Page 138 of Delicate Escape

Thea’s hand fisted in my tee as those words hit. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Heavy footsteps sounded on the back deck, and we all turned to see Trace headed our way. His expression was careful, but I could see the tension humming beneath it. “We’re almost done, and then I’ll get everyone out of your hair.”

“Find anything promising?” Anson asked.

“Too soon to tell. Plenty of prints, but I’m guessing most of them are Thea’s and Shep’s. Hoping we’ll get lucky and find another set.” Trace’s gaze moved to me and Thea. “Put a call in to Brendan’s lawyers asking for an interview. Getting the runaround there.”

“Of course,” Rhodes spat. “I’ll give him the runaround with my garden shears.”

Trace’s eyes widened. “I did not hear that.” Rhodes just scowled at him. He turned to me. “Got a call on my way over here from the county inspector.”

Confusion swept through me, but Trace kept right on going. “Some anonymous calls came in suggesting you cut corners on recent projects. They have to reinspect.”

“Shep,” Thea whispered, anxiety clear in her voice.

My back molars ground together. “Nothing to stress about. I do good work. There’s nothing for him to find.”

A muscle fluttered along Trace’s jaw. “I’m sorry, Shep. You know none of this will stick.” He brought his focus back to Thea. “I’m going to take a trip up to where he’s filming tomorrow and ask some questions.”

Thea’s body went solid against mine. I felt the fear radiating through her. And it had that murderous rage flaring to life inside meagain. I pressed a kiss to Thea’s temple, breathing in her calming scent. “It’ll be okay,” I promised her.

Thea’s throat worked as she swallowed. “It’ll make him even more furious—you making this public,” she told Trace.

“That might not be a bad thing,” Anson said.

We all turned to him.

He went on. “If Trace can evoke a rage response, Brendan might do something reckless. He may not hide his tracks as well as he normally does. I’ll have Dex at the ready. Trace, can you keep a tail on him?”

Trace jerked his head in a nod. “I can try. I heard he has a security detail that makes following close tough, though.”

“He won’t bring security if he’s up to anything shady,” Anson pointed out.

“True,” Trace agreed and then turned to Thea. “Are you okay with this?”

She let out a shuddering breath. “Whatever it takes. I want this to be over.”

My gut roiled, acid churning. Because none of them were saying the one thing we were all thinking. What if Brendan slipped through all those precautions? What if he got to Thea?

53

THEA

“You know,your bodyguard is pretty damn cute,” Sutton said as she wiped up around the coffee station.

I looked toward the windows at the front of the bakery, searching for the man in question. Deputy Allen was in his early thirties with light brown hair and a muscular form. He strolled past just as he’d done every forty-five minutes to an hour for the past three days, his gaze clocking the surroundings as he patrolled the block.

The first day after the greenhouse incident, Shep had come to work with me. He’d parked himself at a table in the corner that gave him a view of the entire bakery and hadn’t moved. I’d tried to get him to go to work, but he’d refused. He wasn’t taking any chances with Trace making a visit to Brendan that morning. Even with my sheriff’s department detail.

I couldn’t lie to myself and say that I hadn’t been worried. I’d jumped at every sound and movement, just waiting for Brendan to lash out. Only, it hadn’t come. While Trace had said that he could see Brendan’s underlying rage at being questioned, he had kept his publicmask in place and denied any involvement. He also hadn’t made any outward moves since then. And Dex hadn’t found anything computer-wise either.

So, we waited.

Shep had tried to come with me to work on the second day, too, but I’d told him that I’d have Sutton ban him from the bakery. He’d glared and grumbled but finally went off to work on the farmhouse.

It wasn’t as if I wasn’t protected. Deputy Allen had been my shadow from morning through late afternoon. And another deputy sat outside of my cabin through the night, just in case. Their presence brought comfort in one breath and anxiety the next.

“Thea?” Sutton asked, her fingers lightly grazing my shoulder.

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