Page 83 of Courting Gossip (Courting)
It didn’t take long until her boss was on the line. Nina’s voice was calm, but his phone nearly iced over from the chill she sent out. ‘Mr Haynes?’
They were back to that now? What the hell had happened while he was out? ‘Nina, where is she? Where did you send her?’
‘I didn’t send her anywhere, Brody. Genieve is a big girl. She can go where she wants.’
‘You two talked, and now she’s not here. What did you say to her?’
‘She called me.’
‘Why? What did she need?’ Why hadn’t she called him?
Nina paused. ‘Did she not tell you?’
‘Tell me what?’
‘She asked me to cancel your exclusive arrangement, Brody. She’s no longer your escort.’
His heart jumped. ‘She did what?Why?’
‘She didn’t say.’ The woman’s fingernails ticked against her phone. The sharp taps sounded like a firing squad, but then she let out a long sigh. ‘But Detective Morgan told me how you swooped in to rescue the woman who’d broken into her house. I can only assume—’
‘Wait. Stop. I wasn’t rescuingher.’
Nina let silence speak.
‘Oh, hell,’ Brody swore. His head dropped back, and he looked at the ceiling. Things had happened so fast, he hadn’t thought through every angle.
‘Where is she, Nina?’ he asked, rubbing his brow.
‘I don’t know, and if I did I wouldn’t tell you.’
‘Then what am I supposed to do?’
‘You’re the fixer,’ she said bluntly. ‘Fix it.’
* * *
It didn’t take Brody long to figure out where she’d gone. Once he pushed down the panic and frustration – and, most importantly, gotten away from the scent of fresh bread wafting from the kitchen – he was able to focus. And he remembered where she’d wanted to escape to in the first place.
Soon, he was in his bedroom packing a bag. He was a man with resources. He could do a property search.
He threw his suit in a corner and grabbed T-shirts, jeans and even a few pairs of shorts. Gunderson and all the other hapless politicians were going to have to fend for themselves. He was the one who’d screwed up this time. He had his own life to fix.
With barely a thought, he jumped in his car, turned on the radio and headed east. He had plenty of time to think as he passed through Maryland and crossed Chesapeake Bay. By the time he hit Delaware, his fingers were tapping on the steering wheel. Two and a half hours gave a man time to ponder. The sun was low on the horizon behind him when he made it to Rehoboth Beach.
He let GPS guide him to Jenny’s condo and parked in her driveway. The place was right on the beach. With stacked box units lining the shoreline, the neighbourhood was smaller and more private. The townhome architecture spoke of money and class. She had a one-storey end unit with a deck facing the ocean. It was raised on stilts and painted sparkling white with sky-blue trim around the windows. It looked exactly like what it was, a beach getaway.
And she’d wanted to get away from him.
He pulled back his shoulders as he got out of the car. He half expected her to fly out the door, eyes blazing, but everything was quiet as he climbed the steps to her porch. When he knocked, nobody answered.
Was she avoiding him, or had he guessed wrong?
He cupped his hand against the window to stop the glare and looked inside. There weren’t any signs of movement, but he saw open windows. She was here. He could feel her.
He turned and looked around the sleepy community. It was a popular getaway for DC residents, but it was early in the season. More importantly, it was midweek. There weren’t many people around. Without tourists, the place was a small town.
He took off his shoes and walked around to the back. The sand swallowed his feet up to his ankles, but down closer to the water, where it was packed, he saw a trail of footprints. They led down the beach. It was a beautiful spring night, and she’d been cooped up inside for too long. She must have gone for a walk. The tension in his shoulders eased, and he took a seat on a blue Adirondack chair to wait for her.
