Free Enamoured (Escape Fantasy Romance) by Shannon Curtis Page B

smiled. There was a safe. How convenient.
    He checked the frame of the painting. There were hinges on one side. He swung the painting to reveal the door of the safe behind it. He cocked his head as he gazed up at it. The safe was an old model, which was surprising. He hadn’t thought Lowry was the complacent type.
    He went to work trying to crack it. After ten minutes he sighed in frustration. Okay, so maybe not so complacent. What was the damn code? He wasn’t a safecracker. Far from it.
    He tried as many codes as he could. Lowry’s birthday. His wife’s birthday. Melanie’s birthday—although he was kind of relieved it didn’t open on that one, it had ‘Ick Factor’ all over it.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” the soft, feminine voice rasped from the doorway.
    He froze before slowly looking over his shoulder.
    Melanie stood just inside the study. Her expression was a mix of horror, anger and disappointment, and it was the last emotion that affected him the most.
    “It’s not what it looks like,” he whispered immediately.
    She closed the door behind her with a quiet snick and stalked across the room. She was barefoot—no wonder he hadn’t heard her. She moved with a lithe grace that suggested years of dance training.
    “You little toad,” she whispered furiously. “You come into our home as a guest, and as soon as our backs are turned, you try to rob us? How could you?”
    Although her assumption provided an excuse for his actions, and was entirely in keeping with his cover, he didn’t like the conclusion she’d drawn, nor the speed with which she’d drawn it.
    “You think I’m capable of that?”
    She frowned. “You’re alone in my stepfather’s office, and your hand is practically inside his safe. What am I supposed to think?”
    Well, when she put it like that… “I’m not a thief.” He tried to keep the injury out of his tone. He was undercover, for Pete’s sake. He was supposed to be a badass. Let her think you’re a badass.
    “I’m not a thief.” Oh, please, just shut up.
    She folded her arms, and arched an eyebrow. “Why don’t you tell me exactly what it is you’re doing…alone…in my stepfather’s office…at his safe.”
    He said the first thing that came into his mind. “I’m helping you.”
    She blinked. “What?”
    He nodded. Yeah, that’s right. “I’m helping you.”
    She took a step back. “You’re helping me?”
    “I saw the stuff on that disk. You’re going after your stepfather.” God, he hoped he was right. Otherwise, there goes the case. He was taking a punt, but something in his gut told him that’s exactly what was happening here. While she spit nails at him, she still struck him as a decent woman, a woman deep in over her head. A woman who needed help.
    Melanie glanced around the office. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped, although her voice was whisper-quiet.
    He put his hand on her shoulder. “You’re trying to get some dirt on your stepdad. I’ll help you.”
    Her blue gaze narrowed, and he felt like he was being pierced by laser beams as she tried to read his expression.
    ”I don’t trust you.”
    “When have I given you a reason to distrust me?”
    She gaped at him momentarily before launching into her answer. “Gee whiz, let me think on that one.” She held up a finger. “You blackmailed me into a date,” she said, then raised another finger, “you stole the disk,” another finger rose, “you spied on the data on that disk, and now you’re sneaking around my home.” She met his gaze. “Why the hell would I trust you?”
    He gazed down at her for a long moment, saw the anger, the hurt, the fear she tried to keep hidden. “Because I’ve kept your secret,” he whispered to her.
    Voices outside the door sent Melanie’s already pounding heart into aerobic territory. The door handle clicked as it turned. She reacted instantly.
    She slid her fingers through Colin’s still-damp hair and tugged