Page 6 of Two Steps Ahead

“She won’t run. I’ll talk to her.” Leo checked his watch. “She should be awake and around soon, if she isn’t already. Would you be willing to stay until I’ve spoken with her? Maybe walk around the grounds? Gwendolyn can provide anything you need.”

Weston raised an eyebrow. Midafternoon and Kayleigh was just waking up? “Sure.”

He could see if this place lived up to his memories.

Leo opened the double doors leading onto one of the covered patios, allowing Weston to step outside, then told him he’d send someone for him in a few minutes.

Weston walked the area, studying the landscaping that was just as ornate as when Henry had been in charge. There were a handful of colorful perennials clustered along the pathways leading around the wide, sparkling pool. Bougainvillea vines covered the patio roof, turning it into a purple cloud, while good old Texas wisteria grew farther off the beaten path, tucked into nooks closer to the house where they provided color and fragrance.

Also, the perfect place for an intruder to hide.

Hadn’t he helped plant those bushes? Nine-year-old Weston obviously hadn’t known much about home security.

He made a full circle of the home’s exterior, eventually returning to the jacaranda tree at the southeast corner of the house, closest to the gardener’s shed.

Their tree. His and Kayleigh’s.

He rolled up his shirtsleeves against the sun’s heat—though the shade made it cooler. Looking up, he caught patches of blue where the crisscrossing branches and foliage allowed brief glimpses of sky.

How many hot hours had he spent under this tree? Drinking lemonade, eating cookies Kayleigh had snuck out for them. Or the Popsicles that Henry had kept in his freezer.

The tree seemed to drip with memories... Kayleigh talking all the time and the way Weston loved to listen to her converse about everything. Dance class, television shows, the girl at school who kept buying the same clothes Kayleigh wore.

She’d been lonely. Looking back on it now as an adult, he could see it. But at the time, for a kid who’d found it so difficult to talk to anyone, being able to just listen had been a relief. He’d hoped Kayleigh would talk to him forever.

This tree held great memories. Even laughter. Not something nine-year-old Weston had done much of. Not something thirty-one-year-old Weston did much of either.

How many times had he wished that summer would never end? That the fascinating girl by his side would be his friend forever even though they were from different worlds?

He looked around now, taking in the expensive surroundings once more. Kayleigh was just waking up as his workday was almost finished.

A lot of things had changed in Weston’s life since he’d known Kayleigh last, but they were definitely still from different worlds.

Chapter Two

Daddy, I’m scared. Please help me. I don’t know what to do.

It was so dark but she didn’t want to cry in case the bad man came back. How would Daddy know how to find her? Was she going to die just like Mommy?

She heard the footsteps. Oh no, it was the bad man. It was the bad man. He was coming back. He was...

Kayleigh sat straight up in bed, her back soaked with sweat, trying to claw her way out of the nightmare. Her eyes darted around the room. Where was she? This wasn’t her house. Was she on assignment?

She caught sight of the elaborate floor-to-ceiling curtains. Everything clicked into place. No, she was at her father’s house, in her old bedroom. Someone had pulled the blackening curtains too tightly. She would never normally keep herself in the dark like this.

The dark contained too many nightmares. Too many times the bad man tried to come back and get her. Even though she was no longer that ten-year-old and the bad man had died in prison years ago.

Kayleigh’s breathing evened out and she sat up, swinging her legs off the side of the bed. She was jet-lagged, returning from a photography assignment in Indonesia, and hadn’t been able to get to sleep until nearly dawn, so she still felt groggy—something she was used to with her profession as a nature photographer that sent her all over the world. It wouldpass. Even more quickly once she got to her own home and surroundings.

Her father had met her at the airport and brought her here, to his house, rather than take her to her own. She’d been too tired to fight again about not having live-in security and had reluctantly agreed to sleep in her old room.

Live-in security, especially one of her father’s goons, was not an option. Her independence was the most important thing to her. If she wanted to have an unreasonable fear of the dark, that was her prerogative, as long as she could do it on her own.

Kayleigh got out of bed, pulling the curtains wide to let the midafternoon sun chase away the lingering darkness before getting dressed. Thankful she rarely bothered with much in the way of hair or makeup, she made her way to the kitchen. She warmed up the plate of leftovers one of the housekeepers had left for her and sat down at the kitchen island to eat alone.

Nothing new about that. She’d been eating alone for years, even when she’d lived here. Her dad was always busy, and they rarely shared a meal.

Although it wasn’t like she was really alone. There were security people all over this house, even in the far corner of the kitchen, although none of them talked to her.

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