She burst out laughing, the sound carefree and happy. Everything in him should have settled. She wouldn't laugh like that unless she forgave his idiot game. After all that had happened to her, to sound like that ... He tipped her face up to his and took her mouth. Immediately she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body into his. He loved the way she gave herself to him. Everything. She'd done it earlier as well, holding nothing back. That was on his list of things he loved about her. So many. Especially the way she kissed.
That uneasiness in him didn't subside when he kissed her in spite of the fact that she was clearly over the game he'd invented. Of course, he wasn't about to admit to her that he'd been the one to think it up because he was so damned bored playing the role of playboy that he was sulking all the time. He lifted his head slowly, turning slightly so he could angle his body to keep her between him and the facility's front door and the street. He looked carefully around. His uneasiness grew.
Her fingers tightened on his jacket sleeve. "Giovanni?" Her voice trembled slightly. She kept it low, so it wouldn't travel past him.
"I know, baby. He's out there. He was following us. The boys set up a trap, but he didn't fall for it. I thought we lost him though. I don't see how he wasn't spotted the way I drove here."
"I wondered why you took such a roundabout route."
"Let's get you inside. I'll tell Emilio and Enzo he's still watching you. We'll visit with your brother and ignore the asshole. Let the boys try to find him. If they can't, when we get back to my home, believe me, there's no way in for him. You'll be safe there tonight. We'll figure out what to do in the morning when we're both fresh."
"But ..." She trailed off and then nodded.
"Good. Have fun with your brother. Take your time and put everything else out of your head. I want you to introduce me to him. He might not remember this time or next that I visit, but hopefully, he'll come to accept me with you." He was already texting Emilio as they went inside and shut the door.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sandlin Provis was a good-looking man in spite of the head-on collision. There were very few scars and none of them were prominent. He had a small one up by his temple and another curving close to his cheekbone, but other than that, he looked as if he was in perfect health and always had been.
Giovanni could see the resemblance to Sasha the moment they entered the common room, where he was sitting quietly in a corner reading a book. His curly hair was the same nearly platinum blond his sister had. His eyes were that exact sapphire blue. The scruff on his jaw was mostly blond.
"Sandlin," Sasha greeted, her voice filled with genuine love. "You look good tonight. I've missed you."
The man looked up, blinking at her, and then a slow, almost childlike smile slipped over his face. "Hello." He marked his place in his book and carefully closed it, his actions unhurried and deliberate. "Are you looking for someone?"
Giovanni was looking at Sasha and he saw the hurt and sadness in her expression, hastily covered by a smile. "You, Sandlin. I was looking for you. I would very much like to visit with you if you have time. My name is Sasha, and I'm your sister. I've brought a friend with me. This is Giovanni Ferraro." She indicated him, but kept her gaze fixed on her brother.
He stood, using the same slow, deliberate movements that he had when closing his book. Giovanni stepped forward and held out his hand. Sandlin took it without hesitation. Surprisingly, his grip was strong.
"I'm the man who is with your sister," Giovanni explained. "I wanted to come and see you so you'll know she's well looked after."
Sandlin regarded him with an open, sweet expression. "That's good." He indicated the chairs closer to the fireplace. "Let's sit over there. I like being close to the fire. It keeps me warm."
They walked toward the fireplace. The flames gave off shadows, some dancing across the wood floor. Giovanni stepped into one and felt the pull against him, the way the shadows tugged at his body. When he stepped out of that one into the next he had a shock. Sandlin's shadow, thrown by the light, had connected with Giovanni's. Like Sasha, he was a potential shadow rider, his shadow throwing out tubes to connect with every shadow around him.
Giovanni watched his face very carefully and saw the exact moment information and emotion hit him. Sandlin turned his head to look at Giovanni, to study his facial features. There was no guile whatsoever in him, but his shocking blue eyes were speculative as he stared at Giovanni.
"Do I know you?"
Giovanni shook his head. "No, I came with your sister to make certain you knew I would take good care of her." He wanted to reiterate that Sasha was his sibling and that Giovanni was good for her.
"You feel ... scary."
Giovanni nodded. "I can be scary to some people. Not to you. Certainly not to Sasha."
Sandlin frowned and shook his head. "I meant another word. I don't like it when I can't think of what I want to say." His expression cleared, changed at once to glee. "Powerful. You're powerful. Our shadows touch and I know you."
Giovanni nodded. "That's right. When our shadows touch, you can tell whether or not someone is lying to you, right?"
Sandlin sank into one of the armchairs. He gripped the arm with strong fingers. "I don't like lies. They hurt my ears." He rubbed at his temples as if remembering a painful experience.
"That happens to me as well," Giovanni said. He caught Sasha as she started past him, pulling her to him so that her back was pressed tight against his front, his arms around her waist. He moved them both into the next shadow that touched Sandlin's. The jolt hit him hard. All three were connected now, tubes reaching for one another, their shadows intertwining.
Sasha gasped and looked up at him, but he kept his gaze fixed on Sandlin's face. The man felt it, too, that initial hit, a rush of information crowding in, too much to be analyzed all at once. Sandlin and Sasha definitely could have been riders, both of them sensitive to the pull of the shadows as well as to the intelligence pouring in. The ability in them was extremely strong.
Giovanni had known Sasha's character from the moment their shadows had touched. He'd felt her sweet, compassionate nature coupled with her independent, fiery side. Sandlin had a will of steel, but his childlike, open qualities overshadowed that will. He wanted to please those around him, for the most part.
It was important for Giovanni to protect his woman, even from her own brother if it was necessary. Mariko, Ricco's wife, had been targeted by her own brother and the woman who had raised the two of them. Giovanni wasn't about to overlook any threat to Sasha. He was adept at reading shadows and hearing lies. He'd been trained from the time he was a child. He couldn't imagine Sandlin being a threat to anyone, but he wasn't about to make mistakes based on compassion or any other gentler emotion. Sandlin, for all his childlike ways, and the fact that he couldn't hold on to information, at least anything in his memory banks, was a shrewd man.
"I've never felt anyone as powerful or as dangerous as you," Sasha admitted in a low voice. "When all three of our shadows touched like that, your pull was so strong I had to move into you. That was extraordinary and a little scary. I've always been able to hear lies, and so has Sandlin. I can feel other people's emotions, but never that strong. It's nowhere near that strong."
"I've been trained in the use of shadows," he said by way of explanation. He couldn't go into his family's legacy, not there.
Giovanni stepped out of the shadow and led Sasha to the low-slung love seat across from Sandlin. The flames rose up, dancing, as if a breeze had entered the room. Sandlin watched him the entire way. He looked a pale child, helplessly watching a predator draw close.
"What have you been doing today?" Sasha asked as she settled on the small love seat.
Giovanni sat next to her, one arm sliding out along the back of the couch to circle behind her shoulders, trying to offer her reassurance. Her body trembled, small little continual tremors he doubted she was aware of. She kept her smile with a steady, concentrated effort as she regar
ded her brother.
He ignored her, staring at Giovanni. "You have done bad things." It was a child's accusation, sounding a little twisted coming from a grown adult.
Giovanni stayed in complete control, not wincing away from the truth, refusing to give away anything to Sasha through body language. He had done bad things, at least those things could be considered bad if the wrong people knew about them. He was a rider, and that meant his job was to bring justice to those who had escaped the law.
He nodded his head. "Yes, Sandlin, that's true. I have done bad things. Not to your sister, but many people might say I'm a bad person, judging me on things they don't understand. But I'm not bad to your sister nor would I ever be. Bad people are afraid of me, not your sister." His voice rang with sincerity and he hoped Sandlin would quit regarding him with suspicion.
Sandlin continued to stare at him with the same frown that Giovanni liked seeing on Sasha's face. She could melt him just with her expressions alone, which didn't bode well for his future. She would be able to play him so easily and, sadly, he could tell he was going to be one of those men who gave her anything and everything she wanted. He bent his head to brush a kiss through her thick hair.
"You don't feel like the other man did," Sandlin said. "He felt funny. I didn't like him."
Sasha frowned at Giovanni. "Who's he talking about?"
"Hell if I know. Buddy, you're going to have to be more precise. Who felt funny to you?"
"He was just here," Sandlin insisted, scowling at them, beginning to look petulant. "Right before you. He interrupted my reading, too. I don't like that. Not when it's at a good part. How am I supposed to figure out who did the killing when I'm interrupted?"
Beside him, Sasha had begun to tense up. He slid his hand under her fall of curls to wrap his fingers around the nape of her neck, massaging gently in hopes of easing the tension out of her.
"He gets agitated sometimes," she whispered. "And he mixes things up. He might have been reading about someone coming into a room and interrupting the hero."
Giovanni didn't think so, and apprehension grew in the pit of his stomach. He leaned toward Sandlin. "Can you describe the man who came to see you tonight?"
Sandlin looked puzzled. "No. He was a man."
Giovanni was silent, trying to think how to get Sandlin's cooperation. "Can you give us clues and we'll try to guess?"
Sandlin's face lit up. Once more he looked like the sweet child he'd been when they'd first arrived. "Yes. We can solve the mystery. He wore a brown coat. A big one, with a hood."
Sasha frowned, her eyes meeting Giovanni's. "Do you think someone was really here tonight? We don't know anyone here."
"Don't they have to sign in?"
"I thought so. They know me here and I've not signed in for the last month or so. Maybe they've changed their policy."
"We'll ask. I'll want to speak to someone in charge," Giovanni said. He knew once a Ferraro was involved, the Center would do just about anything to keep him happy. He represented the potential of millions of dollars coming their way in donations.
"You didn't figure it out," Sandlin said. "You need to think about it."
"We need another clue."
Sandlin looked deflated. Clearly, he didn't have anything else he remembered. His face suddenly lit up and he fished something out of his pocket. Giovanni heard Sasha gasp. She went pale and leaned toward her brother to better see what he had in his hand.
Sandlin stared down at the object and then held it out. "I think this belongs to her, not me. He said it was mine and he was returning it to me, but it isn't."
"It's the key chain. The one taken from my apartment." She got up and crossed the short distance to take the key chain from her brother. "Thanks, Sandlin, you're right, this is mine. You gave it to me. See?" She showed him the picture. "That's me on the horse the year I won the championship for barrel racing. That same year, you won at bull-riding. You wanted to go on the circuit and you were good enough, too, but then Dad got sick."
There were tears in Sasha's voice, but not in her eyes and that broke Giovanni's heart. She turned back to him. "He was here. How did he know about Sandlin? How could he possibly know about my brother?" Her voice was swinging a little toward hysteria.
"He was in your apartment, going through your things. Your mail. He would have found bills and correspondence from the Center."
She took a breath, desperately trying to be calm. "What if he's in danger? I don't know what to do now."
Giovanni stood up and drew her into his arms. "I'll take care of this, baby. He'll be safe. I'll go now and talk to the front desk."
"They can't do anything," Sasha protested. "It's late and no one is ever here that can answer questions or make decisions." Frustration laced the fear in her voice.
"They'll get their administrator on the phone and he'll come down." Giovanni bent to kiss her. She tasted like cinnamon candy apples. He didn't know why that appealed to him so much, but suddenly that was his favorite flavor. He smiled at Sandlin. "You've stumped us, Sandlin. I don't think we're good at figuring out mysteries."
Sandlin smiled angelically. "I'm not very good, either," he admitted. "I forget the clues."
"Do you want me to read to you?" Sasha asked.
Sandlin nodded eagerly. "Yes. I remember you now. You read to me and you do the voices. I like that."
Giovanni left them to it and strode down the hall to the front desk. Within a half an hour--and he paced the entire time--the head administrator and his assistant were locked in an office with him viewing the security tapes. There was no way to identify the man who had come to see Sandlin. He hadn't signed in. The woman at the front desk had waved the stranger on through, still wearing his hoodie, chatting a couple of minutes and then giving him directions to the lounge.
Giovanni's jaw tightened. He swung his gaze to Sonny Goodman's. The man ran the entire Center, and it was clear he was embarrassed and angry at his employee's behavior. "I'm sorry, Mr. Ferraro. She was hired a month or so ago and it's clear she isn't doing her job."
"This man is a stalker. He's been stalking my fiancee and now he's here, with access to her brother. He's a dangerous man, and this is a threat. I believe Sandlin is in danger."
"We're so sorry this slipped through," Goodman repeated. "Sandlin will be protected."
"I want to talk to his doctor, and I want a full report of this incident given to the police. Sandlin had better be protected. I will be hiring extra security for him as well. No one should get through to see him other than his sister, me or one of my family."
"I had no idea Ms. Provis was connected to your family," Goodman said.
"Information like that would make her a target of every kidnapper in the country. I would appreciate it if you kept it under wraps." He looked at Goodman's assistant. Harriet Perkins was about thirty, and she kept staring at him and blushing. Goodman wouldn't tell a soul, but Harriet probably wouldn't be able to stop herself. She would want all her closest friends to know she'd met one of the famous Ferraros. "Ms. Perkins?"
"I would never tell anyone," she said. "Not a single word of this."
"I don't mind you telling your friends that you met me, but please don't connect my name with Ms. Provis or her brother." He gave her his most charming smile. He knew from the nearly excited look in her eye that he didn't have a prayer she'd keep her mouth shut. She would want to be in the spotlight.
He cursed under his breath, holding on to his smile grimly, but trying one more time. There would be fallout from this. "You have no idea," he told Goodman, but mostly for Harriet's sake, "the circus that would ensue if reporters found out the connection between Sandlin and my family. They would be bribing your staff, sneaking in and making things up about your facility. This really needs to stay quiet."
"I understand," Goodman said, bobbing his head. He looked at his assistant. "Harriet is very discreet. She's been with me five years."
Giovanni could have told him those five years meant nothin
g if bribery were involved. Still, he'd done what he could to protect Sandlin from Sasha's stalker. He'd given Goodman the name of a security company his family trusted and assured he'd pay. He wanted Goodman to check them out thoroughly because Giovanni would be sending men over to help keep Sandlin safe. At first Goodman had assured him they could handle it, but Giovanni insisted and Goodman capitulated under the pressure at the thought of the Ferraros being patrons of his Center. Money could be a pain, but in the end, it always talked.
Goodman escorted him back down the hall to the room where he'd left Sasha. Sandlin was stretched out on the couch he'd been originally on when they came to visit. Sasha sat with his head in her lap, her fingers running through her brother's hair while she read to him. Sandlin had his eyes closed, but there was a smile on his face. The long bank of lights overhead shone down brightly, like a spotlight, illuminating the two of them so that with their blond curls, they looked almost angelic.
Twice, while Giovanni watched them, Sandlin caught at Sasha's wrist and said something, his entire body quivering with excitement. She nodded and made some kind of animal sound, a dog barking, a cat meowing, whatever the story called for. Satisfied, Sandlin would subside again.
"How's he doing?" Giovanni asked.
"He's not going to recover," Goodman said, not beating around the bush. "The Center is helping him learn to walk and put on his clothes, but he's never going to be able to live on his own outside a facility. I know that's his sister's ultimate goal. She thinks she'll be able to bring him home with her, but it won't happen. Most of the time Sandlin is sweet and agreeable, but he has periods of agitation and he strikes out at the staff. He has seizures as well. His medication is extremely important and sometimes he refuses to take it."
"When you say agitated, could he hurt Sasha?"
Goodman frowned and stroked his salt-and-pepper beard. "I would hope not, but of course it's possible. He has periods of time where he's in a great deal of pain. The headaches are so severe that we have to sedate him. Unfortunately, they'll grow worse as time goes on."
Giovanni stiffened. "What are you saying? Does Sasha know this?" He didn't care that it sounded as if his "fiancee" hadn't shared all the facts with him.
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