Page 21 of Trap ’N’ Trace

Dayne grunted. “Other than English, I only know enough German for Remy and me to communicate. Right girl?” He petted his dog’s head then gently caressed the back of her ear. Remy leaned into his big hand, watching him with absolute adoration in her eyes before landing a lick on his chin. His laugh was deep, rumbly, and totally uninhibited. Seemed like uninhibited laughter was reserved solely for his dog.

He caught sight of her watching them and frowned. “What?”

“Uh, nothing.” She shook her head, focusing on sifting her fingers through Remy’s thick golden brown and black coat. Just that for a tough, hard-as-nails federal agent, the love he and his K-9 had for each other was so…unexpected. “Teaching her to shake is a handy trick.”

“It was either that, or my mother would never let her into my parents’ house again. Once, I let her in when it was raining and she shook all over Mom’s antique white lace tablecloth. You should have heard the scream. Mom chased Remy and me out of the house with a broom.” He tugged the towel from her hand and began rubbing his dog’s coat. “I’ve got this.”

Maybe chivalry isn’t dead after all. Genuine chivalry, that was. Everyone in her circle was usually overly solicitous and always for the wrong reasons. Because they wanted something in return. Like money or the prestige her name could give them by association.

Remy twisted her neck to watch Dayne from adoring eyes then turned back to Angus and gave him a playful nudge with her snout, sending him sprawling. Not to be deterred, the puppy reengaged and clamped his jaw around one of Remy’s legs.

The shepherd strode through the foyer and into the living room, dragging the clinging puppy along the floor as she went.

“That should do it.” Dayne stood then offered his hand to help her rise to her feet.

For a long moment, she stared at his hand, hesitating to take it and not completely understanding why. A second later, she did.

While his motives had been strictly for medical, analytical reasons, she’d already felt his touch…and liked it. Gulp.

Did I actually just gulp? She prayed he didn’t hear it.

When she placed her hand in his, long, strong fingers closed around hers, pulling her gently to her feet. Warmth from his hand shot up her arm to her neck, heating her face. He didn’t let go. Neither did she.

As if realizing he still held her hand, he abruptly released it. “You must be tired, and we have a busy day tomorrow. I’ll take you to Amy’s house then the police station to work with a sketch artist.”

“Of course. I’ll do anything I can to help. And again, I’m sorry. I know you lost a friend yesterday, too.” Which explained why he was all business. Finding their friends’ killer was the driving force behind everything he did.

“Yeah.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “We’ll get him. One way or the other.”

“There’s a guestroom on this floor where you can stay. You do sleep, don’t you?”

He nodded. “I’ll try and catch some shut-eye.”

“This way.” As Dayne, Remy, and Angus followed her through the kitchen to the guest quarters, she couldn’t put a name to the prickling sense of awareness zinging through her body. “Here we are.” She turned on the lights then stepped aside.

He slipped past her to check out the room. “You don’t have any ser—” He cleared his throat. “I mean, any employees who stay here with you?”

“You were going to say ‘servants,’ weren’t you?” He shrugged, giving her his answer. “No. I don’t have servants. Employees, yes.” Although she considered Emily, Francine, and Walter to be friends more than employees.

He raised his brows. “Why not?” She opened her mouth to object to his assumption that she retained servants when he held up his hand. “I only meant that this is a big place. Huge, actually. It must take a small army to maintain.”

Remy circled twice then lay down. Angus snuggled up beside her, pressing his back against the K-9’s belly.

“It does, but we manage.” Barely. It wasn’t that she didn’t have the money to pay more people to run such a big estate. Hiring those she didn’t know and trust was a risk, one she was no longer willing to take. Not after reading about her last breakup in the tabloids.

One of the maids had overheard her conversation with Chad and sold the story to make a few hundred dollars. Getting burned again by her own staff… Never. Again. The next day, she fired everyone except those she implicitly trusted.

“The people I employ have families.” Her tone sounded overly bright, even to her. “Asking them to stay here overnight is unkind. Besides, during the day I’m usually surrounded by people, either at the Haven or at one event or another. Just so you’re familiar, there’s Emily, my personal assistant whom you met earlier, and Francine, my housekeeper and cook, who will be here at nine o’clock. My groundskeeper, Walter, works outside twice a week.”

“I’ll need their full names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers. And the same for anyone else working at the Haven.”

“I seriously doubt that’s necessary.” She crossed her arms, grimacing as a slight twinge shot to her shoulder. “They’ve all been with me for years. If they wanted to murder me, they could have done it a long time ago.”

“I can’t argue with that,” Dayne admitted. “But everyone has friends, and everyone has relatives. People can be blackmailed, coerced, used by others without even being aware of it. I’m just doing my job, Kat.”

“Fine.” She held up her hands. “I’ll get you the information tomorrow. I mean, later.” Considering today was already here.

“Thank you.”