“Why didn’t you pursue space?”
“I don’t know. Lost interest. Moved on.”
She understood that. “I wanted to be a ballerina.”
“What stopped you?”
The hair on her arms stood up and the cool night made her shiver.
“You’ll laugh if I tell you.”
“I don’t smile, so laughing is out of the question.”
She giggled, completely unprepared for a joke.
Neil tried to hide his smile.
“I was too fat.”
His jaw dropped. “You don’t have an ounce to spare.”
“I know. Never have…but prima ballerinas eat salad and question the dressing. I enjoy food too much.” She returned her stare to the stars and rubbed her arms. “I still enjoy the ballet. The grace and beauty of the dance.”
Neil shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it over her shoulders. She snuggled into his side and surprisingly he kept his arm on her shoulders. “Thank you.”
He gave a passing smile and looked up again. “I’ve never been to a live stage show. Outside of a rock concert.”
“Really? Why?”
“Never occurred to me to go.”
Her head rested on his shoulder as they talked. “I suppose the wealth I’ve always been surrounded by has afforded me many fine things in life. But you know something?”
“What?”
“I’ve never seen this, a night sky so crisp and clear with stars that look like the finest diamond in a bright light.”
“The best things in life cost nothing.”
True.
A star shot across the sky. “Did you see that?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
She closed her eyes and wished they’d make it home safely.
“What are you doing?”
She opened her eyes and found him staring at her. “Making a wish. C’mon, make a wish upon a falling star…surely you’ve heard of that.”
“Ahh.” He was smiling again and the sight took her breath away.
“Are you going to make a wish?”
He shook his head.
“Why not?” She turned to him, his hand rested on her arm.
“I don’t believe in wishes.”
She huddled under his coat. “It’s only a small fantasy, or desire, to wish for something. It’s meant to be fun.”
His smile fell and his gaze slid to her lips.
“It’s OK to have fun once in a while, Neil.”
She caught his eyes again, and drowned in his gaze. He leaned in and she made a second wish, his wish, that he not pull back this time.
Neil’s hand moved up her arm and pulled her closer before her wish came true. There, in the middle of the desert filled with wild animals and a zillion stars, Neil kissed her. Hot, desperate kisses that filled every lonely pore of her body.
Gwen skirted her hands up his thick chest and clawed into his skin. She opened for him, accepting the feeling of his tongue alongside hers. She couldn’t breathe, his embrace was so hard, but she didn’t care. She could breathe later. Now was the time for feeling. As in how his hand found the back of her head and he guided her where he wanted. It was then she knew that she would give him anything should he ask.
Her dreams didn’t prepare her for his touch. She pushed into him, felt his arousal, and wanted all of him.
If his kiss was any indication, he wanted her, too.
So why was he pushing her away?
His hot breath blew upon her cheek. “Gwendolyn,” he sighed.
“I don’t want you to stop,” she confessed.
The arms that held her tightened.
“You’re a distraction. Distractions get you killed.”
Was he saying this to himself? Or to her?
“There’s no one out here but us.” And wild, hot sex, even on the hood of the car, was better than backing away now.
“We can’t do this.” He took her head in both hands and looked into her eyes. “Not now.”
She could taste the argument on her lips.
She swallowed it.
I’ve waited this long. I can wait a little longer. Now that she’d sampled him, she’d taste him on her lips every time she thought of him.
Blake intended to follow Neil’s advice. Until he’d heard that he and Gwen had left in the middle of the night and hadn’t been seen since. At that point, Blake told his pilot to fuel his private jet and he kissed his wife and son good-bye.
Samantha hadn’t been happy about being left in Albany, but a stomach flu kept her from using her power over him to let her come. If Neil’s concerns were even half validated, Blake didn’t need his family underfoot or in harm’s way while he searched for his sister and bodyguard.
Once the jet set down on the west end of the runway and customs cleared him, Blake walked to the car waiting to take him home.
“Mr. Harrison?”
Not used to seeing anyone but Neil as his driver, Blake did a double take.
“First Class Services sent me.” First Class Services was a company Blake had used from time to time. He needed to thank Sam when he talked to her later that night.
Blake nodded and ducked into the backseat. Dean was sitting on the opposite seat, a smirk on his face. “Welcome home, Your Grace.”
Blake shook the detective’s hand. “Knock that Grace crap off, Dean. What the hell is going on?”
Dean nodded toward the driver who inched off the runway.
“All their drivers are cleared before they get behind the wheel.”
Dean sucked in a deep breath.
“I’m not sure what’s going on, Blake. Eliza called me. Told me about the dead neighbors. We tuned into the radios of Tarzana’s men…heard the calls going back and forth. They weren’t happy about having to let Neil poke around and even less excited to see us arrive. At first glance, it looks like birds nested inside the hot tub’s electrical system.”
“And at second glance?”
“We don’t have that yet. Homicide is going over the place with tweezers now. No one thinks it’s an accident. Spontaneous electrocutions in hot tubs don’t happen. Not unless the wiring with the tub had been tampered with. Which brings me to the victims themselves.”
“What about them?”
“They were squatters.”
“Squatters?”
“The whole damn country is filling up with them. People who move into abandoned or bank-owned homes and take up residency. Banks hate being landlords and many of the properties they’ve foreclosed on in the last five years are still vacant. People move in, get a bill or two in their name, and now the bank has to evict them. There are groups of people all over who organize squatting.”
Blake shook his head. “So these people live free for what? Six months?”
“Or a year…sometimes longer. Only when a real estate agent comes around to inspect do they find the problem. Hell, San Francisco banks can own houses in Pacoima, and use San Diego agents to handle selling them. Needless to say, many times the agent never even sees the house. It’s a mess.”
“How the hell do they get the power turned on?”
“In this case, they were stealing power from the neighbors, Gwen and Karen included.”
“Neil told me there were problems with the monitors at the house every time the neighbors used the Jacuzzi.”
“And he never found the problem because he didn’t have access to the neighbors’ house. The fact that the squatters stole the power leads me to believe there could be a plausible explanation for their demise.”
Oh, now Blake was very confused. “If that’s true then Neil overreacted?”
“I’m not saying that yet. Neil doesn’t strike me as an impulsive man. He’s so damn quiet most of the time I don’t have a clue what’s going on in his head.”
Yeah…but Blake remembered a time when Neil was as impulsive as a teenager getting lucky for the first time.
“Where the hell is he?”
“Don’
t know. He was ripping the place apart before I left your house. You’ll see the mess he left behind. All his equipment is in your den. It’s like he was setting up a fortress in there. Scared the shit out of Mary.”
“And Gwen?”
“She was already upset about the neighbors. I came back yesterday morning and found them gone. Dillon gave me this.” Dean handed him a handwritten note.
Dean
Keep all conversations outside of the Malibu and Tarzana houses. Everything I set up has been compromised.
I will notify you in seventy-two hours with more information.
If you don’t hear from me, have Carter contact the Commander in Chief. Give them my name. And code name: Raven.
Mac
“Seventy-two hours?”
“Thirty-six as of this morning.”
Blake ran a hand through his hair. “Commander in chief? Who is he talking about?”
Dean leveled his eyes with his. “I think he’s talking about the president.”
Blake’s skin chilled. What the fuck did Neil drag his sister into?
Chapter Fifteen
Two consecutive nights of sleeping in the backseat of a small car was enough. Sure, it helped that Neil had managed to find two of the most beautiful places in which to camp, but enough!
The Nevada morning had taken her by surprise. The cliff they’d parked next to jutted hundreds of feet in the air with nothing but bright blue sky beyond. In the light of day, their impromptu campground felt less threatening.
Nothing prepared Gwen for Utah. She’d seen pictures, but had never been. The landscape was candy for her eyes. She sounded like a recording with her constant “brilliant, and stunning” being uttered from her lips.
The fierce winds that shaped the cliffs and vistas also blew their tiny car around.
“It’s lovely,” she said as they rounded another corner and one more picture worthy view met her eyes.
“It is.”
He hadn’t done more than brush his hands against hers since their kiss. He seemed to have found the comfortable distance he’d said he needed in order to stay alert. That didn’t mean she didn’t see him watching her every so often.
Neil had three days’ growth on his face, and she loved it. Handsome, in his harsh way, he somehow softened with the beard. His short hair made the beard look deliberate instead of lazy. She wouldn’t even mind the scrape of it on her skin. Everywhere.
He had paid for everything with cash. Even Gwen, who hadn’t watched that many movies about fleeing men and women, knew that credit cards could be traced. They were completely off the grid, as they say. No one knew them, no one would be able to find them like this. With anyone but Neil, the thought might frighten her. Instead, she felt liberated.
“Please tell me we’ll find lodging tonight.”
“We’ll see.”
“Neil, please. My clothing needs a good wash and I don’t think you’ve slept more than an hour or two at a time.”
“I don’t need a lot of sleep.”
“Oh, posh. Everyone needs to sleep. My attempts to clean up have been less than adequate. A bed and running water, please.” She poured sugar into her request. “You know no one is following us out here.”
He made a point of checking the rearview mirror.
“There’s no one back there.”
He sighed. “We need to buy a few things…before we check into a hotel.”
She clapped her hands like a schoolgirl, jumped over the seat, and planted her lips to his rough cheek. “Thank you. I can’t wait to be clean again.” She settled back in her seat and counted the mile markers to the next town.
They found a corner store that seemed to have a little of everything. Like a mini Walmart, there was clothing for the whole family in a few aisles and groceries in the other.
“We won’t be here long. Don’t talk to anyone.”
Gwen made a keying motion on her lips and smiled. He handed her two twenties. “I’ll grab some food, you get whatever you need.”
She hopped out of the car and practically skipped inside the store. After grabbing a basket and finding the shampoo aisle, she bought a couple of travel size shampoo and conditioners, soap, and a razor. She walked past the hair dye and stopped. She found a washable tint in both brown and red, tossed them inside. Lip gloss, bug repellant. The important things.
A woman walked past her and Gwen pretended to read the back of one of the boxes.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d taken, so she headed to the register and noticed one more item she had to buy.
Condoms.
It never ceased to amaze Neil how people responded to the simple things in life after they’d done without them for a while.
Gwen’s smile lit up her face as they climbed back into the car.
“Get everything you need?” he asked.
“I’m sure I forgot something, but I managed the essentials.”
She unscrewed the cap of the small shampoo and brought it to her nose. “Lovely.” She pushed it in his face. “Smell.”
“Smells like you.”
“Not yet, but soon.”
He pulled out of the parking lot and watched the rearview mirror until they were back on the road. They’d find a hotel that wouldn’t ask questions and he’d make a phone call in the morning once they were far away from the place they slept.
It was time to start leading his prey.
Being the prey wasn’t an option.
Not any longer.
He still needed to work out how to keep Gwen far from the action when it went down. A couple of ideas swam inside his head, each nearly impossible for its own reason. He still had a few days to figure it out.
“You’re frowning. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“I’d love to believe you, but my guess is you’re trying to work out what to do next. We’ve left California, but we can’t run forever. Though a little while might be fun.”
He felt the frown on his face lifting. “You like running?”
“Come now, Neil, have you ever seen such a beautiful place in your life? I would never have seen this had you not dragged me out of the house in the middle of the night.”
“There’s nothing stopping you from taking a road trip.”
“When there are perfectly good airplanes to take me where I want to go? I would never have chosen to take a car.”
“Sometimes the journey is the destination.”
“Hmmm,” she hummed. “I like that. Anyway, you’re worried about what comes next. Am I right?”
“Worried, no,” he lied.
“Perplexed then?”
He didn’t answer.
“Sometimes talking about it helps you work it out.”
He couldn’t tell her he planned to find an ivory tower for her, lock her inside, and then go fight the bad guy. Neil didn’t think she’d sit back and let that happen. She was a lot better at the cloak-and-dagger life than he thought she’d be and would probably insist on coming along to help.
“Women talk, men think quietly.”
“Is that your way of telling me to stop talking?”
“When have I ever been that polite?”
She leaned against the seat back and smiled. “Oh, you’re quite right. You’d tell me to shut up if you didn’t want to hear me any longer.”
“Finally,” he said laughing. “The woman understands me.”
“The hell she does.”
His jaw dropped.
“What?” she asked.
“You said hell.”
“Of course I said hell. I’m not a prude. I did live with Eliza, you know. The woman can make a sailor blush when she wants to.”
Neil kinda liked that about Eliza. He supposed he admired her battle-tested spirit as well. Carter was a lucky man.
“You don’t know how happy it makes me to hear you profess you’re not a prude.”
She ran a hand through her hair that she’d left loose since they’d pull
ed away from the store. “Oh, why’s that?”
He nodded to the backseat. “I bought you something new to wear.”
Gwen’s face lit up, her grin nearly blinding him. Her seat belt was off and she was reaching in the back in seconds.
Her body stilled.
“What the?”
“You said you’re not a prude.”
She twisted back into her seat, his purchases in her hands. “You’re joking.”
The look of horror on her face brightened his. He for one couldn’t wait to see her in his choice of clothing.
“Are these shorts?” She lifted the teenybopper shorts that only sported enough material to cover one cheek modestly.
“Those are shorts.”
“They won’t cover my knickers, Neil.”
He’d seen her knickers. They’d cover a thong plenty.
The red and white checkered top was right off the queen of the Fourth of July parade.
“At least the shoes are cute,” she said, dangling the pumps with a finger. “Cheap, but cute.”
“You like?”
“It’s appalling.”
You can take a Lady out of the castle, but not the castle out of the Lady.
“That’s what I was going for.”
“Why?”
“You’ll see,” he told her.
“It better be good.” She tossed the clothes back where she’d found them. “Or I’ll choose an outfit for you.” She leaned back and closed her eyes. “And I have a fondness for black leather.”
Twenty miles outside of town, Neil stopped at a gas station and told her to change. She grumbled, but marched to the bathroom all the same. “And do something equally appalling with your hair.”
He chuckled as he walked into the convenience store and bought a pack of gum and a pack of cigarettes.
Outside the bathroom, he leaned against the hood of the car…waiting. He kept checking his watch, wondering if she’d ever come out. He moved to the door and gave a quick knock. “Everything all right in there?”
“I look ridiculous.”
“Scared, Princess?” he taunted her. Something he noticed worked on this trip. And here he thought he knew Lady Gwendolyn better than most. He hadn’t known shit.
“I’m not scared.”
“Uh-huh!”
He backed up to the car and waited.
Fiancé by Friday Page 12