Page 44 of Unlawful Seduction

Leaving a home that I found I’d enjoyed over the last few months shouldn’t bother me in the least. Between my father up and moving his entire family at least once a year based on his military assignments, my stint with the Marines early on, and living in several different cities over the last year, starting over again had always meant nothing to me.

Except this time, it did.

And why?

Exhaling, I tilted my head toward the stairs. Because of a woman sleeping in my house who shouldn’t be in my space or my life. Period. Yet some sick sense of karma or other more ominous factors had brought us together more than once. Perhaps I had no business jumping in to save her life. I couldn’t be certain the man inside her home hadn’t been some thief coming to rob her in the night.

Hell, what was I even thinking? I knew better.

Her life was irrecoverably tied with mine.

All because I’d stopped to help a damsel in distress.

What morning light there’d be would begin rising in the next fifteen minutes or so. I had one last task to handle prior to the doc awakening.

Check her phone.

She’d been equal parts furious, terrified, and confused, but far too many people I’d known had been experts at lying. Were the odds high that a smalltown veterinarian with family and friend ties to the place was some operative working for the Valentis’ remaining family? Hell, no.

My past had collided with all my plans at the most inopportune time.

I headed into my office where I’d stored her phone, somewhat surprised she hadn’t asked for it the moment she’d awakened. Another sign she was an innocent player in all of this.

For anyone who wasn’t playing a dangerous game, they had no understanding of just how easy it was for trained individuals to capture moments or the entirety of their lives.

Financial.

Past transactions.

Previous employers.

Every order placed for food, clothing, appliances. Anything they used the internet for could be found.

Innocent people weren’t masterminds at locking down their information even after the hundreds of warnings they’d been issued.

I immediately found my lovely guest was no different. The passcode on her phone was ridiculously easy to crack.

1-2-3-4.

Really?

I’d need to spend some time training her on hiding her identity from unwanted eyes. That would provide some sense of protection when I was no longer around.

I’d started writing notes on what had occurred, something I’d done for years. After figuring out an issue, the papers were always burned just like these would be when I was finished. But I needed to know what I was dealing with and that meant dredging up memories and incidents from the past.

If I didn’t expand my horizons, I’d never be able to consider myself safe or free from the past.

The notes included questions about my house guest. Who was she? Was there any chance she’d arrived in town to try to get close to me? Writing down the questions helped me to focus. That’s exactly what I needed, not to be hungering over one hot doctor.

I grinned from the thought. She could certainly increase my libido with a single look.

Sitting back, I enjoyed the ‘show’ of her life. Photographs taken of time spent with friends both in Vermont and when she’d still lived in Richmond. There were older pictures of her mother and father, a few of her former job including one for her departing the company.

She’d taken countless ones of the new veterinary clinic from day one of purchasing it, obviously extremely excited to have a practice of her own.

The only photograph that struck me with anything besides amusement was one taken of Mallory standing with a man, his arm wrapped around her waist and tugging her onto her toes. They both appeared tremendously happy, as if they had the entire world in the palms of their hands.

Given the different hairstyle Mallory was wearing, the photograph had been taken at least a couple of years before. Pictures could easily be doctored, but the happiness in her expression was entirely different than the haunted gaze permanently locked into her eyes now. There were no other pictures of the man or of them together.

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