Free Our Little Secret by Starr Ambrose

circumstances, and you’re worried about damaging his chances at re-election?”

    “Believe me, Dad would want me to consider it.” He stopped as he saw the large suitcase and briefcase on the floor. “What’s this?”

    “It’s mine. I packed it when I went to wash up.”

    He turned toward her, frowning. “Going somewhere?”

    She’d known he’d object. From what she’d seen, Drew was used to taking charge of situations, a natural leader like his father. He probably wasn’t used to defiance.

    “I think I should stay at Meg’s old apartment. They just got married this week, so I’m sure it’s still leased to her. I can look through her things for a clue to what’s going on, like you did here.”

    “I don’t think so.” He grabbed the suitcase and started toward the stairs. “Don’t you think those two men might look for her at the apartment?”

    “But you said they knew she lived
here
.”

    “Yes, but here you won’t be alone, and there’s a good security system.”

    Lauren watched as he went upstairs without waiting for an answer. In the kitchen doorway, Gerald lounged against the doorframe. “Protective,” he mouthed silently, and winked.

    She gave him a stern look as she grabbed her briefcase and followed Drew. Way to be defiant, she grumbled to herself. But he’d found her weak spot—security. She wasn’t eager to meet the armed kidnappers again.

    He tossed the large suitcase on the bed like it weighed no more than her briefcase.

    “If you need anything, I’m right across the hall.”

    “What?” She dropped the briefcase. She’d assumed he’d only stayed last night to help Gerald search the house. “You’re staying here, too?”

    One eyebrow lifted in mild surprise. “Yes. I said you wouldn’t be alone if you stayed here.”

    “I thought you meant Gerald.”

    “Gerald only works here. He has his own house.”

    “Don’t you?” She didn’t mean to sound rude, but he had to be in his midthirties. Drew didn’t seem like the type who would still live at home with Dad.

    “Yes, in Colorado.” He looked her over, head cocked, his mouth pulled sideways with wry amusement. “Are you afraid to stay here alone with me, Aunt Lauren?”

    Not until he’d looked at her like that. Tiny prickles raced over her shoulders, and her insides squirmed. Mortified, she reminded herself that she had a fiancé who fulfilled all her squirming desires quite, um, adequately. Imagining Drew in that role was unacceptable.

    “Why would I be afraid of my own nephew?” she asked, glad he’d tacked on that reminder of their family relationship.

    He smiled with a lazy confidence she found unsettling. “I didn’t mean to suggest you would. I thought you might be afraid of your own—” He paused while he raked her with another gaze. “—impulses.”

    Heat rose to her face. First Gerald and now Drew. She might as well have “Lauren is hot for Drew”written on a T-shirt. “You’d better hope so, because my impulse is to kick you again.”

    He smiled. “Feeling threatened, huh?” Before she could come up with a huffy retort, he added, “Come downstairs when you’ve unpacked. I’ll see if I can find us something to eat.”

    She stood frozen in place until he was gone, desperately fighting the desire to massacre another nail. Ah, hell with it. She stuck her finger in her mouth and viciously bit at number four. Between her missing sister and her hot nephew, she didn’t give the remaining six long odds for survival.

    Drew lined up all the condiments he could find on the kitchen island next to the meat and cheese. He was slathering mayo on a slice of rye when Lauren walked in.

    From the corner of his eye he could see she’d changed into jeans. He could no longer see those appealing legs, but the jeans hugged her even-more-appealing hips and butt. Even though he had no intention of sampling the merchandise, he enjoyed looking.

    Drew would never make a serious move on the