“I know.”
“Did your family ranch?”
“Yep. Until my dad retired.”
“You never wanted to raise cattle?”
“Absolutely not.”
During their conversation Nick had found a parking space near their room and parked the car. She helped him by carrying her bag while he got his, then he followed her up the stairs.
This was getting to feel com fort ably familiar, he realized. The thought was dismaying.
He had a sense of déjà vu when he opened the door and waited for Ashley to enter. There was very little difference in the layout of this room to the one the night before. At least this one was large enough to accommodate two queen-size beds, and the bathroom was larger. There was a sink in the bathroom, as well as one at a counter outside the bathroom.
Ashley walked over to the two large windows and looked outside. “People are actually swimming out there. The pool must be heated.”
“Better them than me,” Nick responded, placing his bag on the luggage rack. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starved. Do you want to change before we eat?”
She turned and smiled at him. Her smile did something to him, he wasn’t certain what. Somehow the stiffening left his knees and he felt wobbly just looking at her.
“I can wait. We need to get you some food. You’ve had a long day since breakfast.”
They returned to the car and continued along the access road until they spotted a Western-style restaurant that seemed to have attracted a fairly large crowd of cars.
The Western motif had been carried on inside, as well. While they waited to be seated, Ashley studied the Western prints on the walls. By the time they were shown to a booth in a quiet corner of the place, she was telling him about a place she’d visited when she’d lived in Colorado. Her story reminded him of one about growing up in Wyoming.
By the time they reached the coffee-and-dessert stage, Nick realized they’d been chatting like old friends. Ashley no longer wore her concealing cap and her hair glinted in the soft lighting around them. Her eyes sparkled as she shared various memories with him.
He was taken off guard by how similar they were in many respects. Their life experiences were vastly different, but their view of the world around them coincided to a surprising degree.
On an impulse, Nick picked up his glass and nodded to her. “Happy New Year, Ashley. My toast is for a happy reunion for you and your family very soon.”
With a smile she picked up her glass, which, like his, contained iced tea, and said, “Thank you, Nick. I appreciate the thought.”
“It’s too bad all of this had to happen. Otherwise, you would have flown back to Washington today with your friends.”
“If I can help to find my family, I would much prefer to be here than sitting back in Washington wringing my hands.”
He looked at the table, then asked, “Would you like anything else?”
She shook her head, smiling. “I’m very content, thank you.”
He signaled the waiter, who brought the bill. After paying, he helped Ashley with her coat before stepping outside.
They returned to the motel and their room in silence. Nick glanced at his watch. “I need to call Washington,” he said.
She nodded. “While you do that, I think I’ll take a shower.” She removed some items from her bag and went into the other room.
As soon as Chambers answered, Nick asked, “Any news?”
“The vice president received a call a few hours ago. The caller said members of a well-known terrorist group are holding the president and his family at an undisclosed location. They played a tape of his voice to prove they had him.”
“Which means nothing. He’s always being taped.”
“This one addressed Vice President Freeman, quietly asking him to agree to their demands.”
“Does the VP believe the tape is authentic?”
“He’s been closeted with presidential advisers since the call came in. It was recorded, of course, and they’ve been studying it. He’s also quietly contacting the cabinet members who are gathering here at the White House. The family is due home tomorrow. I don’t think we’re going to be able to keep this quiet after that.”
“What are the demands?” Nick asked, curious.
“I wasn’t told, but it’s my guess they have to do with some of their leaders being held at Guantanamo.”
“Any guesses where they might be holding them?”
“Someone suggested the islands in the Caribbean would be a good place to look,” Chambers replied. “There would be easy access to any number of islands from the water.”
“Is that what you think?”
“Hell, it’s as good as any. I want to know what happened to the security ship and the agents on board. We had some good men on those two ships,” Chambers said.
“It’s possible they’re all being held together.”
“Somehow I doubt it. I’m afraid our men would be considered expendable.”
“I was going to ask to speak to the VP, but under the circum stances, there’s no need to disturb him,” Nick said.
“Everything all right where you are?”
“Couldn’t be better,” he said cheerfully.
“You sound better. I’ve been worrying about your state of mind. Ashley still giving you trouble?”
“No. We’ve managed to come to an understanding.”
“Good. Well, bring her home when you feel it’s safe to do so.”
Nick hung up and looked around the room. He’d heard the shower shut off some time ago.
Ah, now he heard her hair dryer. He piled the two pillows on one of the beds into a stack and stretched out with a sigh, thinking about what he’d just learned.
They needed to get to New Orleans as quickly as possible, which meant driving straight through. Ashley had offered to drive earlier on this trip. Maybe he’d take her up on her offer.
Ashley stepped out of the bathroom wearing the T-shirt he’d loaned her. It certainly never looked that good on him.
“You look comfortable,” she said, smiling, “and relaxed.”
“Looks can be deceiving.”
He sat up on the side of the bed. “Come here…”
She walked over and paused in front of him. He placed his hands on the back of her thighs and slowly moved them upward. She shivered. He could feel her bare buttocks. He smoothed his hands over the rounded shape. “You aren’t wearing anything under this, are you?” he said gruffly.
“Uh-uh,” she replied, sounding a little Breathless. “You, on the other hand, are wearing entirely too many clothes.”
He’d taken off his shoes while he’d been on the phone. He immediately pulled off his sweater and undershirt together, unfastened his jeans and pulled them off along with his under-pants. With a swift tug his socks were off, as well.
“You were saying?”
“Wow. You’re fast. Did you learn that at school, too?”
“Let’s face it, darlin’, we’re trained to be men of action.” Her eyes widened when she saw that he had a full erection. “See what you do to me? I’ve been in this condition most of the day.”
“Is that what you meant when you said I was playing a dangerous game?”
He slipped the T-shirt over her head, then cupped her breasts with his hands. “Mmm-hmm,” he murmured, his tongue outlining the darker flesh at the tip of one of her breasts.
She placed her hands on his shoulders and with steady force pushed him onto his back, his feet still on the floor. She straddled him and leaned over him so that once again her breasts were enticingly close to his mouth.
“How dangerous?” she whispered.
He lazily flicked his tongue over her offering, enjoying watching her skin ripple in reaction. “Speaking of moves, where did you learn that one?”
She chuckled. “In a movie. I’ve always wondered how it would feel to take control like this.”
“Darlin’, you’ve been in control
all along if you’d just known.”
“You mean I could have done this to you at the chalet?”
“I, uh, believe we might have attracted an audience if you had.”
She stared down at him. “Oh, Nick, I want you so much.”
“The feeling’s mutual…so why don’t you have your wicked way with me?”
“This is the only move I learned,” she admitted. “The scene ended and the next scene they were, uh, in another position and—”
“You seem to be doing just fine without more instruction.” He lifted her slightly and eased her down on him.
She felt so good and he wanted her so badly he was about to burst. She teased him with a slow, rocking rhythm that had him clutching the bedclothes beneath him.
She looked radiantly happy, her gaze fastened to his in silent communion. He began to meet her thrusts with He began to meet her thrusts with his own, increasing the pace until she suddenly froze in place for a timeless moment before collapsing against him. She held him tightly, quivering. Nick couldn’t resist the convulsive pull deep inside of her, and he suddenly exploded, his body bucking.
It was at that precise moment that he realized he’d forgotten to use protection.
As soon as he caught his breath, he scooped her up and headed to the other room.
“What are you doing?”
“You said you wanted to shower with me. Now’s your chance.”
Much later, the lights were out and they were tucked in bed, her head on his shoulder. He thought she was asleep when she asked, “Have you ever been married?”
That didn’t take much thought. “Nope.” After a moment, he said, “My kind of work is tough on marriages. Just ask Ron.”
After another long pause, she asked, “Have you ever been engaged?”
Now there was a question he wasn’t certain he was ready to answer. He’d never discussed his personal life with anyone before. He also realized that not answering her would hurt Ashley, and he didn’t want to do that.
She deserved his honesty.
He shifted, so that he could slide one of his arms behind his head. “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I was. Once upon a time, long, long ago.”
“But you aren’t now.”
“That’s right.”
“Was it after you became part of the Secret Service?”
“The engagement was, yes, but Susan and I met in college. We’d dated back then before I graduated and went off to make a name for myself. She went on to law school while I was working overseas. We lost track of each other until I came back to the States and was assigned to a Washington post. We happened to run into each other one night at an embassy party. That’s when I discovered that she had been hired by a Washington law firm. It was the old ‘small world’ thing, you know?”
“Sounds as though fate brought the two of you together again.”
Nick discovered that this was going to be tougher to talk about than he’d thought. This had all happened more than five years ago and he’d been over it a long time. And yet…
He cleared his throat. “Yeah. I guess that’s what we thought.”
“So what happened?”
He pulled away from her and sat up on the side of the bed. Although she had never suggested that they might have a future together, Nick knew that Ashley wouldn’t be making love with him if she didn’t have some very strong feelings for him.
Maybe this discussion might convince her that he wasn’t good marriage material. Hadn’t Susan already figured that out?
With his back to her and without turning on a light, Nick said, “I asked her to marry me. She accepted. I gave her a ring. We set a date, notified our families—all the usual stuff you do.” He got up and went over to the sink, found a glass and filled it with water. “But life has a nasty habit of getting in the way of our plans Sometimes,” he said, turning around and looking at her across the room.
The room was much darker than the one the night before. He couldn’t see her face…and she couldn’t see his. She waited.
He wished to hell he hadn’t started this. What difference did it make, anyway? He was no longer engaged. End of story.
She continued to wait.
Finally, he walked over to the windows and looked outside. He could see the mountains rising in the distance, dark shadows against a darker sky.
“Uh, we were both really busy,” he finally said. “It was a campaign year and I was traveling quite a bit. She understood because her firm was working on a huge lawsuit, which was taking up all of her time. We stayed in touch by phone, continued to make our plans, talked about the future, a honeymoon and all those things that people do.”
Everything was coming back much too clearly. He could remember how much he’d looked forward to their telephone conversations…how much he’d missed her.
In a gruff voice he said, “One night I called her and she was really upset. I tried to get her to tell me what was wrong. She kept saying we’d talk about it when I got back to Washington. Finally, I got angry and pointed out that it would be another six weeks and whatever it was that had upset her needed to be dealt with then, not later.”
“Did she tell you?”
He turned away from the window and faced her. “Oh, yeah. She told me. She’d taken a home pregnancy test about an hour before I’d called. It was positive.”
“Oh. And she was afraid you might be upset because of all the wedding plans?”
He stood very still. “You could say that, since there was no way in hell I could have gotten her pregnant.”
“Oh.”
Nick could picture himself in that other hotel room that night, stretched out across the bed, talking with his fiancée. He could still remember the print hanging over the bed, the exact color and design of the multicolored bedspread and the matching drapes. He could hear the low muttering of the television he’d for gotten to turn off.
He forced himself back into the present and deliberately sat down on his side of the bed. This close, he could see the pale oval that was Ashley’s face.
“It seems that one night—and she swore it had happened only once—she and one of her co-workers had worked late as usual on their big case. One thing lead to another and…”
As far as Nick was concerned, that pretty much told the story.
Ashley waited, but when it became clear he didn’t intend to say anything else, she said, “That must have been tough for you to hear.”
“It wasn’t one of my shining moments, I’ll admit.”
Now there was an understatement. If he hadn’t been clear across the continent from her, he wasn’t sure to this day what he might have done. In this case, his job had saved his sanity by keeping him away from Washington until he could adjust to the new turn of events.
Nick realized after a while that he was sitting there nude in the dark and that he was cold. He slid under the covers and Ashley immediately wrapped her arms around him and held him close.
“But everything turned out okay, as it happens,” he finally said, feeling her warmth radiating along his side. “You know the old saying—all’s well that ends well. It ended well enough.”
“How?”
“She married her co-worker, they had a little girl, and they are sublimely happy practicing law in the same office. A match made in heaven.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
From the sound of her voice, his flippant tone hadn’t fooled her much.
“It sounds trite to say that I’m glad it happened before we were married, but that happens to be the truth,” he said.
“I’m sorry for prying into your past, Nick. I know talking about it is painful.”
“You have no reason to apologize. For some reason you seem to think I’m still carrying a torch for Susan. I’m not. I still care for her, but the man she chose to marry is as opposite to me as he can be. If that’s who makes her happy, then we were saved from a disaster.”
“I think she was crazy to mess up
what the two of you had.”
“No. I had no right to think I was husband material. I’ve been on my own for too many years. I prefer it that way.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-two.”
“That’s pretty ancient, all right.”
“I’m sure it is, to a twenty-one-year-old.”
“I’ll be twenty-two next month—February fourteenth.”
“Really? So you were a Valentine baby.”
“Yep. Mom said the nurse brought me to her on a red satin pillow shaped like a heart. I still have it, as a matter of fact.”
“Which makes you a romantic, I bet.”
“Sometimes. Perhaps.”
“My loss of control last night ruined your first experience with lovemaking. That should have happened with your husband. I can’t tell you how sorry I am.”
She leaned up on her elbow so that she could reach his mouth for a kiss. Then she murmured, “Please don’t go there. Neither of us deserves that. The timing may be wrong, but we both know that this is where we’ve been headed since we met. You’ve mentioned the sparks before. Why are you blaming yourself?”
He thought about that, and he thought about something else that he hadn’t put together until right now. “Talking about Susan reminds me of something she said to me back then, something that didn’t mean anything to me at the time. Now I realize that what she tried to explain happened between her and Jeff was what happened to you and me last night.”
She kissed him again. “Spontaneous combustion.” She leaned back. “Is it so wrong to want you as much as I do? We’re headed into a dangerous situation. Neither of us is certain that we’ll survive the outcome. Why can’t we enjoy this time we have together? I’m not asking for your future—just your present.”
Nick wrapped his arms around her and drew her against him.
“You’re too generous for your own good, Ashley. You need to understand that nothing can come of a relationship between us.”
“All right.”
“I mean it.”
“I know you do.”
“I’m too old for you. I’m too old to change. You have your whole life ahead of you.”
The President's Daughter Page 17
