Page 29 of Laura's Truth
“Afraid Mr. Ketterly’s car is bugged?”
“You know,” he leaned across the seat, his voice a low rumble, “I think you’ll come to like Mr. Ketterly. He’s going to keep you out of Hackett’s snare.”
“You’re awfully sure of yourself.”
He leaned across the small space between the front bucket seats. “Confidence is a byproduct of practice and success.”
It sounded far too close to an Army motivational poster in the training halls. She didn’t like the little burst of heat or the flutter of a butterfly doing barrel rolls in her belly when he crowded her. “Where should I send the thank you note?”
“Smart ass.” Smiling, he leaned back. “I like that about you.”
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Pretend we’re friends.”
“We need to be,” he replied with a raw intensity that charged the air in the car. “You don’t want to take on Hackett without a friend.”
She powered down her window, let the air blow across her face. “You’re supposed to trust a friend.”
“No problem. You’ve proven yourself and I’m sure you feel the same about me by now.”
Arrogance personified, she thought as the butterfly crash-landed. “Oh, sure I do.”
“Well, maybe that was a stretch.”
“Ya think?” He just laughed as if today was some grand amusement for him. “I should take you to Carpenter.”
“I figure you will just as soon as you’re sure it won’t make things worse.”
His easy self-assurance scraped at her nerves. She bit back a sharp retort, wondering why she was picking a fight with the man. He’d saved her life—probably—and the why of it shouldn’t be her primary focus at this point.
“As long as Carpenter doesn’t try to kill me,” he added.
“If he believed you were alive, he’d think he had fair cause.”
“Any chance he’d take out Hackett with enough evidence?”
“Not if it came from you, uncorroborated.”
“Sadly, that makes sense. For the record, I’ll say again, that incident was not my fault. I was supposed to die there.”
“That’d be easier to believe if you’d come forward when it happened.”
“If I’d come forward then, Hackett would’ve finished me off. That’s who you should worry about having free rein in Charleston. That man’s the real monster.”
“So you say. Why not tell me what you know about him?”
“First off, he’s absolutely ruthless. And somehow he keeps his hands clean. He was a JAG officer and he’s a professor at the Citadel now. I’m sure he’s making friends and racking up favors to call in later.”
“You’ve had him in your sights for a while now.”
“I told you.” He propped his elbow against the door and tipped his head against his fist. “But that’s a soft way of saying you think I’m obsessed.”
“Possibly. Obsession, under the circumstances, is a reasonable conclusion,” she pointed out.
“Reasonable conclusion.” Drew swore. “He ordered men to kidnap you. As a start.”