Negotiation Tactics by Lori Ryan [romance/suspense]

batted her eyelashes. “I’m sorry. I twisted my ankle and I thought the infirmary was back here. Can you guys help me?” Jennie held up the broken sandal as evidence of her plight and held her breath.
    The men walked toward her slowly and she couldn’t tell if they were buying her story or not. Nerves settled firmly in her stomach as she began to wish she hadn’t tried to dig so deep for information this time. She’d give anything to be back at the villa with Chad right now. Jennie watched the two men approach and remembered how empty and abandoned this hallway was.
    Oh no; they know. They’re not buying this.
    Alan reached out and grabbed her arm. Hard.
    Jennie swallowed and her voice sounded small, almost foreign to her ears. “I’m looking for the infirmary. My ankle—”
    “Calm down, Alan,” Matt said, placing a hand on his brother’s arm.
    Alan dropped Jennie’s arm, but before she could try to get away, Matt had an arm around her shoulder. He was being gentler than his brother, but there was no mistaking the firm pressure guiding her back down the hall toward their office.
    “We’ll help you in our office,” he said.
    Jennie’s mind was scrambled as she ran through possible ways to get out of this. Should she scream and run down the hall? If she did that, they’d definitely know she had overheard them. If she didn’t make it to the lobby in time, she’d be trapped. And, she wasn’t completely sure any of the employees would be willing to risk their jobs and take on the brothers even if she did get their attention.
    Should she go with them to their office and hope she could talk her way out of this? She was a master at playing dumb. The thought of going even further away from the populated spots on the resort with these guys made Jennie feel sick, but she didn’t think she had a choice. She took a deep breath and started to let Matt walk her toward his office. A tight knot of nerves settled in the pit of her stomach.
    ***
    Chad made himself slow to a walk when he entered the lobby. Jennie had a habit of poking and prodding for answers. If she asked the wrong question here, she might put herself in danger, but he couldn’t let on that anything was wrong. He scanned the front desk, but she wasn’t there. One of the women he’d seen Jennie chat up a number of times stood behind the desk.
    He approached and nodded a greeting to the woman, putting on his meathead facade. “Hey,” he grunted. “You seen Jennie?”
    “Oh, you just missed her! She was here, but she went out the east stairwell. Hurry, you might catch her.” The woman gestured to the stairwell and Chad nodded.
    He pulled some cash from his pocket put it on the counter. Hopefully, it was enough.
    “We’re heading out with some friends to spend the last few days on a boat. Bring our bags out front right away.” Chad knew most people did what they were told when he gave them an order.
    He didn’t wait for an answer. He headed toward the east stairwell. When he spotted the door marked ‘Private’ before he reached the stairs, he knew exactly where Jennie had gone.
    Chad stopped by the door and pulled his cell phone out, acting as if he were going to call his wife. Through lowered lids, he watched until the woman at the front desk turned away, and then slipped through the doorway.
    When he turned, his heart dropped into his stomach. Jennie was being led down the hall by the two idiot nephews and she didn’t look like she wanted to be there. Chad broke into a jog again.
    “There you are, Baby,” he said as he came up to her. “I’m starved, Baby. You know I gotta eat breakfast before ten or my stomach hurts. What are you doing back here?”
    The nephews stopped their forward motion, but the one that had his arm around her kept it there. She turned her sweet, trusting eyes to Chad and he could see the panic beneath her ditzy show.
    “I hurt my ankle, Baby. I fell.” Jennie’s eyes locked onto his, trusting and sure, as if she