“That explosion . . . our room?” Her voice trembled and she grabbed the sleeve of his jacket, stepping close to him as he peered out the window.
“Apparently someone knows we’re here.”
“How did they find us so quickly?”
“Don’t forget, they knew what plane you were on. Grant may have called in after he made contact with you. DeLuca would want to be absolutely sure you were no longer a threat. He could have had someone here to verify the kill.”
Darcy’s stomach rolled at the stark reality of his words. “It could have been a gas leak . . . or something.”
“That doesn’t fit with the uninvited guest in our room.”
“What do we do now?”
“That blast was triggered when I unlocked the door. It was set to go off once we got inside. When he finds out we weren’t, he’ll probably wait for us to make an appearance. We’ll stay here until things quiet down. Then I’ll find us alternate transportation.” Walker let the curtain drop back in place.
“What about your Jeep?”
“Can’t trust it right now. It would be too easy for whoever set a charge in our room to plant a bomb under our ride.”
Darcy’s eyes went wide. “You could have been killed too—because of me.” She backed away from him, shaking her head. “I can’t . . . you shouldn’t . . .”
Aw, hell. Didn’t she have enough hanging over her head without worrying about him too? Damn Johnny Fontana for putting her in this situation. If he wasn’t already dead, Walker would be sorely tempted to finish the job himself.
“Come here.” When she just gaped at him, he took her hand and tugged her with him as he walked through the empty house and up a flight of stairs. A short hallway opened into a master bedroom with a walk-in closet. He pulled her inside the small, dark room, closed the door, and shrugged out of his coat, placing it around her shoulders. Rummaging through his backpack, he found a small flashlight and turned it on, then handed it to her. Now the storm brewing on her face came into view, and the closet would hide the light from anyone outside who might be watching.
She placed her hand on his sleeve, fear and anxiety in her wide eyes as she met his gaze. “This is my problem. I won’t have anyone hurt because of me. You have to leave before it’s too late.”
Her voice held more determination than a body that small should possess. Those eyes, so full of fear, roped him in. Just the idea of leaving her alone and unprotected turned his stomach inside out. “I’m not going anywhere. First of all, you didn’t cause this. Second—we’re in this together now. That means your problem is my problem. Okay?”
Tear tracks lined her face and he couldn’t resist the urge to dry them with his thumbs. Her lips called to him, but somehow he let his hands drop away from her before he crossed that line. She’d clearly reached the limits of her endurance. He didn’t know how she’d kept going this long. This soft-spoken, softhearted girl was certainly no pushover.
Her eyes blazed and her lips pursed in a fine line. She might have some argument left, but she dropped her gaze, then fisted her hand in his sleeve and laid her head against his arm.
“We could have been in that room.”
He barely caught her whispered words, and the anguish in her voice tugged uncomfortably at his heart. He wanted nothing more than to protect her. So close to gathering her in his arms and kissing away her fears, he slammed the door on that stupid idea just in time. Walker sighed as he leaned against the wall beside her. “We’re safe here for now. Try to get some sleep.”
She didn’t argue when he patted his shoulder and held his arm out in invitation. Instead, she crawled inside the protective circle of his arm and found a spot to lean her head that fit just right.
“What happened back there, Walker? After the explosion?”
He’d been dreading that question, not because she didn’t deserve to know, but because putting it into words brought all the memories flooding back. He hesitated until she tilted her head to look at him and the uncertainty in her eyes nailed him.
“That . . . was a walking nightmare . . . commonly referred to as a flashback.”
“You were in the army?”
“MARSOC—Marine Special Operations Command. Spent a few years in the Gulf. Silent Warriors they called us, due to our ability to sneak up close and personal before the enemy knew we were there. I’m still dealing with some of the things I saw and did. Seems like when I get cocky and start thinking I’ve got a handle on it, something comes along and triggers my little piece of hell just to prove I’m wrong.”
“Like the explosion?”
“Exactly.”
“How often does it happen?”
“Last one was months ago. I thought I had it beat, but the truth is, I don’t know when it will happen again. I know I scared you back there. I’d understand if you’d feel safer with someone else watching out for you. I can call my boss as soon as we get where we’re going.”
She was silent a moment. Then she relaxed against him, stretching her arm across his chest. “I’m safe with you.”
He squeezed her shoulder gently and breathed in the delicate scent of her hair—honeysuckle. Her sweet acceptance of him, scarred and broken, touched a place deep within him long ago closed away. It was all he could do to keep from tipping her face up another inch and possessing her mouth. Should he be glad or sorry she decided to stick with him? If she hadn’t been there to pull him back from the edge, there could have been a totally different ending to the evening. She might have been killed while he was busy fighting his private war. That thought made him break out in a cold sweat. On the other hand, who would he trust enough to keep her safe? He gazed at her head resting inches from his lips. His arm around her rose and fell with her breathing as it slowed and evened out in sleep.
No one. He’d trust no one but himself with Darcy’s life. The realization shocked him.
Her warm, firm body, pressed up against his, reawakened the desire Walker first experienced when she clung to him in her inebriated condition by the light of the campfire last night. He’d wanted to kiss her then, but he knew where the kiss would lead, and she wasn’t prepared for that. Now, sitting on the floor of a walk-in closet in someone else’s house, he rejected the reaction he would have found natural, even compulsory, with someone else. She wasn’t like anyone he’d ever met. Innocent and pure, she was someone whose virtue should be protected. Definitely, no one should ever hurt her. When this was over he’d settle up with Robby . . . just as if Darcy was his woman.
Turning off the flashlight, he leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes.
IT WAS A little after three a.m. when Walker opened his eyes again. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept five hours straight. Without moving, he listened for any changes in the house or outside. Nothing seemed different, but he’d have a look around just the same. Darcy still slept soundly. She stirred as soon as he tried moving her.
“What’s wrong?” Her voice was gravelly.
“Nothing. Go back to sleep. I’ll just be a few minutes.”
“No. I’m going with you.”
“Darcy . . .”
“I’m going.” She scrambled to her feet.
“Okay. Since you’re so wide awake, we might as well get on the road. Maybe you can rest in the car.”
“What car?”
“The one I’m going to borrow.”
He frowned at her air of disapproval. “Have you got a better idea?” When she didn’t respond, he gave a short laugh. “I suppose you could wait here so you won’t be an accessory.”
She appeared to consider that for a moment, then shook her head. “We’re in this together, right? It goes both ways.”
At the top of the stairs, Walker paused. “Wait here a minute while I check downstairs.” He left her and descended silently to the lower level. The house was empty, the doors and windows undisturbed. At the foot of the stairs, he told her to wait again while he checked outside. He didn’t like l
eaving her alone and unprotected. One of the first things he’d do was get her a gun and teach her how to use it.
When she tried to give him his coat at the door, he pushed it back toward her. “It’s damp and cold outside. Put that on over yours.”
“No. You’ll need it.”
“Stop arguing with me. I’m bigger and meaner and I’ll win every time.” He opened the door when she had the coat on, but he caught the narrowing of her eyes and her soft whisper as she stepped through the door.
“Bigger doesn’t always win.”
Sassy and sweet—a provocative combination. A grin came unbidden as he led her away from the house, through an alley, and onto the next street. From there they caught a glimpse of their motel. It was still standing. The fire must have been extinguished quickly.
Should he try getting the Jeep? He couldn’t take the chance. Walker turned the opposite direction and started walking.
“Where will we find a car?” She matched his stride, her hands shoved into the pockets of his coat.
“There’s probably a bar around here. Usually at least one patron leaves his car there and takes a cab home. It’ll be hours before he looks for it, and when he does, he won’t remember where he parked anyway.”
“Two blocks inland—Rowdy’s. It’s a dive, but it probably has the kind of clientele you’re talking about.”
“Right.” He turned right at the next street. “I forgot I had my own personal tour guide.”
In the soft glow of a streetlamp, her smile erased some of the worry from her face.
They walked the two blocks to the bar in silence. Two deserted cars sat in the parking lot. Walker pulled a homemade slim-jim from his backpack and approached the closest car, a beat-up Chevy Monte Carlo at least twenty years old. He inserted the long metal tool between the glass and the rubber seals, felt gently for the rods connected to the locking mechanism, and pulled upward. The door lock came up as well.
“Quick, get in.” He opened the door. Darcy crawled across the console to the passenger side and he got behind the wheel. From his pocket, he took a ring with a dozen thin pieces of metal the size and shape of keys. He slid one into the ignition and jiggled it around. Nothing happened. He tried the next one, then the next. Finally, on the fourth try, the key turned over and the car started. He grinned at Darcy. “Put your seat belt on.”
“What was that? I thought you’d hotwire the car.”
“It’s called a jiggle set. You put the key in and . . .”
“Jiggle it around.”
He heard the smile in her voice. “You’re learning. I’ll teach you to hotwire a car sometime, too, if you want. You never know what skills you may need someday.” He winked at her as he pulled the car carefully out of the parking lot, leaving the headlights off until they were a block away.
“Just out of curiosity, is there anything you don’t have in that backpack?”
“Yes—fuel, but luckily our drunk kept a pretty full tank. How far is it to Gold Beach?”
“About two hundred and fifty miles.”
“Good. We’ll stop for gas and something to eat once we put this place behind us. You’ll have plenty of time to get some rest.”
“Who can sleep after stealing a car? I can drive if you’re sleepy.”
“You’d drive a stolen car so I could sleep?”
Darcy laughed and shrugged. “You’ve been a bad influence on me—Mr. Walker.”
“Not again,” he groaned. “I’ll take the first shift.”
A BAD SENSE of déjà vu invaded Darcy’s sleep as the car bumped and rattled around her. Jerking to attention, she fingered the door handle, her heart in her throat. She looked toward the driver, half-expecting to see Grant smirking.
“It’s okay. I’m just turning off the highway so we can get a bite to eat. Are you hungry?” Walker must have recognized the panic in her eyes. He reached for her arm as though he expected her to open her door and jump from the car.
Her racing heart slowed as soon as she heard his voice. “Is it a good idea to stop in such a public place with a stolen car?”
“Cops will spot it just as quickly on the highway as they will here. Besides, it’s pretty early. I doubt our drunk is up yet.”
The sun peeked over the mountains to the east. The sky was a brilliant blue. The fog had either burned off or they’d driven out of it, and the coastline below them wound away into the distance. It was a beautiful day, and Darcy was happy to be alive—literally. The phrase had a whole new meaning for her today. She turned a radiant smile on Walker.
“Yes, I’m hungry and I need coffee.”
One of his brows arched upward. “What’s got you so happy?”
“I’m pretty much always happy. You just caught me on a bad day.”
“That’s the understatement of the century.” His amusement cracked into a smile.
Darcy stepped from the car and fell in beside him as he came around the trunk. They walked into the restaurant and slid into the first empty booth. The smell of coffee practically had her salivating. The waitress took their order and was back a few minutes later with their food.
“Where are you from?” Darcy studied him as she took a bite of bacon.
“Haven’t stayed in one place long enough to be from anywhere.”
She frowned and concentrated on her plate. He didn’t want her to know. Maybe he didn’t waste time telling personal things about himself to people he’d never see again. She was just a job to him, after all, and he’d be done with her in a couple of days. Why was it so important she know about him anyway?
She liked him, that was why. He didn’t laugh when she threw herself at him. He had such a great smile, and she felt safer with him than she’d ever felt with anyone. It was only a few hours ago they’d met, yet she couldn’t imagine being without him now. She’d probably chase him away if she didn’t lay off the personal questions.
When she stopped pushing her food around her plate and looked up, he watched her curiously. “You went kind of quiet on me. Everything okay?”
“I’m sorry for prying. You have enough to do trying to save my neck without having to tell me your life story too. I realize this is your job . . . not a game of Twenty Questions.” She dropped her gaze to her plate again.
“You’re not prying. I’m the one who should apologize for being short with you. You can ask me anything you want.” He smiled when she looked at him skeptically.
“I’m from Georgia, originally, but I live just outside a small town in northern Montana. It’s beautiful there and quiet. The only explosions are ones I make.” He winked at her when she laughed. “I haven’t been home for a while. I was enjoying a little vacation in Long Beach when I got the call about you.”
“Oh great. I took you away from your vacation?”
“Vacationing alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. What else do you want to know?”
“How come I don’t hear any southern accent if you’re from Georgia?”
“I left a long time ago, and I worked really hard to shed that southern boy routine.” The last part dissolved into a southern drawl that made her laugh again.
“Not as effectively as you hoped, I see. Do you still have family there?”
“Unless you have a very loose definition of family, I don’t really have anyone that qualifies. My mother died when I was fifteen. I left home at sixteen, and it was about a year before my father realized I was gone. You might say there’s no love lost. There are people I consider family, but there’s no blood relation.”
“Sometimes those people make the best family. Eddy and Nick became my family.” Immediately, sorrow accompanied unshed tears that stung behind her eyelids. She blinked, glanced at Walker, and saw his concern. It wasn’t fair to lose it in front of him. He’d already put up with enough of her tears. Sitting up straighter, she forced a smile. She would grieve for the loss of her adopted family on her own time.
She threw him a glance from beneath her lashes. “I’d pick y
ou to be my family . . . if I knew your first name.”
“You didn’t just say that.” Walker shook his head. “You have no shame, and after I bared my soul to you too.”
“Why won’t you tell me? Do you hate it? Is it an odd-sounding name? I promise I won’t laugh.” She leaned toward him across the table. “Just give me the initials. I bet I could guess.”
Walker clammed up and refused to say another word on the subject.
Finished with their breakfast, he ordered two coffees to go, paid the tab, and they left. He tossed her the keys as they approached the car.
“It’s time for you to become an accomplice. I need a nap.”
Darcy slid behind the wheel, adjusted the seat several positions closer, and headed south on Highway 101. Walker laid his seat back and within a few miles he was sound asleep. Peace stole over his features and took a few years off his age. The crazy urge to touch his arm or stroke his cheek waged a silent war within her. Finally, she set the cruise control at 62 and ate up the miles. When a road sign told her she had twenty-eight miles to go, she pulled off into a state park.
“Are we there yet?” Walker sat up as the car rolled to a stop.
“How long have you been awake?”
“A few miles. Ready for a break?”
“Yeah, I need to stretch my legs.”
“Good idea.” He brought his seat back up and opened his door. She met him at the front of the car. A strong wind blew, but the sun made up for it, shining brightly and lending its warmth. Out over the ocean the fog bank rolled toward shore.
They followed one of the trails down to the beach and walked beside the surf. Darcy kicked her shoes off and dug her toes into the warm sand, then ran into the surf just for the pure joy of running back. It seemed somehow callous to be happy after everything that had happened, but she was, and she was afraid the reason for her happiness was the dark-haired man who linked arms with her and smiled into her soul. If she closed her eyes and imagined, she could almost forget Walker had been sent to protect her. She might be inexperienced with the opposite sex, but she recognized the lust that darkened his eyes at times, and it excited her. What would it take to make a man like Walker fall in love with her? When she opened her eyes again, make-believe blended into reality. His laughing gray eyes and lighthearted smile, the dazzling sunlight and the roaring surf, all combined to make her giddy and impetuous. Halfway up the trail to the car, Darcy stopped, stood on her tiptoes, and kissed him full on the lips.
When I Find You: A Trust No One Novel Page 9