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“No more tire blowouts or car breakdowns today.”
She rose and picked up her handbag. “I’m in the Nissan SUV just outside the shop.”
“I know,” he said with a smile.
Caitey gave a self-deprecating laugh. “Right. You literally just followed me here. From now on, I’ll think of you as ‘security guy in a million-dollar Armani suit.’”
“Hey, it’s not that bad,” he protested, smiling down at her. “This is my second-best suit. I use it for outdoor jobs only.”
“Well, you must be a pauper while you’re at work,” she said, her grin lighting up her entire face and dazzling blue eyes.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her. But she was reserved and careful, which was smart.
“I almost forgot,” he said. “Just remembered that Logan and Jenna want me to bring back iced coffees for them. She said that dinner isn’t until seven tonight and they’ve been waiting at the auto place most of the afternoon. Will you wait while I grab those to go?”
“Of course,” she said, waving a hand toward the order counter.
There was a lull in customers—only two teenage girls giggling in a corner were left in the shop besides them.
After ordering, Marcus pulled out his wallet to grab his credit card while Caitey darted forward, reaching toward the tiled floor. She appeared to be studying whatever she picked up quite intently.
She finally glanced up at him. “I think you dropped this photograph. Fell out of your wallet.”
He froze for a moment. “Thank you,” he said stiffly, taking the photo from her hand. Their fingers brushed and it was like that moment in the old movie,Somewhere in Time,when the past and the present collided and the world seemed to tilt.
The photograph was a wallet-sized image of his old girlfriend, a studio glamour pose in which her hair and makeup were professionally done. She wore an off-the-shoulder red evening dress, the same dress she had worn on the night of their engagement dinner celebration four years earlier.
It was the last night of happiness between them before their wedding plans ended, throwing Marcus into a dark and terrible world where nothing made sense.
CHAPTER 6
CAITEY
Without thinking, Caitey hurriedly scooped up the fallen photograph. It was pure instinct when someone dropped something.
Marcus was fumbling with his wallet and credit card while maneuvering the cardboard coffee tray to take back to the house for Jenna and Logan.
He took the photo without so much as a glance, stuffing it into the pocket of his slacks—notback into its place inside the wallet.
Caitey didn’t ask who the woman in the photo was, although she was dying to know. The woman was beautiful and serene, with an affluent look about her that was instantly obvious.
Perhaps it was just a glamour photo taken in a professional studio, but she was certainly gorgeous, her makeupand perfectly coiffed blonde hair flawless.
Caitey glanced up into his face, but Marcus took care not to look at her. He didn’t appear flustered, just incredibly calm and collected, despite how fast he hid the photograph .
No apparent embarrassment, but that might just be his training.
Maybe the woman in the picture was his sister . . . or a friend . . . or perhaps something more?
The late afternoon sun was lowering when she reached the Hearst Estate twenty minutes later.
Marcus pulled ahead to lead her through the gates—using a remote control device so she didn’t have to key in the code—and around to the rear gardens and double carved doors.
After parking, Caitey grabbed her purse from the front seat just as Marcus opened her car door, sweeping his hand with a flourish.
“Milady Caitey, please let me escort you.”
“You are too kind, sir,” she quipped in return, carefulnotto take his hand to help her disembark.
