Page 133 of Lethal Danger

Only because she’d startled him. Or because he was nervous about talking to her. Couldn’t be anything else.

An undeniably gorgeous smile spread her mouth wide, and her emerald eyes lit with a twinkle that threatened to undo his resolve to set her straight the moment he saw her.

Maybe it could wait. He swallowed. “Your text said you had something to tell me?”

“Yes.” She stepped closer and touched his elbow as she angled away and pointed toward the tables under the canopy. “Let’s go over there.”

“Lead the way.” He paused to let her go first, which also got her to pull away from him as she headed for the seating area with Flash.

She paused to wait for him by a table, and he picked a side and sat down.

But instead of sitting on the opposite side of the table as she usually did, she joined him on the same bench. Not inappropriately close, but close enough to make him feel boxed in. And drawn to her at the same time.

An image of what it would be like if they were a couple popped into his mind—him scooting closer, putting his arm around her shoulders.

Absurd. He was only going to send her the wrong message again if he didn’t regain his focus. He was apparently caught up in some sort of infatuation.

And why not? She was an amazing woman. One of a kind. But he knew these desires and feelings wouldn’t last. And he knew that when he was thinking clearly, his strongest desires were for freedom to live as he chose and work for the Lord independent of attachments to others who would try to control him or lead him astray.

Jazz shifted to face him as much as the bench would allow. “When I interviewed the Best Life members today, one of them told me something very interesting.”

“Oh?” He had a hard time mustering even basic curiosity while fighting the internal battle for control.

“She told me that two years ago, a man started waiting outside Best Life for anyone who came out. He’d follow members, including Patch and his wife. Though she maybe wasn’t his wife yet then. I got confused on the timeline there.”

“He’s had three wives, so it is confusing.”

“Really?” Jazz’s eyes widened as her mouth shaped into a smirk. “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

He wanted to smile with her. To enjoy her sense of humor that had clicked with his from the first time they’d met. But maybe that would send the wrong signal, too.

She seemed too excited to notice his lack of response as she jumped back into her story. “Anyway, it turns out this stalker guy was the ex-husband of Patch’s new wife.”

“Her ex-husband?” That was interesting.

“Yep. Talk about passive aggressive, right?”

“Or aggressive, aggressive.” Hawthorne didn’t know anything about Patch’s current wife. Maybe he could try to find her previous husband.

“I had thought Patch might be behind the sabotage, but now I’m thinking this ex-husband could be our man. He has a strong motive to incriminate the cult if his wife left him for Patch.”

“You’re right. And he could’ve chosen the fair as his means to do it because it’s the only place Patch publicly denounced in the press.”

Jazz nodded. “Exactly. We should look for the ex-husband. How do you think we can find out who he is?”

“I’d start with the record of Patch’s most recent marriage and get the wife’s former surname from there. Then…” Hawthorne suddenly realized what he was doing—partnering with her again. Helping her with her quest to find the culprit behind the fair. He’d said he would, but he had technically fulfilled that obligation already with the other things he’d done for her. Anything more now could be confirmation in her eyes that he…loved her.

He smothered his natural desire to track down the truth and the bad guy. “Isn’t that something your agency can find out for you?”

The happiness in her eyes went out as fast as a candle doused with water. “I’m not with them anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t work there anymore.” She pushed her shoulders back and glanced away, but she didn’t appear to be actually watching the passing visitors. “Well, I put in my two weeks’ notice.”

“Oh.” That was a surprise. He hadn’t realized she was unhappy at the agency. Or maybe she was planning to move or do other work? The questions he wanted to ask hopped to the tip of his tongue. But he bit them back. Showing too much interest could be misinterpreted.

“It’s for the best.” She smiled again, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “And you know how we can track down the ex-husband anyway. We’ll find him…together.”

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