She was certain Mac couldn’t want this to happen. Could he? He had always seemed so possessive of her, so determined to keep other men from encroaching on her attention, that he was suddenly confusing her.
He was throwing her and Jethro together, giving the other man every chance to touch her however he liked, even to the point that often Mac found his release with his hand or buried in her mouth rather than within her body.
Shaking her head, she turned her attention back to the final adjustments she was making to the program Mac was using to scan the Internet, forums, and chat boards for the stalker. Key words were tweak
ed with regularity, and the processing ability of the program was now working with one hundred and ten percent efficiency and speed.
It wasn’t going to make its round of scans overnight, but it would do it much faster now than it had before.
As she set the program to run in the background of the laptop she looked up as Mac and Jethro collapsed, panting, onto the mat, obviously calling a draw once again.
“You two are going to kill each other,” she told them as she set the computer aside and rose to her feet. “You’re exhausting me just watching you. ”
They turned their heads to stare at her for a long moment before groaning and turning away once again.
Keiley leaned back on the sofa and watched them with a smile. “How much longer are you two going to go on like this before you realize you’re equally matched?”
“Not true,” Jethro muttered. “I’m faster than he is. ”
“Bullshit,” Mac groaned. “I’m stronger. ”
“Yeah yeah yeah, and you’re both mean as a junkyard dog and twice as cunning. Now get your butts to the shower so I can fix lunch. I’m hungry and I’m tired of watching the two of you beat each other up. ”
She absently ruffled the fur of the rather large Pappy as he laid his head on her lap now that the laptop was moved to the side. “You’re even making Pappy tired. ”
Mac turned his head again to stare at the dog with narrowed eyes. “Damned mutt. He’s never going to go back outside, is he?”
“Probably not. ” She smiled back at him consolingly. He preferred having pets outside rather than in the house. “Content yourself with the fact that he seems housebroken. ”
Mac grunted at that before levering himself upright and watching as Jethro did the same.
“You should have never let that damned dog in the house,” he growled.
Jethro just shook his head. He hadn’t said much in the past few days, brooding over his computer instead and conducting several net meetings with agents in the Bureau’s D. C. office.
Keiley stood on her feet. Pappy rose as well, trotting behind her as she headed for the door. “Go shower,” she told the men.
The dog pushed in front of her, moving through the short hallway ahead of her as she entered the house, his ears cocked as though listening for anything unusual.
Keiley was aware of the small pistol resting in the pocket of the dress she was wearing today and the knowledge that she couldn’t be too careful now, even in her own home.
“Hold up there. ” Mac caught her arm as she neared the entrance to the living room and moved ahead of her.
His weapon was in his hand, and as she glanced behind her at Jethro, she saw that he carried one as well.
“This house is rigged with so many damned alarms and booby traps now that I’m afraid of being caught in one myself,” she snorted. “I doubt anyone is going to slip in. ”
They sure as hell weren’t slipping into her bedroom anytime soon. Mac and Jethro had nailed planks of plywood over the French doors until the new doors could arrive within the next few days.
“Let’s just make certain,” he murmured as Jethro moved around them and they began a careful, quiet search of the house.
Keiley just shook her head at them, though she followed along quietly until they were back in the kitchen.
“I have to go take care of the stock,” Mac said as he gathered clean clothes from the washroom and headed for the shower attached to the washroom. “I won’t be gone long. Keep her in line, Jethro. ”
Keiley turned carefully to Jethro, lifting her brow mockingly.
“I’ll do my best. ” Amusement laced his voice, but little of it reached his eyes.