In the Dead of the Night (8 page)

“W
hose idea was this?” Allan waved the card at Dale.

“The boss.
You know, you’re supposed to do things like that for your wife. The flowers arrived while you were bathing Jenny.”

“She showered by herself.”

Dale grinned. “Yeah. So, how’s she doing?”

“A little shaky
, and her head hurts.” Allan glanced back at the flowers and shook his head. “The boss is going to bury me alive on this one.” He pulled the bottle of prescription pills the doctor prescribed for her from the cabinet and poured two into his hand.

When he stepped out of the dining room, Dale said, “The flowers?”

“Ah, damn it, Dale.” Allan returned for the flowers, then walked back toward the room.

When he entered the bedroom, Jenny
was already in bed, her hair still damp. The covers were tucked under her arms, shielding her breasts, but her shoulders were bare and she wasn’t wearing a stitch of clothing from what he could see.

“Don’t you think you ought to put something on?
A nightgown or something?” He set the flowers on the nightstand and handed her the pills.

“I don’t wear T
-shirts to bed.”

For a moment
, he hoped she was getting her memory back. His heart sped up. The truth could finally come out. “You remember?”

She wrinkled her forehead.
“No, I don’t remember. Not for sure. But wearing a T-shirt to bed makes me feel like I’ve gone to bed in my outdoor clothes. I’d prefer something short and slippery.”

Yeah, just like the nightie she’d been wearing when he’d found her nearly dead.
He strode to the dresser and pulled a drawer open, then another. After searching through all of them, he assumed the female agent who packed for Jenny must not have thought anything she wore at night would be modest enough to wear around the male agents who would protect her.

“It seems that’s all you packed for the trip, Jenny.”

“You don’t know? Is that all I’ve ever worn to bed?”

“I guess I hadn’t noticed.”
Like that could have been anywhere near the truth. Anything she wore caught his attention, even the baggy T-shirt she had worn earlier. As soon as he made the comment, he knew it was a major mistake.

“Are you gay?”

“Pardon?” He had heard what she had accused him of, but how in the world had he given her that impression? Just the way he kissed her in the ocean should have given her a clue as to how his body reacted to hers.

“I wondered if you’d just figured out you weren’t physically attracted to me.
Hell, maybe you and Dale have a thing going.” Her voice sounded resigned, tired, slightly miffed. She shrugged. “I don’t know.”

He tried not to sound annoyed.
“No, I’m not gay.” And he had no intention of proving it to her either, as much as he wanted to. Then he noticed she still had the pills in the palm of her hand and realized she didn’t have anything to drink to wash them down. “I’ll get some water for you.”

“Make it a drink,
something hard.”

He tried to ig
nore her words and the frustration in her voice as he exited the bedroom. He frowned at Dale who grinned at him big time. “What?” He crossed the floor to the kitchen.

“I think that might be the solution to our problem.”

Allan yanked a cabinet door open and reached for a glass. “What’s that?”

“You say you’re gay.
We’ll work up a quickie divorce, and the boss will send Randy Stevens to replace you.”

“Over my dead body.”

“What? You don’t want to say you’re gay? Or you don’t want Randy to take your place?”

Allan dropped the glass in the sink by accident.
Instantly, it shattered into several pieces of blue glass fragments. “Damn it, Dale.”

Dale chuckled.
“Randy’s on his way here already. The boss feels you’re losing it on this case. Guess the divorce shook you up worse than you’ve been letting on. And your rescuing Jenny hasn’t helped matters one bit. You’re too emotionally involved in this case. Randy will step in, pretend to be an old friend or something, and help her to recover her memories. Then she can tell us why Thurman latched on to her.”

Dale reached into the cabinet to get another glass while Allan cleaned up the broken one in the sink.
“Was this for Jenny?”

“Yeah, she needs some water so she can take the medicine.”

“You gave her the prescription medicine, right?”

Allan nodded.
“It’ll help her sleep.”

Dale poured some water from the fridge water dispenser, then headed for the bedroom.

Allan dropped the fragments of glass in the sink and dashed after Dale. He grabbed his arm, and retrieved the glass of water from him. “I’ll take it to her.”

“I’m not after your girl, Allan.”

“She’s naked.” Allan hurried to the room, and closed the door in Dale’s face, not waiting to see his friend’s reaction.

Jenny’s eyes were closed as she lay nestled against the pillow, the covers tucked underneath her chin.
Somehow, he had to get her to put the T-shirt she’d been wearing back on. He couldn’t have the other agents seeing her naked.

“Jenny,” he coaxed.
“I’ve got your water so you can take your medicine.” He noticed then, she must have gotten a glass of water from the bathroom as the wet glass sat on the nightstand.

She didn’t stir.
He reached over and touched her forehead. She wasn’t feverish. Just exhausted. He set the fresh water glass on the nightstand, then sat in the chair beside the bed. No way was he letting Randy Stevens, playboy of the year, get close to her. The man thought he was a hotshot with women. Wined them, dined them, promised them the moon, and left them for good.

Allan had no intention of letting Randy do that to her.
He ran his fingers over her cheek. He figured his boss was throwing Randy into the equation to force Allan to act. Again, he wondered what Garcia was up to. He clenched his jaw, hating being tangled up in a situation where he was bound to end up the bad guy.

He jumped up from his chair and crossed the room to the dresser.
After jerking a drawer open, he grabbed a T-shirt and pair of shorts, then headed for the bathroom for a quick shower. Once he was showered and dressed, he heard Cameron’s voice in the living room.

Allan left the bedroom to see what was up.
Cameron sat on one of the chairs covered in tropical floral chintz in blues and greens. The chair’s arms and legs were whitewashed simulated bamboo, and Cameron tapped his fingers on the wood for a moment before he spoke.

“What’s up?” Allan asked, sitting on the sofa as Dale brought them sodas.

“We found out why Thurman was so attracted to Jenny.”

Allan already knew the reason why Jenny interested Thurman.
The woman was a total turn on, that’s why.

“Money,” Cameron said.
“She’s got one big trust fund.”

Allan swallowed his Coke.
“That’s why she quit her job?”

Cameron shook his head.
“Nope. She doesn’t get the money until she turns thirty or marries. We figure Wilson pushed to marry her quickly before we caught up to him. Once he got spooked, he tucked tail and hid. But he still wanted the money. The Agency thinks he sent his goons to grab her. We’re sure Wilson intended to marry her. Afterward, he’d get his hands on the money, and that’s the end of Jenny.”

Allan was relieved in part.
He’d worried she might be more deeply involved with Wilson, acting as one of his henchman. Still, the notion she truly loved the bastard continued to plague him.

He knew there wasn’t any way Wilson loved her.
He couldn’t love anyone but himself. The downside meant Wilson wasn’t letting go of her either, not if she had a substantial pile of dough. A couple of hundred thousand could certainly help Wilson’s insane cause. “So he’ll come after her again.” Allan stared at the three brass fish holding the glass top of the coffee table up. “How much money is there?”

“Around one hundred and fifty mil.”

Dale coughed as his soda evidently went down the wrong way. “Man,” he croaked, “you came into the big money when you married her.”

“I’m not married to her, remember?”

“The boss wants you to marry her, for real,” Cameron said.

Allan rose from the sofa like a bear ready to attack its foe.
“Absolutely not! Why in the hell would he want that?”

“He said the Agency would hold her money in safekeeping.
Wilson couldn’t get to the money that way, and maybe if she’s not worth anything, he’ll leave her alone. She’d be safer, Allan. That’s what the Agency bigwigs are thinking. And there’s no way in hell they want him to get hold of that kind of dough. Who knows what havoc he’d wreak with that much stash?”

Allan paced across the floor.

“Randy Stevens is arriving late tonight, and he’s to pretend he was a very dear, long-time friend of hers. So you have until then to make up your mind.”

“Her money is
—”

“Hers.
The Agency’s well aware of that. And whoever marries her won’t be able to access a cent of it. Neither will she. The Agency hopes Wilson won’t come after her if she can’t get to it. After we catch or kill Wilson, the money reverts back to her. Then she or whoever’s married to her can nullify the marriage contract.” Cameron drank some more of his soda. “Your choice, Allan. If it were me, I wouldn’t give it a second thought. If you played your cards right, she might even want to keep you after Wilson ceases to be a problem. Then you could quit this hazardous job and live a life of luxury. Not a bad deal at all.”

Allan snorted.
“There’s a little of issue of trust here, you know.”

“Hey, you can’t fool us.
We saw the way you kissed her in the ocean. No way were you disinterested in the lady. And she sure has the hots for you. If I weren’t happily married…” Cameron took a ragged breath. “Well, I wouldn’t give it another thought.”

Dale grinned and raised his Coke to Allan.
“Yeah, but he has kind of an image problem.”

“Oh?
How’s that?” Cameron studied Allan as if trying to figure out what was wrong now. Even Allan wondered what his image problem was.

“She thinks he’s gay.”

Hell.

Cameron burst out laughing.
“Don’t let Randy know, or he’ll tell the whole Agency, just so Allan won’t be his competition anymore.”

“I don’t
play Randy’s game.” Allan collapsed on the couch again.

Cameron rose from his chair, but his eyes widened as his attention switched to the bedroom.
Allan and Dale glanced back at the room.

Jenny hugged the doorjamb, wearing low slung denim shorts and a floral shirt that reached only midriff.
She held up the T-shirt she had worn before in bed. “Allan, I need a word with you.”

Worrying that she ha
d heard them speaking about her, he nearly had a stroke.

Cameron headed for the door.
“Time to bow out.”

Dale hesitated, then crossed the floor after him.
“Wait, I’m coming, too.”

When the door closed behind them, Allan joined Jenny.
“I’m not wearing this to bed. No wonder we’re having trouble with our relationship. I want to go shopping.”

He pulled her away from the doorframe and into his arms.
“Did you take the medicine?” He was certain she had as he saw no sign of the pills on the nightstand.

She nodded.

More than likely, the prescription medicine would knock her out before they even made it to town. “Why don’t you lie down for a while and after you rest, we’ll go out later?”

“I feel fine.”

But he knew she didn’t. She leaned into his body with barely the strength to stand on her own two feet. She was one stubborn woman.

He tilted her chin up and looked into her green eyes flecked with golden amber.
“Is the headache gone?”

“Nearly.”

He swallowed hard and hugged her to his chest. “I’m not gay.”

She chuckled.
“I really didn’t think you were, not the way you kissed me.”

His heart took a dive.
He hadn’t dated anyone in the six months since Millie and he’d split up for good. And the nine years he’d spent with the same woman seemed a lifetime. Now he was twenty-nine and he realized dating was something he’d never really been good at. He’d found Millie and never looked at another woman. Well, he’d looked, but Millie was the only one he’d had eyes for.

He leaned over, lifted Jenny in his arms, then carried her back to bed.
He couldn’t let Randy hurt her. Yet, he didn’t want to hurt her either as she was bound to be, if he married her.

“Will you join me?” she asked as she nuzzled her face against his chest.

Allan laid Jenny on the bed.
They were both fully clothed and with the prescription medicine Jenny had taken, she would soon fall asleep. But maybe if he lay beside her, she would settle down sooner.