safe from what they were feeling.
“WHAT DO YOU THINK, ALBA?” Piper turned in a full circle for the dog’s benefit before she faced herself in the mirror again. Alba was sitting at the foot of her bed, her head raised and cocked to one side.
“No comment, huh?” She could hardly blame the dog. All in all, it was a diplomatic response. She just wasn’t a femme fatale. And her wardrobe components were sadly lacking. The jeans and Georgetown T-shirt she’d dug out of her suitcase were pretty much the cream of the crop. And the best word she could come up with to describe the outfit was plain.
“He didn’t give me any time to pack. Plus, I was thinking comfortable clothes for poking around in the library and searching through files. My only salvation is that I do have a weakness for pretty underwear. Wearing boring and conservative ‘law suits’ can do that to a woman.”
Glancing at Alba, she pressed a hand against her stomach to stop the nerves from jittering. She was babbling to a dog who couldn’t hear her and taking way too much time to get dressed.
She’d made a decision, hadn’t she? If she could find the courage to act on it. She’d already missed one opportunity when Duncan had first come to the edge of the garden. Though she’d continued to toss sticks to Alba, she’d been aware of him in every pore of her body. Her heart had started racing, breaths had been harder to catch, and the image had flashed brilliantly into her mind of just racing to him and jumping him right there beneath the rose trellis. It would have been wild and wonderful and totally unlike her.
But so exactly like her fantasy. With a sigh, she sat down on the bed next to the dog. “I have sex-on-demand on the brain all right. But I chickened out.”
Instead of making her fantasy a reality, she’d picked up the stick, tossed it in a direction away from Duncan, and then raced Alba to get it.
Oh, she’d made a case for her cowardice. There’d been those two visitors who had arrived in the SUV a short time earlier. One had been dressed like a fashion plate, the other had carried a camera. If either or both were prospective clients, Aunt Vi would no doubt show them around. Piper was pretty sure that the sight of naked people coupling beneath the rose trellis wasn’t on the regular tour. And something else had given her pause. When she’d allowed herself to take a quick look at Duncan out of the corner of her eye, she’d seen that she was probably alone in her thoughts about naked coupling. He’d been on his phone.
But then, he hadn’t started his day reading a red-hot fantasy with him in the leading role. She had.
The jingle of a bell brought Piper’s full attention back to Alba, who had settled her head on her paws and was studying her intently.
“Here’s the problem. Duncan and I might not be on the same wavelength. He seems totally focused on the work he came up here to do.”
When she’d finally approached him in the driveway of the castle, he’d invited her to join him in the library and start working on the RPK files after she’d eaten something. Then Duncan had turned his attention back to the deliveryman and the stack of boxes he’d unloaded from his truck.
“Very businesslike. Very FBI. Maybe he’s just doing what he said he’d do—letting me make the decision.”
Alba merely returned her gaze.
Piper frowned. “Or maybe he’s having second thoughts about the whole exploring thing.”
Alba remained silent.
She sprang up from the bed and paced a few feet away. “Now that I can see. The main reason he wanted me