problem.”
“I hate that I involved you.”
“Yeah. So do I.”
She sighed. “Truly. I’m sorry. I understand why you’re angry. You have every right to be. If I had it to do over—”
“But you don’t. I’m involved, and by God I’m gonna find out who did the deed, and when I do, I’m not going to depend on the law of the land to punish the bastard. I’m going to see to it myself. Now, tell me what’s going on.”
She felt trapped by him but realized he wasn’t going to let it go until she gave him more information. She also realized what a relief it would be finally to tell someone what she’d been experiencing for the past several weeks.
“It started in New York.” She ran her damp palms up and down the tops of her thighs, drying the moisture on the fabric of her slacks. When she noticed Dent watching, following the motion with interest, she curled her hands into fists and folded her arms across her middle.
Her body language wasn’t lost on him. “Scared of me?”
“No.”
He studied her face for a moment, then asked her what had happened in New York.
In stops and starts, she told him about the gift-wrapped box that had been delivered to her apartment building. “A dead rat was horrifying. But when I saw its tail move and realized it was alive…” Even now, thinking about it caused her to shudder. Dent stood up. Hands on hips, he walked a tight circle and ran his hand across the back of his neck. “What kind of sick—” He broke off and muttered a stream of profanity.
“I didn’t even pack,” she said. “I fled. That’s the only word for it. I grabbed my handbag and rushed out of the apartment. I stopped in the lobby of my building only long enough to ask the concierge about the delivery. He hadn’t noted a company name, hadn’t seen a truck. Just a ‘man in a uniform and a Yankees ball cap.’
“He couldn’t describe him in any more detail than that. I told him he needed to get a pest exterminator for my apartment, told him I would be away indefinitely, then hailed a taxi to the airport and left on the first flight I could get on.
“I called Dexter, my agent, from the taxi, and told him to cancel all my scheduled appearances and interviews. I had to hang up with him still sputtering reasons why I was crazy to abandon the tidal wave of publicity. I haven’t granted an interview since. I’ve dodged the local media. Eventually reporters stopped trying to contact me.” She shrugged. “They gave up. Other stories came along. I don’t care. I’m just glad to be out of the limelight.”
Dent processed all that. “Okay, you came scuttling back to Austin. Showing up unexpectedly like you did, your dad and stepmom must’ve thought it was weird. Did you tell them about the rat?”
“No. And they were surprised by my decision to leave New York for a while. Even more surprised when I rented the Georgetown house my second day back. I was a bit surprised by that myself,” she added thoughtfully. “I told them I was tired of the city and needed a break. They didn’t ask for a further explanation, because they know the real reason. That I want to be here and close to Daddy until he dies. But it’s better for all of us that I have my own place.”
She got up and went to a bar built into the opposite wall. “Water?”
“Sure.”
She carried a bottle to him and uncapped one for herself as she returned to her place on the sofa. Dent sat back down in the chair. “How long ago was this?”
“Three weeks, give or take. When I left New York, I thought I was leaving behind a stalker. For lack of a better word. Someone who bore a grudge, or someone I’d unintentionally slighted.”
When she paused, he leaned forward again. “But?”
She chafed her arms. “But I’ve often got the feeling that I’m being watched. Followed. At first I passed it off. The rat incident had put all these melodramatic scenarios in my head, made me jittery, paranoid. Then, about a week ago, someone broke into my car while I was in the supermarket. Nothing was taken, but I almost wish something had been.”
“Maybe the would-be thief was interrupted. He popped the door lock but got scared and ran off.”
She shook her head. “He got into the car. I sensed it immediately. The interior smelled like sweat. BO.” It made her nauseous to think about it even now.
Dent frowned. “He only wanted to violate your space. Spook you.”
“Which is more sinister than a theft.”
He sat back in the chair and took several swallows of water. As he replaced the bottle cap he asked, “No idea who this smelly creep is?”
“No. But as you said last night, it must be someone who dislikes my book. Intensely.” She looked away but was unable to hide her guilty expression.
“Oh, I get it now,” he said, drawing the words out. “You thought it was
“Dent, I—”
“Save it,” he said angrily, coming out of the chair. “No wonder you fold up like a daylily every time I get too close. You’re afraid I’m about to pounce.” He gave her a scathing look. “Just for the record, I haven’t been to New York lately. I wouldn’t touch a rat, dead or alive. Most days I shower and use deodorant, and I sure as hell couldn’t have been in two places at once yesterday. I was in Houston with you, not back here in your bedroom. And if my hands are ever on your panties, believe me, it won’t be for painting.”
She felt the heat rising in her cheeks and cursed her tendency to blush.
A long silence ensued while waves of anger radiated off him. Finally she said quietly, “Are you finished?”
“More to the point, are you?”
“What do you mean?”
“Here.” He gestured to encompass the room. “Are you finished with what you came to do?”
“Yes,” she replied, somewhat warily. “Why?”
He reached down and encircled her biceps with his hand, pulling her up off the sofa. “The people who’d be upset over your book is a short list. I want to go back to your house, see it in daylight, see if we can pick up a clue to identify the villain.”
Bellamy put up token resistance, but actually that was what she had intended to do without him, so she let herself be propelled from the office. Once they were inside the elevator, he asked if she’d had an update from Houston and when she told him no, he said that was probably good news.
The banal conversation got them through the awkward confinement and to the ground level.
Outside, the sun was so bright it momentarily blinded her, so she didn’t see Rocky Van Durbin until he was standing directly in her path.
“Hello, Ms. Price. Long time no see.” He smirked at her, then gave Dent a slow once-over. Hitching his head toward him, he asked her, “Who’s the cowboy?”
“Who’s the asshole?”
Chapter 5
There was barely a heartbeat between Van Durbin’s question and Dent’s comeback.
Bellamy answered neither of them and instead demanded of Van Durbin, “What are you doing here?”
“Free country.” He looked beyond them at the building’s glass facade. “So this is the family business’s headquarters.”
“Is that a question? If so, I believe you already know the answer.”
He flashed his smug grin. “What gave me away?”
Her repugnance plain, she sidestepped him. “Excuse us.”
