Jane didn’t know how, above the racket of her pulse reverberating in her ears, she noticed his accent, but he sure as hell was not from around here. Maybe her brain had gone into Sherlock Holmes mode, gathering details for when the police arrived.

Big. Buff. Australian. Maybe a New Zealander. There were none of them in Credence.

“Mommy?”

A cold prickle inched down Jane’s spine. Crap. Just…crap. Now Finn was awake. He’d been sleeping on a cot bed in her room because it was a big house and even the next room seemed like a long way away compared to their two-bedroom apartment. It’d felt safer, given his tendency to rise early and go exploring, to have him close, but his presence in this situation ratcheted up her tension.

Her hands still trembling, she stabbed the long nose of the pliers in the intruder’s direction. She hoped he took it for the threat she meant. Turning her head, she hushed her son. “It’s okay, Finny. Go back to sleep.”

But she should have guessed there was little to zero chance of that happening. Once Finn was awake, he was awake, and he was already tumbling out of his bed and was at her side in seconds. His big blue eyes went round as donuts as he spotted the large man. “Who’s that, Mommy?” he whispered.

Biting back on the urge to point and yell pervert, she sought a way to sanitize her suspicions. She didn’t want to frighten Finn—god knew, she was shaking hard enough for both of them—nor did she want to aggravate the situation or the significantly larger man if she could defuse things. After all, he hadn’t made a lunge for her, and, given he was looking at them like they’d just landed from Mars, he didn’t appear ready to, either.

“This nice man came into the wrong house,” she said evenly as Finn’s hand hooked around her leg, making her aware she was only wearing her leopard-print panties and a tank top.

Crap. Still…it was one more item of clothing than he was wearing.

“But he’s leaving now. Right?” Jane waggled the pliers at him.

“Or what?” His voice was gruff as he regarded her weapon. “You going to pinch me to death with those things?”

Jane narrowed her eyes as his gaze dropped to Finn, who’d moved closer to her leg. She forced herself to stay calm, despite the belt of her heart and the roaring mamma bear gnashing her teeth on the inside. “If I have to.” If he came anywhere near Finn, she’d rip his jugular out with this pair of pliers without thinking twice.

As if he was just too damn tired to compute anything, the guy scrubbed a hand across his face. “This is Wade Carter’s house, isn’t it?”

What? “Yes.”