A Little Harmless Fantasy (31 page)

She
said nothing to that and he noticed she had closed her eyes.

“Maura?”

“Please,
don’t patronize me.” She opened her eyes and the back of
his throat tickled a bit when he saw they were watery. Damn, he hated
when women cried. “I am not an idiot. I know people think I am
stupid.”

“We
don’t think you’re stupid.”

She
sniffed at that and looked back out the window. “Sure.”

He
stopped at a red light. “I’m serious.”

“Sure.”

“No,
I believe you. There is someone messing with you. But, in my mind, I
think it is probably someone with Petersen.”

“It
has nothing to do with that. I told you in Hawaii the guy had an
Irish accent.”

He
pulled up to her driveway and punched in the code. The gate opened.
He drove through and parked the car before he spoke.

“Maura,
we checked. Anyone who would be after us is either dead or in
prison.” Most of them were dead but he wasn’t going to
admit that to her. Zeke and Rory didn’t leave behind many
people when they were hunting terrorists. It had been one of the
reasons they had been paid so well by the British government.

“What?”

“We
called around. We talked to everyone. All of our cases are accounted
for. No one should be after us. Most of them wouldn’t have had
the means to do it by the time they got out anyway. And, just so you
know, most of those people didn’t know our names.

She
stared at him for a second, and said, “Are you sure?”

“Yes.
We called all our contacts, all the officials. No one with a grudge
for one of us is running around out there.”

“How
can you be so sure?”

He
sighed. The strain he heard in her voice was disheartening, and he
knew she was near a breaking point. Zeke and he agreed on one thing,
they wanted her to get some rest. They knew part of this was the fact
she hadn’t slept since their return.

“Zee
and I didn’t leave a lot of witnesses, and most people don’t
know our names.”

She
said nothing for a moment as if she was digesting the information.
The door opened beside her and Zee was standing there. She gave him a
nasty look but took his hand as he walked her to the door.

“We’re
going to put a car on you.”

She
said nothing as she pulled the keys out of her purse. They entered
the house and Rory followed, knowing that Zee wasn’t going to
go home tonight. Neither of them would. They were not about to let
the woman stay home tonight by herself.

“Why
don’t you take a bath?” Zee offered as they walked into
the kitchen.

“Something
to quiet the crazy woman?” Her tone had an edge to it and it
was getting sharper by the minute.

Rory
glanced at Zee. They were both worried about her. From the time she
had been attacked she wouldn’t accept their comfort. It twisted
something deep in his gut.

“No,
but you’ve had a scare and I think a hot bath might relax you.
I can get you a glass of wine.”

She
looked at them both, then nodded.

“Go
on, get the water going and I’ll bring you a glass,” Zee
said.

She
left them, not saying a word, not asking for comfort. They’d
both offered it up the last few days, but she hadn’t taken it.

“She’s
not taking the news that no one is after us well.”

Zeke
opened the refrigerator. “She needs to work it out in her
head.”

“I
think you’re not taking this seriously enough.”

Zee
set the wine bottle down and looked at him. “Listen, Rory, I’ve
known her longer than you. She’s had her world altered. Maura
isn’t accustomed with being wrong. She needs time to get
herself in order. We just need to be here to support her.”

Anger
churned in his belly. Zee was being too laid back, too ready to let
her handle things on her own. And he was being too fucking calm.

“Whether
something happened today or not, she is skating a fine edge. She
needs more than just a couple of blokes checking in on her. She needs
to be watched.”

He
had seen it up close and personal. His mother had been the same way
before she died…before she took that fucking gun to her head.
And he would be damned if he would watch another woman he…cared
for do that.

One
of the bad things about having a lover as long as he had Zee, he knew
all of Rory’s secrets.

“She’s
not your mother. Your mother was—”

“Weak.”

Zee
sighed. “No. She was sick. She needed help and she didn’t
know where to go.”

He
said nothing to that. Rory couldn’t. Fear for Maura and the
memories of his mother were too overwhelming.

“How
did I fall in love with two such stubborn people.” When Rory
continued to be quiet, Zee threw his hands up again. “I’m
not going to rehash this right now. I’m going to get some soup
going and then take this wine to her.”

“Eating
and drinking, that will help.”

“Dammit,
Rory, she needs someone to take care of her. You said so yourself.
So, that’s what we need to do.”

“I
think she needs professional help.”

“She
doesn’t need professional help. You’re mental if you
think she does. Maura is a focused woman. She’s been thrown off
balance.”

He wanted to argue,
but who was he to say. The truth of the matter was that Zeke was the
longest relationship he had ever had. Everyone else had been short
term. He would take a step back like Zee suggested but he would
definitely keep an eye on her.

Rory wasn’t
losing another woman in his life that way. He would do everything in
his power to prevent it.

* * * *

Maura looked out over the water and sighed. She was smart enough to
understand what she was doing to herself. Dr. Obenhaus had explained
it a long time ago. Throwing herself into work avoided the issues and
she got sicker by the day. But, thankfully, Dr. Obenhaus also
understood that she needed time to get through it.

“Why do you think there is someone watching you, Maura?”
Dr. Obenhaus asked, her calm patient voice soothing Maura.

“I don’t know. It’s a sense I have. I felt it again
when I went to work. I thought it was because of the detail that Zeke
and Rory put on me.”

“So, you knew they were there and dismissed your worries.”

Not really, she thought. If only she would have gotten sleep the last
few days. As it was, she’d only gotten snatches of sleep since
she returned from Hawaii. She avoided the pain pills the doctor there
had given her.

“Maura?”

“They didn’t know I knew, though.”

“So, you kept it from them. Why?”

“I don’t know.”

“You know.”

“Power.”

“Yes, I am sure a lot of that has to do with the attack. It’s
okay as long as at some point you come back out of that shell you
always build.”

The bad thing about having a therapist who had known her so long was
that Dr. Obenhaus knew exactly what she did wrong. But, then, it was
one of the reasons she went to her.

“Are we going to talk about the men?”

“Men?”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. You think I don’t know you are involved
with these men?” she asked, her voice a little lighter.

“Did Conner talk to you?”

“No, but then I would never discuss you with him. Once you
turned eighteen I told you that I wouldn’t tell him things. I
didn’t tell him much when you were younger. So, these men.”

“Yeah. Hmm, well, it was just a bit of fun.”

“Oh, Maura, don’t worry about upsetting me. I know about
going against people’s wishes.”

She accepted that. Dr. Obenhaus was a lesbian who had been living
openly for years in Georgia.

“It’s just...I can’t deal with it right now.”

“You love them.”

“Yes. But that is not always enough.”

“I agree. Just make sure you take the time to figure out if it
is enough for you.”

“Okay.”

“So, are they good looking?”

She laughed. “Yeah, and Irish and bisexual.”

“Good for you. Now, make sure to check in with me, but don’t
use me as a crutch. You need to talk to the people in your life,
Maura.”

“I will.”

They hung up and she stared out over the traffic again. She didn’t
hear the knock at the door until the door squeaked open.

She turned and saw Zeke and Rory standing just inside the door.

“Did you need something?”

“We just wanted to check on you,” Rory said surprising
her.

Damn, they looked good. She wanted nothing more than to crawl into
their arms and seek some kind of acceptance and love, but she
couldn’t. They thought she was crazy. They hadn’t said it
out loud but they got the same tone in their voices that Conner did.
They thought she had lost her mind about the attacker.

“I’m fine.”

They said nothing.

“Is that all?”

Zeke walked closer. “Maybe you should go home and get some
sleep this afternoon.”

She looked up from her computer screen. “What?”

“Love, you look worn out.”

She frowned. “Way to make me feel good, Zeke.”

“No, seriously, how much sleep have you gotten?”

She glanced at Rory who was watching her closely as if worried she
would break down in tears.

“Not much. I have insomnia most of the time when I return from
Hawaii.”

Which was kind of true. Okay, not really, but she figured she
wouldn’t go to hell for a lie. Considering the things she’d
done in Hawaii with these two, God would probably be more upset with
that than her little white lie.

“Still, you look really tired. Why not at least work from home?
It might do a little good to get out of the office.”

She looked from one to the other and hurt. The pain in her chest was
worse than when she’d been attacked. Going home wasn’t
what she thought she would do today, but maybe a break from seeing
the two men she loved but who apparently didn’t love her, might
be a good thing.

“Okay.”

She started shutting down things.

“Maura,” Rory said, his voice annoyed.

She didn’t look up from her work. “What?”

“Look at me. At us.”

She forced herself to do it. “What?”

“You can talk to us.”

She didn’t know what was behind that comment, but she couldn’t
deal with them. Not now. She was raw. She knew what she had agreed to
when they had been on vacation, but she had fooled herself while they
had been there.

“What do you want me to talk to you about?” she asked
wondering if they really knew just how much this was hurting her.
They had each other. She had no one.

She had walked around the desk but Rory stepped in front of her.

“Don’t make me order you to answer questions.”

She gave him what she hoped was a condescending look.


“Don’t try that with me, Rory. I don’t play
games out of the bedroom and you know that.”

“I seemed to remember a little incident in the kitchen…and
one that started in the car.”

The memory of that was like a jab to the heart. She had thought they
were moving on to something more than just a fling. But the guys had
proven her wrong. Trust in your partners was needed for a real
relationship and they and proven that they didn’t believe in
her.

“I’m not in the mood for this.”

He opened his mouth but Zeke interrupted them.

“I think you need to get some rest, love.”

She tore her attention away from Rory to look at Zeke. The pity she
saw there hurt more than losing them both. Of course she had never
really had them, had she?

“Yes, I do.” She picked up her brief case. “I’ll
have my cell, but I might just take a nap first.”

She hurried out of the room.

* * * *

Zeke let the door shut with a silent snick and said nothing. He was
still pissed. He was also worried. The fact that Maura had left
without argument wasn’t like her at all.

“What’s up?” Rory asked.

“She’s not acting right.”

“She’s tired. And I think she’s still embarrassed
about yesterday.”

“No, you know her, she wouldn’t go home without a fight
before.”

“Those two are crazy buggers.”

“Those two?”

“Her brother and her. It makes you wonder what their Da was
like.”

He brushed that thought away. “Anyway, it’s odd. Really
odd.”

“Do you think we should set another trail on her again?”

Zeke shook his head as his personal assistant beeped in.

“Sorry to bother you, Zeke, but there’s an Inspector
Forrest on the phone. He says he needs to talk to you ASAP.”

He picked up the phone. “Jerry, I haven’t heard from you
in months.”

“And I wish it was under better circumstances. I just found out
myself or I would have called you earlier.”

“What’s up?” he asked dread inching down his spine.

“O’Connell escaped from Germany a month ago.”

“What?”

Rory was looking at him now. Worry etched his features.

“I didn’t find out about it until twenty minutes ago, but
apparently, he paid off a few guards, who ended up dead in the end.
The bastard was always cold. He escaped but we weren’t told
here at Scotland Yard. Hell, I’m not sure I’m supposed to
call you, but the truth of the matter is MI-6 always fucks these
things up. I know that bastard was hot to kill you and McAllister. By
the by, have you talked to him?”

“He’s here now.”

“Good. If I were you, I would make sure that you take extra
precautions.”

“Sure, sure. Thanks for the call.”

“No problem, you know I owe you.”

He hung up and tried to get his brain wrapped around the news.
O’Connell had been an IRA bomb specialist, one who went
mercenary several years ago and had worked with anyone with the cash.
He and his brother had been good, until Rory and Zeke had found them,
killed his brother and caught up with O’Connell to arrest him.
Germany had called dibs on him though for a bombing in Munich that
killed twenty people. Still, he blamed Rory and him for his brother’s
death and for being in prison.