She opened them wide, giving Elizabeth a great view of the senator standing behind his desk. He had on a pair of blinding, god-awful bright yellow and pink plaid pants and a white polo. He looked as if he were about to go play golf and wanted to make sure anyone on the course could see him coming from a mile away so he wouldn’t get hit with the tiny ball. Two other men in business suits sat across from him, with their backs toward the door.
The maid whispered into Senator Hayes ear, and he lifted his gaze at her. The smile he’d had on his face slipped, and Rhys moved closer to her, resting his hand on her lower back in a possessive fashion.
Hayes pasted a smile on his face until the maid walked out, shutting the doors behind her. “He’ll be with you in a few minutes. If you’d like, I can show you to the library.”
“No, thank you; we don’t mind waiting here.” There was no way in hell the maid was moving them away from the spot. She wasn’t about to miss seeing who the senator was meeting with while on vacation.
The maid scurried off, leaving them in the hallway outside the office.
Rhys leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Did you smell them?”
“No, did you?”
“Oh, yeah. You’re going to love this.” Rhys pressed his lips together in a smirk, biting back the smile on his face.
Seconds later, the door opened, and all three men piled out into the entryway.
The senator was the first through the door, followed by the man who had been watching her from the top floor of the lab. His eyes narrowed, but he didn’t say a word. Behind them, Evan strolled out.Surprise, surprise. She grinned at the confusion on his face. Yeah, she was getting close. His presence confirmed it. His eyes met hers before flicking to Rhys and back to hers. His brow creased before he masked his surprise and gave them a curt nod in passing toward the front door that the senator was holding open.
Duck and run. Elizabeth grinned.
The senator followed them out, closing the door behind him. She could hear their loud whispers but couldn’t make out their words. She debated moving toward the door, but Rhys placed his palm on her arm and stopped her. He gave her a small shake of the head. “You can ask later.”
“You can bet your sweet a— Senator.” She smiled in greeting as he walked back inside.
“Detective. I hope I didn’t keep you waiting long.”
“Not at all.” She grinned as he held out his arm toward his office to guide them inside.
Before the senator shut the door, a little girl squealed as she ran down the hall. “Daddy, Daddy,” she called out after him, running as fast as her little legs would carry her. She was dressed in a swimsuit with her hair up in pigtails, holding an inner tube around her waist.
“Rebecca.” He knelt down to the little girl’s level and caught her before she slipped on the pool water running off her feet. “What did I tell you about running in the house?”
“But…” She pointed back down the hall. “Cousin Brandon threw me into the pool, and I almost drownded. He called me a big baby and said I was a natural swimmer and I shouldn’t be scared.”
The senator’s eyes grew wide as he glanced their way. “If you’ll excuse me a minute.”
They nodded and waited for the senator to walk off.
“Did you smell her?” Elizabeth leaned over and asked Rhys.
“Hard to mistake the smell of a baby bear cub. Do you think she’s adopted?”
Elizabeth shrugged and glanced at the picture on the desk. The senator was with a woman wearing a hospital gown, holding a little baby in her arms while he was beaming, smiling down at both of them.
“I’m so sorry about that.” The senator walked back into the room and shut the door. “We shouldn’t have any more interruptions.”
“She’s adorable,” Elizabeth said, pointing toward the photo on his desk.
“She can be.” He grinned. “She’s kept me and her mother on our toes since the day she was born.”
Elizabeth could feel Rhys glance her way, but she didn’t look at him. She already knew the question going through his mind because it was rolling through hers. The shifter gene was, in most cases, passed down through the male’s DNA. She sniffed the air confirming her suspicions. The Senator was as human as they came. The fact the kid was a shifter, and her dad wasn’t, meant that his wife had an affair. Did he know? Was he even aware that was how it worked? Or had he, like Jennifer, killed his animal, too?
“We didn’t mean to interrupt your meeting earlier. We called your office, and they said you were on vacation.”
“Don’t worry about it. You saved me from a boring meeting with my CEO and some security.”
Her brow rose, but she didn’t ask any more about it. There was nothing he would tell her that she couldn’t get out of Evan later when she kicked his ass.
