Guardian Angel (19 page)

"There's really nothing else interesting down here. Up
stairs is the important room." His husky voice danced along her skin.

"Oh? And what can that be?" Alex asked, throwing her arms around his neck.

Jared bent slightly and scooped her up in his arms. "The master bedroom," he answered, biting her earlobe. "What else?"

She laughed, burying her face in his neck. "Hmm, I like this method of transportation," she purred. "It's very ro
mantic."

Jared's idea of showing her the master bedroom was to toss her onto the large bed and lean over to pull off her clothes. Alex wasn't going to argue. She merely reached up and helped him off with his. She remembered little of the room except that the bed was large, the mattress firm, and Jared's warmth surrounding her. That was all that mattered when she later fell into a deep sleep with Jared's arm thrown possessively over her waist.

In the early morning hours Jared was suddenly awak
ened by the thrashing body beside him. Levering himself up on one elbow, he surveyed Alex's restless figure and the sound of her whimpering cries ripped through his heart. He began to take her in his arms when her pained words momentarily stopped him.

"No, please," she begged in a little girl's voice. "It's dark and there's nasty things out there. No, Daddy; please don't make me stay there!" she screamed.

Jared then scooped her into his arms and gently shook her awake. "Alex, baby, it's all right," he crooned. "It's only a nightmare. Shh. I'm here, no one's going to hurt you, I swear it." His hand smoothed the tangled hair from her damp face. "It's okay, baby."

Alex's eyes flew open, but they looked at him blankly. "Jared?" she croaked, clutching him tightly. "Please, don't let him make me stay there. Please." She snuggled up against him, rubbing her body sensuously against his. With her lips and hands she aroused him to the point of no return and loved him to fever pitch. While Alex had been the aggressor in their lovemaking before, it had never been with the intensity of tonight, as if by loving him she would exorcise the horrors of her dream.

Afterward a stunned Jared lay back with Alex now sleeping peacefully in his arms. The last time he had awak
ened her from a nightmare, which sounded suspiciously the same as this one, she had rejected his comfort. Tonight she had made wild love to him as if to keep the shadows away. His mouth tightened as he recalled the words spo
ken before he had awakened her. Tomorrow he would demand to know the truth and she would tell him whether she wanted to or not.

The next morning, when Alex awakened, she found Jared standing over her with a large tray in his hands.

"Breakfast, my lady," he announced formally, handing her one of his shirts to use as a robe.

"Hmm, I could get to like this." She smiled up at him as she accepted the shirt and slipped her arms through the sleeves.

Jared sat on the edge of the bed and picked up the second coffee cup. "You had another nightmare last night," he remarked in a deceptively casual voice.

Alex flushed and ducked her head. "I'm sorry if I dis
turbed you," she muttered, refusing to look up at him.

Gentle fingers cupped her chin and tipped it upward. "Alex, what did your father do that was so terrible it's haunted you all these years?" he asked tenderly.

Her features turned to stone. "I don't know what you mean," she lied.

"Yes, you do. Last night, after I awakened you, you made love to me as if you were afraid it would be your last time. The surprising part was that there was almost a violence to your lovemaking, as if you were trying to get back at all men for something that had happened years ago," he added dryly. "Now I know what it means to be used and abused."

Tears filled her eyes. She pushed the tray away, not even wanting that as a barrier between them. Alex flung her arms around him and buried her face against his throat. "Oh, Jared, I've never been really afraid of anything but my nightmare," she whispered.

"Tell me about it," he coaxed, smoothing her hair back with his hand. "Get it out in the open and I swear it will never bother you again."

Alex was hesitant to dredge up old memories, but she knew Jared was right. The only reason it kept coming back to haunt her was because she refused to admit its existence except in her sleep.

In slow, halting words, she told him about the disadvan
tages of having four brothers and a father determined that she would do as well as her brothers in everything they did, if not better. Her naval career was to be as outstand
ing as all the Haydens'.

That included the test of maturity at the age of ten held at the family home in Louisiana where they were expected to spend the night in the nearby forest. With each word Jared's hold tightened with anger at the unfeeling father who forced his daughter to do something against her will. A child who had been unable to stand up to the man and refuse to participate in the test. Her father's theory had been if her brothers could do it, so could she.

She told him how she was afraid to leave the forest in the middle of the night and likewise terrified to stay. A ten-year-old child's imagination is unlimited and any ani
mal, real and imagined, seemed to visit the young Alex. After that she ended up with nightmares that had haunted her throughout her adult life.

"Not anymore," Jared said grimly. "I'll make sure they'll never come back." It was the closest he had ever come to a commitment.

Alex's arms loosened about his neck while her tongue traced lazy patterns on his throat. "So you felt used and abused, did you?" she murmured.

"Sure did." A teasing note entered his voice. "We'll have to leave here in the next twenty minutes or so in order to have enough time to get you home to change if we plan to drive down to San Diego for lunch."

"Twenty minutes!" She gave an unladylike snort. "If you think this is going to be a morning quickie, buster, you've got another thing coming!" Her hands had already strayed to his belt.

He grinned wickedly as he momentarily stopped her busy hands. "Just as long as we get there in time for dinner."

"Deal."

Alex was having another of her bad days. It was more than a headache; her entire body ached and she felt ready to explode.

This Wednesday had been spent looking for a file that had been in its rightful place if she had only looked there first.

"Why didn't you tell me that?" she demanded shrilly of a surprised Dena who had never seen her boss lose her temper over such a small matter. In fact Alex usually laughed and said how grateful she was to have a secretary who filed correctly even if the boss couldn't understand an ordinary filing system. Looking at the concern in Dena's face, Alex only crumpled and dropped into her chair, the tears beginning to fall. She covered her face with her hands, moaning her wish that she'd quit crying.

"Alex . . . Alex!" Dena was instantly at her side. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, who knows," she sniffed, accepting the tissue of
fered to her. "I seem to be doing this quite a bit lately."

"No harm in that." The secretary laughed. "I was real good at that when I was pregnant with Roddy. For some strange reason tears and pregnancy go very well together. Hormones or something."

Listening to Dena's careless words, Alex grew very still. She raised paper-white features, then reached for her desk calendar and flipped back through the pages. The calcula
tions in her head weren't very reassuring.

"Alex?" Dena sounded concerned.

"Would you please call Dr. Garrison's office and see if there's any chance of getting an appointment this after
noon," she requested in a low voice.

Recognizing the man's name as Alex's gynecologist told Dena enough. "Certainly," she murmured.

Alex was given a two o'clock appointment and she decided to take a long lunch. The fact that Jared hadn't tried to contact her since she left his office hadn't given her very much peace of mind and she needed to have some time to herself before she went to the doctor's office.

Dena was in Alex's office laying some memos on her desk when she returned.

"What's the old saying?" she asked wryly. "Something about the rabbit dying?"

"It's Mr. Templeton, isn't it?"

Alex nodded, knowing it wouldn't go any further than those walls. She felt very tired and the strain was showing on her face. She kicked off her shoes and dropped into her chair.

"Are you going to tell him?" Dena asked her.

Alex shook her head with an emphatic toss. "No!"

"This may sound out of line, but aren't you on the pill?" Dena asked quietly.

Alex smiled wanly. "Oh, yes, I'm on the pill but a lot of good that did. When I had that rash, the doctor had prescribed prednisone and warned me that it could inhibit the effectiveness of the pill. Naturally, you find it hard to believe that it can really happen until you're the one on the receiving end. Jared didn't take precautions since he knew that I was." She took a deep shuddering breath.

"I always wondered when the explosion would happen between the two of you," Dena mused.

Alex glanced up. "What?"

The secretary laughed. "There's been some kind of cur
rent flowing between the two of you from the very begin
ning. I don't think anyone else noticed it. At least I never heard any gossip about it. I could sense it though. I just figured it would be a matter of time before detonation."

Then another thought occurred to Dena. "You're not considering an abortion, are you?"

"No!" Alex was horrified at the idea. "No, I'll tell Jared, but not just yet." She sighed wearily. "Do me a favor and hold any calls for a while."

Dena nodded, understanding Alex's need for privacy just now and left her alone.

Alex sat back in her chair. She found it hard to imagine another life was growing inside of her body—a life she and Jared had created. One thought caused her to smile. The child would definitely have green eyes.

According to her calculations the baby would have been conceived the night she had told Jared about her marriage. The night he had made such tender, all-consuming love to her. It seemed only right that a child would result from such a night.

She wasn't sure what she was going to do. She just knew that she would take better care of herself from now on. At least she now knew what was causing her queasy stomach during the past few weeks and could stop blaming it on drinking too much coffee.

Alex wasn't surprised when Jared showed up at her apartment that evening even though she hadn't heard from him all afternoon.

"Okay, I want the whole story," he greeted her with a growl.

"What story?" she asked, puzzled and a little wary of the wicked glint in his eye.

"Chris referred to Veronica Sayres as the infamous Chicago Cannonball when he talked to Sara. Is this anoth
er one of your private jokes?" he demanded, once again feeling jealous of the strong friendship between her and his assistant. He had come up from behind and slid his arms around her waist to pull her back against him. "Talk, lady."

Alex began to laugh. "I wondered when you'd finally hear about that. Come on, you have to admit the name fits," she said waspishly.

"True," he agreed readily. "May I ask what game this is?"

"Same as Chris and I placing bets," she explained. "We always gave your current mistress a suitable nickname."

Jared seemed to flinch at the word mistress, making her wonder if that was how he saw her.

"Merrilee Tanner?"

"The Houston Handful."

Jared grinned, understanding the meaning of the name all too easily. "Gina Valenti?"

"Venice Vampire."

"Marina Delgado?"

"Madrid Menace."

"Lauren Wellesley?"

"Boston Bombshell."

By then Jared was laughing at Alex's clipped replies. "No one can touch you for ingenuity, love." He grinned. "Come on, let's go out for dinner."

Alex couldn't understand why she felt heavy-eyed dur
ing dinner until she remembered the doctor telling her she might grow sleepy for no reason at times.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled her apology when they had returned to the apartment and Jared took charge of un
dressing her and putting her to bed. After tucking her in, he discarded his own clothes and climbed in beside her.

"For what?" He drew her back against him. "We had that flight to Seattle a couple of days ago and the one to St. Louis before that. It's just jet lag."

"Yes, but we haven't—I mean you—" She couldn't find the words.

"Alex," he chuckled in her ear. "Don't you know that I don't stay here just to ravish your sexy body. If I did, I would just put you to bed and leave. I'm here because I enjoy just being with you."

"Oh, Jared." She turned over and burrowed her face in his chest. "You're too nice for your own good sometimes, do you know that?" She yawned deeply.

"Go to sleep, love," he soothed, rubbing her back in a comforting manner.

The last Alex remembered was Jared's low voice lulling her to sleep.