Marc (Bowen Boys, #4)(35)
“The service you called can get in touch with me. I’m in and out of the office so much that I really don’t have a number. Every call goes right through them.” She heard Harris say something about that being sad, but Marc continued. “You call me back on Wednesday. This is Sunday, so four days might be enough for me to see what I can find out for you. That okay?”
“Yeah, I suppose. Really is a shame you don’t have a number I can call you back on. Not even a cell phone number?” Marc told him no. “Okay then. I’ll call you back on Wednesday. Thank you kindly.”
She watched him as he put the phone on the charger again and pull out his cell phone. While it rang he looked at her with the biggest grin on his face. She smiled back, just happy to see it.
“I’m calling Reed and Sebastian. They will have the best luck in tracking down the number— Hello, little brother. I was wondering if you could come over and help me with a trace.” Marc winked at her. “I’ll make you waffles. They happen to be Jonny’s specialty.”
“I don’t understand what’s going on. Why are you calling your brothers here when I told you that I don’t know where the house is? I got lost and turned around so much I don’t know how to get back there.” He nodded and handed her the bowl again.
“I have a tracer on the company phone as well as the phone from the service. When someone calls the office when we’re closed, the service knows to let it ring three times before answering. And to always have to put them on hold, even if they know how to reach me. That makes it so the call doesn’t have to be so long when I speak to the person and I can trace the call.” She nodded as he handed her another bowl to mix. “Manning was on the phone long enough for me not just to be able to trace him, but to locate him too. And Sebastian is coming over to tell us just where Manning is.”
“So you can find the house.” He nodded. “You think he’s not going to think of that?”
“Most men like Dawson never think that anyone is smarter than them. That’s what makes catching them so much more fun. I love outthinking an *. Especially an * that hurt you.”
They had waffles nearly done when Sebastian knocked on the door. He looked like a kid in a candy shop when Marc told him what he wanted. It was going to be a really long day, she thought.
Chapter 12
Sebastian watched Jonny. She was still really skittish around him, but he knew why now. She explained to him what his dad had said to her. And when she told him she was going to get him back and wanted to know if he wanted to help, it was all he could do not to pick her up and swing her around the room.
“It should be coming in soon.” Marc nodded as he handed him another waffle. “I can’t believe you had this thing all this time and didn’t invite me over to check it out.”
“It wasn’t broken, and the point of having it was to keep it a secret. You would have told your nerdy friends and they’d be coming over too.” Sebastian wasn’t going to lie to him and tell him he wouldn’t, but he didn’t much care for the term “nerdy.” Reed was the nerd, not him.
The signal bounced over the map. Then it began to slow and pinpoint where the call had come from. He looked up at Jonny when she sat down across from him. Marc had left the room to answer the phone in his office.
“You should know that I don’t hate you.” He nodded at her. “I don’t know you, but I don’t hate you. I’m…I never really had any family but my parents growing up, and I never dated. At all. I’m not very good around…I was going to say I’m not good around strangers, but I don’t do well with people I know either.”
“You’ll be fine. We’re not your usual family.” When she snorted, he remembered what his dad had told him about her not knowing anything about her kind. “A family is also what a sort of pack of panthers is called. We just happen to be a family too. But ours is different. Most panthers want to live alone, especially males. We all live right here and have even built homes to be closer.”
She nodded and stood. She was a pacer like Marc was. He wondered if they realized that yet. When the computer beeped that it was finished, she came around behind him and looked over his shoulder. But he noticed she was careful not to touch him. Standing quickly, he turned and pulled her into his arms. She didn’t fight him, but was as stiff as a board.
“I won’t hurt you.” Marc came into the room just as he said that and leaned against the doorjamb. “See, he’s not all foaming at the mouth. Relax. Hug me back. I promise you that I’m just a guy needing a hug from a beautiful sister-in-law.”
“How did you know?” He lifted her hand with the large diamond on it. “Oh. We’ve not said anything yet. He asked me yesterday.”
“And did you say yes?” Marc laughed at him. “What? She didn’t fall down at your feet like Suzy Miller did?”
“Suzy Miller was seven, and I was all of nine. And no she didn’t. I had to force her to sit still so that I could propose. And even that was a chore.” Marc pulled her from him and hugged her. “Mine. Go find your own mate.”
Sebastian sat down and looked at the address. “It’s about fifty miles from here. Let me see if I can pull up any records on who owns it. And maybe a picture. Would you know if it was the same house if you saw it?”