“Special Agent Colton told me—”
“Come on, Melissa,” Travis said. “It’s just us.”
“Fine. Bryce told me that Davison appeared stunned to see the police officers and FBI agents storming the cottages, but he still managed to escape, taking off in a snowmobile, right across the ice.”
Travis leaned forward so his sister could see him on camera. “They weren’t prepared for the possibility that he would try to get away?”
“Do you want to hear this or not?” she asked.
Tatiana was positive she didn’t. Her legs were so shaky that she was surprised they still held her at all. She’d betrayed her father, and he knew it. No one else would have heard about their trips to Pike Lake, and he’d let her know he would be there. It was her fault he’d almost been caught. Could she have lived with herself if he had?
“So, I wanted to thank you, Tatiana, for providing the tip on the location. But, unfortunately, I need to ask if you have any other information that might help us bring in your father safely. Any little detail that might help.”
“I don’t know anything else.” Her voice was sharper than she intended, more filled with the anguish of a daughter who’d failed her father.
Tatiana didn’t miss the look that passed between the two brothers, but there was nothing she could do about it. She’d already shared too much.
“Leave her alone, Melissa,” Travis said. “She told you all she knows.”
Then he looked up from the phone to Stanton. “You haven’t said anything more about the stalker.”
“Yes. Anything you haven’t updated me on, Stanton?” Melissa asked from the screen.
The bodyguard shook his head. “We have kept our clients safe and the perimeter secured, but none of my guys have noted any unusual suspects making repeat visits to the area or coming too close to the property. No other new developments.
“What about you two? You’re still on Colton Plastics’ VPN, right? Have you been monitoring your email?”
“I have,” Travis answered and shifted his gaze to Tatiana.
“I checked a few times today.”
“No wonder you were able to get work done,” he said.
“Want to check one more time tonight?” Stanton said.
Tatiana nodded.
“I’ll grab her laptop for her.” Travis took off down the hall to the stairs before anyone had the chance to argue.
Stanton stared in the direction his brother had disappeared. “He’s efficient.”
“And protective of people he barely knows,” Melissa added from the phone.
“Your brother’s a good man,” Tatiana said before she could stop herself.
The bodyguard blinked several times, but no one spoke after that. Neither of Travis’s siblings could argue with what she’d said.
Travis returned so quickly that he had to have run once he reached the basement. He carried the laptop into the kitchen and set it on the table. Tatiana and Stanton followed him with Melissa still on the video call.
At the table, though, he stepped back and gestured for Tatiana to take the seat. The two men crouched behind her, with Stanton turning the phone so that Melissa could see the screen as well. They wouldn’t find anything, Tatiana told herself, but her hands trembled, anyway, as she opened the computer, signed in and clicked on her email.
Her stomach squeezed as the last message downloaded. Its title read Missing Tatiana Davison.
I’m disappointed in you, my darling. There are guards all over Colton Plastics. And you’re living with Travis Colton himself? I’m sure you regret your mistake, but you’ll still need to be punished, I’m afraid. You belong with me. Looking forward to sharing my favorite stories with you. Just know you’ll love Polly and my macabre heroes as much as I do.
Love,
Daddy
The words swam on the screen in front of her. “He knows where I am,” she whispered.
Travis squeezed her shoulder. “I should have gotten you out of Grave Gulch.”
Stanton, who was supposed to protect them, shivered visibly. “He calls himself ‘Daddy?’ Yuck.”
“Get it together, will you, everyone?” Melissa called out from the phone.
Stanton stuck the cell in front of the laptop screen and flipped the image so they could all see the police chief’s frown.
“Tatiana, keep your head low.” Melissa cleared her throat before continuing. “I’m sorry this is happening to you.”
She stopped again, clearly uncomfortable with seeing Tatiana as a victim rather than an evasive witness. Then she turned her head on the screen.
“Now, Travis, you watch out for her, though you would probably do that no matter what I said. And Stanton, you guard them both. Then let the GGPD do our jobs. We’ll get an arrest.”
“She’s right,” Travis announced.
In front of his brother and the screen version of his sister, he spoke to Tatiana alone.
“We’re going to figure this out. With the GGPD and Stanton working with us, we’re going to stop this guy.” He paused, shook his head and then added, “He’ll never get close enough to share his creepy stories with you. He’ll have to get past me first.”
His suddenly startled expression suggested that he’d realized he’d said too much. Rather than to call him on it, his sister made a sudden excuse to get off the phone, and his brother told them he needed to relieve one of his staff members at his post.
Travis was probably embarrassed over his declaration, but Tatiana had never felt safer. She’d been unable to trust anything she’d accepted as truth over the past several months, but at that moment she believed one thing with all her heart: Travis Colton would lay down his life to protect her and their child.
CHAPTER 19
“That was intense,” Tatiana said as she returned to the sofa where she and Travis had almost kissed less than an hour before. It seemed like months. Decades.
He didn’t even look up from his spot on the opposite end, his shoulders curled forward, his elbows on his thighs and his chin leaning on his cupped hands. “That’s an understatement.”
Something had changed from earlier, when he’d all but promised to put himself between her and the man threatening her. Had he realized that it was a mistake to endanger himself and so many of his relatives just to keep her safe? That they’d all be better off if he put her back on a plane to Paris?
“We sure are lucky to have Melissa, Stanton and the rest of your family members working on this case.” She paused, watching for his reaction. “I’d hate to be the stalker with a team like that tracking me.”
“I guess so.”
She studied him for a few seconds longer. “I don’t get it. A few minutes ago, you were confident we had this thing under control, and now you’re—I don’t know—deflated, maybe.”
“Your dad’s going to know that you were the one who let police know where you thought he might be.”
Tatiana didn’t need him to remind her of that. Melissa had said her father had appeared stunned when police had arrived, but he had to have been mostly shocked that his own child had turned on him. She cleared her throat. “That’s true.”
“And the creep who’s after you knows you’re here with me. If he’s aware of that, does he also know about the baby?”
“How could he?” Still, she shivered just as she had when she’d read the eerie message. The guy was aware of too many things. A voyeur who’d been inside her office and, perhaps, behind the camera in her laptop. He might know more than they realized. “We haven’t told anyone.”
“Who the hell is Polly, anyway? And what are ‘macabre heroes’?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. We’re trying to figure out someone who clearly doesn’t have a good grasp on reality.”
Travis let his hand fall to his side on the sofa cushions.
“What if we don’t?”
“Don’t what? Try to figure him out?”
“Have it under control. What if it’s not enough?” He puffed up his cheeks and blew out a long breath. “What if I can’t protect you?”
He wouldn’t look at her as he said the last, but his anguish squeezed her heart. That was what had changed. Maybe it had been naive of them to ever think they could take on the forces of human evil and illness just by holing up in a condo, but his announcement in front of his siblings had meant more to her than he would ever know. No one in her life, other than her parents, had ever committed to put her first, and at least one of them had lied. And now she was doing the same to him.
“I told you before that I was positive you would never abandon your child. Besides that, there hasn’t been anything I’ve felt confident about since the moment the police arrested my father for murder.”
“You deserved none of it. And then I made it worse by bringing you into the company, convincing you to expose your father and putting you at risk from him and the stalker.”
When he finally looked up, she smiled. “You didn’t let me finish.”
“Go ahead.”
“I was saying there hadn’t been anything else I’d felt sure of since then.” As she met his gaze, she added, “Until now. I know you’ll keep us safe. What does it say that the only two things I can believe in have one thing in common? You.”
For several heartbeats, Travis stared at her, his brows furrowed as though he didn’t believe her. Or couldn’t. Then he scooted toward her and lowered his lips to hers in what felt like a single, inevitable move.
Her brain barely had time to register the gentle touch before he pulled back, his eyes wide, his lips still hovering near hers. Travis seemed to be asking for permission. The sweetness of it made her smile. She lifted her chin and pressed her mouth to his and then waited until his arms closed around her, warm and welcome. This had been what she’d been telling herself she didn’t want? Her eyes closed, and she reveled in the feel of his mouth moving over hers, sampling, testing, remembering. Her fingers slid behind his neck to settle in the feathery softness of his hair.
Her own memories of those stolen moments at her hotel before flooded her thoughts again, but the tastes and sensations were clearer and more potent now without the blurred edges from wine. She couldn’t get enough, returning Travis’s kisses with a desperation she couldn’t explain. She drank him in, drew on his tongue to bring him closer and clung too tightly.
Tomorrow, she would think about her father knowing she’d betrayed him and wonder if he would make her pay for it. Tomorrow, she would worry about the stalker, who knew too much and seemed to be closing in. But for tonight, she wanted this. Him. She wanted to bring them together inside a cocoon of safety, give herself to Travis and take whatever he offered in return. It might not be the kind of forever she’d always dreamed about, but it had to be enough. At least she would have the chance to show her truth, even if she wasn’t ready to say it out loud: she was falling for him.
A moan of protest escaped her when he drew his mouth away from hers, though he only moved to her neck, where he traced a line of kisses from the base to the sensitive spot just behind her ear. As Travis returned his lips to hers, he gently lowered her to the sofa cushions. Then he balanced over her and settled himself at the juncture of her thighs in an imitation of the intimate act that they would share. Hopefully soon.
The thin material of her leggings leaving no question about the intensity of his need for her, she moved against him. Needing more. Needing all. She smiled against his cheek when he drew in a sudden breath between his top and bottom teeth.
“There’s no rush, Ana,” he breathed against her neck.
Her eyes fluttered open at the name she’d once banned him from calling her. It had become a sweet intimacy again.
When they were both breathless, Travis slid his lips away from hers and rested his forehead against hers. “I could kiss you all night.”
“You’re not going to, are you?” Her whining tone embarrassed her, but that didn’t stop her from sliding her hands down his back to grip his behind and press him tighter against her.
His chuckle rumbled through his chest and into hers.
“Always so demanding.”
But he must have taken pity on her then, as he shifted them to their sides so he could trace his fingertips over the new lushness of her breasts. He reached for the bottom of her tunic and slowly skimmed it up her body, teasing burning skin along the slow journey from hip to shoulder, then over her head.
“I could never get over how beautiful you were.”
Her eyes, falling closed as he traced mesmerizing circles over sensitized skin, popped open again. “What do you mean? You couldn’t say you were sorry enough or run out of that hotel room fast enough.”
“What can I say? You scared the hell out of me.” He grinned. “I knew I was getting into a workplace nightmare. I couldn’t blame it on the wine. But that wasn’t what terrified me. It was wanting you again when I’d just had you. And it was hoping for—” he paused, shifting his shoulder “—I’m not sure what.”
“Yeah, that would have scared the hell out of me, too.” She chuckled, trying to make light of a moment that was anything but.
Travis traced his fingertips from her sternum to her navel and then splayed his hand over her belly.
“Does it bother you to know that I think it’s incredibly sexy that I’ve already put my child in here?”
“It’s not super feminist.”
“I don’t know. It’s definitely pro-woman.” He bent to kiss her stomach. “This woman.”
As he traced his fingers farther down her body and followed that trail that he’d blazed with his lips, Tatiana found she agreed with him.
“Would you like to go to the bedroom?” she asked.
“Why? Are you uncomfortable?” he asked as he lifted his head.
“As a matter of fact, I’m delightfully comfortable.”
“Then I thought we’d stay here. This room is a little stuffy and could use some shaking up.”
“Then here it is.” She started with the buttons of his dress shirt, and once he’d shed that, she pulled his undershirt over the top of his head.
Travis peeled away her leggings until she shivered, lying naked on his couch.
He handed her the throw she’d napped with several days before and popped up from the seat, standing in his khakis that left little to the imagination.
“Just a minute. I need to—” He stopped himself and grinned. “Hmm, I guess I don’t need to.”
“There are some advantages to me already being pregnant.” She reached for the waistband of his pants and pulled him closer.
“I can get into these advantages,” he said as she undid the button and the zipper, freeing him.
“Still want to kiss all night?” she asked as she closed her hand over him.
His eyes fluttered, and a hiss of air escaped him.
“That, too.”
Travis stepped back, out of her reach, grinning, and then moved down to her feet. Starting with one arch, then the other, he kissed his way back up her body, paying close attention to all the sensitive areas he encountered on his journey. When he finally settled over her again, she writhed against him, no longer able to wait.
“Please, Travis,” she whispered against the side of his mouth.
“Can’t disappoint a lady.”
He brought them together easily, as if they’d been made to fit each other. As if their bodies recalled their moments together as clearly as their minds. The groan that escaped her was part desperation and part appreciation.
“Why didn’t we do this sooner?” he said with a sigh.
At that, she laughed. “I think we did.”
Travis captured her mouth then, making good on his promise
to kiss her all night, as they began moving together.
As Tatiana lifted herself to him, she opened her eyes and found him staring down at her. He didn’t look away, didn’t try to hide the raw emotion.
“This is perfect,” she whispered. Only it was another lie. It wouldn’t be perfect or even close to it until she told him the whole truth.
Tomorrow. She would make it right with him then. But for now, she moved with him. Breathed with him. She swallowed his sighs, never trying to hold back hers. Because if he refused to forgive her in the morning, this night and his child would be all that remained of him when he left her.
* * *
The dog walker made one last pass by the condo—two was his maximum, since the guards were still there watching—and noted the darkness inside the house.
“Come on, Polly. Let’s go home.”
The dog picked up her step, excited to get back to the car, but he’d parked at the back of the condo complex. Maybe he could only walk by twice, but he’d driven by a couple of times as well, that night and the night before. By now those bodyguards probably believed he owned a unit in the complex. It was so easy to drive with Polly, park in the back, take her on a walk and then drive back out. None of the guards were the wiser.
He glanced back at the darkened condo and ground his molars, imagining Travis Colton involved in all sorts of debauchery with his woman. How dare he touch her. Colton was so entitled. He must have believed that everything inside Colton Plastics belonged to him just because he’d started the company.
Well, he was wrong this time. Tatiana Davison was his.
He should have just ended the guy right in his fancy CEO’s office months before. He could have done it, too. But until Len Davison had made a true name for himself, he’d had no argument with the man. Tatiana’s arrival had changed all that. He couldn’t even blame Travis for sniffing after such a beautiful woman. She was at fault for not following the rules.
“Maybe one more pass by, Polly?” He shook his head. “No, you’re right. Too risky.”
He was far too disciplined for that. This was a necessity in his new role. He could be a patient man, too. Someone would let his guard down, and he would be there to rescue her from all those Coltons. Davison would expect nothing less in a new son-in-law, and he would never let his hero down.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense March 2021 Page 43