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time span for knowing each other. That’ll give us some leeway in case we botch our stories.”
    Her lips curved in a pleased smile. “And thank you for thinking about the luggage. I’ll keep it in as good condition as possible.”
    â€œNo problem. It’s yours to keep for your help.”
    â€œBut it’s so expensive. I can’t keep it. No way.”
    Dalton slid her a surprised glance. She meant it. Shewas willing to return a no-strings-attached gift. “Let’s get back to our story. I’m from Chicago, went off to Princeton and stayed in the East for a while, got married, divorced…we met on the cruise and after we got married I moved back to Texas at your insistence.”
    She laughed. “At my insistence, huh?”
    â€œYou’re the one who’s from here. Why else would a born and bred Chicago boy move to Texas?”
    She gave him a dry look. “You don’t have any sort of accent. Maybe we should say you’re from Dallas.”
    â€œBetter to stick as close to the truth as possible. That way we won’t get tripped up.”
    â€œI suppose…”
    â€œWhy would it be important that I’m from Dallas?”
    â€œYou did say that I’d probably get the most grilling from the others, and I agree. Women talk about that kind of stuff, and men usually don’t. So since I would never marry someone from Chicago I’m just trying to customize the situation to what’s comfortable.”
    He frowned. Surely he’d heard wrong. “You would never marry anyone from Chicago?”
    â€œThat’s right.”
    â€œDare I ask why?”
    She straightened and pointed. “There’s our turn.”
    He saw the Back to Basics sign just in time to steer the rented Jag down the long winding drive. “You have your story straight?”
    â€œLike you said, I’m sticking to the truth, mostly anyway. I lived in Midland until I went to college. I graduated from Texas A&M two years ago with a degree in psychology. I’ve had a few different jobs, nothing substantial. I was still finding myself when I met you.”
    He wondered which was the mostly true part. Was she still trying to find herself? He knew so little about her. Although he’d had one of his buddies back at the bureau pull a profile on her, he’d carefully stuck to general information, only asking about anything that pertained to the case and her ability to contribute.
    About a quarter mile down the drive, a stately white mansion sprung up out of nowhere. Made sense that it was a home Bask had rented and called a resort. Easy to get out and hit the road when the time came.
    â€œAre we in the right place?” Cassie squinted at the three-story house. “That looks more like a southern plantation home, certainly a private residence.”
    The small discrete sign came into view informing them they were just where they were supposed to be. The front lawn stretched beyond the sign, the entire area loaded with flowers in reds and purples and golds. Dalton didn’t much care about flowers one way or the other, but it was a pretty awesome sight.
    He glanced at Cassie. “Are you nervous?”
    She shook her head, but her wide-eyed gaze and the way she wrung her hands concerned him. “This is the best-case scenario for a sting. Bask came to us.”
    â€œI know. Anyway, this is going to be a piece of cake. I don’t even have to pretend I like you.”
    He snorted and rolled his eyes.
    She seemed too distracted to notice. “Can you believe the size of those lavender roses? And the hedges of heather, my goodness.” She finally looked at him.
    â€œAnother thing you should know about me, I love to garden. I’m already itching to stick my fingers in the dirt and swipe some clippings.”
    Now, this was a surprise. He hadn’t figured her for the hands-in-the-dirt type.
    â€œWhy are you looking at me like that?