“I got most of the dirt off.” He lifted the purse while meeting her straight in the eye. “But there’s nothing I can do about the strap.”

“Where are you going to go?”

When he didn’t reply, she sliced off a chunk of sweet butter into the pan and fired up the burner. “Well, you can stay here for the night if you want to rest up. My father’s had this place wired so tightly not even a mouse could get in without triggering the system.”

“ADT is good. But not that good.”

“That’s just the dummy system.” That got both his brows to pop and she nodded. “My father was in the military. The Army, actually. When he got out, he went to law school and then . . . well, he’s kept current, let’s just say. Current and protective of me.”

“He wouldn’t approve of my being here.”

“You’ve been a gentleman so far and that, more than what you wear or where you’re from, has always been what’s mattered to him. And to me, by the way—”

“I’m leaving this money behind when I go.”

Lifting the pan off the heat, she tilted its flat face, sending the butter on a little ride that was ultimately its undoing. “And I can’t accept it. You must know that. It would make me an accessory.” She thought she heard a soft curse, but maybe it had only been an exhale. “After all, I’m willing to bet that cash came from fighting. Or was it drugs?”

“I am not a dealer.”

“Which means it’s the former. Still illegal. By the way, I looked into your background.” She did a rewhisk on the eggs and then poured more than half of them into the pan, a quiet whoosh rising up. “There was nothing except for a newspaper article from five years ago about your death. It came with a picture of you, so don’t bother denying it.”

He went utterly still, and she knew his eyes were on her sharply.

For a moment, she wondered exactly what she’d welcomed into her home. But then, for some reason, she thought about him taking his combat boots off and leaving them by the front door.

Time to get real, she thought. “So are you going to tell me what branch of the government you work for or should I just guess?”

“I’m not with the military.”