Page 19 of Protected Hearts

“Not suspicious—cautious. I know you’re withholding information from me, Shiloh.” He took a step closer to her. Some people—women and men alike—would be intimidated by his size and the threat he could pose. She was surprised to realize she wasn’t afraid of Oaks anymore.

She didn’t have any response to his statement, so she merely stared at him until he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him.

As soon as she was alone, she sank onto the bed. From the minute she found herself in too deep with William, she started taking stock of everything around her and hatching plans to escape. She did it when she first arrived in New York City, studying fire exits in the hotel where she stayed. Then later in the four apartment buildings she hopped from as an added measure of safety.

Turning her head, she eyed two tall windows. Both were dressed with simple white blinds translucent enough to allow the late afternoon sunlight to stream in. She stared at the golden light, imagining the tall grasses in the fields tipped with gold too, and her shoulders slumped.

She might be exhausted and her mind spinning like a top, but she had a job to do. Dragging the computer across the mattress, she hunched over it, sitting cross-legged on the bed.

Her hair swung forward, and she hooked the heavy lock behind her ear as she got straight to work.

First, she had to trace their flight. She required a secure connection, and the house’s private satellite internet server was actually better than she could have asked for. The brothers may be watching her, but their level of security protected her from outside attacks.

Her pulse beat faster with every tap on the keys. She paused, listening, her heart throbbing in her ears.

She sliced a glance at the closed door, waiting for someone to burst in. Then she heard a whisper at the window.

She froze, listening harder.

It was only the wind. She relaxed and picked up where she left off.

She’d grown skilled at memorizing things she saw during her time with William. Numbers, letters, snippets of emails she wasn’t meant to see. When they crossed that runway to boardthe jet, she had fixed the numbers applied to the tail in her memory.

Now, she pulled them out, typing them quickly into a website. After she had it tracked down, she began hacking the system to erase all traces of that flight.

If William was going to kill her, she would make him work for it.

As usual when she worked on any computer system, she lost herself in another world. By the time she was finished, the light in the guest room had changed. The golden glimmer through the blinds had grown gray-blue, and shadows brushed every corner of the space.

How long had she been working? A glance at the clock on the screen revealed it had been hours and it was now late in the evening.

Straightening from her hunched position caused her spine to creak. She hooked her hand around her nape and massaged her stiff neck. Just then, a light rap on the door made her bolt upright.

Before she answered the knock, the door opened and a big male body backed into the room. Once inside, he pivoted, revealing his reason for backing in. He carried a tray of food.

When had she last eaten? The previous night was the last time she had food, and since then, she’d only drunk water. God, what a long day, and judging by the way Oaks eyed her and then the laptop, it wasn’t over.

He moved toward the bed and set the tray down in front of her. The grilled chicken, rice and steamed vegetables looked and smelled so good that her stomach cramped with hunger and her mouth watered.

“Eat.” He waved a hand at the food.

She reached for the mug of steaming coffee, aware of the tremor in her hands. She quickly sipped to mask her physical weaknesses. Early on, she learned that displaying any weakness to William was a bad idea. He was too observant and latched on to any small chink in her armor so he could use it against her.

Oaks stared at her for a beat and then strolled into the en suite bathroom. Over the rim of her mug, she watched him. His worn jeans molded to his backside like they’d been personally tailored to the hard planes.

He wore the same clothes as this morning, so how did he still look so good? She felt worn out, wrung out and grubby even in the borrowed clothes she’d changed into on the plane.

She shuddered inside to think of those itchy feathers on that wedding gown.

She froze, still staring at the open bathroom door where the man who had paid a fortune to free her, had vanished. A second later, she heard the water running. It was too loud to be a sink faucet. It must be the bathtub.

The grip of hunger in her stomach took over, and she forgot about whatever Oaks was doing in favor of food. She picked up her fork and polished off the rice before digging into the chicken.

An herbed crust burst on her tongue with flavor. With a deep sigh of satisfaction, she detected some sweet-smelling notes wafting from the bathroom.

Suddenly, Oaks appeared in the doorway. “Oh good, you’re eating.”

“It’s terrific. Thank you.”

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