Paladin's Woman Part 12

Nick didn't respond. He simply stared at Rusty as if he didn't have any idea what he was talking about.

"You want to calm me down before I see Addy." D.B. McConnell took a hardy sip of his Scotch, allowing it to linger in his mouth before swallowing. "Seeing those pictures and newspaper clippings upset her more than she wants me to know. Right?" When Nick didn't reply, he continued. "You're trying to protect my daughter from me, aren't you?"

"Look, Rusty, I'm probably overstepping my bounds, but the last thing Addy needs right now is to see you coming apart at the seams."

"I agree." Rusty took another hefty taste of his drink. "I knew you were the man for Addy the night you threatened to castrate Gerald Carlton, the same night you saved her from a kidnapper."

"I admit that I care about Addy, that I'll do whatever it takes to protect her, but don't go ringing wedding bells and throwing rice. I've been a bachelor for forty-three years, and I plan on staying one another forty-three."

Rusty finished his Scotch, set the gla.s.s down on a nearby cherry table and stood. "I like that about you. You're honest with me, and I'll bet you're honest with Addy. That's good enough for me. Don't make her any promises you don't intend to keep."

Choosing to ignore Rusty's comments, Nick plunged right to the heart of the matter. "I need to get Addy out of this house, away from Huntsville." He set his unfinished drink down beside Rusty's. "It's the only way I can guarantee her safety."

"Has she agreed?"

"Yes, she has. Your daughter may be as stubborn as a mule, but she isn't stupid. We're dealing with an unknown quant.i.ty here, a guy who's making threats to kidnapa"threats to killa"if you bid on the NASP project. If he doesn't know where Addy is, he can't hurt her."

"I've got a condo in Florida and an apartment outside Was.h.i.+ngtona""

"And everybody who knows you and Addy knows about the condo and the apartment."

Grunting, Rusty rubbed his chin as he considered other possibilities. "I've got friends and business a.s.sociates all over, even in Europe. I can call in some favors and have the two of you on a plane to practically anywhere in the world within twelve hours."

"It'll be best if I take Addy someplace that even you don't know about." Nick waited for the lion's roar. He didn't have to wait long.

"What? You can't mean that you don't want me to know where my own daughter is? That won't wash with me, Romero! Wherever Addy goes, I want to stay in contact with her!"

"I've already called Sam Dundee," Nick said. "He's got a place lined up for us. No one except Sam will know our whereabouts. I'll check in daily with him, and he'll relay the message to you. If you need to contact us, then call Sam and he'll get in touch with us."

Rusty paced back and forth in front of the fireplace, his hands balled into fists as if he longed to smash something. "I don't like it a but you're right."

"Then you agree?"

"Yeah. Reluctantly, but I agree."

"Let's tell Addy."

The moment her father entered the den, Addy jumped off the couch and ran to him, throwing her arms around him.

Rusty soothed her, petting her like the child she was to him. "It's all right, baby girl."

"Oh, Daddy, please don't look at the pictures or the articles. It won't change anything. It'll just upset you." She gazed at him pleadingly.

He ran his fingers down her cheek, tenderly grasping her chin in his hand. "I don't need to see them. I'll just take a look at the note."

Addy sighed with relief. Going through the contents of the box had made her physically ill, and even now her mind could not erase the images of those long-ago newspaper articlesa"articles she'd never been allowed to see when they'd been fresh news. But her father would have seen them all, twenty-nine years ago when Donnie had been kidnapped and murdered, and twenty-five years ago when Madeline Delacourt McConnell had committed suicide.

"Ned Johnson is on his way over here," Nick said.

"You've already called the FBI?" Rusty shook his head. "Do you think there's any way they can trace the box, find out who sent it?"

"It's doubtful. I think we're dealing with a very intelligent person, one who's covering his tracks. I'd bet my life that our mystery man didn't leave any prints on the box or its contents. That's why I saw no reason not to take a look at everything before I called Johnson."

"Even intelligent people make mistakes," Addy said.

"That's what we're counting on." Nick pulled out a sheet of plain white paper from his pocket, handing it to Rusty. "Here's the note that was lying on top of the pictures and clippings."

Rusty released Addy, took the note and read it hastily. "M.A.C. doesn't have to bid on the NASP contract."

"Yes, we do," Addy said vehemently. "No matter who's behind this, Gerald or a or someone else, we can't let them get what they want. Not only will we lose millions, but it could cost hundreds of jobs."

"Your life is worth more than money or jobs," Rusty said.

"My life is safe." Addy turned to Nick, smiling. "Nick and I are leaving Huntsville before daybreak tomorrow, and we're not coming home until M.A.C. has won the NASP contract. Two more weeks and this will all be over."

"If only we knew for sure it was Carlton." Rusty clutched his hands in imitation of a stranglehold, crumpling the threatening letter. "I'd kill that b.a.s.t.a.r.d with my bare hands. I should have killed him years ago!"

"If Gerald is behind these threats, then the FBI will catch him." Addy hoped it was Gerald. She'd thought she was long over her hatred and bitterness, but she wasn't. Her ex-husband had put her through three years of agony and stripped her of her dignity as a woman. Death was too good for him!

"When I called Johnson to tell him about Addy's little package, he gave me some interesting information." Nick reached out, taking the badly crinkled letter from Rusty. "Information that possibly links the man who tried to kidnap Addy last Friday night to Gerald Carlton."

"What did Johnson tell you?" Rusty asked.

"The man who tried to kidnap me was named Linc Hites," Addy said. "He worked for a janitorial service that New Age Aeros.p.a.ce uses."

"d.a.m.n!" Rusty turned his attention to Nick. "Is there any evidence that Carlton and this. .h.i.tes fellow actually knew each other?"

"None, but Johnson's keeping tabs on Carlton. If he's our man, then all we need is for him to make one little slip." Nick had gone over the list of suspects time and again. Unless the man behind the kidnap plot was someone unknown to the McConnells, then all the circ.u.mstantial evidence pointed to Gerald Carlton.

"Not much can be done without some hard evidence to back up our suspicions." Rusty slumped down on the sofa, his enormous body dwarfing the small couch. "All right. You and Addy go into hiding. When M.A.C. wins the NASP contracta"" he smiled at Addy, and she smiled back "a"you two come back to Huntsville. The threat will be over. He will have lost and we'll have won."

Nick wished things were that simple, and they just might bea"if the person or persons behind the threats really did want to keep M.A.C. from acquiring the government job and this person or persons didn't seek revenge when things went sour. But what if they did seek revenge, or what if the contract bid was a smoke screen? It never paid to rule out any and all possibilities.

"Let's hope that's the scenario," Nick said. "We'll work under that a.s.sumption for the time being."

"Addy said you two were leaving in the morning." Rusty held out his hand and Addy accepted it, seating herself beside her father.

"Yeah. Before daylight." Nick picked up the infamous box. "I'll go wait for Ned Johnson and give you two some time alone."

"Thanks." Rusty put his arm around Addy. She rested against him, her head on his shoulder. "Oh, yeah, Nick, why don't I send some of Dundee's men with you? They could ride shotgun on your trip."

"Bad idea," Nick said. "An entourage will call attention to us. A man and woman traveling alone is commonplace. Trust me on this, Rusty."

Neither man said anything else, but they stared at each other for several silent moments, weighing each other, sizing up one another. Two strong men with the same singular purposea"protecting Addy from harm, no matter what the cost.

Nick turned, leaving the room. Addy had sensed the unspoken exchange between her father and her a her what? Her bodyguard. Her protector. Her defender.

"He told me he wasn't interested in getting married." Rusty leaned back so he could get a clear view of Addy's face.

"What?" Addy gasped, glaring at her father with startled green eyes.

"I asked him about his intentions," Rusty said with mock seriousness, without a hint of a smile.

"Oh, Lord, Daddy!"

"He said he intended staying a bachelor for another forty-three years."

Addy wondered what Nick had thought of her father's questioning. Had he resented Rusty's interference or had he simply found the notion that D.B. McConnell wanted him to marry Addy amusing? "He told me the same thing."

"The right woman could probably change his mind."

"You hadn't known the man twenty-four hours when you decided you wanted him for a son-in-law. How can you be so sure?" Addy pulled away, giving her father a questioning stare. "You liked Gerald when you first met him, too, remember?"

"h.e.l.l, don't remind me! That jerk had us both fooled. He was a charmer. Silver-tongued, smooth anda"well, he was a man's man, or at least I thought he was."

"Nick Romero is all those things, too, you know."

"Nick's the genuine article. He's not pretending to be anything he isn't. And he's not pretending his interest in you, either. He knows that I'm aware of how much he wants you, and yet he told me honestly that he isn't interested in marriage."

"Are we both acting like fools again, Daddy, putting so much faith and trust in a man we hardly know, a man who came into our lives because of Dina?" Addy wanted to tell her father about Dina's real relations.h.i.+p with Nick, that the two had once been lovers, but she didn't want to add to the problems already plaguing him.

"You know about Nick and Dina, don't you?" Rusty's faded green eyes darkened, his gaze searching her face.

"She told you?"

"Nope. Dina didn't tell me anything, except how fond she's always been of Nick, but I read between the lines."

"Doesn't it bother you, knowing she slept with her husband's brother?" It certainly bothered Addy. Every time she thought about Nick and Dina, naked, hot and sweaty, in Nick's bed, she wanted to scratch out the other woman's eyes.

"Dina is very insecure. She thinks money is the answer to all of life's problems." Rusty took Addy's hand, patting it gently. "I know what Dina is, but I still want her. h.e.l.l, baby girl, I'm in love with the woman. Besides, I'm not lily-white pure myself. You know that."

"Then it doesn't bother you, knowing a knowinga""

"When Dina and I make love, I don't waste my energy thinking about who else she's been with." Rusty laughed, deepening the heavy lines around his eyes and mouth. "d.a.m.n, this is hardly a subject a man should be discussing with his daughter!"

"If I were your son, you'd discuss it with me, wouldn't you?"

Rusty laughed louder. "You've got me there!"

Addy joined his laughter. He hugged her to him again. "Daddy, I think I'm falling in love with Nick."

"I'm not surprised. There's a chemistry between you two. I felt it the night you met. Romero doesn't know it yet, but I'd bet my last million that he's falling for you, too."

"Ia"I've decided to have an affair with him." Addy didn't look directly at her father, uncertain of his reaction.

"Good idea! Try him out and see how he performs." Rusty held back the hardy chuckle straining his lungs.

"Daddy!"

The chuckle burst loose from Rusty, filling the room with his good humor, releasing the tension that hung in the air like a dark rain cloud. "Don't think about the other women he's been with, not even Dina. Those women are a part of his past. You, Addy McConnell, could d.a.m.n well be his future."

"I hope you're right, Daddy. I hope I have a futurea"" hastily she added "a"with Nick."

He stood just outside the open door of Addy's bedroom, watching while she packed. She was very neat, every item folded and placed with precise care. On top of her slacks, blouses and sweaters lay her lingerie, skimpy little tidbits of silk and lace and sheer nylon in colors from the palest flesh tone to the most lush, vivid purple. He couldn't help but imagine what sort of frothy satin temptations she was wearing beneath her walking shorts and cotton pullover.

The antique grandfather clock in the hallway struck ten times. In less than seven hours he would take Addy away from her home, away from the familiar routine of her daily life. Only four people knew where they were goinga"the two of them, Sam Dundee and Elizabeth Mallory, the woman who owned the cottage where they'd stay for the next two weeks.

Nick wondered what would happen when they got to Sequana Falls, Georgia. How was he going to spend two weeks alone with a woman he desperately wanted, without seducing her into his bed? He'd never been in this predicament before, wanting a woman who needed more than temporary pleasure from him. Addy wanted him to prove himself to her, and the only way he could bed her and walk away without feelings of remorse and guilt was to give her what she wanted. Somehow, some way, he had to prove to Addy that she and she alone meant more to him than anything else on earth. Since he was fast coming to feel that way about her, he figured there had to be a way to prove it.

Addy's ex-husband had used her and abused her, emotionally if not physically. She was afraid to give herself to another man, unsure of his motives. Because of past experience, she'd come to the conclusion that men who showed an interest in her were after Rusty's money. h.e.l.l, he didn't give a hoot about her father's millions. If he'd wanted to marry for money, he could have done so more than once over the years. He bedded women who attracted him, women who turned him on. He had enough money to meet his needs. He neither wanted nor needed more. But he did want Addy McConnell, and he needed her, needed her in his arms, in his bed and in his life, as he had never needed another woman. Once he'd had her, it was going to take a lot of long, slow loving a a lot of hot, wild mating a to get enough of her to satisfy his craving.

"What are you doing lurking out there in the hall?" Addy closed the suitcase lid, zipped it, then set it on the floor beside her bed.

"I wasn't lurking." Nick stepped over the threshold and into her room, instantly feeling as if he'd entered a forbidden zone. "I was just watching you pack. Are you sure you got everything you need in one bag?"

"It's a big bag." She sat down on the edge of her pencil post mahogany bed. "Besides, you said to pack light."

"I've never needed more than one suitcase." He glanced at her, noticing how at ease she seemed alone in her room with him.

"You've been traveling most of your life, haven't you?" She crossed her legs at the ankles.

Nick couldn't take his eyes off her legs, her long, slim legs that beckoned for his touch. "I don't own a house or even rent an apartment. I didn't need one when I was in the Navy, and when I was between DEA a.s.signments, I'd either visit my grandmother in El Paso, get a hotel room or stay with my buddies Nate Hodges in St. Augustine and Sam Dundee in Atlanta."

"You've never mentioned Nate Hodges before. How long have you been friends?"

"Since SEAL training in Coronado." Nick's dark eyes glazed over with memory. "We were both a couple of eighteen-year-old half-breeds running from lives we hated, hoping to find something worthwhile. What we found was a living h.e.l.l in Nam."

Addy wanted to run to Nick, to throw her arms around him and hold him close. She could tell by the tone of his voice, more than the words he spoke, that he was so alone, that he'd been alone all his lifea"a man always on the outside looking in. She longed to bring him inside, into the warmth and caring in her heart, to show him that he never had to be alone again.

"Daddy was in Korea. He never talks about it. He has this old-fas.h.i.+oned notion that women should be protected from life's harsher realities." Her father had tried, unsuccessfully to protect her mother. Sometimes she wondered if Rusty and Madeline had shared more of the agonizing pain and ugly reality of what had happened to their son would her mother have grown stronger instead of weaker in the years following Donnie's murder.

"Women experience most of life's harsh realities," Nick said, leaning against the colonial blue wall near the door. "No matter how much a man wants to protect his women, sometimes he's powerless. I think that's how your father feels now."

"He trusts you to keep me safe." Addy stood up, walking over to face Nick directly. "And I trust you."

d.a.m.n, how he wanted to pull her into his arms, to taste her sweet mouth, to feel the sleek leanness of her body. "No need to set your alarm clock. I'll wake you at three-thirty, and we'll hit the road by four." He didn't dare stay near her a minute longer, with those bewitching green cat-eyes of hers casting a spell over him.

When he turned to leave, Addy caught his hand, lacing her fingers through his. "Sleep tight then."

Bringing her hand to his lips, he brushed a feathery kiss across her knuckles. He could feel himself tightening, his whole body preparing for a feast to which he hadn't been invited. "Two weeks, Red, and if we're lucky, this will all be over."

"If we're luckya"" she whispered, then released his hand and stood back, watching him walk out of her room and close the door behind him.

Nick felt like beating his cane against the wall or smas.h.i.+ng his fist through a window. He hadn't been this h.o.r.n.y in years, and in the past, all it would have taken to ease his pain was a willing woman. This time nothing would give him relief except emptying himself into Addy McConnell's receptive body.