The Mall itself had been a favorite place to walk, especially in good weather. There were enough benches scattered about that she could walk or sit and eat her lunch on those rare days when she made herself slow down for an hour and just…well, slow down.
The green of the grass, the majesty of the trees, even the way such busy and well-known streets intersected this park—all would be missed.
Maybe I’ll get a couple of these blown up and framed. She could hang them on the wall, back in Lusty, and when she felt nostalgic, she could look up and remember.
It’s too bad that I won’t be here for the cherry blossoms this year. Nancy mentally shrugged. Life often sucked and…she let the thought drop. I definitely need to get home, and spend some time with my mother and Grandma Kate. She’d allowed cynicism to get a toe-hold in her thinking process. She needed to eradicate that bitch.
As she stood and just took in this part of the Mall, Nancy snapped a series of eight pictures, capturing about thirty seconds of time. She would have snapped another, but just then her phone rang.
Looking at the call display, she shook her head. How does she always know? Nancy accepted the call, even as she headed for her car. It would be a challenge not to mention her plans. She wanted to surprise everyone when she showed up in Lusty in a few days’ time.
“Hey, Grandma Kate! I was just thinking about you.”
* * * *
Tobin’s gaze tracked the curvy blonde as she put the phone up to her ear and walked off toward the Capitol. He slid a glance to the man beside him, but he’d gone back to pretending to read his newspaper, pointedly ignoring him. No, he’d been far too focused on their transaction and tucking that envelope full of cash beneath his attaché case to notice the pretty photographer at all.
Good. That gives me another edge on the bastard. Tobin had a feeling he was going to need all the advantages he could muster with this one.
He got up from the bench as if he was a man on his way back to work, which, in a way, he was.
He kept his gaze on the blonde and followed her.
She talked as she walked while rummaging through her purse at the same time. Tobin considered making a grab for her cell phone while she was distracted by her call and her search. That would probably be the best way to go about it. If he came up behind her and then grabbed it and ran, she’d be so thrown off guard that by the time she reacted, he’d be gone. A quick look of the road up ahead told him that was doable. He knew this town better than most cab drivers.
Increasing his speed, Tobin gained on her, and was nearly at the point of no return. He inhaled deeply and prepared to make his move.
The blonde extended her arm, pointed a key fob at a Buick parked in the front corner of a small parking lot next to the sidewalk, and seconds later, she was inside the car.
Fuck. Tobin kept walking, allowing himself only a split second look at the woman. Pretty blonde. Then his gaze flashed down to the license plate number.
He repeated it over and over to himself even as he pulled his own cell phone out and made a note of the plate number. If she had been a tourist, he would have had a problem. But since hers had been a District plate, he figured her for a government worker. That likely meant a low rent apartment with minimal security. It had been a long time since he’d committed a break and enter, but he had the chops for it. He just needed the blonde’s address.
His friend Sammy could get him the information he needed, probably in less than five minutes. He keyed in Sammy’s number and waited for the man to answer. Tobin had no time to lose.
He had to relieve the lady of her cell phone—the sooner, the better.
* * * *
Nancy jerked awake, wondering what had pulled her from a sound sleep. It didn’t feel as if it could be morning already. No light shone through her bedroom window, but she’d done a good job of closing the drapes when she’d come to bed, so that didn’t mean anything.
She picked up her cell phone that was on her bedside table and checked the time. It was only two! Nancy set the phone back and sighed. She needed to get a full night’s rest. She had a long few days of driving ahead of her.
A swoosh kind of sound from the living room made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end—and her had reaching once more for the bedside table. The wood made no sound as the drawer slid open. Nancy kept her gaze trained on her open bedroom door. Once she felt the cold metal of her Walther PPK against her palm, once her fingers curled around the handle and she lifted the small handgun from its resting place, she tossed her blankets aside and swung her legs to the floor. At least she knew now what had awakened her.
Nancy looked down at the tank top and shorts she’d worn to bed. Thank God I don’t sleep naked. She got to her feet and walked silently to her bedroom door. Holding the gun in her right hand, she leaned her left shoulder against the door frame. All of her focus went to listening. She heard more sounds, someone moving around, and then the slide of something against a table. Her coffee table? Then another sound, as if something was being dropped…and that one told her exactly what was happening.
Someone was in her living room going through her things!
As silently as possible, she eased out the open door of her bedroom and into the hallway. No lights burned in her apartment, but there was some ambient light filtering through the window in the living room so that the room ahead was visible. Though not bright, the light certainly was enough to see by. She’d been in total darkness in her bedroom. Her eyes had already adjusted to the change. She continued to inch closer to that room at the end of the hall. Nancy cast a quick glance at her front door. It was still closed, and the safety chain still in place where she’d set it before bed, the extra bolt lock still locked in place.
Bastard must have come in through the balcony door. Nancy couldn’t recall if she’d locked the damn thing or not. My last night in DC and I’m the victim of a second story man. Just one more reason to be damn glad she was moving back home to Lusty. She tried to keep her sense of humor even as she fought back her fear. Do burglars usually come to the scene of their crimes armed? Nancy sincerely hoped this one hadn’t.
Just another couple of steps and she’d be there. She was so close to the room, she could hear the bastard rifling through…something, and could hear a muttered curse. The burglar was a man.
Nancy inhaled deeply through her mouth, and tried to steady her nerves. Stretching so that she could make a quick visual check, she jerked forward, scanned, and then pulled herself back. He was standing beside the sofa going through her purse!
Nancy thumbed off the safety. The tiny click sounded like an explosion to her ears…and then all movement in the living room stopped.
Crap, he heard me. There was only one thing to do. She stepped forward and brought her gun down, aiming at her intruder. “Stop right there. Put your hands up!”
He seemed a fair bit taller than her, wore a ski mask, and was dressed all in dark clothing. Looking at him, Nancy felt no recognition. Whoever this man was, she didn’t know him. The room was too dark to see the color of his eyes. Nancy shivered, chilled, and realized the balcony door had been left wide open.
“I said put your hands up.” It was very hard not to sound frightened, but she was a Jessop and didn’t even consider backing down.
The burglar moved, whipping her purse at her, spinning on his heel, running for the balcony. Nancy fired her gun, the explosion deafening. She missed him, but saw plaster spray into the room.
Then he was through the balcony door, grasped the railing in both hands and vaulted over the wrought iron. Nancy blinked, and then ran toward that door, not stopping until she was looking over the railing to the grass below.
The grass, and the grounds within her sight were deserted, not a soul in sight.
“Shit!” She wondered if any of her neighbors had reported the shot. Giving one last scan to the grounds below, she shook her head and re-entered her apartment. She knew enough not to close the door or touch her purs
e. Cursing, because she knew she likely wouldn’t get any more sleep that night, Nancy Jessop put the safety back on her Walther PPK and headed back to her bedroom.
To ward off the chill, she donned her robe and stepped into her slippers. Then she scooped up her cell phone and called the police.
Chapter 2
A few weeks later at Lusty Appetites…
“Eli Barton and Jeremiah Winthrop, you just turn right around and go back to where you came from! I can’t further your careers anymore.” She folded her arms across her chest and gave them what could only be called a superior grin. “I no longer work for Senator Cordell. In fact, I no longer even live in DC. So y’all just wasted your time following me. Now, get the hell out of here. Go lobby someplace else.”
The scene that had played out just a few short minutes before replayed in her mind. Nancy frowned. The more times those damn words I yelled play in my head, the bitchier I sound.
She’d fully expected a far different reaction from the two of them, and a far different result than what actually happened.
“Okay, cousin. Spill it.”
Nancy jerked her attention away from a beautiful, if daunting sight—her Grandma Kate sitting and chatting quite merrily with those two handsome-as-sin lobbyists, Eli Barton and his best friend Jeremiah Winthrop.
Former lobbyists, if they’d been telling the truth when she’d confronted them a few minutes ago.
She met her Cousin Rebecca’s gaze, then, as if she couldn’t help herself, looked back at Eli and Jeremiah. What were they saying to Grandma Kate? And hell, what was she saying to them? Nancy had to admit to feeling more than a little miffed. She’d made it appear very plain that she wanted those two men to leave—and yet, there was her grandmother, apparently making them feel welcome and right at home. Why the hell didn’t they clear out when I told them to? Every other time she’d asked them to leave, they’d done as she’d asked. What were they up to? Why were they really here?
Nancy’s gaze strayed to where her parents were sitting. She wasn’t even going to acknowledge the just-on-the-verge-of-disappointment look she had received from her parents when she’d trooped back to her seat after telling those two lawyers off.
That’s not disappointment, that’s curiosity. Feeling a little guilty for your rudeness, there, cupcake? Maybe she was, but what choice had she had?
“Ahem.”
Nancy felt her face heat just slightly. Using what felt like every bit of will at her command, she turned her gaze away from the table near the window and put it on Rebecca.
“Yes?”
Rebecca shook her head as if frustrated, but her smile gave her away. “Nancy, who are those men, and why does the sight of them chatting with Grandma Kate put that mixture of fear and hope in your eyes?”
“Fear and hope? Oh, please. I think you’re deluded, cousin.”
“No, I’m an artist, cousin. I see things others miss. Now, spill it.”
Nancy sighed. She’d gone off half-cocked the minute those two had walked into Lusty Appetites, making a scene at her cousin Gord’s engagement party. She had felt a flare of hope, seeing them. And then reality intruded—or rather, Nancy’s version of reality. She’d jumped to the conclusion that the two of them had followed her here to Lusty in order to get her to arrange for them to see Senator Cordell. Only, if what they’d said could be believed, they’d come to Lusty for…her. So she’d opened her mouth and there they sat.
The only question was, could she believe them?
They’re Washington lobbyists, you twit. Isn’t that what they call a rhetorical question?
Nancy told her too-busy imagination to shut the hell up and let her think. Focusing on Rebecca she said, “Their names—”
“Eli Barton and Jeremiah Winthrop. Everyone in Lusty knows their names by now. What I want to know is, who are they to you?”
My very own personal sexual fantasy come to life. No, she couldn’t—wouldn’t—say that. In fact, she shouldn’t even be thinking that. “They’re lobbyists, currently working for Darnell Associates. That’s a large firm that takes on anything from environmental concerns to corporate protection issues.”
“Not anymore, apparently.” Rebecca’s eyes sparkled with humor. “I do believe they said they quit their jobs.”
The whole restaurant heard your exchange with those two hunks, cupcake. Nancy shrugged. “Maybe I’ve known them for a few years. And, maybe they’ve been sniffing around for a while, asking me out.”
Rebecca waved her hand in the air, her impatience showing. “Yes, yes, I’ve figured out that much all by myself. What I need to know—what I need to understand, actually—is why you’re denying yourself what you so very clearly want.”
Nancy didn’t think, she just answered. “I’m fat.”
“Bullshit.”
Nancy frowned at her cousin. “Hey, you shouldn’t be so fast to discount body image issues out of hand. Some of us have them, you know.”
“I do know. And I also know that the Nancy Jessop I grew up with never had any lack of self-esteem or self-confidence about her body, or anything else.”
“The Nancy Jessop you grew up with lived a charmed life in this virtual paradise called Lusty. The real world isn’t nearly so nurturing or kind. In fact, it’s not nurturing or kind at all.”
Rebecca tilted her head to one side. Her gaze softened, as did her voice. “I know that. But I didn’t think it would be enough to knock all your good sense out of you.”
Nancy sighed. She’d gone from college in New York straight to working for Senator Cyrus Cordell—his daughter, Iris, had been one of her political science professor’s teaching assistants, and her friend.
She’d never told anyone from home about her one and only affair in college. The experience had been too humiliating to even think about, let alone relate to anyone out loud. And while she’d gone on after that debacle to have one more relationship, that relationship hadn’t really mattered to her. She hadn’t been in love with her second lover, not the way she had been—or thought she had been—with her first.
Not the way she knew she could be with Eli and Jeremiah, if she let down her guard for as much as five seconds.
Rebecca leaned closer, and laid her hands over Nancy’s. She didn’t know what her artist cousin had seen on her face, but whatever it had been wasn’t being mocked.
“Nance, I’d made the decision to go after Greg, after so many years had passed between our one and only intimate encounter. He’d hurt me terribly the morning after—unintentionally, as it turned out, but still. I even knew about Cody. I knew I might be fighting an uphill battle. I was scared, more scared than I’d ever been because I loved Greg so much. But I had to try. Because I simply couldn’t move on from him until I did. And I didn’t want to have any regrets. I didn’t want to get old and look back and wonder what might have been if only I’d had the courage to do something.”
Nancy couldn’t look away from Rebecca’s gaze. Whatever emotions had been playing across her own face, she suspected her cousin had recognized and understood them, because she’d experienced them, too.
“The thing is, I knew that if I wanted to be happy—really down deep in my soul happy—then I had to risk looking like a fool. I had to decide to take that step.”
Nancy mentally stepped away from her own wrangling and focused on her beautiful cousin. She didn’t have any doubt that decision—to try—hadn’t come easily for Rebecca. “From what I heard, those two adventurers came to you.”
“Yes.” Rebecca very pointedly looked over at the table where Kate was still talking to Eli and Jeremiah. Then she met Nancy’s gaze again. “We seem to have that much in common, don’t we? The question is, why are you still sitting here with me?”
Nancy sat back and exhaled. She didn’t like that Rebecca was suggesting—gently, but suggesting nonetheless, that she was a coward.
She liked even less that it was true.
She’d thought to come home to pursue what would make h
er happy. She’d also thought to take some time to get over the two men who’d walked through the door of Lusty Appetites just a half hour before.
If they were telling the truth, and they had quit their jobs and come to her—maybe she didn’t have to keep trying to get over them.
Well, at least, not just yet. She’d have to, of course, eventually. Those two were far too big-city slick to be happy in a place like Lusty for very long.
But, until then maybe we could explore the possibilities.
Nancy thought about that cheeky grin her cousin was sending her. Being a woman married to two men likely provided Rebecca with all sorts of things to grin about.
Nancy had never experienced being the filling in a man sandwich, but she’d certainly imagined it. It was kind of hard not to, growing up in Lusty.
When Rebecca nodded, Nancy shrugged. There was no time like the present, was there? “Okay, wish me luck.”
“That’s not what I’m gonna wish you.” Rebecca winked. Nancy had a hard time controlling the urge to laugh.
Nancy didn’t for one minute think there could be anything permanent between her and those two lobbyists. But she should at least go and talk to them, instead of being such a shrew. And who knew? Maybe they could make a memory or two before they headed back—as they inevitably would—to the district.
She got to her feet and directed her steps over to where the men were sitting and chatting with Kate Benedict. They all three turned to watch her approach.
In Kate’s eyes she read approval. Eli’s gaze was cool, but Jeremiah…Jeremiah looked as if he could already see her naked, and actually liked what he saw.
“Gentlemen, may I buy you a cup of coffee?”
Kate stood. Showing their manners, both Eli and Jeremiah got to their feet when she did. Kate reached for Nancy’s hand and gave it a squeeze. “You sit, sweetheart, and have a nice visit with your friends—they’ve come a long way just to see you.” As an admonition it was fairly mild. The fact that it had come from Grandma Kate increased its sting.
Love Under Two Undercover Cops [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 2
