Read An Extraordinary Match (The Match Series Book 3) Online

Authors: Barbara Dunlop

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance

An Extraordinary Match (The Match Series Book 3) (6 page)

BOOK: An Extraordinary Match (The Match Series Book 3)
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He kept walking. “It’s only a few blocks.”

“My point exactly. And the streets are full of tourists. There’s not a thief or a conman in sight.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“How can it not matter?”

“Because, while it might be slightly inconvenient to walk you home, it’s a whole lot more inconvenient for me to feel guilty later.”

“So, this is all about you?”

He smirked in the glow of a streetlight. “This is all about me.”

“You’re a good debater, you know that?”

“It helps to be right.”

She laughed. “You’re not even remotely right. You just talk in circles, and eventually a woman gets tired.”

They passed the jewelry store that had caught her eye earlier in the day. There was a necklace she liked on display in the front window. She wouldn’t have minded checking out the price, and the store was still open. But she was afraid Logan would insist on hanging around while she shopped. And then she’d feel rushed, and that wouldn’t be any fun at all.

“You want to go in?” he asked, obviously taking note of her gaze.

“Maybe tomorrow.”

“What did you like?”

“The sapphire necklace. But it’s not something I need.”

“You dress up a lot in New York.”

“Sometimes. Not often. My girlfriends and I do dinner or hit the clubs every once in a while, but I don’t have a lot of free time.”

“What about a boyfriend?”

“I don’t have one of those.” It occurred to her that she’d never asked him the same question. “If you have a girlfriend, you are in big trouble, buddy.”

There was a slight hesitation before he answered. “I wouldn’t have kissed you if I still had a girlfriend.”

“Still? So you had one?” She couldn’t help but wonder if it was recent.

“You’ve never had a boyfriend?”

“Not recently.”

“Here we are.” He pulled open the glass and oak door that led into the hotel lobby, then he followed her inside.

“You don’t have to—”

But he was already past her, heading in the direction of the elevators.

Jade gave up and followed.

But halfway there, he stopped, his attention obviously caught by something in the lounge.

“What?” she asked, attempting to follow the direction of his gaze. “Is there someone in there you want to talk to, because I’m perfectly capable of—”

“Do you know those guys?”

“Which guys?”

Logan put a hand on her shoulder, turning her slightly. “At the bar, under the blue and gold light.”

Jade squinted into the dim room. “No. Do you?”

“They were out on the street this morning.”

“Okay.” She wasn’t following his logic.

“It seemed like they were watching you then, and now they’re here.”

“This is a hotel. Maybe they’re tourists.”

“I guess,” said Logan, frowning.

It didn’t seem to Jade to be anything worth worrying about. “Thanks for taking me along today.”

His expression smoothed out. “I really did have fun.”

“So did I.”

Neither spoke for a moment, and things suddenly felt awkward.

She forced herself to step back. “I’ll probably see you around town.”

“You probably will.”

She took another step back. “Good night, then.”

“Good night,” he echoed.

She turned away, making a beeline for the elevators. She needed to be alone for a while and let her emotions calm down. She hadn’t met a man like Logan in a long…well, she’d never met a man like Logan. And she was seriously attracted to him, which was both exhilarating and unnerving at the same time.

Her thoughts humming, she got out at the third floor. At the end of the hall, she opened the door to her cozy, corner room. It had a king-size bed, a sofa and armchairs, with huge picture windows on two sides that overlooked the lake and the town. She dropped her small purse and the bag with her wet clothes, crossing to the windows without turning on any lights.

She could clearly see the float-plane dock, the Dog Trails Café on shore, and the airport runway beyond. She found herself wondering where Logan lived. Did he live with his family? Did he have his own place? His extended family seemed to make up a serious percentage of the town’s population, and she couldn’t help wonder what it was like to be surrounded by so many relatives.

She kicked off her boots and dropped into a big armchair, gazing out at the lights of the little town. Her focus meandered to the dock, resting on the spot where Logan had kissed her.

Her fingertips moved to her lips as she remembered the heat of his mouth, the sizzle of his touch, the flat-out arousal that had hijacked her brain. Even now, her skin felt sensitized and strangely alive. She couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if she’d pushed it further, dropped a hint, maybe invited him up to her room.

She blew out a breath. “Get a grip, girl.” Then she reached for her tablet, determined to focus on something else,
anything
, besides Logan Edwards.

Last night, she had successfully logged into the hotel’s complimentary guest Wi-Fi. It was slow but good enough for checking her personal e-mail. She’d tried to access her Seaboard Development account again, but it was still suspended. Though she would have loved to check up on her projects, she was hesitant to hack into her own company’s computer.

Tonight when she tried to use the hotel’s guest connection, it wasn’t listed as an option. The signal had been weak last night, so she moved to another part of the room, trying to pick it up, but there was still nothing.

After ten minutes, she moved on to plan B, checking the list of other available Wi-Fi connections. She found a few personal links, presumably customers in the hotel or people in the neighborhood. But she was reluctant to piggyback on their accounts, in case they were paying by the megabyte. But she also found another Twin Peaks Hotel connection, and it was a simple matter to bypass its security.

Pleased with her success, and delighted with the increase in speed, she logged into her personal e-mail. There was a note from her mom and one from her sister Jillian, who was in the midst of moving from DC to Phoenix to be with her fiancé, Devlin. There were also several e-mails from her coworkers at Seaboard.

She went to the Seaboard e-mails first, learning there was a rumor about an affair between Virgil and a woman in accounting. Jade didn’t know the woman, but she shuddered at the thought of anyone having an affair with Virgil. He was simply not an appealing man.

Then she brought up a mental image of Virgil’s stocky wife from the Christmas party. The risk of angering his wife was another valid reason to stay far away from Virgil. If the rumor was true, it was a bad deal on all fronts.

Jade answered a few technical questions from her colleagues, thinking maybe she’d phone Cathy Margolis in the morning and talk about Aidleman Grocery. Virgil didn’t have to know. She didn’t like feeling so far out of the loop. And she hated not having any work to do.

She carefully backed her way out of the hotel’s server. Then she retrieved the half bottle of merlot that was left over from her trip to the convenience store last night. She tore into a package of pretzels and settled back into the armchair. The pay-per-view channel had a large catalog of movies. She decided a nice, riveting murder mystery would keep her mind away from Logan.

*

Logan sipped his
way through a local microbrew at a corner table at the Twin Peaks lounge. He’d picked a spot where he could keep an eye on the two men who’d been following Jade this morning.

The Twin Peaks Resort had been in the Edwards family since the late 1800s, so it was an easy matter for Logan to find out the strangers’ names from the front desk. They were Ewan Smith and John Castle from New York City, and they had checked in for four nights.

“I saw you on the dock.” Elroy swung into the seat across from Logan, signaling to the waitress to bring him the same beer as Logan.

Logan didn’t respond to Elroy’s broad hint about his and Jade’s kiss. He was too busy speculating on what Ewan and John were doing in Mirror Falls. Business seemed unlikely. Although the town was often host to small conventions, the two of them were here on their own. Recreation seemed equally unlikely. They looked healthy enough, but nothing about the way they were dressed said they appreciated the outdoors.

Elroy spoke again. “At first I thought she was Sasha.”

Logan’s mind jumped back to that mind-blowing kiss. “She’s definitely not Sasha.”

“She looks a lot like Sasha.”

“Only the hair,” said Logan. “And hers is darker. It’s not so red.”

“She’s the same height.”

“Taller.”

“Same build.”

“Slimmer.”

“Same profile.”

“Smaller nose, green eyes. Flecks of gold in her irises. I’ve never seen a color like that before.”

“I admire your powers of observation.”

“She’s not Sasha,” said Logan. He was positive his reaction to Jade had nothing to do with Sasha.

Elroy seemed to give up. “Did you take her sightseeing?”

“Up to Bowen Valley. I had a delivery to the lodge.” Logan couldn’t help a smile that grew at the memory of dunking her in the river.

“Good flight?” asked Elroy, watching him closely.

“She seems nice. Funny. Pretty sporting, actually.”

“Is that why you kissed her?”

Logan watched as Ewan and John paid their bill and rose from the seats. “Why the third degree?”

“Seems like you might be on the rebound.”

“I’m not on the rebound. What do you suppose is up with those guys?”

“Which guys?”

“Fortysomething, suits, your five o’clock. Make it look natural.”

Elroy slowly turned his head. “Insurance salesmen, maybe. IRS. Old guys who don’t own blue jeans. Why?”

“I can’t figure out what they’re doing here.”

Elroy raised his brow. “Is this some new parlor game?”

Jodi, their waitress, dropped off Elroy’s beer. “You guys want menus?”

“I’ll take a burger,” said Elroy.

“Clubhouse,” said Logan. “On multigrain.” He’d long since memorized the menu.

Jodi’s path crossed with Ewan and John’s on their way out of the lounge.

As they left, Logan accepted that there was nothing more he could figure out about the men tonight.

“Did you have any flights today?” he asked Elroy, changing the topic.

“Up to Blackwatch. A couple of guys are attempting the east summit.”

“Did they look capable?”

“I think so. I hope so. They had the equipment, and they said they’d climbed Silver Star last summer in Washington state.”

“That’s comparable,” said Logan. “If they don’t make it, you can always pick them up on the plateau.”

“How does your day look tomorrow?”

“I’ve got an early morning pickup at a fishing camp, but after that it’s clear. Joe’s doing a couple of grocery runs in the Cessna. You?”

“I’m clear so far. Beaver available?”

Logan smiled. “You thinking it’s generator-delivery day?”

“Be nice to have it installed and running before the first snow.”

“I’m all for that.”

Logan’s thoughts went fleetingly to Jade. There was no denying he’d like to see her again. But they hadn’t made any plans. He wasn’t about to hang around town hoping to run into her. If they met up again, they met up again. If not, well, it had been one hell of a kiss.

Chapter Four

I
t was midafternoon
before Jade admitted to herself that she was hoping to run into Logan. She’d walked along the lakeshore, wandered through a few shops, spent an hour in the hot springs, then showered, changed, dried her hair and put on a little makeup. She gazed out her hotel window now, seeing that two of his airplanes were still gone from the dock. She knew he had other pilots working for him, but she guessed he was likely out flying.

She was getting hungry, so she decided to go find a restaurant for lunch. After that, maybe she’d download a novel, sit in the park and read for a while—waste another few hours of her life.

She still couldn’t figure out why people thought vacations were so much fun.

She perched on the edge of the sofa, stuffing her feet into a pair of low-heeled boots. It was too warm for a jacket, so she slung her purse over her hunter-green sweater.

A pounding sounded on her door, and her first thought was that it might be Logan. But then the pounding came again, hard and aggressive.

“Ms. Korrigan?” It was a sharp, male voice.

She glanced at the telephone, wondering if she should call the front desk.

“Ms. Korrigan, are you in there?”

She inched her way toward the peephole.

“This is Sheriff Clive Edwards of the Mirror Falls Police Department.”

Jade stopped. The police? Was something wrong? Had something happened to Logan?

She quickly pulled the locks off the door. “I’m here.” She swung it open wide to reveal the sheriff flanked by two deputies. “What happened?”

The sheriff stepped forward. “Ms. Korrigan, you are under arrest.” He grasped her upper arm.

“What?” she squeaked.

He spun her around. “On suspicion of electronic theft.”


What
?” she repeated. “What are you talking about?”

BOOK: An Extraordinary Match (The Match Series Book 3)
3.81Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
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