BEVERLY BARTON - Dangerous Deception

Audrey ran straight into him, her breathing labored. “He has a knife,” she whispered. “He’s trying to kill me.”

Before Dom had time to respond, the big, brutal man came at him, but just as Dom aimed the Beretta, the guy rushed past him and Audrey and ran straight for the open door.

“Was he alone?” Dom asked, halfway into the foyer.

“Yes, as far as I know,” she replied.

“You stay here,” he told her, then headed out the door.

“Don’t go. Don’t leave me alone,” she called after him.

Dom hesitated for a split second, but when he saw the man disappear inside the elevator, he turned around to face Audrey.

“I’ll call hotel security,” Dom said, then flipped on a light switch and walked over to the phone in the parlor. “They should be able to catch him when he exits the elevator, if he stays on the elevator.”

“Don’t call security. Please.” Audrey grabbed his wrist. “Don’t call anyone.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not hurt. I don’t think anything is missing. And even so, I really don’t want the publicity. If you notify the hotel, they’ll call in the police, then the newspapers will get wind of it and Audrey Bedell Perkins will be front page news tomorrow. The press will hound me.”

Dom intensely disliked the idea of letting a criminal get off scot-free. It went against everything he believed in, everything he’d fought for as a SEAL, everything he stood for as a Dundee agent.

“Please, Dom.”

He replaced the phone on its base. “What’s really going on? I thought you said he was trying to kill you. Why would you want a man like that to go free?”

“Maybe I overreacted.” Her voice quivered slightly. “I’m not sure. He took me by surprise. He grabbed me from behind. He had a knife. He held it to my throat.”

“How did you get away from him?”

“Basic survival techniques. I bit his hand that he held over my mouth, then I elbowed him in the groin. Luckily, I hit the right spot.”

Dom looked at her in a whole new light. The pampered heiress had defended herself. She’d fought off an attacker like a spunky streetwise woman would have done. “Where did you learn to fight dirty?”

She exhaled deeply. “Look, there are things I can’t tell you. Not yet. Not until I talk to…my father. I need to go back to Chattanooga.”

Dom eyed her quizzically. “I can take you home right now. I have a plane at my disposal.” He lifted his leg, eased up the cuff of his pants and put the Beretta in the calf holster.

She stared at him, obviously puzzled by his comment.

“Look, I think we should come clean with each other,” he said. “I’ll go first, then you.”

“What?” She stared at him, obviously puzzled by his suggestion. “I don’t understand.”

“My name is Domingo Shea and I did come to Palm Beach on business. I work for the Dundee Private Security and Investigation Agency, based in Atlanta. Edward Bedell hired me to locate his missing daughter. I came to Palm Beach to find you.”

“Oh.”

He couldn’t bear the look of disappointment on her face. “But what happened between us had nothing to do with—”

“You had an ulterior motive for being so nice to me.”

Dom grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her gently. “I came here on an assignment and expected to find a cold, calculating, spoiled bitch, but you don’t come across as any of those things. I was nice to you because I like you. I like you a little more than I should, but once I spoke to your father and told him you were okay, he said fine, just have her call me. Assignment over.”

“And that’s all I was to you, an assignment.”

“No, damn it.” He eased his hands from her shoulders, down her arms and then released her. “That’s what I’m trying to explain. I became emotionally involved and I shouldn’t have. Right now, a potential murderer is getting away because instead of calling hotel security the way I should have, I’m sitting here with you. But once you explain exactly what’s going on with you, why somebody tried to kill you and you don’t want me to go after them, I’m calling the police.”

“No!”

“Why the hell not?”

“Please, believe me when I tell you that if you’ll just take me back to Chattanooga, straight to my father—”

“Why are you so anxious to go home to dear old dad when you’ve been running away for nearly two weeks now? You know who your attacker was or, at the very least, why he was waiting here for you, don’t you?”

She shook her head. “No, I swear I don’t know who he was or why—” she gulped “—he was waiting here to kill me.”

“Which is it—he was trying to kill you or he wasn’t?”

“I don’t know. You’re confusing me. I think he was here to either kidnap or kill me. But it doesn’t make any sense. No one was supposed to know where I was. Not yet. Not until…”

“What’s really going on here? What are you not telling me?”

“Please, Dom, take me back to Chattanooga as soon as possible. Take me to the Bedell estate. I have to talk to my father.”

FOUR HOURS LATER , the Dundee jet landed in Chattanooga. Dom had called ahead so that a rental car would be waiting for them. In Palm Beach the temperature had been in the low eighties, but here in southeastern Tennessee, this morning’s high was seventy. Autumn was in full swing in early October, leaves were already beginning to turn from green to golds and reds, and a definite chill was in the air.

On the trip to Chattanooga, Dom had tried to persuade Audrey to confide in him, but she’d refused, telling him that she had to talk to her father before she could say anything else. He suspected that she knew a lot more about her attacker than she was admitting—if not his identity, then the reason he’d been waiting for her in her hotel suite.

Before leaving Palm Beach, Audrey had packed four suitcases, each filled to the brim. But neither he nor she had showered or changed clothes. Dom had retrieved his jacket and put it on; she’d thrown a beige cashmere sweater over her shoulders before they called the bellman.

During the plane ride, Audrey had dozed off to sleep. When she’d rested her head on his shoulder, Dom had slipped his arm around her and readjusted her so that she’d be more comfortable. She had looked so sweet and innocent while she slept.

“I want all my suitcases loaded in the car before we leave,” Audrey said after they departed from the Dundee jet.

“Sure thing.”

“And I want you to call the house and tell my father that we’re on our way.”

“Okay.”

“And I want you to stay with me when I see my father. Promise me that you won’t leave me alone.”

“I promise.”

On the forty minute drive from the airport to the Bedell estate on Lookout Mountain, Audrey had sat quietly with her hands clutched together in her lap. She appeared to be nervous and worried. And afraid? But why should she be afraid of her father? Maybe that wasn’t it. Maybe it was her husband she feared. Could it be that Grayson Perkins had abused her? If that were the case, then Dom would—

He’d stay calm, cool and in control until he found out the truth. That’s what he’d do. And he’d keep his promise to Audrey. He’d stay at her side. He wouldn’t leave her. Not until he knew she was safe. Not until she asked him to go.

“WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED ? You were supposed to make sure that she was taken care of.”

“The guy I hired made a mistake. He didn’t count on her putting up a fight. He said I should have warned him that she knew how to handle herself. And he had no idea some guy would come to her rescue.”

“I don’t want excuses. Your failure creates a major problem for me.”