by Lisa Childs
He had no excuse for his lack of professionalism. Except that he would make certain it didn’t happen again.
“I don’t give a damn if you fired us, Miss Plummer,” Manny said. “I am going to keep working this case until your daughter’s stalker is either arrested or dead.” At the moment, he would prefer dead.
“I—I...” the woman sputtered in his ear.
“Your daughter is fine now,” he said, trying to assure himself as much as her. “She’s safe, and I promise I will keep her that way.”
He heard the breath she released in a ragged sigh. Then the bravado dissolved into sobs.
Why the hell did he always make mothers cry?
* * *
Cooper ran his hand over his short hair. Like Dane, he kept his as short as he had when he’d been a Marine. Dane...
“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked his friend through the speaker on the cell phone he’d propped up on the conference room table. Cooper was alone in the room, staring at the muted television that kept running those photos of Teddie Plummer getting loaded into the back of an ambulance.
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m just pissed,” Dane admitted. “I let the bastard get the jump on me at the cabin. Then I wasn’t able to catch him after he tried for her at the hospital.”
“Your skull is fractured,” Cooper reminded him.
Dane was lucky he’d been able to run after the stalker at all. Hell, he was damn lucky to be alive. But then, Cooper knew that Dane wasn’t easy to kill. A lot of people had tried and failed.
“Are you really okay?” Cooper asked him.
“Yeah, yeah...”
“And Manny?”
“He’s just pissed.”
“I understand why,” Cooper said. “This stalker is making me mad, too.” He had nearly cost Cooper two of his best friends. If Manny hadn’t escaped the fire...
“Manny’s mad at himself,” Dane said. “I’ve never seen him like this.” He sounded concerned.
Cooper was, too. “Well, it may be a moot point now. Teddie’s mother called earlier and fired us.”
“Can she do that?” Nikki asked as she walked back into the conference room. “Her daughter hired us, right? Not her.”
Cooper shrugged. “Teddie might want to fire us herself.” He wouldn’t blame her if she did.
Running his own franchise of Payne Protection wasn’t as easy as Cooper had thought it would be. His very first client had tried firing him, too. If he had, he might have been alive today. But then Dane’s fiancée wouldn’t be. They had rescued her from the creep.
If Teddie Plummer would let them, the Payne Protection Agency would help her. Nikki had been working all night on the letters the stalker had sent, using them to track down his identity.
“I don’t think she’s going to fire Manny,” Nikki said. “I saw the way she looked at him.”
“Like what?” Cooper asked.
“The same way I look at Lars,” Nikki said.
“What about Manny?” Cooper asked. “How was he looking at her?”
“Like he couldn’t look away,” Nikki said.
“I saw that, too,” Dane agreed through the speaker. And he sounded every bit as worried about it as Cooper was.
Cooper groaned. No wonder Manny was pissed at himself. He’d let himself get distracted. If Teddie didn’t follow through on her mother’s wish to fire them, then Cooper would have to step in and remove Manny from this assignment.
His friend had been right about wanting to avoid any damsels in distress. Cooper never should have let him take the assignment in the first place. Now he had that sick, hollow feeling in his gut—almost a premonition—that something bad was going to happen.
That he was going to lose a friend...
Chapter 15
The late-morning sun barely shone through the thick trees around the ashes of Teddie’s little cabin. Her sanctuary. It was gone. Somehow the fire had spread even to the storage shed. The Jeep stood inside the bare bones of the structure, a blackened shell of metal.
There was nothing left.
Teddie felt like that Jeep, burned out and hollow, as she stared at the destruction. She’d bought this place because she had thought she would be safe here. But she had nearly died in her sanctuary.
“We shouldn’t have brought you here,” Manny said. He and Dane had both gotten out of the SUV with her, but Dane stayed back, leaning against the passenger’s side of it, his hand on his holster.
She had insisted on stopping by the cabin on their way to the private airstrip. She’d wanted to see if there was anything left of the life she’d wanted for herself. The quiet, the seclusion...
She felt none of that peace or serenity now. Instead she trembled as she remembered the fear of the night before, of nearly dying in the fire, only to be attacked later in the hospital. How had she inspired the hatred she’d seen in the eyes of the man who’d tried to kill her? She didn’t even know him. What could she have done?
Manny slid his arm around her, but that only made her want to tremble more as she shivered in reaction to his closeness. Had they made love the night before?
It seemed as if it was only a dream now. Like a fantasy that had never happened. Had she only imagined the passion? The fire between them?
The sex hadn’t lessened her attraction to him any. Her pulse quickened with his nearness. But the sex had been a mistake—one that had nearly gotten them both killed.
She had no business starting a relationship now—with anyone—until she was out of danger. And she wasn’t the type to have sex without being in a relationship. She didn’t know what had come over her the day before, why she had thrown herself at a man she barely knew.
She wished she could erase the memory as easily as the fire had erased the little cabin. But images kept replaying in her mind, images of the two of them kissing, touching...
She pulled away from him before she did something crazy again, like snuggle against his side as if they were a couple. Despite what had happened between them, they were still just a client and her bodyguard. They were not lovers. Teddie suspected she would never trust anyone enough to love him.
“You’re right,” she said. “There’s nothing here anymore.”
“The fire was set on the deck,” Manny said. “The fire chief figured some gas-soaked rags and campfire wood were used to start it.”
Anger coursed through her as she thought of the cabin being deliberately burned down. “I don’t care how it started. I care who started it.”
“You didn’t get a good look at him in the hospital last night?” Dane asked the question.
She shook her head. “He was wearing a face mask and scrub hat.” She shuddered. “I only saw his eyes.” That had been full of such hatred and madness.
“You didn’t recognize his eyes?” Manny asked.
“No, I didn’t.”
“But you must know him,” he persisted. “Otherwise, why would he have bothered with the disguise?”
“So no one else would be able to identify him,” she suggested.
She couldn’t believe that this person—capable of such violence—was someone she knew. Sure, she’d trusted the wrong people before. But those people had sold her out for money and their own fifteen minutes of fame. While they had hurt her, they hadn’t tried to kill her or anyone else.
Manny tilted his head. “I’m not so sure that was his reason for the disguise,” he said. “It’s not like there were any security cameras in that hospital.”
“Too damn bad,” Dane muttered.
“Too damn old,” Manny said.
They probably hadn’t ever needed security cameras before she’d moved to the area. The stalker hadn’t just disrupted her life but the lives of everyone else with whom she came into contact.
Mama...
She’d
been so upset. Teddie had been able to talk to her that morning when her throat had felt better. Mama had been upset about the fire, about Payne Protection, but mostly about Jordan Mannes.
“Are you sure you’re safe with him?”
And for the first time in her thirty years, Teddie had lied to her mother. “Yes, I’m safe with him.”
But she wasn’t safe. While she trusted him with her life, she couldn’t trust him with her heart. She was certain if she did, he would break it. He had already made it clear to her that he had no intention of ever having a serious relationship. Maybe that was why she’d had sex with him—because she’d known that was all he could ever give her.
And she’d been lonely enough to accept that then. But when she’d nearly died, she’d realized that she needed to protect herself. She couldn’t completely trust anyone. “I didn’t recognize him,” she said.
Lately she hadn’t recognized herself—at least, she hadn’t recognized the woman who’d thrown herself at her bodyguard.
“I don’t know him. I don’t know why he would have done this.” She gestured toward the destruction.
“I’m sorry,” Manny said as if it was his fault. “I know you lost a lot.”
She wasn’t worried about the material things she had lost. It was the other things she’d lost that she mourned, like her peace and her peace of mind.
“You must have had insurance, right?” Dane asked, leaning against the SUV.
“I hadn’t had time to find an agent up here,” she admitted. “So, no...”
Dane cursed.
And she smiled. Years ago it would have bothered her what she’d lost. She and her mother had always had so little. But not now.
Manny must have realized the same thing. “I think she can afford this, Dane. She’s a supermodel.”
“I can afford this loss now,” she agreed. “But there was a time losing anything would have devastated me. I grew up with nothing.”
And then all she’d ever wanted was money because she’d thought that would give her peace and peace of mind. Once she didn’t have to worry about keeping a roof over her head or food on the table, she would feel secure. And for a while she had.
Until those letters had started coming.
She shuddered. “At least the stalker’s letters are gone, too.”
Ashes like the rest of the cabin.
Manny shook his head. “Nikki took the folder with her when she left yesterday,” he told her. “She’s investigating them.”
Teddie hadn’t even noticed her taking the folder. She’d spent yesterday trying to avoid thinking about it and about her stalker. She had been totally focused on Manny instead.
Now she felt his focus, his concern, on her.
“We need to get out of here,” he said with a slight shudder as if he’d gotten a chill. Or a creepy feeling like they were being watched?
Was he out there?
Of course he was. Wherever she was, her stalker was never far behind. She was beginning to think that the only time she would ever escape him would be when he finally succeeded in killing her.
* * *
Teddie had been so quiet since they’d left the ashes of her cabin. Manny kept glancing over at her even as he checked the plane, making sure they were ready for takeoff. He’d double-checked everything on the outside. Now he examined the control panel.
Cole’s Cessna was new, though, and quite safe, unlike the crop duster he’d flown up.
“Are you a nervous flier?” he asked her, and he was grateful again that Cole had left the Cessna.
Dane was a nervous flier. That was why he’d chosen a seat in the back of the plane, leaving the front for her. Of course, for guys like Dane it wasn’t so much about flying as about not having control. That was why Manny had wanted to learn to fly himself.
Manny didn’t figure Teddie for a control freak, though.
She shivered a little. “I wasn’t nervous about flying before.”
“Before the stalker?” He hated how much that bastard had messed with her life.
“I just felt trapped, thinking he could be up there with me and I had no escape.” Her breath shuddered out in a ragged sigh. “Now I feel like that even when I’m not on a plane. I feel trapped—like I can’t escape him—no matter where I go or what I do.”
Manny reached over and clasped her hand. “He can’t get you up here. There’s no sneaking on this plane with us on board. And our flying back to River City will buy us plenty of time before he can figure out where we went and how to get to you again. You’re safe, Teddie.”
“Yeah,” Dane chimed in from the back seat. “I think Manny did hit him last night, too. While I couldn’t find him, I found some blood drops on the ground. I think he was bleeding.”
That didn’t mean Manny had hit him with a bullet, though. He could have just cut himself jumping out of the hospital window. But Manny didn’t correct his friend. Maybe Teddie would relax some if she thought her stalker was seriously wounded.
It would help Manny relax, too, if he really believed that. But the man had moved fast. If he had been hit, it couldn’t have been more than a scratch.
Damn it.
Teddie tugged her hand from beneath his and knotted it with her other one in her lap. She was still tense and on edge. But she obviously didn’t want his comfort. She’d pulled away from him at the cabin, too.
Apparently he wasn’t the only one regretting that they’d crossed the line the night before. He regretted it because he’d been so distracted that the stalker had nearly killed his friend and them.
Why did she regret it?
Had she realized that a bodyguard was beneath a supermodel? That there was no way they could ever have more than a fling? Manny had accepted that long ago. He’d known she would never be more than a fantasy to him.
“We’re going to catch him,” Dane said from the back seat. He was usually the quiet one of their unit. But maybe flying made him nervous enough to talk.
Manny knew it didn’t matter what he and Dane said. They weren’t going to ease Teddie’s fears any. Maybe they had only added to them because she would think that they weren’t being realistic, that they wouldn’t be prepared for the stalker’s next attack.
While Manny had told her that the guy wouldn’t be able to track them down for a while, he had his doubts. Her stalker had followed her quickly to the UP. It was almost as if he was a few steps ahead of them instead of behind them.
No matter what she said, the guy had to be someone she knew, someone she trusted. She probably didn’t want to face the fact that once again someone had betrayed her trust. Manny could relate. That was why he trusted only those with whom he’d served. He knew they wouldn’t betray him.
He knew they wouldn’t break his heart. He couldn’t say the same of Teddie Plummer.
While he understood her reasons for pulling away from him, he couldn’t deny the twinge of pain in his chest. She could hurt him, probably even more than her stalker could.
* * *
He had been so close to them, just on the other side of the hangar, readying his plane for takeoff as they readied theirs.
He knew where they were headed. Even if he hadn’t sneaked a look at their flight manifest, he would have known. River City, the home base for the Payne Protection Agency. Because he knew they’d talked to someone at the airstrip about keeping an eye open for anyone following them or going to River City, he’d filed his flight manifest first.
His plane took off before theirs. And he would land his in a city several miles north of River City. They would never suspect him, just like she had never suspected him.
As he climbed into the cockpit, he grimaced, pain cramping his wounded leg. That bastard had shot him. Fortunately, the bullet had gone straight through, but the wound still hurt like hell.
He reached into h
is pocket and pulled out the bottle of pills he’d stolen from the hospital along with the scrubs. He’d also found some thick bandages he’d duct-taped around his thigh. He could feel his jeans sticking to them, though, so he suspected he’d bled through the bandages and the duct tape already. He would have his revenge soon against that damn bodyguard, though.
And he would have Teddie soon, too.
Chapter 16
As the steel door closed behind them, Teddie released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Maybe she’d been holding it since the fire. Or since that first letter had arrived.
She just knew that she finally felt safe here—inside the walls of this brick-and-metal condo that the Payne Protection Agency called their safest safe house. Her stalker wouldn’t be able to burn down this structure or break in. The security system was top-notch, and the building itself was fairly indestructible and surrounded by Payne Protection bodyguards.
To be fair, though, she’d also briefly felt safe in Manny’s arms, safe enough that she’d fallen into a sleep so sound that she had barely awakened when the fire had started. Or maybe that was because she’d been so satiated from making love with him.
Her face heated as she thought of it, of being with him. Was it as incredible as she remembered it being? Or had she romanticized it because he’d saved her life over and over again?
It couldn’t have been that amazing, could it? She’d never felt that way before—with anyone. She had never felt so much pleasure.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
Manny’s dark brows arched in surprise over his dark eyes. “For what?”
She released a ragged breath of relief. “For making me feel safe again.”
He nodded. “Good. That’s why we brought you here. That’s why we should have brought you here right away.” A muscle twitched along his jaw.
He was obviously beating himself up for going along with Nikki Payne’s decoy plan to draw out the stalker. Even if Nikki had looked exactly like Teddie, she doubted the plan would have worked. The stalker seemed to know her way too well. Could it be someone she knew, as Manny thought?