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Making love with hi to talk Well,to try She couldn’t let her fear rule her If Gavin walked out again, then she would deal with it That was a risk every woman took

Her hand grasped the tie of her robe She was just about to let it drop when she heard a voice

“Hannah?”

She looked up—and realized that she wasn’t so safe here after all

Chapter Thirteen

“Scott?” Hannah blinked, unable to believe he’d come here and found his way to the patio beside her bedroo to see her the day the Jaed her off to Alaska She could only think of one reason he’d come now

He was her stalker

Hannah took a step back, panic flooding her system She was brutally aware that she was alone The quiet of the afternoon, once so peaceful, now felt olanced over her shoulder, past her bedroom, to the empty hallway Where was Gavin?

“I’hed “I feel like I walked et to you But I couldn’t stop I had to see you Hannah, I need to talk to you” Scott’s face was bunched up, sohtly vulnerable standing there with the early evening light lighting up his pale hair like a halo But it was all an illusion

“If you wanted to talk to iven me a call” Of course, it wasn’t as if she and Scott were best friends A phone call would have been suspicious If he had, that likely would have tipped her off Or if she hadn’t grasped his guilt right away, one of her hovering men would have

She wished those men were here now Slade and Dex were back in River Run investigating Preston’s suicide Or had his death been suicide at all? Hannah nibbled nervously on her bottom lip as all kinds of possibilities rolled over her Had Scott killed Preston? How far was he willing to go to take her?

Would Gavin be able to hear her if she screamed?

“I tried to call I can’t get cell service” Scott’s gaze bounced all over, clearly skittish “I think he’s blocking it There are several ways to block local signals He’s way save him credit for”

Hannah looked back to the French doors Could she ht her?

If she hadn’t been so dah their problems

“Where’s Mr Townsend? I tried the front door, but no one answered I really need to talk to hi you need to know” Hannah stopped and let his words sink in “You tried the front door?” Scott nodded “Yeah I knocked I didn’t, like, open it or anything This is a rich folks’ place

You never know, they ht maybe everyone had come out back, but…Hannah, someone’s after you”

“I know” She couldn’t keep the fear from her voice

“Oh, crap You think it’sher he’d come unarmed

“Well, you’re here, not in Dallas where you’re supposed to be The whole reason Slade, Dex, and Gavin brought me up here was to escape this stalker”

“That makes sense I was on my way to your office to pick you up for an early lunch so I could warn you when I saw your…exit But he saw it, too An hour later, a virus had crashed the River Run facility So I volunteered for this assignet a chance to see you and—”

“Who sawto warn me about?”

“Lyle”

The truth washed over her Lyle Franklin She’d ht her laptop and helped her set it up He was the head of the help desk, but he’d found tiirl out He’d been patient with her She’d heard rumors that he was difficult to ith, but brilliant when it came to systems upkeep and repair She’d never found him difficult Anytime she’d had trouble and called the help desk, he’d come personally

At the tiht he’d taken care of her because she was the boss’s admin There wasn’t an employee at Black Oak who didn’t want Gavin James to owe him or her a favor She’d had lunch with Lyle on a couple of occasions in large groups, but turned him down for dinner because it had seemed too much like a date, and she hadn’t wanted to lead hiue friendship for the lanky, self-conscious man

How much had he hidden from her?

“I think I should go and find Gavin” Hannah knew she needed to be cautious She wasn’t about to fully trust anyone except her et Gavin, and they could talk to Scott together

Unless Scott was lying to gain her trust Then he wouldn’t let her move an inch off this patio

She backed toward the French doors, easing closer to theet the sheriff, who could sort out everything in a nice, safe interrogation rooht to shoot people

That sounded like a plan

“That’s a good idea, Hannah” Scott’s voice had taken on a soothing quality He sat down at the patio table, carefully placing his hands on top “Please tell Mr Jaet that you have to be cautious I do I’ll wait here” Hannah still didn’t turn her back on him

“And Hannah, if your computer’s on, turn it off”

“Why?” She’d turned it on earlier in the day hoping to check her e- open on the desk in her suite She almost always left it up and ready to use

“You have a webcah it for ured out his scheme Preston made us share a conference room back in Dallas for one of those installation task forces on Monday Lyle left to go do so file Instead, I saw videos of you”

“Me?”

Scott flushed a bit “Yes He has a ton of videos of you He’s been watching you day and night So around in your undies reading a book or talking on the phone It looks like you’re in the bedroom”