by Elle James
Andrew’s eyes narrowed briefly and then he turned and walked to the staircase. His expression had been unreadable.
She handed half of the clothing to Leigha and pointed to a bedroom. “You can put these on the bed in that room.” Dix entered the other room and set her stack on the bed.
She met Leigha in the hallway. “Do you think Mrs. Purdy would make cookies and popcorn for our slumber party?”
Leigha’s blue eyes lit up. “I’ll ask.”
“Don’t just ask, Leigha. Offer to help. Grown-ups love to have company and help when they’re cooking.”
“I love baking cookies with Mrs. Purdy. She makes the best!” Leigha and Brewer ran ahead and descended to the first floor.
Dix held her breath until the child made it to the bottom without tumbling all the way down in her rush to the kitchen.
“How do parents do it? I’ll be a nervous wreck by the time this gig is up,” Dix muttered.
“You do the best you can to protect them, but you have to let them have some freedom or you’ll make them afraid to live.”
Dix spun to face Andrew. He stood so close behind her, she took a step back. Her foot met air and she would have fallen down the stairs if Andrew hadn’t reached out and grabbed her, slamming her body against his.
Her breath caught in her throat. Dix couldn’t breathe and didn’t want to. She was in Andrew’s arms. If she inhaled, she’d take in the heady scent of his aftershave.
She closed her eyes, recalling the feel of his skin on hers, as they lay naked in his bed. Sweet heaven, Dix wanted to drag him back to that bedroom and do it all again.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! her logical thoughts warned her even as her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt.
Andrew dipped his head, his mouth skimming her temple. “Are you all right?”
No, she wasn’t. She was in her client’s arms, lusting after him when she should be downstairs looking after his daughter.
“I’m fine,” she forced out through constricted vocal cords, with barely enough air to make a sound.
His hands splayed across her lower back, pressing her closer.
She could feel the hardness of the ridge beneath his fly nudging her belly. Holy hotness. How could she extricate herself when all she wanted was to be even closer?
“Mr. Stratford?” a male voice called from below.
Dix pushed against Andrew’s chest and stepped away, careful not to fall down the stairs. She shoved her hair back from her face and resisted the urge to fan herself as heat radiated throughout her body.
“Up here,” Andrew responded.
Jared started up the stairs with his brother, Joe, right behind him. “Mrs. Purdy said you would be able to show us to the rooms we’ll occupy tonight.”
“I can do that.”
“I’ll go check on Leigha.” Dix turned away but was caught up short by a hand on her arm.
“I’m serious,” Andrew said, his voice soft enough only Dix would hear. “We need to talk.”
She nodded, her pulse hammering, electric currents racing from where his hand held her arm through her body, dropping low into her belly.
When Andrew released her, Dix ran down the steps as if the devil himself was chasing her. Not that Andrew was the devil. Her own lusty thoughts were sending her into a tailspin she wasn’t sure she could recover from.
She had begun to wonder if she was really needed there. In the couple of days she’d been at Stratford House, nothing had happened to make her think Leigha and Andrew were in danger. In their talk, she’d ask him if he’d made any progress on finding a permanent bodyguard to replace her.
The thought made her chest tighten and her eyes sting. Already, she’d formed an attachment to Leigha. But the connection she had with Andrew wasn’t good. Even though it felt really good when they’d been together in his bed.
Chapter 14
Dinner had been festive with their two guests. Jared and Joe were entertaining, talking of some of the adventures they’d been on during summer break from their studies at Washington State University.
Andrew wasn’t ready to think they were harmless. Not with his daughter’s welfare at stake, but he did get caught up in their tales of archaeological digs in Africa, where they’d unearthed remnants of ancient civilizations. And then there were the dinosaur bones they’d found in North Dakota.
By the time they’d finished the roast beef and mashed potatoes Mrs. Purdy had left for them, the two young men were ready to call it a night. They headed for their respective bedrooms.
Leigha yawned and rubbed her eyes. “Are we going to have a slumber party?”
“If you stay awake long enough,” Dix said. She gathered the plates and cups from the table and laid them in the sink.
“We’ll see how you feel after a bath.” Andrew lifted her in his arms and started for the stairs.
She laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled into his strong arms. “Are you coming to my slumber party, Mr. Stratford?”
“If you want me to,” he answered, his voice catching in his throat. This was the first time his daughter had wanted him to participate with her in any activity. He’d sleep on a bed of nails if she asked him. Anything for her smile, for her acceptance.
He carried her to her bedroom and set her on her feet. “I’ll get your bath started. You grab the pajamas you want to sleep in.”
“Okay.”
Dix had followed them into the bedroom, but she stood by the door. “Want me to take it from here?”
“No need. I can manage a faucet.” He entered the adjoining bathroom, started the water and checked the temperature, and when it was right, he filled the tub.
Leigha entered behind him, carrying her nightclothes.
Andrew turned off the water and straightened. “I’ll be back to kiss you good-night.”
“And to stay for my slumber party?” she asked, looking at him with expectant eyes.
He smiled and ruffled her hair. “And to stay for the slumber party.” Andrew didn’t think she’d make it fifteen minutes after her bath before her eyelids closed and sleep claimed her.
He left the room and walked down the hall to the master suite, where he stripped out of the trousers and white shirt he’d worn for his aborted trip to Portland. In minutes, he’d showered and changed into a pair of sweats and a T-shirt. He padded barefoot through the connecting door into Leigha’s room.
His daughter had dressed in her favorite pajamas and was sitting in the bed. Brewer lay curled up next to her.
Dix sat behind her wearing that darned T-shirt and a pair of athletic shorts, braiding Leigha’s hair. She glanced up, her gaze raking over him. Then she returned to the braid she was working, pink spots of color glowing in her cheeks.
Leigha patted the bed. “Sit here. You can read a story while Dix braids my hair.”
“Shall we pick up where we left off with Island of the Blue Dolphins?”
Leigha smiled. “Yes, please.”
Andrew plucked the book from the shelf and settled on the edge of the bed. He read and Dix braided. Between the two of them, they had Leigha yawning by the time Dix secured the braid and Andrew finished the chapter.
Leigha slipped between the sheets and tucked her hand under one cheek. “Don’t stop reading,” she whispered. “I’m awake, just resting my eyes.”
Andrew hid his smile.
Before he’d read another paragraph, he could see his daughter had fallen asleep.
Dix scooted to the edge of the bed, dropped her feet to the floor and exited the bedroom.
Andrew waited a moment or two more before he rose and set the book back on the shelf. He pressed a kiss to his daughter’s forehead and pointed at Brewer. “Stay.” As if he needed to tell the dog to stay with Leigha. She was his
human and he’d protect her at all costs. Andrew tiptoed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Dix had disappeared.
Andrew frowned. He’d specifically told her they needed to talk. Well, they were going to have that conversation, even if he had to drag her out of bed to do it. The thought of Dix lying in bed in that unflattering T-shirt made his groin tighten and blood burn hot through his veins.
He raised his hand to knock on her door but it opened before he could.
Dix’s eyes widened when she spotted him standing there with his fist raised to knock. She’d been pulling a sweater on over her T-shirt and she’d put on a pair of sneakers. “Oh, there you are. We should go downstairs to the study or out on the porch. Do you think Leigha will be okay with the Kessler twins on the same floor?”
Andrew nodded. “If they try anything, Brewer will raise a ruckus and we’ll hear them.”
Dix glanced down at his bare feet. “You might want to put on some shoes.”
“Why?” Andrew asked.
“Just trust me on this.”
Andrew returned to his room, slid into some boat shoes and returned to the hallway.
Dix studied his shoes, hesitated for another second, seemed semi-satisfied with his footwear choice and led the way down the stairs.
He hadn’t noticed just how taut her calves were or how narrow her ankles. He could imagine how those legs would feel wrapped around his waist again. And there he went, diving into his imaginary fantasy with his lusty thoughts of Dix naked.
When she reached the bottom of the stairs, Dix turned and walked past the study. She led him to the sitting room he’d found all of them standing in earlier that day. It wasn’t his choice of places to conduct a conversation, but it would suffice.
Dix stopped in the middle of the room and faced him. “Now that Leigha isn’t here, you need to know what she showed me today. But, first, do you have a padlock?”
He frowned. “Padlock?”
Dix nodded.
He held up a finger. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll be right back.”
Andrew left the sitting room and returned a minute later with a combination padlock.
Dix was standing next to the fireplace when he returned. She held out her hand and he placed the lock in it. “Do you know the combination?”
He nodded.
“Good. We’ll need it.” Then she did something peculiar. She ducked low and stepped into the fireplace. Granted, the logs weren’t burning, but her actions were perplexing.
Dix pushed a brick and frowned. She pushed another and another until the last brick she pushed slid inward and the rest of the wall of brick slid open.
Andrew swore softly. “I’ve been all over this house and never knew that was there. How did you find it?”
She raised her brows. “I asked Leigha to take me to her favorite place to play.”
“And this was it?”
Dix shook her head. “You haven’t seen anything yet. Hold on to your hat—I’m about to tell you what your daughter has been up to when you weren’t watching her.”
Andrew tensed, ready to tell Dix he didn’t need an outsider telling him how to raise his daughter. But then she disappeared through the small door.
His pulse quickened and he leaned across the hearth, peering into what looked like a very narrow corridor. Andrew ducked through the door and stood up straight. The ceiling of the corridor was as high as the ceiling of the sitting room. “Well, I’ll be damned.”
Dix snorted. “Babe, you need to see the rest.”
His heart sped at her use of the word babe. He tamped down the urge to reach out and crush her against him. But she moved away.
“I don’t feel comfortable leaving Leigha for any length of time, but we need to go to the end of this corridor and lock the door to keep Leigha from going out and strangers from coming in. The Kessler brothers know about the tunnel now, but we don’t know who else could have found it or will find it.”
“Thus the need for the lock,” Andrew stated. “I don’t like leaving Leigha, either. Go,” he urged her.
Dix hurried along the wooden floor to the end where it dropped out of the house and into the hillside tunnel.
Andrew went a few steps farther, studying the solid walls of the tunnel. “I can’t believe this has been here all along and I didn’t know. Makes me wonder if my grandfather knew. If so, why didn’t he tell me?” He stared back at Dix.
She shrugged. “You said you were a lot like Leigha. Maybe your grandfather knew it was dangerous for a small child to wander around the caves and tunnels. He probably didn’t tell you to keep you from getting lost or falling off the cliff.”
Andrew’s heart skipped several beats. “I thought Leigha was safe as long as she played in the house.” He shook his head. “I didn’t know she’d found a way out. But how?”
Dix frowned. “When I asked her how she found the tunnels, she said her imaginary friend showed her.”
Andrew pounded his hand into his fist. “Her and that damned imaginary friend.”
“She might have dreamed him up because she’s lonely. Kids need other kids to play with.”
“I know. I’m going to fix that. But it takes time.” Andrew scrubbed a hand over his face and turned back to the narrow corridor. “For now, we need to block this passageway.”
“Tomorrow, you need to follow it to the beach.”
“What beach?” Andrew’s head spun with the discoveries he’d never expected. He thought he knew his own home.
“You’ll see when you follow the tunnels all the way out to the ocean.” Dix’s lips twitched into a smile. “You might have to have Leigha show you the way to keep from getting lost.” She moved backward as Andrew reentered the corridor.
He turned and pulled shut a door, slipped the padlock through the hasp and closed the lock. Then he leaned on the door and swore. “My six-year-old daughter has been wandering around in caves and out on cliffs and I sat in my office as if she were in a padded playroom.”
Dix laid a hand on his shoulder. “She needs attention, and she’s a little afraid of you.”
Andrew jerked his head up. “Afraid? Of what?”
“You are pretty intimidating when you raise your voice.”
“Damn it! I’m not intimidating!” His voice echoed in the long passageway.
Dix raised her brows and stood with her arms crossed. “I’m an adult, but I can see where she’s coming from.” Her lips quirked upward. “You can be downright scary to a six-year-old.”
Andrew wanted to wipe that smile off her face.
With a kiss.
He started to step past her in the tight confines. His body brushed against hers and he couldn’t resist. He turned and grabbed her, smashing her against him, his lips crashing down on hers.
She gasped, her mouth opening enough to let him thrust his tongue past her teeth and sweep along the length of hers.
At first her hands pressed against his chest, pushing him away. But the longer he kissed her the less she resisted.
Soon Dix’s hands slipped up his chest and wrapped around his neck. Her body melted into his and her leg curved around the back of his.
Andrew moaned and leaned her against the wall, his hands slipping down her back, over her buttocks and lower still to cup her thighs. He lifted. And, oh, those legs wrapped around his waist and squeezed tight.
He broke the kiss and drew in a deep breath. “You drive me crazy.”
She laughed. “I think you have that backward.” She brushed her thumb along the scarred side of his face and leaned in to kiss him again.
All that stood between them was the stretchy clothing they wore. It wouldn’t take much to remove them...
Dix sighed. “We can’t leave Leigha for long. I don’t feel comf
ortable with her all the way up the stairs and us in this corridor where we wouldn’t hear her if she screamed.”
“You’re right.” He lowered her legs and helped her straighten her shirt. Then he took her hand and led her to the door in the fireplace.
Once they were in the sitting room, Andrew tilted his head to the side and listened for any sounds of distress.
The house remained silent. But that didn’t mean anything. Even silence was threatening when it came to his daughter.
He didn’t wait for Dix. He strode out of the sitting room and climbed the stairs two at a time, his heart beating faster as he neared the top.
He couldn’t relax until he pushed the door to Leigha’s room open and saw the girl lying in her bed, her hand tucked beneath her chin and Brewer looking up at him as if to reassure him that he was on the job.
Dix touched his shoulder. “I’ll stay with her tonight.”
“No.” He turned and rested his hands on her hips. “You’ll stay with me. We’ll leave the door open between the two rooms.”
She cocked her brows. “Is that an order?”
“That’s a strongly worded invitation I hope you will accept.”
She stared at him for a long moment, her head moving slowly in a negative.
His heartbeat slowed to a stop and he held his breath, wondering if he’d pushed her too far. He’d never been good at asking people to do his bidding. As a businessman, he’d told people what he wanted and they did it. Not Dix.
“Say ‘please,’” she whispered, her hand rising to cup his face. “Say ‘please’ and I’ll think about it.”
He swallowed, his groin tightening so hard he was glad he’d worn the sweatpants. “Please,” he said through gritted teeth. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back from unleashing his passion on her.
Dix touched her lips to his and said, “Okay.”
Andrew swept her up in his arms and carried her toward his bedroom, pulse pounding and every nerve in his body on fire, ready to make love to this incredible woman.