Page 33 of Elusive Promise

She licked her lips, and his gaze flew to her mouth once more. Then he shook his head as if fighting his instincts and took a step back. He turned, keeping her behind him as he looked down the street in both directions.

She drew in a breath and ordered her brain to get back to business. She wasn't supposed to be fooling around with Jared; she was supposed to be looking for Jasmine and finding out what Anika was up to.

"Are they gone?" she asked.

"I don't see them anywhere."

She moved around him and saw no sign of Anika or Westley. Disappointment and frustration ran through her. "We've lost them. Did we make the wrong move?"

"I don't think so. They won't be that hard to find. We know where they live. We can get to them at any time. What will be more important is using what we just saw to dig in a different direction."

"You think they're having an affair?"

"There was something intimate about how they looked at each other."

"I thought so, too. But I don't get it. Anika said she introduced Westley to Jasmine. If Anika and Westley were in to each other, why didn't they just get together? It's not like there was a reason Westley had to marry Jasmine."

"Maybe they're in this together. Perhaps they cooked up the whole plot—the big engagement party, the diamond heist, the missing sister. When the smoke clears and after a period of bereavement, they end up together, with the diamond funding whatever they want to do."

"You're suggesting that Anika would kill her sister, but I can't go that far. I know both her and Jasmine. I've seen how much they care about each other."

"You knew them a long time ago."

"I might be able to buy into the diamond heist, but the rest…I don’t think so."

"Let's go back to the car and regroup."

As they walked down the street, she wondered if Anika had returned to the café. But that seemed pointless. She'd obviously wanted to lose the bodyguard and meet with Westley in private. But they hadn't entered the hotel. So where had they gone?

When they reached the department store, they went inside, taking a look into the café, but the bodyguard was gone, and there was no sign of Anika. They took a store elevator to the underground parking garage and then got into the car.

As Jared started the engine, she fastened her seat belt and said, "Why meet in front of that hotel and then not go inside?"

"I have no idea. I'm surprised no one was following Westley. Where's your FBI friend?"

"When I spoke to Damon—Agent Wolfe—earlier, he told me that Westley had an agent with him, and that he had warned Westley about the danger of attempting to do anything on his own. Westley must have found a way to ditch his detail, too."

"Looks that way. Shall we go back to my apartment and talk about it?"

"We might as well. I don't know where else to go."

On their trip across town, her thoughts ran in dozens of different directions, but nothing seemed to make sense. She had a feeling Jared was taking the same mental journey, as he was unusually silent and contemplative.

Or maybe he was thinking about the crazy long kiss they'd shared, which she was trying really hard not to remember, but her lips were still tingling.

They really couldn't do that again.

Eight

When they finally got back to the apartment, it was almost three o'clock. They'd spent a lot of time following Anika around, and to what purpose? They'd only ended up with more questions instead of more answers.

Jared walked over to the refrigerator. "Do you want something to drink?"

"Do you have any juice?"

"Orange," he said, pulling out a carton.

"That will do."

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