Chapter 11

Ryder leaned his hip against the bathroom doorjamb, brought the towel to his face to wipe away the excess shaving cream, and stared at Langley. The morning sunlight bathed her face in its brilliance, but she didn't stir. She hadn't woken when he'd carried her from the car, gotten her ready for bed, or tucked her in.

Sleeping beside her last night had felt right. He wanted their relationship back the way it had been before he'd driven her to the airport. The idea of never holding her, never laughing with her again made it hard to breathe. Yeah, he needed to do something. He wouldn't be able to keep her forever, he understood that. Sooner or later, she'd figure out she could do much better than an Army sergeant and it would be completely over .

Ultimately, it didn't matter if he had another month with her or another year. He couldn't give her up and he knew she wasn't finished with him for good. Not yet. Ryder guessed he had until the threat was over to win her back. If he didn't and they returned home, he would lose her forever.

Lowering the towel to his side, he tried to come up with a plan, but it was hard to see anything beyond how beautiful Langley was and Ryder shifted his gaze. The mountains brushed the bluest of skies and sat on the greenest grass he'd ever seen. It was a stunning view, unimpeded by any curtains or shades.

Ryder frowned. The owners had all the privacy they needed since they owned a shit-ton of acreage and they probably hadn't wanted to block the scenery, but it made him uncomfortable. He wanted to cover every window in the house, but the sheer magnitude of the task had stopped him. They were everywhere, and most of them were mammoth, including the set in the living room that filled two full stories. Hell, he doubted there were enough blankets or sheets in the house to cover every damn window.

This enormous mansion was a vacation home owned by friends of the ambassador. Vacation home. He looked back at the bed, a wooden four-poster that he estimated cost more than he earned in a year. The room had a carved marble fireplace, a dresser with the wood in some kind of mosaic inlay that looked expensive, and there was a private stone balcony.

Win Langley back? What the fuck was he thinking?

Turning, he returned to the bathroom and tossed his towel in the hamper. Dual vanities, a private john, a walk-in shower with tiles that were imported from God knew where, and oh, yeah, the sauna. The guest suite had its own sauna.

"Shit," muttered, and grabbing a shirt from the pack he'd left on the floor, he drew it over his head. He checked his pistol and secured his holster over his shirt. A noise came from the bedroom and Ryder hurried to check on Langley. She'd shifted position but remained deeply asleep.

He didn't blame her—she'd had a hell of a couple days. After a brief deliberation, he decided to find some breakfast. Langley might sleep for a while longer, and she'd be fine alone for an hour or so. But he hesitated before reaching for the knob. What was he forgetting?

She shifted again, and with a grimace, he quietly opened the door and stepped out, shutting it softly behind him. The room opened out onto gleaming hardwood floors and a wrought iron balustrade that overlooked the formal living room below.

He was out of his league. Totally and completely. The chandelier was bigger than any he'd seen before, a marble fireplace soared two full stories, and he could tell the grand piano was of the highest quality from up here. His fingers tingled with the need to touch the keys, but he bunched his hands into fists and headed to the stairs, resolutely continuing forward.

The rest of the house wasn't any less lavish, and by the time he reached the dining room, he was in a foul mood. The next door led to a butler's pantry that was bigger than his parents' family room and the door after that finally brought him into the kitchen. Stony glanced up from the stove, took one look at him, and pointed. "The coffee is over there."

The kitchen was as daunting as the rest of the house. Cherry cabinets, some kind of countertop that didn't look like any stone he'd ever seen before, and two islands. Both had sinks, one had three leather-backed stools and two small chandeliers over it. The breakfast table sat eight and was tucked in an oversized bay window that overlooked the lake.

Grimacing, he went to the coffee maker and poured himself a generous cup. Stony was already settled at the table with an omelet and his own mug of coffee. "You got more of that?" Ryder asked, gesturing to the plate.

"Ingredients are in the fridge. "

After taking a gulp of liquid nirvana, Ryder went in search of food. There was no way he was cooking anything, but he found some instant oatmeal in the walk-in pantry, poured a couple of packets in a bowl, and nuked it. Grabbing a few paper towels to keep from burning his hands, he put his breakfast on the table, topped off his coffee, and then sat across from Rowland. Stirring the oatmeal, he asked, "Where are Griff and Mako?"

"Griff has outdoor patrol duty this shift and Mako's monitoring the electronic security."

"And you?"

"Just came out of the control room. I'm going to grab a couple hours of sleep after breakfast and then take my turn on patrol." Rowland lowered his fork. "I better fill you in on what happened this morning."

Ryder felt his stomach drop to his shoes. "What?"

"We had a security camera go down."

"Shit." Ryder lost his appetite.

"Mako and Griff checked it out. They didn't find footprints, and with the broken twigs and the way the camera was askew, their best guess was an animal was responsible. There are bears in the area and mule deer."

"With the amount of rainfall Tahoe gets in August, the ground would be dry enough that someone who walks softly wouldn't leave prints."

"Yeah, I know, and if we're dealing with a high-caliber team, they'd have at least a few people who could do that. I also don't like which camera lost signal." Rowland went back to his breakfast. "It was the primary, overlooking the drive. If I wanted to get close to the house undetected, that's the camera I'd take down."

Pushing his oatmeal away, Ryder asked, "Is it working now?"

Stony nodded. "Griff fixed it and realigned it. We're good, but it was down too long before we were able to get someone over there." There was a brief pause, then, "Where's Langley?"

"She's still sleeping," he said tersely.

Expression bland, Rowland said, "That's not a surprise. She stayed awake for nearly thirty-six hours."

"I'm not faulting her," Ryder snapped.

The other man shrugged and continued eating his breakfast.

The silence lasted until Ryder realized he shouldn't have growled at his friend. "Sorry," he muttered. "The camera and this mansion have me in a shitty mood."

Stony finished his final bite of eggs and washed it down with coffee before he said, "It's not Langley's fault that she was born into money. "

Ryder grimaced and wished he'd kept his mouth shut on the ride up here. Rowland saw enough on his own without being given more intel to work with. "I never said it was," he replied, careful to keep his tone neutral.

"Really? That's not what it sounded like yesterday."

Instead of snarling, he took a swig of coffee and worked on his control. He wasn't getting into this discussion again. "Did you check on the tunnels? How is the security?"

After a brief hesitation, Rowland said, "The barricade bars are solid steel, but those passages make me twitchy." He changed the subject. "I called Harper this morning."

They'd sort of agreed on that last night, but Ryder grimaced anyway. "What did he say? Any names come to mind?"

"I couldn't get hold of him. When I tried his cell phone, I reached a stranger. The person I talked to had gotten the number about six weeks ago." Stony stood and walked to the sink. As he rinsed his plate, he said, "I called Bent Tree next and asked them to pass along a message to contact me. Harper was unavailable, per the person I spoke with."

"Probably in the Middle East," he muttered. He understood why Harp had gone to work for them, but Ryder fucking hated Bent Tree and everything it represented.

"Or some other hot spot," Rowland agreed, loading his plate and utensils in the dishwasher. "That means we'll have to wait for the FBI to do their investigation. The only good thing about that shot yesterday was it lit a fire under the feds."

He grunted. The shot had lit the fire, but the ambassador had stoked it to inferno level. He'd been quietly livid when Ryder had spoken with him, and he wouldn't be surprised if Canfield had shredded the agents.

"There's another issue."

"Fuck." Ryder pushed his bowl away, grabbed his coffee, and took a gulp before he said, "What now?"

"The kitchen is fully stocked with fresh food—eggs, meats, cheeses, produce—you name it, we have it."

"How—" Ryder stopped short, his brain engaging an instant after his mouth. "Shit, that means the owners called to ask someone to provision the house for us. We have to assume that every employee knows we're here."

"And they would have been asked to stay away until further notice."

"Why the hell wouldn't the ambassador tell his friend to keep his mouth shut?" Canfield knew better than this, damn it.

With a shrug, Rowland said, "Maybe because he set this up for us before the threat was proven to be legit. Maybe he did tell the owner to be discreet, and the man trusts his household staff enough to disregard the request. Who knows?"

"Yeah," Ryder said and pushed his mug next to the oatmeal bowl. His stomach was roiling now. "The whys don't matter, what does matter is that we can't count on our presence here remaining secret. It only takes one guy making a casual comment in front of the wrong person for the whole thing to go to hell."

Rowland's expression remained smooth and his tone was neutral when he said, "The odds are that it won't cause any trouble."

"Fuck the odds," Ryder said fiercely. "This is Langley's life we're talking about here."

"You want to pack up and take off?"

Did he? With the new info would it be smarter to leave? What if the camera had been set up to get them to run? They were at greater risk on the road, and a hotel offered a whole slew of issues, including the fact that they'd be surrounded by unknowns.

"No, we'll stay. For now. If something else happens, though, we're out of here."