Hearts Under Caution

by Gina Wilkins

  She looked ready to brush him off again. But then she bit her lip, looked toward the doorway and nervously tucked a lock of her straight blond hair behind her ear.

  “Lees?” he said more gently, using her old nickname for the first time in almost six years. “Let me help.”

  She sighed deeply. “I shouldn’t have come here. I thought it would be safe for a few weeks and that my parents would be safe with me here. Now…now I’m questioning the wisdom of that decision.”

  “Okay, now you’re just creeping me out,” he said bluntly, reaching out to lay his hand on her shoulder. “Tell me what’s going on.”

  “It’s going to take a while,” she said after another long pause. “And I’d rather my parents didn’t hear what I have to say. Not yet, anyway.”

  He nodded, both relieved that she seemed willing to talk and unnerved by what little she had already said. “Then we need to go where we can talk in private. Want to have a drink with me somewhere?”

  She hesitated only another moment, then nodded. “Yes. To be honest, I would be grateful for your advice.”

  Though he was a bit surprised that she’d accepted his invitation, he didn’t let it show. Over the past few years he’d gotten very good at hiding his emotions from Lisa, he thought wryly. Just as he did from everyone else.

  THE COFFEE SHOP WADE TOOK HER to was small. Quiet on a Tuesday afternoon. Sitting in a cozy booth at the back with Lisa, Wade knew he’d been recognized by some of the other customers, but they gave him his privacy. Perhaps they sensed that he was in no mood for socializing.

  Her parents had been startled, to say the least, when Lisa had told them that she and Wade were going out for a while. It had been obvious that they hadn’t expected her to spend any time alone with her ex-fiancé during her visit. And just as obvious that her mother wasn’t overly enthusiastic about her doing so today.

  Wade couldn’t say he thought this was a brilliant idea, either. He didn’t want to be reminded of those earlier days with Lisa, nor of the painful end to their relationship. But he still remembered all too clearly the look on her face when she’d run straight into his arms in her mother’s garden last night. Not to mention the way she’d jumped when he’d simply said her name in the library.

  Something was seriously wrong in her life. He had looked into her smoky green eyes and had seen something he’d never seen in Lisa Woodrow before. Fear.

  Because it was late in the afternoon, Lisa ordered a decaf latte. Wade ordered coffee. Black and real. He was usually too tired by the time he crawled into bed for caffeine to keep him awake, no matter how much he consumed during the day.

  “Now tell me what’s going on,” he said when they had their drinks in front of them.

  He hadn’t meant the request to sound so much like a command. He blamed his curt tone on his uneasiness about her, but he knew Lisa didn’t respond well to being given orders. Especially from him. He tried to soften his expression. “Please.”

  Predictably, she had bristled a little but he’d managed to appease her. She nodded, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, then gazed into her coffee mug for a moment before saying, “I might have made a mistake coming here.”

  “Here? With me? Or here, to your parents’ house?”

  “Both,” she said, making a face. “But specifically, I was talking about my parents’ house.”

  As a crew chief, Wade was often forced to hide his feelings. No matter how bad things got during a race, he had to stay upbeat and optimistic, keeping his driver and team calm and focused, making them all believe he had everything under control. His owner, the sponsors, the media, the fans—no one could tell by his demeanor when things weren’t going well with the team. When he was worried or discouraged or stressed.

  They called him “Ice.” A nickname he tolerated because he’d worked hard to earn it.

  Never was he more hard-pressed to hide his feelings than when he was around Lisa. Even after six years, all it took was a little wrinkle of her nose to make his heart stutter. Damn, she was even more beautiful now than she’d been as the girl who had once loved him.

  “Maybe you’d better start from the beginning,” he said, and this time he didn’t care if he sounded too bossy. It was better than letting her see that she still affected him entirely too deeply.

  “I know you think I’m home on vacation. But actually, I took a leave of absence because my boss insisted on it,” she admitted grudgingly. “And I came home to North Carolina because it was either that or go into protective custody back in Chicago. You see, someone there is trying to kill me.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  LISA COULD TELL THAT SHE HAD taken Wade completely off guard. Maybe he’d been expecting her to tell him some tale about a romance gone bad. This was much worse.

  She still wasn’t sure what had convinced her to confide in him. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to—and he had been available. More likely, it was her confidence that if anyone here could help her, it would be Wade.

  As her father’s long-time employee, and the crew chief for up-and-coming driver Jake Hinson, Wade was accustomed to solving problems, putting out fires even before they started. Who better to give her a candid opinion about the wisdom of the course she had chosen and to offer suggestions to make sure neither she—nor anyone she loved—suffered from that choice?

  “I successfully prosecuted a drug dealer last month. A real bad guy, Jesse Norris; they’ve been after him for years. He made some threats, both to my face and through others, blustered a lot, but I didn’t let him rattle me. He got sent away. And then he escaped.”

  “Escaped?”

  She nodded. “He was being transported to prison and he managed to get away somehow. Everyone believes he had help. He’s been on the loose for almost three weeks. Since then I’ve received two threats by mail, untraceable so far. Two weeks ago the judge in the case was almost killed by a crude, homemade explosive device. A few days later someone took a shot at the jury foreman. And this past weekend someone tried to break into my apartment.”

  Wade’s brown eyes narrowed to glittering slits in his lean, tanned face. “Were you at home?”

  “Yes.” She swallowed, remembering the way she’d felt when she’d heard someone at her window in the middle of the night. “Fortunately, I was awake when I heard the faint sounds, so I wasn’t taken by surprise in my sleep.”

  She’d been lying in her bed thinking about Wade, actually. She had seen his driver, Jake Hinson, in a television interview for a racing program that day, and the thought of Wade had haunted her all evening. No way, of course, would she tell him that now—or ever, for that matter.

  His face seemed to have tightened when he asked, “What did you do?”

  “I dialed 9-1-1 and shouted that I was doing so. I also said that I had a gun and that it was pointed at the window. Whoever it was had gone by the time the police arrived.”

  Wade let out a long, deep breath. “Did you have a gun?”

  She leveled a look at him. “I’m Woody Woodrow’s daughter. Of course I had a gun. It’s registered.”

  The faintest hint of a smile quirked the corner of his mouth but it disappeared almost immediately. “So you came here.”

  “My boss insisted I take a month off. Actually, he wanted me in protective custody, but when I convinced him that my father’s security is as good as any I could have found in Chicago, he gave in. I haven’t had a vacation in a couple of years and I was due, even though this is hardly the way I would choose to spend it. Now…well, I’m wondering if I should have stayed in Chicago.”

  “Why?”

  “It truly didn’t occur to me that anyone might follow me here. Not until I thought I heard someone moving around in the garden last night. There was probably no one there, but it made me think. My mother isn’t in good health, you know that. And Dad—well, he’d go ballistic if he found out about all this.”

  Wade winced. “That’s an understatement.”

  “So, I should
go back to Chicago? Or somewhere else where I can hole up quietly until Norris is recaptured? It shouldn’t be that much longer. I mean, he’s not exactly lying low.”

  “I don’t like the thought of you going off somewhere yourself. And to be honest, I don’t have a lot of faith in standard protective custody.”

  “I won’t put my parents at risk. And I don’t want to burden them with this. I shouldn’t have even said anything to you, but…well, you caught me at a vulnerable moment. I guess I just needed to talk to someone.”

  Wade met her gaze levelly. “I told you when we split up that I would always be here if you needed me for anything. That hasn’t changed.”

  She had never expected to take him up on that offer. She had left North Carolina determined to prove to him, to her father, to everyone that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. That she didn’t need a man to shelter her and protect her and support her—while at the same time ignoring her for the sake of his all-consuming career. Maybe her mother had been content to live that way, but Lisa had come to the sudden realization—six months before her wedding—that she couldn’t do it.

  It had meant walking away from the man she had loved with the full intensity of her young heart, but somehow she had done it. And as much as she had grieved for that lost love, as often as she dreamed of him to this day, she did not regret the choice she had made.

  “Thank you, Wade,” she said, knowing he was sincere in his concern for her. “But there’s really nothing you can do. Despite my momentary meltdown earlier, I can handle this.”

  “I’m sure you can. But I do have a suggestion.”

  “I’m always open to suggestions.”

  He set his coffee cup down on the table, cupped both hands around it and looked at her without expression. “You can move in with me.”

  HER FIRST INSTINCT WAS TO TELL HIM he was out of his mind. Well, actually, that was her second reaction, she had to admit, if only to herself. Her first was a deep, unwelcome thrill of excitement at the very thought of moving in with Wade. “That’s not an option.”

  He shook his head impatiently, looking as if he had expected that response. “Hear me out, Lees. It isn’t what it sounds like.”

  Lees. Until this afternoon, he hadn’t called her that since the night she’d told him she didn’t want to marry him. And that she had been accepted into law school without even telling him she had applied.

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You could stay in my house here, but I’ll be gone a lot during the next few weeks and you’d be by yourself there. So that’s not an option. Besides, your folks wouldn’t understand why you’d rather stay in my house than theirs while you’re visiting here. I’m thinking you could travel with the team, staying in my motor home at the tracks. You’d be surrounded by people at all times and you’d be protected by the security staff.”

  For an off-the-cuff idea, it wasn’t bad. But then, that was what Wade was best at, making and revising plans quickly and as needed. Which didn’t necessarily mean she should go along with this one.

  “I don’t know, Wade…”

  “Would you rather stay locked in a little dive somewhere, trusting the cops to keep an eye on you during the occasional drive-by surveillance? Or sit in your parents’ house trying to keep your situation a secret while hoping that nothing happens to put them at risk?”

  That was something else she knew about Wade—he had never learned to tactfully mince words.

  “No,” she said, equally candid. “I don’t particularly like either of those options. But I don’t think traveling with you is any smarter.”

  “I’m not suggesting anything more than a plan to keep you safe,” he assured her. “I’ll bunk with Jake or in someone’s motel room, if necessary. I’ll be so busy at the tracks that you’ll hardly even see me.”

  She didn’t doubt that. During racing season, she’d barely seen him even when they were engaged. Even during off-season he’d spent nineteen of every twenty-four hours thinking, planning, talking and living for racing. Which, when figuring in another four hours or so for sleeping, only left about an hour a day for him to focus on her.

  “What would we tell everyone?” she asked, intrigued despite herself.

  He shrugged. “The most believable cover story would be that we’re making a stab at getting back together. After a couple of weeks, when this Norris guy has been recaptured, we’ll let everyone believe I screwed it up again and we’ll go back to being civil acquaintances. You can tell your folks the truth then, or you can leave them in innocent bliss. Whichever you think they can handle.”

  It didn’t escape her that he’d taken the blame for their breakup. She didn’t know whether he truly believed that or was getting in a little dig—something else she wouldn’t put past Wade. She supposed it didn’t really matter. She certainly wasn’t getting into any discussions about what had gone wrong between them six years ago.

  “It sounds awkward.”

  He nodded. “Yeah. But you’ve gotta admit it beats some of the other options.”

  She bit her lip for a moment, then asked, “Where’s the race this week?”

  “We’ll be in Pennsylvania.”

  She had never been to that racetrack, since neither her father nor Wade had encouraged her to travel with the team. They’d told her the crowds were too big and the garage action too hectic. Her dad had said he didn’t want to call undue attention to his only child, for security purposes.

  What they had both implied was that she would be in their way.

  Wade had actually told her once that she interfered with the intense concentration he required on race weekends. And he hadn’t even been a crew chief then, but a car chief, obviously on the fast track to the top. So she had watched the races on television with her mother, who rarely made an appearance at the tracks.

  “You’re sure I won’t interfere with your concentration?”

  A muscle twitched in his jaw, the only indication that he recalled the conversation she had alluded to. “I’ve learned to block out distractions. I’m not quite as obsessive about my routines as I used to be.”

  Was he saying that he had changed? She didn’t believe that for a minute. He wasn’t aware, of course, that she’d been privately following his career since they’d broken up. He hadn’t gotten to where he was, hadn’t brought the team to where it was, without the same total dedication and commitment he’d always given to his career.

  It was rather ironic that there were people who’d accused her of being the same way about her job.

  “All right,” she said, hoping she wasn’t making a huge mistake. “If you’re sure it won’t be too much of an inconvenience for you, I’ll take you up on that offer. I’d rather not have to worry my parents with this right now. Traveling with you and the team makes a good cover, actually—and like you said, there’s safety in numbers.”

  He nodded. “I can step up security around you at the track without tipping off your folks. We’ll leave Thursday afternoon for Pennsylvania. In the meantime, hang close to your parents’ house and I’ll be around to see you when I can, which will make it more believable when you leave with me Thursday. And if I were you, I wouldn’t be sitting outside by myself at night.”

  She started to take offense at his autocratic tone, even opened her mouth to remind him that she wasn’t a member of his crew who took orders from him without question—but then she reminded herself that he was doing her a big favor. He was taking time out of his precious schedule to help her out and that was a major concession from Wade.

  “Why are you doing this?” she asked instead.

  He hesitated only a moment before replying. “Because I’m concerned about your mother,” he said finally. “Her health has been kind of precarious lately. I know your dad’s been worried about her. If she found out about the threats against you, I’m afraid it would be too much for her. As for your father, he’s got enough to worry about. I’ve been telling him he needs to cut back
some and he doesn’t need another problem added to his plate.”

  She didn’t like being seen as a health hazard to her mother and another worrisome problem for her father. She almost wished now that she hadn’t told Wade about her situation. That she hadn’t come to North Carolina at all. She could have taken a long vacation somewhere quiet, safe and private, without anyone here having any idea that the career she’d left to pursue had led her into this kind of trouble.

  “I’ll try not to give them any reason to worry,” she muttered.

  “They’ll worry that you’re getting involved with me again,” he said with a wry smile. “But at least they won’t be concerned that you’re in any physical danger.”

  His smile set off a cascade of emotions inside her. No, she didn’t have to worry too much about physical danger if she went along with this impromptu plan. But maybe she should be a lot more concerned about the danger to the heart she’d thought she’d protected a long time ago from Wade McClellan.

  “I DON’T LIKE THIS, LISA. Don’t like it at all.”

  Lisa looked across the kitchen table Wednesday morning at her father’s scowling face. She had to remind herself that she wasn’t a little girl anymore, desperate to win her difficult father’s attention and approval.

  A big man with a booming voice and a fierce drive to succeed, Ernest Woodrow had made his fortune from multiple car dealerships and a chain of auto accessories stores started by his father. Through single-minded determination and twenty-four/seven concentration, Woody had doubled his inheritance by the time he was forty and had invested in his first race team. Now, at sixty, he ran four cars full-time in NASCAR NEXTEL Cup racing and had at least one driver on the fast track to a championship.

  His success had come at a price to his family. The confirmed workaholic firmly believed that “his women” were to be sheltered and protected, indulged in anything they wanted materially, but otherwise were to be pretty much ignored. Lisa had no doubt now that he loved her and her mother but she hadn’t been so confident of that when she’d been young and insecure.