Neil sighed. “Whoever they are, they weren’t after you…they’re after me.”
“Then why did they murder my neighbors? How does that affect you?”
Neil swallowed, thankful his sunglasses hid his eyes.
“He was making it clear that he could get to you just as easily.” It could have been her facedown in a bathtub. Lifeless.
“That’s crazy, Neil. The house is wired from top to bottom.”
“Yet the back door was open and the system was armed. Anyone could have come in.”
“That still doesn’t explain why someone would use me to get to you. You work for my brother and hardly give me a second glance.”
He glanced…more than glanced. Someone had noticed.
“Neil?”
He decided a defensive tactic was best right at that moment. “We’re stopping at the next open gas station. You can use the restroom, but don’t talk to anyone.”
As Gwen glanced out the window where not another living soul could be seen…not even abandoned houses were on the road he chose, he knew what she was going to say.
“I don’t see anyone after us out here.”
“Your accent will give us away if the man following us finds our trail.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
“Leave the thinking to me.”
The half smile on Gwen’s face fell. Oh, damn. Wrong thing to say.
“I’m blonde, not stupid.”
“I didn’t say you were stupid.”
“You told me not to think.”
“No, I said leave the thinking to me. Bad choice of words. Until I figure out who’s out there, and know you’re safe, you need to trust me.”
“I believe I’ve proven my trust in you by making the cloaked exit from my brother’s home in the dead of night. I didn’t do that by not thinking. I did that by making wise choices and trust. Both of which take thinking.” She glared at him now, her brows tight together.
He gripped the wheel hard and searched for the right words to dig him out of what he’d just said to her. She wasn’t a soldier under his orders. He’d do well to remember that. Finding his softer side was impossible when it wasn’t there. He avoided deep conversations with women for this very reason.
“I’m sorry.” There. That should make her happy. He dared a glance.
Not happy.
Instead of stepping deeper in the pile of shit he’d spewed from his mouth, he reduced himself to silence.
Painful silence.
The filthy bathroom provided little relief. But it was better than a bush on the side of the road. Although it killed her, she didn’t utter one word while at the petrol station. She knew Neil was right about her talking to anyone. Her British accent gave her away better than her blonde hair and high cheekbones.
As for Neil’s silence…he had no idea how proficient she was at the silent game. The British were known for their cool, dry humor and patient silence. In her family anyway. Americans were the ones who spoke excessively. She had to admit that chatting with her friends was much more entertaining here than back home. Eliza called Gwen on everything. In fact, Eliza had made the first comment about Gwen’s attraction to Neil.
The big jerk.
Let me do the thinking.
She rolled her eyes as she pulled a paper towel from the holder so she could open the dirty door. No use coming down with whatever disease the bathroom was incubating.
The hot Nevada morning was even warmer in the black spandex clothing covering her body. The thought of taking anything off in the bathroom left her ill, so she decided to wait until they stopped for the night.
Besides, she wasn’t even sure what clothes were in her bag. Neil had packed most of it.
She had grabbed a pony clip to tame her hair before running out the door, so at least her hair wasn’t lying hot upon her back.
Neil finished pumping the gas and returned the spout while she took her place in the car.
In the center console were two steaming cups. The smell of coffee filled the interior of the car.
Neil took his seat, fastened his belt. “I know you like tea, but they only had coffee.”
“Don’t most Americans drink coffee in the morning?”
Neil pulled away from the pumps. “Yes.”
“Then I think it’s best I drink coffee. Ordering one coffee and one tea might give us away.”
“Humph!” he said, with a grin on his face.
Chapter Fourteen
“What do you mean we’re sleeping here?”
Neil had pulled the car far off the road and tucked it behind an outcropping of rocks that littered the Nevada desert. They’d driven until dusk and from what Gwen could tell, they were driving as slowly across the Nevada desert as humanly possible. No, make that meandering through the desert. They’d started out heading east, then north, then back to the west on a major highway for a short time then northeast again. And since she was hell-bent on winning the silent game, Gwen kept her mouth shut.
That was until now.
Not even the fast food Neil had tossed her raised her tongue.
“Yes here.”
She looked out the window at the jutting cliff that rose to the left of the car.
“I don’t see a hotel.”
Neil backed the car up to the cliff, put it in park, and jumped out of the car.
From the trunk, he removed a pillow and blanket and tossed it in the backseat. “You’ll sleep in the back,” he said from the back door.