Falling for the Billionaire's Daughter - Lori Ryan Page 0,45

able to track that.”

He saw the exhale of breath as she realized what he was saying was true.

“I want to go to her, to be sure this wasn’t anything to worry about, but I’m too afraid to.” Her features seemed to crumple and she covered her face with her hands. ‘I’m terrified to go check on her and terrified not to.”

He pulled her hands down and tipped her chin up. “You’re not alone in this anymore.”

As he said the words, he also realized he wasn’t alone anymore. He had options here, too.

He pulled his phone out and looked at Jane. “Do you trust me?”

He could see the indecision in her eyes, but she nodded.

He dialed Samantha’s number and hoped he wasn’t pulling her out of bed. Since he’d already heard kids outside, he would guess she might be awake, but he didn’t know for sure.

“What’s up, Kaeden?” She sounded awake so that was good.

“Did you bring your computer with you, Sam?”

Her only response was an intelligent snort. Okay, so yeah, Samantha Page probably didn’t go anywhere without a laptop. Maybe two.

“Can you come to Jane’s cabin?”

He saw the look of shock on Jane’s face and pulled the phone from his ear. “She already knew. There’s not much Samantha doesn’t find out.”

Samantha disconnected with him and he waited, handing Jane another tissue as she struggled to clean herself up for the other woman.

She was beautiful to him. Her skin was blotchy and red and her eyes were swollen, but that didn’t matter. He was well on his way to loving this woman. Was maybe even there already if he were really honest with himself.

Chapter 30

It was several days before Evan heard back from Turner Carson. Long enough that he was starting to sweat whether the man was going to pay his bill. He’d never taken more than a couple of hours to return any of Evan’s calls.

“I’m in New Jersey,” Turner said in lieu of a greeting.

Surprised didn’t begin to summarize Evan’s response to that. The last he’d heard, the man had said he was checking a lead in a resort town in Massachusetts somewhere.

Evan hesitated. For the last few days, he’d been wishing the woman wasn’t his mark. He didn’t want to think that this sweet woman who offered a smile to a stranger could be the thief he’d been sent to track down.

He’d even gone back and brought her flowers, telling her he was thanking her for helping him make the decision on where to place his mom. He’d wanted to see if his gut was really on about this woman. And his gut said she wasn’t a criminal.

He’d been sent to do a job and he needed to do it. His daughter needed the care the money from this job was going to bring.

Turner apparently wasn’t going to wait for a response. “I hope you have news. You’re costing me a fortune.”

Evan did something he never did. He lied to his client. “I don’t think it’s her. It was a dead end.”

“What do you mean, you don’t think? You told me you had a solid lead to follow.”

Evan’s chest was tight at the thought of giving up the money from the job. Shit, he didn’t even know if this guy would pay for his trip out here and the hotel he was staying in if he convinced him his wife wasn’t here, but he needed to be sure he wasn’t putting this woman in danger by telling his client he’d found her.

“I’m going to check one more thing, sir. I just need another day to see where this leads, then I’ll call you.”

“No.”

Evan was taken aback by the single word directive. Its tone brooked no argument.

“I’m in New Jersey. I’ll check myself.”

Evan cursed himself for sending his client the name of the facility he’d been checking on. All of his radar was going up on this guy. Everything in him was screaming that Debra Carson wasn’t what she seemed.

The truth was his radar had been going off for some time on this case, but he’d ignored it.

And now he was about to blow all the money he’d hoped to bring in on this just when his family needed it most.

It didn’t matter. He couldn’t pay for his daughter’s medical bills on the blood of what he would bet his life was an innocent woman.

“Sure, Mr. Carson,” he said. “You let me know if you want any backup.”

“Right, I’ll do that.”

“I’ll send you my bill and the receipts for