ELLIOTT HAD JUST dropped Sailor off at the airport with her sincere thanks for a successful evening, on all counts, when his phone rang.
Seeing Liam’s name come up on the dash screen, he pressed the answer button on his steering wheel immediately.
“Tanner.” He said the one word clearly and quickly. His mind geared to process just as rapidly. Something had happened. He shouldn’t have left...
“You’d mentioned earlier about dropping your client off at the airport for an eleven o’clock flight. Are you alone?” The man’s tone was different.
“Yes.” He pulled onto the main thoroughfare that would take him to the downtown area where the historic Arapahoe stood among other stately homes—most of them housing boutique businesses now.
“So you’re free to talk.” The streets were dimly lit. Traffic was light.
“Yes. Is something happening there? Are you all okay?” He’d ascertained no hint of alarm in the other man’s voice, but Liam’s usual congenial conversational approach was most definitely missing.
“We’re fine. The girls are in on the couch. Marie was going to go downstairs to wait for you, but Gabi insisted that she stay up with us.”
All things Liam—or Marie—could have told him when he got home.
“Soooo...” Liam paused. “You were working tonight?”
His neck tensed. “Yes.”
“I don’t suppose you can tell me what you were doing. Or with who.”
Dread filled his gut. “You know I can’t.”
“But you were working.”
“Absolutely.”
“Good. I guess I’ll see you when you get here, then.”
Whoa. That was it?
Sitting back in his seat, one hand on the steering wheel, Elliott said, “Hold on a minute. You mind telling me what’s going on here?”
“Caught a glimpse of the news this evening. A piece about a high-end fund-raiser attended by some pretty impressive people. A domestic violence benefit. Not a cause Connelly has ever supported—though I don’t know why not and I think we should—so I didn’t know about it until tonight.”
Elliott swore silently. Twice.
The week of foreboding. He’d known. Or he’d brought this on himself by focusing on it so much. “It was a no-press-allowed event.” He knew, as soon as the words were out of his mouth, that he was only making himself look worse.
“Someone from a local shelter took some photos. Shared them with a local news station.”
He’d been working. But the only way he could prove that would be to break his client’s confidence.
Elliott swore again. Not as silently. “Marie saw.”
“Yep.”
He couldn’t believe it. Just couldn’t...what the...? He’d been working. And couldn’t live his life feeling he had to apologize for that fact. Or explain himself.
And needing to explain to Marie meant explaining to the other two triplets.
“She’s the daughter of a long-standing respected client of mine. At his request I protect her anytime she’s in town.”
“I understand.”
Did he?
“But she doesn’t.”
“That’s between you and your wife.”
Right.
“So why the phone call?”
“I felt it was my duty.”
“You think I’m cheating on my wife?”
“Just checking.”
Elliott didn’t like it. But it was probably fair. “I wasn’t. And I won’t.”
“I know.”
He turned a corner and then made another quick turn. Onto the back lot. Pulled into his parking spot and stopped the car.
Was he understanding this correctly? Could Liam be calling for his benefit? “You want to give me a heads-up what I’m walking into?”
“I think I already did that.”
Right. Okay.
Pocketing his keys, Elliott nodded at the guard by the back door and, once inside, decided to take the stairs.
Two at a time.
* * *
HE WAS A MAN used to going home alone at the end of the day. Answering to no one when he was off the clock.
Elliott kissed Marie hello, as though he’d done nothing wrong.
Because he hadn’t.
She kissed him back the same way.
A trap?
“How was your evening?” she asked as they took the elevator down to their floor.
He shrugged. Told the truth. “Uneventful. Which makes it good.”
A quick twinge showed on her upper lip. In the right corner. Once.
“Mostly you wait out in the car when you’re on the job. Unless someone needs extra security, or there’s no security where they’re going to be.”
Swearing silently again, he knew exactly where this was going.
“Mostly.”
The elevator door opened. Key ready, Elliott let them in.
And waited.
What did he do now? Heading off to the bedroom, which was all he really wanted to do, probably wasn’t good.
Her arms slid around his middle. “I love you.”
Elliott held on tight. He was not a stupid man. “I love you.”
Chin at his chest, she looked up at him. “You ready for bed, or you need to unwind first?”
Was there a right answer here? He’d give her whatever she needed. He just really needed to know what that was.
“I’d like to go to bed,” he said. “But not until you’re ready.”
“I’m ready.”
She took his hand. Started to lead him down the hall. Elliott pulled her back.
Held her to him and pinned her with a look he hoped reached her soul. “I was working tonight.”
Her gaze didn’t falter and he had a feeling she was struggling. She didn’t believe him. He could tell by the way she was looking at him. She was trying. And she was failing.
“I know,” she said. Lying to him. Tears filled her eyes.
He had to be honest with her. “Liam called me. About the photo on the news.” There would always be things he couldn’t tell her. Things she’d find out only if his clients happened to make the news. People who needed bodyguards were often newsworthy. And bodyguards were often in the background when they were photographed out in public.
The news could report. He couldn’t. And so he had to have complete honesty when he could. Even if it wasn’t easy.
Even if he could get away with less.
“I didn’t know he’d called, but I’m not surprised. He’s been slaying dragons that he thought might hurt my heart since I was eighteen.”
They were talking. Just as they’d said they would.
“I work for her father. For the whole family. Anytime any one of them is in town.” He could tell her that much. Harcourt didn’t hide the fact that he had a bodyguard. Only Sailor had done that. The last time she was in town.
“The caption said you were her escort.” Her doubts were there. Loud and clear.
“It was part of tonight’s job.”
She studied him. “I threw up when I saw you.”
His stomach knotted.
“My head is telling me that you were working, Elliott. But my heart... It knows you were out with a beautiful woman at a fancy event—my heart knows that men get tempted all the time while they’re working.”
His heart sank.