Formula for Danger

She looked stung as she stared at her father, but silently obeyed, closing the library door with a crisp snap.

The man pinned Edward with steely blue eyes. “You seem rather concerned for a man who only works with my daughter.”

So Rachel hadn’t told her family about how they’d been slowly growing closer—at least until he’d deliberately withdrawn from her. He didn’t blame her, but he also wasn’t going to apologize. He had never crossed the line between them.

Until today. He’d embraced her today because he hadn’t been able to help himself. “When Rachel and I were in high school, we didn’t hang out together, but we knew each other. And then a year ago, she hired me to grow her basil plants, and we’ve gotten closer as friends.” He couldn’t control the tic at his cheek as he spoke the word. “I simply can’t stand by and do nothing when I know a friend’s life could be in danger. Would you?”

Augustus eyed him steadily, then sighed. “I have to admit that having you drive Rachel, Naomi and Becca to and from the spa would ease my mind. You won’t need to stay with them all day because the spa has security, but if you could be with Rachel outside the building, I would be in your debt.”

“I’d also like to ride out with her every morning so she’s never alone again while biking.”

Augustus’s eyebrows rose. “She’s not going to like that.”

“True, but she’s a scientist. She’ll eventually see the logic behind it.”

But Edward wondered if it was really logic that made him want to spend this extra time with Rachel. Why did the prospect of starting his day with a bike ride with her suddenly make his days seem brighter?

THREE

“I think that car is following us.”

Rachel didn’t know if it was her paranoia, but it did seem that the blue car was tailing them. Every turn on the winding Sonoma roads would hide the car briefly, but then it would appear around the next bend.

Granted, these roads saw lots of traffic because there were dozens of wineries along it, almost all of them open for wine tasting to tourists. The Joy Luck Life spa itself sat in the middle of rolling hills covered with grapevines, neighbored by wineries with sometimes hundreds of visitors a day, especially in summer.

But somehow this car seemed almost sinister. Or maybe she was just being fanciful—her sisters always told her that she was too imaginative.

Edward, who was driving her to work, kept glancing in the rearview mirror for another mile. Then he said, “I think you’re right.”

Her stomach lurched as if they’d hit a pothole. Except they hadn’t. “What? Are you sure?” She hadn’t really wanted to be right.

“I think so.”

She twisted around to glance through the back window. “The blue one?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t make out who’s driving it. Too much shadow on the road from the trees.”

“We’re coming up to a bright patch,” Edward said.

She peered intently at the windshield of the blue car, but the sunlight glinted off the glass. “Too much glare, but I think it’s a man.” What was happening? First the laptop was stolen, then she was run off the road, now someone was following her.

She spared a fleeting thought that she was glad she’d over-slept this morning—if she had gotten up on time, Edward would also be driving Naomi and Aunt Becca to work with her. As it was, they were both already at the spa, having driven there earlier this morning because Naomi had paperwork to do.

They were safe.

But she and Edward weren’t. Initially, she’d been peeved at her father’s insistence that Edward be her temporary bodyguard, but then logic reasserted itself and she was glad for his protection.

Except now she realized that if someone was really after her, it put him in the line of fire. And she didn’t want that.

“Let me see if I can lose him,” Edward said. “Hang on.”

Edward’s truck suddenly veered, throwing her against the window because she had loosened the seat belt and twisted around in her seat. Dust clouded around them for a moment before they continued down the new lane, a dirt track that was smaller than the main road they’d been on.

The car didn’t follow them.

“It kept going.” Rachel’s heart settled back down into her chest. “I feel silly, I shouldn’t have said anything in the first place.”

“I don’t blame you, after everything that’s happened.”

His approbation warmed her chilled heart.

Edward knew the Sonoma roads well enough to circle back around to the highway without needing to do a three-point turn. They were just entering the spa driveway when Rachel gasped. “There it is.”

Directly in front, heading toward them from the opposite direction. As if it had driven past the spa and then turned around.

As if it had been waiting for them to arrive.

“Let’s get you inside the spa quick,” Edward said. He jammed the accelerator and hustled down the spa’s long driveway to curve around to the staff parking lot behind the building.

“It stopped.” She pointed out the back window at where the car had angled into the entrance to the driveway, but then paused. “It’s not within range of the outside surveillance cameras.”

“Naomi never ordered that the angle be increased?” Edward asked. “After the two murders that happened at the spa last year?”

Rachel glared at him. “We didn’t exactly expect any more situations where we’d need to videotape a car before it entered the spa driveway.”

He parked the truck, but they still had a view of the driveway around the trees guarding the opening and the bushes lining the staff parking lot. However, neither of them moved from their seats.

She squinted at her limited view of the car, which included only a piece of the passenger side. Then she saw the door swing open. “They’re getting out.” Her heart rate sped up.

“Inside the spa,” Edward barked.

“No, wait. They’re not getting out. They just dumped something on the ground. Now they’re leaving.” The piece of the car that Rachel could see backed out of view, then she saw a flash of blue as the car sped down the highway.

She exhaled long and slowly, while her heartbeat thrummed against the base of her throat. Now she understood why excitement could make someone have a heart attack—hers was in overdrive. She inhaled deeply, willing herself to relax.

“What did they drop?” Edward got out of the truck and headed for the driveway.

“Wait, is that safe?” Rachel said, also getting out.

Edward returned holding aloft a laptop case. “Let’s get inside.” He hustled her indoors.

Naomi’s office was open, and she and Aunt Becca were there enjoying a cup of tea. Naomi read Rachel’s face and abruptly stood. “What happened?”

“We think we were followed.”

Aunt Becca gasped. “Are you all right?”