Hidden Agenda. Christy Barritt

The west wing. Upstairs. The widow’s walk. Or the back of the house, where the kitchen, dining room and pantry were located.

      He paused for a moment and listened for any telltale sounds. Silence answered him.

      Until the wood floor creaked in the distance.

      He spun and saw Bailey standing at the entrance of the west wing, a dazed expression on her face. She rubbed her head with one hand. The other arm was flung across her chest in an almost protective gesture. Her hair looked disheveled, and he thought he saw a tremble claiming all of her muscles.

      “Are you okay?” He crossed the room in long strides to meet her, to begin to assess what had happened.

      She nodded, a new emotion in her gaze. She almost seemed dazed. Ed had seen the stunned expression in an instant, but the next moment it disappeared. She’d blinked and her walls had gone up. Her jaw hardened and she sucked in a long, deep breath.

      “Of course I’m fine. Why?”

      He stared at her, dumbfounded. How could she act so calm? Just what had happened? Something was off. “You’re fine?”

      She shrugged and raised her chin. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

      Ed didn’t miss the way her throat tightened, almost as if she was having trouble swallowing because of the tension welling inside her.

      “Why wouldn’t you be fine? How about because one minute you were in the library and the next moment you were gone.” There was something she wasn’t telling him and that realization left him unsettled.

      She shrugged again. “I just decided to check things out for myself.”

      A smattering of rain against the window sent her clinging to the wall, her gaze swinging wildly about. She could talk tough all she wanted, but her actions told the truth.

      “You decided to check things out yourself? You? The woman who walked so closely behind me that I could barely move? You suddenly got enough courage to explore this dark house on your own?” Something wasn’t adding up, and he didn’t like where all of this was going.

      “I’m not as spineless as you might think I am.” She raised her chin even higher.

      He still saw the tremble racing through her.

      “What aren’t you saying, Bailey?” He stepped closer so he could see the truth in her eyes.

      Something flashed there again. Fear? Defiance?

      He wasn’t sure.

      “We’re not in this together, you know,” she finally muttered. “I was doing just fine here before you showed up.”

      He stepped closer. “Were you? If I hadn’t shown up and you’d run into some stranger who’d broken into the house with less than honorable intentions, I’d doubt you’d act so laid-back.”

      “I’ve always done things on my own. I just decided to take matters into my own hands and see if the intruder was still here. We were wasting time sticking together.”

      He didn’t buy her story for a second. “And was he?”

      She swallowed so hard that her throat muscles visibly tightened. “You didn’t see him. Did you?”

      He shifted, his hands going to his hips. He reminded himself that Bailey, most likely, wasn’t one of the bad guys here. He didn’t need to go into interrogation mode. “You need to tell me what kind of game you’re playing. Otherwise, we might both end up dead.”

      Wrinkles appeared at the corner of her eyes. “Look, I’m sorry. I won’t wander away again. I had a moment of bad judgment.”

      That little excuse wasn’t going to settle with him. But she wasn’t saying anything else right now.

      He’d keep an eye on her. He didn’t trust her.

      But for now, they had to work together.

      He couldn’t be 100 percent sure that the intruder was gone. Whoever it had been had definitely set it up to look as if he’d left. But the person behind this vandalism wasn’t a newbie. They were experienced...and possibly working with Bailey?

      He had to keep that idea at the forefront of his mind.

      Trust no one.

      That had been his mantra for more than a decade.

      He didn’t see it changing anytime soon.

       FOUR

      Bailey rubbed her throat, suddenly exhausted, weary and overwhelmed. “What now?”

      “Right now we secure the house and batten down the hatches, so to speak, for this storm. Until it’s daylight, there’s not much more we can do except try to stay safe and keep our eyes open.”

      Bailey nodded. As she felt Ed’s gaze on her, she rubbed her throat again. He wasn’t stupid. He knew she wasn’t telling the truth. But she had no other choice at this point. She had to do whatever she had to to keep her family safe. She needed time to think, to figure things out. Her adrenaline wanted to race ahead as her mind struggled through the possibilities.

      “I know where all of the entrances to the house are,” Bailey offered. “I can show you and we can make sure they’re secure.”

      Ed nodded. “Good idea. We’ll stick together.”

      She wouldn’t argue with that. She had no desire to wander this place by herself. “Let’s go.”

      They moved throughout the house, checking windows and doors. They said very little as they worked. Bailey tried to ignore the tension between them, tried to pretend that everything was like it was before. Everything hadn’t been great earlier, but now her conscience bothered her. Now she did have a secret and, along with it, she had guilt.

      Just two hours ago, things had seemed relatively simple. She’d planned on reading her novel, turning in for the night, and in the morning she’d depart this place and look for a new job. Though she’d been dreading starting over again, right now she dreaded staying here even more. Especially under these circumstances.

      How could two hours turn her life upside down?

      Finally, Ed checked the last window. It was latched.

      “We’re secure,” he said.

      But Bailey knew that nothing was really secure. Someone very likely was still in this house with them. Where? She had no idea. She hadn’t seen a sign of him as they’d moved throughout the place. Whoever this man was, he was good. He had the ability to disappear. Maybe he’d even planted cameras somewhere. That fact had her on edge.

      “Let’s get back to that fire,” Ed suggested. “It’s freezing in here.”

      Finally, they went down to the living room. Bailey knelt in front of the flames, absorbing the heat for a moment. She only wished the flames could warm her heart as it did her hands. Despair and panic did a tangled dance inside her.

      Ed’s voice broke through her thoughts. “Any food left here?”

      “I donated most of it and threw away the perishables.” She shrugged. “I was planning on leaving in the morning and I didn’t want it to be wasted.”

      Except, she couldn’t now. She had to think of some way to stay. That meant that she should probably get on Ed’s good side, especially since this was his place now.

      “I did save some crackers, cheese, peanut butter and a few apples to snack on until I left. I think there’s coffee and some of that fancy tea your dad liked, also. Would you like me to get them for you?”

      He stared again. The man obviously didn’t trust her. He shouldn’t trust her, at this point. Bailey had always been the kind of person people could depend on, the one people told their secrets to. She didn’t