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“Maria, come on in.” Kara opened the door wide.
Maria waved a hand. “Dinner’s in the oven. I only have a minute. Wanted to remind you about the potluck party tomorrow.”
“Ah, sorry. I have plans. Rain check.”
Maria’s bright, inquisitive gaze traveled over Kara’s body. “Nice bling you’re wearing, sweetie. You going to another one of those hoity-toity black-tie galas? A little much, huh?”
Her hand dropped to the necklace. “Safekeeping. I don’t have the security system on the new shop yet.”
“Better lock them up. My Larry would love those. He keeps raiding my jewelry box for ways to decorate his new train.”
The thought of her friend’s toddler gluing nearly six figures in jewels on a plastic toy train made her smile. “No worries. They’ll be safe from his sticky little hands. Have a good night.”
As she started to close the door, Maria stopped her, her expression serious now. “The potluck isn’t the real reason I came over. I wanted to let you know in person instead of calling. There was a guy riding up and down the street earlier. Cute guy, dressed in black leather, on a motorcycle.”
Her heart dropped to her chest. “Was the motorcycle red and the guy had long, dark hair?”
Maria seemed to consider. “Yeah. He stopped in front of your house for a couple of minutes, pulled off his helmet. I saw his face for a minute—he was cute, and I thought for a minute maybe he was your new boyfriend.”
Ex-boyfriend. Her heart sank. Jace had gone to her house. But why?
“When was this?”
“Around one or two.” Her friend studied her. “You’re pale, hon. You okay?”
No, but I will be. She’d trusted her instincts in the past, ever since the accident, and wasn’t about to stop now. Since Jace knew where she lived...maybe he’d been sent to scout out her home to ensure she was home so he could break into her shop.
Had he sunk that far? It was so unlike him, but again, so was the long hair and the beard.
“Did he say anything?”
“No, he drove off before I could ask him what he wanted.”
“It’s okay. I think I know who he is, but thank you for letting me know. His name is Jace and he’s an old boyfriend.”
“Maybe you should turn him into a new boyfriend.” Maria winked. “As far as anyone hanging around your house, no worries. You know we always look out for you and Hank thinks of you like a sister. Need me to do a little digging on this Jace for you?”
Maria did some government contract work with computers, Kara remembered. She was supposed to be a cyber whiz.
“No. It’s okay. He’s harmless.”
I hope he is.
“You need us, any time of day or night, call.” Maria gave her a quick hug and then walked away as Kara closed and locked the door.
Kara wondered why Jace was casing her home. Why now?
Filled with worry about the jewels she’d purchased, Kara headed into the bedroom, removed the jewelry and locked all of it in the safe in her bedroom closet. The safe had an alarm rigged to it.
She slipped out of her business suit and took a quick shower, rinsing off the day’s tension. After dressing in a pale peach sweater, jeans and sneakers, she fished through the refrigerator and settled on a quick leftover salad.
Kara kept glancing at the kitchen clock as she ate at the counter. When she finished, she dumped the dishes into the sink and called her parents. The brief call reassured them she was fine, only tired.
The roar of a motorcycle outside made her jump. Kara pushed back from the table and ran to the window, peeking outside. Dread and a trill of delight rushed down her spine as a tall man dismounted from the bike parked on her driveway. The late-afternoon sunshine picked out gold streaks among the dark brown strands of long hair spilling down to the collar of his brown leather jacket.
Jace.
At least he had the courtesy to show up instead of stalking her neighborhood.
