He clicked on Send, then winced. What if Olivia had figured out that he’d sent the original message? She could have laid a trap, and like a fool, he’d jumped right into it.
He finished his bottle, glaring at the screen. She’d probably left work for the day. He’d have to wait till tomorrow night for her response.
“Damn it to hell.” Sometimes being a vampire was a bloody nuisance.
The next evening he dashed upstairs to check his e-mail. Sure enough, she’d responded that morning.
He hit Send. “Take that, Olivia.”
The next evening, he rushed to the computer. She’d responded to his last message from a new e-mail address that looked like a personal one. That was a good sign. It was Friday night, so maybe she was planning to correspond with him from her home. Maybe he wouldn’t have to wait so long for her reply.
He clicked on her response.
He snorted. She’d known all along it was him. A grin tugged at his mouth. What a clever lass she was. It was a good thing she’d moved from her business address to her personal one. His grin widened. Their correspondence was about to get very personal.
In her tiny apartment in Kansas City, Olivia lounged on the love seat in her pajamas. A half-eaten bowl of soup rested on the coffee table in front of her, next to an open package of saltines, her notes, and her laptop. The television was on, tuned to a news channel with the volume turned down to a soft drone.
The three letters from Robby sat on the cushion next to her. She’d brought them home so she could open them in private. She spread the letters out and scolded herself for waiting so long to open them. There was nothing sinister inside. Robby had written that he missed her, and he’d given her his phone number. Simple and to the point. No flowery purple prose with claims of everlasting love. No threatening remarks that indicated an alliance with Otis.
All her instincts told her that Robby was innocent and could be trusted. Still, she’d feel a lot better if she could find the actual person who was helping Otis.
Hopefully, she would tomorrow. She dragged her computer into her lap and clicked on Maps. Then she checked her notes for the address of Otis’s mother.
The town in Missouri came up, and she wrote down some quick notes. J.L. had offered to drive, and he was going to pick her up in the morning. His car was equipped with a GPS navigation system, plus every other modern gadget known to mankind, so the trip should go smoothly. Thanks to her lie-detecting skills, she would know instantly if the mother was telling the truth.
Olivia clicked on her e-mail, and her heart did its usual flip when she spotted a new message from the MacKay S&I e-mail address. She checked the time. Why did Robby e-mail only at night? She’d had a good laugh when he’d called her a saucy wench. It sounded so old-fashioned, but maybe it was normal speech for a Scotsman. With her heart racing, she opened his latest message.
She gasped.
She clicked on Reply, typed
A new message popped up. So fast. Her heart pounded. She grabbed her glass of ice water off the coffee table and gulped down a few swallows. Then she opened the message.
“Oh, Robby.” Now he was making her heart melt. She sent a message back:
Within a few seconds, a new message appeared.
Her mind raced. Was she ready to get involved with him again? She hadn’t found the guilty party yet who was helping Otis, so she couldn’t swear with one hundred percent certainty that Robby was innocent. And it was so strange that she couldn’t find any trace of him over the Internet.
What did she know about him, really? He’d been the one to send the information from MacKay S&I. He could be telling her all sorts of lies, and she had no way of determining the truth.
But how could she get to know him better if she refused to talk to him? With trembling fingers, she typed her cell phone number and pressed Send.
She jumped when her phone rang. Don’t be silly, she chided herself.
She set her laptop aside and strode to her handbag she’d left on the console by her front door. The phone rang again. She retrieved it from its pocket inside her handbag and opened it. “Hello?”
“Och, ’tis good to hear yer voice again.”
She bit her lip to keep from moaning out loud. The soft lilt of his accent and the deep timbre of his voice made a lethal combination. Her knees actually wobbled as she headed back to the love seat.
“Olivia? Are ye there?”
She collapsed on the love seat. “Yes. I’m here.” Her heart swelled with a flood of longing. God help her, she still loved this man.
CHAPTER 15
Before dialing Olivia’s phone number, Robby had told the young Vamp to do a security check of the grounds, but Phineas was loitering by the office door, grinning at him.
“You might need some assistance from the Love Doctor.” Phineas motioned to himself. “I can provide the right words for romancing and entrancing your hot babe.”
“I’ve got it covered,” Robby whispered. “Go.”
“Tell her she’s sizzlin’ hot. And bootie-licious.”
“Piss off!”
“Excuse me?” Olivia asked on the phone.
“No’ you,” Robby told her, then made a face at Phineas as the young Vamp left the office, laughing. “My apologies. I needed to get rid of someone in the office, so we could have some privacy.”
“You’re at work?” she asked.
“Aye. I work at night.”
“So that’s why you e-mail only at night?”
“Aye.”
“And you’re working at Romatech Industries, the place that manufactures synthetic blood?”
“I work for MacKay S and I. My current assignment is Romatech.” He frowned. This was not the fun, flirtatious conversation he’d hoped for. Why was she interrogating him?
“I read that two Romatechs were bombed last summer. Apparently, domestic terrorists were responsible?”
“Yes. Olivia, did ye receive yer jumper and the letters I sent?”
“You—you mean the sweater?”
“Aye.”
She hesitated before mumbling, “Yes, I did. Thanks.”
Something was wrong. Instead of her usual cheerful friendliness, she seemed a bit suspicious and guarded. “Ye left Patmos without warning. I was worried about you.”
“I needed to take my grandmother to my father’s house as quickly as possible. I was concerned for her safety.”
“Because of the apples?”
She drew in a sharp breath. “How did you know about that? I didn’t mention them in the note I left for you.”
“Basic investigation. Ye told me about the bastard who’s harassing you. I asked the woman at the taverna why ye’d left so suddenly, and she said something had frightened you. I asked her if ye’d received apples, and she said yes.”
“Oh.”
“I wish ye had stayed, Olivia. I’m an expert in security and investigation. I could have helped you.”
“I–I’m used to taking care of myself. And I needed to get back here where I could check things out.”
He gritted his teeth. Had it never occurred to her that he would want to help? Didn’t she understand how deeply he cared for her? “So have ye discovered who sent the apples?”
“No. But I hope to make some progress this weekend. J.L. and I are driving to Missouri to interview Otis Crump’s mother.”
Robby’s grip on the phone tightened. “Who is J.L.?”
“J.L. Wang. A special agent from the office. He’s helping me get to the bottom of this.”
“Yes. He’s a good friend. Oh…” She paused. “Are you…jealous?”
“Nay.” Robby winced. “Yes, dammit. I should be the one helping you.” He was tempted to teleport straight to her, but that would only cause more problems at this point. “I thought ye understood how much I care for you.”
“I–I want to believe it.”
She didn’t believe him? Damn, that hurt. He grabbed a pen and a pad of paper. “I
“I—don’t worry about it. I’ve got it covered.”
“Ye doona want my help?”
“I…appreciate the offer, but I’ll take care of it.”
He ground his teeth. Why would she reject him? She didn’t mind accepting help from J.L. “What has happened, Olivia? Why can ye no’ trust me?”
“I want to. I really do. But it’s hard when I can’t read you, and it seems foolish for me to go on blind faith.”
He rose to his feet. There was nothing he hated worse than being considered untrustworthy. “Ye were happy on Patmos. Ye trusted me. What has changed?”
She hesitated, then made an exasperated, groaning sound. “The apples came. Whoever sent them knew where I was.”
He tossed the pen onto the desk. “Fine. Who knew ye were on the island?”
