Page 7 of Calling His Bluff
He noticed that she hadn’t picked up her fork after the waiter left. She was waiting and not patiently.
“You have to be suspicious,” he said. “Where did your aunt get this place? Why way out here on the West Coast? A bridal shop?”
“I’ve learned not to look a gift horse in the mouth,” she said primly.
“Bull.” She actually laughed. “Word is out about your inheritance,” Jack said. “The Armstrong twins found you, I’m here…” He let that sink in. He could see that she got the message. “If you have any enemies…”
Josephine brushed that off with, “Enemies, me? Why would I?”
He picked up a fry and tossed it into his mouth. “But your aunt might have made a few. We both know that in this business we run across people who don’t like to lose and would rather blame you than themselves, especially when they lose a lot.”
“Which still doesn’t explain whatyou’redoing out here?” she said in between bites.
“Isn’t it possible I am genuinely worried about you?” he asked.
She didn’t answer, simply concentrated on her food. After a few moments, he did the same. It was delicious. Being here with her felt so right. He wondered if she felt it too and doubted it. He’d blown it with her the last time they were together. She might never trust him again. That thought hurt.
He looked across the table at her, struck by all the things he loved about this woman—including her stubbornindependence—and swore he’d do his damnedest to change her mind about him.
But first he had to get rid of this nagging feeling that Josephine’s “inheritance” high above the deep blue Pacific wasn’t the “gift” she thought it was.
* * * * * * * * * *
CHAPTER 4
Rain fell in sheets. Mist rose from the drenched streets, making the night seem colder and darker.
“I’m walking you back to your shop,” Jack said, sounding as if he expected an argument.
Well, he wasn’t getting one tonight. “Fine,” Josephine said, grateful. All that talk at dinner about who she had to fear had left her feeling spooked. Not that she would ever admit it to Jack Rawlins.
He grabbed an umbrella from a stand by the back door of the pub. They stepped out under an overhang, water pouring off of it to splatter on the concrete steps. She saw Jack’s expression and felt the same way. This kind of weather wasfor ducks—not Montanans who had seldom in their lives seen gushers like this.
Opening the large umbrella, he put it over the two of them as they headed down the alley. The sound of the rain drowned out any chance of a conversation, which she was glad of. Jack had her worried that he might be right. Hadn’t she worried that this inheritance could be a trap? But now sprung, who planned to take advantage of it? Revenge against her great aunt through her—or had it always been about Josephine herself?
She realized by the time they reached her back door, that she didn’t have to stay here until the shop sold. Nothing was necessarily keeping her here. All she had to do was keep the lights on and let the Realtor do the rest.
That thought brought comfort as she opened the back door of Seaside Vows and turned to say, “Thank you.” She could see that he’d hoped to come inside and started to close the door.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to check to make sure no one is inside?” “Nice try but—.”
“Josephine, look at this door. You can see where it has been jimmied open.”
She did look at the door, wondering how she hadn’t noticed it earlier. She’d been hungry and anxious to get to the pub. Or maybe the marks hadn’t been there earlier. That thought changed her mind.
Opening the door wider, she waved him in. He left the closed umbrella just inside the door, saying, “Let me go first.”
She wasn’t about to stand there waiting for him, so she followed him into the shop. It didn’t take long to see that there was no one hidden on the lower floor. He even checked a storage area she hadn’t noticed before.
“Do you notice anything missing?” he asked.
She hesitated. How could she tell? She’d hardly looked around before he’d shown up. After that, all she could think about was getting rid of the shop and out of Wild Rose Point. “I don’t think so.”
As he headed upstairs, she followed right behind him. She hadn’t locked the apartment, figuring all she had to do was lock the downstairs door on the alley since the front door of the shop was locked. She wouldn’t make that mistake again.
He turned on a light in the apartment and stepped in. There weren’t a lot of places for someone to hide in the space. Jack took a cursory look around the kitchen before heading toward the front with its bedroom and bath.
She heard him look behind the shower curtain as she walked over to the far side of the bed and checked the closet. Empty except for some extra bedding and a raincoat and rubber boots. Someone had thought of everything.
