For Her Protection

by Lauren Giordano

  “So what happens next?” Jillian smiled down into Sarah’s cooing face as she changed her diaper. “Have you worked out a plan?”

  Luke set down the styrofoam cup of coffee he had been sipping while he studied the notes he’d made during the night. “We sit tight. Murphy’ll be here in a couple hours. Then we’re gonna split up and—”

  “Split up?” She jerked her head up at the news. He was getting rid of them?

  “Not us. Me and him,” Luke explained. “He’s bringing me some gear, thank God, and a couple guys so we can finally run this op like we need to. We’ll have communication with the ASAC and once Murph and I fill in the blanks, we’ll decide where I’m gonna stash you.”

  “I’m confused. Are we going up to Charlotte or somewhere else?” She settled Sarah into the portable crib with her toys.

  “Don’t know yet, lovie.” He winked at Samuel, still in his pajamas while he drove his tiny toy cars over each piece of furniture in the spartan room. Samuel paused the roaring engine sound to smile back at Luke.

  “Wanna play? I gots more cars.”

  “Thanks, Sammy. I’ll have to take a rain check. How about this afternoon?”

  Samuel nodded and drove the car up one of Luke’s arms and down the other before continuing along the headboard of the bed.

  “Blast! Sarah just spit up on her last clean shirt.” Jilly glanced across the room at him. “All right if I run down to the car and get her case?”

  His immediate frown clued her in on his thought process. “No, it’s not all right. Put her in something dirty.”

  “I certainly will not do that. She has a dozen outfits in the car.”

  “After what happened last night, you’re not going anywhere, not outside, not down to the car.”

  “Honestly, Luke, you were out there for half an hour and you didn’t turn up any thugs or bombs or anything. What could’ve happened since then?”

  “I just brought you a suitcase,” he reminded her in a pathetically obvious attempt to change the subject.

  “Well, it’s the wrong one. I said I wanted the blue one.”

  “They’re all blue.”

  “I meant my sister’s blue one. It’ll only take a minute.” She rose to her feet.

  “When Murph gets here I’ll go down to the car and get it.” In the blink of an eye, he’d risen from the chair to block her movement toward the door.

  “I don’t need a damn bodyguard to walk to the car.” She strode to the window and thrust the curtain aside. “Right there.” She tapped the glass. “That lilac tree. The car’s only about twenty feet away.” She swung around to meet his gaze. “Take a look. We’ve practically got the whole motel to ourselves.”

  “The car is more like a hundred yards away.” He shook his head in exasperation. “Remember what I said about obeying my orders?”

  “I agreed not to argue with you. I don’t recall the word ‘obey’ being part of our discussion.”

  “And this isn’t arguing?” He threw his pencil down on the table and stalked over to the window. “All right. I’ll go down to the damn car. Where’s the suitcase you need? You’ve only got like a hundred of them down there.”

  “I’m not on a bloody vacation, Luke. I moved my entire life across the ocean. It’s a miracle I was able to fit everything into the boot of one car.”

  “Save the tirade for when I come back. I’ll be happy to discuss your luggage issues after I’ve made sure you don’t get killed while I’m looking for a damn baby outfit.” Once he’d surveyed the perimeter, he turned to glare at her. “Which suitcase?”

  Hands on her hips, she bit back the caustic remark she wanted to make. “Since you got rid of my car last night, I don’t know where anything is now. I had the boot completely organized and you’ve gone and piled everything into the new one.”

  “What color is it?” His jaw was so rigid he seemed to ask the question through his teeth.

  “It’s periwinkle.”

  “What the hell is periwinkle?”

  She rolled her eyes in disbelief. “It’s blue, dammit. It’s a little blue bag and it’s got a strap like a diaper bag.”

  “Jesus, I oughta have my head examined.” Luke jerked his gun off the table and checked the clip. Then he strode to the door and jerked it open. “Close this up tight and don’t open it for anyone, got it?”

  She squeezed his hand as he walked past, well aware that he’d gone stiff with protest. He was probably already regretting his decision. And for that reason, she didn’t linger. “Thank you, Luke. I swear we’ll be careful.”

  “Good. If you hear gunfire, I’d suggest you hit the deck and start praying.” He yanked the door shut with enough force to make her wince. Belatedly she realized that she probably shouldn’t have provoked him. She could have rinsed Sarah’s shirt out in the sink and dried it on the towel bar. But bloody hell, she was getting tired of all this cloak-and-dagger nonsense. This was their third day in captivity and there was no foreseeable end in sight. She was beginning to feel like a caged animal at the zoo.

  She glanced at James and Samuel who had paused mid-drag race to listen with interest as they argued. “It’s all right, boys. Luke’s not angry. He’s just worried about us.”

  “Well, you shouldna made him go out for some stupid shirt.”

  “Thank you, James. I don’t believe Sarah would appreciate your comment.” She clicked on the television as she smiled at the baby. Sarah probably didn’t care that she had formula all down the front of her, but by God, she did. No decent mother would allow her children to traipse around in dirty clothes. And she was getting damn tired of Luke ordering her around as if she were some brainless twit.

  “Hey, turn it up. That’s Luke!” James cocked his head as he stared at the screen. “Least, I think it’s him. He’s got short hair.”

  Her breath caught in her throat as she turned up the volume. And then her heart began to pound when she heard the words “dead” and “motel clerk” and “drug runner” associated with Luke—with the man she thought was Luke. Actually his name was really Billy T. Lathrop. She winced at the familiar pictures of the motel they’d left the previous morning.

  Her mind flew back to yesterday, to the blood-spattered shirt Luke had been wearing. She remembered his urgency, his insistence that they leave before dawn. That was why they were still on the run. That was why his DEA partners hadn’t shown up and why he didn’t have any identification. Luke had a perfectly good reason for not wanting to go to a hospital that first day. He wasn’t with the bloody DEA.

  Good God, she was supposed to be hiding from drug dealers, not with them. She swallowed hard and tasted terror as her brain made the connection that they were all in terrible danger. She felt her palms start to sweat and she scrubbed them viciously against her jeans while she made a beeline for the door. And to think that she’d been taken in by him. Why, she’d practically slept with him. Hell, she’d thrown herself at him. And all the while he’d been playing her for a bloody fool.

  Dear, sweet Lord. Luke was the enemy.

  Chapter 7

  “Jilly, what are ya doing?”

  “I’m locking the door.” She grunted as she pushed the small dining table in front of the door.

  “How’s Luke gonna get back inside with that big table blockin’ it?”

  She paused to push the hair out of her eyes. “He’s not coming back in here.”

  “Why not? How’s he gonna keep us safe if you lock him out?”

  “James, please. Not now. I’ve got to think of a plan. I have to figure out what I’m going to do.”

  “What are you talkin’ about? Luke’s a good guy. He didn’t kill nobody.” James crossed the room and began tugging on the table to move it out of the way.

  “Love, what do you think you’re doing? Get away from there this very minute.”

  “Jilly, he’s not a drug dealer. He’s too nice.” James folded his arms across his slender chest and scowled at her. “He’s not like any of the
drug dealers I know.”

  “Oh, really? And just how many drug dealers have you managed to come across in six years?” She nearly jumped a foot when she heard Luke’s key turn in the lock. “Bloody hell. He’s back already?”

  She heard his muffled curse when the door nudged against the table she’d placed in front of it. “Go away,” she called. “You’re not coming back in here.”

  “What in the sweet hell is going on in there?”

  She threw herself against the table when she felt him try to force the door on the other side. She was pushing so hard that she didn’t even feel it when James and Samuel started pulling her from behind. “Dammit, James. Let go of me!”

  “Open this freakin’ door. What the hell’s blocking it?”

  “It’s Jilly,” James cried. “She gone crazy. She saw you on TV and now she’s got all the furniture in front of the door.”

  “Thanks a lot, James. Crazy, indeed.” She cringed when Luke let out a string of curses that had the air turning blue and then promptly crashed to the floor when James gave her an almighty pull from behind. From her new spot on the carpet, she watched Luke’s feet pace back and forth in front of the door and winced when she heard his tirade about dizzy, overreactive women.

  “I am not bloody overreacting. You’re the damn enemy.” She rose unsteadily to her feet and bit her lip as she watched James struggle to push the table free. “No, James. We can’t let—”

  Luke kicked the door in just as James slid the table out of the way. The door flung open and reverberated off the wall, bouncing back in time for Luke to close it behind him.

  “Here’s your damn bag.” He tossed the suitcase onto the bed with such force that it bounced off and landed near her on the floor. Then he crouched to lift James from the carpet.

  “Now that we’ve got that settled, you okay, bud?”

  “Yeah, I’m good.” James accepted his hand and popped up from the floor.

  “Thanks for letting me in.”

  James rolled his eyes toward Jillian before he answered. “Yeah. No problem.”

  “You okay, Sammy?” She watched, stupefied, as Samuel nodded yes and ran over to hug Luke around the legs.

  “And what about you?” She winced when he took three steps into the room and towered over her. “I’m gone five minutes and I come back to hysterics. What the hell is going on?”

  “I am not hysterical.” She noticed he didn’t offer her a hand up off the floor. Sarah must have sensed the tension because she began whimpering in her crib. Without taking his gaze from Jilly, Luke reached down to scoop her up and cradled her against his shoulder as he rocked back and forth to comfort her.

  “You lied to me. You’re not with the DEA. You’re a bloody drug dealer. For God’s sake…you’ve killed someone.”

  “And you learned all of this how?” His stance still clearly angry, Luke refused to budge an inch. He should have been apologizing to her for withholding information. He should have been groveling, admitting that he lied.

  “We saw it on TV, Luke.” James flounced down on the end of the couch. “Your picture was on. An’ you know what? You had real short hair. They said you killed a guy at the hotel, but I didn’t believe it.”

  Samuel nodded in agreement and Jillian groaned as she got to her feet. What was it about him? A complete stranger, possibly a killer at that, and he inspired the children to more loyalty than they felt for her.

  Her eyes wary, she stared at him. “Well, what are you going to do with us now?”

  “I have half a mind to gag you and throw you in the trunk of the car. But there’s already too much luggage in there.” Her indignant gasp was cut off when he turned on her, finally letting his anger show. “Just so you know, I could’ve been shot out there while you’re in here playing freakin’ games.”

  “Games? How dare you? You kill some poor, innocent motel clerk and then you’re surprised when I try to defend myself?” She launched at him, thrusting her finger into his chest. “What do you take me for?”

  “I thought you had some sense in that dizzy head of yours.”

  “Dizzy! I’m dizzy?” She cringed at the sound of her voice. It would definitely qualify as a shriek. “You bastard!”

  “Oops. That was a big one, Jilly.” James fell back against the cushions laughing at the sight of her apparent meltdown. Samuel immediately followed suit, despite his lack of understanding of what the commotion was about.

  “I distinctly remember you telling me yesterday that you hadn’t killed anyone.”

  “So, you’re willing to believe something you heard on TV rather than me?”

  “I don’t know you from a hole in the wall,” she admitted. “If you were telling the truth, you would have mentioned shooting a clerk.”

  “Oh, really? So now I’m supposed to clue you in on the whole operation?” He folded his arms across his chest and stared down at her, his eyes still glacial.

  “You promised to keep me informed. This is my life we’re talking about—and the three children I am responsible for—not you.”

  “I forgot, okay? With everything else going on, I forgot to tell you about the clerk. Would you have felt better? Knowing someone was dead? Knowing that the guys after us are willing to kill you, too?”

  “At least I would have been operating with all the facts, Agent Gianetti—if that’s really your name.”

  “Of course it’s my freaking name,” he snapped. “Why would I make that up?”

  Hands on hips, she glared at him. “Is there anything more you’re holding back, Billy T.?”

  “What we’re dealing with is bad enough. I don’t need you having a damn breakdown in the middle of it.”

  “I liked you so much better without the superior attitude, Luke. You know, I might just be able to help.”

  He snorted. “I don’t need you to invite them all up for tea and scones. What are you,” he continued, “some kind of British operative?” His smile was tight as he ran his gaze derisively over her. “So tell me, Your Ladyship, what’s our plan? I’m all ears.”

  She was appalled to discover her eyes filling with tears. How could she ever have been attracted to him? How could she have thought him to be kind and decent? Luke was ruthless and hard. And he was cruel.

  She swung away quickly, heading for the bedroom. The last thing she needed was for him to see her cry. He’d only use it to humiliate her a little more. She jerked Sarah’s suitcase up from the floor and blindly pushed past him.

  Luke took a deep breath and sank down onto the end of the couch when he heard the bathroom door click shut. God, he was such an almighty jerk. He’d blown it with her again. Any other time and the situation would have been comical. And incredibly sweet. Jilly’d had the intelligence to react quickly to a threat, one that she perceived to be real. She’d had the gut instinct to protect her children. She’d been willing to fight him even though he was bigger, stronger and better prepared for battle.

  And he’d totally overreacted.

  All because she hadn’t trusted him. He’d been so confident that he’d won her over. That his powers of persuasion and her accepting nature meant that she would do what he asked without question. And it had pissed him off to learn that she wouldn’t. Dammit, he’d meant to tell her about the clerk. He’d simply forgotten.

  James came over and squeezed next to him on the love seat. A moment later he felt the cushions sag behind him when Samuel climbed up and leaned against him, his soft little body resting against his back. He closed his eyes for a minute and concentrated on the sweet warm weight leaning against him. How could something so small and so insignificant feel so good? He had Sarah’s warm weight on his shoulder, her face snuffling against his neck, James tucked into his side and Sammy behind him.

  “She’s crying, ya know.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Luke heard the shower turn on and knew he’d really hurt her. She seemed to take showers all the time, and especially when she was at the end of her rope.

  Ja
mes shook his head in understanding. “You shoulda seen her. She went nuts when she saw you on TV. She freaked out and started moving furniture.”

  “She did the right thing,” he admitted. “I was wrong to yell at her. She was trying to protect you guys.”

  “Yeah, but—”

  “No buts, Jimmy. Think about it. How does she know I’m not a drug dealer?”

  James tilted his head sideways to give Luke a look that told him he was totally lame. In an odd way it warmed his heart that the kid had such faith in him.

  “You’re nothing like the dealers we used to have at my house. They were all dirtbags.”

  He felt the shudder that coursed through James’s too thin body and felt his gut tighten to red alert. He shifted on the bed to face James and swung Sarah down from his shoulder to sit in his lap. Very cautiously, he stuck a toe in the water. “What do you mean?”

  “My mommy, she, um, took drugs sometimes.”

  “That must’ve been tough on you, Jimmy.”

  “Yeah, not so much on me but Samuel. He’s really little and Sarah’s just a baby.”

  Luke felt like crying over his matter-of-fact tone. “So, how do you know about drug dealers?”

  “Oh, that. Well, they were in our house all the time.” He glanced over Luke’s shoulder and dropped his voice to a whisper. “Sam’s daddy was a druggie, an’ Sarah’s daddy, too.” He reached out a finger and smiled when Sarah grabbed it and started tugging. “Sarah’s daddy was Slow.”

  “Slow?”

  “Yeah. An’ he was real mean to us.” James wiped his eyes and turned away from him.

  Luke’s heart wrenched for the kid, for what he’d lived through and for what he would probably never forget. “Hey, pal, it’s okay now.”

  James snuffled away the tears, determined to be tough. “I used to hide the kids from him,” he admitted as he wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “He didn’t like us very much. He was real bad to my mommy.”