The man sat down on the brown couch in the living room, squeezed his beer into the rip in the cushion. The yellow foam, more and more of which showed as the years went by, held the bottle in place.
He clicked on the TV and settled on the hunting channel, put his feet up on the stained coffee table. Damn faucet was dripping in the kitchen. He turned the TV up. Hell, he never had the chance to fix anything with all the time he’d been spending at camp and going back and forth.
That’s all he’d been doing lately. Going to work, going to camp and, in between, when he had the time, figuring out how to get to Kaye Miller. He’d taken on the responsibility willingly, even though it took a back seat to the main objective. To the others in camp, Kaye Miller was of secondary importance. They had bigger fish to fry.
To him, Congresswoman Miller was everything.
She was the one who had ruined him. Her tax laws, damn woman. Women had no place in politics—never understood it, never would. Especially not one like her. No way was she going to be allowed to keep at it, to become Speaker of the House, third in line for the presidency. Over his dead body. Derickson was bad enough, worse excuse for a president he’d ever seen, but Derickson, too, would be dealt with soon.
“Let freedom ring,” he said to the dog and rubbed his aching arm then picked up his beer and took a long draft. The attic had been rough. Damned bodyguard came out of nowhere. He’d seen the man leave and hadn’t realized he would be coming back.
His stomach growled. He picked up the half-finished bag of beef jerky from the coffee table. The fridge had been broken for two months, maybe three. It would stay that way, too, for a while. Every penny that hadn’t gone toward the mortgage he’d been kicking in for the camp.
“Git!” He smacked at the dog as she jumped on the couch and almost upset his beer. Then, because she obeyed, he threw her a chunk of dried beef.
The coffee table wobbled under his feet as he shifted his weight. Everything was falling apart.
Not Kaye Miller’s mansion, though. That house had been just fine, with her fancy furniture and fancy security. But he had gotten in. He might not be rich, but he was smart, and he knew how to take care of business.
He would have, too, if it wasn’t for the third bodyguard.
He pictured her right now, sitting on her leather couch, watching that big TV, probably eating a fine meal delivered from a real restaurant.
“It ain’t right,” he said to the dog and tossed her another chunk of food.
Kaye Miller better enjoy what she had while she had it, because he was about to fix the injustice. He had found the means and found a friend who was willing to help. He picked the small vial of clear liquid out of his pocket and rolled it between his thumb and forefinger with a smile.
THE REPORTERS started to arrive around noon—not bad, considering. Her connections had gained her half a day. After that, nobody could hold the story back.
Kaye took a last look at the media gathered at the end of her driveway then drew the blinds and settled into her upstairs office. She glanced at the caller ID on the phone that flashed another number. She’d turned off the ringer on all the phones in the house hours ago. People had been calling since the first news report hit the airwaves.
“Majority Whip Kaye Miller’s house under attack…unknown assailant…terrorists…” The stories and speculations got wilder by the minute. She switched off the small TV in the corner and sank into the relative silence. Much better.
It didn’t last long. Her cell phone buzzed a minute later. The display showed her secretary’s home number.
“I’m okay, Marge.”
“Thank God. I was outside. Just came in and turned the TV on. If there’s anything I can do—”
“Thank you. I’m fine. I’ll probably be in a little early on Monday.”
“Should I set up something for a quick press release?”
“Taken care of. Random burglary. It should be out in the next half hour. I hope this madness will die down after that.”
“I feel like I should be there.”
“It’s Saturday. Do we have to have that you-are-entitled-to-live-your-own-life talk again?” She was joking, but Marge’s loyalty touched her. “I’ll be fine.”
She spent another minute or two reassuring the woman that she was okay, then hung up and turned back to the computer screen in front of her, to a chat board for victims of a certain investigational drug therapy. She was planning on using them as an example in her patients’ rights talk.
She tried to immerse herself in work, but found it hard to focus. Normally, unless she had some work-related emergency, she spent her weekends in her garden.
“Knock, knock.” Danny stood in the open door.
“Are you sure I can’t go out even just to the back yard?”
“You want to risk a sniper?”
“No, I guess the weeds are not worth it.” He was right. She needed to be in here. But she felt antsy and could have used the soothing effect the plants and a few hours of physical work would have had on her.
“Don’t you have a landscaping service?”
She shrugged. “Gardening gets me outside and moving around.” Not having a service forced her to breathe a little fresh air now and then.
But her garden was more than exercise. It had become her haven, her therapy over the last couple of rough years. She’d started the first flowerbed as a diversion for her mind, something she could take care of that would grow instead of dying. Then she’d fallen in love with the lilies and peonies, grown attached to her dahlias. “I think I’m becoming addicted,” she admitted.
He stepped into the room. “That explains the calluses.”
She rubbed her palm, self-conscious all of a sudden about the rough patches of skin. “I tore out a bed of pachysandra a few days ago to make room for some mums in the fall,” she said, then remembered that he’d probably come in here for a reason. “Do you need me for anything?”
“I’m thinking about making lunch. Can I interest you in some food?”
Did she have anything in the fridge? Normally, she went grocery shopping Saturday mornings. If she didn’t get to it over the weekend because of travel or too much work she’d brought home, she left a note for the housekeeper who came on Mondays, and the woman took care of it.
“I can make lunch.” She shut down the Internet. The man was stuck with her 24/7. The least she could do was feed him. She hoped there was a can of tuna somewhere in the cupboard. “Do you eat tuna fish?”
“I was thinking bruschetta and minestrone soup.”
“That’s fine. We can order in. My treat.” There were a couple of Italian restaurants nearby that delivered.
“I can make it. Not much else to do. We’re practically under siege.”
“You cook?” She passed by him and padded down the stairs.
He took them two at a time and caught up, flashed her a disarming smile. “I’m what they call a full-service bodyguard.”
Her mind took a little detour on that statement. She looked away. What on earth was wrong with her? What was it about him that reduced her thinking to the most basic, hormonal level?
“You don’t have to cook. It’s not your job to feed me,” she said then turned into the kitchen and saw the grocery bags. “Where did this come from?”
“Delivery.”
“We have that?”
“Almost all the big chains deliver.” He smiled at her.
She looked back at the bags, at the loaf of Italian bread that stuck out from one, and focused on the aroma of the fresh bread instead of the thought that there were just the two of them in the house. The two new agents who had replaced Harrison and Green were outside, keeping the media at bay.
She wanted to go back upstairs and hated the cowardly impulse. “Can I help?”
“Sure,” he said, watching her as if he could read every thought that flew through her head.
She hoped not. “How about this?” She pulled a pot, suitable for soup, from a base cabinet. “Want me to fill it up with water?”
He shook his head as he grabbed an onion from one of the bags and started to peel it. “A little olive oil.”
She brought out the jug from under the sink, poured and set the pot on the stove. He came over to dump the onions in, then turned the burner on low.
“So where did you learn to cook?” she asked, just to keep on talking, and watched him tackle a couple of cloves of garlic next.
Ian and she had never cooked like this together. Neither of them knew how. For the most part, the stove was used for cooking pasta on the odd occasion when they didn’t go out, order in, or pop in a microwave dinner.
“I learned how to toss together a couple of meals in college to pick up girls.” He admitted good-naturedly, looking just the tiniest bit embarrassed. “I’m afraid I was pretty shallow in my younger years. Had a one-track mind.”
And now? She didn’t ask, not sure if she wanted to know.
“This job must be hard on the social life,” she remarked instead. Funny, that had never occurred to her with either Green or Harrison. Neither had ever mentioned their private life.
“No girlfriend to complain about it.” His gaze was on her as he dumped the crushed garlic into the pot. “Keep stirring,” he said.
She focused on that, until the monotonous task finally relaxed her. “What else do we need?”
She would not ask any more questions about his personal life or allow herself to make another stupid remark. She had been guarded by dozens of men over the years, but she had never let her guard down like this with any of them, had never let any this close. Nor would they have wanted to be. They were trained to be invisible and professional. Why was everything so different with Danny?
Because he was one of Cal’s men. The trust she had transferred to him was instant and complete. Maybe that had been a mistake. She needed to pull back, if it wasn’t too late already. Things certainly couldn’t go further than this. She wouldn’t allow it.
“Celery, carrots, herbs.” He pulled the items from the bag as he named them. “Smell this.”
She bent to the twig of rosemary he held up to her nose. “Nice.” The sweet-spicy scent seemed to fill her head. She recognized the herb from having seen it used at restaurants as garnish, but other than that, she had little idea about what to do with it. She normally avoided the more “gourmet” sections of the grocery store.
He rinsed and chopped the celery and carrots, did the same with the herbs then dumped everything in.
“How do we know when it’s done?”
“The onions will turn soft and see-through.”
He pulled an eggplant and a zucchini from the paper bag. “While you were upstairs, I had a chance to look through some House transcripts for the last couple of months or so. You’ve taken some hits from the other party.”
She shrugged. “That’s the way the game is played.”
“What bothers me more is that you took some hits from a couple of men on your own team. What’s the story with Congressman Cole and Congressman Brown?”
“Neither of them would come to my house in the middle of the night to shoot me, if that’s what you’re asking. For one, Brown has been in New York since Tuesday for his mother’s funeral.”
“Cole has a pretty good alibi, too.”
She stared at him. “You questioned Roger?”
“Not yet.” His eyebrows went up. “You didn’t hear it on the news? Congressman Cole had a mild heart attack last night. He’s been in the hospital.”
Oh, God. “It’s—” She shook her head. “That explains why he was acting so strangely at the awards gala.”
“How strange?” Danny turned the tap off.
“Came into the ladies’ room by accident. I was alone in there. I thought—I don’t know what I thought. He spooked me. I didn’t pay close enough attention. Now that I know… I think his heart was troubling him already. If only I—”
“You are not a doctor. You can’t diagnose a heart attack before it occurs.”
She couldn’t. Still, if she was so preoccupied by her own troubles that she didn’t pay enough attention to a friend—
“How come he votes against you on just about every issue?”
“We used to be on better terms. The whole Speaker thing…”
“You’re moving up and he’s not.”
“I really don’t want to believe that he could be like that.”
“But he sure acts it?”
“Lately.” She nodded. “Then last night— He seemed a little unwell, but nice again. You know what I mean? Said he heard about my accident. Told me to take good care of myself. He hadn’t talked to me like that for a while.”
“How did he hear about the accident?”
The question stopped her. News of the crash had finally gotten out after the attack at her home. The press of course connected the two and speculated wildly. But they had not heard at the time when Roger had talked to her.
“Did you tell anyone?”
“Cal and Marge my secretary. I had to reschedule some appointments. There were cops on the scene. An older couple stopped to help, but I don’t think they recognized me. The people at the emergency room and my insurance.”
“So he could have heard. I’ll still check it out as soon as I can get in to see him,” he said. “What about Brown?”
She shrugged. “He couldn’t stand me almost from the get go. Not sure why. I know his wife. She’s nice enough. Suze went to college with Ian. They went out for a while, I think. Suze invited us over once. I don’t think Jack liked that. Rumor is, he’s pretty jealous. And Suze is much younger than he is. I used to think he hated us because of Ian, but he hasn’t eased up in the last two years, so who knows? Funny thing is, Suze adores him.”
“Speaking of jealousy,” he said slowly, with apparent reluctance. “It might help if I knew if either you or your late husband had any extramarital relationships.”
“No,” she said without thinking, appalled at the suggestion. How could he ask something like that?
“Have you had any relationships in the last two years that ended badly?”
She took a long breath. “I haven’t—I’ve been alone since Ian.” Not that it was any of his business.
“I’m sorry. I had to ask.”
He was sorry. She could see from the way he was looking at her. But beyond the apology, his gaze held other things she wasn’t brave enough to acknowledge—genuine concern, care, maybe something more.
She’d had good-looking bodyguards in the past. Why was she having so much trouble with this one? Why did she feel on the edge and all awkward around him? If her body was going to take notice of a man after all this time, couldn’t it have been someone else? Someone who didn’t work for her and who wasn’t a much younger man.
Maybe she was going through the change early, she thought, and felt better having identified the problem. Obviously a horde of misguided hormones were trying to overtake her body. She wasn’t about to let them. No matter what it cost her, she was going to act with dignity and decorum.
“I’ll be in the living room. I’m going to check what they’re saying on TV.” The press release would be coming out around now—just the thing to distract her from Daniel DuCharme in her kitchen.
She made it as far as the couch before she saw the stranger in front of the sliding glass doors outside.
“Danny!”
What happened next was a blur of action, during which she ended up on the floor behind the couch, watching Danny leap across the room and shove the door aside. He took the man down roughly.
“Who the hell are you?” His gun was at the intruder’s back, his right knee holding the guy to the ground.
“Press.” The man could barely get the single word out, his face smushed against the bricks.
“ID.” The gun didn’t budge. “Don’t move. I’ll get it.”
Danny reached around the man’s chest and must have found what he was looking for, because he yanked and came up with an ID tag.
Just a reporter. She willed her heart to slow as she pushed away from the floor and started to stand.
“You stay where you are,” Danny said without looking at her.
Agent Meyer burst through the front door at the same time. “Where the hell is he?” He had his gun drawn, came straight through to the living room. “Can’t believe the idiot wouldn’t listen.”
“Taken care of.” Danny hauled the reporter to his feet.
“Are you all right, Congresswoman?” Meyer was helping her up. “I’m sorry. They’re going crazy out there. Everybody wants the story behind the story. We checked the lot of them, they’re all clean, but they are a pain in the—” He took a breath. “I saw him come back here, but had to handle another one. And this one just wouldn’t stop. Didn’t want to shoot him in the back.”
“No. That’s okay. Everything’s fine.” The last thing she needed was a dead reporter on her lawn.
“Want me to take him out front?” Meyer asked Danny.
“I’ll do it in a few minutes. Thanks.” Danny was searching the rest of the man’s pockets. “Call in that police unit we have on standby. They can take him in, maybe hold him for the day just to teach him a lesson.”
“You can’t do that to me,” the reporter protested with outrage and tried to twist away from Danny without success. “I didn’t do anything wrong. I just wanted to talk to the congresswoman.”
But Meyer was already making the call.
She went back to the kitchen and sat at the table, next to the scattered ingredients that were still to go into the soup. What was in the pan smelled wonderful. She let the aroma of the spices soothe her, looked up at the sound of an approaching vehicle.
Flower delivery. She could see through the window as the van stopped behind the press line. For her? From who? Her birthday wasn’t until next week.
She stood to watch as a young boy got out and went to the back, came away with a large bouquet of pink roses—her favorites. He was immediately stopped by the other agent out there. He looked as though he was protesting, pointing to his watch. Probably had a schedule to keep.
The agent patted him down and checked the flowers, but still wouldn’t let him through.
“I’ll get them for you, Congresswoman, once DuCharme comes back,” Meyer said from behind her. “If you’re okay here, I’ll go and do a walk-around.”
“Of course. Thank you.”
He went out through the back.
She watched through the window as a police car arrived, saw Danny go up to it with the reporter, talk to them.
The flower delivery boy was talking to the agent again, looking sullen and worried. She wondered if he could lose his job if he was late with his deliveries.
She picked up the walkie-talkie from the counter. Which line was Mr. Dalton’s? Channel two, she remembered and twisted the button. “It’s okay. You can let him through,” she said.
The agent looked toward the house. She waved the boy on from the window then opened the door for him.
“Thank you, ma’am.” He was younger than she’d thought, barely old enough to work.
“No problem. It’s not always as crazy around here as this.”
“Signature on line twelve. You someone famous or something?” He handed her a clipboard.
“Politics.”
The boy looked disappointed. “Where would you like the flowers?”
“On the counter will be fine,” she said and shook the pen since it wouldn’t write.
She grabbed one from the drawer in front of her, signed. “Here, you better take this.” She turned to the boy. “Oh, not there. Here.”
He was setting the flowers by the stove. She pulled them farther away where they wouldn’t be affected by the heat and wouldn’t drop any petals into the soup.
“Sorry,” he said. “Thank you, ma’am.” He just about ran on his way back to the van.
She closed the door behind him then went back to the vase and removed the small envelope from its plastic stick.
Danny came through the door. “Don’t do that again.” He went straight to the flowers and checked them thoroughly, then moved them out to the patio.
“They’ll wilt in the heat,” she called after him.
He pushed the vase a few feet over into the shade. “You should never let anyone in.”
“He was just a kid. Mr. Dalton patted him down.”
He shook his head. “Someone could have sent the kid to check out security. Nobody comes in. Mr. Dalton should know better than to let anyone through.” He was opening his cell phone and dialing. “This is Daniel DuCharme from Congresswoman Kaye Miller’s security detail. I’m calling to confirm that you have a reporter by the name of Tom Delinsky out here covering her story.” He listened for a while. “Thank you.”
He pulled the phone from his ear and dialed again. “This is Daniel DuCharme from Congresswoman Kaye Miller’s security detail. I’m calling to confirm a delivery to…” He gave the address. “I need to know when it was called in, from what number, credit card information, everything you have.” He paused. “Fine. I’ll send someone with authorization to pick it up within the next twenty minutes.” He closed the phone and put it away. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s—I haven’t had security this tight before.” And she hoped she wouldn’t need it long. She missed her freedom.
“If your security was tight, that reporter and that boy wouldn’t have gotten as far as they did. I’ll have to talk to the agents about that.”
“I don’t want them to shoot some innocent citizen for coming near me.”
He waited a beat before he nodded. “Understood.” He walked over to the stove and turned the burner down. “I’m going to step back out for a minute to talk with Dalton and Meyer. Stay inside and stay away from the windows. Please.”
She reminded herself that he had her best interest at heart, and sat in the spare chair in the corner as the door closed behind him. She opened the card in her hand.
Hope you are all right. Happy early birthday.
Marge
Well, that was nice of her. She would have to call and thank her secretary for her thoughtfulness. Her gaze wandered to the stack of bills and other miscellaneous mail on the small desk next to her. She rifled through them. All the envelopes were open—Danny had already checked them. By the time this was over, he would know more about her than just about anyone else. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that.
“Visitor.” Danny was coming through the door. “She says you were expecting her?”
“Sadie!” She’d totally forgotten in the craziness.
“So you do know her?”
“My roommate from college. Where is she?”
“She should come back in a few weeks.”
“Absolutely not. She can’t. She’s leaving the country.”
“How well do you know this woman?”
“Like my sister. She is coming in.”
“Fine, coming in.” Danny turned and motioned to someone outside. “I’ll be a few more minutes.” He stepped back out.
“What on earth is going on here? Have you just announced that you’ll be running for president next?” Sadie Kauffman came through the door a few minutes later and smiled as she ran forward for a hug. “I’ve been on the plane all morning, haven’t seen the news.”
“I’ll fill you in.” Kaye squeezed back. “God, it’s good to see you. It’s been a while.”
“Way too long.”
“And now you’re going away.”
“Just for a year or two. Remember these?” Sadie handed her a bag.
She recognized the gold-striped paper box instantly. “Mario’s canolis?”
“The one and only.”
“God, I’ve missed you.”
“Who are you kidding? You missed the canolis.”
“Okay, that, too.” She grinned as she put the box on the table. “Come, sit down.”
“So, what’s going on?” Sadie raised a perfect eyebrow.
“Had a break-in last night.”
“Are you okay? Were you robbed?” She looked around.
“I think he wanted me.”
“What?”
“He had a gun. We wrestled around for a while before Danny got him off me.”
“Danny who?”
“Daniel DuCharme. The man who showed you in. He’s one of Cal’s, temporary addition to my security detail.”
“One of Cal’s?” The eyebrow went up again. “He’s hot.”
“He’s young.”
“He patted me down before he let me in.”
“Sorry. He takes his job very seriously.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Sadie winked and she stood. She always did have too much nervous energy. “I kind of enjoyed it.” She went to the stove, looked at the soup. “Who’s cooking?”
“Danny.”
“Danny, huh? Interesting.”
“Wipe that smirk off your face. He’s just a kid.”
Sadie stirred the soup then sniffed the wooden spoon. “Minestrone.” She nodded her approval. “Smells great. How long before it’s ready?”
“No idea. Half the stuff isn’t even in yet.”
“I suppose there’s no sense in tasting then.” She put the spoon back down and looked out the window. “Have I told you, my fifty-eight-year-old mother is dating a thirty year old? The other day I asked her what she liked about him. You know what she said? She said he had three outstanding qualities: stamina, stamina, stamina.” She rolled her eyes. “How is that for embarrassing? Don’t laugh at me. This is serious. My mother is a pervert.”
“Sounds to me like she’s happy.”
“Well that, too. But it’s— He could be my little brother.” She sat back at the table and lifted the lid off the box. “Canoli?”
“Before lunch?”
“Life is too short to postpone desert.”
Kaye smiled, the stress of the morning melting off her. “God, it’s good to see you,” she said as she got up for plates.
“Same here.” Sadie grinned back.
And it was as if they were still back in the dorm, eating Mario’s canolis for breakfast, lunch and dinner, whatever time they could get their hands on a box. Sadie had always insisted that canolis were brain food. Of course, she would. Her mother was Italian.
“Did they catch the guy? What did he want from you?” she asked.
“He got away. He—” It hurt to talk about it. “He killed one of the men on my security detail and injured the other.”
“Oh, my God.” The first canoli stopped halfway to Sadie’s mouth. “So he’s some serious lunatic?”
“Probably. I should be okay now. Danny is pretty good at what he does. And Cal is helping, too. Plus the Secret Service and the cops. They’re checking out every angle.”
“Good. They better keep you safe.”
“They will.” Kaye took her first bite and relaxed into her chair as the sweet cream diffused on her tongue. Mario was a god.
“So, um, about Danny,” Sadie said after a while. “What is he, thirtyish?”
“Twenty-nine.”
“He’s no kid.”
“I know,” Kaye said and took another canoli.
“He is gorgeous.”
She kept silent. She wasn’t going down that road.
“And you’re practically locked in the house with him all day.” Sadie wouldn’t give up.
“Come on, he’s way too young.”
Sadie watched her. “He is not, and we both know it. Question is, why are you trying to convince yourself so hard that he is? Could it be because you’re attracted to him?”
“No. Absolutely not. And if I were, you’d be making fun of me like you just did with your mother.”
“That’s different. I don’t like to think of my mother having sex. There’s just something weird about it.”
“Better get used to it. She’s probably having more fun than the two of us put together.”
“Great. Depress me, why don’t you?” Sadie made a face. “Anyway, you should take a page from her book. Would it kill you to have some fun?”
“Would it kill you not to meddle?” Kaye laughed. “God, didn’t we have this conversation ten years ago?”
“And as I recall, you didn’t follow my advice.”
“And escaped Mel the Maniac.”
“More like missed out on Mel the Magnificent.”
Kaye groaned and rolled her eyes. “Enough about me. I can’t believe you’re going to Yemen.”
“It’s either that or sleep with the department head so he’ll recommend me for his post before he retires.”
“That can’t be true this day and age.”
“Sadly, yes. I swear the hospital has a thing about promoting women. Trouble is, all the candidates have about the same background. Two years of international experience with Doctors Without Borders should put me over the others, enough so I have a fighting chance for the position.”
“And if something happens to you?”
“You’re right here in the U.S. and look at what’s happening to you. Who says any place is safe?”
Sadie had a point there.
“And Brian?” Kaye asked with caution.
“What Brian? The weasel-who-used-me-to-get-ahead-then-dropped-me Brian?”
“Right.” No, there wouldn’t be a chance of reconciliation there.
“I’m done with men. Don’t laugh. I don’t mean like I’m never going to have sex again done. I mean like, I’m never going to trust one again. It’s a losing proposition.”
“Come on, there are still decent guys out there.”
“Like Daniel DuCharme? Is that why you can’t deny the attraction fast enough?”
“It would kill my career.”
“Would not.”
“Can you see it in the headlines? Majority Whip, Widow Kaye Miller Caught in Torrid Affair with Bodyguard. There goes the vote from the religious right.”
“You can’t live your life according to the next vote.”
“I don’t. But I’ve worked awfully hard to get where I am. I’m not going to throw it away on a whim.”
“You’re too young to give up on happiness.”
“I’m thirty-six.”
“Thirty-five till next week,” Sadie said. “Plenty young to find love again.”
“I don’t expect to find love again. I just want a contented life, doing the best I can at my job, maybe making a difference.” She thanked God that the sharp, soul-tearing pain of Ian’s death had passed, though sometimes she felt guilty about it. Love. She couldn’t risk that again. Nobody could expect her to.
“Ian would want you to be happy.” Sadie guessed her thoughts.
“I know.”
“You can’t bring him back by turning your back to everything that’s fun. You don’t have to stop living just because he can’t.”
“I know.”
“Okay. I’m not going to badger you about it.”
“Right. That would be way out of character.” Kaye grinned.
“Way. Not like me at all. So as far as Danny goes, I want regular progress reports,” Sadie said.
“He’ll be gone as soon as they catch the guy.”
“Uh-hum.”
“You never give up, do you?” Kaye shook her head.
“Not in my nature,” Sadie said. “It’s not in yours either.”
TWO O’CLOCK had passed by the time Sadie left for the airport. The media circus was gone. They’d moved on to a sex scandal that was unfolding at the IRS. Apparently, accountants were deceptively passionate under their cool demeanor.
Kaye reached for the paper box in the middle of the table, empty save for the chocolate smears.
Danny was looking at the damning evidence out of the corner of his eye as he stood by the stove. “I don’t suppose you’re hungry anymore?”
He’d stayed outside while Sadie was there, giving them some privacy, popping in only a few times to finish the soup and start the bruchetta.
Kaye inhaled the fragrance of basil. “I’d love a taste.”
That was the trouble with Mario’s canolis. They were light enough to have been made by angels. You could eat half a dozen and an hour later be hungry again.
“I talked to the Colonel earlier. He said to tell you he’ll stop by tomorrow,” he said as he ladled soup into two china bowls.
“Any other news?”
“Small progress here and there. Nothing that would give us enough information to make a move.”
“So what can we do?”
“We wait. Our man will come back.” He glanced out the window.
She could see Mr. Meyer in the car in front of the house from where she stood. Mr. Dalton was stationed out back.
“Any news on Mr. Harrison?”
“He’s been released from the hospital. He wants to come back to your detail badly.”
“Absolutely not, he needs to rest.”
Danny hesitated as he set the plates on the table. “Might be good for him if he comes right back. He probably feels guilty for messing up on the job.”
“He didn’t mess up.”
“That’s not the way he would see it.”
“In a few days.” She set spoons and napkins next to the plates and sat down.
He stirred his soup. “Watch out, it’s very hot,” he said and took a spoonful and blew on it, tasted carefully. He made an odd face. “Might have put in a little too much rosemary.”
“I’m sure it’s just fine.” She blew on hers, lifted the spoon to her mouth then realized she hadn’t put any glasses or drinks on the table yet so she set her spoon down and got up. “Anything to drink?”
“Water would be fine.” He took another taste. “Maybe it’s the celery.” He tried again then shook his head.
She put two glasses of ice water on the table then sat back down.
“Thank you.” He looked up. “I was thinking. You should sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight.”
The spoon stopped halfway to her mouth as a twinge of fear ran through her at the thought of the upcoming night, the terror of waking up to an intruder in her bedroom still fresh in her mind. She didn’t want to go to sleep at all. “Whatever you think is best.”
“I’m not going to let him anywhere near you. The upstairs windows are all secure now. There are sensors all over the place. I turned them back on as soon as the press left.”
He’d had to turn off the system for the press. They kept stepping over the line, setting off the alarms.
She nodded and reminded herself that this time he would be here with her, in the house. He would be guarding her all night.
She found comfort in the thought, in the meal they were sharing—such a domestic act. Maybe too much comfort. She must not get used to that, to him. Someday soon, when this case was resolved, he would leave. She must remember that.
She watched him eat, the way his sensuous lips closed around the spoon and his hair fell over his forehead. He looked up, caught her watching him and flashed a grin.
Something leaped in her chest in response.
He had brought something to her house, home cooking and sudden grins, a sense of being alive and aware, possibilities beyond work and schedules. She was going to miss that when he left.
She blew on the soup in her spoon. Whatever Danny said about the spices, it did smell wonderful.
“We are going to set up a trap,” he said. “Leave him only one point of entry. I’ll be waiting for him.”
“You think he’ll come back tonight?”
“Maybe. Or he might wait a few days for you to get comfortable and let your guard down. It doesn’t matter when he comes. I’ll be here and I’ll be ready.”
“It will be over soon,” she said because she needed to hear it.
He nodded and put a fist to his stomach, made a funny face.
“You don’t think so?” she asked.
“I do,” he sounded breathless. “I just—”
The next second, he was doubled over, his soup spilled.
“Danny?” She grabbed for him, but too late. He went down with a groan, his knees touching down as his body swayed just before it hit the tile floor.
“Cramps.” He pushed the word past his white lips. “Poison.”