Fiance by Friday (Weekday Brides Series)(5)
“Gwen?” Neil overheard Karen calling from inside the Tarzana house, the audio feed now relaying every word clearly. The alarm sounded inside the house, probably loud enough to wake the neighbors. He heard the phone ringing both in his ear and in the house.
He flipped the feed, searching for her…his heart skipped several beats before Gwen appeared on screen.
She ran to the control panel, opened it, and started hitting numbers. Seeing her unharmed, Neil kept scanning the feeds. “Answer the fucking phone,” he said through clenched teeth.
“I forgot…” Gwen’s voice rose above the alarm.
“Turn the noise off,” Karen said.
Both Gwen and Karen were standing at the control panel. Once the numbers were pressed in, the alarm went silent.
Gwen moved from the panel to the phone. “Hello?”
“What happened?” Neil’s hand hovered over the mouse on the master controls, the one that would alert the local police to respond.
“Hello, Neil.”
This wasn’t a fucking social call. “Gwen?” His tone was strained.
“I opened the back door. Forgot to cancel the alarm first.”
Karen was walking back up the stairs seemingly unaffected by the drama.
Gwen moved through one room to another. The nightgown she wore hardly covered her ass.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“The back door, why is it open?” The backyard feed was dark, no sign of problems.
“It’s a nice night. I thought I’d let some fresh air in. Everything is fine, Neil. I’m sorry I woke you.”
She was leaning against the door she’d opened and talking on the phone to him.
“I wasn’t asleep.”
“Of course you weren’t. You never sleep, do you?”
“I sleep.” Just not in a bed. And not for extended periods of time.
“And what does Neil dream of when he sleeps?” For some reason only known to Gwen, she taunted him by talking about him in third person.
Neil turned off his alarms and sat in the tall back leather chair in the center of the room.
“Well?”
What was the question? Oh, right…what does he dream of? Platinum blondes with British accents wearing garters and stockings…and nothing else.
“I don’t dream.”
“Everyone dreams.”
Guns, explosions…burning bodies.
“I don’t.”
“I’ve heard that a lack of dreams is a sign of poor health.” She twirled a lock of hair and stared out the back door. The door that should be closed, locked, and alarmed.
“There’s nothing wrong with my health. How long are you keeping that door open?”
Gwen stopped playing with her hair and looked around the room. “Are you watching me?”
Neil swallowed…hard.
“Neil?”
“You need to lock the door and reset the alarm.”
Gwen turned to a kitchen chair and lifted her foot on top of it. The short nightgown rode higher on her thigh as she played at scratching her leg, which he knew wasn’t by accident. She knew he was watching her. Gwen had been flirting with him for a very long time.
“Lock the door, Gwen.”
“I like the breeze. It’s warmer here than in Malibu.”
“Turn on the air conditioner.” And put your leg down.
“You’re worried for nothing, Neil. No one is out to harm Karen or myself.”
“Lock the door.”
“I’m hanging up now, Neil. Try and get some sleep.”
He knew she wasn’t going to close the door, let alone lock it. “Gwen!”
“Sweet dreams.”
“Damn it, Gwen!”
She hung up, ignoring his request. There was only one person who refused to take his direction and it was Gwen Harrison…no, Lady Gwen Harrison.
Lady Gwen finished her tea in the breeze before locking the screen door the neighborhood cat could breach. And then, she turned off the kitchen light and left the room.
Leaving the back door wide open.
I didn’t want to sleep tonight anyway.
Chapter Two
Gwen moved the blinds a fraction of an inch and peered outside. Across the street, Neil reclined in the front seat of his dark sedan, his head bobbing every so often as he fought sleep.
A tiny bit of guilt laced her thoughts when she’d peeked through an hour earlier and realized that Neil had driven over sometime in the night to keep an eye on her. She’d kept the back door open to prod him, but she hadn’t thought he’d actually come over and do anything about it.
She’d been wrong.
The remorse she felt was cloaked by something else…exhilaration.
The man cared. Oh, he tried hard not to, but Gwen knew that somewhere in that hard shell of a man was a huge heart.