Home > Fiancé by Friday (The Weekday Brides #3)(10)

Fiancé by Friday (The Weekday Brides #3)(10)
Author: Catherine Bybee

He couldn’t stop his paranoia any more than he could stop thinking about her, about the terror in her eyes as he pulled his gun and pointed it at her.

Getting close to an assignment, which is how he needed to look at Gwen…at all the Harrisons, made him weak. Distance…he needed to find it and keep it.

So what the hell was he doing driving to Tarzana to check on a woman who didn’t want or need his help?

Ignoring his own internal warning bells, Neil pulled into Gwen’s driveway alongside her car and frowned. Why did she insist on parking outside the garage?

Purposeful strides took him to the front door. He knocked twice and stepped back so Gwen or Karen could see him clearly on the monitor by the door.

Neither woman answered. He knocked again, this time louder and longer.

“Coming…”

Gwen opened the door a little too quickly and without enough effort to assure him it had been locked. “Oh, hi.”

She stood back, letting him in.

“Did you even look to see who was here?”

“You told me you were coming.”

“But did you look?” He moved past her, ignoring the floral scent of her skin that reminded him of spring.

She disregarded his question, confirming that she hadn’t checked. When she closed the door, she didn’t lock it.

I’m going to need a dentist if I keep grinding my teeth together.

As Gwen moved to leave the foyer, Neil stepped into her path and grasped her hand. Like a child, he moved her hand to the lock on the door and held it there. “Forgetting something?”

She smiled up at him and moved even closer. “I doubt anyone would attempt anything with you here, big guy.” Her pale blue eyes sparkled as she taunted him.

“Your brother asked me to keep an eye on you, Gwendolyn.”

She lowered her voice and twisted the lock under his hand. “I like when you use my full name, Neil. Makes me think you care.”

Any other woman and he’d flatten her against the wall, press his body to hers, and slide into her sultry voice and flirting eyes.

He released her hand and forced his eyes away from hers.

Damn woman!

“Where’s Karen?”

“Running errands.”

Gwen was alone…with the door unlocked and her car parked outside the garage. Why not just wear a f**king sign that said “I’m here. Come and get me”?

I hate this neighborhood. Too damn hard to manage. The neighbors are only feet away…cars driving by. No locked gates.

He worked his way to the back of the house and out the door. The camera positioned in the backyard had been strategically placed along an eave line. Without asking, he moved to the side of the house and tried the side door.

Unlocked!

He found a ladder and returned to the yard. He set his laptop up on the patio table and moved the camera back where he wanted it. He cleaned the dome of the motion detectors and checked the lines.

The new neighbors had placed a hot tub in the center of their small yard. Wood was stacked around it, letting him know that there were probably going to be more people around, maybe even a small construction team.

Neil made a mental note to swing around the block and check out a few cars…and their license plates.

“Finished up there?” Gwen asked from below. Neil hardly noticed that she watched him from the doorway.

Once both his feet were on the ground, he asked. “Have you met the new neighbors?”

“Not yet. Up until today, I haven’t seen anyone there since it sold.”

“It was a foreclosure, wasn’t it?”

Gwen nodded. “That’s what Eliza told me. I never met the old neighbors.”

More eyes, so long as they were friendly eyes, were better than less. A nosy neighbor was more likely to call the police if they saw anything suspicious.

“So what’s all this really about, Neil?”

“Doing my job.”

“You sure that’s all?”

He was about to answer when Gwen crossed her arms over her chest in a sign of defiance. “This doesn’t have anything to do with the possibility of Karen leaving, does it?”

He set the ladder back down. “Karen’s leaving?”

“Maybe. You hadn’t heard?”

“Heard what?” He really needed to eavesdrop on the Tarzana conversations a little more often.

Gwen lowered her voice. “I might have found a match for her. If it all works out Karen could be moving in a couple of months…maybe sooner.”

“You’re serious.”

“It’s what we do.”

A muscle in his jaw started to twitch. He tried to relax and failed.

“You’re staring at me, Neil.”

He rubbed his chin, set the ladder back up, and checked to see if another feed had been placed in the wiring so he could install another camera. To make damn sure he could see every inch of the small backyard.

He spent the next thirty minutes checking and rechecking the security equipment. There was static in one of the external audio feeds, and he made a note tell the electricians to replace them.

The entire time he moved about the house he kept thinking of her living there alone.

Lady Gwendolyn Harrison, a pampered daughter of a duke, and the most stunning woman God ever graced the earth with, had no business living alone in this cheap neighborhood only blocks away from murderers, ra**sts, and thieves. Neil had listened to the police scanners enough to understand the neighborhood demographics.

   
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