Page 84 of Daddy, Sir

Tommy shrugged. “Not my favorite genre, but if Audra recommends it, I’m game to discover a new author.”

“Oh, I promise you’ll discover a whole new world,” Audra said.

I looked up at Landon, not sure where to go from here, but he just grinned, leaned down and spoke against my ear. “No reader appreciates spoilers, babe.”

Noticing Audra wasn’t offering any more details, I followed suit. “If you like, you can borrow it.”

“Thanks!”

“Did anyone notice that while our Augusta’s dedication was the exact opposite of threatening and doesn’t rhyme, it resembles the lines of our stalker?” Matt asked.

“I’m sure we all did, but you’re right. Back to the case. You said you know who the stalker is, give me his name,” Zeke said, his fingers poised over the keyboard.

“All I know is his first name is Henry but that’s not how to say it. There was an accent. Not quite like Audra’s but?—”

“How about Henri,” Audra suggested, pronouncing it properly. “Maybe he’s French?”

A lightbulb went off over my head. “That’s it! Remember when we got the last slip and it had the ‘U’ capitalized and we were stumped as we all thought it would be an ‘R’? That’s because Henri is French… or maybe French-Canadian, but whatever his birthplace, it’s not in America.”

“Couldn’t his parents be immigrants but he’s American?”

“I suppose, but he didn’t go to school here in the United States because unlike us, some countries spellsaviorwith a ‘U’. That’s why the ‘U’ threw us.”

“There’s bound to be a lot of Henrys or Henris in both countries,” Zeke said, his fingers flying over the keys.

“Narrow the search to the area around Niagara Falls or southern Ontario,” I suggested. “That’s where I met him. I attended a conference on the Canadian side. There were more than authors and fans there. There were publishers, illustrators, models who are already on covers of books, but also many people who were hawking their wares as narrators. With the audio book market expanding all the time, the need for narrators has increased. If you find a great one, your sales can grow pretty substantially.”

“Which one is this Henri?” Audra asked, her own laptop open in front of her.

“A narrator. Though I suppose he could have been auditioning to be a cover model as well.”

“So he’s a hunk?” Matt asked.

“Let’s just say he’s not ugly,” I provided.

“Did you get stalker vibes off him?” Reggie asked.

“No, I thought he was very charming when we first met at the opening of the conference. The sponsors hosted a Meet and Greet where people just mingled and had a glass of wine and the usual canapes. I remember he took a toothpick with a cherry tomato and ball of mozzarella. When he bit into it, you could tell it wasn’t right. Instead of yelling at the poor server or making a big production that she’d given him a rotten tomato, he discreetly spit it into his napkin and even threw it away himself. I was rather impressed because, believe me, I’ve met a lot of people who wouldn’t have been as diplomatic.”

“What happened afterward that made you change your opinion?” Audra asked.

“Part of the event included listening to those who were looking for authors to read their books. Henri was one of the readers. He kept stumbling over the text and when he did get a few words strung together correctly, he spoke in a monotone, without any variance of emotions. I could barely understand what he was saying and the thought of him reading one of my scenes had me picturing my sales plummeting.”

“And you told him this?” Reggie asked?

“Of course not. I didn’t even speak to him that evening. But the next day, he came to

my table during the book signing. I was busy with other readers, signing books and taking photos, and everyone was having a nice time. When he offered me his services, I thanked him for his interest, but told him I didn’t think his voice was right for my books. He picked up one of the books on display and said he was very talented and creative. I was trying to thinkof another way to dissuade him, without hurting his feelings, but then he asked what kind of books I wrote.”

I paused, the memory as vivid as if it had just happened yesterday. When Landon pressed a bottle of water into my hand, I took a sip and thanked him. “Anyway, when I told him erotic romance, it was like my book was the potion that turns Dr. Jekyll into Mr. Hyde. His entire demeanor changed. His eyes turned into slits, his lip twisted and though he didn’t go berserk, it startled me enough that I stepped back. He said it was just as well because he’d never lower himself to readthatkind of book. I just stood there and watched him walk away as if nothing had happened. For a moment I thought maybe I’d just imagined what I’d seen. I’m used to people putting my books down as if they were hot potatoes when hearing the worderoticbut never have I ever had anyone do what he did. The book he’d been holding? It was like he was the Hulk or something. He didn’t tear it in two, but he threw it on the ground, the cover was torn off and the pages all crumpled and ripped.”

I looked up again and met their gazes. “I only saw him a few times after that, talking to other authors, vendors, and readers. When he’d see me, he’d stop talking and just stare at me. It was unsettling enough that I’d turn and walk in the other direction or just leave the room. I’d done my best to be polite and he?—”

“Decided that since you didn’t immediately heed his words and mend your ways by packing your little books and scurrying off like a frightened mouse, he’d make an even bigger impact by using his own words to scare the living fuck out of you!”

It was as if every word from Landon’s mouth wasn’t said, but growled in a tone that left no question of how he felt about the situation.

“She didn’t invite him to stalk her, Landon,” Audra said. “She just wasn’t rude and blunt enough to tell him he read at the level of a psychopathic first grader.”

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