"And how do you know that the clue here in India has something to do with this holistic medicine and not spirituality? I mean he mentioned both in the video."
"True. But he is my brother? I know when he is telling me something. And when he talked about Ayurveda he had the look of passing on a message."
Taylor smiled he had been observing their surroundings but he could not help keeping Ann eye on her as well and he caught her surreptitiously looking for dangers. She was very good at looking about nonchalantly and appearing innocent.
Suddenly his mind returned to her falling asleep on top of him on that chaise lounger. He had already come to terms with the fact that they were both feeling each other but he was too old fashioned and he felt they were moving too fast.
He realized he had been distracted and she had just finished talking about something. Did she say this holistic medicine was interesting or this area was interesting?
"So what do you think? This is a very interesting neighborhood. It would do well with a few eateries."
She was talking business. He almost rolled his eyes.
"You are always looking for the next business venture aren't you?"
She shrugged. "I guess I always have been this way. I see business potential everywhere and just make mental notes or maybe it's just to it to stay in practice, or maybe it's even like a hobby for me. I don't know. Maybe my father was right about me."
"Only half right. You have entrepreneurship running through you veins but you care about the people your business decisions affect. You can have a bit of humanity and still become a billionaire."
"hmm. The average person dose not think so."
"hmm. Maybe. I think that the average person doesn't even care unless it affects them."
She rolled her eyes. "you are too cynical."
He shrugged and opened the door for her.
The clinic she found was pretty big. It was spacious, clean, and seemed to be a state-of-the-art set facility.
"How are they so modern and they are practicing medicine from the dark ages?"
"How are you so very handsome and so very skeptical at the same time?"
What!? Could they really be flirting in public right now? That was a flag on the play. Sure he flirted but he was the guy. Thank the heavens he did not say that out loud.
He decided to be quiet for the duration and allow her to do all the talking. Why was he suddenly embarrassed? When did he start getting embarrassed?
'Get your head in the game Taylor! How will you protect her if you are distracted like this?' He had to internally reprimand himself to refocus.
They checked in and waited in the very modern waiting room. Not long after a very attractive middle-aged woman walked toward them. Jill suddenly stood up. This startled both the woman and Taylor.
"Is everything okay Mrs. Bridge. My name is Sada and I would be honored to help you understand Ayurveda."
"Please forgive me Ms. Sada. I suddenly remembered we had a prior business engagement. I would really love to understand the structure and foundation of Ayurveda."
The woman was caught off guard. Taylor was not sure if it was due to Jill's odd behavior or due to the odd phrasing she used.
She recovered quickly and responded. "Please I understand, it is not a problem. Please take my card and when you have time again contact me and I would gladly set something up for you."
Jill smiled broadly and took the offered card. "Thank you so very much. I will call you directly after our meeting."
When they were back on the street Taylor looked around to see if they may be followed and narrowed his eyes as he saw the door to the holistic clinic open back up out the corner of his eye. A petit woman with short red hair and wearing a grey casual suit came out.
"Did that woman cause you to switch gears?"
"The red head? Yes. She was a blonde in Africa."
Taylor's eyes went wide. Was she paranoid or was he truly distracted?
"Don't worry the only reason I saw her in Africa was because I went to the women's restroom. I guess when you gotta go you gotta go."
"That does not comfort me. I completely missed a threat both here and in Africa."
"Why are you being so hard on yourself?"
"Because I promised both Darren and myself that nothing would happen to you."
She stopped right there, in the middle of the walkway, and turned to him, then kissed him. He had said public affection was needed to truly sell their marriage and that she was enjoying being a billionaire heiress now. But wasn't he supposed to be the one to initiate it? When did she stop being shy?
Taylor had to force his mind back into the game. So he could focus on what they needed to do.
"We will protect each other Mr. Bridge. We are now a team. Please trust in me. And please do not push me away."
She took his arm and they entered what he thought was a random building. Jill went straight to the receptionist with a smile.
"Good morning. My name is Jill Bridge and I am here to meet with Mr. Samuels."
"Do you have an appointment ma'am?"
"Yes. He is expecting me. I may be a bit late but he said that would be okay."
The woman pursed her lips at Jill mentioning being late and checked her computer. She looked behind them and spoke to someone.
"Thank you for your patience ma'am I will be right with you."
Jill turned with a smile already knowing who was behind them.
"I apologize I tried to squeeze something in before my meeting and I arrived a bit late."
"Oh, no, no. It is not a problem. I do not have an appointment I have a question about the business itself." Jill smiled in response and turned back to the receptionist, taking Taylor's arm and giving it a small embrace.
Soon an older man in an expensive black suit exited the elevator.
"Jill! How wonderful to see you. And this must be Mr. Bridge the new chairman of the board at Simms Ltd. You look very good together. Come, come. I need to see how much of the Simms holding I can acquire today."
Taylor and Jill followed Mr. Samuels to the elevator leaving the receptionist and the red head both flustered. Albeit for very different reasons.
Back at their rented house Jill sat with a glass of local fruit wine thinking. She absent-mindedly swirled her wine around its glass as she remained lost in thought.
"I think that they are getting bolder."
"Yes. They have to. You are too rich to stop them with such tricks as having your laptop confiscated."
They both nodded. Jill smiled at him. "Why are you sitting way over there."
"I want to make sure that my mind is focused and I can not focus when I am near you."
"You can focus on me."
Her smile was so beautiful that it made him smile but he didn't move. She pouted but she didn't say anything. She chose to respect his wishes. She was still a virgin so the thought of sex made her a bit nervous but she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that she loved this man. So she would wait until he was okay, confident, ready, or whatever it was that he needed to be.
"We will go back and meet with Sada. But we need to be on the look out for others like the red head or the red head as a blond, or whatever."
Taylor nodded in agreement. "Why is Sada all of a sudden so important."
"Because she knows Darren. I think more romantically than professionally."
Taylor just stood there with his mouth agape. "And how did we come to that conclusion? "
"Her reaction to me of course." She smiled, sipped her wine, then winked at him. She looked at him seriously. "We are married and we will be sleeping together for now on. Last night's experiment passed all the tests for me and I want you next to me when I sleep."
"So you were never shy at all, were you?"
"I am very shy. Probably the most shy person you will ever meet."
He burst out laughing and walked to her and gave her a kiss. She took the opportunity to hug him. Her body next to his made him hot and he almost pushed her away. Then he thought better of it. He had to be honest with himself and he did not want to hurt her in anyway.
Jill and Taylor sat across from Sada. Jill was smiling broadly while the other two were still trying to grasp the gist of what was actually going on.
"I will be honest I did recognize you. Darren has your photo everywhere when he is here and at first I thought you were his wife so my jealousy made me memorize your face."
Jill let out a breathy laugh.
"How did you know he left something with me… No. What has happened to him? He said that you would not come looking for this unless he was in trouble." Jill looked at Taylor and he nodded.
"We are actually not sure to be honest. That is why we need this, to hopefully find him."
"Find him?"
"Yes." Both Jill and Taylor were shocked to see tears well up in her eyes. "I am so sorry. I didn't think about your feelings. I should have…"
"No, no. It's nothing like that. I just thought he was ignoring me. He stopped returning my calls and messages two weeks ago.'
"Two weeks?! Jill and Taylor looked at each other and Sada narrowed her eyes.
"I hadn't heard from him in a month. That was my signal that there was an issue."
"Could he have been in India two weeks ago and still able to contact Sada but unable to go further than that?"
Taylor nodded. "Maybe." He then looked at Sada who was tearing up again.
"How was he contacting you?"
"The last few times was via email. Why didn't he tell me he was in trouble?"
"He did not want to put you in danger Sada. Can I look at your computer maybe I can find his last location? "
'Of course. Sada gave Taylor her laptop and Jill a letter in a soft grey envelope.