Free Taken Identity by Raven McAllan Page A

She couldn’t imagine not having people concerned about her and close by.
    In all that time, he just stared at her, his face still blank. She wondered what it would take to get him to lose the mask.
    “If I truly thought going to Crete was the answer, Gray, I would go. Once I had made appropriate arrangements regarding family and so on.” She held her hand up in the universal ‘stop’ gesture as he opened his mouth. “Hold on. I haven’t finished. Then I would go. But don’t you think you’re rushing at things here? The first thing we’ve picked up on, and you’re on it like a…well, rat and terrier. As I would have told you, given the chance, I’ve been back to the same hotel twice since then.” She ignored the hiss of breath that escaped from between his pursed lips.
    “The first time I returned, the manager recognized me, remembered what had happened and apologized for not having apologized about my crumpled passport sooner. He said he had trodden on it. Now, that may or may not be true, but you can’t just go rushing in and asking all sorts of wild questions about a something and nothing incident that happened five years ago. Apart from that, when I went back last year, he wasn’t there, and I didn’t recognize any of the staff. He’d moved on, and before you ask, I don’t know to where.”
    Gray absorbed her comments. Sighed. “Okay, I overreacted, and I’m sorry. You’re right.”
    ”I usually am.”
    “Ditch the smug look. I’m in no mood for it.”
    Jules curbed the instinct to stick her tongue out. What next? She soon found out.
    “Well, Miss Know-It-All. What do you suggest now?”
    “Cut the sarcasm, Gray. It doesn’t suit you,” Jules replied with equanimity, her anger gone and her good humor restored. Funny how seeing someone else discomforted made you feel better.
    “Well, bugger me,” he said, sarcasm uppermost. “There I was, thinking I did sarcasm well.”
    “Well, you don’t. You make me want to throw something at you. Something hard.”
    “Sorry.”
    She noticed his eyes twinkle. He was really too sexy to be let out.
    “Seriously, though,” he said, “what do you suggest?”
    “Carry on looking,” she replied promptly. “Also, one of us—or Sean—should try to trace where that manager went. It shouldn’t be too difficult. Somewhere at home I’ll have the hotel details, and I’m fairly sure the handout we got when we registered gave a potted history of the main staff. I always knew there was a reason I was a hoarder. So, do we head back to my place or carry on reading?”
    She held her breath as he considered. She didn’t know about handouts, but she’d quite like to be hands on. But on what was taboo.
    “Let’s head to your place. I’ll keep reading while you see if you can find the stuff the hotel gave you. Then I can ring Sean and let him know what we find out.”
    “Fine.” Jules swiftly logged off her laptop and closed it down. Swiveling to pick up her bag from the floor caused her skirt to ride up her long legs, and her blouse to tighten around her breasts. She shoveled all her diaries into her bag and stood up. “I’m ready.”
    “So am I,” he said.
    Oh, yes, she could see that and realized just how ready he was. Just a pity he couldn’t show her. Although, she didn’t need to look far to discover for herself a rough idea—fitted trousers were not the best thing for hiding an erection, especially not one with the strength of his.
    Jules found her eyes drifting downwards. She had to recheck. Being Jules, she just had to comment. “Wow, aren’t you just? Is all that for me?”
    “Well, there’s no one else here who can arouse me like you seem to. Without trying.”
    She cocked her head to one side. “Do not put thoughts into my head, Gray. Or I will try. Hard.”
    Gray stared at her, surveyed her. His eyes were bright, and she shivered. As he looked at her breasts, she felt her nipples tighten beneath the thin material of her top and knew