Tatiana pushed her plate aside, though she hadn’t touched the salad. “You’re sure it didn’t have anything to do with attracting more press attention and causing speculation that Colton Plastics might collapse? There’s no such thing as bad publicity, you know.”
He rolled his eyes. “We both know there is.”
Her lips half lifted but then straightened again, as if she remembered she was mad at him.
“Having both co-CEOs take leave at the same time will cause speculation, too. We’ve been lucky not to have the press in your front yard so far, but they’ll be here now.”
He shook his head, though he knew she was right. “It’ll be fine. We’re not taking leave, anyway. We’re working remotely. It’s the in thing now.”
“But you didn’t even take the time to discuss it with me. You had me find out by email, no less.”
“There just wasn’t time,” he insisted, his argument dripping through its many holes now. “We had to get you out of there, and Stanton said my condo would be the easiest place for him to guard.”
“I don’t care what you were cooking up with your brother. I should have had a vote.”
“You would have voted no.”
His anguished tone surprised him, and her dazed expression told him she hadn’t missed it, either. For a long time, neither spoke, and Tatiana dragged a fry in her ketchup without looking up from her plate.
“I had to keep you safe,” he admitted in a voice that probably lacked the strength to show that he could.
Finally, she nodded. At least she didn’t look up at him right away. He needed time to regroup. When she did speak again, he braced himself for more questions he couldn’t answer.
“Are you going to eat that?” She pointed to the tray where one lone burger sat next to a bun.
“Well, I was pretty hungry.” He grinned, relieved that she’d let him off the hook, at least for now.
“Hungrier than a pregnant woman?”
“Hmm. That’s one thing I never will be able to judge, but you’re welcome to it.” He passed the tray over, and she loaded up the burger.
She glanced up from the bun. “You don’t happen to have any horseradish sauce or spicy pepper rings, do you?”
“You really are pregnant.”
He stepped over to the refrigerator and pulled out a jar of horseradish, checking the date before carrying it back to the table. She put a large dollop of it on her burger and dug in.
As Tatiana finished eating, Travis stepped out onto the deck into the day’s last light with darkness creeping in from the edges to enclose them. A shiver scaled his neck, and gooseflesh peppered his forearms beneath his rolled sleeves. Anyone could have been right outside. Watching them. Waiting.
“We’d better get dinner cleaned up,” Tatiana said as she stood up from the table and carried her dishes to the dishwasher.
“What’s the rush?” Since he hadn’t told her that Stanton would be popping by at any time to introduce himself, he could only guess that she was off to brood in her room again.
“We have some online Colton Plastics shopping to do.”
He stacked dishes and followed her to the counter. “What for?”
“If we’re going to be working from home, we’ll need a second desk.”
Travis finished loading the last of the dishes. “I’m sure you’ll find something nice that can be delivered tomorrow. I already have mine in the office.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” She waited for him to glance back at her and grinned. “That desk is in my part of the house. We’ll need to order another one for you.”
* * *
Tatiana startled when the doorbell rang an hour later, but she’d been jumping at every sound all day. She hadn’t been able to complete a single task at work earlier. How could she when she was certain that someone was watching her and listening to her every breath? Maybe Travis had been right to have them take a break from the office, though there was no way she would admit that to him.
“Are you expecting someone?” she asked him as he leaped up from the sofa and headed to the door.
He paused with his hand on the latch. “I guess I didn’t tell you. Stanton.”
The only other Colton she could recall from her high school class stepped inside. Stanton turned back to lock and bolt the door and then approached her without taking off his coat. He shoved his dark hair out of his eyes and jutted out his hand to her over the back of the sofa.
“Hi, Tatiana. Good to see you again.”
She looked at his hand and then finally accepted it. “Thanks for coming.”
Travis stepped around the end of the sectional. “I take it I don’t need to introduce you two.”
“Nope,” Stanton told him before turning back to Tatiana. “I’m not sure I’ve seen you since graduation. Well, except on TV the other night.”
“I hope they showed my good side.” She’d wanted to break some of the tension with her joke, but when she recalled that interview, she sat forward on the couch and then stood. It hadn’t been a shining moment for her.
Stanton traded a look with his brother and then smiled. “I’m sure it’s been a long couple of weeks.”
“More like a year.”
Tatiana crossed her arms, preparing for the interrogation. “I’ve been questioned by a lot of people lately, so do your best.”
Stanton brushed away her comment with a wave of his hand and then stepped to the front of the couch and plopped down not far from where she stood. “I’m not here to question you. I’m a bodyguard and the owner of Colton Protection. I’m here to protect you and my brother, if he’ll let me.”
She relaxed her shoulders and returned to her seat. “Good to know.”
“But I’ll need to ask a few questions in order to do my best work.”
When Tatiana jerked her head to look at him, Stanton was grinning.
She shot a look at Travis. “Your little brother’s a comedian.”
“But not a good one. That’s why he’s a bodyguard instead.”
Stanton leaned forward, his expression serious. “Travis wants me to stand guard until your stalker is caught. You and my brother need to stay in this house until then.”
“I already got that memo.”
Stanton must have missed the look that she exchanged with Travis as he continued. “I’ll have two of my guards on the team with me, watching this location. We’ll be trying to draw out the stalker.”
“You’re wanting to bring him here?” she couldn’t help asking.
“I hate to tell you this, but he probably already knows where you are.”
At that, she shivered. She couldn’t help it. Call me daddy, too. If only the guy’s words would stop sneaking behind her defenses, like cloying hands determined to touch.
When Travis’s phone rang, he excused himself and went into the kitchen, leaving Tatiana behind with his brother. Once he was out of earshot, Stanton caught her attention.
“Travis is a good guy.”
She squinted at him. “I know that. What are you trying to say?”
“He’s been hurt before by a woman who wasn’t who she appeared to be.”
“He told me about Aubrey. But I’m not, I mean, we’re not...”
Stanton’s eyes widened when she mentioned his brother’s ex’s name, but then he schooled his features. “Like I said, I will protect you from the stalker. I’ve guarded celebrities and politicians I didn’t necessarily trust, either.”
“Either?”
He shrugged. “I’m just saying that none of the Coltons will look kindly on anyone who hurts Travis again.”
“Point taken, but, as I told you—”
“That was Melissa,” Travis said as he reentered the room.
Both jumped to their feet, caught in a conversation they shouldn’t hav
e been having.
“What’d she say?” Stanton asked.
“Police in Muskegon reported back that there have been no signs of Len Davison at White Lake. Not the other location, either. The one with the ice-fishing cabins is called Pike Lake, by the way.”
Tatiana folded her hands at her waist, hoping her grip didn’t look as tight as the squeeze between her fingers felt.
“I’m sorry. Those are the only places I know to look,” she told them.
Travis watched her for so long that she had to force herself to stay in place.
“She wanted me to ask you one more thing.”
She licked her lips. “What’s that?”
“She wants to know what else you’re holding back.”
CHAPTER 18
Travis tiptoed to the lower level the next afternoon and moved down the hall, past the bedroom, on his way to the office. His office that she’d commandeered. He’d almost reached the door when a desk drawer slammed.
“May I help you with something?” she called out.
He peeked his head inside. “No, but maybe I should help you. Looking for something in particular?”
She glanced down at the desk. “Yeah. Do you have a stapler anywhere?”
“Sure, I do.”
He stepped into the office, but instead of stopping at the desk, he moved to the supply closet and opened the folding door. The stapler was on the shelf at about eye level. He grabbed it and handed it to her.
“Why don’t you keep it in your desk?”
“What can I say? It’s my office.”
“Not for a while,” she said with a grin.
He returned it, but it felt forced. Her excuse for digging through his desk seemed reasonable enough, so he hated that he was checking up on her. How could he not, though? His sister’s question about Tatiana hiding something had compounded his own concerns after meeting with Melissa the day before. The more that Tatiana insisted she wasn’t hiding anything, the more certain he became that she was.
Why had she been carrying that card in her purse, anyway? She’d forgotten all about the flowers and wouldn’t have mentioned them to the chief of police at all if he hadn’t reminded her. Was there some other reason she had it with her?
“You haven’t said why you’re in here,” Tatiana said without looking at him as she typed on her borrowed laptop.
“I wanted to remind you that it’s quitting time.”
She glanced at the bottom corner of her screen. “It’s six thirty already? I can’t believe it. This is the first quality time I’ve had to do my work since starting at Colton Plastics.”
If only he could say he’d had a successful workday, too. But then the shallow basement windows didn’t offer the same view of the street that the new desk in his bedroom did. Even with the guards parked outside and regularly checking the perimeter, he couldn’t help watching each car that passed and wondering if the driver might be the one who would hurt Tatiana and their baby.
“Don’t tell the board about your lack of productivity earlier,” he said.
“Mum’s the word.”
He cleared his throat. “I made some stew in the slow cooker, so we can eat if you’re ready.”
“That’s the wonderful smell that’s been filtering through the vents. I could definitely get used to this.”
So could he. That was the worst part. Even wondering if she was hiding something—and his gut told him she was—he still was enjoying their captivity far more than he should have been. It felt like playing house, and the game was becoming irresistible to him. Stanton and his crew were only monitoring danger on the outside of the condo. Travis was convinced he was far more at risk indoors.
He was more certain of it after dinner as they sat in the great room, and he couldn’t help splitting his time evenly between watching television and watching her. In an unconscious habit, she traced her fingers back and forth over her slightly rounded belly, covered by leggings and a tunic. He couldn’t look away, couldn’t stop imagining the soft fingertips on his skin instead of the cloth.
“What are you looking at?” she asked when she glanced over and caught him.
“I’ve been thinking that you should reconsider my proposal.” It was true that it had been on his mind, just not technically right then.
“That’s a super-romantic offer, but I think I’ll pass.”
“Would you say yes if I piled on the romance?”
“Well, when you put it that way,” she said with a chuckle.
Neither mentioned that she’d said she wouldn’t marry without a forever kind of love. Was he ready to give her what she needed? He knew he wanted to protect her and the baby. The thought of someone close to them with malicious intent brought out a rage in him like he’d never experienced before. But was that love? Would he know it if he felt it? He’d been wrong before.
“What brought this up, anyway?” she asked. “With the rest of the mess we have going on, why are you even thinking about that now? In case you’ve forgotten, there’s a manhunt underway for my dad and a stalker who’s murdering for my personal entertainment.”
“Because of that.” He pointed to her stomach.
As Tatiana looked down, her fingers stilled. “I can’t seem to stop doing that. It doesn’t make any medical sense, but sometimes it soothes the nausea.”
She straightened her top over her leggings. “These clothes were more comfortable for work, too. I can’t believe the waistlines on some of my skirts are already starting to pinch.”
“That’s just a reminder that no matter what else is going on in our lives, in seven months, we are also going to have a baby who needs two parents. I have to know how we’re going to make it work if you still won’t marry me.”
She sat up on the seat and planted her feet on the floor. “I’ve told you before that we’re living in the twenty-first century. Unmarried couples have babies all the time. Some even raise them together as coparents.”
“Is that what you want us to be? Coparents?” he asked.
“I don’t know what I want anymore.”
“Well, I know I don’t want to abandon my child.” Could that have been what she was holding back? That the baby wasn’t really his? He dismissed it immediately. What reason would she have had to claim the child was his, when her involvement with a Colton had only complicated her life? He was almost relieved that Melissa remained suspicious of Tatiana. She knew nothing about the baby, and yet she still had questions.
Tatiana turned to face him, her knee drawing up on the sofa cushion. “You would never do that. There’s not much I’m positive of lately, but of that I am.”
“I’m glad.” Her faith in him drew him in, made him long for more of a connection with her than she’d offered. “I will be here for the child, no matter what his choice of profession. Or no matter whom she chooses to love.”
“We’re a pair, aren’t we?”
He turned to find her watching him, her lips lifted.
“Why do you say that?”
“My dad appeared to offer me unconditional love, and all of it might have been hogwash,” she said. “And yours probably loves you the way he should and has no idea how to show it.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Hey, you’ve never even met my father. How do you know what he’s incapable of showing?”
She shrugged. “It’s just a guess, but I’m hopeful for the both of you.”
“If our dads were so messed up, then how’d we both turn out so perfect?”
“Our moms,” they said at the same time and then laughed.
When they stopped, they glanced down to see that they’d scooted closer on the sofa, so close that their knees, lifted on the cushion so they could face each other, nearly touched.
Before he could talk himself out of it, Travis reached for her hand where it rested on her leg. Thei
r fingers laced so easily, as though his hand had been formed with the sole purpose of linking with her far smaller one.
The room went still, the walls and tables and decor that she’d rightly guessed hadn’t been his choice all seeming to hold a collective breath. Without seduction, with barely a touch, the moment had become more intimate than any he’d experienced.
Yet the longing that had drawn him to her in the first place pulled him deeper, closer to her, until only a breath separated him from lips he’d tasted before, recalled in exquisite detail and couldn’t wait to touch again.
The doorbell rang then, causing them both to jump back. Her heavy-lidded eyes popped open again.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” he growled.
But as he stepped away from the couch on his path to the door, Tatiana rested a hand on his arm to delay him.
“I’m going to need a rain check for that.”
* * *
Tatiana’s cheeks burned as Stanton stepped inside the condo, just as he had the night before. Only last time he hadn’t arrived just in time to catch them on the verge of a make-out session that, if she had her way, would end in something even more thrilling.
“What took you so long?” Stanton asked Travis as he looked back and forth between them.
Travis crossed his arms. “I wasn’t waiting right inside the door for you to ring the bell.”
“I told you I would update you on any developments.”
Tatiana stepped to the doorway between the great room and the entry. “Did the police catch the stalker?”
“Not yet” came a feminine voice that she recognized as Melissa’s.
Stanton pulled his cell from his pocket and pointed to the screen that showed his sister on a video call.
“What’s going on?” Travis asked Stanton.
“I told him I would update you at the same time,” Melissa answered for him from the screen.
“Apparently, Davison was sighted coming out of one of the ice-fishing cabins, parked on the frozen Pike Lake,” Stanton told them before holding up the phone to allow his sister to tell the rest.
Harlequin Romantic Suspense March 2021 Page 42
