Читать книгу Tempted By The Bodyguard - Elle James - Страница 15

His ears ringing and pain knifing through his leg, Daniel rolled off Shelby and Kate and leaped to his feet.

Smoke poured from the limousine’s engine. The hood had been blown off and had landed several yards away in the middle of the driveway. The windshield was completely shattered and the driver was slumped against the door.

Daniel limped to the limousine and tried to open the driver’s door to get him out. It wouldn’t open, and the acrid scent of gasoline and smoke made him pull harder.

Bracing his foot on the side of the vehicle, he pulled on the door handle but it wouldn’t budge.

Shelby helped Kate up on the other side of the vehicle.

“Get the hell away!” Daniel called out. “There’s gas leaking out, it could go up anytime.”

Shelby hooked Kate’s elbow and tried to hurry her toward the building.

Kate pushed her hands away. “No, that’s Carlo. We have to get him out.”

Thad ran toward Daniel, carrying a tire iron. He yelled back at Sam, “Call 911!” Thad wedged the pointed end of the tire iron between the door and the frame and leaned back. The door metal bent, but the door didn’t budge.

Daniel grabbed the iron below Thad’s hands and put his back into it. Together they pulled. Trey rounded to the opposite side of the car and tried the door. “This side is locked, too.”

Daniel glanced at the puddle of fuel pooling around their feet and the smoke still rising from the engine. “We have to get him out.” He took the tire iron from Thad and smashed it against the broken glass of the window behind the driver. The first strike wasn’t enough. He swung again and the safety glass caved in. He ran the bar along the edges of the long side window, breaking out enough of a hole to get inside.

By then, nurses and orderlies were running out of the hospital.

Sam stood between them and the limousine. “Stay back! It’s too dangerous.”

A siren wailed in the distance.

Daniel shrugged out of his suit jacket, laid it over the broken window and dived into the back of the limousine. He crawled over the back of the leather seat and shoved open the window between the back and the front. Pushing his bulky shoulders through the narrow opening, he reached through and checked the driver for a pulse. For a moment, he could feel nothing, then a faint throb bumped against his fingertips. “He’s still alive!”

Shimmying through the window, Daniel dragged his body into the front seat and hit the switch to unlock the doors. Nothing happened. “Take the tire iron to the other side!” he yelled, the smoke making him cough and his eyes fill with tears.

Thad rounded the vehicle and jammed the bar between the door and frame. Sam joined him with another tire iron. With the three Winston brothers on the outside pulling, Daniel kicked as hard as he could.

A scream rent the air and Daniel glanced up long enough to see flames shoot toward the sky. If he didn’t get the door open, he’d cook inside the limousine with the driver.

Flames engulfed the engine and driver’s side of the vehicle. Shelby screamed and pushed forward. If her grandfather had not been beside her, she would have joined the men at the door. “Don’t! You’ll be hurt,” he said, his arm catching her around her waist.

Her heart lodged in her throat, Shelby stood by helpless as the drama unfolded. “Where is the fire truck? Why isn’t it here yet?”

“They’re coming as fast as they can,” her grandfather assured her.

“They’re not going to get here in time. If my boys don’t get out of there…” Kate started to walk forward.

Patrick snagged her arm. “The best thing you can do is stay safe and away. If they’re worrying about you, they won’t be concentrating on their own safety.”

Kate pressed her hands to her face. “I can’t stand by and do nothing.”

Shelby pushed her grandfather’s arm away. “I have to help.” Before she could take one more step, the door to the limousine flew open. Smoke billowed up into the air as fire devoured the fuel.

Get out, get out, get out! Shelby screamed inside, but Daniel didn’t appear. Her chest squeezed tight and her breath caught and held in her throat as fire consumed the vehicle.

Then a leg came out, followed by another, and Daniel backed out of the limousine, dragging the limp body of the driver.

Trey and Thad took over, dragging him the rest of the way out and as far away from the burning vehicle as they could before they laid him on the ground.

A fire engine, lights and sirens blaring, pulled up next to the hospital.

Firemen leaped to the ground and dragged hoses from the side of the truck. A rescue vehicle stopped behind it, along with four police cruisers. Soon the bystanders were herded back into the hospital.

Trey ushered Debra inside, but Shelby, Patrick and Kate refused.

“Those are my sons,” Kate insisted. “I’m not going anywhere.”

The firemen extinguished the blaze and the hospital’s medical staff carried the injured driver into the hospital on a gurney.

Once the driver was taken care of and the flames doused, the Winston sons and Daniel joined Patrick, Shelby and Kate.

While the Winstons checked out their mother, Daniel touched Shelby’s chin. “You should have that cut looked at. Are you okay?”

With his fingers warm on her face, Shelby couldn’t think straight. “I think so.” Shelby pressed her palms to her ears and flexed her jaw. “But you sound like you’re in a tunnel.”

“Concussion from the blast.” Daniel’s hand dropped to his side. “It’ll take a while before your hearing returns to normal.” He faced Shelby’s grandfather. “Maybe we should get everyone back inside the hospital to be treated.”

Patrick nodded. “I agree. Starting with you.” He turned Daniel around. “Looks like you collected some shrapnel from the explosion.

Shelby looked at Daniel’s back and gasped. “You’re coming with me.” She grabbed his arm and dragged him toward the door.

He pulled free of her grip. “I’m okay. I’d rather get everyone back to the Winston Estate and out of range of anyone else targeting you or Mrs. Winston.”

Kate and her three sons gathered around them. “What the hell happened?” Kate looked at the destroyed limousine.

“It appears someone got to the limousine and planted a bomb in it,” Daniel said.

“How? I thought the drivers were with them at all times.”

Thad wrapped an arm around his mother’s shoulders. “I’ll have security camera footage checked. Maybe it’ll shed light on whoever did this. Main thing now is to get you and Shelby home.”

Kate shook her head. “I can’t leave now. I have to stay and see to the well-being of my driver.”

“No.” Sam took his mother’s hand. “You have to get home. If someone is willing to bomb a vehicle at a hospital, he’s not concerned with collateral damage. By being here, you’re putting others in danger.”

Shelby watched as Kate’s brows pulled together. “I’m so damned tired of my family being terrorized. Who is doing this?”

“We don’t know, but I’d prefer to get you out of here before someone tries again.” Sam nodded toward Shelby. “And Shelby could use some recuperation time after what she’s been through.”

Kate reached toward her. “I’m so sorry. This is all my fault.”

Shelby stepped away from the woman’s hands, not yet willing to accept her as anything other than the person who was going to host her and her grandfather for the next few days. “I don’t understand why I’m a target, or why it’s because of you. But I agree standing around here isn’t going to solve our problems.” And she didn’t want to let on that she had a splitting headache. Not when Daniel was cut and bleeding and willing to forgo medical attention to get Kate and her to safety.

“I can take a total of five in my SUV,” Trey said. “I’ll bring it around.”

“Sam can take the rest in mine,” Thad offered. “I’m staying to help gather evidence. This is now a crime scene.”

Daniel stepped in front of the women. “We need to search the vehicles before anyone gets in.”

“Daniel and I will handle that,” Thad said. “Patrick, could you take Mother and Shelby into the hospital and have the staff give them a once-over?”

Kate shook her head. “I’m fine.”

“As am I,” Shelby assured him.

Thad shrugged. “Hardheaded women.”

Kate’s lips quirked and Shelby couldn’t help but think the men were tough and hardheaded like their mother. Not an entirely bad thing in this case.

A few minutes later, Shelby was in the backseat of an SUV with Daniel riding shotgun, her grandfather at her side and Trey Winston at the wheel. Kate rode in Thad’s SUV with Sam driving and Debra sitting beside her in the backseat. They’d decided to leave the second limo behind in case it was similarly rigged to explode.

Once they were away from the hospital, Shelby noticed Daniel didn’t sit all the way back in his seat.

She leaned forward. “You should have had your back seen to.”

“Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine until I get to the Winston Estate.”

“You can barely sit in this vehicle.” Shelby tapped Trey on his shoulder. “Take us back to the hospital. This man needs medical attention.”

Trey shot her a glance in the rearview mirror. “Thad’s fiancée is on her way. She’s a nurse and can remove the shrapnel and clean the wounds.”

Not completely satisfied with Trey’s response, Shelby sat back in her seat, chewing on her bottom lip.

Her grandfather patted her knee. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about your grandmother.”

Shelby covered her grandfather’s hand. “It’s okay. I guess I understand why you didn’t. A woman willing to give up her baby isn’t worth knowing.”

“My mother didn’t give up her baby knowingly,” Trey said, his jaw set in a hard line, his fingers tight on the wheel.

“I didn’t know she was lied to. All I knew was I had a baby to raise by myself. What did I know about raising a kid?”

Shelby’s fingers squeezed around her grandfather’s. “Apparently you knew enough to raise my mother and me.”

“Not enough to keep Carrie safe.”

“You did the best you could. You couldn’t have known she would die in a car wreck.”

Patrick lifted Shelby’s hand and kissed her knuckles. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. How can I forget when you look just like her?” He smiled, then his lips turned down at the corners. “When I thought I’d lost you as well, I had to get help.”

“I’m glad you did.” Memories of being abducted washed over her, and she relived the terror of being so helpless. “I’m sorry I didn’t come home on time that night.”

“You think I could be mad about that?” Her grandfather laughed, choking on a sob. “You couldn’t have known someone would target you.”

“Yeah, but if I had left when there were more people out, I might not have been captured and imprisoned in that horrible basement.”

“Well, it’s all over now. We have to count our blessings and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

And that was where Daniel came into the picture. If he was to be her bodyguard, he’d be around all the time.

Shelby’s insides quivered, her core heated and her palms grew clammy. “I don’t like living in someone else’s house. I’d rather go home to my own home, with my own bed to sleep in and the people I know and love around me.”

Patrick nodded. “I’d like nothing better. But it’s clear someone wants to get to Kate through her family. And like it or not, you’re part of Kate’s family.”

At that moment, they pulled up to a gate. Trey pressed a remote-control button on the sun visor and the gate opened. They wound along a driveway and through parklike manicured lawns and gardens, and finally stopped in front of a huge white-painted brick mansion with black shutters and red accents.

Shelby gulped, her pulse quickening, feeling more uncomfortable by the minute. “For the record, I don’t like it. I don’t know the woman, other than that she’s the former vice president. I don’t like putting my life on hold because someone doesn’t like her. I’ve already missed enough time at school. I have no idea how I’m going to catch up. And holy smokes, who lives in a house this big?”

“You will.” Daniel climbed out of the SUV and opened Shelby’s door for her, his face grim, his jaw hard. “Perhaps you need to understand a few things.” He held out his hand, pulled her out of the vehicle and stood her in front of him.

“Don’t get all he-man on me,” she said, pushing his hands away before the feel of him made her do something truly foolish. “You’re just the bodyguard.”

“I might only be the hired help, but Kate Winston was a good vice president and she’s an even better person. She didn’t have to come to your rescue, but she did. And she doesn’t have to provide you protection. But she will.” He gripped her arms and glared down at her. “I suggest you be grateful you’re alive, thank Kate for making that happen and stop whining about school.”

Shelby opened her mouth to tell the man she wasn’t whining, but he stood so close she could feel the heat from his body and the intensity in his gaze. All the words she could have shouted back at him died on her lips and she shut her mouth with a snap. It wasn’t in her nature to be so angry. And, damn it, Daniel was right.

She should quit worrying about school. Free from her kidnappers, no longer confined to the darkness, she had a lot to be thankful for. And she had yet to thank this man for saving her from the burning house.

Her grandfather chuckled as he rounded the vehicle. “Shelby has a mind of her own, but I do believe she’s met her match.” He glanced up at the house in front of him, his smile fading. “Kate sure has done well for herself,” he stated.

Shelby stepped back from Daniel, her voice caught in her throat as a surge of emotion welled up in her. She was lucky to be here, and she should accept a night’s protection from the woman who’d been someone special to her grandfather forty years ago.

Slipping her arm through her grandfather’s, she leaned into him. “In case I haven’t told you yet, I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”

He pressed her arm to his side. “Never.”

Shelby stared up at the house and shook her head. “Pretty impressive, isn’t it?” Shelby glanced at her grandfather.

For a man who didn’t know a stranger and always had a smile on his face, he looked pretty grim. “I could never have given her all this.”

A thread of anger shot up her back, stiffening her spine. “You’d have given her everything she needed.”

His lips twisted. “But not this.”

“Funny, I grew up in your house, and I never longed for anything.”

“There were a few times I was hard-pressed to put food on the table.”

“We always had plenty of love.”

“Remember the time after the hurricane that almost destroyed the bar? I didn’t know how I’d get back on my feet.”

Shelby hugged him to her side “Everyone on the Outer Bank helped us rebuild.”

“When you didn’t come home…” His face blanched and his throat worked as he swallowed hard. “Hell, Shelby, I could replace a bar, but I could never replace you.”

Shelby blinked to keep tears from welling in her eyes. All the time she’d been held in captivity, she’d worried about her grandfather. He didn’t have anyone else in the world. And neither did she. At least, she’d thought she didn’t have anyone else. Things were changing.

The other SUV pulled to a halt behind Trey’s. Kate, Debra and Thad stepped out.

“I hope you weren’t waiting on us.” Kate hurried forward. “Please, come inside. I’ll have Maddie make tea and coffee and find something for lunch. Lucy’s on the way. She’ll help Daniel and anyone else with injuries from the explosion.” Though her knees were scuffed, her pretty gray suit was wrinkled and dirty and her hair was mussed, Kate marched up the steps like a force to be reckoned with.

Shelby and Patrick both drew in long breaths and followed her up the steps into the house. Shelby told herself it would only be for a day. Maybe two, then she was going back home. She didn’t belong in this big old mansion.

Most of all, she wanted to get away from the bodyguard who had such a low opinion of her and who got her stomach all tied in knots every time she glanced his way.

Before Kate reached the top of the steps, Trey and Sam got there and threw open the doors. She smiled at them and stepped inside, then turned to welcome her guests.

Beneath the smudges, her cheeks glowed a soft pink as Patrick stepped past her. Her eyelashes dipped down and her gaze followed him like a shy teenager.

Shelby was shocked by the change. From confident former vice president to shy young woman, Kate Winston was an enigma. Which was the woman who’d abandoned her baby girl and broken her grandfather’s heart?

The wide front doors opened into a spacious foyer tiled in black-and-white marble. A grand, sweeping staircase curved upward to the second floor, trimmed in glistening rich mahogany. To one side of the entryway was a large, formal living room with shining wood floors and white furniture. In sharp contrast, a black grand piano filled one corner, ready to provide an elite guest list with subtle entertainment.

An older woman, slightly plump with red hair, hurried forward, her arms opening to Kate. “Oh, Mrs. Winston, I’m so glad you’re not harmed.” She engulfed the former vice president in a hug and then stepped back, raising an apron to dry her eyes.

“I’m quite all right, Maddie.” Kate patted the older woman’s back. “Just a little shaken up by the explosion.”

Maddie shook her head. “When Debra called ahead to warn me about what happened, I nearly had a heart attack.” She pressed a hand to her chest and took a deep breath. “I had to see with my own eyes.”

“Well, now that you know I’m fine, let me introduce my granddaughter, Shelby O’Hara.” Kate swept her hand toward Shelby. “And this is her grandfather, Patrick O’Hara.” Her voice dropped and her eyelashes swept down over her eyes, her cheeks flushing. “They’ll be staying with us until we sort all of this out. Shelby, Patrick, this is Maddie Fitzgerald, our housekeeper, the rock in our household. If you need anything, she’s the one you should ask.”

Sam hugged the older woman. “She’s so much more than a housekeeper. She’s like a surrogate grandmother.” He kissed the top of her cap of short red hair. “She’s really part of the family. She takes good care of us all.”

Maddie smiled and held out her hand to Patrick, her gaze going from Patrick to Kate, a slight wrinkle in her brow. “You both are welcome here.” She turned to Shelby, her smile widening, her hand reaching for Shelby’s. “My goodness, girl, you’re the spittin’ image of your grandmother.”

“And my mother, so I’m told,” Shelby added.

Kate stiffened beside her, her face paling. “I’d better clean up. I have a meeting with the press in an hour. I’m sure they’ll want to know all about what happened this morning.” She inhaled deeply and let it out.

Debra leaned close to Kate and whispered, “You might want to tell her what to expect.”

With a nod, Kate’s gaze captured Shelby’s. “If word gets out that I have a granddaughter, be prepared to be inundated by the press.” Her lips twisted. “I apologize for that, but I can’t change what is.” She glanced over Shelby’s shoulder to Daniel. “Daniel will help to keep them at bay, but you won’t be able to go anywhere without someone snapping pictures of you.”

“We should be going,” Debra prompted Kate. She smiled at Patrick and Shelby. “Maddie will help you two get settled.” Then she ushered Kate toward the staircase, the two women walking with quick, purposeful steps as they climbed to the second floor.

“Press?” Shelby’s head spun with the thought. “Why me?”

Trey scrubbed a hand over his face and grimaced. “With so much happening, I hadn’t thought about that.” He stared at Shelby. “Brace yourself.”

Shelby’s belly tightened. So much was changing around her, she was having a hard time grasping it all.

Sam touched her arm reassuringly. “The fact our mother had an illicit love affair before marrying our father will have the tabloids screaming for all the details. You’ll be a celebrity by association.”

“Sam Winston, don’t you have something better to do than scare this poor child?” Maddie waved her hands toward the big Winston man as if she was shooing a fly. She took Shelby’s hand and tugged her toward the stairs. “Come with me. I’ll show you two to your rooms.”

Shelby was swept away by the woman and herded up the stairs, her grandfather following and Daniel bringing up the rear.

Everything was happening too fast. From a nameless college student to the granddaughter of the former vice president of the United States all in the span of a day. Or rather, in the span of the two weeks she’d been held prisoner.

Shelby shivered, wishing she could go back to being the faceless college student who had nothing more to worry about than the next exam or the next paper due.

Daniel followed Shelby up the stairs. The consummate professional, he shouldn’t have been focusing on the sway of her hips as she took one step at a time. In the tailored slacks and cashmere short-sleeved sweater, she looked more like one of the Winstons than the soot-covered waif he’d found passed out on the kitchen floor of a burning house.

Even in the new clothes, she still conveyed a sense of vulnerability, no matter how fiercely she valued her independence. The kidnapping had to have taken its toll on her and made her aware of just how helpless one woman could be against two strong men. Hell, a grown man would be equally helpless in the same circumstances. Especially if he wasn’t expecting an attack.

His back stung where shards of metal and glass had impaled him, but he refused to tend to himself until he was certain Shelby was secure. After he’d taken a bullet for Kate Winston, he knew the threats to the Winstons were real and not only in the outside world, but behind their supposedly secure gates.

Shrugging his shoulders, he winced and continued up the stairs, concentrating on Shelby’s sweet derriere. Each of her movements took his mind off the pain in his back and his bum knee.

At the first opportunity, he’d seek out Mrs. Winston and ask her to remove him from the responsibility of watching out for Shelby. She was young, opinionated and didn’t want the added aggravation of someone following her around. He couldn’t blame her. He’d grown up in a large family and he valued his privacy. But there was inconvenience and there was danger. She needed to understand the difference.

Shelby had to figure out really quickly which was more important. But Daniel didn’t want to be the man to play babysitter to the college coed. Let someone else be.

Still, she was pretty, slim, athletic, and when she smiled, as she had when he’d pulled her from the fire, it did funny things to his insides. Apparently, she’d gone through hell being kept in the dark for two weeks, not knowing why she’d been targeted, who was keeping her, or if they’d eventually kill her. Poor kid.

She reached up to push the hair back from her forehead, the motion emphasizing her narrow waist, the swell of her hips and the sexy way she moved. His groin tightened and he had to retract his previous thought. She wasn’t a kid. At twenty-three, she was six years younger than he was. He told himself that she might as well be a baby. While he performed the role of her bodyguard, he had to get his mind and his gaze off those hips. The woman was his job, not a conquest.