Page 33 of Two Hearts' Ploy

“Poor Aylin. I’d hate to think what would have happened if you hadn’t seen her walking outside this morning,” Lara said.

She’d slipped into his room a few minutes earlier to get the scoop. Ben suddenly realized that he’d missed their heart-to-heart conversations, because they’d had them all the time when she was younger.

“I can’t believe that we still haven’t actually been introduced,” he muttered, his eyes meeting Lara’s in the mirror after he tugged a thick wool sweater over his head.

But Lara continued to look worried. “I can’t believe that they were actually shooting at you. Who are these guys that kidnapped her anyway?”

“From what I was able to overhear when Dad was talking to Aylin’s father is that they’re possibly linked to ISIS. Her half-brothersoldher to his father’s brother, Lara.”

Lara looked momentarily stunned.

But then she cleared her throat. “So that’s why she’s been laying low, and she’s never really left the Inn since she arrived. They could have been worried that something like this might happen.”

“Maybe,” he replied, becoming thoughtful. “Dad can’t get into much more than that because the situation is confidential.”

“Please be careful, Ben. I’m worried that they might find out who you are and come after you. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.”

“I feel the same exact way about you, Lara,” he said softly as he slipped his wallet into his pocket, glancing into the mirror one final time.

Lara smiled suddenly. “You look nice, Ben. You smell good too.”

Reaching for his dirty t-shirt, he gave it a quick whip her way.

“Eeww,” she said, holding her nose. “Is that the same shirt you were wearing when you rescued Aylin? Hopefully she didn’t get too close.”

He grimaced. “Is it really that bad?”

“No, you dope. Geez, I’ve never seen you act so stupid before.”

What could he say? His sister was right.

Smiling and giving her a wink, he rolled his eyes in acknowledgment.

When she laughed, his heart felt a little lighter, because she’d sure been doing a lot more of that during the past couple days.

Grabbing the rest of his dirty clothes from the bed, he headed from his room, stuffing them into the hamper in the laundry room.

“I’ll see you a little later,” he called out to Lara from the mudroom after he’d slipped into his winter coat.

“I’ll be here,” Lara said, now seated at the kitchen island with her laptop. “I really want to know how it goes.”

“Sounds good,” he answered, grinning as he stepped outside, locking the side door behind him.

* * *

Ben stared at his dad, stunned.

“What do you mean, she’s not here?” Ben muttered, his heart flipping over with a thud.

Dad blinked, and then grinned, despite the grim situation. “You’ve really got it bad, don’t you, son?”

“We’ve never even been introduced,” Ben said.

Aylin’s father stepped over to shake his hand. “I’m sorry that you were never properly introduced to my daughter, Ben. I’d like to thank you for rescuing her. I thought that maybe the two of you were meeting for a romantic assignation. Aylin reassured me it was simply a coincidence. She was going stir crazy and just wanted to do a little exploring outside since she had orders from me to stick close to the Inn.”

Despite the circumstances, Ben could swear there was a twinkle in his eyes.

Ben blinked, shaking Mr. Broussard’s hand. “Romantic assignation?”

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