Page 24 of The Millionaire's Mechanic

Damn the man. She knew he was manipulating her and her father, but he was doing it openly and with so much charm that she was considering going along with his plan. It didn’t hurt that doing so would keep her in his sphere longer.

God, you really are pathetic.

“I’ll think about it,” she promised before allowing herself to be coaxed back inside to finish dinner.

CHAPTERELEVEN

Georgia read a dozen bestsellers and watched more reality TV than was healthy before admitting the truth—relaxing wasboring. Five days in and she was feeling loads better, sleeping only at night and experiencing only the occasional minor twinge. The headaches were gone, and she was chomping at the bit to do something…anything.

She knew she had to get out of the lodge when she started fiddling with the kitchen appliances. The itch to take them apart was like a burr under her skin. Plus, there was all that pristine snow to play in outside.

Despite Rainer’s earlier contention that it wouldn’t stick, there had been a steady snowfall the last two nights. The thick coat of fresh white snow covered the ground like an extra thick dusting of powdered sugar on chocolate cake.

Georgia played like a child near the lodge. She made her first snowman. Two sets of snow grandparents and one very misshapen snow dog soon joined a snow wife and snow kids.

Rainer took one look at her creations before laughing his ass off. She didn’t take it personally, not after he ran back inside to get the family hats and scarves that he’d found in the guest room closets.

“You’re not going to make me take them down?” she asked as he settled an oversized pair of sunglasses on one of the kids.

“Why would I do that?”

“You’re so concerned about safety that I thought you’d be upset since I cut down the visibility outside the windows, giving the bad guys a place to hide.”

He looked at her as if he hadn’t considered that. After a minute, he rubbed his chin. “Well, even if they manage to find us out here there’s enough cover for them in the trees. Our best bet is to turn on the alarm and hide in the panic room.”

Georgia dropped the snowball she was rolling to make Spot, the snow cat. “There’s a panic room?”

He straightened, nose wrinkling. “Well, it’s more of a panic closet and there are two—one at either end of the house. You haven’t seen them because they look like regular closets. That’s a thing—a panic room disguised to be something else, like a pantry or a bathroom. They have a hidden cabinet full of food and medical supplies, and a SAT phone. They also have bulletproof doors.”

“Wow.” She had been aware the lodge had an alarm system because they had to punch a code for every entrance. The only way to avoid this was to flip them off at the main control panel or via the app Rainer had installed on his phone.

She hadn’t realized he had control of the entire house until she accidentally left her morning bacon on the stove too long. She’d thrown open the kitchen window to ventilate the smoke, bringing Rainer running because a silent alert had gone to his cell.

“I didn’t realize,” she’d apologized as he’d pressed a button to cancel the alarm.

“Don’t be. It’s a little aggressive, but I decided to leave it in this hyper-vigilant mode. It doesn’t send off the warning to the authorities right away, giving you a window to cancel it.”

Aware the extra hoops helped him rest easier, she didn’t argue against keeping it on. Even if it meant she had to warn him every time she had to open a window or a door.

Naturally, someone that paranoid about security didn’t approve of her plan to go snowshoeing on her own. She had found the snowshoes and skis in the garage, along with an ancient-looking generator that must have belonged to a previous owner, before the cabin was expanded and renovated.

“What if you get lost?” he asked, looking up from his desk where he was no doubt perusing some convoluted business deal.

“I have my phone,” she said, holding up her battered Android, the one that had been free with her contract. He’d given it back a few days into their stay.

It was slow as hell in the mountains—her carrier must not have had a cellphone tower in these parts, although Rainer didn’t seem to have any problems with his reception.

He frowned. “I’m not sure that’s good enough.”

She was warmed by his concern, but there were only so many snowmen she could make. “I have to get out of this house or I’m going to start taking apart appliances. I don’t think either of us wants that. I promise not to go farther than a half-hour from the lodge,” she added, putting her right hand up like a Girl Scout.

He considered that for a minute before pushing his laptop closed. “Why don’t I go with you?”

Her heart did little loop-de-loop in her chest. “I don’t want to interrupt your work.”

“It’s all right,” he said, getting to his feet. “Nothing is that pressing at this point. I’ll make up the time after dinner.”

“Are you sure?” she asked, feeling a touch guilty for making him go with her. But she should have expected as much. Rainer had a too finely honed sense of responsibility.

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