The shower ended leaving the room in a hushed silence.
Gathering her bag along with a change of clothes, she walked over to the window facing the front where everything outside was still dark, but early morning light had begun leaking to highlight the bay.
“All yours,” he muttered behind her.
She turned to find him wearing only boxer shorts and drying his hair with a towel.
He faced the door with his back to her. “Get your fill of ogling me. I’ll be dressed when you come out.”
Yep, Leclair was pissed.
So much better than a smiling Sam. She could better keep him at arm’s length when he was angry.
Heat surged in her face. She ignored him and stepped into the bathroom, closing the door with a snap.
She needed sleep, which wouldn’t happen until they reached their next point. She’d love hot tea but had found coffee easier to grab and suck down while traveling in this country. As soon as they left, coffee would keep her going until she could use her plan for sleeping when the time came.
Keeping Leclair on his toes constantly required thinking ahead of every move and avoiding any missteps.
After a quick shower, she used the blow-dryer to tame her hair and returned to the bedroom. As he’d said, he was dressed in jeans and a dark T-shirt. He stood with his arms crossed.
That was beginning to look like his normal pose.
She knew what had pissed him off this time but gave him a curious look. “Everything okay?”
“I’m sure that innocent act works on plenty of other men. What’d you do with my weapon and phone?”
“Both are safe.” She’d dressed in a pale-pink blouse with a button-down collar and cuffs. She tucked that inside a pair of navy slacks, replacing her heels with running shoes. She wore little makeup and no lipstick to go with her hair pulled into a ponytail to finish off the casual look of someone on vacation.
He was not done fuming. “This isn’t going to work if I can’t trust you to leave my personal belongings alone.”
She finished repacking the shoulder bag and dropped it by the chair. “Regardless of removing your gun and phone, you don’t trust me any more than I trust you.”
“Yet you think we’re going to leave here, and everyone will believe you are someone I slept with in the past.” His flat tone said he wasn’t on board with that thought on any level.
Not that he didn’t have a point, but she was too tired to schmooze him even if doing so would work.
Moving to the chair, she sat with her elbows on the arms and hands steepled. She lifted her gaze to him. “I agree with your point. We need some rules to make this work.”
His eyebrow quirked up. “To makewhatwork? You have yet to share what we’re going to do,Hailey.”
“We’re going after both of our people. You may not care about my word, but it’s solid in the intel community. I will help you so long as you help me and do not interfere with my goal. You should know I’m willing to stop at nothing to get this person back. That means anyone stepping in my way or slowing me down will face serious consequences. I can’t be any clearer than that. In exchange for backing me up, I’ll help you recover your missing person. Is that not fair?”
He stalked back and forth then paused. “I’ll join you and we’ll backeach otherup so long as you are not a criminal. If at any time I think you are, all bets are off.”
She would break any law to get to Phoebe, but she would not kill an innocent or anyone who did not try to harm her first. “Laws may be badly bent, if need be, but I’m not a criminal wanted by any country.”
“Yet,” he said, throwing out his opinion of trusting her. His arms unfolded. With hands hooked on his hips, he made a little nod as if for himself only. “Then it’s time to tell me the plan.”
She stretched her arms along the chair arms, giving off a confident pose when her insides flipped around in chaos. This could go so badly for either of them or both. If that happened, it would be entirely her fault, but this was not the time to back out.
“We leave at nine after you convince the inn owner that we are a pair. That will give us both a chance for some sleep. Once we’re on the road, I’ll give you more details as we move toward the target. Feel better?”
“No. I want my weapon back.”
She lifted her bag and pulled out his weapon, tossing it onto the bed.
He lifted it and checked the magazine, which was now empty. Cursing, he tossed it on the bed close to her. “Not much use without ammo. You might as well carry it.”
