“FISHING’S GOOD, isn’t it?” Pa was making small talk as they sat in Clay’s seventeen-foot boat in a cove where the trout were biting because the morning storm had churned up the fish in the lake. The water was choppy but not enough so they couldn’t take the boat out. And the sun was shining.
“Yep, great.” Aidan gave his father a genuine smile. Dressed in a loose shirt and shorts, his dad sported a fishing hat, complete with lures and hooks decorating it. Aidan wished he could photograph him, but it wasn’t a good idea to resurrect all that now. Picking up a can of beer, he sipped it. “Too bad Bailey couldn’t come with us.”
“I’m worried about her goin’ down there to the museum.”
“She’ll be safe, Pa. Mitch is leaving in the morning, but he already has the Syracuse field office setting things up in Seneca Falls. He and C.J. will stick with her.”
“Hope so. Can’t say I like havin’ my girl in the limelight like this.”
“She could be First Lady someday. “
“Oh, Lord.” His eyes widened and he gripped the pole. “Hey, I got one. A big one.”
“Want me to help?”
“I’m not an invalid.”
Biting his tongue, Aidan watched his pa reel in a decent-size fish. With the others they’d caught today, they had enough for dinner. “Ready to head back?” he asked.
Pa looked tired. Had they stayed out too long? “In a minute. “ His father took a bead on him. “It’s not your fault, you know.”
“You being tired?”
“The heart attack. Because we fought.”
“Oh, yeah, I know that. “
“Don’t get me wrong, I think you should stay at the pub. Do honest work. But the argument, it didn’t cause this.” He tapped his chest with his fist.
“Sure it didn’t.”
“You’re not a good liar, boy.”
Aidan busied himself with the motor. “Let’s head back.”
Pa shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
As they traveled to the cottage, the wind picked up and waves increased in size and intensity. Aidan was thinking about what his father said as he steered the boat into its slip between the dock and next to Clay’s cabin cruiser. He set the cooler of fish on the dock then leapt out.
“Toss me the line,” he said to Pa. When he had the knot secured, he held out his hand. “Come on, I’ll help you. The water’s getting choppy.”
“I said, I ain’t no invalid.” When Pa was tired, he got cranky. “Wish people would stop treatin’ me like one.”
Aidan stepped away.
With one foot on the dock Pa was about to hoist himself out when a gust of wind rocked the boat. The momentum carried Pa with it. He toppled backward, went down hard. And cracked his head on the edge of the middle wooden bench.
“What...” Aidan jumped back into the boat. His father didn’t move. He lay on the bottom, his arms to the side, feet out. Eyes closed. Still. Very still.
Aidan froze, unable to act.
There was a thundering of footsteps on the decking. He felt the boat sway and then a quiet, “Aidan, move out of the way.” Sun blinded him as he looked up. It took him a minute to identify C.J.
“I have training. Let me in.” Her tone was gentle but firm enough to have him scrambling back.
She said into her wrist unit, “Call 911, Mitch. Mr. O’Neil’s had an accident out on the dock.”
Kneeling down close to his father, she got a good look at him. “He’s unconscious.” She put her fingers on the pulse at his neck. Opened his mouth and peered inside. Lifted his eyelids. As if by rote, she said, “Airways aren’t blocked, he’s breathing steadily.”
“What can I do?”
“Find me blankets.”
He located some in the storage area under the seats and brought them to C.J. “Shouldn’t you check the back of his head? He hit it pretty hard.”
“The last thing we do is move him.” As she spoke, she rolled up blankets and wedged them on either side of Pa’s head, then she covered him with one. She checked his pulse again, just as he started to come around. “Mr. O’Neil, can you hear me?”
“Arrgh...” His father’s eyes opened. He squinted.
“Can you see me?” C.J. asked.
“Blurry.”
“How do you feel?”
“Head hurts. Dizzy.”
“Just lie still. Help will be here soon.”
Aidan dropped back on the vinyl seat, his heart still thudding in his chest. He saw Bailey hurrying down the dock with Mitch. Sirens screamed in the background.
“Oh my God.” Bailey reached the boat and stood over them. “Oh, Aidan, what happened?”
C.J. answered. “He fell trying to get out of the boat. He’s got classic symptoms of a concussion. But he’s awake and breathing evenly. That’s all good news.”
Bailey leaned against Mitch.
Two paramedics hustled down the dock. Aidan felt a pull on his arm.
“Come on,” C.J. said. “We have to give them room.”
Like a man in a daze, Aidan climbed out of the boat. He went to his sister and slid his arm around her, for his comfort as well as hers. Together, they watched the medics get in the boat, talk to his father, put a neck brace on him.
“Why are they doing that?” he asked.
“In case of a spinal injury.” C.J.’s tone was gentle again, but she couldn’t dilute the message.
Bailey moaned. Aidan sucked in a breath.
“It’s not likely,” C.J. added. “He was moving around some. The brace is a precaution for everybody who falls like this.”
Soon, his father was on a stretcher and the paramedics were hiking up the slope with him.
“I’m going to the hospital,” Bailey said. “I won’t argue about this.”
Aidan felt sick, couldn’t respond.
Mitch nodded. “All right.”
“Do you want to come with us, Aidan?”
“No.”
Bailey frowned. “Then see to Mikey, will you? He got upset when C.J. radioed in.”
“You’re in charge here, Agent Ludzecky.” Mitch’s voice was strained. “Gorman’s with Bruiser and Blue Eyes now. We’ll take Grayson and two uniforms with us; the others will stand post on the second perimeter.”
A flurry of activity got Mitch, Bailey and the guards on the road. Aidan dragged himself upstairs to find Rory and Mikey. They were in their room, staring out the front window.
“Uncle Aidan,” Rory yelled, racing toward him. “What happened?”
Though he felt like he was going to puke, he gave the boy a reassuring hug. “Papa fell getting out of the boat and hit his head.”
“Grandma says Papa’s got the hardest head of anybody in the family.”
A small smile. “There you go. He’s going to be fine.”
“Why they taking him to the hospital?”
“Just to make sure he’s okay. He was sick a little while ago so they’re being extra careful.”
Setting Rory down, Aidan crossed to Mikey, who hadn’t spoken a word, just stood by the window watching them. Aidan knelt down in front of his nephew.
“Hey, kiddo. Did you hear what I said about your grandpa?”
Mikey nodded. His eyes were somber like they’d been for months and months after Kitty’s death.
“Honest, Mike. Papa’s gonna be okay. You believe me, don’t you?”
“Where’s Daddy?” he asked.
“He’ll be up to the lake again soon. Meanwhile, I’m here.” He stood and took Mikey’s hand. “Why don’t you guys come with me to check on Angel?”
“ ’Kay.”
Aidan and the boys played with the baby until she started to fuss. He set Rory and Mikey up with a DVD on his computer and had just rocked Angel to sleep in Bailey’s room when a phone rang. C.J. came to the door with the cordless in her hand. “It’s your sister.”
His throat worked hard. “You talk to her.”
She looked at him oddly then spoke into the phone. “He’s rocking Angel, Ms. O’Neil.” A long pause. “Yes, yes, I’ll tell him.”
Clicking off, she set the phone on the table by the door and approached him. He didn’t say anything. Finally she bent over, took Angel out of his arms and laid her in the port-a-crib they used sometimes. Aidan sat where he was, staring ahead.
C.J. waited then knelt in front of him. “Your father’s fine. I tried to convince you of that at the dock, and now it’s confirmed. He has a slight concussion. Sometimes the paramedics don’t even take the person to the hospital when that’s the extent of his injury. But because of your father’s heart attack, they wanted to check him out. Everybody’s on their way back. He’s fine. Just a bit of a headache.” She smiled. “Ms. O’Neil said he’s ornery, but that wasn’t caused by the concussion.”
Aidan didn’t react. When she stepped back, he rose and walked out onto the upper deck off the bedroom. Bracing his hands on the railing, he peered out over the lake. The wind whipped around him and he shivered. Now it was hitting him. He tried to battle it back—the fear, the nausea, the guilt.
Then he felt a hand on his shoulder. More of the ice cracked. “Don’t,” he said.
She didn’t move her hand. “It’s not your fault.”
C.J. didn’t know about the argument that had caused his pa’s heart attack. “That line is wearing thin.”
Sidling around, she managed to come between him and the railing. “He fell, Aidan.”
“I should have...” Shit, his eyes stung, so he closed them.
“Tell me.”
“I tried to help him out of the boat. He wouldn’t let me. I should have insisted.”
“From what I’ve observed, O’Neil stubbornness runs in the family. Once one of you has something in your head, nobody can change his mind.”
That lured a smile from him. “Still. He’s recuperating from heart surgery. I should have found a way.”
“He had an accident. A very common one.”
Aidan made a disgusted cluck of his tongue. “I didn’t even know what to do.”
“When a family member is injured, people often freeze.”
“You knew what to do.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Ten-minute medicine.”
“What?”
“All agents are trained in medical care. We call it ten-minute medicine. We know what to do in the approximate ten minutes before help arrives.”
Another weak smile.
“Don’t beat yourself up. Your father’s fine. He’ll have a few symptoms—headache and the like—but nothing serious.”
“He didn’t need this.”
“No. But you didn’t cause it.”
He wanted to believe her. Her certainty calmed him some.
They heard commotion downstairs. Aidan didn’t move. C.J. said, “I think he’s home. Go on down and see for yourself.”
He nodded, but again, he didn’t step back. She stood there, close. Her eyes were warm as she watched him. Then she reached up and drew him to her. He let himself fall into her arms, be reassured by her strong embrace, her sensible advice. After a few moments, he drew back and started away.
Halfway down the stairs, he admitted that one simple hug was a lot more meaningful, and a lot more dangerous, than the kiss they’d shared that night on the beach.
o0o
HER PALMS were slippery from exertion, but C.J. gripped one of the free weights she’d found in the closet and did another arm curl. Her muscles strained with the effort; needing the outlet, she continued. By exercising, she could force herself to concentrate on the physical and not think about what had happened yesterday with Aidan.
Setting down the fifty-pound weight, she stood, picked up two forty-pounders and, holding them at chin level, squatted. Her quads screamed after three reps. She did another. She’d just completed the fifth when she saw Aidan come to the doorway. He looked better today, rested. His hair was damp as if he’d just showered and there was a nick on his jaw from where he’d shaved. In his hand was a bunch of wildflowers, this time purple, and in a vase.
“I suppose those aren’t from you, either,” she said, trying to lighten the mood.
“Nope. From Pa.” He set the flowers on the table.
“Thank him for me.”
Turning, he nodded to the weights. “Should you be doing that alone?” His tone was gentle, solicitous, no longer challenging, making him a hundred times more dangerous. C.J. was used to head-on confrontation; she was a rookie in soft seduction.
She finished the last squat, set the weights down and dropped to the floor, bracing her arms behind her. “Not really. Mitch usually spots me.”
His brow furrowed and there was a stiff set to his shoulders. “Can you take a break? I’d like to talk to you.”
Grabbing a towel, she wiped her face. “About what?”
“First, I wanted to thank you again for what you did yesterday with Pa.”
“How is he?”
“Fine. He wants to see to you today when you have the chance. He’s grateful, too.” He hesitated before he said, “You’re winning the O’Neil men over one by one.”
“I was just doing what I was trained for.”
Aidan shrugged, wandered over to the window, stood by it. “I was wondering about Bailey’s trip. I’m worried about her.”
“Mitch will make sure the bases are covered. And I’ll be there, too.”
The sky outside made his blue gaze intense. The navy T-shirt he wore with jeans magnified the effect. “Have you gotten an update today?”
“Yes. Mitch is bringing in the Syracuse staff and the local police this morning to brief them. Some agents from the field office will be at the ceremony undercover. Cops will be posted around town and the park itself.”
“Everybody will know something’s going on with the police out in droves.”
“We won’t be able to keep it a secret that Bailey’s in Seneca Falls. Mostly when a protectee travels, we worry about people knowing ahead of time and having the opportunity to put a plan in place.”
“To hurt her?” His voice was raw. This was a man who loved deeply.
“An enemy might want to do that, and Bailey’s made some in this area of the country. We have to be realistic about that. But with the family of the president and vice president, we’re concerned about kidnapping, not someone doing bodily harm.”
She didn’t go into the details of preplanning an alternate route out of the museum in case someone tried to get to Bailey, or stationing an agent at the nearest hospital and making sure the protectee’s blood type was in stock, or the myriad other things that could go wrong. Aidan was worried about his sister.
“Don’t be upset. We’re good at what we do, Mr. O’Neil. We’ll keep her and the kids safe.”
There was a flicker of amusement on his face, momentarily replacing the concern. “You called me Aidan yesterday.”
I know. “Did I?”
“Uh-huh.”
Giving him an innocent look, she said, “Does that answer your questions about this trip?”
“For now.”
When he didn’t move to leave, she finally had to ask, “Anything else?”
“Yeah. Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”
She rolled to her feet, needing to be his height for this discussion. “What elephant is that?”
“You know as well as I do what I’m talking about.”
Crossing to the table, she busied herself with her gym bag, pretending to search for something. She caught the sweet scent of the flowers from here. “No, I don’t.”
He drew her around. “Something’s been happening between us since day one. Then the kiss by the lake blew my socks off. But yesterday, after Pa’s accident, cinched it. There’s more than a physical attraction between us. We connect. We have feelings for each other, Caterina.”
She could deny it. But she didn’t. She didn’t even object to his use of her full name. Intuitively she sensed that wasn’t the way to handle this. Honesty was the best now. “Are you really grateful for my help with your father? And for keeping your family safe?”
He scowled at the non sequitur. “Of course.”
“Then let me do my job without distraction.”
“I’m a distraction? Only a distraction?”
She didn’t respond.
“At least admit there’s something between us.”
Her heart beating at a clip, she prayed she was doing the right thing. “All right, I admit it. But under no circumstances can I give into it.”
“Because of your reputation?”
“Partly. Some things have happened in the past that have hurt my standing in the service. Trust me when I tell you any relationship with you will be the straw that broke the camel’s back.”
He grasped her ann. “Tell me about that. I want to know everything about you.”
“No. That isn’t going to happen.” She hated the pleading tone in her voice. “Can’t you do this for me?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“Then this might tip the scales. You are a distraction, Aidan. And because of that, we’d be endangering Bailey and the kids by pursuing anything between us. By having a relationship. Don’t you want your sister safe?”
“Of course I do.”
She took his hand off her arm, held it in hers, felt its strength. “Then please, for all our sakes, for all those reasons, forget any connection we’ve made, or might make.” She cleared her throat. “And any feelings you or I might have for each other.”
He stared at her a long time. She prayed he’d listen to her. Finally, his expression bleak, he said, “All right.”
C.J. should be happy, relieved. But her heart ached like somebody had stomped on it.
Raising his hand, Aidan brushed back a stray lock of hair. “Too bad, Caterina. It could have been really good.”
He walked away then, leaving C.J. to feel she’d just thrown away something very rare and very precious. Something she may never find again.