by Sheila Kell
She secretly smiled. Brad could do that to a person. She only hoped he was getting the information he sought in order to ease his mind.
QUICKLY RETHINKING HAVING Madison on his arm and then discarding the idea, Brad spotted his old boss—Jacob Little—and after catching a questioning look on Brad’s face, the agent said something into his microphone, and soon another agent replaced him. He nodded to Brad to follow him, informing Brad that he had a couple of minutes available.
In no uncertain terms, he told Brad to leave the past alone. That had only pricked Brad’s interest more. He couldn’t tell if the man was angry at Brad’s inquisition or the man’s removal from the presidential detail following the event in Columbia. Although guarding a strong potential for president—Senator Walden—wasn’t all that bad. Unless you didn’t want her to win, which many people didn’t, and he imagined that included some of the Secret Service agents. But they’d put their lives on the line regardless of their feelings for the person they were assigned to protect.
“It’s water under the bridge,” Jacob had said. “Because of your dad, you got out unscathed.” The bitterness in the man’s voice hadn’t been hard to miss. Brad had wondered why his name had been kept out of things, and he’d had an inkling it had been because of his dad. Now he knew. Which meant his father knew what had happened. Curiosity as to what his father believed actually happened filled him. Deep inside he knew his father would believe and support him. His mind slipped to Madison. Would she?
“Did you find out anything helpful?” Madison asked as they drove home in the dark. Home. He liked the sound of that where she was concerned. Wow. He had to stop thoughts like that. His plan was not to create a cozy family with the world’s most beautiful woman. She may have only won that contest one year, but she was of that class all the time.
Without taking his eyes off the road, he shook his head. “Not really. Only two people were there who’d been in Columbia, and I could only speak with one since he was in charge and could step off for a few minutes. Unfortunately, he didn’t have anything helpful to say.”
“What are you going to do now?”
He wasn’t going to let it go. His old boss had been insistent that he do just that. Too insistent. To Brad’s way of thinking, the man doth protest too much. Something was there. He just had to find a way to get hold of that information.
Since he hadn’t admitted to being involved in the scandal, he wasn’t ready to admit it now. “I’ll keep asking questions since I can’t remember anything.”
“Why can’t you remember anything?”
He shifted in the seat. “Well, the reports say I drank too much, but I think I was drugged. I never drink to excess.”
“Why would someone drug you?” she asked with concern lacing her tone.
Boy, she was full of questions. Maybe he should’ve let her play Nancy Drew. “That, I don’t know. If I did, this would be over.”
Out of habit, he always watched his rearview mirror. When a car came up fast behind him, he tightened his grip on the wheel. The worry that some drunk driver would be out at this hour bothered him. On the deserted road, he slowed so the vehicle—by the shape and height of the headlights, it was a truck—could pass him. They were about to hit an area where passing wasn’t possible and having someone ride his ass on the two-lane highway wasn’t his preference.
The truck didn’t pass. Instead, he rode close to them, and Brad tensed, his nerves on edge. Ahead, a long stretch of lake with guardrails keeping vehicles from plunging off the side hugged the roadway.
As soon as he passed the beginning of the guardrail signaling they were officially over an incline of some kind, the truck rammed him, and his heart pounded in part fear and part anger. Madison gasped, and a soft noise escaped her at the impact, and he felt his stomach drop out of him at the thought of her getting hurt. Holding tight to the steering wheel to keep his truck straight, Brad cursed the situation and asked if she was okay. Hearing her say she was fine, he sped up, and the vehicle behind him did the same. The errant driver acted to pass Brad, but Brad was leery of the move and kept his focus on the truck’s maneuver.
“Hang on,” he told Madison in a firm voice. He wanted to look at her and reassure her it was all right, but with his heart pounding, he couldn’t take his eyes off the road or the rearview mirror. His mind whirled. He had to do what it took to get her to safety. Although that was his job to protect her, he hadn’t realized how much his heart beat for her safety and his. In all of the jobs he’d completed, he’d never felt the need to protect so deeply.
Although he’d increased his speed more—hell, they were doing eighty miles an hour—he couldn’t outrun the man trying to run them off the road. With the headlights of the truck blinding him in his driver-side mirror, the truck tapped them on the left side bumper.
Brad’s pulse skyrocketed as he let off the gas and tapped his brakes, when his truck began to spin as he fought for control. Before Brad could right his vehicle, they hit and broke through the guardrail—the impact deploying the airbags—and the vehicle teetered over the edge of about a forty-foot drop-off to the water below. The back wheels must’ve caught on something to stop them from completely plunging over the side.
As soon as he could catch his breath, he was calling for her. “Maddie,” he said into the airbag that was shrinking down by the second. “Maddie,” he said again, more clearly.
No answer. A sick feeling hit his gut, and it got worse after his vision wasn’t impeded by the white material. If they moved, they could send Brad’s truck over the edge. Fuck. Scared shitless didn’t begin to describe his feelings. Well, there was pissed off at the driver, but right now he had to get Madison to safety, and he didn’t know how he was going to do it.
Looking her way, he saw her leaning forward as much as her seat belt would allow. Her head lolled down to her chest. A pit formed in his stomach, and a strange ache in his chest started. He couldn’t even reach over and check on her without shifting the vehicle. Shit. Shit. Shit.
Ever so gently, he removed his cell phone from his pocket to call 911. On one hand, he hoped Madison didn’t wake up and start moving and put them in more danger, and on the other hand, he hoped that she would wake up and tell him she was okay.
With emergency services on the way, all they could do was wait. An unwelcome thought hit him, and his blood froze and his pulse sped up to nearly racing. What if whoever had tried to run them off the road came back and finished whatever job he’d been trying to do—scare them or worse—he gulped past a painful lump in his throat—kill them? Sweat broke out on his brow, and his gut clenched. He couldn’t protect Madison because he couldn’t shift to grab the weapon he kept in his truck. That sinking feeling that he’d failed her assailed him, and he swallowed against that potential. While afraid—yes, he’d admit he was afraid at the moment since they were basically immobile and defenseless—he wouldn’t give up protecting her to his last breath.
This had Casden and Rogers written all over it. He knew there’d be trouble with them. His blood boiled at the fact they’d tried to kill Madison for not selling her club to them. Since this accident hadn’t worked, what was next? No matter what she said about needing protection, he was sticking to her like glue.
While still thinking of ways to get back at the two men, the state police arrived. After much shouting from the roadway to Brad’s truck, a trooper—ensuring they were safe first—as safe as they could be—notified him a tow truck was on the way and to sit tight. His stomach revolted at his wonder of how long they’d need to sit tight—before the tow truck arrived or his vehicle slipped down the incline. He couldn’t remember the last time he prayed—really prayed—but he took a moment to say a silent prayer for their safety and Madison’s health.
Concern swamped him because throughout the abundance of vehicles that arrived with sirens blaring and the jolting of the truck as they pulled it back onto the road. Madison didn’t wake. Christ, his heart dropped to his stomach in pani
c. Had he killed her? That ugly thought played around in his mind and turned his insides out.
As soon as the truck was settled on even ground, he removed his seat belt and slid to Madison, his fingers on her neck, checking for a pulse. An EMT opened the door and told him not to move her. Feeling a strong pulse, he dropped his head and released the breath he’d held. Thank God she was alive.
Reluctantly, he exited the vehicle and stepped aside so the EMTs could work on her. His gut clenched when they put a C-collar on her. He knew it was just in case, but anger at the man who’d done this stormed him and scared him with the fact that she might actually need it. Removing her from the truck, the EMTs treated her like she was precious cargo. The way she should be treated.
When Brad tried to go with her, he was stopped by the state police to make his statement and get his truck towed off. The trooper assured him that he’d take him to the hospital as soon as they finished. Brad wanted to fight him on it, but knew the man was only doing his job. Okay for now since he couldn’t do anything for Madison at the moment, but he’d best be there by the time she woke up. His heart couldn’t take anything less than that. That told him more than he’d known how he felt for her.
She wasn’t aware, but things were going to change for them. His heart was involved now, and he wanted her to be a part of his future. A future they could build together. He knew it wouldn’t be easy to win her, but he wouldn’t give up. That heart of his knew that they were destined to be together.
MADISON woke confused… and scared. She was on her back and looking at a bunch of bright lights as she passed them. It was like an amusement park ride where you had no control over where the ride took you, and it turned her stomach, just as those rides did.
Noises. People talking, and then someone wearing a frog-covered scrub top leaned over her. “Oh, you’re awake. The doctor will be happy to hear that.” Yet, the frog-covered scrub top lady didn’t stop moving Madison.
Panic hit her hard when she realized she was in a hospital. As her pulse pounded through her veins, she tried to think of what had happened to get her here. Madison attempted to turn her head to the lady who’d spoken to her, but she couldn’t move her neck. Her panic escalated. Was she paralyzed? A sudden whoosh of despair railed through her at the thought. No. She refused to accept it. She couldn’t be.
It didn’t register right away that when her hands were reaching for her neck that she couldn’t be paralyzed if she could move her arms.
“Hold still,” the same woman said. “It’s just a C-collar. It’s a precaution. We’re on our way to X-ray now. After the doctor says its safe, we’ll get it off you.”
Relief surged through her, but worry still crowded her as she searched her mind for what had happened.
The dinner. A vehicle ramming them. Brad.
They’d been driving, and then they’d been hit by another car. Oh God, was he okay? She tried to sit up, but a hand on her shoulder guided her back down. “Settle down. We’re almost there.”
“Brad,” she said.
“Who?” the woman answered.
She wet her dry lips. “He was in the truck with me.”
The nurse shook her head. “You were the only one brought in from the accident.”
No. No. No. Was he dead? Did he not get brought in because he’d died and they waited for something other than an ambulance to remove his body? Her insides churned at the thought of Brad dead. She couldn’t accept it any more than she’d accepted that she might be paralyzed. But, he wasn’t here. Her heart crushed, and she wasn’t sure it could be repaired. No. Not Brad.
Her brain righted, and she thought maybe—just maybe—he was okay and hadn’t needed to go to the hospital. But, why wasn’t he here with her now? She bit her bottom lip with worry.
After X-rays and the doctor agreeing she was fine, they removed the collar from her stiff neck muscles. She rubbed it, happy to have the uncomfortable reminder she’d been hurt away from her body.
“You hit your head on the side window pretty hard. You’ll probably feel some pain in your entire body from the impact of the two vehicles. I’ll prescribe you something for it,” the doctor said, tapping the screen of a tablet. He looked up at her. “I’m worried about your concussion. Unless you have someone who can wake you and check on you all night, I’m going to admit you.”
“She’s got someone,” Brad said, slipping inside the tiny room and taking up all the available space with his presence. Her heart jumped at the sight of him with his jacket and bowtie off, and the sleeves of his white dress shirt rolled up. She wondered if his jacket was like her dress and had white powder on it from the airbag. Either way, he looked rough and sexy, dressed how he was in the exam room.
The doctor’s head swiveled back to her from Brad. “Okay.” Then he went into what Brad should do, expect and look out for because she’d been knocked unconscious. That almost sent her over the edge, and her anger began to flare. She’d been run off the road and injured. Someone had deliberately hurt her. Her stomach tightened at the thought, but it didn’t stop her from wanting revenge.
Once the doctor released her and they left the exam room, Madison wondered how they were getting home. Had his truck been salvageable?
“Were you hurt?” she asked him now that the focus wasn’t on her.
“Nah. Maybe a bruise from the seat belt, but nothing I can’t live with.”
“How’s your truck?”
He grimaced, and her heart went out to him. She knew he loved his truck by the way he cared for it. “It’s going to need some work.”
“Then how are we getting home?”
Reaching over, he clasped their hands together, and she let him. It felt good. Right. “Matt’s on his way. He should be here shortly. Let’s sit in the waiting room until he shows.”
Dressed in her formal dress, they sat in the waiting room with open stares at them. Brad didn’t seem to care as he tossed one arm over her shoulder and his other captured her hand. Both thumbs—as if in unison—rubbed gentle circles on the back of her hand and her collarbone. His touch settled her, and the unconscious caresses warmed her. Her heart fluttered.
Thankfully Matt arrived in short order, and they left. Instead of escorting her to the front seat, he opened the back door, and after she slid into the seat, he gently buckled her in before moving around the SUV to the other side and slipping into his own seat.
“Thanks, bro,” Brad told Matt, who didn’t seem perplexed that no one sat in the front seat beside him.
“Anytime.” Matt drove his SUV, that she’d learned he’d driven from Kentucky, out of the parking lot and made his way to the highway back to Baltimore.
The SUV was eerily quiet, and she could sense the agitation shooting off Brad in waves.
“Casden and Rogers,” he said.
Matt nodded but didn’t turn back to them. Keeping his eyes on the road, he said, “Maybe.”
“No maybe about it,” Brad stated. “It had to be them.”
“Hmm,” Matt murmured before clearing his throat. “What happened tonight? At the dinner?”
Madison had a feeling the question was meant for Brad, so she remained quiet, watching the conversation and men. Matt appeared so calm, as if there wasn’t a threat against Madison.
“What do you mean? We ate and mingled. Saw Dad and Elizabeth.”
“Did you ask questions like you’d planned?”
Brad tensed. “Shit.”
They quieted again, and Madison didn’t understand what had happened. Did they have some twin thing going on to communicate? Not able to stand the thick fog of tension in the SUV, she asked, “What does that matter?”
Reaching over, Brad clasped her hand, and she didn’t pull it back. No longer wishing to question her feelings—their feelings—she decided to relax into the touch and let it settle over them. Deciding that, she took in the strength and warmth he held in his hand. Their connection did funny things in her stomach. This hand holding was the start to something
great.
“That means,” he began and then squeezed her hand, “that if there’s something to hide, someone wouldn’t want me digging around in it.”
“I still don’t see how—” It hit her what he meant. “Do you mean they could’ve been after you instead of me?” Her stomach clenched at the thought. Whether it was because he put her in danger or whether he’d been in danger, she didn’t know what bothered her most.
“Right. It could’ve been me they were trying to silence. I’m sorry.”
The first apology he’d given her was necessary. The second one really wasn’t even though she’d been glad to hear it. Neither was this one required. It wasn’t his fault, even if they were after him. She squeezed his hand. “Don’t be sorry.”
“What are you going to do?” Matt asked with a quick turn to look back at his brother.
“I’m not sure now,” Brad admitted. “When I thought it was Casden and Rogers, I thought to stick to her.” He looked at Madison and, even in the dark SUV, she could see the intensity in his eyes. It burned down to her soul. “But if it’s from my past, that could be dangerous to Madison.”
What did she want? If it had been Casden and Rogers, she wanted Brad by her side. She wouldn’t be afraid to admit she was wrong, and since they’d escalated, she wanted full protection. But if it was from him…. She wanted to help him find out what he was seeking. She couldn’t help it—she cared about what happened to him.
Before she could voice her choice, Matt spoke up, “I guess it’s a good thing I’m here then.”
Madison swallowed. She should be happy someone would be there as a barrier to doing something stupid with Brad. What would be stupid though? Now that she had these feelings for him swirling inside her, she wasn’t sure what the limit would be. She chewed on her lip, trying to decide whether her libido appreciated his brother being there or not.
“How’s Dad?” Matt asked. “I haven’t seen him in a long time.”
