by Marlie May
Aw, hell.
My feet stumbled, and my hands twitched. My heart…Well…
Shaking my head, I put aside the thought for now. Front and center, Soldier.
A quick squint through the curtain made me stand down immediately. I unlocked and swung open the door.
Ginny, my sister, strolled inside. “Settling in already?” she said with a smirk. Her playful tap on my chest was reinforced with a pleased grin. “Showing off your muscles for Mia, are you?” She started down the hall. “Where is she?”
“What are you doing here?” I called out as I trailed her toward the kitchen.
“Cool. Blueberry?” she asked as she peered into the bowl sitting next to the stove. Her glance took in the table set for two and, in the center, the daisy I’d plucked from Mia’s garden and tucked in a vase. “Cozy, Eli. Maybe even romantic. I approve. Seems you’ve learned a thing or two about women from me, after all.”
“I can handle myself around women.”
Her low chuckle rang out over the soft voice coming from my phone, singing about finding everything just around the river bend. “Since you’re here after what I assume is a morning after—”
“Totally not like that,” I said shortly, though I wasn’t sure whose honor I was defending, mine of Mia’s. “I’m here solely to protect her.” Sure. After my realization in the hallway, I wasn’t going to come close to fooling myself about this situation, let alone my sister.
Ginny was too savvy for her own good.
“Aww.” Ginny’s face crinkled. “That’s so sweet. Why protection, though?”
“She’s…” I raked my hair off my face. “Someone was in her house night before last and yesterday, someone…stuffed her in a trunk.” No way would I name it as the kidnapping it was to my sister, who’d experienced the same horror earlier this year while traveling in Istanbul. She’d made her peace with her past after the jerk was locked up, and it thrilled me that she had nothing in her future but a lifetime of happiness with my best friend, Cooper.
“My, God, Eli.” Ginny’s hands flopped to her sides. “Stuffed in a trunk? What’s going on here?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. We suspect Mia’s ex could be involved.”
The tremble Ginny released told me my statement had hit home but she tightened her spine and pivoted back to face the stove. If I knew my sister well—and I did almost as well as myself—she’d take comfort in simple tasks. Because her kidnapping had also been caused by an ex.
As expected, she lit the gas underneath the frying pan and plopped a pat of butter onto the surface then watched it melt. “What are you listening to?” she said brightly. Fake cheer, but she was making an effort to redirect the conversation. “You and your Disney tunes.” With a chuckle, she turned off my phone.
She dipped into the batter and formed perfect circles in the pan. “You’re going to take care of this situation.” Said as a statement, not a question. After sliding the perfect pancakes onto the platter on the counter, she added more batter to the pan.
“Hell, yeah, I am.”
“Good.” She tossed me a pert nod. “Were you planning anything other than pancakes for breakfast? Sausage? Bacon?”
“Sure, whatever.”
She opened the fridge and removed the package of bacon, then laid strips in a second pan. The sizzling essence of smoky heaven soon filled the room.
“I’m going with her to the conference.”
“Then she’ll be completely safe.” Tension eased from Ginny’s frame as her gaze slid down to my bare toes. Her lips twitched upward. “Not dressed like that, though, right?” Leaning away from the stove, she flicked my hair. “Getting kinda shaggy, aren’t you?”
“If Mia has scissors, will you…”
“Of course.”
She’d cut my hair before. Back when she was a teenager, she wanted to be a hairdresser. Since she hadn’t done too bad a job, I’d asked her to cut my hair after that, which she’d done until she started traveling for her career as a photographer.
“The conference is swanky, from what Mia told me.” Her lips pursed as she studied my jeans. “Don’t forget. You’re representing us Bradleys and—”
“Totally on it.” Contrary to what she might be suggesting, I was capable of cleaning up well. “You didn’t tell me why you’re here.”
“Flint mentioned to Cooper that Mia was going out of town at the same time Flint would be in D.C. I’m taking care of Walter.” Her quick flip of the bacon created splattering sizzles. “Mia asked me to come by this morning so she could explain his routine.” A quick glance took in the window break I’d installed on the ceiling. “I assume that’s not a kitty cam.”
“I upped her security.”
“I love how you Seabees think.”
“Coop will be here with you whenever you’re checking on Walter, correct?”
“Before? Maybe. Now? One-hundred-percent, yes.”
I nodded.
A shudder rippled through her, and I was sad I’d reminded her of the horror she’d experienced in her past.
“What’s the plan for the conference besides you hovering over her 24/7?”
She must know I was all over this already. But I held in my huff, knowing her questions were motivated by concern and a need to turn a scary conversation into something productive. “I have a few ideas in mind, and Jax is coming with us as back-up.” While I couldn’t rush ahead and install a security system worthy of the Queen of England in Mia’s hotel room, I could rig a few things I’d collect at the shop. Discreetly, that is. The facility would have its own security system in place. A baby system, likely, but decent enough that it might pick up on one or two of my tricks if I wasn’t careful. No need to offend anyone.
Ginny dropped the heaping platter on the table then took in me leaning against the doorframe. “You want me scarce while you two savor this breakfast I just slaved over?” Her smile grew as she took in the setting again. “I could…I don’t know. Take a walk. A long walk, if that’s even better.”
I crossed the kitchen and pulled out a third plate from the cabinet. Added a cup for coffee, which had finished brewing. “Join us.” Romance could be delayed long enough to enjoy a meal with my sister. I didn’t see her often enough as it was, with her and Cooper together all the time.
After getting to know Mia better, however, I understood why she’d made the suggestion.
Ginny’s arms slid around my waist from behind while I poured three cups of coffee, and she gave me a quick hug. “I’m happy for you, Eli,” she whispered. “You deserve the best life has to offer.”
“So, do you.”
“I found it with Cooper.” Stepping back, Ginny turned to the doorway.
My heart flipped as Mia strolled toward us with a big smile on her face.
There was no holding back my low whistle.
Damn. She wore a deep green dress that hugged her luscious curves. She’d fixed her hair in some kind of arrangement that looked complex but maybe wasn’t, with a few curls highlighting her high cheekbones, the rest coiled up in a mass on her head. The dark stuff she’d outlined her green eyes with made them smolder.
And she wore heels.
Black, higher-than-Mt.-Katahdin heels.
13
Mia
If a car wasn’t trailing us, I would’ve sat back in the Jeep and relaxed. Chatted with Eli while savoring the scenic ride northwest to Ashford.
He’d left the top up this time to keep a red—no, make that a strawberry blonde—rat’s nest from forming on my head. Respectful on his part since he knew how important it was for me to make a good impression.
Gnawing on my lower lip, I turned in my seat and squinted through the back window. My unease did not drop just because the car was a maroon Toyota, not a white Chevy sedan. “Who can it be? We know it’s not him.” Him, meaning Russell.
“Nope.”
The sheriff had called before we left and told us my ex was still locked up securely in jail. Unless
he’d escaped within the last hour, someone else had been riding our rear bumper all the way from Crescent Cove.
As for the white Chevy, they’d run the license plate number Eli gave them and discovered it had been reported stolen a few days prior. The police located the vehicle last evening, abandoned on a dirt road about three miles from Christmastown. They were running prints but couldn’t say if their tests would yield any results.
Two leads gone like fog burning off in the early morning sunshine.
Actually, Eli was not convinced someone was following us. Something about no bugs or his vehicle being clean, whatever that meant.
I was convinced, though I was leaving the losing-the-tail task to him. Or Jax, whose SUV followed the Toyota.
Rubbing the wound on my arm I’d received in Mexico—it itched like a bugger—I slumped back in my seat and stared out the window at the dense forest we passed. This part of Maine was quite rural, with only a smattering of houses centered in each tiny town, surrounded by woods and craggy hillsides stretching into infinity. While a few official towns had been formed with real names and the occasional post office, much of northwestern Maine was a collection of unorganized territories who’d ditched names for numbers and no longer collected local taxes.
Now that I’d had a decent night’s rest, which I’d miraculously accomplished despite Eli and his delectable body lying in the bed beside me, I was no longer a quivering wreck. Anger had shoved fear aside. Someone had a personal vendetta against me. One of Russell’s friends? If so, they seemed to be making a lot of effort to exact revenge on a woman who’d done nothing wrong. One would think it would be easier to send me hate mail.
Or fling a bucketful of fish guts on my windshield.
Stress about who it could be, let alone why they were after me, kept me hyper-alert, prepared to bolt from any perceived threat. It made it nearly impossible to get the rest of my work done. With my presentation coming up in a few hours, I needed to shove aside my apprehension and skim through the notes lying on my lap one last time.
“Daily weights. Low sodium diet. Strict I&O,” I mumbled, adding to Eli, “That means intake and output.”
“Naturally.” Eli kept his eyes on the road.
“The rural areas of Mexico have the highest incidence of death from preventable diseases. Getting proper medication and treatment to them is an ongoing challenge.”
“Your work there must help a lot of people then.”
“As I said, I focus on women’s cardiac health, and it eats away at my own heart to see people suffer when I know there’s treatment that could enhance and prolong their lives, whether it be diet changes or medication or a combination of both. The Foundation’s efforts have made some headway in getting them what they need, but we still have a long way to go.” Abandoning my notes, I stared out the window again.
My skin prickled with goosebumps despite thick sunbeams streaming in through the glass. “We need to figure out who this is and see them arrested before they have a chance to deliver strike three.”
“Strike three’s not happening,” Eli said. His quick glance in the rearview mirror was followed by a growl of satisfaction. “Perfect. Knew we could count on Jax.”
“What did he do?” I darted a glance over my shoulder, noting just Jax’s SUV behind us, the maroon Toyota gone. “Did he drive the other car off the road?” The latter was a joke to loosen the apprehension lingering in the air.
Eli’s stoic face gave away nothing. “He took out their tire.”
I gaped at him. “He shot at the car?”
When Eli chuckled, I smacked his shoulder.
“The vehicle turned off onto another road,” he said. “Must’ve been going in the same direction we were all along. At least until now.”
“They were following us.”
“Maybe.” Or maybe not, his dry tone suggested.
I had complete confidence in his abilities. Truly. But that didn’t make it any easier to set aside my anxiety. “I know what you must be itching to say to me.”
He cocked one eyebrow my way, and his eyes gleamed. “Oh, you do, do you?”
“You think I should chill out, leave all of this to you and Jax, and enjoy the conference.”
“Not quite.”
“Really.”
“I do hope you’ll trust me and Jax to keep you safe, though we need your participation as well. You need to notify us if you see something unusual or suspicious. We can’t do this alone. We’re a team and you’re a full member.”
Hmm. “Okay. I can do that.”
“But that isn’t all I was thinking.”
I turned to face him again because his voice had gone husky, making me eager to watch him while he spoke. His sexy tone, combined with his darkening eyes, made me want to tug him back to my bedroom and stay there a good long while. Add to that how he looked with his tight haircut courtesy of Ginny and his button-up shirt topped with a casual yet perfectly tailored blazer.
I was so lost in him, I’d never be found.
“What were you thinking?” I asked.
His gaze traveled down my legs. “About those fuckin’ heels.”
I tilted my foot, posing as I smiled at one of my favorite indulgences. I might live in yoga pants and flip-flops much of my free time, but when I kicked things up, I splurged. Nothing beat four-inch red bottoms. “You like my shoes?”
“I do. I keep picturing them…You…” He cut off with a groan.
“Picturing them…” My brow cleared as I got an ah-ha moment. “I think I understand.”
“You do?” The hint of a squeak in his voice suggested vulnerability.
A muscular, physical guy like Eli could intimidate whoever he pleased. Knowing that something growing between us brought out his softer side thrilled through me like a double shot of tequila. It made me drunk on him, and it created an answering need in my soul.
But I did like to tease and this presented a prime opportunity. “I assume you intend to stay in my room.”
A long pause followed as he shifted the Jeep into a lower gear to take us to the top of an extra-steep hill. We coasted down the other side, winding our way into a heavily-wooded valley. “Staying in your room tonight is the best way to protect you.”
“I’m all about avoiding that third strike. But when I booked my room, I requested a king-sized bed.”
“I’m relegated to the sofa, then.” He sounded resigned.
“I think we need to share the bed.”
His fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “Like last night.”
“Well…”
The GPS chimed, directing us to turn off the main road onto a smaller route. Eli drove about a mile with Jax right behind then turned the Jeep onto another paved road that climbed a small mountain in a switchback pattern.
Since his attention needed to remain on the twists and turns in the road, I held off finishing my thought. A bombshell, I wanted to deliver it while he was solely focused on me.
Our vehicle emerged from the tree-lined road to find the hotel perched on the peak ahead of us, surrounded by sloping lawns peppered with oval gardens overflowing with colorful flowers. Behind us spread the valley and beyond the hotel, taller mountains rose almost to the clouds. Ski trails—green this time of year—snaked down the mountains in grassy ribbons.
“I feel like we’ve stepped into a scene from a Stephen King novel,” Eli said as he slowly approached the entrance of the dark, grim structure.
“Is it the rough black granite exterior or the towers that give you that impression?”
“I think the towers are supposed to make it look like a castle.”
“Not doing it for me. I’m thinking of horror films, too.” Some might consider the creepy setting intriguing but after what I’d been through recently, the ambiance gave me the chills. “How about we tell ourselves it’s the setting for one of your Disney movies?”
“Then I should be singing about letting it go.” His smile made me join in, though I didn’
t get the joke. “Aww, come on. Elsa? She’s a queen.”
Must be a favorite character. “If she’s royalty, I’m in. Just call me Queen Elsa.”
“Cool. I always did think Elsa was hot.”
“Hot? We’re talking Disney princesses here, right?”
Taking my hand, he squeezed it. “No, we’re talking about you.”
That made my heart flip. But, then, just about everything this man said or did made my heart flip. It was a wonder my head wasn’t cartwheeling along with it.
Actually, it was.
He drove up to the broad entrance and parked his Jeep underneath an enormous stone and stained-wood awning.
A valet dressed in a red jacket with black buttons topping dark pants and shiny shoes strode up to my door and opened it. Half bowing, he flicked his hand toward the entrance. “My Lady.”
Rolling my eyes, I stepped out and turned to watch Eli round the front of his Jeep and join us. His grin held secrets only I could understand.
Excitement about the creepy location.
Questions about my king bed comment.
Affection for me.
And humor about the guy calling me My Lady. Maybe this was a fairytale setting.
Jax pulled up behind Eli’s Jeep and got out. “Some place, huh?” he said, handing his SUV keys to a second valet who hustled around the vehicle to the driver’s side. “You two go inside.” Jax’s flinty gaze swept the span of lawn sloping away from the front of the hotel and the thick, snarled hedges looming on either side of the awning. “This is too indefensible. Too…insecure.”
Did he think someone would rush at us with guns blazing while we stood out in the open?
Shivers rippled across my skin, and I fidgeted from one foot to the other. My sexy, Eli-inspired mood fled, leaving only spiraling apprehension behind.
“Our cases are in the back of the Jeep,” Eli told the valet, handing over the keys with a folded bill.
“I’ll get them right away, Sir, and bring them inside.” He handed Eli a luggage receipt. “Give this to the front desk when you check in, and they’ll get someone to bring your bags to your room.”