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Where the hell was she? Mike was sick of waiting. Now that he’d chosen Vegas for his next adventure, he wanted to get rid of the one person who could identify him.
But the Markley bitch wasn’t at home! He knew that she normally worked out of her home office. So, where the hell was she?
He noticed several cars enter the parking lot in that moment. Two of the women glanced in his direction and one of them commented. She didn’t point towards his vehicle, but Mike knew, with every fiber in his body, that the bitch was talking about him!
He waited until everyone was tucked into their tidy, boring apartments before he finally drove away. Perhaps he’d been parked in the lot too often over the past several weeks. He would finish this damn job, but he’d have to get a rental vehicle. He’d switch out the vehicles every few days. Maybe he should stop by a store for a disguise as well.
And maybe those two women who’d talked about him while heading into their pathetic, boring apartments would get an interesting surprise tonight!
Chapter 8
Raven groaned as the plane landed in San Antonio, Texas. It was hot and muggy here, but she also knew that the city was beautiful and quirky. It had a western style charm that was unique. She’d been here several times and had loved sitting by the river, sipping coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening.
Her phone pinged and she looked down at it. Another text from Tim. “Please call me,” was all it said. Even as she mentally sighed, a text from Brock popped up on her screen. “Anything more from your admirer?” he asked.
That was an easy answer. “Not a peep,” she texted right back. In fact, she’d completely forgotten about the letter she’d received several weeks ago. She had been too preoccupied with Tim and…and all of the confusing emotions that were swirling around in her heart. There hadn’t been time for her to wonder about that odd letter.
Which was strange, she thought. Normally, that would have really bothered her.
Dismissing both issues, Raven stuffed her phone back into her pocket and continued towards the taxi line. She blinked back the tears, not wanting to cry any longer. She’d cried enough. It was time to move on.
Over the past week, she’d managed to avoid Tim, but Raven knew that she was being cowardly. She couldn’t avoid him forever. Nor should she. He was her client and she owed him the professional courtesy, even if that courtesy was to tell him that she couldn’t help him find his future partner.
She wanted all of him to herself. She’d realized over the past several weeks that she’d truly enjoyed, no, loved their sporadic dinners together. Knowing that she would be seeing Tim for dinner had made the day special. Anticipating seeing him at night meant that nothing went wrong during the day. Even if something bad happened during the day, that was just one more thing she could tell him over their shared meals.
Granted, the purpose of those meals had supposedly been to discuss the candidates she’d found, or to go over the dates he’d shared with other women. But Raven hadn’t cared why they were meeting. She’d just looked forward to seeing him.
Now, after their episode in his office….now she’d care. Now she might just burst into tears if she had to sit across the table from him and listen to him decide on a candidate. Nope, there was no way she could sit down and listen to him tell her that he had chosen one of the women she’d found for him.
She’d refund her fee to Bailey and Matteo and explain that she couldn’t finish the job. It would be a significant black mark on her reputation, but Raven had come to the conclusion that her heart simply couldn’t handle helping Tim find someone else to marry.
“Raven Markley?” a voice called out, interrupting her mental flagellations.
Turning, Raven forced herself to smile in greeting as she extended her hand to her new client. “Hello, Your Grace,” she said to the tall, handsome man. Edward Henderson, Duke of Finhearst. The dark brown hair and sharp green eyes were an interesting contrast. Combined with the square jaw and the broad shoulders, Raven sighed with…something. Regret? That was ridiculous. She wasn’t even slightly attracted to this man! Granted, there was something about him that she knew many women would like, but Raven understood that her heart was completely taken with a tall, handsome, uber-logical man who looked at her as if she was completely nuts.
“Please, call me Edward,” the Duke of Finhearst said.
She nodded, shaking his hand. “Edward it is,” she replied with a smile. “And please call me Raven.” Raven gestured to the table she’d reserved for their conversation. “Is this okay?”
Her newest client glanced at the table, then nodded sharply. “It’s fine,” he told her.
They sat down and the waiter arrived immediately, bringing them coffee and a platter of pastries.
“How did you hear about my services?” she asked, stirring a touch of cream and sugar into her coffee.
“Actually, your name was mentioned in a club that I just joined in Philadelphia,” Edward replied, sipping his black coffee. He shook his head, almost as if silently laughing at the idea of the club. “I hadn’t intended to join the place, but after visiting, I discovered that it was a good business investment.”
Raven grinned. “I suspect that you’re referring to TBC?”
He looked up from the tray of pastries, startled that she would know about the semi-secret club. “Exactly,” he confirmed. “You know of it?”
She nodded. “I’m good friends with the owners, as well as several members.”
“Sheik Zahir told me that you’d found the perfect match for him.”
Raven laughed and shook her head. “I didn’t find Mandy for him,” she corrected. “He’d hired Mandy Sullivan to do some accounting work for him and I pointed out that they were falling hard for each other. It was a simple case of pointing out the obvious.”
Edward smiled and Raven was stunned by the impact of that smile. Oh, this was going to be fun, she thought eagerly!
