Page 62 of Two Hearts' Ploy

“Hello,” Wren said as she opened the door.

“Where’s Jeff?” Kate muttered, brushing past Wren and walking inside.

“He went to pick us up some sandwiches,” Wren answered.

Kate looked taken aback when she glanced around what was now a stunning entryway, a round antique table graced with a vase of fresh flowers centered in the middle of the space.

“Whyare you still here, and not on your way back to California?”Her hands on her hips, Kate stomped her foot. “Don’t you realize what you’re doing? Every time he’s here alone, he’s not going to be able to quit thinking of you. How in the hell is he supposed to move on? I know my brother. He wants to get married and have a family. Obviously, that’s not going to happen withyou.”

Kate made her way through the house, appearing more furious as she went from room to room.

She snorted. “I don’t even want to go upstairs. Granted, you do have good taste. But the best thing you could do for him is leave. The sooner you go, the sooner Jeff can try to move on with his life. He’s been hurt enough. I should have never signed that paperwork to get him into officer’s school. Maybe he’d be married to his girlfriend Aimee now, and out of the damn Air Force.”

And with that, Kate spun on her heels, heading to the front door, slamming the door behind her.

Wren’s eyes filled with tears. For the first time in a long time, she felt deflated.

She could care less about anything, including her safety right now. She needed to get the hell out of the house for a while. All she could see was the deprecating look on Kate’s face as she made it clear how she really felt about Wren.

Reaching for the keys to her SUV, she headed through the mudroom, being sure to set the alarm as she left the house.

Chapter Forty

Jeff was whistling when he arrived back at the house, his gifts hidden in the back seat of the truck. He’d grab them from the truck a little later tonight and give one of the items to Wren before they went to sleep.

The other gift…well, it was wishful thinking, he supposed, hoping that someday he’d be able to put it on her finger. But the ring would be hers no matter how Wren responded to his proposal.

But when he saw the missing SUV when he pulled into the garage, he suddenly panicked.What the hell was going on?

Grabbing his cell phone from his pocket, he tried to call her, but all he got was Wren’s voice mail.

He’d check the video, he decided, to see if anything unusual had occurred when he’d been gone.

Playing back the video, he smiled grimly noticing Kate knocking at the front door before Wren let her inside.

He watched Kate leave less than fifteen minutes later, slamming the front door.

Now he began searching for Wren, finally locating her on one of the other feeds as she exited the mudroom and made her way to the garage.

It was gut wrenching to see tears running down her face.

He gave Kate a call, not giving her a chance to speak when she switched on the phone.

“What in the hell did you say to her?I don’t know you anymore, Kate. Since when did you become so judgmental? You don’t exactly have a spotless past,” he yelled.

“She’s no good for you, Jeff,” Kate growled.

“Damn it, Kate. That’s for me to decide. Someone is trying to kill her. That’s why she originally came to stay with me. Sure, we’re involved, but I’m also her bodyguard.”

There was a long silence.

“I’m…sorry, Jeff,” she whispered.

“Right now, I don’t give a damn. I’m so mad. But we’re going to have a talk. Me being injured had nothing whatsoever to do withyou. If you hadn’t signed that form for me, I would have gone to Dan or Lucy. This is my life, and I knew what I was in for. You don’t think I thought good and hard before I got involved with Wren? I don’t appreciate your interference. Right now, I just want to know where the hell she went. Her things still seem to be here.”

“Let me think.” After a moment, Kate sighed. “If I were you, I’d start at Dragonfly Pointe.”

“Okay, yeah. That’s probably where I would go too if I was upset. And I just remembered that there’s still a tracker on her SUV, so Jake can probably locate her. I’m going to give him a call.”

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