Silencing Memories

by Desiree Holt

  “But—but—what about at night? What about when I go to sleep?”

  She frowned at him, a delicate blush coloring her face. He didn’t remember the last time he’d seen a woman blush. Of course, the women he hung out with—

  “Nick?”

  He realized with a start he was staring at her.

  This is getting more complicated by the minute. Being with her at night could prove…difficult. I can do it, though. I’m a professional, right?

  “Not to worry.” He smiled. “I always figure something out.”

  She froze in her chair. “I didn’t realize this would be…that is…I mean…I’m sorry. This is obviously a big mistake.” She tossed her napkin on the table and jumped up, nearly upsetting the table. “Don’t worry. I’ll call Quinn and tell him I’m the one who made the decision.”

  She hurried through the restaurant and was out on the street before he caught up with her. He reached out and closed his hand over her arm, forcing her to stop and turn to him.

  “I’m sorry, Lindsey.” He wanted to tell her it would be all better, even though he knew he’d be lying. “I know situations like this can be overwhelming. I’m just so anxious to make sure we’re taking every precaution necessary that I probably came at you like a freight train.

  Lindsey made an obvious effort to pull herself together. “I’m so sorry. I almost never fall apart like this.”

  Maybe it’s long overdue.

  He turned her to face him head-on. “Why don’t we go back to your office? Maybe you can have your assistant carve out some quiet time. We can sit down in your apartment, and I can answer all your questions. About this.”

  Lindsey let out a slow breath and curved her lips in an obviously forced smile. “O—Okay. That sounds like a good place to start.”

  At her nod, he took her arm again and started walking. “I don’t want to frighten you unnecessarily, but situations like this can escalate quickly. I only want what’s best for you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be doing my job, right?”

  She nodded and let him lead her along the sidewalk. One tiny bullet dodged

  But when they got back to her office, the question of signing the contract or not had been taken out of her hands.

  ****

  I’m still watching you, bitch. You don’t even know it’s me. Everything you do. Every place you go. Everyone you talk to. You think you’re so damn high and mighty. Let me tell you, it isn’t that far for you to fall from that throne. And I’m going to be the one to push you.

  But not until you beg me to leave you alone. Not until I put a few scars on that perfect face of yours. God, wouldn’t I just love to get my hands around your neck and squeeze as hard as I could.

  The camera captures it all, every second of your life. Standing still, walking along the street, working in your office. Every little detail. You can’t escape me. I am everywhere.

  You have a new message waiting for you, Lindsey. Will your heart pound when you see it? Your pulse race? Will the terror start to eat at you more? I must control the rage. Rage that you feed. Wait until you are so terrified you will beg me to kill you. But this will be enough for now, to let you know I am everywhere. No one can protect you from me.

  You think that man can save you? Don’t make me laugh. I can deal with him easily. I’m invisible, so I can strike when no one’s looking. Then you’ll be alone, just like I’ve been for so long. Without anyone. How do you think you’ll like that?

  Be careful, bitch! Your time is coming.

  ****

  Brianna pounced on Lindsey the moment she and Nick walked through the door.

  “Mark has some questions on that project you gave him.” Her voice was breathless, as if she’d been running, but her eyes were fastened avidly on Nick. “And the Romeros called to confirm they’d be bringing their builder at four. But—” She smiled. “—no more mysterious envelopes.”

  “Good. Let’s hope it stays that way.”

  Lindsey headed for her computer to check emails before sitting down with Nick. She’d behaved idiotically, and she knew it. She’d be lucky if he didn’t throw up his hands and tell Quinn he could find someone else to watch over this idiot woman. Only everything seemed to be choking her, and letting a strange man into her life and allowing him to take control of it was somehow frightening. Of course, if she had to do it, Nick Vanetta, who projected a feeling of rock solid security—besides being sinfully sexy—wouldn’t be a bad choice.

  While she booted up her computer, Nick went to see how the installation of the alarm system was coming along. She could hear him in her apartment talking to his men as she idly scrolled through her emails. When the last one opened on her screen, she froze in shock.

  “Nick!” she screamed, unable to tear her eyes away from the image. “Nick, come here right away. Please.”

  She was still staring at the screen, feeling as if every drop of blood had drained from her body when Nick raced in. He moved her gently aside to get a better look at the monitor.

  The body of an email was filled with a photo of Lindsey. Below it were the words, “Have a good night’s sleep. I’m watching you.” The picture showed her in a long T-shirt standing in her living room. The camera had captured the full length of her body as she reached up to close the drapes. A very intimate photo…and obviously meant to be just that.

  “My God. My God,” she whispered over and over again. “He can find me anywhere. He’s invading every bit of my life. Is there any place he can’t go? Damn.” She dropped into her desk chair, sure her legs wouldn’t hold her upright much longer, and raked her fingers through her hair.

  Nick was already at her computer when Brianna and Mark rushed into her office.

  “What happened?” Bri asked. “What’s wrong?” She looked from Lindsey to Nick. “Did someone send you something?”

  Nick turned the computer so she could see the photo.

  Brianna shivered. “Whoever this is, you can see he’s making it more personal, Lindsey. How creepy to think he can actually see into your apartment.”

  “You should call that police detective again,” Mark told her. “Let him know about this.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Nick assured them in a tight voice. “This gives me a good chance to connect with him, although I’m not sure what he can do. Brianna, how about bringing your boss a cup of coffee? Then you can both get back to what you were doing until McCune gets here.”

  “But—” Mark started to protest.

  “Just do it please,” Lindsey told them in a tired voice. “Please.”

  “Coffee coming right up.” Bri shooed Mark out ahead of her and closed the door.

  “Who did you think this email was from when you opened it?” Nick gently moved Lindsey away from the computer and over to the couch.

  “I get several mails from professional organizations.” Lindsey twisted her hands together. “This one said it was from the San Antonio Architects Association.”

  “Okay. Someone’s clever enough to know how to mimic an IP address, which means this is no dummy we’re dealing with.”

  Great. Just great.

  “I don’t know if that’s good or bad.” Her laugh was edged with hysteria.

  “It just makes them harder to catch, but not impossible.” Nick went back to her computer, tapped on the keyboard, then came to sit beside her. “Just give me a minute to make some calls. Will you be okay?”

  She didn’t want him to leave her side. She wanted his strength and power to surround and protect her. There was something intangible about him, about his presence, that made her believe she could trust him with her life. After all, wasn’t that what she needed to do? And to quit avoiding the real issues?

  “Yes.” She wet her lips and sat up straight. “But I think I need to sign that contract right now.”

  He nodded, his expression solemn. “Let me make these calls, and we’ll take care of it.”

  His first call was to McCune, the second to his office to tell the
m what he needed and to get things moving. The next was to his IT department to start tracing the origin of the email right away. He didn’t like what this newest photo indicated, the angle and type of the shot showing how completely vulnerable to the stalker’s intrusion Lindsey was.

  Brianna returned with the coffee and set it on the little table in front of the couch.

  Nick helped Lindsey wrap her fingers around the cup. “Think you can hold onto this?”

  She nodded, dredging up a poor excuse for a smile. “I promise not to spill it on you. Or myself. I still have clients coming, remember?”

  “About that,” he began.

  Lindsey shook her head. “No cancelling appointments. I won’t let whoever this is turn my life upside down any more than he already has.”

  “Okay. I’ll go along with that. For now. But I’m sitting in on the meetings, so you figure out some plausible excuse for me to be here.”

  “I hate this.” Lindsey gripped the coffee cup as if it were a lifeline.

  “He’s playing with your mind, you know.” Nick’s voice was deliberately low and calm. “That’s the best weapon he has right now. It’s what gives him his thrill.”

  “Then I need to act as if he’s not bothering me at all.” And somehow she would. She’d find the strength to do exactly that. Her chin came up in a small gesture of defiance. “I can be a really good actress, and I’m pissed that someone thinks they can insinuate themselves into my life this way.”

  His mouth turned up in a slow smile that threatened to melt her panties. “I’m sure you can.”

  A thought struck her that ramped her anxiety back up. “You don’t think he’ll try to harm me physically, do you? What does he really want? To kill me? And why, for god’s sake. You’re going to find out what a really boring life I lead.”

  “It’s too early to know that. Right now, he’s frightening you by showing how close he can actually get without you seeing him. He’s enjoying that. This is just the beginning of his campaign. We still don’t know what he really wants. Or she.”

  “You think it could be a woman?” Frantically, Lindsey tried to run through names of women who might hate her this much. “Who have I made so angry with me? Who would hate me this much? I can’t even.”

  “Again, it’s too early to tell.” He focused that dark gaze on her. “You know, it’s very possible this could turn out to be someone you barely know. Someone who’s developed a fixation on you.”

  “Oh, great. I don’t know if that’s better or worse.” She took a sip of the hot liquid and set the cup down on the coffee table. “You’re doing a lot on faith, aren’t you? Where’s that contract I asked for before? I want to sign it right now. This guy scares me, and I don’t know where he’ll intrude next.”

  “I wasn’t worried.” Nick smiled, pulled the contract from his pocket, and handed it to her with a pen.

  “Well, just to make it all legal and everything.” She signed all the places he indicated, made copies at the small machine she kept behind her desk, then unlocked a drawer and took out a checkbook. She didn’t even cringe at the amount of the retainer or hourly fee. Money wasn’t a factor here. She filled out a check and handed it to him.

  “This is out of my trust account, not the one for the business,” she pointed out. “Maybe I’m getting paranoid, but I don’t want anyone in the office to see the contract or the checks.”

  “Smart move,” he told her. “At least until everyone is cleared. You’re fortunate to have that financial cushion.”

  She couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

  “My father left the trust fund for my mother and me.” She stared straight at him. “It paid for my college education and gave us a nice cushion for the ranch operation if we needed it. It also paid for my mother’s nursing care when she had her heart attack and stroke. I don’t squander it. I worked hard for my degree and harder for recognition. That trust fund is for emergencies, which I’m sure you’d agree this is, and that’s all I use it for.”

  “I meant exactly what I said.” He looked at her with a steady expression. “You’re lucky. Not everyone is that fortunate. That’s all.”

  Quit being so sensitive, Lindsey.

  Nick took the check, his fingers touching hers for a long minute, and just like that the heat was there again, replacing the cold. She snatched her hand away.

  “Besides,” he went on, ignoring her knee-jerk reaction, “I happen to know you have an excellent reputation as an architect and your clients sing your praises. You’re smart and very together. Quinn has a lot of respect for you, and that’s enough for me.”

  She took a deep breath and tried on a smile. “All right. And thank you for just…being you, I guess. Quinn was right. You’re very good.”

  Nick laughed out loud. “You’ll get through this just fine. My money’s on you. One more question. Is your email address known openly, or is it a hard commodity to come by?”

  “It’s on all my business cards, so probably a million people have it.”

  “Let me check something here.”

  Nick sat down at the computer again and scrolled through the email still up on the screen. Then he printed out two copies, folded them, and put them in his pocket.

  “Okay.” He backed away from her desk. “McCune was tied up so he won’t be here until later. Meanwhile, you need to get ready for your clients.” He grinned. “But I’ll be just a scream away.”

  “Let’s hope I don’t have anything else to scream about today.”

  He went through the connecting door to her apartment while she pulled out folders for her meeting.

  ****

  Nick dialed his office and had Janet transfer him to the techie he’d sent the email to.

  “Anything on that email I sent you?” he asked.

  “Jesus, Mr. Vanetta,” the guy protested. “I need a little more than five minutes. I’m working on it right now.”

  “Okay. I just want to make sure you know this is high priority.”

  The man gave a sound between a laugh and a snort. “You mean like everything else around here? Okay, okay, I’m really on top of it.”

  “I want you to trace the address and get me the Internet service provider of the sender. Find out how they could mimic the address they used.”

  “Call you as soon as I have it,” the man assured him.

  “Sooner rather than later, okay?”

  “Yes. Okay. I got it.”

  Next, he called Quinn, catching him just as he was leaving his office, and filled him in on what had happened so far.

  “Do whatever it takes.” Quinn was instantly alert. “Just make sure no harm comes to Lindsey. Period. And listen. If you need my help, just ask, okay?”

  “And have Kate after me?” Nick laughed. “No deal, buddy. Thanks, anyway. But I will keep you in the loop.”

  Finally, he called Reno. “I’m flagging this as a high profile case and committing resources to it. We’ve got a fat retainer, and I gather the fee is no problem. I’ll be on this twenty-four/seven. I just wanted to let you know.”

  “Your decision,” Reno told him. “Sounds like whoever this is has stepped it up a notch.”

  “Yeah. I’m worried about what might come next. Ferrell Designs is becoming a hot item with people building homes in the Hill Country, and the buzz about her is terrific. I don’t want to be the one who lets some jerk bring it all down around her.”

  “Do whatever it takes,” Reno assured him. “Just be sure to keep us in the loop.”

  While he waited for Lindsey to prepare for her client meeting, Nick checked out the view from the huge wall of windows in the living room and the angles of the buildings that faced the apartment. Guardian had sent a team to canvass the hotel, checking the logical floors and seeing what they could pry loose from the front desk. Nick called them twice to see what they’d found, but none of the information they gave him was any good. A lot of the rooms that fit the profile were vacant. If the stalker knew his st
uff, he could have found a way to sneak into one of those rooms and snap his dirty little pictures.

  Well, however he had to do it, he’d keep her safe. Lindsey Ferrell was more than just a client, although he’d known her for less than a day. From the moment he’d walked into her office, there’d been a visceral connection. She felt it, too, although she did her best to hide it. He was damn good at his job and had a list of testimonials to prove it. But he’d never wanted to protect a client more than this one.

  His feelings baffled him and made him uncomfortable, but there they were. They weren’t going away. First he’d find this fucking stalker, and then he’d see where things went with Lindsey Ferrell.

  When Nick let himself quietly back in, Briana was ushering in a well-dressed middle-aged couple with another man right on their heels. Because he didn’t want to leave Lindsey alone, even in her office, Nick had prodded her to come up with some kind of vague reason for him to be there.

  “A consultant, maybe?” he’d suggested.

  “Let’s hope these people are naïve enough to buy that,” she told him with a touch of sarcasm.

  “We’ll make them buy it,” he insisted.

  Lindsey made brief introductions. “Mr. and Mrs. Romero,” she told him. “And Jordan Delaney, their builder. Mr. Vanetta is doing some consulting for me, so I hope it’s all right for him to sit in on our meeting.”

  Nick nodded at everyone and tried to make himself as unobtrusive as possible in a corner.

  Brianna returned with a tray of coffee and pastries, setting it on the low table in front of the couch. When everyone had served themselves, Lindsey opened the file on her desk and began the discussion.

  Nick watched her work with sharp interest. She definitely knew her stuff. Her questions impressed him, her answers to both the builder and her clients even more. She pointed out where they could accommodate some of the changes with minor design adjustments at no additional expense. For the others, she explained why there would be a cost added. The builder also seemed impressed and agreed with nearly everything she said.