Dakota Homecoming (2 page)

No, Julian didn’t need to elaborate any further. Georgie knew full well what Eduardo was capable of doing. She’d seen it first hand and escaped with her life without drawing suspicion. At least, she hoped she hadn’t. If not for the baby, she’d have disappeared and never made contact with Eduardo again.

“I don’t understand why I have to go with you. That’s all,” she said. “I can stay at a hotel and sit by the pool in some small no-nothing Southern town until you’re done with your family time up in... Where did you say this wedding was going to take place?”

“South Dakota.”

“Freeze country. I’m no pampered gal, but it’s not very appealing for a woman like me who is used to the hot weather. Look, if anything comes up, I’ll call you.”

“I’ll be too far away. That’s not how it’s going to happen. We’re too close to breaking this thing open. Between you and your cousin we’re going to find where Cash Montgomery is being held. I won’t risk his life.”

He was right not to risk it. But Julian didn’t really know just how much. Or maybe he did and he didn’t care about the odds. The chances of this mission succeeding was zero based on what people had done to infiltrate Eduardo’s operation in the past. People had tried and died. Julian was savvy about military operations and about the drug trafficking trade. He knew more than she did about Eduardo’s operation and over the years she’d learned a lot. But Georgie was counting on what she knew being her ace in the hole to help Angela and her family get out of Colombia the way she had.

“You came to us, remember? You asked us for help to get your cousin out alive. This is how we’re helping you.”

Georgie twisted her lips into a grin. “By making me go to a wedding?”

Julian shrugged. “That can’t be helped. Look, if you really don’t want to come then I can send you to Chicago and you can stay with Kelly and his family.”

She sighed. “Another family?”

“You definitely have a thing about families.”

“Maybe because I don’t have any other than Angela. I don’t understand why I have to stay with anyone at all. Despite the fact that I’ve lived most of my life in Colombia, I’m still an American citizen. I’m in America now. I could lose myself anywhere here. I should be safe.”

He shook his head. “And what if Angela calls? What if Eduardo calls? What if he becomes suspicious? Anything could happen and if you don’t have someone right next to you to protect you, you’re dead. We all lose. We don’t find Cash. Your cousin will most likely end up dead, and so will you. Deep down, you know I’m right. Eduardo has deep ties with a lot of organized crime in America. Sure, we could stay away from Providence. We could stay away from Texas. But I found you in Oklahoma. And if I can find you, so can he.”

A chill raced through her. “Kelly said something about witness protection.”

“That’s probably going to happen eventually if word gets out of your involvement. It will mean leaving everyone and everything behind.”

“I already did that.”

“Not really. There’s still Angela.”

Sadness filled her. “There’s no one left but her. Eduardo made sure of that.”

“Precisely the reason why I can’t let you out of my site. Not until we get the information we need and then get you to a place where you can have a normal life.”

“Do people like me do that? Have normal lives?”

Julian took his eyes off the road for a second to look at her. “I don’t know. But it’s worth trying. Don’t you think?”

She turned her eyes to the road ahead and slumped back in the seat. “How long before we stop for the night?”

“Hungry?”

“No, my butt is falling asleep.”

Julian chuckled and quickly glanced down to her seat. On more than one occasion, his gaze had drifted to the swell of Georgie’s bottom despite his every attempt to stay professional and see her as nothing more than an informant in an investigation. She’d caught him glancing at her. She wasn’t a fool. She knew when a man found her attractive. Most times she didn’t give a damn. The men she’d known in her life had no respect for women and she wanted no part of them.

But Julian had been different. She could complain all she wanted about being forced to go to South Dakota to spend a week with people she didn’t know. But part of her was intrigued by the idea of seeing how a normal family lived.

Every so often while he was driving he’d glance over at her and his gaze would linger. There was no reason for him to do it. But he did. And when he did, like he was now, she’d feel a warm sensation flow through her as if he were caressing her with his penetrating blue eyes. There was nothing sleazy about the way he looked at her. He probably was a man who genuinely enjoyed a pretty girl. That’s all. But it still affected her.

She’d worn her loose almost black hair down today and it hung past her shoulders. She reached up to the back of her head and combed her hair over to her left shoulder and played with the ends. She’d done this on their first meeting, when she’d been near tears and afraid to say a word. It was hard to believe that had been a month ago. Harder to believe that Julian had been following her for months and she’d never even known he was there.

Looking at him now, it was hard to believe she hadn't noticed him. On their first meeting, she’d noticed his eyes first. They were a dark blue. So much different than her hazel eyes, something she’d inherited from the father she’d never known. She’d seen a picture. Julian had said he’d known who she was, that he’d learned about her from Kelly.

He’d been tracking her for months, and when they’d met, he knew things about her and her life that she’d actually forgotten. She was so scared that she nearly bolted. But the sound of his voice, his reassurance that she’d finally be free from Eduardo Sanchez when the investigation was over, gave her so much relief that she nearly flung herself in his arms and wept.
Nearly
. Only someone who truly understood the long reach Eduardo Sanchez had beyond borders could understand her reaction. Julian had.

“I planned on stopping in Amarillo. From there it’s another full day’s ride though Colorado and Nebraska until we get to Rudolph. Is that okay?”

“Do I have a choice?”

He didn’t say anything in response to her obvious irritation. She was tired. So was he. When they finally had a chance to stop it would be a relief. But he probably wanted to put as much time behind them as he could before they made the stop. She forced herself to remain calm and asked, “How much longer before we can stop for a bite to eat?”

“We past Abilene about an hour ago. Can you wait until we get to Lubbock?”

Her stomach grumbled with the thought of food. “I guess.”

“It’s about another hour and a half from here. Amarillo will be about another two hours after that. Then we can stop.”

She nodded and then smiled. “I’m picking the restaurant. I don’t care how famous Texas is for its beef. We’re not stopping for a burger off the highway. I want something good.”

“Deal.”

Julian didn’t know what he’d expected from Georgie. When he’d told her she could pick the restaurant, on Uncle Sam’s dime, he figured she’d go all out and find a fancy, overpriced restaurant just to give him a dig for making them drive the whole way to South Dakota. But after fiddling with the app on her phone, she chose a small Italian restaurant that reminded him of his aunt Kate’s diner in Rudolph. When he saw the neon sign from the road, he put on his blinker and pulled into the parking lot.

“I don’t even care if the food isn’t as good as Aunt Kate’s place. I’m so hungry I’ll eat a leather boot,” he said, getting out of the car and then slamming the door shut. The smell of food coming from the circular exhaust vent on the roof was already assaulting his nostrils.

Georgie got out of the car and took a good look at the place. “It got high stars. It shouldn’t be too bad.”

“Italian, huh? I figured you’d want something different.”

“What? Like Mexican?”

He chuckled. “No. Maybe a steak. Texas is famous for that.”

“I felt like Italian.”

He shrugged. “Well, Italian it is. Let’s get in there and see what they have.”

A few minutes later they were seated at a dimly lit table in the corner. Julian made sure to sit in the seat that gave him a good view of the entire restaurant. He didn’t really think there would be any trouble. As far as he knew, Eduardo Sanchez didn’t even know that Georgie had left Colombia.

“You’re scared,” Julian said. “It’s okay to be scared. But you don’t have to be.”

She sputtered, “I managed to escape Eduardo’s lair. I have nothing to be afraid of now.”

“I don’t mean about Eduardo. I mean about meeting my family.”

* * *

“Of course not,” she lied. She wasn’t scared, she was terrified. She wasn’t exactly the kind of woman a man brought home to meet the family. In just the short time she’d known Julian, she knew their lives were so very different. She hadn’t grown up in a household where people did normal things. Her normal was so far removed from what she’d seen on TV and from other people. Who grew up living with men who thought of women as toys? She didn’t know anyone outside of the town where she’d lived most of her life. The fact that she’d managed to become educated and escape still amazed her.

Her education had been the one thing that her mother had fought for with her stepfather. Georgie had never known her real father. And Diego made it clear that Georgie had been a burden to him since the day she and her mother moved into
his
house. He’d wanted Georgie to stay home from school and earn her keep working as a maid in one of the more exclusive homes of foreign businessmen.

But her mother insisted Georgie get her education. Her mother had worked hard to help Georgie get good grades that enabled her to get a full scholarship to an American college when she was just sixteen years old. Those years at the university in Texas were the most normal years of her life. And yet, it only served to make her see just how abnormal her life really was.

She’d been lost in thought. Lost in some faraway place that no longer existed for her because she’d managed to escape when no one else she knew ever did. She owed it to Angela to help her the way her mother had worked so hard for Georgie.

When she lifted her gaze to Julian, she saw that he was staring at her. In her musing, she hadn’t even realized their food had been served. The aroma of the steaming hot plate of ravioli teased her nose.

“It’s going to be okay, you know,” he said quietly.

“You can’t know that for sure. But I’ll take your word for it today. Today will be okay. I’ll deal with tomorrow when it comes.”

She picked up her fork and cut into a piece of ravioli. But rather than bring it to her mouth and devour it to satisfy her hunger, she waited. She knew it was hot and would burn her mouth.

“This is a treat for you,” Julian said, watching as she scrutinized her plate and decided where to start.

She chuckled, slightly embarrassed that he’d caught her reaction to the food. “It is. I’d never been to an Italian restaurant when I was in Colombia, although I know there are several in the cities.”

“Did you develop this love of Italian food when you were in college?” he asked.

“There was a small pizza shop near the university. I didn’t go often. I didn’t have the money. But I went sometimes. I was a few years younger than most of the people in my classes so I couldn’t go to some of the places they could go because I wasn’t old enough to drink. I started out just eating the pizza and pretty soon I couldn’t wait to sample everything they had on the menu. Ravioli was my favorite.”

“That’s right. You started college at sixteen.”

She frowned. “How did you know that?”

“It was in your file.”

“My file? I have a file?”

It was his turn to frown. “You must have known we’d have a file on you. How do you think I found you?”

“I don’t know. I guess I…I didn’t think about it,” she said wearily. She took a bite of the ravioli and closed her eyes as she savored the flavor.

“Good?”

“No. Excellent. I’ve clearly missed my calling in life. I should have been a chef.” She took another bite and then swallowed. “So what else is in this file?”

He finished chewing his bite of food and then took a sip of his beer. “The usual stuff. Where you born, your family, where you went to school. You graduated with honors with a degree in Physics. Quite a departure from culinary arts.”

She shrugged. “True. But then I hadn’t tried Italian food before I started college. If I had, life could have been so different.”

Julian chuckled and cut into his lasagna. “Your mother worked for a time at Eduardo Sanchez’s compound.”

Her stomach dropped. He knew more than she wanted most people to know. She liked being in the United States and having a clean slate. Being invisible in a way. Of course, not all people treated her so warmly. There was still discrimination from some people who’d been angry about her scholarships, thinking she’d gotten a free ride just because she was a foreigner. They didn’t accept that she was also American. But Georgie learned not to pay those people any mind. Allowing their judgment to get to her would only stop her from her goals.