Without a Trace - Lynn Hagen Page 0,1

even though Lincoln had superior hearing, he couldn’t make out what his mate was saying.

Red furrowed his brows and looked at Lincoln. “When was the last time you updated?”

“Updated?”

Red tapped the screen. “You have twenty-five updates waiting to be installed. You shouldn’t have that on manual. It should be on the automatic setting.”

Lincoln glanced at Mercy because he hadn’t the faintest idea what his mate was talking about.

His brother held up his hands. “Don’t look at me. I understand what he’s saying about as much I understand your foreman.”

Adam Perry had gotten his jaw broken more than once in his life, and now he mumbled everything. Even Lincoln had a hard time understanding the guy.

Red went back to looking at the screen. “You’re also running Windows XP when you should be running Windows 10, but I prefer Linux. And you’ve got an outdated motherboard and processor.”

Lincoln didn’t understand a word Red was saying.

Mercy snorted. “Can you at least pretend you’ve had sex?”

Red jerked back then chuckled. “I have had sex. And I’m sorry. I tend to forget not everyone is computer literate. What I’m saying is you need something that wasn’t invented in the Stone Age. Buying a new computer wouldn’t hurt, or Quicken. It would help you keep better records, though I’ve never used that program, so that’ll be a learning curve.”

Lincoln didn’t need to hear about Red’s past lovers. He felt his canines trying to descend, and he wanted to kill every last one of them. Even though they hadn’t even kissed yet, let alone had sex, Lincoln was as possessive as any other nonhuman when it came to his or her mate.

“Wow.” Mercy gave a low whistle. “You’re being wasted as a hired hand. How did you learn so much about this kind of stuff?”

Lincoln saw Red shut down. The light in his eyes faded as he shrugged. “Picked up a trick here and there.”

The guy was definitely hiding something, and as badly as Lincoln wanted to help, he couldn’t do anything if his mate kept running from him.

“That’s pretty much all I know.” Red scooted back from the desk and walked to the door. “I really need to get back to work.”

“You should tell him,” Mercy said when Red was gone. “Clearly he’s hiding something, and you need to find out what that something is.”

“The guy runs from me like a scared colt. I just need to earn his trust first.”

“From the way Red acts, you might earn it in about a hundred years. What you need to do is—”

“Don’t even go there,” Lincoln growled. “You let me handle this situation with my mate while you go handle Adam. He needs the new schedule.”

“Fine, be stubborn. It’s not as if Red might need a friend.” Mercy spun on his heel and walked out.

Lincoln knew exactly what he was doing. He didn’t need Mercy to tell him a damn thing. Red needed space, and that was exactly what Lincoln was giving him.

Even if that space was killing him.

He looked at his computer and curled his lip, so over today that he wanted to go back to bed. But he had a ranch to run and a mate to keep an eye on.

Lincoln grabbed his Stetson and walked out of his office. The paperwork could wait. He was almost out the front door of his house when Mercy stepped out of the kitchen. “Okay. I’ve got my grocery list ready.”

Lincoln dug out his wallet and handed his stepbrother the business credit card. “Have fun running your errands.”

After walking out onto the front porch, Lincoln sucked in a lungful of fresh air. His tiger was restless, eager to get to Red, but Lincoln didn’t want to frighten the human.

He’d already invited his mate to dinner, and Red turned him down. He asked if Red wanted to go into town for drinks and tacos, and his mate had said no. Lincoln didn’t want to push too hard and drive a deeper wedge between them.

Maybe Mercy had been on to something. Lincoln didn’t know a damn thing about computer entry. His last guy up and quit, and Lincoln had just started trying to do it himself a week ago. Already he was fed up with it. If Red agreed, his mate could use some of his time doing the data entry.

That could be Lincoln’s way in with his mate. Lord knew he’d tried everything else. He’d go to the bunkhouse later tonight and see if Red was up for it.

And it