A Billionaire's Redemption(15)

She disconnected the line, and in panic, dialed Gabe Dawson’s cell-phone number.

After three agonizingly slow rings, a gruff, sleepy voice muttered, “’Lo.”

Gabe, it’s Willa,” she whispered frantically. “There’s someone in my house and the police don’t believe me. They refuse to come. I didn’t know who else to call.”

I’ll be right there.” He abruptly sounded completely alert. “Where are you right now?”

The bathtub.”

Stay there. I’m going to be armed and will shoot anything that moves when I get there. I’ll be there in three minutes.”

The phone went dead and she pressed herself against the cold porcelain, uncomfortably cramped in her small tub. Please, please hurry, Gabe.

* * *

Gabe had never moved so fast as he snatched the shotgun off the mantel and tore outside. He leaped into his SUV and roared down the street and around the corner. He probably made it to the curb in front of Willa’s place in two minutes, but it felt like two hours. Making no attempt to be quiet or stealthy, he slammed his door and raced up the sidewalk toward her darkened house.

He swore as the front doorknob turned easily under his hand. No way had she left it unlocked like that. Willa was too scared of crap like this not to have double-checked it before she went to bed.

He threw the door open and surged into the front room, shotgun at the ready. He swung the barrel around the room. Clear. He burst into the dining room, which Willa had turned into an office. The place was a shambles, but no one moved in the space. He cleared the kitchen next and moved down the hall toward the back of the house. It looked like two bedrooms and a bathroom back here. He threw open the first door. Bedroom. Clear. He checked the closet fast and then backed out of the room.

Second door was locked. Probably the bathroom where Willa was hiding. She must be scared out of her mind. He moved on to the last door. It was already open and he spun inside aggressively. Nobody there. He heard a sound from the rear of the house and ran for the end of the hall and the door there. He burst onto the back porch in time to see a shadow atop the tall back fence of Willa’s yard. He yanked the gun up fast, but by the time he got it into firing position, the shadow had dropped out of sight on the other side of the fence.

Temptation to chase the intruder and blow a hole in him warred with his need to protect and comfort the terrified woman behind him.

Frustrated, Gabe turned for the house. He went through the place room by room throwing open closets and checking under beds and tables, anywhere a person could hide. Nothing seemed to be missing from the house. Television, stereo, silver and china were all in place. But the computer in the dining room was trashed. It looked like someone had smashed it open with a sledgehammer and pulled out its parts. The intruder had stolen the hard drive, if Gabe had to guess.

He turned on lights as he went, chasing away the shadows. Finally, when he was convinced the house was empty of bad guys, he headed for the locked bathroom door.

Willa, it’s Gabe. The house is clear. You can come out now.”

The lock clicked and the door swung open fast. Willa flew out and straight into his arms. He staggered a little as he caught her weight up against him.

Easy, baby. I’ve got you now. You’re safe.”

Oh, God, Gabe. I heard them, and the police wouldn’t believe me. And then there was all that noise like they were ransacking my house, and I was so afraid they were going to kill me, and—” She burst into tears against his chest.

Which he realized abruptly was bare. Her tears were hot and wet against his skin. And he was wearing only a pair of thin, cotton pajama bottoms. Usually, he slept naked. And after that panicked phone call from her, he’d have raced over here in his birthday suit if he hadn’t happened to decide to watch a little TV after his shower, and happened to pull on the pajamas.

For her part, she was wearing a skimpy tank top thing that outlined every contour of her perky breasts and taut nipples against his chest. Her waist was narrow, and her hips and tush curved sweetly under his hand as he ran his palm up and down her back to assure himself she was whole and unharmed.

Her arms went around his neck and she all but choked him in her panic and relief. But he didn’t care one bit. No woman had clung to him like this in real need for as long as he could remember...no, not ever. And it made him feel ten feet tall.

He released her momentarily with one arm to set aside the shotgun, but then he was holding her again, offering her his strength and safety as she sobbed against his chest. Finally, her tears subsided into wobbly sniffs.

Better?” he murmured into her fresh-smelling hair.

What would I have done without you?” Her breath moved softly against his skin as she spoke. “You saved my life.”

I don’t think it was as bad as all that. Only thing that jerk killed was your computer.”

Willa did a strange thing then. She lurched away from him, pressing her fingers against his lips urgently. He stared down at her, surprised. She pulled out of his arms and headed down the hall toward the living room. He followed, confused.

Wow. Those sassy little shorts showed the entire length of her long, sleek legs and the beginning swell of her tush to massive effect upon his lust. The girl should be a lingerie model with that kind of a body. Who’d have guessed she was put together like that under the boring church-lady suits she wore in her father’s campaign ads?

She paused in the doorway of her makeshift office to take in the damage. With her standing in profile to him in that way, he couldn’t help noticing the way that thin cotton tank top clung to her high, firm breasts. Oh, yeah. Lingerie model all the way.

She moved on to the living room. He watched, frowning, as she opened a drawer in a coffee table, reached inside, sighed audibly in relief and pulled out a small black box. It looked like an old-fashioned transistor radio. She poked at the buttons on the front of it, and then looked up at him with a tiny smile of triumph.

There. Now we can talk,” she announced.

What is that?”

White-noise emitter. It blocks any bugs and causes only static to show up on hidden cameras.”

And you have a white-noise emitter why?” he demanded, alarmed.

My father’s phone is bugged. I figured whoever was watching me at the mansion would watch me here, too. I got this in case I needed to talk in private.”

He moved over to her side quickly. Dang, his protective instincts were on overdrive tonight. “You’re being bugged and surveilled? By whom?”

I have no idea.” She stared up at him fearfully, her blue eyes dark and scared yet again. God, he hated seeing them like that.

And you’re sure it’s you being watched and not just leftover crap from your father?”

They broke in here and trashed my computer, didn’t they?”

He sank down beside her on the edge of the couch. “What the hell’s going on, Will?”

She took a deep breath and studied him for a minute. Seeming to make some sort of decision, she nodded to herself and began to speak. He listened in disbelief as she described finding a secret folder on her father’s computer dealing with a covert Congressional committee doing violent and illegal stuff. His jaw dropped as she described the intruder at the Merris mansion last night and the secret folder’s mysterious disappearance in the interim.

So you think whoever broke into your father’s home and deleted or stole that file broke in here tonight, and took the hard drive out of your computer?” he asked as she finished her recitation.

It seems logical, doesn’t it?”

What the hell was your father involved in? What has the bastard dragged you into?”

He didn’t drag me into anything. Governor Graham did that when he named me to my father’s job.”

Gabe shook his head. He’d known John Merris was dirty, but he had no idea how dirty. “What was in those files?”

They were classified. I think I’m not supposed to tell you.”

He rolled his eyes. “I’ll let you shoot me if I tell anybody else. But we’ve got to figure out who and what you’re up against here, baby.”

The endearment slipped out before he even realized he was thinking it. He never called women “baby.” Not even in the heat of passion. He made a point of knowing his lovers’ names and using them when appropriate. If he’d have ever called Melinda “baby,” she’d have bitten his head off. She’d been nothing if not a raging feminist. So unlike the vulnerable and sexy woman shivering on the couch beside him.

Come here, Willa.” He held out his arms to her and was immensely gratified when she crawled into his embrace of her own volition. He leaned back and she cuddled against his chest like a contented kitten. He felt more macho then he had in years. Which wasn’t exactly the kind of thing he usually thought about. But she was all woman and seemed to find him all man. It was a heady sensation.

You’re so warm,” she murmured against his chest. Her lips moved against his skin as she spoke and his body reacted sharply. He swore mentally. His flimsy pajama bottoms weren’t going to leave a thing to the imagination pretty soon.