Bound by Danger Page 15

  Sure she was. “Listen, Charlie, I worry you think she may be interested in, well, in settling down with you.”

  “It’s a little too early in our relationship to think of such things.”

  “Oh.” She’d never considered her brother hadn’t been interested in Marilyn in that way. Maybe she didn’t know him as well as she thought.

  “Dave worries about you. He said you’re still suffering, but aren’t taking any of the pain medicine.”

  “I’ve taken some tonight. I wrenched my neck once too many times today already. I figured if I didn’t take some, I’d never get any sleep.”

  “Okay, I’ll tell him you took some then.”

  “It’s really none of his affair.”

  Charlie rose from the bed. “He said you were a trifle mad at him. He’s only trying to keep you safe. So you need to do as he says for your own safety.” He kissed her cheek.

  When he closed the door behind him, she threw her slipper at it.

  “Keep me safe. Hmpf.” She yanked her robe off and threw it at the chair. It floated to the carpeted floor, and she climbed gingerly into bed in a huff.

  ***

  Two hours later, Dave ran out of the sunroom toward the stairs, his heart pumping the blood to his head in a panic. “What do you mean, Deidre’s not in bed?”

  Marilyn tailed him as her voice rose in answer to his question as they raced up the stairs. “She’s not there! She’s not in the bathroom or any of the other three bedrooms. She’s not in the closets or under the bed. She’s not anywhere!”

  Dave stared at the open window in Deidre’s room. “The window’s open.”

  “She wouldn’t have climbed out the window.”

  Dave climbed out through the window frame onto the narrow ledge beneath the windowsill. He stared into the dark. “It’s too dark out there. I can’t see a thing.” He crawled back into the bedroom and ran to the stairs. “Ricky! Turn on all of the outside lights.”

  He returned to the window as the light flooded the backyard. A canal ended halfway along the back end of the lawn. Beyond the canal rested a ridge of pyramidal mounds of sand.

  Dave bolted downstairs. “Ricky, Marilyn, you come with me. The rest of you keep a lookout for her around the place.”

  The three raced around the property to where it ended. They soon canvassed the undeveloped land across the canal. “Spread out around these mounds,” Dave hollered. He had to keep calm. The dread that filled him would be her undoing if he couldn’t harness his fear. He had to find her and soon before someone who wished her harm did.

  “Dave, she can’t be out here.”

  “Look, Marilyn. If she falls into the canal, she could drown.”

  “Ricky said she was mad at you.”

  Dave couldn’t believe she would’ve run away because of him. She just couldn’t have. And yet, he couldn’t see how she could’ve managed climbing off the house in her sleep. It wasn’t possible, was it?

  He ran along the bottom of one of the twelve-foot ridges of sand, then the beam of his flashlight picked up the image of a pink slipper. “Hey!”

  “Yeah, Boss?” Ricky yelled from the other side of the manmade sand dunes.

  “Does anyone know if she had pink fuzzy slippers?”

  “Nah.”

  Dave swung his flashlight upward and nearly at the top, a figure was curled up against the sand. “Deidre!”

  He climbed the sifting, sinking granules until he reached her. Her eyelids fluttered slightly. Otherwise she didn’t stir. “I found her!”

  He lifted her and slipped down the slope falling backward twice into the sand before he landed at the base.

  Marilyn and Ricky raced to Dave’s side of the sand ridge. Marilyn shook her head. “What the—”

  “Charlie said she took the pain medicine. She might have taken a little too much.”

  “So what do we do now? Take away her pain medication?” Marilyn asked.

  “Someone needs to go to bed with her,” Dave said.

  Marilyn shook her head. “Don’t look at me.”

  Ricky grinned. “You can look at me, Boss.”

  “Marilyn, you’ll take the first and last shift with her.”

  “Aw, Dave.”

  ***

  Late the next morning, Deidre woke in a room full of sunshine, and felt as though the bed sheets were covered in grit, making her skin scratch and crawl. What the…

  She rolled over and saw Marilyn sleeping next to her. Crap!

  Shoving the comforter aside, Deidre stared at the sand covering the sheets. What in the world? Did the woman go running around in a pile of sand, then join her in bed? What was wrong with her?

  Seriously annoyed, Deidre climbed out of the bed of grit and brushed the few granules of sand off that clung to her her legs and arms. She walked over to the window and peered out. Three of the agents were pulling crabs out of a canal. One of the men poked at a crab’s claws with a stick. In an instant, the claw snapped tight over the perceived menace. She smiled. Her gaze drifted over the sand dunes beyond the canal. That must have been where Marilyn was wandering last night. Couldn’t she have bathed afterward? And what in the world was she doing in Deidre’s bed? Shortage of beds last night?

  She crossed the room to her luggage and unzipped one of the bags, then selected a change of clothes. Marilyn snored. Deidre rolled her eyes. Really, the woman was some catch for Charlie. Maybe he kicked her out of his bed! Sand and snoring could end a relationship, as far as she was concerned.

  Deidre walked into the hall. Muffled voices spoke downstairs. But all was quiet upstairs. Raising her brows, she walked into the cloud nine pink bathroom. A pink padded toilet seat caught her eye, and she chuckled. Definitely the little girl’s room. Pink squares tiled the floor. A slightly deeper shade of pink hearts decorated the shower curtain. Pink lace trimmed a small window, and even the brass mirror had a tiny line of pink paint outlining the edge.

  She pulled off her chemise and stepped into the shower. Soon she washed the sand from her skin and hair. After dressing in shorts, T-shirt, and tennis shoes, she peeked out the bathroom window. Charlie swam in the crystal clear blue waters of a pool surrounded by adobe tile. In the next instant, Marilyn hurried across the patio. Charlie waved for her to join him. Deidre took a deep breath and left the bathroom.

  Ricky waved at her from the bottom of the stairs. “Dave’s waiting for you in the kitchen.”

  Deidre straightened her posture, relieved the muscle strain was finally dissipating. She jogged down the steps. Dave hurried to meet her.

  He smiled to see her. “Lunch is served.”

  “Is my brother going to join us?”

  “He already had lunch. How are you feeling?”

  “Much better.”

  “Good.”

  “Are the guys fixing us crab later for supper?”

  Dave pulled out a chair for her and smiled. “They’re having a bit of fun.”

  “Where in the world are we? Beyond the canal out back are sand dunes.”

  “Yeah and a jungle lies across the street. The whole area served as part of a new housing development…only the market for the area suffered a recession. Back to the south where the dunes are located, they drained the swamp, then filled it in with sand.” He handed her a napkin.

  Sitting down, he cleared his throat. “When the market for housing dropped off, the builders left the twelve-foot piles of sand in a long ridge alongside the canal’s bulkhead. The developers never touched the swampy jungle to the west so it’s pretty much in the primitive state the whole area used to be in. To the north and east of us are homes in the original development.”

  “Very interesting.” She shifted the conversation to the one that plagued her fertile visions though. “Do they know we’re here yet, Dave?”

  “They don’t seem to.” He shifted in his seat. “About last night—”

  Deidre slipped her fork into the filet of halibut. “Pretty good stuff. You cook it?”

&nbs
p; “Just for you.”

  “I could tell.” She fingered the orange slice on the side. “Were you really originally from Florida?”

  “Yep. Born here, but left before the age of five.”

  Charlie walked into the enclosed patio and waved to Deidre. “I could kind of get used to this safe-house style of life.”

  “The rattler wasn’t in your shower, Charlie.” She took a deep breath and changed the subject. “How’s the water?”

  “Couldn’t be better.”

  “Good, I’m going swimming.” She glanced over to see Dave shaking his head at her. “Didn’t you know I was a fish in my other life?”

  “Mermaid, rather. Listen, about our conversation last night on the plane—”

  “Thanks for lunch, Dave.” She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Hopefully that would pacify him. She didn’t want to discuss her brother or anything else with Dave having to do with relationships.

  Dressed in her swimsuit a few minutes later, she hurried out to the pool. After paddling across its length twice, she turned to see Dave watching her. She wasn’t going to invite him in or encourage him any further. She dove underneath the water and swam to the opposite side of the pool.

  When she came up for air, he was gone. Good. She didn’t want him around anyway. Resting her head on her arms on the tile, she enjoyed the warmth of the sun on her skin.

  Several minutes later, a splash made her turn. Ricky sat on one of the chaise lounges nearby with his chair turned away from the pool. She assumed he was her protection for the time being.

  Her eyes followed the swimmer in the pool as he swam straight for her. Ripples of blue water tickled her chin when Dave grew close. Before she could move, he tackled her. She squealed out in surprise. Ricky motioned the all clear to two of the men who ran to see what the matter was.

  Dave pulled her to the shallower end where she could rest her toes on the pool bottom. “Does your back feel all right?”

  “Feels almost like new. I just have to watch turning my head too suddenly. And I still have trouble rising from bed without rolling on my side yet, but it’s much improved.”

  “About last night—”

  “I don’t want to discuss it.”

  “You climbed out of the window and crawled off the house somehow. We found you in the sand dunes across the canal.”

  Her mouth dropped wide open. She couldn’t believe it. No wonder she’d been so tired this morning still. And the sand in her bed. She’d thought Marilyn had been the idiot for getting the bed all sandy. Though she’d considered that the winds blew so hard here they’d blown the sand into the house. They did in Amarillo in blizzard-like sandstorms, so why not here, too? But she’d rather have blamed Marilyn. Now to learn Deidre had done it?

  “I can’t have.”

  “You did. You must have been a mountain goat in another life.”

  She chuckled. “My father used to call me that.”

  “I’m sorry if I upset you on the plane. I had a talk with Marilyn—”

  “It doesn’t matter. Charlie told me he was fine with it. I guess I worry too much about him sometimes. I’d much rather she was in his bed and not mine. She snores.” She felt foolish for having worried about him and made such a fuss.

  Dave laughed. “I’ll have to keep that in mind. Your brother’s lucky to have you.” He kissed her lips softly, and she parted them slightly. He pressed harder. His orange-sweetened mouth tasted so good. She kissed him back with as much pressure. “I’ve wanted to do that for so long,” he whispered then nibbled her ear.

  “You’re tickling me.”

  He kissed her shoulder where it poked out of the water and bit her playfully. “I can’t believe you dragged me away from the island cove at Lake Belton when we were having so much fun. And there, no one could monitor our every move.” He leaned her against the side of the pool and pressed his body against hers. His groin throbbed against her leg as he slipped his leg in between hers. “You know, you shouldn’t be this beautiful. It’s enough to drive a man to distraction.”

  “I kind of noticed when you were supposed to grab the snake your attention was diverted to other things.”

  He grinned. “Sorry about that. I was afraid before that happened five of my agents were going to rush into the bathroom to help you out of the room.”

  “Sans clothes.”

  Dave laughed. “Can’t blame them there.” He kissed a water droplet off her cheek. “When this is all over—”

  “I’ll have to return to Fort Hood to an ogre of a boss, and you’ll be swimming in a pool with some other woman you have to keep safe.”

  “Not likely. And this isn’t the end, only the beginning for us.”

  She touched his chin. “Long distance relationships don’t work. And I’m staying in the service. If you had been an Army officer still—”

  He kissed her firmly to silence her conversation. She melted and touched her tongue playfully to his.

  “I’m not giving you up that easily, Deidre. If I’d met you at Fort Bliss when I was stationed there, I’d never have left the service.” He sighed. “You feel so good.”

  She closed her eyes and enjoyed the moment. That’s all she knew she could have. Just an incredibly wonderful moment.

  “I don’t think you should return to Fort Hood,” he said, his hand stroking her cheek.

  Her eyes opened wide, then she frowned at him, the anger returning in a flash. Her career was her life. She wouldn’t give it up for anything. Certainly not for any man who could leave her in an instant for some other new love of his life. Men could be so fickle.

  “I’m not leaving the service, Dave Caruthers.”

  He grinned at her and pulled her close. Embracing her warmly, he whispered, “We’ll see.”

  Chapter 14

  Deidre wanted to push Dave away, to make him understand how important her career was to her—not because she wanted to go it alone, but because without it, who was she? Just somebody’s wife, or mother, or what? Not only that, but it was something normal she could do when she didn’t feel all that grounded in normal at times.

  It was her whole net worth. She was an officer like any other, making her promotions on time. Every dollar…she earned herself. And even if she despised her boss and her job at the moment, things would change. That was inevitable with transfers every three or four years or so. And he’d been here two years already.

  She worked at a worthwhile career that would give her that all-important retirement check in another fourteen years. Would Dave or any other guy stick it out with her for a lifetime? She couldn’t trust that any would.

  He touched her cheek. “You seem to be lost in thought again. What are you thinking?”

  “How much I’ve enjoyed your company…truly treasured every minute of it, but how it’ll all have to end soon.” She couldn’t shove him aside despite her inner longing to show she wouldn’t be bossed around. She loved him…to her utter exasperation.

  “Oh? Have you figured out how we can wrap this case up?”

  “I almost dread that it’ll end.”

  He shook his head. “We have to end this case. I’ll be glad for that. This business between you and me won’t be over though.”

  He spoke firmly with the kind of authority he used with the men who called him boss. She smiled and kissed his cheek. She wasn’t winning this argument, not here close to him with his warm body leaning against hers. But he wasn’t winning the case with her either. She was staying in the service no matter what he wanted. “Do you think we can take a walk over to the sand dunes?”

  “No.”

  He spoke his word so abruptly, she ran her fingers over his lightly-haired chest, then looked up to see his concern and her heart stuttered. “You think they’re in the area.”

  “We can never be certain. One of the men thought he saw the redhead at the airport, but we’re not sure.”

  She rested her head against his chest. “When we have moments like this,
I don’t want this to end. But you’re right. It’s got to stop.”

  He kissed the top of her head.

  Charlie called out to them, “Getting kind of waterlogged, aren’t you?”

  She smiled and said to Dave, “Brother to the rescue.”

  “I didn’t need to be rescued,” Dave whispered.

  She kissed his lips. “I guess it’s time to get out. I don’t want to get sunburned.”

  Dave swam with her to the steps. “Maybe we can take a nighttime swim.”

  They wrapped themselves in towels and hurried into the house.

  “Hey,” Bill called out to Dave, “there’s a bit of a storm brewing.”

  “How bad?”

  “Not, too. Looks like something we can weather out okay. We’ve got enough flashlights, canned food, and bottled water, just in case. Battery-operated radio and television are operational.”

  “But what did the weatherman say the severity could be?”

  “They’re predicting sixty-mile-per-hour gale force winds in south Florida. Probably won’t extend this far north.”

  She hoped the prediction would play out, and they didn’t have any weather-related trouble on top of everything else.

  When they walked into the house, Deidre peeked out the draped window at the jungle across the street. Her forehead tingled. She closed her eyes. Not now. Her attacker appeared in a vision. His red curls drooped in the Florida humidity. Somewhere amongst the mangos and twisting vines, he waited.

  Deidre shivered, not because of him, but because her wet bathing suit and towel in the air-conditioned room didn’t mix well.

  “Deidre?” Charlie said.

  “Yes.” She hurried for the stairs.

  “Everything all right?”

  “Yes. I just got a bit chilled in my wet bathing suit.”

  “You seemed to be having one of your…”

  She silenced him at once with her glare. Dave watched her behavior. He opened his mouth to speak, but she ran up the stairs to avoid the question she feared he asked. Sorry, Dave, this is something that you can never know about me. She didn’t know why she even visualized anything permanent could have existed between the two of them.