“Mrs. Harrington, I think it best that you stay somewhere else for a little while, rather than remaining here at home,” Wyatt said as they all decided to call it a night.
The judge laid a hand on her shoulder. “She’ll stay with me. So can Samantha.”
“No way,” said Alec.
“Believe me, son, I am quite used to needing protection and have an alarm system as well as a permit to carry a weapon at all times. You needn’t fear for either of these women.” His tone vulnerable, he murmured, “They’re my family.”
“You’re in a very good position to help keep Mrs. Harrington safe and out of sight, sir, but I’m afraid the obstacle Sam is up against is a little more serious.”
The judge met his stare evenly, and Alec made no attempt to lighten his grim expression. He asked no questions; he didn’t need to. He got the message loud and clear. “Very well.”
“Thank you.”
“I’ll be fine, Uncle Nate,” Sam said. “They’ve taken great care of me so far, and I know they won’t let anything happen to me. Mom, I’ll keep in constant contact, okay?”
“Please be sure you do. We need to talk so we can reschedule your birthday lunch as soon as possible.”
“Deal.”
Her mother managed a tremulous smile. “Promise?”
“Absolutely.” She lowered her voice to add, “But no more setups. You got it?”
Alec pretended he hadn’t heard, remembering the man who had been at the table the day before. The one who’d looked disappointed when Sam got up and walked out of the restaurant. Of course, the moment her mother stepped out of earshot, the suspicious part of him had to ask, “The setup? Not somebody she met online, right?”
“My divorce attorney.”
“Ouch.”
“Tell me about it.”
With a few more assurances, the exchange of contact information, and another half dozen hugs, they all finally made their way outside to their vehicles. Alec didn’t even think about it; he just opened the car door for Sam, assuming he was the one who would drive her back.
“Alec? Do you want to call Jackie and ask her to meet you at the hotel?” Wyatt asked.
“It’s almost midnight. By the time we get there, it’ll be one. I hate to drag her out, away from her kids, in the middle of the night.”
“Are you all right staying with Mrs. Dalton until day-break, then?”
Frankly, he wasn’t sure he could let her out of his sight if ordered to. “Sure.”
“Very well. Let’s touch base in the morning. I’ll leave a message for Lily, asking her to come in to help Brandon with the communications between Mrs. Harrington and this stranger.”
“She, uh, tell you what she’s up to tonight?”
Wyatt nodded once, only the tightness of his mouth indicating what he thought of it.
Alec didn’t ask. It wasn’t on him to get between his boss and one of his teammates. As long as Lily had come clean, he was out of the equation.
“Ready?” he asked Sam, who had already gotten in the car.
“More than.”
Alec didn’t even consider the ramifications of his overnight assignment until after they were in the car, driving back to D.C. He had offered to spend the night with Samantha Dalton. In a hotel room. Not more than a few hours after he’d realized he had feelings for the woman.
Shit. He was in for a long night.
Sam didn’t seem to share his concern. She was too busy being grateful her mother was okay and, apparently, safely in the arms of someone who had loved her for a long time. “My God, imagine if Nate hadn’t gone over there?” she said, not for the first time. She stared out the passenger window, shaking her head. “What if she’d gone to meet a murderer?”
“We don’t know that this Randolph Gertz guy is Darwin.”
“You said yourself that his e-mails were way over the top. Like the ones he used on other victims.”
Yes, they were. He and Wyatt had read every one while Taggert and Mulrooney had gotten on the phone with Brandon to get tech advice on how to proceed. They were worded strangely, with some outrageous claims. Then again, this was online dating they were talking about, where fifty-year-old salesmen claimed to be twenty-nine-year-old bodybuilders.
“Okay, they were fishy. But I bet so are a lot of the other subscribers to that site.”
They fell silent for a while, and he knew she was sitting there playing the what-if game.
Finally, she whispered, “After tonight, I have never been so glad for life.”
Odd choice of words. “Glad for life?”
“Glad for hers.” She turned in the seat, tucking one bent leg beneath her. “And mine.”
“Ahh.”
“I haven’t been. Letting myself get so down and miserable for the past year-longer, really-was like turning my back on life.” Yawning, she added, “That’s over now.” She leaned her head to the side, resting it on the back of the seat. Within moments, her lids closed.
Alec kept his eyes on the road. That didn’t mean, however, that he didn’t glance over at her a few times, watching her sleep. Watching her dream. Hoping those dreams were good ones for a change. He hoped she had an entire night full of them.
In the next room. Far away from him.
Sam was being chased. An evil, malevolent force kept up with her as she ran through shadowy streets. Every terrified gasp she made brought a low laugh. Each step seemed half the length of the monster’s following her.
The neighborhood was familiar-her mother’s. But all the houses were shuttered and unwelcoming, no friendly faces from her childhood in sight. Suddenly she reached a cliff, where there had never been a cliff, and her terror propelled her off it until she flew. Swimming through the air, which was so much heavier than water, she couldn’t go far. Not nearly far enough.
A scrape of claws across her ankle; she began to fall.
“No!”
Sam awoke from the nightmare, shooting straight up in the bed. She choked in a few deep, gasping breaths as her heart sprinted. The room was dark, the only light the glow of red from the bedside clock.
The color confused her. Red, not green?
Then she remembered. The hotel.
And she remembered something else. Her nightmare was merely a reflection of what her life had become. A monster really was out there in the night, stalking her.
“Sam?” The door pushed open a few inches. “Are you okay?”
“Not as okay as I’d like to be.”
“Bad dream?”
“Yeah.”
“You weren’t supposed to have those tonight.”
“Tell my subconscious that.” Sam threw the covers back and got out of the bed, wanting one of the bottles of water in the small fridge. “I need a drink.”
Her eyes hadn’t yet adjusted to the darkness of the room, and she put a hand out, reaching for the edge of the door but connecting with firm male skin instead.
She froze, realizing her hand had landed on his broad chest. His broad, bare chest, judging by the ripples of muscle and the crisp hair brushing her fingers.
“Why don’t you let me turn on a light?” he said, sounding as though he was pulling the words out of a constricted throat.
“Please don’t.” She stepped closer, until they stood only inches apart. Warmth emanated from the man, such a contrast to her coldness. She had on a flimsy, silky negligee that she’d worn perhaps twice in her life-his friend Mulrooney’s idea of appropriate nightwear for a woman in a safe house-and had been freezing for the past two nights.
Suddenly, though, she found herself not minding her attire as much. Her eyes had begun to adjust, and there was no way she could miss the outright hunger in Alec’s as he visually consumed her, his attention locked on the lacy edge of the gown that barely covered her breasts.
He made a sound like a low growl and muttered, “You should go back to bed.”
Staring up at him, she replied, “I intend to.” Then she further stated her intentions by pressing the entire length of her body against his. Heat and silk, his glittering eyes, and the strength of the man, all combined to bring shivers of delight and full-on desire. Lifting her other hand, she made a thorough study of his broad chest, tangling her fingers in that spiky hair, tracing them across thick ropes of muscle.