Chapter 11

11

After lunch, Ben drove Tony and Odalie to the Italian restaurant owned by Tony’s cousin. There were tables outside because it was a glorious fall day, with the first golden and red tinges appearing on the maples on both sides of the quiet street, and leaves dancing on the pavement in the chilly wind.

Tony ordered dessert and vanilla cappuccinos, because he knew that Odalie loved it. So did he. Ben just ordered black coffee.

They were halfway through dessert when a tall, attractive man with an olive complexion and dark hair and eyes joined them and sat down at the table.

Tony chuckled. “You slumming?” he asked.

The other man grinned. “I have a weakness for espresso,” he said. “But latte isn’t bad. Your cousin makes a good cup of coffee.”

“I think so, too.” He glanced at Odalie and smiled tenderly. “This is Dane Hunter,” he told her. “An old...acquaintance,” he said, choosing his words.

“Cough...the heat...cough,” Ben joked.

Odalie glanced around at the amused faces.

“He’s a US marshal,” Tony told her with a grin. “But we forgave him after he saved my life.”

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hunter,” Odalie said, and smiled.

He cocked his head and smiled back. “And you, Miss Everett,” he said politely.

She was surprised. It showed.

“We keep tabs on him. Just to make sure nobody rubs him out,” he added with a wisp of a smile as he nodded toward Tony.

“And he appreciates it, too,” Tony replied, laughing. He waited until Hunter’s drink was served before he spoke. “What?” he asked.

“Miss Everett’s brother Tanner sent a photograph of a certain nasty incident in the Middle East to a senator he thought would help him with an investigation. Your guy James found out. Now he’s hot for revenge,” he said under his breath. “He’s made certain threats. Make sure your soft targets are covered.”

“I always do,” Tony said. He cocked his head. “He had a senator in his pocket, but I removed the incriminating article.”

“Won’t help,” Hunter said as he sipped latte.

“Why?” Tony wanted to know.

He looked up. “Senator’s got a daughter,” he said. “And you don’t want to know what she’s got her little fingers in.”

Tony cursed under his breath.

“We have options. We’re trying to wait him out while we examine them.” He looked at Odalie. “Your sister-in-law is pregnant. James wants to hurt your oldest brother. He’s mad to do it. Your father has protections around the ranch, I’m told...”

“Dad has two ex-feds on his payroll, and Eb Scott, who runs the counterterrorism school in Jacobsville, Texas, loaned him two mercs just back from overseas duty. They’re covered.”

“How about you?” Hunter asked, and the concern was obvious.

“Two men, twelve-hour shifts,” Tony said easily. “Plus extra men if we need them.”

Odalie stared at him, eyes wide.

He glanced at her and smiled. “What? You think I’d let you walk around unprotected?”

She flushed and then laughed.

“Were there any other eyewitnesses who might be willing to testify?” Hunter asked Tony.

“A contact of mine with one of the letter agencies says one of James’s own agents was in Iraq when the murders happened. He’s tried to quit the agency, but James has something on him, too.”

“Damn!” Hunter finished his latte. “He’s like a poisonous snake,” he muttered. “Just when you think he’s cornered, he slithers under a rock or bites somebody.”

“Blackmail is very effective,” Tony said.

“Yes. I noticed.” He picked up his receipt and looked at Tony. “You’ve got my number. If you hear anything...”

“Sure,” Tony said. “I’ll put out a few feelers.”

“I wish I had your connections,” he sighed.

“No,” Tony said, and he didn’t smile. “You don’t.”

Hunter sighed. “See you around.”

The minute he was out of sight, Tony punched in numbers on his phone. “I’ve been hobnobbing with the heat,” he told whoever he was calling. He chuckled. “Yeah, I figured it would be going the rounds already.” He paused. “No. He says the senator has a member of his family with deadly secrets, so he’s not willing to apply pressure. Not yet, at least. Yeah. Okay. I will. Thanks.” He hung up.

“Teddy?” Ben asked.

Tony nodded. He drew in a sharp breath. “Well, back to square one and more backup.”

“No problem,” Ben said. “I’ll line up the troops.”

When they were back in the car, Odalie slid closer to Tony. “Can I ask?” she said.

He picked her up and cradled her against him, lounging back on the seat. “I was talking to a fed,” he explained. “If you do that, and you don’t tell the appropriate people, it can bring down unwanted attention on you.”

She just nodded. “But you’re all right, now?” she asked, all eyes.

He smiled slowly, looking into her eyes. “I’m all right.” He bent and kissed the top of her head. “I have to stop by the gallery. You can come with me.”

She smiled, cradled against his jacket. “Okay.”

He smoothed over her long silky blond hair. His heartbeat was audible at her ear, strong and fast. She closed her eyes. “Coffee and dessert was lovely.”

“I like cappuccino.”

“Hmm. Me, too.”

He cuddled her close and sighed as she melted into him. “Hey, Ben, drive around the backstreets for a little while, okay? Give us time to digest lunch.”

“You bet, boss!”

Tony smoothed his big hand over Odalie’s soft hair. “Sleepy?”

She nodded.

He kissed the top of her head again. “Go to sleep. We’re in no hurry.”

She smiled and curled into his body, her cheek against his soft shirt under the jacket, her hand flat on the hard, strong beat of his heart.

Phillip James called Brock Peters into his office and closed the door.

He was fuming. He handed the man an unsealed card. “Look at that!”

It was a sympathy card. Peters would love to have laughed out loud at the sheer brass it took, but he didn’t dare. His boss was bombed out on drugs half the time. You never knew which way he’d jump if he was upset.

“He’s taunting me! You see that? He’s taunting me!”

“You had it sent to the lab yet?”

“Of course I did, you think I’m stupid?” he raged. “No prints, nothing that could lead us back to Garza, but I know it’s him!”

“It’s just a card...”

“It’s a taunt!” He slammed the card down on the desk. “I never should have sent that stupid kid to take on Garza. He didn’t know what he was talking about. You don’t just walk into those places and do business.”

“I guess that kid watched too many old gangster movies.”

“Yes, and now Garza knows it was me behind it!”

“What can he do, huh?” Peters asked. “Listen, boss, what can he do? He thought he had the senator in the clear, but we found out about his daughter, so he’s right back in your pocket. Garza’s got nothing.”

“Everett.” He almost spat the name. “He knows. He sent a photograph he got from God knows where to the senator and asked him to call for an investigation. If I didn’t have something good on the old man...”

“Lucky you did,” Brock replied.

James was almost spitting with fury. “I should have made sure Everett was taken out. I should have gone myself to South America. What a mess!” He paced. “And now that ranch is guarded like Fort Knox. No way can I get to Everett.” He whirled. “But those two women are in and out of the city—his wife and his sister.” He smiled coldly. “I want one of them. Doesn’t matter which. We’ll take her and keep her and torture her. Let him find the body. Yes.” His eyes gleamed. “That will show him! I’ll pay him back for the misery he’s caused me!” He sat down behind his desk. “If I can’t kill him, I can take away something he loves!”

“Boss, his dad is rich and he’s a big name in politics. He could hurt you. He would, if you hurt his family.”

“He runs cattle,” he said. “What can he do to me?”

“His son could do a lot if he can get the intelligence committee on this.”

“He hasn’t, so far, because he hasn’t got my connections.” His eyes narrowed. “I want revenge. My career has suffered. I almost lost my job, my pension, because of his accusations. He has no proof! It’s his word against mine.” He looked at Peters. “You’d never sell me out, would you?”

“Never,” Peters said firmly. “We started out together. We’ll finish together.”

James stared at him for a long time. Finally, he relaxed. “All right. We’ll finish together. Find out how many bodyguards those women have and how they’re deployed.”

“Garza considers Everett’s wife like an adopted child.”

He frowned. Tony Garza was dangerous. He was mostly respectable these days, but still... He shrugged. “The sister, then. They said Everett was very fond of his baby sister. That will hurt him if we take her.”

“Tony...”

“Garza hates her,” he interrupted. “He won’t make trouble. He doesn’t care. Get some men on it.”

“Okay, boss.” Peters went out into the hall and caught his breath. It was getting harder to deal with James’s outbursts. Revenge was dangerous. If he killed Everett’s sister, he’d bring down the heat on himself and on everybody in the top-secret agency. But James was so high, he didn’t know, didn’t care. And Peters was going to be left holding the bag, whatever happened.

He recalled how excited he and Phillip James had been when they were accepted as senior CIA agents and given their badges. It had been the high point of both their lives. From grammar school they’d been buddies. Peters had been best man at James’s wedding. He’d been at the christening of James’s son.

Then, so suddenly, James had succumbed to pressure and power and money and drugs. Almost overnight, he’d changed from the idealistic young man Peters knew to this raging, wild husk of a man who wanted nothing but power, power, more power.

Peters didn’t want to go to prison for what James was authorizing. But if he tried to get out, he’d be dead. No way would he survive the attempt. He was in it for life now. It was not the future he’d planned for himself. Not at all.

Odalie had gone to the art gallery with Tony and admired his collection while he talked business in his office. She marveled at the many fine pieces he’d acquired and authenticated and then sold.

He came back out smiling. He shook hands with the man he’d come here to meet and walked him to the door. Then he went back to Odalie and caught her by the hand. “Enough business,” he said, eyes sparkling. “Let’s go somewhere and dance.”

“Dance?”

He grinned. “How about the Latin club?”

She knew the one he meant. She’d gone there with Stasia a few times. “I love it there.”

“Me, too. I’ll get Ben.”

They ate and drank and danced until late. Odalie was sleepy. Ben drove them back to her apartment. Tony walked her to her door and went inside with her. Stasia had left New York that afternoon, so they were alone.

She started to turn on the light, but he prevented her.

“We don’t need the light,” he whispered, and brought her close.

He kissed her softly, slowly, lifting her against his body until she moaned. Then he brought her close, close, in his arms, and his mouth opened on hers in a slow, rough heat of passion.

He drew back, finally, groaning, and buried his hot face in her throat. “How have I lived without that?” he whispered.

“You were so busy telling me what a pest I was,” she teased.

“Trying to ward it off,” he murmured. He drew in a long breath and lifted his head. He searched her eyes. “I thought I’d be sorry.” He smiled gently. “I’m not sorry.” He bent and kissed her quickly, roughly. “Keep your door locked and put on the chain latches, okay? Call me if you hear anything. Promise me.”

“I promise.”

He kissed her one last time. “I’ll call you in the morning.”

She smiled. “See you.”

He went out and she locked the door behind him, almost floating in the aftermath of such joy that she felt weightless. She wanted to call him back, to prolong this. But they had all the time in the world. There was no reason to rush it. She wanted to savor the newness of Tony in her arms, like an expensive, delicious wine.

Early in the morning, in the wee hours, she thought she heard something outside her window. She knew Tony had men watching her, though, so she didn’t panic. That was probably what it was.

That was what she thought until the doorknob rattled on the back door. It had a dead bolt and a thick chain latch. No way was somebody going to get inside. But it spooked her.

She picked up her cell phone and punched in Tony’s number. It wasn’t even daylight.

“What is it?” he asked abruptly.

“Somebody rattled the doorknob. Do you have anybody here...?”

“Hold on.” He cut her off. A minute later he came back on. “That’s not any of my people. Is he still there?” His voice was curt, urgent.

She listened. “I don’t hear anything right now.”

“I’m on my way.”

He hung up.

Not five minutes later, he and Ben and another man pulled up at the curb. She heard running footsteps, followed by more running footsteps.

“Odalie, are you all right?” he asked, banging on the front door.

She opened it. “Tony, I...”

He backed her into the apartment, closed the door and bent to her mouth, lifting her against him. “Oh, baby, I’ve never been so scared,” he breathed into her mouth. His voice was just faintly unsteady as he kissed her hungrily.

He wrapped her up against him, only vaguely aware of some soft, silky fabric under his hands. After a minute, he realized that what he was feeling was silk, and that there was nothing under it...

He groaned out loud as he lifted his head and looked down at her in the pink silk gown with its low-cut lacy bodice that revealed more than it concealed, and spaghetti straps that did nothing to hide soft tanned shoulders under long silky blond hair.

She felt the impact of his eyes like a hot brand and almost shivered with delight. She felt her body tauten and swell. He was staring at her bodice, his breath coming in soft, rough expulsions.

She had no defense at all. She was so hungry for him.

He reached down to her knees and slid his hands under the gown. They were warm and strong and rough on her bare skin as they moved slowly, tenderly, up to her rib cage.

“This is where we start getting in over our heads,” he said in a husky, velvety soft tone.

Her lips parted on a tiny gasp as his thumbs teased at the underside of her firm breasts.

“Your skin is like velvet,” he whispered.

She arched her back almost imperceptibly, trying to tempt his hands to move up. Just a little more , she thought, twisting slowly. Just...a...little!

He knew what she was doing, and why. He loved that innocence that was all his, open and warm and welcoming. He couldn’t see the obstacles anymore. He was already drowning in her.

“This what you want?” he whispered, watching her eyes half close, and his fingers moved up and touched her, traced the hard nipples pushing against the lace.

She made a sound, a high-pitched little moan, that drove him over the edge.

“Baby...” he breathed into her mouth as his own settled slowly, tenderly, over it. His hands possessed her, slow and warm and insistent. She arched her body to urge them closer and moaned again, shivering.

He picked her up, his mouth still on hers, and laid her down on the sofa. His big body settled on hers in the silence of the room and he groaned, too, as her long legs parted to admit his, her mouth open and hungry for his.

She could smell the spicy, sexy cologne he wore, with its faint whiff of cigar smoke. She could taste coffee on his hard mouth. Her hands went up into his thick, cool wavy hair and tangled there, holding his face down to hers. One of her legs rubbed slowly against his. He shifted, and she felt the contours of his body changing.

His head lifted and he looked into her shocked eyes. He actually chuckled. “I’m a man,” he whispered. “This is how we work. Temptation brings noticeable...inflations.”

She gurgled with sudden laughter. They were intimate, and it wasn’t frightening or embarrassing, it was fun.

He grinned. “So, you learned something new.” He stared at her breasts, more visible in the position she was in. He bent his head, and his mouth smoothed over just their pretty pink tops, where the fabric dipped just enough.

She caught her breath.

“So many new things,” he teased. He lifted his head. “But we’d better get up and look dignified.”

“Why?” she moaned, holding on.

“Ben.”

She blinked. “Ben?”

“Coming in the door...?”

She cried out softly. “Oh, damn, where’s my bathrobe...!”

She tore out of his arms and ran for her bedroom while Tony roared with laughter.

Ben, oblivious to what he’d interrupted, stared at Tony with raised eyebrows. “What?” he asked.

Tony was buttoning his shirt. He looked rumpled and happy. Happier than Ben had seen him in years and years.

“We couldn’t catch the guy,” Ben continued. “But one of our boys got a look at his car. We’ll have something soon.”

“It will lead back to James,” Tony said. He shrugged. “We can deal with him, when the time comes.”

“Yeah.”

Odalie, hair combed and thick bathrobe buttoned to the neck and barefoot, came back into the living room, trying to look unaffected. “Did you see who it was?” she asked Ben.

He shook his head. “But one of the boys got some clues. We’ll find him. Don’t you worry.”

“We won’t. She’s coming home with us.”

“What?” Ben and Odalie chorused.

“Listen,” Tony said, and he wasn’t smiling as he turned to Odalie, “somebody got past my guy and almost broke in. You’re not safe here. Not now.”

Odalie was quick. “Is something going on that I don’t know about?”

He nodded.

“Something bad,” she guessed.

He nodded again. “So pack some stuff and get dressed. Nobody touches you,” he added in a tone that made her toes curl.

She just smiled. “Okay, Tony.”

She went to pack. Ben tried to muffle a laugh.

Tony turned and looked at him. “You don’t know anything. You haven’t seen anything. You’re blind, and deaf.”

“How can I drive in such a condition?” Ben asked reasonably.

“I’ll buy you one of those self-driving cars.”

“I’ll quit first,” Ben said, outraged. “What’s the fun in even having a car that drives itself?”

“It would cut down on drunk drivers,” Tony suggested.

“I can see them now, putting Jack Daniel’s in the gas tank...”

Tony just laughed.

Tony had planned for Mrs. Murdock to be a chaperone, but when he got to the apartment, he found a quickly scribbled note taped to his favorite chair.

“Mom had a heart attack in Wichita,” she wrote. “Must leave at once. Will call when I know something.” It was signed “Helene,” which was Murdock’s first name.

“Damn,” Tony said. “Her mother is all she’s got left of family.”

“I’ll find out her mother’s address and send a bouquet,” Ben said.

“Do that, and make sure she’s got access to the best cardiologist available. Price is no object.”

“I’ll do that, too,” Ben said, and went into the study and closed the door.

“Ben is handy,” Odalie said.

“Very.”

“I’m so sorry about Mrs. Murdock’s mother! Is she very old?”

“She just turned sixty,” Tony said. “Not old enough for social security, and she works as a housekeeper, just like Helene.”

“That’s rough. Anything heart related is expensive,” she added. “One of our wranglers had to have valve surgery. The bill was awful. Of course, Dad has the best insurance he can get for all our hands.”

He smiled. “Your father has a caring nature.”

“I know. But it really doesn’t show,” she laughed. “He scares people.”

He framed her face in his hands and kissed her gently. “He wears a Ruger Vaquero in a holster. Of course he scares people.”

“Yes, well, he does that without a gun, mostly,” she replied with a grin.

He kissed the tip of her nose. “So do I,” he said, and he wasn’t kidding. “We have two guest rooms. You can choose.”

“The smallest,” she said. “I don’t need a lot of room. There’s just me and a few clothes.”

He chuckled. “It’s a good thing, to travel light.”

“Daddy used to take us all camping. We learned not to overpack.”

“I never got to go camping. I’ll bet it’s fun.”

“Great fun. I had a wonderful childhood.”

“Courtesy of terrific parents,” he replied, and bad memories were in his eyes.

She moved close, her hands flattening on his chest. “We move on, because we have to. Most often, the future is better than the past.”

His eyes softened as he looked at her. He smiled gently. “Yeah. Well, sometimes we get lucky. Really lucky.”

She wrinkled her nose at him and smiled. “Where’s my room?”

She was comfortably moved in shortly and sent to bed, because it was late. She’d rarely felt as safe in her life as she did with Tony. She stopped looking ahead. She was going to live for the moment and not one minute further.

A loud knock on her door woke her. “Is it morning already?” she protested. “I just went to sleep.”

Tony stood over her, grinning. “Biscuits, scrambled eggs, ham and bacon and hot strong coffee,” he offered.

“Ooh, I’ll be right there!” she said.

He chuckled and went back out, closing the door.

She dressed in comfortable sweats and joined the men at the table, barefoot and with her long hair in a ponytail. And no makeup.

Tony’s eyes widened. “That’s how you dress at home?”

“Yes,” she said, surprised.

He frowned.

She gave him a droll look. “I’m eating breakfast, not going to a fashion show.” She cocked her head. “I brought nice stuff with me. For later.”

“Oh.” He brightened.

She grinned at Ben, who chuckled, too.

“This is really good,” she told Tony. “I can make biscuits, but mine aren’t this good.”

“What do you put in them?”

“Olive oil.”

He stopped with a biscuit halfway to his mouth. “Excuse me?”

“Olive oil,” she said. “Medical studies show that people who live around the Mediterranean don’t have the heart issues that we have. They figured out it’s because of the olive oil that’s in most people’s diets there.”

“Well, I’ll be.”

“So Mom decided that it was healthier for Dad to have it because he erupts pretty often.”

“Erupts.”

“Like you,” she said, and grinned at him.

He chuckled. “Well, I usually cook with olive oil. But I put lard in my biscuits. That’s how my mama made biscuits.”

“Lard.” She sighed. “Well, it makes them taste super good.”

“I know it’s not supposed to be good for you. I just put it in biscuits. Otherwise, olive oil and nothing fried.”

She grinned. “Me, too.”

“But I love a steak.”

“I love steaks, too. But I’d eat fish every meal if I lived on the ocean. I love seafood.”

“He fishes,” Ben said with disgust. “Nasty habit.”

“Hey, some of my cousins are still fishermen back in Sicily,” Tony replied. “Bigot.”

“I am not. I’m just fastidious,” Ben huffed, indicating his nice suit and spotless white shirt.

“Me, too, but I still love to fish,” Tony replied.

“It’s one of my favorite things,” Odalie said, surprising both men. “But I can’t really use a spinning rod or flies and stuff like that. I use a cane pole with a hook, line and sinker. Last time I went with Daddy, I caught three more fish than he did,” she said, chuckling. “He was really snarfed.”

“What does he use?” Ben asked.

“A spinning reel. He’s good at casting, but in any case you don’t get tangled line with a spinning reel.”

“No, you don’t,” Tony replied. “But you’re talking about little fish. I like to go after the big ones.”

She stared at him. “Big ones?”

“Marlin,” he said, his dark eyes glittering with delight. “But also tuna. Grouper. Red snapper. Those kinds of fish.”

“Deep-sea fishing!” she exclaimed. “Daddy and John and I went out on a fishing boat on the Texas coast and caught all sorts of fish to take back home with us. Gosh, was Mom mad.”

“Why?”

“Well, John and Daddy and I like catching fish,” she confessed. “But we hate cleaning them. So when we got the cooler home, we put it in the kitchen and ran for our lives. Mom spent a whole afternoon cleaning fish.” She sighed. “And then she fed us pancakes for supper.”

Tony burst out laughing. “What did she do with the fish?”

“She froze them. Every single one. And they didn’t get cooked for a month!”

Now Ben was laughing, too.

“Well, I don’t mind cleaning fish. So I’ll take you with me one day and we’ll see what we can catch.”

She just smiled at him, her heart vulnerable and filling her soft eyes. He smiled back. Ben, watching, was happy for them. He just hoped they weren’t headed for tragedy. His man was still trying to backtrack Odalie’s prowler, but he had a hunch it would lead them right to DC and Phillip James. If they weren’t very careful, they could lose Odalie in a very bad way. Considering the way his boss was looking at her, that might be the one thing that could bring him down.

Tony had to meet someone at the art gallery. Odalie dressed up in a sexy red pantsuit and high heels, also red, with her hair in an upswept hairdo. She looked so gorgeous when she joined Tony in the living room that he just stood and stared.

She’d never really cared about her looks before, but it made her proud that Tony liked them so much. She beamed, which only made her more beautiful.

“Wow,” he said. “Now I understand why they say blondes look good in red.”

“Thanks.”

He bent and kissed her nose. “Lipstick,” he muttered, staring at the bright red lipstick that matched her outfit.

“I only wear it when I go out,” she whispered. “I don’t like it, either.”

He pursed his chiseled lips and grinned at her. “Later, I could help you take it off.”

Her heart jumped and she laughed. “Okay,” she said, and flushed a little.

“Angel, you are the light in the darkness,” he said, and for a few seconds, he was solemn.

“Me?”

“You.” He traced around her mouth. “And nobody is going to hurt you. Not ever.”

She smiled slowly. She didn’t have to speak. He saw everything she felt in her eyes.

They were almost to the gallery when she mentioned her upcoming audition. “I knew they were going to start arranging them, but I got called over to the Met by a friend of my voice coach and he gave me a day and time. I’m so nervous.”

“You’ll do fine, honey,” he said, hating his resentment. He didn’t want to lose her to a career when he’d just found her. But he couldn’t bear to stand in her way. “That’s great.”

It actually wasn’t, but she didn’t want to say so. She’d been in therapy for years. Her parents thought it was because of the incident with the law when she was in high school. It wasn’t. She was terrified of being on the stage. Yes, she wanted to sing at the Met. She’d trained for it, sacrificed for it, hungered for it for years.

But when it came right down to it, she knew in her heart that she was never going to be able to manage going out on stage night after night after night. It never improved, despite the therapy. She sang, and then she ran to the bathroom to throw up. Afterward, it took tranquilizers to bring her back from her terrified state. She’d never told anybody. It was one of many secrets she kept to herself.

“Didn’t you go to the regional auditions?” he asked, because he knew about opera stars and their early days.

She forced a smile. “I missed the audition,” she lied, “so I went about it in an easier way. I have an agent. I had her ask for an audition.” She smiled. “I have to send a tape of myself singing and do a few other things. I cut a few corners,” she lied.

He just smiled, not telling her he’d helped arrange the solo audition. “When do you audition?”

“Next month,” she said.

He relaxed. A lot could happen in a month. A whole lot. He reached for her hand and held it all the way into the art gallery.