Read Online Target by Stella Cameron - Free Book Online Page B

you tell him?”
    â€œYou asked me that on the way back here. I told you not to worry about it.”
    â€œWhy? Why be secretive? I’ve got questions I’d be a fool not to have. Did you tell him everything?”
    He knew what she was talking about. “I told him very little. All that stuff from years ago doesn’t affect him.”
    â€œYou do know that the truth about us could come out now? The dots could be connected and after that everyone’s going to know we took Delia’s name but that’s all. They’ll find out we aren’t related to her and she’ll be so hurt.”
    He’d thought of that and just about every other likely eventuality. “What will help her the most is making sure she doesn’t doubt our feelings for her. And showing her nothing’s going to change. If it happens, which I doubt.”
    â€œHow do you think Billy Meche and Matt will react if they find out we didn’t go to them with information about a big case like this?” She held the hood away from her face and looked at him.
    â€œI can’t think about that now.”
    â€œWe have to,” she said. “We need to be ready to deal with it.”
    Lightning shot a single jagged bolt from heaven to earth. Whap! Straight down. Crackling followed, a bit like the invisible rocks-hitting-glass sounds at the end of a firework display. Only this display wasn’t over. The thunder came quickly and Nick jumped.
    He hauled Aurelie up, ignored a bass growl from Hoover, and moved them along as fast as possible. “You’re getting hysterical,” he said. “Maybe I’m getting hysterical.”
    â€œWhatever we are, it’s better than crying, and I could do that at any moment. I’m running away—do you understand me? Running away inside my head. I haven’t slept at all. Hoover didn’t wake me up, I woke him up. I had to get outside and breathe.”
    â€œJust you give yourself a chance to get some rest and settle down.”
    â€œI’m scared, dammit. I’m so scared. You believe Baily was murdered, don’t you? Matt obviously does.”
    Another light display shot overhead and this time the night split open, or sounded as if it did, almost in the same instant.
    â€œThis isn’t a good idea,” he said, keeping a firm grim on Aurelie’s arm. “Come on, cut across the side. It’s quicker.”
    â€œYou do think she was murdered and it could be because she was a bit like Sarah,” Aurelie said. “That would mean Sarah was supposed to die.”
    â€œI don’t know, and I mean that.” But only on a technicality. “Grab the dog before we go in. I’ll get him into the mudroom.”
    â€œRight,” Aurelie said meekly. “Sorry for the mess…and the nuisance.”
    â€œYou’re not a nuisance,” he muttered.
    â€œYes, I am. Hey—” she poked his arm “—Sabine told me you wouldn’t let her in to clean this week. Or last week. What’s that about?”
    Sabine was Delia’s housekeeper, had been for years, and at Delia’s insistence Nick had hired her for his place. “I haven’t felt like having anyone in. I’ll have her back once things settle down.”
    â€œWait.”
    Nick barely heard her hiss at him through the storm. He drew her beside him and didn’t ask questions.
    She reached up and when he leaned closer, whispered in his ear. “That truck wasn’t at the curb when I left.”
    He looked and saw a light-colored pickup with a canopy over the bed. “No. Not when I left, either. There’s someone sitting in it.”
    â€œLet’s stay out of sight,” Aurelie whispered, tugging on his arm. “They probably haven’t seen us.”
    The driver’s door of the truck opened. “Hey, there,” a woman called. “Are you Nick Board?”
    â€œWho is it?” Aurelie asked.