Things had happened fast, once the threat was neutralized.
Ty had disarmed the man—with the wry knowledge that he’d have been better off if this had been the shooter at the cabin, since he was carrying a 9mm rather than Dex’s more lethal .45—quickly. He’d called Elite the moment he had the guy contained and he was sure Ashley was all right, and told them what he had and to keep Sanderson from scarpering.
Her parents had been badly shaken, and Ty had been almost amused by the acquiescent way Ashley had endured her father’s anger once he found out she’d not only left her balcony doors unlocked but had disabled the alarm on them so she could step in and out as she wanted.
“I was wrong, and stupid, Dad,” she had said quietly. “Nothing had happened in so long I thought it would be okay now.”
Ty wouldn’t consider less than a week “so long” but he didn’t say it, mainly because he didn’t want to pile on. Her parents were having a sufficient effect on her. Besides, considering how he’d come to feel about her in about ten days, he didn’t feel he had much room to talk about time spans. And he had already been feeling self-conscious because of her parents’ outpouring of thanks yet again, her mother’s delivered as she clung to her daughter with tears unashamedly spilling down her cheeks.
They had learned the two security men—suitably embarrassed and angry—had been dealing with a man they’d caught climbing over the outer wall, a man hired by the gunman to divert them while he came in from the opposite direction. Judging by the look in her father’s eyes, Ty didn’t envy them. But once all that was dealt with, her father had ushered them into his study, where he made a phone call of his own. Ty could only imagine what power Andrew Hart was bringing to bear.
Ashley gave her mother a final hug before stepping back. Then she turned to Ty, and her smile was the most warming thing he’d seen since he’d set foot in these chilly mountains.
“The minute I knew you were here, I wasn’t afraid anymore. I mean, I never thought he’d really kill me, not when he needed something from me, but he made me so mad, thinking he could just coerce me like that.”
“And you,” Ty said dryly, “are too optimistic for your own good.”
She simply grinned at him. Gestured at them both, standing upright. “Obviously not. Besides, I knew you’d get it when I said that about the snake, I just knew it!”
Then she threw her arms around him, and Ty finally started to breathe normally again. He hugged her back, but the fear-induced adrenaline that had flooded him was slow to ebb.
“What the hell were you thinking, taking that swing at him?” He knew he would never forget that moment when she’d moved, when she’d shoved the guy’s gun arm.
She drew back, although she still hung on. “What?”
“If you hadn’t made that dive to the right, the guy could have shot you right there.”
“That’s why I made the dive to the right, honey,” she said, in that too-sweet tone he’d learned was a warning. He opened his mouth to retort when, belatedly, the last word registered.
Honey? Did that mean she wasn’t still furious with him?
“I... If you’d been hurt, I...” It was all he could manage to say.
“Then you’d know exactly how I felt when I realized you were shot protecting me. When you nearly died protecting me. And,” she added in a rather fierce tone, “if you tell me that you were only doing your job, I won’t be responsible for my reaction.”
Since he’d been about to say just that, he appreciated the warning. Just as he appreciated her nerve and her quick thinking.
And the feel of her in his arms again.
On second thought, appreciation was much too weak a word for what he was feeling. He looked down into her eyes and knew he loved everything about them. Especially when they were warm and loving, but also when they were sparking fire. This was not a woman who would make for a comfortable, easy life. A life he wanted more than anything else. That realization didn’t even shake him. No, a life with Ashley wouldn’t be typical.
But he would never be bored.
“It wasn’t only a job from the first moment I saw you,” he said. And he would have kissed her if they hadn’t been standing in her father’s study, with him on the phone and her mother just a few feet away. A mother who was already watching their embrace with a pointed interest that made Ty even more aware of what he had yet to face.
Ty’s phone chimed an incoming text, and he was thankful for the momentary reprieve from a set of, at the moment, hovering parents watching him carefully.
“That’s Mitch,” he said to Ashley. Reluctantly, he released her to pull out the phone. She didn’t protest, but stayed close. He glanced at the text and let out a long breath. He looked back at Ashley. “Elite found Sanderson. Called the police in and turned him over. And he’s talking.”
He heard a small sound from Ashley’s mother, and a low heartfelt oath from her father. But all he could see was Ashley looking at him with those eyes...
“Dear?” It was her mother, and Ty looked up in time to see she was gesturing to Mr. Hart. “I think these two need a little time alone. And frankly, unusual though it is, I find I need a drink.”
“I hear that,” the man answered fervently, and came out from behind his desk. He stopped beside them and gave Ty an assessing look. “You’ll be staying for dinner.”
Ty swallowed, felt Ashley’s gaze upon him. But he steeled himself and faced the freaking richest man in the hemisphere. The man whose daughter he’d fallen for like the proverbial ton of bricks, no matter how unprofessional it was.
“Yes, sir,” he said respectfully.
“Thank you,” Ashley said after they’d gone. “For not arguing with him. As you can imagine, my father is not used to it.”
“Except maybe from you?”
She grinned at him. “Maybe.”
He smiled back. “This wasn’t the time, not after what nearly happened here.” One corner of his mouth quirked. “Besides, the respect was for your father, not Andrew Hart.”
She tightened her arms around him again, and he knew he’d somehow found the right words. They stood there for what seemed to him a long time, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to move. It felt delicious, and he wanted to savor it. He was feeling a steady, rather fierce throb from his side, but he didn’t care about that, either. In fact, it felt right, very, very right, to be standing here with the woman who had kept that from being a fatal wound.
“I won’t stop my work,” she said, almost in a warning tone.
“I wouldn’t expect you to.” He grimaced. “And now that my sister’s convinced there’s a connection between Dad’s company and the cancer cases, I see your point. Things like that need to be investigated.”
She looked more pleased than he would have expected. “And I need to be more aware of the unintended harm—like that poor man’s suicide—that can be done.”
He gave her a crooked smile, the best he could manage at the moment. “Compromise?”
“Deal,” she agreed, smiling back.
He was only vaguely aware that he was feeling a bit fuzzy around the edges, as if the world around him was blurring. No, as if the world outside them was blurring. And that didn’t seem wrong at all. As long as she was here and bright and alive with all her Ashley-like sharpness and wit, the rest of the world could just blur away and he wouldn’t mind.
But he needed—desperately—to kiss her. It had been too long, and they were alone now, so there was no reason not to, was there? He leaned in, already anticipating the sweet feel and taste of her. But the blurring suddenly expanded, engulfing him.
“Whoa!” Her sudden yelp startled him. He felt her move, quickly, felt her hands on him as if propping him up. “Don’t pass out on me again.”
“I’m fine,” he said, but even he didn’t believe it. She was urging him to move, although he didn’t know to where. Didn’t care where. This was Ashley and he’d go wherever she wanted him to.
“Sit down before you fall down,” she said. They were next to a long leather couch. When he didn’t immediately move—his processing seemed to have slowed down—she urged him with some gentle pressure on his shoulder. “You’d better rest up, Mr. Bodyguard. I have detailed plans for that body of yours later.”
“Oh, I hope so,” he said, giving her a crooked grin.
Then he sat, rather lopsidedly as his side jabbed him with pain again.
“On second thought, lie down,” Ashley urged, and he didn’t feel like arguing with her. It was belatedly starting to register that his wound coupled with an adrenaline crash was not something that he was going to be able to slough off as nothing.
Ashley moved away. He frowned. He didn’t like that. He heard her quick footsteps, then, over what sounded like a weird sort of soft static in his ears, he heard her yell from the doorway.
“Mom! Mom, we need you in here!”
He liked that we.
It was all he had time to think before he went under.