Читать книгу Tempted By The Bodyguard - Elle James - Страница 22

Daniel tried to sleep, but knowing Shelby was only a few short steps away left him wide-awake, and full-on frustrated.

When the early light of dawn crept through his window, he knew he had to get out, breathe fresh air and clear his foggy brain.

He pulled on shorts and running shoes and headed downstairs and out of the house. He slipped through the gate, making certain it closed securely behind him. Only those with a need to know had the security code to enter, but anyone could get out with a single push of a button. He made a note to talk to Kate about other options that were more secure.

Ignoring the ever-present pain in his leg, he half jogged and half walked a mile before turning back. He didn’t want to be too far away from the estate should anything happen. With Shelby asleep in her locked bedroom, she should be all right for a while. And he needed the exercise, or his injuries from that fateful day of protecting Kate would never heal.

The sun had yet to rise on his return. When he was within a hundred yards of the gate, he stopped to tie a shoelace that had come undone.

Leaning against a tree, he bent, tied his shoe and happened to look up just as someone exited the Winston Estate on foot, wearing shorts, a T-shirt and a baseball cap. Despite the hat, Daniel knew who it was and anger spiked in him.

Did she want to be kidnapped again?

Shelby turned away from him and set off at a jog.

Adrenaline spiked and Daniel took off after her.

At a crossroad, she turned right and disappeared around the corner.

Still a good fifty yards behind her, Daniel ignored the pain in his knee and sped up, concerned. Shelby was out on her own, now on a busier street and no one around to keep her from being taken.

Daniel raced for the corner. Before he reached it, a large white SUV like the one that had been at the university the day before sped by, heading the same direction as Shelby.

Sprinting as fast as he could go, Daniel rounded the corner without slowing, in time to see SUV’s brake lights flash and the vehicle slow next to Shelby.

His heart thundering, Daniel yelled, “Shelby, run!”

Shelby had already noticed the danger and stopped on the sidewalk.

Move, Daniel willed her, still running to reach her in time.

As the vehicle slowed beside her, Shelby spun and ran back toward Daniel.

Without a gun or any other type of weapon, Daniel would only be able to shield her with his body. But he’d throw himself in the line of fire before he’d let a single bullet hit Shelby.

The SUV whipped into Reverse and backed up after Shelby’s running figure.

Daniel reached her before the SUV, grabbed her hand and ran with her, dragging her faster and faster.

The SUV swerved in an attempt to hit them.

Daniel veered away from the road and headed through a stand of trees between two large houses. As he and Shelby emerged on the other side of the trees, the SUV was there, heading directly for Daniel.

Daniel had to let go of Shelby or risk her getting hit along with him.

Pushing her one way, Daniel dived in the opposite direction, narrowly missing the crush of the SUV’s tires.

Shelby staggered and fell to the ground.

As Daniel picked himself up off the pavement, a man wearing a ski mask leaped down from the SUV and ran toward Shelby.

She lay on the ground, motionless.

When the man reached out to grab her, she exploded from the ground, kicked the man in the face and rolled out of reach.

About the time the man reached for her again, the back door opened and another man with a ski mask leaped out. Daniel arrived at the SUV at that moment and slammed the man into the side of the vehicle.

Startled by the attack, the man swung, his fist connecting with Daniel’s jaw. Daniel’s head whipped back, but he balled his fists and aimed for the man’s belly, landing a hard one to the guy’s breadbasket. He doubled over.

A scream behind him gave Daniel the necessary incentive to end the argument sooner. He raised his knee with a hard jerk, hitting the man in the nose. He went down, holding on to his face, blood streaming from beneath the dark ski mask.

Daniel spun toward the other guy.

He had Shelby in a headlock.

“One step closer and I’ll break her neck,” the guy growled.

“I’ll give you one chance to let her go,” Daniel bluffed, wondering how the hell he’d get Shelby away from the gorilla.

Shelby’s face was red and she clawed at the meaty arm wrapped tightly around her throat.

At a standoff, Daniel edged closer.

Shelby went limp and collapsed in her captor’s arms. She’d done nothing to deserve this. She was an innocent pawn in a game of politics and deception.

His heart in his throat, Daniel lunged for the man, rage driving him forward.

As he reached them, Shelby jabbed her elbow into her captor’s groin. The man let her go and grabbed for his crotch. Daniel slammed his knee into the man’s face and shoved him backward; he tripped over the curb and fell on his backside.

Daniel gripped Shelby’s hand and ran back the way he’d come, dragging her along with him, praying she had the strength to keep up. If the men who’d threatened them followed, he wasn’t sure he’d be so lucky to get her away the next time.

Shelby ran next to Daniel, gulping air into her lungs and shooting glances over her shoulder to gauge whether or not the bad guys were still following. The man she’d bested helped the one with the broken nose into the SUV. The driver sent the vehicle up over the curb in his effort to get away.

Daniel didn’t let her stop until they’d reached the entrance to the Winston Estate. He punched the code into the keypad and the gate opened. Once he’d shoved her through, he hit the close button and the gate slammed shut behind them.

Shelby collapsed on the ground and lay there for a full two minutes until her breathing returned to normal. The adrenaline still spiking through her veins made her sit up. “Thank you,” she said.

Daniel paced away, the color high in his cheeks. His eyes blazed and he breathed through his nose like an angry bull. He stopped in front of her, towering over her. “I don’t know what was going through your head. I’m not here to make sure you have a good time. I’m not here to make love to you. My primary goal in this assignment is to keep you safe. If you insist on pulling stupid stunts like that, you can find yourself another damn bodyguard.” He stalked away, leaving her on the ground by the gate.

She rolled to her feet and went after him. “Really? You think I asked to be grabbed off the street? You think I planned on having a secret identity connected to the former vice president of the freakin’ United States?” She grabbed his arm, forcing him to stop, though he refused to face her.

She marched around in front him and stood with her arms crossed over her chest. “I didn’t want a bodyguard in the first place.” Jabbing a finger into his chest, she went on, “And I sure as hell don’t want one who has a problem with sticking around. You couldn’t get up and get out of my bed fast enough.” He stood rock solid, his face poker straight, his flashing green eyes the only indication she was making him angrier.

“What’s wrong with you? Are you afraid you might like me? Afraid you’re not good enough for me? ’Cause let me tell you, bubba, you aren’t. I need a man who doesn’t judge anyone based on their lineage. A man who will love me no matter who my parents or grandparents are or what they did.” On a roll, unable to stop her tirade now that she’d started, she poked him again. “You know what you are? A scaredy cat. A big ol’ scaredy cat.”

He grabbed her finger and yanked her hard, slamming her against his chest. He caught her lips with his in a crushing kiss that stole her breath away and made her head spin.

When he shoved her away from him, she reeled backward.

He poked a finger into her chest. “For the record, I didn’t ask for this assignment. I was stuck with it. For the record, I don’t like babysitting little girls who don’t know what’s best for them. And for the record, I didn’t run away from you. Did you ever think I might have left because I didn’t want to make love to you again?”

That hurt like a punch to the gut. Shelby fought to keep from doubling over at the slam. “Good. Because I don’t want you touching me.” Damn. She tried to stop it, but her eyes teared up and her bottom lip trembled. “Ever again.”

Daniel stared at her, his jaw hard, his face impassive. Finally he eased her back into his arms and pressed his cheek against her hair. “You scared the crap out of me.”

“I thought you didn’t care.”

“I don’t want to.” He stroked her soft brown hair, twisting his fingers in the silken strands.

“But you do.”

“Yes.” He sighed and took her hand in his. “Let’s get you back to the house.”

With her hand tucked in his big, warm one, Shelby leaned against him as they walked back to the mansion.

Kate met them in the foyer, her brows coming together in a worried frown. “What’s wrong?” She glanced at Shelby’s legs. “Why are your knees skinned?”

Shelby hadn’t realized she’d been hurt. The adrenaline rush and near miss had blocked the pain. “I fell.”

“The hell she did. She was attacked again,” Daniel said.

“Dear God.” Kate wrapped her arms around Shelby. “Are you okay? Should I call the doctor?”

Shelby hadn’t been hugged by a female relative since her mother died and she’d been almost too young to remember. Kate’s hug was warm, welcoming and seemed genuinely heartfelt.

After nearly being taken again, Shelby let the woman hug her. She liked the way Kate Winston smelled of honeysuckle, and she was warm and soft. She could see how a man from the Outer Banks could have fallen for the pretty socialite.

“Shelby?” Her grandfather hurried down the stairs, dressed in jeans and a polo shirt. “What’s going on?”

The front door opened and Thad entered, followed by Jed Kincannon.

Thad smiled. “Looks like I’m just in time for the party. What’s going on?”

Everyone started talking at once. Shelby’s head began to ache and her skinned knees stung.

Daniel whistled to get everyone’s attention. “We aren’t accomplishing a thing.” He curved his arm around Shelby’s waist. “We’re going to clean up.”

“Yes, yes. Of course. Shelby’s injuries need tending to.” Kate waved toward the hallway. “Let’s take this discussion into the kitchen while Daniel takes care of Shelby. I’ll make breakfast, and we can talk about what we want to do.”

“Are you sure you don’t need me to help?” Patrick asked.

Shelby smiled. “You patched up all of my skinned knees as a kid, but I think I can handle this on my own.” She leaned close and kissed her grandfather’s cheek. “I love you, Granddad.”

“Not as much as I love you, little girl.” He patted her shoulder and followed Kate toward the kitchen.

Shelby had always been the only woman in her grandfather’s life, and he’d never dated anyone that she knew of. She’d assumed he hadn’t dated because he’d been too busy raising his daughter and then his granddaughter. Could it be that he had never gotten over his first love?

Shelby stared after her grandfather’s retreating figure. A little nip of jealousy was quickly overridden by the thought that her grandfather might still be in love with the beautiful and powerful Kate Winston. How sad. With her in her mansion and him in his bar on the Outer Banks, they couldn’t be farther apart.

Her heart aching for her grandfather, Shelby turned to follow Daniel.

“Wait,” Thad said. “You’ll need the first-aid kit.” Thad ran to the kitchen and returned with a red-and-white box.

“Thank you.” Shelby reached for it, but Daniel got there first. She frowned. “I’m not an invalid, you know.”

“I know, but I’d rather you concentrated on getting up the stairs unscathed.”

“Again, I think I can handle climbing and carrying a little box.”

Daniel gave her lopsided smile. “Are you always this argumentative?”

Patrick snorted from the hallway. “She can be a pill sometimes.”

“You’re not helping, Granddad,” Shelby shot back, crossing her arms as she turned on Daniel. “Are you always this domineering?”

“Let’s agree you’re argumentative and I’m domineering and maybe we’ll get cleaned up sometime today. We have bigger fish to fry, and arguing down here isn’t getting the oil hot.”

Shelby started to give him a scathing reply, thought better of it and clamped her lips shut.

Daniel led the way to her room where she sat on the edge of the big tub in the bathroom while he cleaned the gravel from her skinned knees and applied ointment and bandages. His hand lingered on her thigh and she held her breath, waiting for him to lean close and claim a kiss.

When he didn’t, she wanted to scream with frustration. Instead, she turned the tables on him. “My turn.” She took the kit and stood. “Sit.”

“I can manage on my own.”

She gave him a meaningful stare and pointed to the edge of the tub. “Sit.”

With that gorgeous lopsided grin that made her go weak at the knees, he sat.

She wet a clean washcloth and dabbed at a gash on his cheek where he’d been punched. “You’re going to have a bruise.”

“I’ll live,” he said, his smile slipping as she leaned closer. “You don’t have to get so close.”

“Yes, I do.” She straddled his lap and sat with a smile. “I haven’t properly thanked you for saving me.” Shelby applied ointment to his cheek.

He caught her wrist in his hand and stared at her hard. “Don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“When the threat is gone, you won’t need my protection. I’ll be reassigned.”

Her heart fluttered. She’d already come to that conclusion, but hearing him say it drove it home. Forcing a smile, she shook her hand free. “I know that. In the meantime, let me take care of you for once.”

His lips tightened, but he let go of her wrist. She applied a butterfly bandage to pull the edges of wound together and taped a gauze pad over it. “There. That shouldn’t leave much of a scar.” With her thighs rubbing against his, she could tell her position in his lap was having the desired effect. She patted his bandage softly and shifted her gaze to his mouth, tilting forward until her lips hovered over his. “Thank you for coming to my rescue.” She swept her mouth across his, her lips barely skimming his.

He sat like stone for an excruciatingly long moment, his hands bunching into fists.

Shelby thought he’d mastered his self-control and that she’d overstepped her bounds.

Then he cupped the back of her head and kissed her hard, his tongue sweeping into her mouth, claiming her in a dizzyingly powerful connection.

As quickly as he’d taken her, he stood and set her on her feet. “They’re waiting on us.” Daniel collected the items of the first-aid kit, threw them in the box, closed it and left the bathroom in record time.

Disappointment fused with raging desire. Shelby wanted to stand in Daniel’s way and demand he stay and face up to what they were feeling. The stony expression on his face made her step aside and allow him to pass.

“Get dressed and meet us in the kitchen in five minutes.” He didn’t ask, he demanded.

Shelby bristled, but clamped her teeth down on her tongue as Daniel crossed her bedroom and passed through the connecting door to his own. Once the door was shut behind him, she was tempted to rip it back open. He couldn’t lock it because the door frame was splintered. Instead, she marched to the bed, lifted a pillow and cocked her arm to throw it.

The door opened and Daniel poked his head through and he pointed at the pillow. “Don’t do it.”

Shelby launched the pillow and it hit the door as he closed it quickly.

Throwing the pillow didn’t fix the fact that the man was exasperating, but it made her feel better.

“Five minutes,” he reminded her through the closed door.

Part of her wanted to drag her feet and arrive in the kitchen in ten minutes just to spite him. How could he kiss her like that and then practically dump her off his lap and go about business as usual?

She dressed in her jeans and one of her better pullover blouses. The outfit was not nearly as nice as the slacks and cashmere sweater Kate had given her to wear, but they felt more like her and she felt more normal in them. Running a brush through her hair, she washed her face and applied a little blush to her pale cheeks and a bit of mascara to her eyes. Not that she wanted to look better for anyone but herself.

Slipping into her favorite sandals, she let herself out of her room, betting Mr. Bossypants was already in kitchen making plans for her without her input. She hurried down the stairs and found the kitchen by following the sound of voices.

“Well, the fact is she’s not safe in Raleigh.”

“The house is wired for security and the gate should help keep people out.”

“How does that explain someone being in her room last night?”

“We don’t know that for sure.” Shelby stepped into the room. “I could have been imagining things.”

“There have been too many attempts already. I’m afraid you’re not safe here,” Daniel said.

“Then I can go home?” she asked with a bright smile.

“No!” Kate and her grandfather both said at once.

They smiled at each other, and then her grandfather faced her. “It’s not safe at the bar.”

“I had no problems there last night.”

“But you had problems yesterday afternoon and this morning,” Daniel pointed out.

Shelby glared at Daniel, sitting quietly in a chair across the table, drinking coffee. “So I made a bad choice in going out without my watchdog. I won’t do that again.”

“And what about school?” Kate asked.

Daniel’s jaw tightened. “She’s not going.”

“The hell I’m not.”

“You got your assignments, you can work on them and turn them in when we get this thing resolved. Your instructors will work with you.”

“Maybe and maybe not.” Shelby crossed her arms over her chest. “Did anyone even bother to ask what I want to do?”

Her grandfather reached for her hand. “Honey, you need to listen to what these people are saying.”

“I can’t live like this. I’m just as much a prisoner in this house as I was in that basement.”

Daniel stood and waved his hand toward the door. “If you don’t like it, go.”

Her back straightened. “I just might.”

“No, either you will or you won’t, but stop straddling the fence.” He pinned her with his stare.

No one else said a word, each waiting expectantly for her response. “It’s my life.”

“Yes, it is. And if you step out of this house, off this property by yourself, you’ll end up in the hellhole you were in before, and maybe for longer than two weeks this time. And they might not be as nice to you. You might not even get bologna sandwiches. They could decide it would be fun to assault and torture you.”

The blood rushed from Shelby’s face and a cold shiver shook her. Her grandfather’s face paled and he shook his head, his eyes pleading with her.

“Daniel,” Kate warned.

“No, Kate. If she wants to go out on her own, she needs to know the truth. No sugarcoating.” Daniel stepped up to her. “If you leave, you might die this time.”

Shelby sucked in a breath, finding it harder to breathe than moments before, her hands growing clammy. She rubbed her palms on her jeans and stared down at the scabs just beginning to heal.

“Is that what you want?” Daniel asked softly.

She shook her head, her eyes blurring. “No.”

Kate stood and came to her side, laying a hand on her arm. “Then let us protect you. Let Daniel keep you safe until we can figure this out.”

“How to your propose to keep her safe if she’s not even safe in this house?” Thad asked.

“I could assign another agent to the detail,” Jed offered.

“Thank you, Jed,” Kate patted his hand. “I appreciate the offer, but after D’Angelis proved to be a traitor and his death took place in a public facility surrounded by law enforcement officers, I don’t know who to trust except my children and Daniel.”

“I would be willing to offer my own services,” Kincannon said.

Kate frowned. “You’re the director. You have another job to do. Finding who’s doing this to my family is as important as protecting my granddaughter.”

Thad leaned forward. “We could hire an independent bodyguard.”

Kate shook her head. “That goes back to my original point. I don’t trust anyone but my family and Daniel.”

Thad tapped his fingers on the table, his eyebrows dipping low. “I’m leading the investigation from the local law enforcement side. Though I wish I could be here, if we want to catch the person responsible, I can’t do both.”

Kate nodded. “I know you can’t and I won’t ask it of you. Which leaves us only one option.” She faced Daniel.

Shelby inched closer to him, despite his effort to frighten her.

“What choice is that?” Daniel asked.

“You have to get Shelby out of here.”

“And where do you want me to take her?”

“Away.” Kate waved her hand in the air. “Someplace no will think to look for her.”