Read In the Dead of the Night Online
Authors: Terry Spear
“I don’t drink coffee, I don’t think.
And I didn’t give you that black eye.” She stared at the discoloration. “Did I?”
“You sure did.
Lucky punch. If I’d been more on the ball, I’d have blocked it.”
“What did you do to me that I would have taken such violent measures?”
He smiled. “Dale gave you a sedative. Only you hit me for it, instead of him.”
Jenny stared at the floor for a moment
, trying to recollect. Then she looked at Allan. “You told him to give it to me.” She glanced at Lantham who watched the two of them with interest, a smirk on his lips. “Don’t you have something better to do? Like sleep or something?”
“Not until Smith replaces me.”
“By the book.” Allan sat down on the lime green couch.
The color of the fabric hurt her eyes.
“What were you going to tell me last night, that you said I couldn’t know until I had a good sleep?”
Dale opened the door.
“Here are your things, Jenny. Sorry to hear you both had a rough night.” He set Jenny’s bag and one for Allan on the floor.
Sh
e grabbed the handle to her bag and rolled it back into the bedroom and slammed the door.
Dale smiled at Allan.
“So, I take it you asked her to marry you, and she’s not pleased about it.”
Allan glanced at Lantham.
“I’ll mosey along and get some shut-eye.”
When he closed the door behind him, Allan took a ragged breath.
“No, we haven’t gotten that far.”
“So what was the racket all about up here?
You know, most of us were just waking up.”
“She was having nightmares.
Kept waking me up.”
Dale raised his brows.
“And?”
“Did the only thing I could think of doing, only I had fully intended leaving the bed before she woke.”
Dale shook his head. “Sounds like a winner of an excuse if ever I heard one.”
“She kept looking for something in the bedside drawer.
She’s starting to remember, but even at that, she didn’t know what it was she was looking for.”
Dale wrinkled his forehead.
“I noticed the drawers to her bedside table had both been pulled out at her home, besides the lamp being on the floor. You know she had a concealed weapon’s license. Don’t you imagine if she had a gun, that’s where she’d keep it? Close by where she could get to it if a prowler attacked?”
“But if she’d had one, where was it?
Surely she would have used it on her attacker. I saw no sign of it.”
Dale
walked toward the kitchen. “Yeah, and probably Wilson knew about it, too.”
Allan looked back at the bedroom.
“Good thing she didn’t find what she was looking for last night. She might have shot me.”
Dale returned to the living room with a cup of coffee.
“So, you haven’t broken the news to her yet?”
“No.
You heard her. She’s not in the most agreeable mood this morning.”
“I guess it’s too late to fix breakfast for her in bed.”
The bedroom door opened. Jenny stormed out of it wearing a pair of short denim shorts and a halter-top. Allan’s whole system reverted to testosterone overdrive as Dale’s mouth dropped open. “Where are we?” she asked.
“
South Padre Island,” both Allan and Dale said in unison.
She ran her finger over her
lower lip, then nodded. “Good. I want to go for a walk along the beach.” She headed for the door.
Allan nearly spilled his hot coffee on his lap as he bolted from the couch.
“We have to talk.”
“We can talk on the beach.”
“We have to get the okay from headquarters.”
She crossed her arms beneath her breasts.
“Then get it.”
Dal
e pulled his phone off his belt and punched some buttons. “Boss, Smith. Yeah, the lady wants to walk along the beach.” He looked at her and smiled. “Usual precautions. Gotcha. No, it hasn’t been resolved yet. That’s what we’re hoping for on the beach walk. Later.” He punched in more buttons. “Cameron, you and Samuel ready for a walk? Yeah, well, Allan needs to get dressed. All right, ten minutes, meet you downstairs.”
“What about Roxie Adams?” Allan asked Dale as he kept the door blocked with his body.
He didn’t trust Jenny not to leave the building without him, with as much animosity as she exhibited.
“Miss Adams has been moved to a new location.
The boss wants her brought in tonight as a precaution, just for an hour or so to speak to Jenny, then moved again.”
Dale walked over to Jenny,
took her arm, and led her back to the couch. “If you don’t get away from the door, Allan can’t get dressed.”
Allan watched her for a moment,
her mouth pursed and her eyes, emerald daggers, daring him to say a word.
Amused at her cantankerousness, he smiled
. Their walk on the beach was going to be something else. Why couldn’t they have this conversation in private as he thought they ought to?
Grabbing
his bag, he strode across the room to the bedroom.
Jenny sat on the couch with Dale, then she reached over and patted his thigh.
His brows rose as a smile curved his lips. “Okay, you can tell me what this is all about, Dale.”
“I believe Allan should be the one to talk to you about this.”
“That bad, eh?” Leaning back into the cushions, she folded her arms. “Why are you afraid to tell me? Afraid I might give you a black eye, too? I’m really not normally that violent.”
“Truthfully?”
“I’m waiting.” Though she didn’t figure Dale was going to give her the news. Allan seemed to be in charge.
Dale took a deep breath.
“The news isn’t that bad.”
“Right.
And that’s why Allan wanted me to be in a better frame of mind first.”
“You’ve got to admit, you’d had a pretty rough time of it yesterday.”
Allan walked back into the room, wearing denim shorts and a blue T-shirt. “Ready?”
Jenny headed for the door.
Allan intercepted her and pulled the door open. Already her heartbeat picked up its pace. Not because any time Allan drew near, she wanted him to hold her close so she could breathe in his heavenly scent, or feel his hard as rock muscles against her breasts, or his warm skin at her fingertips, but because she hated being lied to. And she knew whatever he had to tell her was going to be bad or he wouldn’t have waited for a better time.
They walked down the wrought iron steps outside the condo and soon reached the warm, white sand.
It slid between their toes while white crabs slipped down small holes in the beach.
Jenny folded her arms as she walked through the sand.
“Okay, what’s going on?”
“The boss wants me to marry you.”
She stopped dead in her tracks. He had to back up to rejoin her. Tilting her head to the side, she tried to judge the expression on his face. Allan remained calm, no emotion whatsoever. His dark eyes studied her, waiting for her response.
The hot breeze car
ried the odor of the fishy surf and blew her hair in her eyes. She swept it back, then looped it into a ponytail. Glancing back at the condo, she saw Cameron, Dale, and Samuel keeping an eye on them and the surrounding area from a couple of hundred yards away, spread out like a fan. She was certain they preferred watching the antics Allan and she performed, particularly since they’d all know what he was going to hit her with on their walk. And they were definitely interested in her reaction.
She’d show the A.T.A. agents.
She wasn’t sure how she would have behaved under normal circumstances. But this wasn’t a normal situation, so she would have to improvise.
She slipped her arm through Allan’s, then began to stroll at a slower pace this time.
“So what do I get out of this arrangement? You’ll want your husbandly rights and—”
“It’s not what you think, Jenny.”
“What happened to honey?” Pulling him to a stop, she fisted her hands on her hips. “Exactly what am I to think?”
“It’s for your own protection.”
“You mean, so you can slip into my bed and keep the nightmares away? Nothing more? Marry me to keep me honorable? What?”
“You have an inheritance.
You can’t touch it unless you’re married and…”
Jenny’s mouth dropped open, then she shut it quickly.
Why couldn’t she remember a blamed thing about her past? She walked unsteadily down the beach. Chill bumps dotted her arms and her head pounded. “He wanted me for my money? That bastard was going to marry me, get the money, then kill me?”
“Yes.”
Allan wrapped his arm around her shoulder, but she shrugged it off. “If I marry you, we can transfer the money to an Agency account. When Wilson discovers he can’t get to it, he won’t bother you any further.”
“Is that what you think?
You said he kills all the women he’s been with. Wouldn’t he feel cheated and come after me still? Hell, if I ever get my memories back, maybe I could be used to testify against him. And I’m certain he wouldn’t want that.”
“That’s another reason the Agency wants me to marry you.
So that I can stick to you day and night. To ensure your safety at all times.”
“No.”
She shook her head to emphasize her answer.
“What do you mean, no?
If you don’t marry me, the Agency will send someone else. They’re not going to give up on this. There’s no way they’re going to let your money fall into this terrorist’s hands.”
“So now it’s just the money that’s important.”
“
You’re
what’s important to me, Jenny.”
“It’s just a job, remember?”
She took a deep breath, totally exasperated. How could she be forced to marry someone for the first time in her life? If it was the first time in her life. Shouldn’t she love the guy? Want it to last forever? What a nightmare. Her stomach tightened into knots. How could some government agency decide this for her? Still furious that this agency was attempting to control her life, she said, “I want to check out some of the other candidates first.”
For an instant, she was sure she saw a glint of concern flicker in his dark brown eyes.
He took her arm and stopped her. “All right. They’re sending Randy Stevens. He’s good looking, a real lady’s man. Should suit you fine.” He turned her around and headed back to the condo.
“What about our walk?”
“The next one you take can be with Randy. I have a job to do.”
He walked so fast at first she nearly had to run to catch up, then she wondered why s
he was making the effort. Turning, she headed for the water instead.
Suddenly
, he was at her side again. “We were headed in, remember?”
“
You
were headed in.” She pulled of her halter. His eyes bugged out. She guessed he thought she was topless underneath it. Grabbing her shorts, she yanked them off. “I’m going for a swim.” She shoved her clothes at him, then when he grabbed them, she ran into the water.
She didn’t want to marry Randy Stevens or some terrorist, Thurman Wilson, or even Agent Allan Thompson, though he’d have been preferable to the rest.
All she wanted was her memories back and her life returned to normal, whatever that had been like. She felt totally alone and vulnerable while her whole life spun out of control before her like a star shooting from the heavens, burning up in the atmosphere.
Allan stood
at the water’s edge, holding onto her clothes as Dale joined him.
“Water’s great!” she shouted, trying to find some enthusiasm for her life the way it stood now as the warm waves licked at her wa
ist. Dale said something privately to Allan and he responded, the whole time both keeping their eyes on her. She was certain she had never attracted this much interest in her life.
Then Samuel ran toward the two of them.
She couldn’t tell from the expression on his face what the problem was, as his brow furrowed. But her heartbeat accelerated just the same, while worry created a flight of butterflies to take off in her stomach.
She hoped to God whatever was the matter now wasn’t more bad news.
Allan shook his head, handed Jenny’s clothes to Dale, and headed back to the condo, his shoulders stooped in defeat.
She couldn’t help the upset that slammed into her belly over seeing him so distressed.
She dipped down low in the water.
Now what the hell was going on?
Then a new man
appeared on the scene, a strawberry blond with blue eyes and a killer smile. Though he spoke to Dale, he had eyes only for her. She looked back at the condo as Allan walked up the steps, then disappeared into the building.
She dove under the water and swam for several minutes longer.
Twice she looked at the glass windows filling the backside of the condo. Was Allan still watching her, hidden from view behind the dark glass? Or was he just so peeved at her for wanting to marry some other agent that he no longer cared what happened to her?