Cat 'N Mouse

by Yvonne Harriott

  Then again if that truck hadn’t tried to run them off the road last night, the kiss wouldn’t have happened. She remembered the man in the washroom at the hotel and shuddered.

  For weeks the sense of someone watching her and following her became very real when the man threw blood on her then he tried to run them off the road last night. It had to be the same person. But who?

  Someone was trying to hurt her and if it wasn’t for Sam she would have died. When the truck slammed into them last night, she had been paralyzed with fear and she was still afraid.

  Twenty-four hours. That’s how long she’d given Sam. His time was up, but she didn’t want him to leave. He was the first person she’d met since Robyn who saw her as a person and not as a means to her father’s money. Would he stay if she asked him to?

  Slowly she got up out of the bed and headed for the shower. She stood under the hot spray and allowed the water to soothe the bruises across her right shoulder from the seatbelt.

  The one good thing that came of last night was that she hadn’t dreamt about her mother. The dreams had begun again when she had started having the eerie feeling that someone was watching her.

  Don’t think about it she told herself as she stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her. Don’t think about her scream or the man in the shadow. She was safe from him.

  Sam said he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. Should she believe him? Can she afford not to?

  • • •

  “Good morning.”

  Sam looked up from the laptop when Alexandria came into the solarium and stood by the door. Waiting. He wasn’t sure how today would play out after last night and was ready for anything she dished out. It looked like she had something to say as she shifted from one foot to the other as if trying to determine where to begin.

  He closed the webpage of the Prescott Corporation. He’d woken up earlier more convinced that her troubles had to be connected with her father and was hoping to find a connection. Matt had said he would take care of it. He couldn’t sleep and wanted to see what he could find.

  After two hours of searching the web he found nothing that would support his line of thinking. What he did find were a lot of pictures of Princess and her escapades, as one newspaper had called them. Yet, the woman in the articles he had read and the woman he’d come to know were entirely different.

  The hellcat that tried to take his head off was gone. The red carpet diva was gone. He wasn’t sure what to make of her now.

  “Hi. How are you feeling today?”

  “Fine,” she said rubbing her arms and moved to the floor to ceiling window, staring off into the distance. The sunrise casted an orange glow across the sky and she seemed mesmerized by it as it shone into the glass room.

  She had a purple bruise on her right shoulder across her chest disappearing under the white tank top. Fine wasn’t the word he would use to describe her, but he kept his mouth shut. She appeared tense, unsure of herself. He would even go as far as to say scared. It’s not like he could blame her after last night.

  “I borrowed your laptop. I hope you don’t mind,” he said, to get the conversation rolling. It’s not like she did. He’d been using it since he arrived yesterday.

  “No.” She turned to look at the laptop then up at him. “Are you still leaving?”

  She started rubbing her hands up and down her arms again, then shoved them in the pocket of her jeans. Then it hit him. His twenty-four hours of service was up. It was the bet between them.

  “You’ve every right to,” she began, looking everywhere but at him.

  Sam figured that this was her attempt at an apology, but didn’t say anything. Apologies didn’t come easy for Princess.

  “It’s just that… I don’t want to go home to the estate. Matt has his hands full trying to protect daddy’s company. And Colt is busy too, trying to protect daddy.”

  Sam watched her intently wondering where she was going. Then it hit home. She was asking for his help.

  “It finally sunk in last night that someone really wants to hurt me and I don’t know why.” She started rubbing her hands up her arms again as if she was trying to keep warm. “If it wasn’t for you last night, I’d be dead. I know my father hired you, but I don’t want you reporting to him.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’ll use what happened at the hotel and last night as leverage to get me to move back home.” She ran her hand though her hair, lifting her black curls from her shoulders.

  “Would that be so bad?”

  “I don’t want to go back there to live but right now I don’t have the energy to fight him.”

  The sadness he saw in her eyes made him wonder what drove her from her childhood home with fear of not wanting to return. He didn’t like the thought that came into his mind. All he could think of was Melanie Daniels and the way her father hurt her. He was determined that Alexandria would not meet the same fate as Melanie.

  “You give your father too much credit. You’re a smart woman with a wicked right hook.” Sam came to her defense wanting to make her smile. It didn’t. “Stand up to him.”

  “I was against it when he hired you,” she said, her bottom lip trembling. “Do you know how he convinced me to agree to get you to become my bodyguard?”

  He shook his head.

  “Two million dollars.”

  “He paid you two million dollars?”

  “No. He’d promised to give the money to Robyn’s Nest Foundation, but if I didn’t go along with his plan, he would’ve withdrawn his donation. I’m not going to bury my head in the sand any more. I’m ready to confront this stalker, but I don’t want my father in my face while I’m doing it.”

  Sam was right about Prescott. It was all about control and he controlled with money. Princess didn’t want to be controlled any more. She was growing up and wanted to stand up to her daddy. This was her first stance. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to be an easy task moving forward for her.

  He decided there and then that he would stand with Princess. That shocked him because after he lost his job, he’d never given a damn about anything or anyone, let alone sticking his neck out for anyone. Yet, here he was, putting his neck on the chopping block, going up against Warren Prescott. He just might get it chopped off.

  “Alright,” Sam said, the corner of his mouth lifted into a smile. “I’m now on your payroll. We can work out the details later. However, there is a small matter about my car.”

  “Daddy handles all the insurance stuff. I’m sure he’ll take care of it. Why didn’t you buy it brand new? Why put all that money into it to make it look like it’s brand new? Doesn’t make sense. Daddy said it’s because you couldn’t afford it brand new.”

  “Do you believe everything your father tells you?”

  She stiffened. Princess had issues with her father. As much as she wanted to cut the apron strings, she didn’t want to let go. She loved her father and wanted his approval. If she were going to stand up to Prescott then she would have to develop some backbone, with that came disapproval.

  “He’s not that bad you know.”

  “Yet you don’t want to go back home. Want to tell me why?”

  She turned her back to him. “What do we do now?”

  “I’ll take that to mean it’s none of my business; okay, fair enough. Realize though, at some point you’ll have to tell me.”

  His comment was met by silence and a stiffened back.

  “To answer your question, according to your schedule, you have to be at Robyn’s Nest within the hour. If you’re not up to it, we—”

  “I won’t let him win by hiding,” she said with a determined look on her face. The terrified woman of last night was gone and the one that stood before him was royally ticked. “He has taken enough from me. I won’t allow him to take any more.”

  “That’s not exactly what I wanted to hear, but somehow I knew you would say something like that. You’ll be fine at Robyn’s Nest. I spoke to Dennis
this morning about extra security.”

  “Oh.”

  “Dennis and Robyn care about you. I told them about all the threats on your life and explained what we needed to do to keep you safe. Robyn seemed a bit hurt that you hadn’t told her everything.”

  Sam was hoping for some sort of reaction but he’d gotten none for his observation. Her relationship with Robyn and her father was none of his business anyway. No. He didn’t believe that for one minute. There was a lot about Princess he didn’t understand…didn’t know but he wanted to find out.

  “Are you going to tell Daddy about what happened at the hotel and last night?”

  “There isn’t much to tell. Besides, I don’t report to him anymore.”

  “When he finds out he won’t be happy.”

  “And he’ll probably blame me for not doing enough to protect you from both attacks yesterday. Right now your father is not my concern. You are.”

  “What are you going to drive?”

  “The Land Rover is drivable. Matt checked it out. He said he’d take care of it this afternoon. We talked last night and he came by early this morning. He won’t say anything to your father.”

  She smiled and moved toward the sliding door. It was the first time since they’d met that she’d smiled at him without looking like she wanted to scratch his eyes out. He remembered the kiss they had shared last night. If he hadn’t stopped…his mind was wondering in dangerous territory again. He needed to focus on work.

  “What time do you want to leave?” Sam asked, pushing last night from his mind.

  “In about half an hour.”

  “Alexandria….” Sam got up, setting the computer down on the chair. “We should talk…about last night.”

  She shook her head and sighed. “I’m sorry about that.” She held up her hand. “I shouldn’t have put you in that position. It won’t happen again. While I’m in the apologetic mood, I shouldn’t have hit you the other night either.”

  “Well, I can’t honestly say I didn’t deserve it.”

  “All the same, it shouldn’t have happened.”

  Sam watched her leave, wanting to say that he wasn’t sorry at all about the kiss…wanting to explain but couldn’t find the words to begin. He felt a sense of loss somehow, yet he didn’t know from what. The hostility between then had vanished, but he wasn’t so sure he liked the employer/employee relationship that had taken its place. They were going to be in close quarters for a while and—

  “Sam!”

  His heart just about stopped when he heard her scream his name and he raced toward the bedroom. He found her standing at her door pointing into the room, finger shaking.

  She turned and clutched at his T-shirt as he stood by her. “What is that and how did it get in here?”

  A terrified look settled on her face and he knew what she thinking. Someone had broken into the condo.

  “It’s okay. She’s not going to hurt you. Elvira, what are you doing here?”

  “Elvira?” She choked out the name.

  He passed her and moved further into the bedroom and picked up the iguana from the middle of the bed. Elvira was looking right at home but the only thing was, this wasn’t her home.

  “He must’ve crawled into my duffle bag when I was packing. Say hello to Matt’s pet iguana, Elvira. I’ll call Matt to come and pick her up.”

  “Her? You brought it in here?” She asked, looking at the iguana as if wanting further assurance that it was because of him that the lizard was in her house and not because of the stalker.

  “Unintentionally I’m afraid.”

  “Thank God.” Sheer relief settled on her face. “Not that I’m happy that it’s here.”

  “I understand.”

  “Why would anyone keep that for a pet?”

  Sam held the reptile in his hand while he gently stoked its head. “Want to pet her?”

  “No thank you. It’s an overgrown lizard.”

  “Shh…she doesn’t know that,” he whispered. “Matt is quite fond of it. She won’t hurt you. Touch her.”

  Alexandria reached out to stoke it and the lizard slid out of Sam’s hand and she squealed. It crawled at lightning speed toward the living room and disappeared under the sofa. She grabbed onto to Sam’s hand and he couldn’t help but laugh.

  “It’s not funny. Find that thing and remove it from my house.”

  “It’s not that easy. I have to wait until it resurfaces.”

  “Go and find it. I’ll call Matt. Maybe he can come by today and get it.”

  She moved toward the nightstand when her phone started to ring. “I don’t care if you have to take this condo apart brick by brick. Find that overgrown lizard and remove it from my home.” She peeked around him into the living room before she turned and answered the phone. “Hello?”

  Sam watched the color drain from her face and she hung up the phone with trembling hands. “What’s wrong?”

  “The voice on the phone said you can’t save me. I’m going to die like my mother. He more or less said the same thing in the hotel washroom.”

  Chapter Eight

  Warren Prescott stood at the door of his office looking out onto the water. It was mid July and he hadn’t taken the boat out yet. There were a lot of things he hadn’t done in a while and he wanted to change that. He had wanted to spend more time with his daughter. He hadn’t wanted her to move out but she had. Things had a way of slipping away from him.

  Sienna’s face appeared before him. When he looked at Alexandria it was as if he was looking into the face of his late wife. When he’d met her she was already married but that hadn’t mattered to him. He had pursued her and had eventually lured her away from her husband. He was never one to do things the easy way. He always got what he wanted in business and his personal life, no matter the cost. Sienna had cost him. In the end she paid the ultimate price with her life.

  Looking around at his accomplishments, he wondered if all that he had was worth it. His wife was dead and his daughter had moved away from the estate, slowly pulling away from him but he vowed he would not lose her as well.

  She would move back home and join his company. That was his plan. It had always been his plan.

  Warren turned back to the desk and sat heavily in the chair. Today he was supposed to be working from home, the first time in twenty years. Yet, the only thing he was doing was reliving the past. Regret was not a part of his vocabulary but his life was unraveling around him and he couldn’t stop it.

  A knock brought his head up toward the door. “Come in.”

  “When I got into the office today, your secretary said you were working from home,” Matt said as he entered the office. “I came by to see if everything was okay. You don’t usually work from home.”

  His blond hair was pulled back in a ponytail and he was dressed in black. His security consultant had been with him for almost eight years, and he trusted the man with his life, even his daughter’s life. Matt always did what he was told. He could be controlled. He had always trusted him. His trust had never wavered until now.

  “There’s nothing wrong.” Warren closed the file in front of him.

  Matt raised his eyebrows. “If you say so.” His tone indicating he didn’t believe him. “I just had a quick chat with Colt. He said someone tampered with the brake line of Alexandria’s car. The line was cut so the brake fluid would slowly leak out. It could have been a whole lot worse than just running into Sam’s car.”

  “That’s what Colt told me. How did someone get access to her car, Matt? The building she lives in has top notch security. We made certain of that.”

  “I don’t know, but you’ve nothing to worry about. She’s safe.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “What’s really troubling you?” Matt settled into the sofa and brought his left ankle up on his right knee.

  “Samuel Jason O’Malley is what’s troubling me,” Prescott replied, as he got up from around the desk and sat at the corner facing Matt. “I hired
him on your word then I find out he has a drug habit. I don’t like things kept from me.”

  “It wasn’t my intention to keep anything from you. I was under the impression that you trusted my judgment.”

  Matt’s lips tightened in a straight line. That was the only emotion that told Warren the man was angry. He didn’t want Matt to be angry with him, but he felt the man needed to be reminded who he worked for. What was the point of having employees you can’t control? That was his issue with Sam.

  “I’m always leery of people who don’t have their hands outstretched.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is, I trust you, Matt. I know nothing of this man and what he’s capable of.”

  “I trust O’Malley. He had—past tense—some issues a long time ago. He got shot in the line of duty and he lost his way for a bit. It happens to the best of us.”

  “I’m told he got fired from Boston P.D.”

  Matt sat forward. “I can’t believe you went behind my back and had him checked out without talking to me first.”

  “This is my daughter we’re talking about. I’ll do what I have to.”

  “He didn’t get fired. What are you afraid of?”

  What was he afraid of? That Alexandria would form an alliance with Sam against him. After years of trying to hold on to his daughter he might lose her to Sam. With the dreams of her mother’s death resurfacing, he had a right to be worried. What if she remembered what really happened that night? Would she hate him?

  “She’s my daughter, Matt. I want her safe.”

  “If I had any doubts about Sam and his ability to protect Alexandria, he wouldn’t be anywhere near her. It was your idea to bring in outside help, remember? There’s no need to worry about Sam. He can get the job done. Someone tried to run them off the road last night and he handled it.”

  “Why wasn’t I told about this?”

  “Because Sam is doing what he’s paid to do, protect Alexandria. He’s good at it. Let him do it without interference.”