What Are You Afraid Of? (The Agency #2)(49)

Carmen shook her head. “No, thank you.”

Baylor cleared his throat. “You haven’t changed. You still look just like your mother,” he said.

Carmen’s chin angled upward. She had a sudden memory of Baylor stealing her doll and tossing it down the well. One of several times he’d made her cry.

The truth was, she’d never liked her cousin. Either one of them.

“Actually, I’ve changed a lot. Especially over the past couple of years,” she said, her words a warning. “I’m not the little girl you remember.”

He visibly struggled to make his expression friendly. She wondered how much an effort it was.

“Yes, congratulations on your book,” he said. “I hear that it’s been quite a success.”

“You haven’t read it?”

“Not yet,” he admitted. “But I’ve seen it in airports.”

Carmen forced herself to take a deep breath. The day had been stressful, on top of a week that had been epically stressful. She was losing focus of why they were in Louisville.

This wasn’t a trip down memory lane. She was here to discover if anyone in her family was responsible for sending her those horrid pictures.

“Nice to know the book is on the shelves,” she said, studying her cousin’s pale face. “If you’ve been in airports, that must mean you travel?”

He blinked, as if caught off guard by her question. “I’m expected to check on our stores on a regular basis. I’m usually on the road or in the air several days a month.”

Which meant no one would have noticed if he’d taken a quick trip to Kansas City.

“After a year of being in one hotel after another, I’ll be glad to settle at home,” she said.

“And where is that?”

It was her turn to blink. “What?”

“Where is your home?”

“I have my grandparents’ farm.”

“And that’s it?”

She arched a brow. She already knew where this was going. The question was whether she wanted to try to steer the conversation back to Baylor’s recent travels. Then she realized it was even more important to learn why he was clearly suspicious of her. And just how desperate he might be to get rid of her.

Either to protect himself, or someone close to him.

“Why are you asking?” she demanded.

He leaned forward, resting his forearms on the table. At the same time his bland features lost their battle to look anything but grim.

She sensed the gloves were about to come off.

“I could try to pretend I’m here out of cousinly affection, but we both know it would be a lie,” he said, proving her suspicion right. “And I’m not very subtle. My older brother was gifted with all the charm in the family.”

She deliberately glanced over his shoulder. From below, the sound of children’s laughter echoed through the air.

“Where is Matthew?”

“I assume my brother is still in bed. He usually spends the holiday season stumbling from one drunken gala to another.” A genuine aversion flared through the hazel eyes. “He’s very good at parties, but not so good about getting to work on time.”

So. If Baylor was covering for someone, it wasn’t his older brother.

She was pretty sure he’d throw Matthew under the bus just for the fun of it.

“So you were elected to come and speak with me?” she asked.

He pretended to look confused. “Elected?”

“Uncle Lawrence called you, didn’t he?”

Baylor sat back, straightening the cuffs of his crisp white shirt. Carmen recognized the ploy. He needed time to think of his answer.

“He came to the office, and I could tell that he had something on his mind,” he at last said.

“Me?”

“Your unexpected arrival,” he clarified.

Her lips twisted. She could almost see her uncle jumping into his car and racing to his office to warn his sons that the sky was falling.

Just like Chicken Little.

“He wasn’t happy to see me?”

“Of course he was,” Baylor lied with smooth ease. “My father was heartbroken at the loss of his brother and sister-in-law. And it only made matters worse when your grandparents cut off all contact with you.”

She snorted. “But.”

“Excuse me?”

“I sense a ‘but,’” she said. “You know. Uncle Lawrence is happy to see me, but . . .”

A flush stained the pale face. “He is happy.”

Carmen arched a brow. “But.”

“But he is curious why you would choose this moment to travel to Louisville.”

She felt Griff reach beneath the table to lay his hand on her knee. A silent warning not to give away the fact that they were in town for more than a family reunion.

She shrugged. “I have a few weeks before my next book tour starts. And it’s the time of year most people want to visit their family.”

He studied her with his snake-gaze, clearly not comforted by her explanation.

“And that’s all? Just a long overdue reunion?” he demanded.

She looked confused. “What else could it be?”

There was a long silence before Baylor turned his attention to the man seated next to her.