A Profiler's Case for Seduction(14)

“He’s one of the grad students who works with Professor Grayson, isn’t he?” Mark asked.

Dora nodded. “He and Amanda Burns are Melinda’s go-to people. They come into the bookstore a lot, ordering hard-to-find books for research or whatever Melinda needs. They seem like good kids, although Amanda can be a little intense at times.”

“Intense how?”

Dora took a sip of her coffee as she thought of the two students who worked with Melinda. “They’re both absolutely devoted to Melinda and I think there’s more than a little bit of competitiveness between them. Ben is fairly laid-back, confident, and Amanda seems unsure of herself, more frantic to do whatever is needed to please Melinda.”

“What is it about Professor Grayson that inspires such complete devotion?” Mark asked.

She looked at him in surprise. “You saw her. First of all she’s absolutely gorgeous and then add in all her achievements and her position of power here at the college. She’s an icon that many people admire and want to emulate.”

He gazed at her thoughtfully. “Are you one of her groupies?”

Once again Dora laughed. “Not exactly a groupie, although there are many things I do admire about her.” She wasn’t about to explain to him her familial ties to Melinda or how grateful she was to the sister she’d scarcely known growing up, the woman she still didn’t know well at all.

Melinda had been the least-expected person to do anything for Dora, yet she’d been there with Micah to get Dora on her feet and pointed in the direction of success.

“I find her kidnapping intriguing,” Mark replied.

Dora frowned. “I thought the general opinion was that it was some of her students who pulled a prank that somehow got out of control. How else to explain the fact that there was never a ransom note and she was released with the worst of her injuries being a broken arm?” Dora fought a shiver as she thought about how scared she’d been for Melinda when she’d been kidnapped.

“The whole thing is just weird.” Mark leaned back in his chair and took another drink of his coffee.

“On that, we both agree. I think there are several professors who are concerned that the same kind of thing could happen to them, that there’s a mysterious group of rogue students running around plotting the kidnapping of another teacher.”

Once again he leaned forward, pinning her in place with the intensity of his gaze. “Is that what you believe?”

Dora considered the question carefully. “To be honest I don’t know what to believe about everything that has happened lately here in Vengeance.”

At that moment she noticed that the young woman behind the counter was casting glares at them and pointed looks at the nearby wall clock that read eight-thirty.

“I think it’s time for us to get out of here,” Dora said, and then quickly drained the last of her coffee. She tried to tell herself she wasn’t disappointed that their time together had been so brief.

Mark finished his coffee before grabbing both their empty cups and walking over to dispose of them in the trash bin. Dora quickly gathered her things and, with a quick good-night to the impatient counter girl, she and Mark stepped out into the darkness that had fallen.

“As always, it was nice to spend some time with you,” he said as they lingered in front of the coffee shop.

“I enjoyed it, too,” she admitted.

“You know any good restaurants in town?” he asked, his eyes sparkling in the glow of the moon. “I’ve had a diet of nothing more than cold pizza and greasy burgers for the last three weeks. It would be nice to get a good steak or maybe some Italian for a change.”

“There’s Bailey’s Steakhouse not far from here, and Manetti’s is a great place to go for Italian food.” She clutched her laptop close to her chest and held her breath. Was his question a prelude to an offer to join him for dinner? That would be more like a real date.

“A big plate of lasagna and some fat meatballs sound like just the ticket,” he replied. “Would you like to join me on Friday night for a good Italian meal?”

She’d hoped he’d ask. She’d hoped he wouldn’t ask, because now she had to make a decision. If she said yes, then she’d be going against every rule she’d made for herself three years ago when she began her new life here in Vengeance. Yet, she had a feeling that if she said no, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.

“That sounds wonderful,” she heard herself saying, and knew with both dread and a tiny thrill that she was breaking her biggest rule.