Harlequin Intrigue January 2024--Box Set 2 of 2 by Carla Cassidy

Author:Carla Cassidy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

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TATE WOKE UP with a dry mouth, an uncomfortable reminder for why he never drank wine. He hoisted himself up on his elbows and eyed his bedroom door. Had he been dreaming last night when he saw the handle turn?

He’d willed Blanca to enter his room, but his mind games must be on the fritz. Just as he’d been ready to turn back the covers in invitation, she’d fled down the hallway. Probably for the best. She’d had a lot to drink last night, and he liked his women stone-cold sober.

He rolled out of bed and poked his head outside his door. Light from the guest room streamed into the hallway. He cocked his head, on the alert for sounds from downstairs. He thought he’d be up before Blanca, even though it seemed she’d had a hard time getting to sleep, too.

He pulled on a pair of sweats and veered into the spare room. He ran a hand along the fully made-up bed where Blanca’s perfume lingered. He then crossed the hall to the bathroom. Droplets of water sparkled in the sink basin, and the toothbrush he’d left for her hung over the edge.

He jogged downstairs, calling her name. A pink sticky note on the front door caught his attention. She’d ditched him.

He ripped the note from the door and read aloud. “Thanks for the dinner. Wanted to get an early start today. Keep you posted.”

With the note stuck to the tip of his finger, he tapped his chin. Blanca had taken a giant leap from almost hitting him up for a booty call last night to hightailing it out of here this morning. Had she heard him snoring?

On his way to the kitchen, he texted her to make sure she’d gotten back to the hotel okay and nobody had broken into her room again.

He stared at his phone’s display for a minute and then tossed it on the counter. While he made some eggs and bacon, he kept an eye on his phone. Blanca must’ve gone straight to work.

Straddling a stool at the counter with his breakfast in front of him, Tate grabbed his phone and left a text for his friend, Jed Swain. In the Forest Service academy, Jed wouldn’t have access to his phone until lunch, but Tate laid out why he needed to contact Gabe Whitecotton’s people.

He could at least help Blanca with that, even if he couldn’t hand her Jeremy’s kidnapper.

When Tate got out of the shower, he checked his phone and saw a text from Jed. He’d sent it between classes, but he’d managed to contact Isaiah Whitecotton, Gabe’s cousin, and he was okay with meeting with him and Blanca this afternoon.

Blanca still hadn’t responded to him, so he called her—harder to ignore that.

She picked up on the third ring, her voice breathy. “Hi, Tate. I was going to text you back from the station. I just came from Mrs. Ruesler’s house.”

His heart lurched painfully in his chest. “How’d she take it?”

“I guess how you’d think she would.

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