Fiance by Friday (17 page)

“Did you at least remember a toothbrush for me?”

He moved back to the trunk and fished through her bag with a flashlight.

Gwen stood next to him to see exactly what he’d packed for her.

He pushed her knickers aside, a nightgown, socks, a real bra, a pair of jeans, and a couple of shirts. His hand wrapped around a hairbrush and deodorant before finding her toothbrush and a tube of paste.

“That’s all you packed for me?”

“We’ll find a place to wash what you have on.”

She pushed him aside, grabbed his flashlight, and looked again. But no matter how far she dug the results were the same. “You expect me to wear two outfits and that’s all?”

“One to wash, one to wear.”

The expression on his face was a complete blank. She shone the light in his face and he turned away.

“Where’s my makeup?”

“I’m sorry,
Gwendolyn
,” he said dripping in sarcasm. “I thought finding safety was more important than packing your war paint. Besides, you’re more beautiful without it.”

“War paint?”

“A mask men put on their face before battle.”

“Yes, yes, I know what war paint is. Why do you call makeup war paint?”

Neil pushed the flashlight from his face. “It’s an American saying.”

“Oh.”

She batted a bug away from the beam of light and turned to the dark. After placing her toothbrush and paste in the backseat, she found an extra napkin from their pathetic dinner of warmed over hamburgers and fries and started to walk away from the car.

“Where are you going?”

She stopped, turned toward him, and raised her arm to the outside. “The ladies’ room. What do you think?”

The flashlight kept her from stumbling over rocks and bushes.

“Watch out for snakes.”

She hesitated but kept moving.
Of course.
He would have to pick a part of the world infested with poisonous snakes to hide out.

A large rock separated her from Neil. She was about to set the flashlight down when he called out. “And coyotes. They run in packs. If you see one, there are three surrounding you.”

“Brilliant,” she whispered to herself. She flashed the light in a full circle, assuring herself she was alone.

When she finished, she walked quickly back to the car. Neil leaned on the hood, his arms crossed over his chest.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?”

She grabbed her toothbrush and paste with a bottle of water from the car. “Not bad at all…if you enjoy relieving yourself with the snakes and coyotes.” She swatted a bug from her arm before splashing water on her hands in a feeble attempt to wash them. After smothering the tip of the brush with minty paste, she shoved it in her mouth and tried to wash the day’s greasy food away.

Neil was watching her, a smile on his face.

“What’s so amusing?” She never saw the man smile yet he did now at her expense.

“Only you can make peeing in the bushes sound elegant.”

“Did not.”

His smile only grew with her agitation.

“Errr!” She moved behind the car, rinsed out her mouth, and returned to him.

The beam of light found his face again. “You’re laughing at me.”

“Relax, Gwen. I’m not laughing at you.”

She swatted another bug and found three more ready to land on her.

Neil pushed off the car and took the flashlight from her fingers. He switched it off and plunged them into the dark. “There. No light, no bugs.”

The light from the moon was barely visible as she cast her eyes to the sky.

She gasped. “Oh, wow.”

“Beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Magnificent.” Undaunted by the city lights, the night sky held millions of stars. “I’ve never seen it quite like this.” While staring at the sky, Gwen didn’t mind their stop in the desert nearly as much as she had a moment ago.

“The desert has the best view of the universe,” he muttered.

She leaned against the car and tilted her head back. After a few minutes she asked, “Do you ever wonder if there’s something else out there?”

“Intelligent life?”

“Yeah.”

Neil sighed. “I hope so.”

She smiled at that. “Me too. I’d hate to think we’re it.”

“When I was a kid, I wanted to be an astronaut.”

Gwen looked at him. “You did?”

“Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you pursue space?”

“I don’t know. Lost interest. Moved on.”

She understood that. “I wanted to be a ballerina.”

“What stopped you?”

The hair on her arms stood up and the cool night made her shiver.

“You’ll laugh if I tell you.”

“I don’t smile, so laughing is out of the question.”

She giggled, completely unprepared for a joke.

Neil tried to hide his smile.

“I was too fat.”

His jaw dropped. “You don’t have an ounce to spare.”

“I know. Never have…but prima ballerinas eat salad and question the dressing. I enjoy food too much.” She returned her stare to the stars and rubbed her arms. “I still enjoy the ballet. The grace and beauty of the dance.”

Neil shrugged out of his jacket and wrapped it over her shoulders. She snuggled into his side and surprisingly he kept his arm on her shoulders. “Thank you.”

He gave a passing smile and looked up again. “I’ve never been to a live stage show. Outside of a rock concert.”

“Really? Why?”

“Never occurred to me to go.”

Her head rested on his shoulder as they talked. “I suppose the wealth I’ve always been surrounded by has afforded me many fine things in life. But you know something?”

“What?”

“I’ve never seen this, a night sky so crisp and clear with stars that look like the finest diamond in a bright light.”

“The best things in life cost nothing.”

True.

A star shot across the sky. “Did you see that?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

She closed her eyes and wished they’d make it home safely.

“What are you doing?”

She opened her eyes and found him staring at her. “Making a wish. C’mon, make a wish upon a falling star…surely you’ve heard of that.”

“Ahh.” He was smiling again and the sight took her breath away.

“Are you going to make a wish?”

He shook his head.

“Why not?” She turned to him, his hand rested on her arm.

“I don’t believe in wishes.”

She huddled under his coat. “It’s only a small fantasy, or desire, to wish for something. It’s meant to be fun.”

His smile fell and his gaze slid to her lips.

“It’s OK to have fun once in a while, Neil.”

She caught his eyes again, and drowned in his gaze. He leaned in and she made a second wish, his wish, that he not pull back this time.

Neil’s hand moved up her arm and pulled her closer before her wish came true. There, in the middle of the desert filled with wild animals and a zillion stars, Neil kissed her. Hot, desperate kisses that filled every lonely pore of her body.

Gwen skirted her hands up his thick chest and clawed into his skin. She opened for him, accepting the feeling of his tongue alongside hers. She couldn’t breathe, his embrace was so hard, but she didn’t care. She could breathe later. Now was the time for feeling. As in how his hand found the back of her head and he guided her where he wanted. It was then she knew that she would give him anything should he ask.

Her dreams didn’t prepare her for his touch. She pushed into him, felt his arousal, and wanted all of him.

If his kiss was any indication, he wanted her, too.

So why was he pushing her away?

His hot breath blew upon her cheek. “Gwendolyn,” he sighed.

“I don’t want you to stop,” she confessed.

The arms that held her tightened.

“You’re a distraction. Distractions get you killed.”

Was he saying this to himself? Or to her?

“There’s no one out here but us.” And wild, hot sex, even on the hood of the car, was better than backing away now.

“We can’t do this.” He took her head in both hands and looked into her eyes. “Not now.”

She could taste the argument on her lips.

She swallowed it.

I’ve waited this long. I can wait a little longer.
Now that she’d sampled him, she’d taste him on her lips every time she thought of him.

Blake intended to follow Neil’s advice. Until he’d heard that he and Gwen had left in the middle of the night and hadn’t been seen since. At that point, Blake told his pilot to fuel his private jet and he kissed his wife and son good-bye.

Samantha hadn’t been happy about being left in Albany, but a stomach flu kept her from using her power over him to let her come. If Neil’s concerns were even half validated, Blake didn’t need his family underfoot or in harm’s way while he searched for his sister and bodyguard.

Once the jet set down on the west end of the runway and customs cleared him, Blake walked to the car waiting to take him home.

“Mr. Harrison?”

Not used to seeing anyone but Neil as his driver, Blake did a double take.

“First Class Services sent me.” First Class Services was a company Blake had used from time to time. He needed to thank Sam when he talked to her later that night.

Blake nodded and ducked into the backseat. Dean was sitting on the opposite seat, a smirk on his face. “Welcome home, Your Grace.”

Blake shook the detective’s hand. “Knock that Grace crap off, Dean. What the hell is going on?”

Dean nodded toward the driver who inched off the runway.

“All their drivers are cleared before they get behind the wheel.”

Dean sucked in a deep breath.

“I’m not sure what’s going on, Blake. Eliza called me. Told me about the dead neighbors. We tuned into the radios of Tarzana’s men…heard the calls going back and forth. They weren’t happy about having to let Neil poke around and even less excited to see us arrive. At first glance, it looks like birds nested inside the hot tub’s electrical system.”

“And at second glance?”

“We don’t have that yet. Homicide is going over the place with tweezers now. No one thinks it’s an accident. Spontaneous electrocutions in hot tubs don’t happen. Not unless the wiring with the tub had been tampered with. Which brings me to the victims themselves.”

“What about them?”

“They were squatters.”

“Squatters?”

“The whole damn country is filling up with them. People who move into abandoned or bank-owned homes and take up residency. Banks hate being landlords and many of the properties they’ve
foreclosed on in the last five years are still vacant. People move in, get a bill or two in their name, and now the bank has to evict them. There are groups of people all over who organize squatting.”

Blake shook his head. “So these people live free for what? Six months?”

“Or a year…sometimes longer. Only when a real estate agent comes around to inspect do they find the problem. Hell, San Francisco banks can own houses in Pacoima, and use San Diego agents to handle selling them. Needless to say, many times the agent never even sees the house. It’s a mess.”

“How the hell do they get the power turned on?”

“In this case, they were stealing power from the neighbors, Gwen and Karen included.”

“Neil told me there were problems with the monitors at the house every time the neighbors used the Jacuzzi.”

“And he never found the problem because he didn’t have access to the neighbors’ house. The fact that the squatters stole the power leads me to believe there could be a plausible explanation for their demise.”

Oh, now Blake was very confused. “If that’s true then Neil overreacted?”

“I’m not saying that yet. Neil doesn’t strike me as an impulsive man. He’s so damn quiet most of the time I don’t have a clue what’s going on in his head.”

Yeah…but Blake remembered a time when Neil was as impulsive as a teenager getting lucky for the first time.

“Where the hell is he?”

“Don’t know. He was ripping the place apart before I left your house. You’ll see the mess he left behind. All his equipment is in your den. It’s like he was setting up a fortress in there. Scared the shit out of Mary.”

“And Gwen?”

“She was already upset about the neighbors. I came back yesterday morning and found them gone. Dillon gave me this.” Dean handed him a handwritten note.

Dean

Keep all conversations outside of the Malibu and Tarzana houses. Everything I set up has been compromised.

I will notify you in seventy-two hours with more information.

If you don’t hear from me, have Carter contact the Commander in Chief. Give them my name. And code name: Raven.

Mac

“Seventy-two hours?”

“Thirty-six as of this morning.”

Blake ran a hand through his hair. “Commander in chief? Who is he talking about?”

Dean leveled his eyes with his. “I think he’s talking about the president.”

Blake’s skin chilled. What the fuck did Neil drag his sister into?

Chapter Fifteen