Executive Protection(28)

“I’ll take this up to bed.” She lifted the mug and turned.

“Lucy.”

He sounded serious. She looked back.

Thad stared at her, whatever he had intended to say remaining inside him. “Good night.”

She left without replying. Tonight was a mistake. He knew it. She knew it. What they’d each do about it was another matter. And that’s what frightened her the most.

On her way up to her room, Lucy caught sight of someone in the shadows of the formal living room. A man. A big, tall man, who was just standing there.





Chapter 7


Thad trailed Lucy, leaving his root beer float behind. As he passed the formal dining area, he spotted her standing rod-stiff in the threshold of the formal living room. Beyond her, he saw a man. Moving forward with quick instinct, he pulled Lucy back and stepped in front of her, catching sight of her wide eyes. Seeing the man had scared her.

The man bent and turned on a light.

It was Secret Service agent Jaden Mayfield, six-three, short cropped brown hair and slightly over two-hundred pounds. He wore jeans and a polo shirt, similar attire to what the other agents wore while on duty protecting his mother, more casual than usual since they were out of the public eye.

“Mr. Winston,” Mayfield greeted. “Sorry if I startled you and Miss Sinclair. I just finished my rounds and was about to check the house.”

Had he come through the front entrance? Wherever he’d come from, he’d have had to walk a good distance in the dark before reaching the formal living room.

“Do you always check the house in the dark?”

The agent kept an impassive face. “Not always. I like to listen first. I thought I heard something.”

Maybe he’d heard Thad and Lucy in the kitchen. Maybe something else had him standing in the living room in the dark as though Lucy had caught him by surprise.

Lucy moved to stand beside Thad, her body not as stiff and eyes less alarmed, still holding the root beer float. She probably thought Cam had broken in. Instead, it had been Agent Mayfield, the man who’d replaced Daniel Henderson after he’d been shot.

“Excuse me. I’ll finish up.” The agent passed them to leave the living room and presumably check the rest of the house.

Lucy turned from watching the agent’s retreat to Thad.

“What was he doing when you first approached?” Thad asked.

“Just standing there in the dark. Is that odd?”

“Just standing there? Yeah, a little.”

“Maybe he heard me coming and stopped,” she said.

“Maybe.” Thad couldn’t shake the feeling that he hadn’t, that the agent hadn’t heard Lucy. Her feet were bare.

“I’m just glad it wasn’t Cam,” Lucy said.

“Come on, I’ll walk you to your room.”

She eyed him warily but turned and walked up the grand staircase to the upper level. He stayed a good distance from her, walking behind her and careful not to let any part of him touch her, lest the flames flare up again.

At her room, he stopped her before allowing her to enter and searched the room. Assured no one was there, he went back to the doorway, where she stood just inside with a humorous smirk toying with her mouth and eyes, holding the mug with both hands, sparkling green eyes that he’d sunk into as he succumbed to powerful desire. Kissing Lucy had been the most incredible experience he could remember in a long time. Which was disturbing.

But not as disturbing as the behavior of the Secret Service agent.

“Are you always this cautious?” Lucy asked.

“My mother’s never been shot before.”

She lowered her eyes contritely. “I suppose I’d be the same way.”

He was on high alert at all times. Vigilant and protective. And he’d remain that way until the gunman was caught.

“Good night,” he said to her again, the same thing he’d said earlier when he’d stopped himself from saying something stupid like “see you at breakfast.” As though he planned on taking her as his woman. Taking her, period. Taking her over and over again.

“Good night,” she answered, and it warmed him despite his will for it not to. He wasn’t a family man and she’d joined an online dating site to find one.

As he turned to head down the hall, the thought of that chafed him. There would be a lot of men who’d be interested in dating her. Cam had been a dud, but the next one may not be. He may not be a family man and she may not be interested in being with him because of that, but did that mean they couldn’t explore something casual? No. Lucy was not that kind of woman. And he was not the kind of man to involve himself with someone like her. He wasn’t against living together, but she would want more. He had relationships and wasn’t against living with someone. The only glitch was that until he was an old man, he expected his relationships to end. That didn’t have to be a bad thing. It would probably be mutual. Finding the perfect mate wasn’t easy. People either got lucky or they pretended to be. The ones not pretending were few and far between. That was the problem he had with marriage. And children tied a couple together whether the love was genuine or not. Thad didn’t believe he’d ever be one of those lucky people, and he absolutely refused to pretend. His father had pretended and look where that had led. To his mother’s broken heart and never-ending bad press.