Free Reckless Hours: a Romantic Suspense novel (Heroes of Providence Book 3) by Lisa Mondello Page B

said, her eyes shifting to one side, as if she were thinking of something.
    He waited, and when her eyes met his again, she said, “Aurore told me to lock my bedroom door last night.”
    “Was anyone else in the house besides the four of you?”
    She shook her head.
    “Strange.”
    “I thought so, too. The only people I could think to worry about last night were Susan and Aurore. That is, until I saw that man in the garden.”
    Dylan looked more closely at Tammie then, saw the droop of her posture, the dark lines under her blue eyes, which were puffy, as if she hadn’t had much sleep.
    Well, at least he hadn’t been the only one.
    “There’s time enough to ask them about it later,” he said. “Why don’t you take a load off while I pick up some things from the campground store? We can throw together some breakfast here. Carol, the waitress at the diner, is a sweet girl, but she has big ears. She can retell a conversation verbatim to the other waitresses the moment her customers walk out the door. I’ve seen her do it.”
    Tammie laughed. “You have?”
    He nodded. “You wouldn’t believe the things you learn when you know how to listen when no one is noticing.”
    “Such as?”
    “Serena Davco has lived her whole life in that mansion. Right here in this town. Yet hardly anyone ever sees her. I know how to read people. Every time I asked about her, people knew her name, but couldn’t say much about her. For someone who is the daughter of a prominent member of the community, people don’t know her at all. I find that strange.”
    “Maybe it’s best to stay a little hidden for a while. Given the fact that Serena is practically my double, I’d rather the whole world not come to the conclusion that I’m her.”
    “If they haven’t already,” Dylan added.
    # # #

Chapter Five
     
    Tammie sat at the picnic table at the campsite while Dylan walked to the campground store. She was still on West Coast time, and the hour she’d gotten out of bed this morning was totally illegal, as far as her body’s clock was concerned. But it hadn’t made much sense to stay in a bed that wasn’t even hers, when she couldn’t sleep.
    The house had been quiet when she left. Serena had still been in bed. If Aurore was around, she hadn’t seen her. As Tammie came down the stairs, she’d seen Susan carrying a load of freshly laundered towels, but she didn’t think Susan had seen her.
    Not that it mattered. She wasn’t hiding from anyone. But she had given a moment’s thought to whether or not they’d let her back in the door when she returned. It wasn’t as if she had a key.
    Tammie was half in a daze, her fist propped under her chin and her elbow resting on the table, when she heard whistling. She turned to see Dylan walking up the dirt trail, carrying two paper bags brimming with groceries. Tammie lifted herself from the position she’d been sitting in and met him halfway down the trail to retrieve one of the bags.
    “Thanks,” he said with a smile.
    “Are you always this chipper in the morning?”
    He glanced at the sky. “No, not always. But I figure there’s a blue sky and a bright sun hanging over me. The birds were singing as my eyes opened, and kids were playing in the park across from the store. That makes it a good day. If you’ve seen as many foreign lands as I have, witnessed the carnage that can go on in the world, you learn to take each day as a blessing, despite the frustrations of life.”
    Tammie smiled, almost ashamed that her mood had remained glum and she hadn’t taken notice of the day like Dylan had.
    “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt that way, I’m afraid.” She bounced the bag in her arms. “What do you have in here, anyway—textbooks? It’s so heavy!”
    “I just about grabbed everything I could get my hands on. I was ready to eat the whole store,” he said, shrugging. “I skipped dinner last night.”
    “Ah. My mother always said to never go shopping on an empty