Page 57 of Booked for Kidnapping

“I’m pretty sure she’s out to scare me off. Don’t you care about your old man?”

“No.”

Bradley’s firm statement made me laugh. “That was harsh, Bradley. You do care about him.”

“When he’s at a distance and not interfering with my ability to lure you back into the tub so we can read books, I do care for him.”

“I don’t think he’s going to be embarrassed. That tactic simply won’t work against a man who has a son and a willingness to discuss the birth control he likely helped stash in my purse. He’s also one of the parties responsible for our status as engaged.”

“Have I told you that I love you recently, Dad?”

Mr. Hampton chuckled. “Not in those specific words, but I had guessed. If you’re serious about Hawaii, let me know before dinner so I can make plans.”

“I’d actually like to investigate where she was held first, if at all possible. Janette, do you think you could find your way back to the house?”

“I really don’t know, but we can try. But won’t that be dangerous?” The last thing I wanted was to go anywhere near that damned house, no matter how nice it looked on the outside. “Can’t we just use the internet? We can go browse the houses from the cars that take pictures on the street and identify it that way.”

Both men stared at me. The one I intended to marry raised a brow and didn’t seem impressed with my suggestion. His father’s eyes narrowed.

I read between the lines; both recognized I wanted to dodge the whole idea.

“I escaped that horror house, and I am not willfully returning to the horror house,” I informed them. “And I don’t care if there were no actual horrors performed there. It counts as a horror house.”

“It wasn’t quite a horror house, but you were exceptionally lonely,” Bradley’s father stated.

“You sensor types are all cheats,” I complained.

Bradley’s raised brow slid into a knowing smirk.

“You are the worst of the cheats, Bradley Hampton!”

Bradley’s father chuckled. “It ruins everything when the man can easily tell when the woman is interested, doesn’t it?”

I scowled. “That’s how you roped his mother, isn’t it? You called her out.”

“That has happened a few times. Hell, who am I kidding? All the time. She’s so bad at just taking what she wants. So damned polite. So, I cheat and check often. If you don’t express your interest, he’ll do the same, as I raised him to treat women right. And that means cheating for her benefit whenever possible.”

Bradley shrugged. “It’s true. I really didn’t understand why Dad would change our plans without warning after giving my mother a kiss on the cheek, but I figured it out fairly quickly. I’ve learned to not touch my mother when she’s eyeing my father. Some things a son doesn’t want to know.”

Well, I threw away any hope of hiding my interest in him. “Do I score points for good behavior?”

Bradley snickered. “Yes. And don’t feel like you should be embarrassed. I’ve grown up with this since I hit puberty, and what I didn’t figure out on my own, Dad taught me. I’ll admit, you threw me for a loop every damned time. You’d look cold, but you’d be running hot. And I appreciated I was the reason you were running hot, but I had no idea what to do about it beyond be a gentleman.”

“Stop being a gentleman,” I suggested.

Bradley’s father whistled and stared in the direction of the door. “I hope the hotel has a free room.”

“I’m sure you can wait until lunch is here before worrying about it.”

“I think I’ll just step downstairs and find out now, as I’ll have to make alternative plans if there isn’t a free room.”

“How long do we have this room for, anyway?”

“A week,” Bradley said. “We got lucky and could extend the stay once we located you. They probably have extra rooms. It’s a huge hotel.”

Bradley’s father fled the room, and I laughed. “He ran away, Bradley. I’m not even…” I waved my hand, uncertain of how to inform him I was not currently on the prowl for something a little more than reading books in the tub.

“He jumps to certain conclusions because we’re young and neither one of us have had any interactions with someone of the opposite gender. He assumes you are like my mother, who is, frankly spoken, a great deal randier than I’m comfortable admitting.”