Cat 'N Mouse (13 page)

“Oh.”

“Dennis and Robyn care about you. I told them about all the threats on your life and explained what we needed to do to keep you safe. Robyn seemed a bit hurt that you hadn’t told her everything.”

Sam was hoping for some sort of reaction but he’d gotten none for his observation. Her relationship with Robyn and her father was none of his business anyway. No. He didn’t believe that for one minute. There was a lot about Princess he didn’t understand…didn’t know but he wanted to find out.

“Are you going to tell Daddy about what happened at the hotel and last night?”

“There isn’t much to tell. Besides, I don’t report to him anymore.”

“When he finds out he won’t be happy.”

“And he’ll probably blame me for not doing enough to protect you from both attacks yesterday. Right now your father is not my concern. You are.”

“What are you going to drive?”

“The Land Rover is drivable. Matt checked it out. He said he’d take care of it this afternoon. We talked last night and he came by early this morning. He won’t say anything to your father.”

She smiled and moved toward the sliding door. It was the first time since they’d met that she’d smiled at him without looking like she wanted to scratch his eyes out. He remembered the kiss they had shared last night. If he hadn’t stopped…his mind was wondering in dangerous territory again. He needed to focus on work.

“What time do you want to leave?” Sam asked, pushing last night from his mind.

“In about half an hour.”

“Alexandria….” Sam got up, setting the computer down on the chair. “We should talk…about last night.”

She shook her head and sighed. “I’m sorry about that.” She held up her hand. “I shouldn’t have put you in that position. It won’t happen again. While I’m in the apologetic mood, I shouldn’t have hit you the other night either.”

“Well, I can’t honestly say I didn’t deserve it.”

“All the same, it shouldn’t have happened.”

Sam watched her leave, wanting to say that he wasn’t sorry at all about the kiss…wanting to explain but couldn’t find the words to begin. He felt a sense of loss somehow, yet he didn’t know from what. The hostility between then had vanished, but he wasn’t so sure he liked the employer/employee relationship that had taken its place. They were going to be in close quarters for a while and—

“Sam!”

His heart just about stopped when he heard her scream his name and he raced toward the bedroom. He found her standing at her door pointing into the room, finger shaking.

She turned and clutched at his T-shirt as he stood by her. “What is that and how did it get in here?”

A terrified look settled on her face and he knew what she thinking. Someone had broken into the condo.

“It’s okay. She’s not going to hurt you. Elvira, what are you doing here?”

“Elvira?” She choked out the name.

He passed her and moved further into the bedroom and picked up the iguana from the middle of the bed. Elvira was looking right at home but the only thing was, this wasn’t her home.

“He must’ve crawled into my duffle bag when I was packing. Say hello to Matt’s pet iguana, Elvira. I’ll call Matt to come and pick her up.”

“Her?
You
brought
it
in here?” She asked, looking at the iguana as if wanting further assurance that it was because of him that the lizard was in her house and not because of the stalker.

“Unintentionally I’m afraid.”

“Thank God.” Sheer relief settled on her face. “Not that I’m happy that it’s here.”

“I understand.”

“Why would anyone keep that for a pet?”

Sam held the reptile in his hand while he gently stoked its head. “Want to pet her?”

“No thank you. It’s an overgrown lizard.”

“Shh…she doesn’t know that,” he whispered. “Matt is quite fond of it. She won’t hurt you. Touch her.”

Alexandria reached out to stoke it and the lizard slid out of Sam’s hand and she squealed. It crawled at lightning speed toward the living room and disappeared under the sofa. She grabbed onto to Sam’s hand and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“It’s not funny. Find that thing and remove it from my house.”

“It’s not that easy. I have to wait until it resurfaces.”

“Go and find it. I’ll call Matt. Maybe he can come by today and get it.”

She moved toward the nightstand when her phone started to ring. “I don’t care if you have to take this condo apart brick by brick. Find that overgrown lizard and remove it from my home.” She peeked around him into the living room before she turned and answered the phone. “Hello?”

Sam watched the color drain from her face and she hung up the phone with trembling hands. “What’s wrong?”

“The voice on the phone said you can’t save me. I’m going to die like my mother. He more or less said the same thing in the hotel washroom.”

W
arren Prescott stood at the door of his office looking out onto the water. It was mid July and he hadn’t taken the boat out yet. There were a lot of things he hadn’t done in a while and he wanted to change that. He had wanted to spend more time with his daughter. He hadn’t wanted her to move out but she had. Things had a way of slipping away from him.

Sienna’s face appeared before him. When he looked at Alexandria it was as if he was looking into the face of his late wife. When he’d met her she was already married but that hadn’t mattered to him. He had pursued her and had eventually lured her away from her husband. He was never one to do things the easy way. He always got what he wanted in business and his personal life, no matter the cost. Sienna had cost him. In the end she paid the ultimate price with her life.

Looking around at his accomplishments, he wondered if all that he had was worth it. His wife was dead and his daughter had moved away from the estate, slowly pulling away from him but he vowed he would not lose her as well.

She would move back home and join his company. That was his plan. It had always been his plan.

Warren turned back to the desk and sat heavily in the chair. Today he was supposed to be working from home, the first time in twenty years. Yet, the only thing he was doing was reliving the past. Regret was not a part of his vocabulary but his life was unraveling around him and he couldn’t stop it.

A knock brought his head up toward the door. “Come in.”

“When I got into the office today, your secretary said you were working from home,” Matt said as he entered the office. “I came by to see if everything was okay. You don’t usually work from home.”

His blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he was dressed in black. His security consultant had been with him for almost eight years, and he trusted the man with his life, even his daughter’s life. Matt always did what he was told. He could be controlled. He had always trusted him. His trust had never wavered until now.

“There’s nothing wrong.” Warren closed the file in front of him.

Matt raised his eyebrows. “If you say so.” His tone indicating he didn’t believe him. “I just had a quick chat with Colt. He said someone tampered with the brake line of Alexandria’s car. The line was cut so the brake fluid would slowly leak out. It could have been a whole lot worse than just running into Sam’s car.”

“That’s what Colt told me. How did someone get access to her car, Matt? The building she lives in has top notch security. We made certain of that.”

“I don’t know, but you’ve nothing to worry about. She’s safe.”

“Are you sure?”

“What’s really troubling you?” Matt settled into the sofa and brought his left ankle up on his right knee.

“Samuel Jason O’Malley is what’s troubling me,” Prescott replied, as he got up from around the desk and sat at the corner facing Matt. “I hired him on your word then I find out he has a drug habit. I don’t like things kept from me.”

“It wasn’t my intention to keep anything from you. I was under the impression that you trusted my judgment.”

Matt’s lips tightened in a straight line. That was the only emotion that told Warren the man was angry. He didn’t want Matt to be angry with him, but he felt the man needed to be reminded who he worked for. What was the point of having employees you can’t control? That was his issue with Sam.

“I’m always leery of people who don’t have their hands outstretched.”

“What’s your point?”

“My point is, I trust you, Matt. I know nothing of this man and what he’s capable of.”

“I trust O’Malley. He
had
—past tense—some issues a long time ago. He got shot in the line of duty and he lost his way for a bit. It happens to the best of us.”

“I’m told he got fired from Boston P.D.”

Matt sat forward. “I can’t believe you went behind my back and had him checked out without talking to me first.”

“This is my daughter we’re talking about. I’ll do what I have to.”

“He didn’t get fired. What are you afraid of?”

What was he afraid of? That Alexandria would form an alliance with Sam against him. After years of trying to hold on to his daughter he might lose her to Sam. With the dreams of her mother’s death resurfacing, he had a right to be worried. What if she remembered what really happened that night? Would she hate him?

“She’s my daughter, Matt. I want her safe.”

“If I had any doubts about Sam and his ability to protect Alexandria, he wouldn’t be anywhere near her. It was your idea to bring in outside help, remember? There’s no need to worry about Sam. He can get the job done. Someone tried to run them off the road last night and he handled it.”

“Why wasn’t I told about this?”

“Because Sam is doing what he’s paid to do, protect Alexandria. He’s good at it. Let him do it without interference.”

“Was he doing his job when someone threw blood in her face? Yes, I know about that too. Very little goes on that I don’t know about. Sam is supposed to protect her. She wouldn’t need protecting if she was here. You should convince her to move back home.”

“That’s not my job.”

“Your job is whatever I say it is, Matt. Don’t forget that. A part of Mr. O’Malley’s employment requires him to submit written reports and so far I haven’t seen any. I want a meeting with him.”

Matt got up and headed for the door. “I’ll let him know.”

•  •  •

Sam knocked on Alexandria’s bedroom door. He told himself he wasn’t checking in on her. If he believed that he was full of it. After the phone call, she’d asked him to leave her room. He didn’t like the way she’d gone all quiet, retreating into her herself and drawing a curtain of silence around her, shutting him out.

“Can I come in?” he asked when he knocked the second time and she still didn’t respond.

She’d left her bedroom briefly around lunchtime to grab something to eat. He’d heard her in the kitchen, but hadn’t intruded. He figured if she wanted to talk about the phone call she would come to him, but she still hadn’t which didn’t surprise him.

“Yes.” She sounded annoyed. Sam entered the room and found her lying on the bed facing the window, her back to the door. “I want to be left alone.” She was already dressed for bed in a white frilly getup with feathers around the sleeves and collar, and it was only seven o’clock.

“Put on your sweats.”

“What?” She turned her head over her shoulder looking at him with eyes clearly telling him to get lost.

“Put on your sweats, pair of runners and meet me in the solarium in ten minutes.”

“I don’t know what you’re up to but—”

“Self defense. We talked about it, remember? Unless you can protect yourself, that bastard will always have the upper hand. Ten minutes,” he ordered and closed the door.

Sam moved the furniture in the solarium against the wall then dug around in the storage closet in the front hall until he found several yoga mats, still in the plastic package. Laying them out on the floor, he waited to see if she would actually show. He figured since he’d ordered her out in ten minutes she would make her appearance only when she was good and ready, or not at all.

Her
Highness
made her entrance almost an hour later, dressed in white Capri sweats and a white tank top and running shoes that looked like they’d never been worn.

The white tank top molded her upper body and he remembered what it felt like to hold her in his arms last night. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

Alexandria looked down at the mat and made a face. “Is this really necessary?” Moving into the solarium, she pulled her hair back, twisting it on top of her head securing it with some kind of glittering hair comb. “You’re here. Why do I have to do this?”

She was going to be difficult he could tell, but he decided to sweeten the pot.

“How about if I teach you how to kick my legs out from beneath me and make me drop like a stone.” Her lips curled up into a smile and her eyes lit up like a Fourth of July fireworks show. “But I’m not going to give you any special treatment,” he added, pointing a finger at her. “You’ll drop me because you can and with no help from me, Princess.”

“I don’t need special treatment.”

She did that neck thing, working her neck up and down with her hands on her hips. All attitude, aimed at him. Princess was back and ready to kick butt, his.

“Show me what I need to do and I’ll drop you like a stone,” she said with determination. “With no help required from you.”

“That’s my girl.”

•  •  •

That’s my girl.

Alexandria was taken aback by his words. Okay, so he really didn’t mean anything by it. But it didn’t stop her from hoping that….

“Stretch it out,” Sam ordered when she stood there watching him in fascination, literally salivating. “It’s called a quad stretch. Not the ‘stand and stare’ stretch.”

“Ha ha.”

Working out obviously was natural to him. He was physically fit from his long lean legs right up to his abs. She got a bird’s eye view of his six-pack when he’d stretched his arms above his head and his T-shirt lifted above his belly button.

“When do I get to drop you?”

He laughed. A sexy laugh and she just about melted into a puddle on the floor. She could stand there and stare at him all day.