Deadly Gift by Heather Graham Page B

nervous about the plane ride, and I thought I’d try something to…not be nervous.”
    “Ah.”
    “Well, I’ll let you get to your room,” she told him.
    “I’m not in a terrible hurry,” he said.
    Great, she thought. So they were just supposed to stand there, staring at one another?
    He smiled slowly, as if aware of her discomfort and trying to put her at ease. “Are you set for the trip?” he asked her. He was staring at the shopping bags she had retrieved from behind the bell desk.
    “As set as I can be,” she replied.
    He studied her again. “Are you free for a bit?”
    “Free? In what way?” she asked cautiously.
    “I was thinking of checking on Amanda, then getting a bite to eat. I was hoping you would join me.”
    “Oh, well, perhaps Amanda’s hungry, too,” she suggested.
    “I’m assuming that Amanda will want to see Sean sometime today.”
    An unbidden image of Amanda’s plans for the evening popped into Caer’s mind. But Michael would see to it that Sean was kept safe from his wife’s “ministrations,” she thought.
    She blinked to dispel the unwelcome image and was staring at the face of the man before her. A striking face. Strong features that helped to define the sea-colored eyes and auburn hair. His was a face that offered a grave maturity along with youth. She didn’t think he could be much more than thirty, and yet something in his eyes made it appear that he had acquired the knowledge of a lifetime.
    He was a private investigator. He’d been in law enforcement, forensics, before that. No doubt he’d seen far more than he had ever wanted to of the dark side of human nature.
    But surely not even he could know about Michael and the Agency.
    “You were going to eat this evening, right? Dinner?” he said.
    “I was going to a pub,” she said. “To see friends,” she added quickly. Saying goodbye to friends would be the natural thing to do before taking a long journey.
    “If you know a good one and can bear the company…?” he asked.
    “Of course,” she said stiffly, wondering how she was going to handle the question of friends if he actually insisted on accompanying her. In fact, she thought, this was where he should have politely let her off the hook, seeing as she hadn’t replied with anything that resembled enthusiasm. But he didn’t.
    “Sean’s welfare is of the utmost concern to both of us,” he said.
    “Then maybe one of us should stay at the hospital,” she suggested.
    He smiled. “Not necessary.”
    “Oh?”
    “One of the orderlies is actually an associate,” he told her.
    “An associate of what?” she asked, frowning.
    “The family business,” he said lightly, and shrugged. “You’ll be getting all the family dirt soon enough, might as well start off knowing the full story. As you may have realized, Amanda and Kat don’t get along. Kat believes Amanda caused her father’s illness.”
    “And what do you believe?” she asked him.
    He shrugged. “You’ve met Amanda, right. Flighty? Yes? Clever enough to pull off the perfect crime? Not unless she’s an exceptional actress. But right now, I’m not sure it matters so much what I believe. It’s better to keep all bases covered and just see what, if anything, happens.” He had been speaking relatively lightly, but he sobered as he added, “One of Sean’s partners has gone missing, so all precautions should be taken.”
    “I see,” she said.
    “Will you wait for me?” he asked her.
    She wanted to lie. She wanted to tell him that she’d thought about it, and her friends would feel uncomfortable about a stranger crashing her farewell, but she couldn’t quite bring herself to.
    “Mr. Flynn, you must be worn out. On an overnight plane, at the hospital all day,” she said.
    “Too dingy looking for public consumption, am I?”
    “I didn’t mean that.”
    “Give me ten minutes.”
    “Seriously—”
    “Please?” he said pleasantly.
    She hesitated, then nodded slowly. Anything else would