Hot Property (Kingston Bros.) by Tamara Larson Page A

plenty of trees and privacy. A selling point for a buyer, but not exactly reassuring when she was sitting here like a hapless horror movie victim.
    She felt completely ridiculous about being nervous, but the feeling wouldn't go away. Mark had obviously transferred some of his crazy paranoia to her. That's it exactly. All his talk of stalkers and predators was making her skittish. It had nothing to do with her being completely isolated out here in the country, waiting for a client that may or may not show up. She'd done this a hundred times. Granted, she didn't usually meet clients at night by herself. If absolutely necessary it was her policy to bring one of her intimidating cousins along for security, but none of them had been willing to give up their Saturday night plans. Larry had been insistent, and the truth was that she wasn't even dimly afraid of him. He was, after all, at least 6 inches shorter than her, and as skinny as a rail. The bear spray she kept in her purse would drop him like a hundred pounds of wet san d if he started feeling frisky.
    No, it was something else. Was it Karl? Was she worried that Mark might be right about him? No, that was impossible. The big, blonde geneticist seemed so normal. A little awkward, but totally normal. Boring even. Who ever heard of a scientist being a depraved lunatic anyway? Actually maybe that wasn't all that rare. But crazy people didn't always seem crazy, did they? Look at Ted Bundy or all those other guys who ended up in the news for doing something unspeakable. None of them looked depraved. In fact, they seemed boring. Like Karl.
    Needing to distract herself from that disturbing thought she gave her head a shake and set her phone down. Reaching for her briefcase she pulled out her contact lens case and her glasses. If she was going to wait, she was going to wait in comfort and that meant removing her lenses. They were tight and felt gritty after the tears she'd shed earlier and she couldn't wait another second to yank them out.
    She hesitated, having second thoughts about donning her glasses in front of a client, but shoved that thought away too. She was a tad self-conscious about her mismatched eyes, so rarely went out in public without her specially designed lenses. Some people were a bit unnerved by the fact that one of her eyes was dark brown, while the other was sky blue. She had been made fun of mercilessly as a child for her 'witchy' eyes and even as an adult she noticed that people had a tendency to stare.
    She'd really tried to embrace this unique physical feature. After all, if it was good enough for David Bowie and Kate Bosworth then it should be good enough for her. But as a real estate agent, people expected her to look as professional and conservative as possible. Bottom line was that weird eyes could still be off-putting to some unenlightened individuals and in her competitive business she didn't need to supply a reason for clients to reject her. So, she camouflaged the brown one with a blue lens, and only went mismatched around family and friends who didn't ev en notice the anomaly anymore.
    She was just sliding on her glasses after removing her lenses when she saw headlights coming up the long driveway. She sighed in relief, relieved that Larry had finally made it and she'd be on her way home soon. She peered through the window, watching him approach, but in the dim light the shape of the vehicle didn't look right. It wasn't the low, sleek limousine she was expecting at all. So, it probably wasn't Larry, unless he'd decided to get a ride from one of his cronies. But that seemed unlikely considering he kept his driver on retainer for whenever he was in town . No, it must be someone else.
    Jack maybe? Coming to continue their argument? She certainly hoped not. She couldn't handle yet another confrontation tonight. Hopefully, it was one her other cousins, feeling guilty over making her come out here alone tonight? Nope, they all drove trucks, so it definitely