by Kathy Ivan
With a determined stride, she walked across the house to her office, and opened her laptop. Time to do a little research on Mr. Ridge Boudreau.
CHAPTER FOUR
Ridge pulled his truck onto the wide circular driveway in front of Maggie’s house, parked, and really looked at it. The day before, he’d done the usual cursory sweep, looking for security issues and areas where breaches could occur, but hadn’t taken in the beauty of the home. The two-story house wasn’t huge, probably a little over three thousand square feet, but it had an understated elegance that blended well with the rustic scenery. Texas limestone covered most of the outer walls, its pale color helping the structure blend into its surroundings. Not in a way to make it disappear so much as to help it seem like a natural extension of the land, as opposed to an artifice to man’s desire to conquer.
The house suited Maggie’s personality. There was the hint of a sharper edge that in no way detracted from its underlying unique beauty. While Maggie’s outer appearance was lovely, Ridge had the feeling there was a lot more to her unplumbed depths, and he wouldn’t mind digging a little deeper. Find out what had made and honed her into the spitfire he’d met the prior day.
Climbing from the truck, he grabbed his duffle from behind the driver’s seat and strode to the entrance. Double doors in a rich mahogany stood as a majestic entrance to the home. Lips quirking into a grin, he knocked. When no one answered, he wondered if Maggie had changed her mind about letting him stay. That wasn’t gonna work, and she’d better get used to having him around, because he wasn’t going anywhere.
Finally, one of the doors opened, and Maggie stood silhouetted in the opening, her hair pulled into a ponytail high on the back of her head, a towel draped around her neck. Sweat glistened on her shoulders, and her face shone with beads of perspiration. Workout gear of a tank top and shorts, along with athletic shoes gave away she’d been working out. Her cute little nose wrinkled when she spotted him on her doorstep.
“Well, don’t just stand there. Come in.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Walking into the foyer, he loved the way the rest of the room opened into one large space, with huge floor to ceiling windows across the back of the house. Gleaming hardwood floors ran throughout the giant living area. A spotless kitchen on his left revealed sleek white cabinets with what looked like marble countertops, with stainless steel appliances that filled the space. In the center sat an enormous island. A peninsula to one side jutted out with bar stools lined up for casual dining. It was a gourmet chef’s dream kitchen, and he couldn’t help wondering how much of it Maggie actually used. Was she somebody who loved cooking or one of those people who barely knew their way around a microwave?
“Your room is down that hall on the right,” she motioned. “Second door. Bathroom across the hall. Go ahead and put your things there, and help yourself to anything in the kitchen. Coffee’s fresh. I’m gonna grab a shower. Be back in a few.”
Spinning on her heel, she headed down another hall past the kitchen and disappeared from sight. With a shrug, he checked out his room, leaving the duffle beside the door. After a quick glance around the other bedrooms in his wing of the house and doing a quick assessment of the security already in place, he headed toward the kitchen. Pouring himself a cup of coffee, he wandered over to the tall glass windows, and looked at the back of the home.
The patio looked like something out of a high-end magazine. The patio was covered with a large lanai, with enough seating to comfortably seat several. An outdoor kitchen contained a state-of-the-art grill, a built-in refrigerator, and a wine cooler. An enormous in-ground pool dominated a huge portion of the yard. He grinned, imagining diving into the cool, crisp depths at the end of a long day, listening to the waterfall gurgling in the background. Maybe some soft music played softly through the speakers he spotted around the grotto-like area at one end of the pool.
“Did you get settled in?” Maggie stood beside him, a matching mug in her hand. “If there’s anything you need, let me or Felicia know. She’s my housekeeper. She comes every morning, so if you don’t see her, leave a note on the kitchen counter, and she’ll find it.”
“I’m sure I’ve got what I need, or I can have one of my team bring me anything. Don’t worry.”
“Team?”
“Depending on how big or small a job is, I have a few people who work with me. They are qualified in different areas of security expertise, and do a lot of the hands-on work. Running cables, digging trenches, crawling around in attics and basements, that sort of thing.”
Maggie smiled. “So, they do all the dirty work, and you stand back and take the credit.”
Ridge chuckled. “Not exactly. I don’t have a problem getting my hands dirty.”
She took a sip of her coffee. “Henry spoke highly of your expertise. Your brother sang your praises. Tell me, Mr. Security Expert, about some of the changes you think I need.”
“I’m going to want to do a complete walkthrough of your current system, all the electronics, programs you’ve got installed, a map of your property and what you’ve already got covered and what you’d like covered. And a list of any people allowed access to the property, whether you have had any unauthorized people accessing your property without your consent. It’ll help me gauge what’s working and what’s not.” He paused, watching her face for any signs of distrust or disbelief. “For starters, though, the leads on your lower story windows need a serious upgrade. Anybody who’s seen current movies or TV can figure out how to disrupt the connection without triggering the alarms.”
“How? Not that anybody’s tried, but when they were installed, I was assured they were nearly foolproof. Are you saying they lied?”
Ridge shook his head slowly. “Not lied necessarily. More like sold you something that wasn’t the latest upgrade. When were those installed?”
“I’d have to look up the exact dates, but maybe three years ago.” She got a faraway look in her eyes, and whatever thought crossed her mind wasn’t pleasant, that much Ridge could tell. Almost immediately, she masked her expression, but not before he’d read the pain in her eyes, and the tightening of her lips. He’d need to find out what happened three years earlier to cause that sort of knee-jerk reaction.
“Mind if I take a closer look at them? If I’m right, which of course I am,” he teased, “the brand of sensor might be the problem.”
“Be my guest,” she motioned toward the windows on either side of the front door. “Let’s take a look.”
She trailed behind him, stooping down beside him when he squatted to look at the window frame. Studying the small item attached to the frame, he grinned. He loved it when he was right.
“It’s what I thought. This particular brand has an inherent flaw in its design. It was pulled from the market about eighteen months ago by the manufacturer. You should have been notified at the time with an offer to do an upgrade on the actual connector.”
Maggie studied each area he pointed to, her head cocked to the side. Shaking her head, she glared at him. “I didn’t get anything. Which really annoys me, especially with as much money as this whole system cost me. How do we fix this?”
Ridge’s gut tightened at her use of the word we. It was only a tiny step, but it meant she’d started to listen, to trust him.
“It’s a fairly straightforward fix. I’ll get the right parts ordered today.” He straightened and held out his hand. Maggie stared at it for a second, then two, before sliding hers into it. A surge of awareness shot through him at her touch.
“I’d like to take a look at your inhouse computer system, see what programs you’re using. Check out what software you have, and make suggestions for anything you might be missing or that you should intensify.”
“Follow me.”
He walked a step or two behind her, watching her hips sway with each step. There was an inherent grace about her movements, a sensuality underlying every move. He doubted she was even aware of it, but his every instinct screamed to attention as he
watched her. Reminded himself he needed to be on his toes and not fall under her spell. She might be a gorgeous seductress, but he had a job to do, and a drug pipeline to shut down. The job came first—it had to. There was no other option.
Walking past the master bedroom, he couldn’t resist taking a quick glance through the open doorway. Soothing teals, aquas, and splashes of orange and bronze popped on the walls and bedding. His lips quirked up at the sight of the king-sized bed dominating a good portion of the room.
He quickened his step as Maggie turned into a doorway just past the master bedroom, and stepped inside what appeared to be another bedroom that had been converted into an office space. A large, U-shaped desk overshadowed the smaller room, with several flat-screen monitors nearly overwhelming the available desk space.
“Henry usually manages all these computer systems, though I know how to use it. This one,” she pointed to one of the monitors currently displaying split screens, “is focused on the front gate and entrance to the property. This one covers the back of the house, including the pool area and patio.”
“Good. I’ll take a look at those. What’s this one?” he asked, pointing to a screen showing a weird grid-like pattern. He leaned in closer, trying to determine if the program was what he thought. Because if it was, that could cause some serious problems.
Maggie grinned like a proud parent. “That’s my new toy. It’s not on the market yet.”
Ridge folded his arms across his chest, and stood with his feet spread apart. “It’s a D28-Arrow?”
“You’ve heard of it?”
“What I’d like to know is how you got your hands on one.”
“I know a guy who knows somebody in research and development. He was able to get me a prototype.” Maggie shoved her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, and Ridge had to blink twice before his brain started working again. Dang, she was cute, especially when she grinned like that.
“I’ve heard of it.” Now it was his turn to grin. “Matter of fact, I know the inventor personally. I even helped work out a few of the bugs.” And Gizmo was going to get an earful about letting somebody on his R&D team smuggle a copy of the software off-site.
“Seriously? It’s so cool. Matter of fact, that’s what I was doing yesterday when I found you here. It spotted a drone flying over my property, and I tracked it. Shot the sucker down.”
“You shot down a drone? How’d you continue to track it after you left the house?” Far as he knew, last time he’d talked to Gizmo, that capability was still a long way off.
“Err…I probably shouldn’t tell you. Since you know the inventor, and I don’t want to get my source in trouble.”
Ridge ran his hand through his hair, and counted to ten. “Ms. White—”
“Maggie. If you’re going to be living with me, you might as well call me Maggie.”
There it was—he’d been hopeful she’d trust him enough to let him call her by the nickname, and he felt a surge of satisfaction. It hadn’t taken nearly as long as he’d anticipated.
“Maggie, I’m not trying to get you or your friend in trouble. I’d really like to know how you managed to track the drone. Last I heard, it was still being done by someone staying at the computer, while a second person did the outdoor tracking, communicating via cell phones.”
“I…well…I wrote an app.”
“You what?” Ridge thought he’d kept the incredulous tone out of his voice, but apparently not, because her eyes narrowed, and her back stiffened.
“I’m not a complete idiot, Mr. Boudreau. I even managed to graduate high school and everything.”
“Maggie, I’m sorry. I never meant to imply anything. I’d like to know what you did, and maybe pass that information along to the man who wrote the program. He’s been working on figuring out a viable solution to being able to follow a drone without visible confirmation and sight lines. Being able to walk away from the indoor computer, go out into the field and know exactly where the drone is, follow it, trust me, that’s a huge breakthrough for his software.”
“I walked through the program backward, starting from the moment the blip shows. Tracing the steps, I converted the angles, longitude, latitude, and using an algebraic equation, I wrote an app. It’s not perfect, and only gets me within ten to fifteen yards, but once I’m that close, I can usually stand still and listen, figure out which direction the motorized sound is coming from.”
“We’re talking an app, like you’d download onto a tablet or cell phone? Man, Gizmo’s gonna have a heart attack when he hears somebody beat him to the punch. Mind giving me a copy of your programming?”
Her eyes narrowed before she asked, “Who’s Gizmo?”
Ridge chuckled. “Sorry, Gizmo is the man who invented D28-Arrow. Guy’s a certified genius.”
“Gizmo—sounds like some kid down in his mom’s basement, hacking into government servers, not developing high-tech spyware.”
“He’s definitely not a kid. Friend of my dad’s, they were in the Army together. Got the nickname in the field, when he could take apart and put together just about anything they threw at him. When he left the Army, he started tinkering with things on his own, and managed to create a few things for Uncle Sam, and a few others for the private sector. When I say he’s a certified genius, I mean that in the literal sense. Guy’s got a MENSA-level IQ. And he’s gonna have kittens when he sees what you’ve done with his baby.”
“Okay, I’ll make you a copy.”
“Now, about this drone you shot down. I take it this wasn’t the first one you’ve had, or you wouldn’t have needed D28-Arrow. Got a problem with drones?”
Maggie nodded. “Not at first, but over the last few months, I’m getting more and more, flying over the entire property. Didn’t think much about them at first. I figured it was just kids getting new toys, showing off for their friends, that kind of thing.” He watched a shadow cross her face, as she fell silent. Made a mental note to ask her about it later, because it was obviously upsetting her to talk about.
“You shot one down. Can I take a look at it?”
“Sure, though you’re not gonna find much info. No markings, nothing to identify who made it, or where it came from.”
Ridge knew the DEA had suggested flying drones over the property a couple of times, but not in the last few days. They’d tried a couple initially, but due to the dense tree growth, they’d discarded that pretty quickly. Now he was curious to see if the DEA had decided to try again, or if somebody else was interested in Maggie’s activities.
“Who knows? I’m a naturally curious sort, I’d still like to take a look.”
She pointed to a box sitting on a fold-up TV tray. “Knock yourself out.”
“Thanks.” Walking over, he sifted through the drone’s wreckage, lifting out one or two pieces, studying them, before tossing them back into the box. Nope, wasn’t one of theirs.
“I’ll print you a map of the land, the boundaries, and where alarms and sensors are placed. Anything else you need, give me a shout. Now, I’m hungry, I haven’t had breakfast yet. You want some?”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “I’d love some.”
Tossing her ponytail over her shoulder, she headed out the door and back toward the kitchen, Ridge trailing along like a housebroken puppy. Things definitely weren’t boring at Maggie White’s house, and it looked like he’d have his hands full figuring out whether good ole Maggie was as sweet and sassy as she seemed, or if she was a monster.
CHAPTER FIVE
Maggie e-mailed a copy of her app’s schematics to Ridge, who said he’d make sure Gizmo knew she wasn’t trying to hack his software and steal his baby. Which was never her intent. She’d simply found what she considered a glitch, and found a solution. It’s what she did, the way her mind worked.
“Maggie, I left a roast with potatoes and carrots cooking in the crockpot on the counter. There’s a salad in the fridge, and rolls are rising in the warming drawer. Just stick ’em in the oven right before y
ou’re ready to serve dinner, and you should be good to go.”
Felicia Gaines leaned her hip against the marble countertop, and watched Maggie’s face expectantly. Maggie knew the other woman desperately wanted to find out why Ridge was staying in the guest room. As much as Maggie wanted to confide in her friend, there was only one problem. Felicia was one of the biggest blabbermouths she knew, and it wouldn’t take long before everybody in town would hear that Maggie was shacking up with a tall, dark, and delicious stranger.
“Thanks, Felicia.” She bit back a grin, and silently began her mental countdown. Three, two, one, and…
“Come on, Mags, don’t do this to me. Spill. Who is that gorgeous hunk of handsomeness? What’s he doing here in the middle of tiny town Texas? Are you two an item or what? Is he single? Available? Please say he’s available and looking for a good time. Please…”
Maggie looked at her dearest friend, standing with her hands folded in front of her in supplication, begging for answers, and burst into laughter. “His name is Ridge Boudreau.”
Felicia’s eyes widened at Ridge’s last name. Unless they lived under a rock, everybody within a hundred-mile radius had heard of the Boudreaus.
“Boudreau—as in the Shiloh Springs Boudreaus? Girl, I didn’t know you knew them personally.”
“I don’t know them know them. I met him yesterday.”
“Oh, tell me everything. Was it an instant attraction? When your eyes met, was it all swoon-worthy? Did you go all weak in the knees? Because, girlfriend, he’s gorgeous.”
“Nothing like that. I didn’t know he was coming. When we first met, I pulled a gun on him.”
“What! No way! Are you serious?”
“As a heart attack. He scared the living daylights outta me. I had no clue who he was. He was just some guy sneaking around the side of the house, and I had the shotgun with me, so I kinda told him to get his backside off my land.”
