The Cocky Thief (Stolen Hearts #1)(9)

Damn it. If she ever got her hands on that ex-husband of hers, she was going to have words. Screw that—she was past words. Her fists could do the talking. And her Taser. And maybe she’d throw in her pepper spray for fun.

But before she could plan out her revenge on behalf of her sister, she needed to figure out what they were doing here. “Mom, can we slow down? I have a few questions.”

“Here we are,” she said in a singsong voice. “I mentally earmarked this room for Jennifer, but Melody, you can feel free to fight it out if you want to.”

When they walked into the lush bedroom with the four-poster bed, Jennifer saw that her luggage was already in the back corner. “It looks great, Mom.” She turned to her sister. “What do you say? Want to duke it out?”

Mel let out a small laugh. “I think I’ll let you have this one. I’m sure every bedroom here is just as beautiful.”

Damn it. Jennifer would give anything to hear the fight back in Melody’s voice. Fight later. Answers now. “Mom, I really need to talk to you. Who the hell is Gregory Stranger and why are you marrying him?”

Isobel tightened her lips and widened her eyes. “Come on. This is a happy occasion. Now you two get changed and I can’t wait to show you around the premises. Come, Melody, and I’ll show you your room. It’s just next door.” Isobel started for the hallway, but stopped next to Jennifer and took both of her hands. “Don’t worry, honey. I have answers for all your questions.” Right before she let go, Isobel squeezed Jennifer’s hands. She squeezed two times in quick succession.

As quickly as it happened, it was over. “Are you ready, Melody? I think the bedspread in your room is just divine. You’re going to love it.”

Melody and Isobel were gone and Jennifer was left alone in the room. She let out a deep sigh as she sat on the high bed. Her suspicions were officially confirmed. Jennifer knew exactly what the squeeze meant.

It meant they were being watched. And if Isobel thought her future husband was spying on them, it was pretty much certain this wasn’t a love match. So what exactly were they getting themselves into?

“Thanks, guys. I can take it from here,” said a familiar voice in the hallway.

Jennifer slipped off her heels as she made her way to the door right as Austin disappeared in the room directly across from hers. Logic told her to ignore him, but curiosity had always been a weakness.

Her bare feet were silent on the stone tiles in the hall, so she had a few seconds watching Austin as he slid off the black suit jacket. The very same jacket that she’d pushed off his shoulders just an hour ago. Okay, she was starting to regret the whole thing less and less.

She knew she didn’t make a noise, but Austin still paused right after he threw the jacket onto the bed before he pivoted around to see her.

She leaned against the doorframe and grinned. “The room right across from mine. Why am I not surprised?”

He slowly approached as he undid the cuffs of his shirt. “That’s something you’ll learn about me. I’m incredibly lucky.”

Considering the unexpected interruption of her sister, she had her doubts about his luck, but didn’t mention it. She was enjoying this too much. “Just because you’re right here, that doesn’t mean you can come knocking on my door in the middle of the night.”

“Funny. Because right now you’re the one at my door.”

“Well, I never said I couldn’t come knocking on yours.”

“That doesn’t sound fair.”

“Fair isn’t fun. A little imbalance makes life interesting.”

By this point, he’d reached her and was just a few inches away. “Why don’t you shut that door and we can really get the game going?”

The high-pitched sound of Isobel’s laughter filled the hallway, a sudden wet blanket on their banter. “I have to go. Family obligations.”

Austin cocked his head but didn’t argue with her. “You’re going to make this week more complicated for me, you know?”

She shrugged. “Complicated is my specialty. It’s a gift and a curse.”

He smiled down at her and let out what almost sounded like a wistful sigh. “You’re something else. Makes me—”

Jennifer couldn’t help her curiosity. “Makes you what?”

“Makes me wish we had more time.” The singsong tones of Isobel’s voice broke through the silence once more. “And more privacy.”

It was a stark reminder that Jennifer shouldn’t even be there. She should be reconnecting with her sister and trying to find out what was happening to her mother, not flirting with, admittedly gorgeous, strangers. Something about Austin seemed to cloud her judgment and draw her like a moth right toward the electric lamp.

Sometimes the Isobel side of her liked to take over. All impulse and id. Her father had given her nothing good but her logical side and she hadn’t gotten a strong helping of it. Just enough to get her this far.

“Will you be sticking around a few days then?”

“For as long as they’ll let me.”

As much as she wanted to believe that she and the sexy lawyer could spend their spare time getting better acquainted with their bedrooms, she knew that this week probably wasn’t going to turn into a relaxing retreat for either of them. “As fun as this was, I can’t promise we’ll see much of each other.”