Читать книгу Secret Service Dad - Mollie Molay - Страница 13

Matters didn’t improve between them when Mike arrived unannounced in Charlie’s office the next morning. He carried a sheaf of papers in his hand and had a determined look in his eyes. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have minded, but at the moment he was the last person on earth she cared to entertain in her office. If he discovered what was going on in here, coupled with the negative image he already had of her, her professional reputation wasn’t worth a plugged nickel. Not that it mattered, she told herself, the man’s attitude was enough to try a saint.

“What are you doing here, Mike?”

He looked taken aback at her attitude. His eyes narrowed, an eyebrow rose. “I work here, remember?”

“Of course,” she said, brushing aside her instinctive reaction to his unexpected and definitely unwanted appearance. Forcing a smile, she risked a glance at the coatrack behind him. “Actually, I meant, what are you doing here in my office this morning?”

“I need to get a few more details about the shooting yesterday. I didn’t come back right away because you looked a little queasy and in no condition to talk.” He gestured to her bandaged wrist. “Feeling a little better this morning?”

“I’m fine, it was only a scratch,” Charlie answered, more and more uneasy at his presence with every passing moment. Considering the state of affairs between them, and what was going on in her office, she didn’t feel very well, at that. Too bad she hadn’t had the foresight to close the office door behind her.

Their gazes locked. She could tell he sensed something was wrong with her. It looked as if the visit was going to end in a standoff, until, to her dismay, a strange guttural sound broke the silence.

Mike cocked his head and looked around the office for the source. “What was that?”

“What was what? I didn’t hear anything.” The feeble smile froze on Charlie’s lips as the sound came again. The unthinkable was about to happen. She silently prayed that the sound wouldn’t be repeated.

“I’m sure I heard something,” Mike glanced cautiously around the office again, finally shrugged and took a seat by her desk. “Maybe it was my imagination. Got the time to answer a few questions?”

“Actually, no.” She summoned her best smile and remained beside the open office door. Maybe he would take the broad hint and leave. “I have a full morning ahead today. How about tomorrow?”

The sound came again. This time, too loud for her to ignore. She frantically tried to think of a sensible explanation for the sound, but her mind seemed to have turned to mush. Any way she looked at it, she was knee-deep in trouble—and with the last man in the world she wanted to be in trouble with. He’d already as much as told her she was one card short of a full deck. What would he think of her now?

She followed Mike’s gaze to the large cloth tote bag she’d hung on the coatrack this morning. To her deepening dismay, it was shaking as if something inside was doing a rumba, with sound effects to match.

“Maybe I’m nuts,” Mike said as he got to his feet and cautiously eyed the shaking tote bag, “but it looks to me as if there’s something alive in there.” He paused and fixed her with a grim look that sent her heart skidding down to her toes. “You wouldn’t happen to know what it is, would you?”

Charlie swallowed hard. There was something alive in the tote bag. How could she deny the truth when it was so blatantly obvious? She debated the alternatives and finally decided she had to give Mike some kind of story to throw him offtrack before he looked inside the bag for himself. But then, she thought as she took a deep breath, this was no ordinary situation.

To add to her present problem, she was all too aware this wasn’t going to do much for her reputation.

“It’s only Boomer,” she said finally when she tried and failed to come up with a decent story. She patted the tote bag and made soothing noises. “No problem about our talking, though,” she added hastily when Mike took a step toward the rack. “As long as you’re here, you might as well go on with your questions.”

His eyes narrowed as his gaze turned back to Charlie. “Boomer? Your cat?”

“No.” She eyed the tote bag and prayed its occupant would give up and take a nap before all hell broke loose. After all, she’d bottle-fed Boomer only minutes before they’d left the house. He couldn’t possibly be hungry again.

“Your dog?”

“No. That is, not exactly.”

“Not exactly,” Mike repeated slowly. The finely honed sixth sense that had never failed him demanded satisfaction. “Just what do you have in there?” He took another step toward the rack.

“A male baby wallaby, a type of kangaroo.” Charlie blurted since she couldn’t come up with another answer. “His name is Boomer. All male kangaroos are called Boomers.”

Mike froze in midstride. “A male baby kangaroo? In here? I mean in there?” He pointed to the tote bag.

Charlie nodded and tried to act as if a kangaroo in an office was an everyday occurrence.

He ran his fingers through his hair in a gesture Charlie remembered all too well was a sign of his frustration. “Since when does the concierge of Blair House keep a kangaroo as a pet? Let alone carry it around with her like a baby?”

Charlie glowered at him. “Where is it written in my contract that I can’t bring a pet into Blair House? Or that it has to be a cat or a dog?”

“Come on,” Mike said, frustrated as hell. He knew that there was no such clause in her employment contract, but enough was enough. Not even an unusual woman like Charlie Norris would go to such weird lengths as to own a pet like a kangaroo. “You really don’t expect me to believe a cockamamy story like that one, do you?”

She shrugged. “I’m beyond the point of trying to defend myself or my choice of pets to you or anyone else. Believe it or not, Boomer is a baby kangaroo and he needs five feedings a day. I bottle-fed him this morning before I came to work. Right now he thinks he’s in his mother’s pouch waiting for the next feeding.”

At her explanation, Mike looked more incredulous than ever. “Why is he shaking like that?”

“He’s just reacting to a friendly voice. Mine,” she added pointedly.

Mike eyed the swaying tote bag. “Not that I believe you, but where did you manage to find a kangaroo around here? And why did you have to bring it to the office?”

“I found Boomer through the Internet. As for why he’s here, Freddie, my zoo helper, has the flu. I didn’t have anyone else to leave the little guy with.”

“On the Internet. A zoo,” Mike echoed slowly. “I’ve heard of Web sites where people sell or exchange all kinds of weird things, but baby kangaroos? And a personal zoo? You can’t possibly be serious.”

“He’s here, isn’t he? And, for your information, I own two other marsupials. They’re my friends.” She stopped and frowned. “Actually, I don’t actually know who owns who, but collecting exotic animals is a hobby of mine.”

Charlie wasn’t sure she liked the rainbow of expressions that ran across Mike’s face as he eyed the tote bag. If he’d thought she was odd before, what did he think of her now?

And why, she wondered as she eyed Mike’s chiseled features and the aura of mystery that his profession surrounded him with, did she care what he thought of her?

“A zoo for exotic animals,” he echoed softly as he eyed her. “Now, why don’t I believe that either?”

It was Charlie’s turn to shrug. “It’s a small zoo where I keep Boomer and his…” She paused for breath. What more could he think about her if she told him she had an eclectic collection of creatures, furry and otherwise? She settled for “…and a few other animals.”

“And this so-called zoo of yours?” he said dryly. “Next thing you’re going to tell me it’s in your backyard.”

“Exactly,” she agreed, relieved that the cards were on the table. She could be herself again. “I have three acres of land in back of the house.”

Mike was almost speechless. As far as he knew, kangaroos were regarded as pests by Australians, but evidently not by Charlie. But to carry around a baby kangaroo in a tote bag?

For Pete’s sakes! Mike wanted to shout at her. This is Blair House, the official residence of the State Department! Numerous notables have stayed here through the years, including a president of the United States while the White House was being renovated. How could you bring a live kangaroo in here?

He glanced at the tote bag. On second thought, he didn’t dare raise his voice. There was no telling how the baby kangaroo in there might react. What if it got out and he had to chase it around the premises? He and Charlie would be dismissed so fast it would make their heads swim. And what that would do to his spotless reputation wasn’t even worth thinking about.

The terrifying thought changed the picture. He could look the other way, but he was the Special-Agent-in-Charge at Blair House, and had a duty to perform. If anything went wrong, it was his head.

Before she could stop him, Mike reached for the tote bag, pulled the strings open and looked inside.

Two big brown eyes looked trustfully back at him. A damp nose twitched, two little brownish-red elongated ears waved a welcome.

To add to Mike’s dismay, a slender tongue licked its lips, a sure sign it was ready for its next bottle. To really blow his mind, he caught a glimpse of small hips encased in a diaper and a foot that was tapping to some unheard melody.

The little creature inside the tote bag was a baby kangaroo!

Mike could have sworn, if anyone had asked him later, that the animal had actually smiled at him.

What he did sense, was that he’d been foiled one more time by Charlie’s unorthodox behavior and her mesmerizing eyes. Thank God, it was only a helpless baby kangaroo she had with her this time instead of something that could have caused a major incident.

He let the tote bag’s drawstring close, muttered under his breath and swung around to stare at the baby kangaroo’s owner. When she smiled hopefully, words almost failed him.

“I can’t deal with this right now,” he muttered and dropped the sheaf of papers he was carrying on Charlie’s desk.

The tote bag stopped shaking.

Charlie sighed in relief, put a warning finger over her lips and pointed to the door. “We can talk outside,” she whispered.

“I can’t believe you want to talk out in the hall because of your pet,” Mike protested. “Why not here in your office? He can’t possibly understand what we’re talking about.”

“I don’t want to disturb Boomer,” she whispered. “He needs his rest.”

“You’ve got it wrong. He’s not a baby. He’s only a kangaroo!”

“Same thing.” She grabbed him by the arm and urged him toward the door.

“No way! I’m not putting up with this,” Mike said. He shook off her arm. “We’ll talk another time when your pet isn’t around.”

Charlie unhappily watched Mike glare at the tote bag and head for the door. After this latest incident, there was no way she was ever going to be able to restore her credibility with him—if she had had any in the first place—or be able to change his opinion of her. At least, not until she had a chance to show him how nearly human some of her pets actually were. And had a chance to show him humans had a lot to learn about relationships from the loving and caring animals.

She turned back into her office and glanced through the sheaf of papers Mike had dropped on her desk. After a moment, she realized they were copies of handwritten notes he’d taken about the incident yesterday. Several had question marks on the side. Questions he’d obviously intended to ask her.

“Still don’t trust me, do you?” she muttered as she debated throwing the papers in the wastepaper basket.

Mike unexpectedly appeared in the doorway. “Maybe I was a little hasty back there,” he said. “I forgot to take my notes with me. Unless…” he went on with a glance at the coatrack, “you’ve changed your mind and want to go over them with me now.”

Charlie glanced up at Mike. She could have sworn her hormones snapped to attention and her body start to tingle at his unexpected appearance. After startling her out of a year’s growth, he had a lot of nerve trying to be friendly. Now, more than ever, she was determined to show him how human he could be if he tried. But with Boomer waiting for his next feeding, she didn’t dare take the time. At full strength, Boomer sounded like a foghorn. The last thing she needed was to attract any more attention.

“No, thanks,” she said with a smile. “As I said, I have a full schedule this morning. But leave the papers with me and I’ll give them back to you later.”

Mike started to turn away. “By the way,” she called after him, “are you going to be at the employee picnic Sunday?”

“Picnic?”

Charlie fished in her desk drawer and handed him a handful of picnic flyers. “Try to make it. I think you’re in for a pleasant surprise. And while you’re at it, please leave a few copies in the butler’s pantry on your way out.”

Mike looked doubtful, but after another glance at the coatrack, folded the flyers and put them into his pocket. “As usual, you’re not making much sense,” he muttered. “But if you want to play games, I’m willing to give it a try.” He glanced at Charlie as if he wanted to say something more before he shook his head and left.

With a rueful glance at the quiet tote bag, Charlie dropped into the chair behind her desk. Boomer could wait for his next feeding until she had a chance to come up with the answers to the question marks on Mike’s list. When she returned the papers, Mike would have to admit that the only thing she’d been guilty of yesterday was trying to do her job. And of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

As for Boomer and the rest of the zoo population she planned on introducing Mike to, she was positive that once he met them in a more natural setting their personalities were bound to hook him for sure. Just as Boomer had captured her heart the first time she’d seen his picture on the Internet and found out that he was for sale.

If Boomer and the rest of his animal friends didn’t manage to humanize Mike, nothing could.

FRIDAYS HAD NEVER been a particularly good day, Mike mused as he strode along the corridor away from Charlie’s office. The only good thing about this one was that it brought the end of the week. After midnight tonight he had two peaceful days off to look forward to, thank God.

Two days without Charlie Norris and her cute but bizarre pet. He muttered his displeasure under his breath as he strode across the marble floor to his office and, at the same time, tried to rub the kink out of the back of his neck. As far back as he could recall, the only time that damn kink showed up was when he was under stress. No big surprise it showed up this time. He could lay the credit for this episode on Charlie Norris and that baby kangaroo of hers. Bottle-feeding! Diapers! Hell, you’d think that Blair House was an animal nursery instead of a prestigious home away from home for VIPs.

“Wheeler! Wait up!”

Mike stopped in midstride and turned around. His superior, Bradley Simons, beckoned him into his office and closed the door behind them.

“Have a seat.” Simons walked around his desk and dropped into his chair. “Got a job for you.”

“I’ve already got a job,” Mike answered.

“Well, now you’ve got another one.” Simons reached into his desk drawer for a bottle of pills. “Hand me that pitcher over there, please.” He shook out two large pills, put them in his mouth and washed them down with water. “Sorry, with all the crap going on, that ulcer of mine is acting up again. Guess it comes with the territory.”

Mike rubbed the back of his head when the thought of Charlie and her pet began to show all the signs of turning into a headache and a half. “Tell me about it.”

Simons eyed him sympathetically. “You, too?”

Mike shrugged. “Like you said, it comes with the territory.”

“Glad you feel that way.” Simons rummaged in his center desk drawer, took out two letters and handed them across the desk. “Take a look at those.”

Mike read the first letter. His lips set in a grim line as he read the second. Both letters threatened the Blair House personnel for their interference in the attempted assassination yesterday. “Kind of soon for these to show up.”

Simons leaned back in his chair. “Make a guy angry enough…” His voice trailed off. “You notice that the author keeps referring to our Charlie Norris?”

Mike had noticed, all right, but he hadn’t thought of the lady as being “our” Charlie. Maybe she was Simons’s Charlie, but not his. Not after the way the pain was growing at the back of his neck and threatening to take his head off. She may have pleaded her innocence when he’d confronted her after the shooting, but it looked as if she had managed to annoy the hell out of someone out there. “What was she supposed to do, let the two jackasses kill each other?”

Simons shrugged. “Right or wrong, she’s a target. I want you to keep an eye on her.”

Mike blinked. Of all the assignments he could have drawn, guarding Charlie wasn’t at the top of his list. “Don’t tell me that that’s the new job!”

“Yep.” Simons stood. “Get used to it.” He gestured to a picnic flyer Mike had sticking out of his breast pocket. “You can start with the picnic.”

Mike got to his feet and bit back a protest. “I hadn’t made up my mind to go to the picnic, sir.”

“Sure you have,” Simons said amiably as he opened the office door. “Enjoy the day.”