Page 28 of Wicked Obsession

She shifted again, and with a grimace, he quietly opened the door and stepped out, shutting it softly behind him. The room opened out onto gleaming hardwood floors and a wrought iron balustrade that overlooked the formal living room below.

He was out of his league. Totally andcompletely. The chandelier was bigger than any he’d seen before, a marble fireplace soared two full stories, and he could tell the grand piano was of the highest quality from up here. His fingers tingled with the need to touch the keys, but he bunched his hands into fists and headed to the stairs, resolutely continuing forward.

The rest of the house wasn’t any less lavish, and by the time he reached the dining room, he was in a foul mood. The next door led to a butler’s pantry that was bigger than his parents’ family room and the door after that finally brought him into the kitchen. Stony glanced up from the stove, took one look at him, and pointed. “The coffee is over there.”

The kitchen was as daunting as the rest of the house. Cherry cabinets, some kind of countertop that didn’t look like any stone he’d ever seen before, and two islands. Both had sinks, one had three leather-backed stools and two small chandeliers over it. The breakfast table sat eight and was tucked in an oversized bay window that overlooked the lake.

Grimacing, he went to the coffee maker and poured himself a generous cup. Stony was already settled at the table with an omelet and his own mug of coffee. “You got more of that?” Ryder asked, gesturing to the plate.

“Ingredients are in the fridge.”

After taking a gulp of liquid nirvana, Ryder went in search of food. There was no way he was cooking anything, but he found some instant oatmeal in the walk-in pantry, poured a couple of packets in a bowl, and nuked it. Grabbing a few paper towels to keep from burning his hands, he put his breakfast on the table, topped off his coffee, and then sat across from Rowland. Stirring the oatmeal, he asked, “Where are Griff and Mako?”

“Griff has outdoor patrol duty this shift and Mako’s monitoring the electronic security.”

“And you?”

“Just came out of the control room. I’m going to grab a couple hours of sleep after breakfast and then take my turn on patrol.” Rowland lowered his fork. “I better fill you in on what happened this morning.”

Ryder felt his stomach drop to his shoes. “What?”

“We had a security camera go down.”

“Shit.” Ryder lost his appetite.

“Mako and Griff checked it out. They didn’t find footprints, and with the broken twigs and the way the camera was askew, their best guess was an animal was responsible. There are bears in the area and mule deer.”

“With the amount of rainfall Tahoe gets inAugust, the ground would be dry enough that someone who walks softly wouldn’t leave prints.”

“Yeah, I know, and if we’re dealing with a high-caliber team, they’d have at least a few people who could do that. I also don’t like which camera lost signal.” Rowland went back to his breakfast. “It was the primary, overlooking the drive. If I wanted to get close to the house undetected, that’s the camera I’d take down.”

Pushing his oatmeal away, Ryder asked, “Is it working now?”

Stony nodded. “Griff fixed it and realigned it. We’re good, but it was down too long before we were able to get someone over there.” There was a brief pause, then, “Where’s Langley?”

“She’s still sleeping,” he said tersely.

Expression bland, Rowland said, “That’s not a surprise. She stayed awake for nearly thirty-six hours.”

“I’m not faulting her,” Ryder snapped.

The other man shrugged and continued eating his breakfast.

The silence lasted until Ryder realized he shouldn’t have growled at his friend. “Sorry,” he muttered. “The camera and this mansion have me in a shitty mood.”

Stony finished his final bite of eggs and washed it down with coffee before he said, “It’s not Langley’s fault that she was born into money.”

Ryder grimaced and wished he’d kept his mouth shut on the ride up here. Rowland saw enough on his own without being given more intel to work with. “I never said it was,” he replied, careful to keep his tone neutral.

“Really? That’s not what it sounded like yesterday.”

Instead of snarling, he took a swig of coffee and worked on his control. He wasn’t getting into this discussion again. “Did you check on the tunnels? How is the security?”

After a brief hesitation, Rowland said, “The barricade bars are solid steel, but those passages make me twitchy.” He changed the subject. “I called Harper this morning.”

They’d sort of agreed on that last night, but Ryder grimaced anyway. “What did he say? Any names come to mind?”

“I couldn’t get hold of him. When I tried his cell phone, I reached a stranger. The person I talked to had gotten the number about six weeks ago.” Stony stood and walked to the sink. As he rinsed his plate, he said, “I called Bent Tree next and asked them to pass along a message to contact me. Harper was unavailable, per the person I spoke with.”

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