Executive Protection Read online

  A sales director for a data management company, her first impression of him was that he was a hard worker with a vibrant personality. She supposed he got that from being a salesman. Her mother had cautioned her about that. She said salesmen couldn’t be trusted because they were like actors. They acted their lives out instead of living in reality. But Cam was nice and successful—and not bad-looking.

  How’s my new girl today? his text said.

  “It must be good if it puts a smile like that on your face.”

  Lucy looked up to see Thad Winston standing before her in the hallway, handsome in dark slacks, black leather shoes and a black leather jacket over a lavender dress shirt. The first thing that struck her was how much better looking he was than Cam. Taller. Four inches taller than her five-nine, to be precise. His hazel eyes had a powerful certainty to them. His light brown hair was stylishly messy. And then she recovered. Why had those thoughts run through her head? Why the comparison to Cam? Especially with Thad. Her first meeting with him had been nearly intolerable. He’d barked orders and snapped at her.

  “I’m glad I ran into you today,” Thad said. “About when we met...”

  Closing the text, she tucked her phone away and pushed off the wall. “Irritability is a symptom of the snake flu, you know.” She started walking down the hall.

  “Snake flu?” He fell into step beside her.

  “Swine, bird. Snake. It’s the latest strand. Haven’t you heard? It’s been in the news.”

  “No.”

  “Aside from irritability, infected victims get a low-grade fever that they don’t always notice, and that develops into a body rash and blisters. Vomiting. Dehydration. And then blood vessels weaken and rupture. Eventually, you bleed internally and die.”

  “Sounds pleasant.”

  “I treated a patient who had it. The poor man was so sick. Barking orders at everyone the whole time. He was the first fatality in North Carolina.”

  “You’re joking.”

  She sent him a straight face that flattened his near-grin.

  Before he could question her further, they reached his mother’s room. Two Secret Service agents were posted outside the door. Not everyone was the son of a former United States vice president.

  The agent closest to them gave them a nod and stepped aside so they could enter.

  “I didn’t know it was your father who operated on my mother,” Thad said as they entered the room, the door swinging shut behind them.

  Before tending to Kate, Lucy turned to Thad. “You think I’m kidding about the flu?”

  “I don’t know what to think about something called snake flu. I’m trying to apologize.”

  Seeing his humble face, with smart, sexy eyes looking right at her, a sense of humor lurking somewhere in there, she resisted the softening coming over her. “Why does it matter who my father is? Would knowing that have changed your attitude?”

  His gaze traveled down her body and back up, as though he was trying to gauge her attitude. “I was worried about my mother. I’m sorry for the way I behaved.”

  She folded her arms, tolerating him and trying hard not to be affected by his handsomeness and the macho part of his ego that he’d tamed in order to apologize.

  “I read about him,” he continued. “Your dad. He’s a good doctor. Well respected. No wonder you’re such a good nurse.”

  “I’m a good nurse because of who my father is?”

  He missed her rising temper. “He must have been a great role model. Is he the reason you’re here?”

  She scoffed. “Yes. Yes, that’s it exactly. I’m a good nurse because I’m Dr. Sinclair’s daughter. There’s no other reason for it. How would I have gotten this job if it weren’t for my father?”

  He eyed her peculiarly. “I’m detecting a note of sarcasm.”

  “If you like my dad so much, why don’t you go and tell him yourself?” With that, she turned and saw Kate Winston watching them.

  She had been moved from the intensive care unit yesterday and would be held in recovery for a few more days, possibly a week. She was lucky to be recovering from a gunshot wound to her abdomen. She was still weak, but alert and observant. Lucy would rather she didn’t observe her with Thad.

  “You aren’t close to your father?” Thad asked.

  “I’m very close to my father.” She checked her vitals and IV fluids. The oversized blue hospital gown didn’t suit such a dynamo. She had short brown hair with a hint of graying at the temples, wasn’t tall at five-five and had a petite frame. It was a miracle the bullet hadn’t killed her.

  “How are you feeling today, Ms. Winston?” Lucy asked.

  Her clever, light sapphire eyes turned from her son, who’d moved to the other side of the bed. “Better than I was the day I was rolled in here. Call me Kate.”

  Lucy had to look at Kate again to make sure she’d heard right. The potential presidential candidate was asking her to call her by her first name?

  “Lucy is a fine nurse, Thad. That has nothing to do with who her father is, although I believe I do owe him my life.” She struggled to sit up more. Lucy helped her.

  “I didn’t mean to imply—” Thad started.

  “Do you need anything?” Lucy asked Kate, going to the clipboard on the built-in desk to jot down some notes.

  “Yes. I need my son to find a girl like you.”

  Lucy turned in her surprise. “You must be feeling better,” she quipped. “I don’t think your son can handle a woman like me.”

  Thad’s brow rose as they spoke as though he weren’t there.

  “Au contraire, my dear. He needs someone who isn’t afraid to call him to task when he’s being politically incorrect.”

  What if she was the one who was incorrect? She glanced at him standing there so comfortable in his skin while enduring what she and his mother were saying.

  She did get defensive when people implied that bragging rights belonged to her father when it came to her abilities. It was the only complaint she had about her father—her whole family for that matter.

  “Most women are all too eager for a chance to marry Kate Winston’s son. Little do they know he’s altar-shy.”

  “Mother...”

  Kate laughed softly and then coughed with a wince.

  Thad went to her side and held her hand. “Take it easy. Don’t try to talk too much.”

  Lucy watched the care he had for his mother. Altar-shy, huh? Too bad. She studied his strong hands and from there his arms and face, profiled with chiseled features. Nose. Jaw. Eyes. Everything about him was sexy. But he wasn’t what she was looking for.

  Why was she even considering that? Flustered over her reaction, she put down the clipboard. “Press the button if you need me. I’m here until three today.”

  “Thank you, Lucy,” Kate said. “Don’t give up on Thad, okay?”

  Give up on Thad? She glanced back over her shoulder and saw Kate’s wily smile. Even in her weakened state she was shrewd and perceptive. How had she picked up on the undercurrents between her and Thad? They were subtle, especially to Lucy. Sure, he was great to look at, but not a dating option.

  He stood by the bed, watching her. Or was he waiting for a reply to Kate’s comment?

  This was too much. Leaving the room, she heard footsteps hurrying to catch up to her.

  “Lucy.”

  Lucy kept walking and he caught up to her.

  “I... Look, we got off on the wrong foot before, and...” He struggled for what to say. What did he mean to say? Why had he come after her?

  She stopped and faced him. “Are you here to see your mother or me?”

  “My mother, but that could be about to change.” He grinned.

  Was he flirting with her? When unexpected heat flashed in response, a welcoming
response, she couldn’t gather her wits. She took in his hazel eyes that now held a little mischief, and a mouth she suddenly found kissable.

  What on earth was going on?

  “Would you like to go out for a drink later?” he asked.

  A date? With Mr. Altar-shy? While her heart urged her to say yes, her much smarter defenses rose up to protect her. As sexy as he was, he would be a waste of time.

  Her cell phone vibrated in her pocket, offering a diversion. She saw Cam had sent her another text, this one asking her what she was doing later.

  Lucy showed him her phone. “I have a boyfriend.”

  Thad looked at her phone and then those clever eyes shifted back to her. “Is it serious? ‘How’s my new girl’ doesn’t sound serious.”

  Lucy replied to Cam, agreeing to dinner tonight. “Not yet, but it could get to that point.” Finished with the text, she noticed Thad’s amusement. Far from intimidated, he was about to pursue her. She sensed it.

  “How long have you known him?” he asked.

  He had to know it wasn’t long. But she played along. “Almost a week.”

  “I just broke up with someone I saw for that long.”

  She tucked her phone back into her pocket. “What happened? Did she start talking about marriage and babies?”

  “Don’t listen to my mother.”

  “Is it true?”

  “That I’m altar-shy?” He cocked his head. “I wouldn’t say ‘shy,’ but I do question the ideology of marriage.”

  “You don’t believe in it?”

  “Let’s just say I’ve seen too many people fooled by the illusion.”

  “Have you ever been married?”

  “No.”

  Then how could he know if marriage was an illusion? What made him view it so negatively? She couldn’t afford to care.

  She leaned so that her face was close to his. “I joined an online dating site so that I could find a man to marry and have babies with.”

  The way his head moved back a bit, she thought he may have flinched.

  “I’m twenty-nine,” she said. “I want babies by the time I’m thirty-two or thirty-three.” If that didn’t scare him away, nothing would. This attraction they seemed to have stirred up made her uneasy. His idea of love and family was the opposite of hers.

  “You have it all figured out.”

  “It’s called plans. I have plans for my future.” What kind of plans did he have? None? He’d romance women his entire life?

  Why did going out with him tempt her still? It had to be the masculine aura about him, the inner strength and confidence. And, of course, those green-gold hazel eyes and hard, strong body.

  “Aren’t you thirty-two?” She had to put an end to this crazy attraction that made no sense.

  “Yes. How did you know my age?”

  “Do you ever plan on settling down?” she asked instead of answering.

  “Did some reading on me, huh?” he said, dodging her question.

  Caught, she didn’t respond. She’d been curious enough to look him up online. Why would she do that if she wasn’t interested enough to go out on a date with him?

  “Nothing is private with a mother like mine,” he said with a hint of teasing.

  “That bothers you?” Stop trying to get to know him, she inwardly chided herself.

  “Immensely.”

  His tone sounded full of humor but she could tell he was being honest. He obviously loved his mother despite the shortcomings of her being a notable politician. He’d been fiercely protective of her when she’d first arrived at the hospital. And helpless. He’d feared for his mother’s life and could do nothing to save her. He’d had to leave her in the hands of doctors. Were it not for seeing that, she’d have thought he was a complete jerk.

  He must be capable of love, and maybe that was what prevented her from easily rejecting him. For a moment she imagined taking a chance on him. His eyes darkened as he noticed the change in her.

  Snapping herself out of that daydream, she cleared her throat and stepped back, tucking a few strands of dark hair that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear.

  “I should get back to work,” she said.

  They both turned their heads toward some movement outside Kate’s hospital room door. A black-haired man wearing a hat walked down the hall and stopped, looking at the agents and the open door. He was shorter than Thad, but taller than Lucy. One of the Secret Service agents had noticed, too, and was walking toward the man.

  The man spotted him and started down the hall toward the exit. He passed Lucy and Thad. Thad started after him. The Secret Service agent put up his hand.

  “I’ve got this.”

  Thad followed him to a stairwell. Lucy trailed behind. Down three flights of stairs to the lobby, she stopped beside Thad and watched the Secret Service agent run outside.

  The man was gone.

  Chapter 2

  “Can you believe that she cheated on me?”

  Feet up on an ottoman, bowl of popcorn on his lap and a beer on the side table, Thad munched as he watched the hockey player ram into the wall as he tried to take the puck.

  “Did you hear me?” Darcy asked.

  “Yes.” But Darcy had mentioned his ex-wife’s many trysts several times now. And Thad was distracted by thoughts of Lucy. He couldn’t get her out of his mind. Lucy with her long, auburn hair in a ponytail, thick and swaying and begging for someone to free it from its grip. Clear, light green eyes so full of life and humor. She was infectious. And she had a body that was impossible to ignore, tall and slim, well-proportioned breasts that pushed out her uniform top every once in a while.

  “You’re normally more enthusiastic about sports. Didn’t you see that hit?” Darcy paused in his self-pity long enough to comment. His divorce was final today and this was his way of celebrating; invite his best friend over for the hockey game, drink beer and whine about how he had discovered his wife was a cheater.

  She’d bought out his half of the house and Darcy had bought this one, a smaller bachelor pad with a pool table in the dining room and two of the three bedrooms empty. There was nothing on the walls in the living room and most of the decorating money went into the leather furniture and big-screen TV.

  “I feel like such a fool,” Darcy said.

  “How could you have known?” Thad asked, trying to be a good friend but wishing Darcy would hurry up and get past it.

  “Wasn’t I...you know...enough for her?” The black leather of the sofa squeaked as Darcy leaned over for his beer.

  “Some people are just that way. They look for other people and don’t care about how the one they’re with will feel.” He hoped Darcy wasn’t going to need reassurance that he wasn’t bad in bed.

  “Yeah, but why’d she marry me if she wasn’t sure she wanted me?”

  “She probably didn’t know what she wanted. She still probably doesn’t.”

  Darcy took a swig of beer. The hockey game went to commercial.

  “I should have listened to you,” Darcy said, sipping some beer again.

  “Are you going to get drunk?” Should he be concerned?

  Darcy put the beer down. “You warned me this would happen.”

  “All I said was half of all marriages fail and that I didn’t want to contribute to that statistic.”

  “And now I am. I’m never getting married again. Everybody I know is divorced. That statistic is probably wrong. It’s probably more than half that fail.”

  Thad looked over at his friend and wondered if he really meant he’d never marry again. He was sure marriage wasn’t for him, but it might be for Darcy.

  “Just because your first one didn’t last doesn’t mean your next one won’t.” He didn’t want to taint Darcy’s outlook on l
ove. He had to make up his own mind about what suited him and his life. He couldn’t go by Thad’s opinion.

  Darcy grunted. “I thought my now-ex-wife was the love of my life until she dropped the bomb on me over hamburgers and French fries. It was one of my rare nights off. I thought we were on our way to a romantic evening. A little dinner. A little wine. Go to bed early. You know? And then she hits me with ‘I have a new lover. Move out.’”

  “Yeah, that’s rough.” The hockey game came back on.

  “What’s with you changing your tune on marriage?” Darcy asked.

  “I haven’t changed my tune.”

  “You just encouraged me to try again.”

  Thad took a handful of popcorn and passed the buttery bowl to Darcy. Women cried and ate chocolate. Men watched sports, drank beer and ate popcorn.

  “What’s up with that?” Darcy pressed. “You meet a girl?”

  “No,” he answered defensively, and Darcy noticed.

  “Who is she?” Darcy grinned. “I have to meet the woman who made you start softening up on marriage.”

  “I haven’t softened. I’m never getting married or having kids. That hasn’t changed.” Lucy wanted both. Marriage and kids. She’d be dangerous to get involved with.

  Darcy eyed him as he munched on a handful of popcorn, not believing him. Had meeting Lucy made him fantasize that marriage wasn’t as harmful as he originally thought?

  No. He barely knew Lucy. She was sexy and opinionated and determined to procreate, but she hadn’t affected him that much. He’d just have to be careful that she never did.

  “You’ll have to keep me posted on that, Thad. Let me know if you start dating this mystery woman.”

  “I didn’t meet anyone I want to date.”

  “That nurse is pretty hot. You notice her?”

  Thad looked over at him, amazed at how intuitive he was. It must be the detective in him.