Free Thieves Like Us by Starr Ambrose Page A

kept his eyes on her and didn’t move away from the door, obviously not trusting her to stay out of her own home.
    “Alarm systems work fine, and I’m sure this one went off as it should have. But I told you there are always ways to get around alarms. The guys who did this are pros, and nothing would keep them out.”
    He would know.
    It was probably best not to throw his past in his face. After all, he was on her side. But the frustration boiled over, and she kicked the front door.
    “I don’t blame you for being mad,” Rocky said. “But I’m sorry to say, this was bound to happen. It’s why you stayed with Elizabeth last night, and I’m glad you did. Nothing can keep a determined thief out. This was probably the work of two or three men. They probably posed as employees of a security company. They could have told your neighbors they were testing your system, or working on it, and to ignore any alarms they might hear for the next ten minutes. Then they broke in, disabled the alarm—which went off for all of five seconds—and went through your house while the neighbors ignored the fact that you were being burglarized. But you can’t blame them. The guys probably had uniforms and a van with a company name on the side. This was a professional job.”
    Her anger had died down during his speech until she was simply standing in thoughtful silence, amazed at how easily someone could bypass her security system. He took advantage of her subdued attitude, pointing at the wrought-iron bench beside the door. “Sit down. The sooner I call nine-one-one, the sooner you can go find Jingles, and a cat carrier, and whatever else you need to stay with Elizabeth until these guys are caught.”
    She sat. He was right. Right that she shouldn’t go inside until the police arrived, right that she would have to move out, and right that breaking in had probably been a whole lot easier than she imagined. “What do you think they would have done if I’d been home?” she asked.
    His jaw tightened and his tanned skin seemed to go a few shades paler. “I don’t know. I’m just glad we didn’t find out.”
    “Me, too.” She leaned back against the iron curlicues of the bench, thinking about how close she’d come to danger and how scared Rocky had looked at the very idea. “Thanks, by the way. You’re the reason I wasn’t here.”
    A hint of his crooked, mischievous smile came back. “You’re welcome.”
    She sighed. She couldn’t help it, she loved when he did that. And hated that it made her feel weak all over. Mentally, she went through the litany. She couldn’t trust her instincts. After being taken in so easily by a slimy psychopath like Banner, she’d be better off
never
trusting them again.
    It was probably best to divert the conversation to a subject Rocky would be less charming about. “So what are we going to do about whoever broke in here?”
    It worked; the smile disappeared. “
We’re
not going to do anything.
The police
are going to investigate the break-in while you stay safely tucked away at the Westfield mansion.”
    The irony didn’t escape her—Rocky, the ex-thief, was following the law to the letter, while she was looking for ways to skirt the cops and handle it herself.
    “We could at least find out who sold Banner the jewelry in the first place, couldn’t we? He rarely traveled, other than a couple business trips to Colombia, so I’ll bet he bought them around here.”
    “Good point. I’ll tell the cops and they can take care of it.”
    She blew out an exasperated breath. “Rocky, if I’ve learned anything from my train wreck of a marriage, it’s that no one can take care of me better than I can. I did it when Banner tried to have me killed, and I did it again when he wanted to take me hostage. Okay,” she amended, “you helped with the last one. You can help this time, too.”
    He snorted a laugh and shook his head. “I admire your spirit, but this isn’t the same, and the police are