“And what do we need to do to make that happen?” asked Luke.
Evelyn ran a hand through her damp hair. “Well, that’s the easy part. You don’t have to do anything. I’m here on protective duty for the time being until we can find someone more qualified. Your family has been a great asset to us, and we intend to make sure that none of this backlash hits you.”
Luke slammed his hands on the counter. “Like hell! You’re not kicking us out.”
“I’m not kicking you out. That would imply this was your investigation to begin with. But as soon as we know you’re not targets for Longineu, your business with the FBI will be over.”
And Luke’s relationship with Evelyn. His breath caught in his throat as he kept himself from banging on the counter again.
“This is good news,” said Michael somberly from behind him. “We’ve done our part. Now let the FBI do the rest.”
Luke glared over his shoulder at his brother, but his expression softened when he noticed Lori staring intently at the marble tile on the floor. No wonder Michael was so happy to be done with this. Lori had been put through the wringer already, between her uncle being murdered and their former contact within Thirteen Stars trying to kill her. “Do you think the two of you can go out of town again? I know you just got back, but it’s probably safer...”
“I can work from anywhere with Internet.” Michael looked questioningly at Lori.
“I’m almost out of vacation time, but I can see if I can get an unpaid leave. My new bosses don’t know about everything, but I told them Ken tried to kill me. I’m sure that if I tell them some of his associates might be coming after me, they’ll understand.”
Michael met Luke’s gaze and the brothers exchanged a knowing glance. Luke knew that one way or another, Michael would get Lori out of town. And if she ever needed a job, DevX Tech would welcome her back, even if she didn’t want to be known as the employee sleeping with the owner of the company. Hell, if she ended up back at DevX, that would almost make the whole thing worth it. It was damn hard to find people who knew computers as well as Lori did.
“Grayson had a house in the Rockies that went to my mother,” said Lori. “Michael and I can hole up there for a week at least. Mom would probably appreciate us taking a look at the place and making sure it’s in good shape.”
Evelyn nodded. “That would be great. Make sure you tell as few people as possible where you’re going. We’re thinking that an agent of ours might’ve told the Thirteen Stars who I was, so don’t trust any agent who’s not me, understand?”
Michael narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure who to be more afraid of—Longineu or your people.”
Luke turned and stood between Evelyn and Michael. “Hey. Evelyn has been working her ass off to finish this investigation. This isn’t her fault.”
Michael and Lori exchanged a quick glance. “Well, that’s a switch,” muttered Michael.
Luke clenched his jaw. The last Michael had seen, Luke and Evelyn were barely on speaking terms, and Luke wasn’t about to start explaining what changed. Hell, he didn’t even know what changed. So maybe Evelyn wasn’t the ice queen he first thought, and he wasn’t the spoiled little rich boy she’d expected. None of that was Michael’s business for the moment.
“Maybe we should get started on those arrangements.” Lori set a hand on Michael’s arm.
Luke forced himself to calm down and grinned at his brother’s girlfriend. “How did my brother get so lucky to find you?” Really, he didn’t remember the last time his brother had dated anyone, let alone someone who seemed to be able to read his moods as well as Lori. Normally he and Michael would just hash it out in a screaming match and then make up over a bottle of Scotch later. But since Lori had been around, there hadn’t been any screaming at all. “You need to marry this girl before she realizes she’s too good for you.”
A red blush crept up Lori’s neck and Evelyn let out a laugh from behind Luke. “You two did not elope!”
“No!” Lori emphatically shook her head.
“Not yet,” clarified Michael.
Luke glanced between the now incredibly guilty-looking couple. “What’s going on?”
Lori looked back to the ground and Michael set an arm over her shoulders. “We’ve just been...talking,” he said.
“Talking about eloping,” clarified Luke. “You didn’t think this was important enough to bring up?”
“There wasn’t a good time,” said Lori. “I told him to call you but every time we started talking about marriage, we’d get...distracted.”