Chapter Eight
Hugh
She wasa promise that was going to be difficult to keep. Keeping her alive wasn’t going to be the hard part. Keeping his hands off of her was going to be the worst of it.
He’d lied.
She’d figure it out soon enough.
Anger rippled through his body. He’d thought it would be easier than this. Meet the woman, explain his needs, and get the ledger, regardless of whether she gave it willingly. He needed that book, and she was the only person standing in his way.
Hugh dropped the sheet and struggled to pull the jeans up with the bandaged bullet wound in his shoulder. He gritted through the pain, clenching his teeth with each painful tug.
Just another reason why he needed to keep his eyes on the prize.
He rested his hand on the bathroom counter and kept his head lowered while he tried to catch his breath and calm his thoughts of seducing her.
Teddy hadn’t lied when he said Honor was beautiful and feisty. Hugh could handle beautiful and feisty. All of her pulled to him like a seduction he wouldn’t be able to refuse.
She was a liability. Just like Teddy had warned.
Hugh could do this. He had less than twenty-four hours to get the ledger and get out of the girl’s life. Twenty-four hours or Honor would be dead like her ex.
“Are you all right in there? You haven’t keeled over and died, have you?” Honor called through the closed door.
“I’m fine.” He gusted out a hard breath.
“Pity,” he heard her say. Footsteps moved away from the door; the sound of her retreat punctuated by her mumbling.
A smile he hadn’t been expecting shifted on his lips. He liked her. He wasn’t immune to her charms like he’d promised he would be, and the only way that could end was in disaster.
Fifteen minutes later, Hugh pulled open the door and headed back into the living room. Honor was sitting on her sofa with a glass of wine next to her. Her head was propped in her hand, and her eyes were closed, her breathing steady and sure.
If Hugh could have picked her up and carried her to bed, he would have. Assuring her she was safe enough to fall asleep would be hard. So, he eased down into a chair and watched her until her arms turned boneless and she snuggled, resting her head against the couch cushion.
Goosebumps rose on her arms. Hugh grabbed the blanket from the back of the couch and rested it over her relaxed body.
The gloom from the storm-soaked sky outside would hopefully be enough to keep her asleep until the rain stopped and the sun returned. That time wouldn’t be quick enough.
When her little snores pierced the silent living room, Hugh rose from his seat and headed back upstairs into the attic. If the ledger was in the house, he’d find it.
The sooner, the better.
He bypassed most of the mess that Honor had left. The opened boxes helped in his search. She’d been telling the truth. There was one box that had a guy’s things inside. Teddy’s things, if the picture frame laying on top was any indication.
Hugh skimmed his finger over Honor’s face. Her gaze was so expressive, vibrant, and, dare he say, happy. Teddy had coaxed that smile out of her. It was evident in the way she was looking at him.
Hugh ignored the tightening in his chest and popped the back of the picture frame off and slid the picture out of the casing.
In the bottom corner was the code he needed, just like Teddy had promised. It should have been easy to guess. TeddyNLizzie4Ever.
It was easy to remember, yet Hugh folded the picture and shoved it inside his wallet. A memento of their brief time together.
He searched through the rest of the box, coming up empty. The ledger wasn’t in the box with the remnants of Teddy’s life. He could only hope it was among the other things Honor had packed away in storage.
Teddy hadn’t had a reason to lie. It had to be somewhere in Honor’s possession.
Hugh eased down the stairs, stopped in front of Honor’s bedroom, and stepped inside to double check it wasn’t hiding somewhere else beneath this roof.
He lifted the mattress. The gun was still beneath it. He moved to the drawers and pulled them open, rummaging through each of them. His fingers struck a hard cover beneath her lingerie. Hope soaring, he pulled it out, thinking he’d hit the jackpot, only to discover that it was Honor’s personal journal.
He snapped it closed and put it back before he continued to look through the room and in her closet. He pulled down shoeboxes as he went and checking everywhere he could think that someone would hide valuables. His last resort had been to check the vents, and he still came up empty-handed. His head hurt as bad as his shoulder, which was a searing flame of pain after his exertions.
Maybe Honor had been telling the truth. Teddy’s belongings were stashed away somewhere.
He needed to figure out where and get to them before Victor and his band of thugs beat him to prize.
