Page 66 of Wolf's Chance

Once the teapot was down and a mug of fresh coffee for Caleb, she took the empty tray away, leaving me with all the food.

“You like eggs?” Caleb asked me.

“I do. Not like that though,” I answered, not giving it much thought.

“Excellent.” Leaning over, he deftly lifted them off my plate, onto one of the remaining slices of toast, and when I looked up, he winked just as he bit into his stolen breakfast. “She makes these perfectly,” he told me happily, licking the running yoke off his thumb. Caleb tapped my plate. “Eat.”

The breakfast was nice, but too much too soon, and I surrendered halfway through, which wasn’t a problem because Caleb polished off the rest of the plate.

Shelby was a good host; she didn’t hover. I couldhear her banging around in the kitchen, and I guessed she would be cleaning up.

When we were finished, Caleb deftly stacked the plates and carried them through to the kitchen. I heard the raised voice of surprise, and while I couldn’t hear what they were saying, I had no doubt that Caleb was charming his new admirer.

Charming to everyone but me.

He didn’t come back into the sunroom, lingering midpoint between the living room and the kitchen. “You ready?”

I did feel slightly stronger, and my feet weren’t so unsteady, but I wasn’t sure whenreadywould be an adjective I used to describe me. When we got to the stairs, I darted in front of him before he got any ideas, and I climbed the stairs, silently grateful for his close proximity in case I tumbled.

Inside our room, he took a chair by the window, and I sat on the edge of the bed. “You’ve been making friends.” I tried to sound lighthearted.

“You were unwell for three days. I had to find some way for the locals to let us stay.” He opened his wallet, holding out a twenty. “After this, I’m clean out.” Tossing the wallet on the bed, he sighed. “I need to make some money.”

“Are there no banks here?” Getting off the bed, I looked outside, seeing only trees. “Where are we anyway?”

“I don’t keep money in banks.” He stood, crossing to come and stand beside me. “Kettlebridge is the name of the town. Very small, very…involved.”

“Nosy?” When he nodded, I didn’t tell him I’d already guessed that. “And who doesn’t have a bank account?”

“Me.” Caleb went back to his seat. “I made two hundredthe first night we got here, but I needed another night here, and the truck needed gas.”

“I have money,” I assured him. “How did you make money?”

“Won a game of pool.”

There was something about his face when he said it that made me decide not to ask for any further details. What you didn’t know couldn’t hurt you, right?

“I’ll give you my share,” I told him easily.

“I’m not telling you for that reason.”

“I know.” We held each other’s stare for a moment. I looked away first, picking up my notebook, ready to ask him about my symptoms while I was out of it. “What did you tell Lily?” I asked absently, but when he didn’t answer, I looked back and saw he hadn’t moved, but his lips were pressed together. “Caleb? Tell me you told Lily where we were?” I was already retrieving my tote, looking for my phone. “Why is my phone off?” I demanded.

“Because you wouldn’t have been able to answer it,” he told me calmly.

I waited for it to come on, and when it did, it had a message on the screen that I wasn’t expecting. “Insert SIM?” Caleb stood up and I looked up at him. “What did you do?”

“Phones can be traced.”

“Yes. It’s agoodthing.”

He looked at me like I had told him the sky was green. “It’s not. Anyone can trace you, and we need to be untraceable, especially when you were incapacitated.”

My knees felt weak, and I sank back onto the edge of the bed. “What have you done?”

“I told them I changed my mind.” He sniffed. “About you.” He held my gaze. “About taking you to them.”

“Why? What changed your mind?”

---