Page 19 of The Texan's Secrets

“What does she look like?”

Nico and Rafe glanced at each other.

“Pretty,” Nico said. “Slender.”

“Shortish,” Rafe added. “Hot. But don’t tell Gina I said that.”

“Hair color? Length?”

“Dark hair,” Nico said. “Short. She wore glasses.”

“Sexy librarian look,” Rafe said.

Nico sent Rafe a look of censure, even though it was completely true.

“Just observing,” Rafe said.

“Emilia Scott,” Misha said.

Nico couldn’t believe he’d heard right, and he shot his sister an expression of disbelief.

“That sounds like Emilia Scott,” Misha repeated.

“TheEmilia Scott?” he asked incredulously.

Misha nodded.

“Hacker, Emilia Scott?” he further clarified. He’d admired the woman’s work over the years.

Misha kept on nodding. “We talked about her in that press conference on the hack.”

Nico had missed the press conference.

Emilia Scott was a legend in the programming world, but her social media persona was carefully cultivated for privacy. There were only distant off-angle photos of her floating around cyberspace.

“Hang on.” He rapidly regrouped. “You’re saying Emilia Scott lives in Royal?”

“You must have heard she was involved with HitMeUp.”

“I heard something about that.” He hadn’t paid any particular attention, having been more focused on the company itself at the time than on the specific players. “But she could have worked on that from anywhere.”

“She’s not anywhere. She’s here. She’s good friends with Maggie. She rented an office next to Maggie’s art studio when she first came to Royal, before she found a house.”

“Good friends with Maggie?” Nico’s voice trailed off in bewilderment while he digested the information. “How am I supposed to stay incognito when everybody around here knows everybody else?”

“We couldn’t have guessed you’d match with Emilia,” Misha defended herself.

Nico saw her point. But it didn’t help. His risk of discovery had just taken a huge leap.

“Don’t worry,” she continued placatingly. “It’s fine. I’ll talk to Maggie, and we’ll keep it quiet. Nobody else knows about any of this.”

“Rafe knows. And Emilia’s roommate has met him.” Nico felt like the walls were truly closing in.

“Dude, you know I can keep a secret.” Rafe sounded affronted.

“Will it be a problem?” Misha asked Rafe.

“Not at all,” Rafe said. “I met the roommate once. Nico’s getting fussed about nothing.”

---