Read Online Cold Case Affair by Loreth Anne White - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Loreth Anne White
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a sharp flash of light. Then another.
Muirinn went to a corner window where Gus’s powerful telescope stood atop a tripod.
She swung the massive scope over to Jett’s property, bent slightly and peered through the sight, adjusting the focus.
Surprise rippled through her.
Jett.
Standing on his deck, wearing only drawstring shorts slung low and baggy on taut hips. And he was aiming binoculars at her house…directly at the window in front of which she’d just been sitting.
Had he been watching her all this time?
But now she was watching him, and he was totally unaware. “Gotcha,” she whispered.
She quickly sharpened the telescope’s focus.
Her grandfather’s equipment was state of the art—she could make out the individual ridges of muscle on Jett’s sun-bronzed torso. He looked as though he’d just stepped out of a shower, hair damp and hanging over his brow.
From the privacy of her corner window, Muirinn couldn’t help but study him, panning the telescope slowly over the length of his body, going lower and lower down his abs, following the whorl of dark hair into his shorts. Heat pooled low in her abdomen and she felt her nipples tingle.
Jett suddenly angled his binoculars over to her window.
Muirinn’s breathing stalled.
Jett’s body stiffened as he caught her looking at him from the side window. But he didn’t lower his binoculars. He stared right back at her, a slow wry smile forming on his lips.
Stepping back quickly from the lens, she dragged her hands over her hair, face flushing hot. Panic started to circle.
Muirinn quickly reached forward and dropped the blinds. As if that could wipe out what had just happened.
She paced the dining room, swearing to herself. Truly, the best thing for both of them would be for her to get out of here, to leave Safe Harbor. Soon.
But she wasn’t going to do that.
Gus had wanted her to come back.
And she had too much to fight for now. Damn, she had a right to be here, to make a life in Safe Harbor if she so chose.
She shot another glance at Gus’s laptop, thinking again about the murders.
How had she manage to end up between a rock and a hard place like this, anyway? Frustration mounted in her, and it turned gradually to anger.
Jett had a responsibility to his family, too. He had no right to spy on her like that.
Snapping the laptop shut, she glanced around. The hidden drawer under the table was still the best place to secure the computer and photographic evidence. She slid the laptop back into the secret compartment, but before she locked the drawer and pocketed the key, she removed four of the photographs labeled missing and slipped them into the side pocket of her cargo pants. Then she unlocked her grandfather’s gun cabinet.
She was going to see that mine for herself.
She needed to stand exactly where her grandfather had stood. She wanted to match the photos to the Sodwana site, walk Gus’s last steps, feel what he might have felt.
The mine lay farther north, and the area was isolated. Her grandfather had taught her to go prepared when going anywhere in the Alaskan bush, so Muirinn removed a .22 rifle and a box of ammunition.
Perhaps once she’d been to the mine, she’d manage to make some sense of it all.
Jett sat at his glass-topped trestle desk, the blueprints for his wilderness lodge spread out in front of him—his big dream project. But he couldn’t concentrate on his future.
He hadn’t been able to concentrate at all since Muirinn O’Donnell walked back into his life.
He picked up his scopes again and went back to the window, excitement trilling dangerously like a drug though his blood. He could not get her words from yesterday out of his mind. They’d lodged inside him like a big barbed hook, bleeding a trickle of hope deep into his system.
A rueful grin tugged at his lips as he saw that she’d drawn the blinds. His smile deepened—he hadn’t been able to stop himself from toying with her when she’d caught him
Muirinn went to a corner window where Gus’s powerful telescope stood atop a tripod.
She swung the massive scope over to Jett’s property, bent slightly and peered through the sight, adjusting the focus.
Surprise rippled through her.
Jett.
Standing on his deck, wearing only drawstring shorts slung low and baggy on taut hips. And he was aiming binoculars at her house…directly at the window in front of which she’d just been sitting.
Had he been watching her all this time?
But now she was watching him, and he was totally unaware. “Gotcha,” she whispered.
She quickly sharpened the telescope’s focus.
Her grandfather’s equipment was state of the art—she could make out the individual ridges of muscle on Jett’s sun-bronzed torso. He looked as though he’d just stepped out of a shower, hair damp and hanging over his brow.
From the privacy of her corner window, Muirinn couldn’t help but study him, panning the telescope slowly over the length of his body, going lower and lower down his abs, following the whorl of dark hair into his shorts. Heat pooled low in her abdomen and she felt her nipples tingle.
Jett suddenly angled his binoculars over to her window.
Muirinn’s breathing stalled.
Jett’s body stiffened as he caught her looking at him from the side window. But he didn’t lower his binoculars. He stared right back at her, a slow wry smile forming on his lips.
Stepping back quickly from the lens, she dragged her hands over her hair, face flushing hot. Panic started to circle.
Muirinn quickly reached forward and dropped the blinds. As if that could wipe out what had just happened.
She paced the dining room, swearing to herself. Truly, the best thing for both of them would be for her to get out of here, to leave Safe Harbor. Soon.
But she wasn’t going to do that.
Gus had wanted her to come back.
And she had too much to fight for now. Damn, she had a right to be here, to make a life in Safe Harbor if she so chose.
She shot another glance at Gus’s laptop, thinking again about the murders.
How had she manage to end up between a rock and a hard place like this, anyway? Frustration mounted in her, and it turned gradually to anger.
Jett had a responsibility to his family, too. He had no right to spy on her like that.
Snapping the laptop shut, she glanced around. The hidden drawer under the table was still the best place to secure the computer and photographic evidence. She slid the laptop back into the secret compartment, but before she locked the drawer and pocketed the key, she removed four of the photographs labeled missing and slipped them into the side pocket of her cargo pants. Then she unlocked her grandfather’s gun cabinet.
She was going to see that mine for herself.
She needed to stand exactly where her grandfather had stood. She wanted to match the photos to the Sodwana site, walk Gus’s last steps, feel what he might have felt.
The mine lay farther north, and the area was isolated. Her grandfather had taught her to go prepared when going anywhere in the Alaskan bush, so Muirinn removed a .22 rifle and a box of ammunition.
Perhaps once she’d been to the mine, she’d manage to make some sense of it all.
Jett sat at his glass-topped trestle desk, the blueprints for his wilderness lodge spread out in front of him—his big dream project. But he couldn’t concentrate on his future.
He hadn’t been able to concentrate at all since Muirinn O’Donnell walked back into his life.
He picked up his scopes again and went back to the window, excitement trilling dangerously like a drug though his blood. He could not get her words from yesterday out of his mind. They’d lodged inside him like a big barbed hook, bleeding a trickle of hope deep into his system.
A rueful grin tugged at his lips as he saw that she’d drawn the blinds. His smile deepened—he hadn’t been able to stop himself from toying with her when she’d caught him
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