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CHAPTER FOUR

F orbes should’ve stopped Brooklynn from leaving. Not that he wanted her to stay.

He also didn’t want her to tell anyone about him, the house, the cave…

He had a job to do, and Brooklynn Wright was a nuisance he didn’t need.

But he didn’t want her to die.

Which was why, when she was halfway across the yard, he’d jogged behind her. Just to make sure she made it to her Bronco all right. Once she drove away, hopefully to somewhere safe, he could quit worrying about her. She’d no longer be his problem.

Until then, he felt responsible for her. He felt a whole lot of things regarding the brunette, things he had no business feeling. Like wonder at the way she said what she was thinking without editing the words at all. And the way her every emotion showed across her face.

He had no idea how to deal with that.

He’d grown up steeped in secrets. Whereas Brooklynn Wright seemed completely open, completely guileless.

It was beautiful. It was…frightening in a way he couldn’t explain.

He followed her to the edge of the hedge, watching her through the thick, glossy green leaves. Her bright yellow top wasn’t exactly a stealthy outfit. At least she stayed hidden before exposing herself.

He was still there when she backed into him, creeping slowly enough that he hadn’t realized she was moving until she was right there.

Which was how he ended up, for the second time in his life—and in the last hour—covering a woman’s mouth to keep her quiet.

“Shh. It’s me. It’s me.” His heart pounded, knowing she’d seen something scary enough to change her mind about leaving.

He kept his voice low, pulling her back against his chest. “Brooklynn, it’s Ford.”

She was stiff with terror.

“You’re safe. Nod if you understand.”

She did, and he removed his palm from her mouth and gripped her hand. Not for any reason except he needed to keep the connection, confirm she stayed with him.

With his other hand, he pushed branches out of the way until she’d disengaged from the hedge.

Her face was pale and…green. She seemed unsteady, whether from fear or something else.

A car crept past on the other side of the hedge.

Whoever she’d seen was about to drive right down his driveway.

He scooped her into his arms, earning a gasp of surprise.

Ignoring her reaction to him—and his to her—he ran. He reached the basement door and carried her to the bottom of the steps before he set her on her feet.

Then he crossed to the worst hiding place in the house. But there was no time to get her to a better one.

He opened the short metal door tucked into the concrete. “In here.”

She looked at the space, which was as tall as his hip and half as deep. Concrete on three sides. Cold metal on the fourth. It latched from the outside, making it a tiny little prison.

Banging coming from the front door upstairs had her eyes popping wide.

“Get in.”

“But—”

“I’ll be back.”

He didn’t touch her, despite his eagerness for her to hide.

“You promise?”

“I promise.” He made his tone as serious as he could. “I just need to get rid of them. You have your phone, right?”

She nodded, and he waited.

Until, at more pounding, she crouched and crawled into the tiny hiding spot.

He closed the door and latched it. Then pushed a couple boxes in front of it, just in case.

He hurried to the opposite side of the basement, where Dad had stored household tools on shelves over a wide wooden workspace. Forbes grabbed the tool belt he’d used a couple of times for small projects, fastened it to his waist, and stepped out the basement door.

He rounded to the front.

One man stood on the wide patio near the door. Another was standing on his tiptoes, peeking in the parlor window. A black Chevy was parked in the circle drive.

“Can I help you?”

Both men turned toward him.

The one on the patio jogged down the steps.

He was medium height and build with drab brown hair and nondescript brown eyes.

Clean-shaven, he looked about as threatening as a ladybug.

He marched toward Forbes, hand outstretched.

“I'm Niles.” He gestured toward the other man, who was coming up behind him. “That’s Bernie.”

Unlike Niles, Bernie was thick. Thick neck, thick shoulders, thick chest, thick thighs. Thick head? That remained to be seen.

“Ford Baker.”

“We’re looking for a woman,” Niles said.

“Aren’t we all?”

“Ha. Right. In this case, a particular woman.”

Forbes made a show of looking around. “You think she’s here somewhere?”

“You seen her?”

“Haven’t seen anyone.”

“You own this place?”

“Doing some work on it.”

The man took him in, head to toe. “What time’d you get here today?”

“Kinda early.”

Niles’s eyebrows rose.

Bernie’s mean smile revealed crooked teeth.

“We’ve been looking for her for a while,” Niles said. “Didn’t see you drive in.”

“Yeah, well…” He shuffled from foot to foot, going for nervous.

“I…uh… I’ve been staying here, but I don’t want the owners to know.

It’s a long drive back to my place down near Lewiston.

” Though he’d learned to hide his Maine accent years before, he laid it on thick now.

“The owners aren’t here, so I figured…” He shrugged.

“I really need this job, though, so…” He let the request hang.

Niles grinned. “I can keep your secret, but we need to take a look around, if you don’t mind.”

“I’m not supposed to let anybody in.”

“You’re also not supposed to be staying here.”

“Yeah. But there’s no woman here. I’d have seen her.”

“Then you won’t mind if we confirm that.”

He did mind, very much. But he figured they would search, one way or another. This way, they’d think they had something on him and dispel any suspicion that he knew who they were or what they were up to.

“Why you looking for her?”

“She took something without our permission.”

“She stole from you?”

Bernie’s chuckle was dark.

Niles said, “Something like that.”

As far as Forbes knew, Brooklynn hadn’t taken anything from the smugglers. It was just an excuse.

“All right. Make it quick, and don’t hurt anything.”

Niles peered behind him. “Where’d you come from?”

“Basement.”

Moving past him, Niles walked to the basement door.

Forbes should have thought this through better. There was nothing for it now.

“There’s nobody there.”

“Then it’ll only take a few minutes.”

He said nothing as Niles and Bernie climbed down the basement stairs. Just prayed Brooklynn had stayed put.