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He touched her back with his fingers. But only for a second. Even with her eyes closed she could sense his recoil. He almost tripped over a chair in his hurry to get away from her.
“I’ll go get Tracy,” he said, making it to the door in record time.
“Great,” she said, as if nothing at all had happened.
After he closed the door behind him, she slumped against the table. Nothing at all had happened. Except for the realization that this wasn’t going to be easy. The feelings she had for Mitch were more complicated than she’d imagined. She had a hell of a lot to think about.
CHAPTER FIVE
PETEY TURNED AWAY from Wheel of Fortune, pressed the mute button then tossed the remote on the couch. “I’ll do it tonight,” he said. “Wait till she’s walking home. Then, bam, I’ll get her before she knows what hit her.”
“No, no, no.” Janelle shook her head, impatient with his knee-jerk reaction. “We have to be careful. Think this through.”
“But what if she wakes up? You know, loses her amnesia or whatever. She could nail you.”
“Me? Not me alone, buddy boy.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s what I meant.”
Petey went to the kitchen and got another Corona out of the fridge. She watched him open it, then practically drain the bottle in one long drink. Her gaze went to his throat as he swallowed, and a little tickle started deep inside her.
He might not be an Einstein, but he was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. He had the right equipment and he knew how to use it. If only he’d stop trying to think, everything would be perfect.
“I can do it, babe. I can. You don’t know, but I’m real good with a knife.”
“This isn’t carving a turkey, Petey. It’s killing someone, and there can be no mistakes. Not one fingerprint, not one fiber.”
He came back to the living room and sat on the leather chair across from Janelle. Though it was small, the place was the nicest by far they’d ever stayed in. The art was ugly, but the rest of the guest house was just like something out of House Beautiful.
Janelle was going to take that silver ashtray when she left, and the crystal vase on the mantel, too. The Maitlands would never miss them. “Listen, here’s what we have to do,” she said as she brushed an errant strand of hair from her face. “You have to go by Austin Eats and check things out. Just make sure nobody sees you. Then you trail her when she leaves, try and figure out her schedule.”
Petey nodded, as if that had been his plan all along. She almost said something, then she figured it wouldn’t do any good. As long as he kept on doing what she said, they’d be okay. And Lacy would disappear once and for all.
MITCH TURNED OFF his Dictaphone after the fourth mistake in five minutes. His mind wasn’t on his charts. The situation with Darcy wouldn’t let him be.
For a man who prided himself on his cool logic, he was working himself into a sweat. There was no way he would be Darcy’s doctor if his feelings for her could in any way compromise the situation. This morning, when she’d touched him…
It was inappropriate, of course, but was it real? Was his desire for her a phantom from his past, or was he attracted to the Darcy of today?
Logic said his reactions were entirely based in the past. How could it be otherwise? He didn’t know Darcy. Her life had changed her, just as his life had changed him. They weren’t kids anymore, so why was he acting like one?
A knock on the door startled him. “Come in.”
Abby poked her head in. “Are you busy?”
He looked at the stack of files he had to get through. Then he sighed, knowing he was too distracted to work. “Come on in.”
His sister sat across from him, and for the next ten minutes they discussed a patient. He expected her to leave in her usual abrupt manner—marriage hadn’t changed her that much. She still did more than any two people he knew. But she put her file down and settled in her chair.
“What’s this?”
“I’m just curious.”
“About?”
“Darcy.”
He picked up the Dictaphone mike. “You know why she’s here.”
“Yes, I do. But what I’m curious about is you.”
“Me?”
“Is it uncomfortable?”
“Talking about her like this? Yes.”
“No, is it uncomfortable, her being here? When she left, you were pretty miserable.”
“I was a teenager. What did you expect?”
She smiled and shook her head. “You know perfectly well it went beyond that. Remember that New Year’s Eve?”
He did. Unfortunately. He’d poured his heart out to his younger sister, a result of too much champagne and not enough sense.
“As I recall, you said you still loved her. That was two years after she’d gone.”
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