Shadow Keeper

by Christine Feehan

  "No, but something else you'll like."

  He tried to think what he'd purchased for her. So many sexy things. Lucia's Treasures had a spectacular collection of delicate and very sexy lingerie. Just with her straddling him, pressing tightly against his cock, he was already hard as a rock. He caught her by the nape of her neck and kissed her. Long. Slow. Commanding. She tasted like the paradise he remembered from waking her up. The more he kissed her, the more he wanted to kiss her. He wished they were alone in the car, or that there was a privacy screen.

  "Tell me," he whispered.

  "You have to guess."

  "You're deliberately getting me worked up before we go see your brother."

  She gave him her impish grin--the one that told him he had it right. "Too bad these bodyguards are here. I can think of all kinds of things we could be doing."

  "You aren't safe."

  "I'm safe enough." She kissed her way up his neck to his throat and then flicked her tongue in his ear.

  "I'm going to retaliate. Tonight. After work. I've got a few more surprises for you. In fact, woman, I'm going to torment you until you scream for mercy," he threatened. Already his mind was spinning with ideas.

  "Bring it on, baby," she whispered. "I'm more than up for the challenge." She dropped her hand between their bodies and stroked.

  White lightning streaked up his spine. That fast she'd changed the entire course of the day. He'd been so upset over the thought that Aaron could be in any way responsible for Sasha's picture ending up in the tabloids, or for trying to kill him, that he'd felt almost sick. Sasha had changed everything, laughing with him, teasing him, arousing him, giving him something else to think about when he couldn't do anything about Aaron.

  "I'm accepting your challenge," he said. "I'm looking forward to tonight."

  "So am I." The car slowed and pulled into the circular driveway in front of the Center. Enzo parked the car, and Emilio got out and opened the door for them.

  "Seat belts are worn for a reason," the bodyguard said as Sasha slid out.

  Her laughter teased every one of Giovanni's senses. "I was making certain Giovanni's was on properly."

  "I'll just bet you were," Emilio said.

  Sasha gave him her best innocent smile, but Giovanni was sure Emilio wasn't buying it. He took her hand and walked inside, the two bodyguards following behind. Sandlin was in the common room, the one he preferred with all the books and lots of couches and chairs. There were a few other patients in the room with him.

  The moment they walked in, Sandlin noticed them. His gaze jumped to his sister's face.

  "Good afternoon, Sandlin. I'm Giovanni Ferraro. Do you remember me? I came the other day with your sister, Sasha." Deliberately, he stepped into the light spilling down from the overhead bulb so that his shadow was thrown across the room. Sandlin's shadow didn't reach his, but both shadows threw out tubes, so it was only a matter of time before they connected.

  Sandlin regarded him with a sweet smile. "Nice to meet you." His gaze moved past Giovanni to rest on Sasha, then dropped on their linked hands. His smile faltered. "Wait. You came before."

  Giovanni knew he wasn't talking about Sasha. He might not remember she was his sibling, but she came often. She spent hours with him. She read to him. He had protective instincts for her, and those hadn't been wiped out by the accident.

  "That's right," Giovanni acknowledged. "I came with your sister." He stepped closer so that the two shadows merged. "I'm very much in love with her and I want to marry her. I can take care of her and protect her, but we need you to say it's all right with you. You can feel me. Feel that the things I'm saying to you are true."

  Sandlin looked from Giovanni's face to Sasha's. "I want her to come and read to me." He sounded innocent. Like a child.

  "Of course, I'll come and read to you. I'll always read to you," Sasha said.

  A woman wearing a volunteer's jacket came in carrying a tray with cookies and hot chocolate. She offered Sandlin's bodyguard the refreshments first. He smiled at her and shook his head. Giovanni liked him. He took his job very seriously. The entire time she walked around the room, handing out the cookies and chocolate, the bodyguard watched her. It was somewhat of a relief to know Sandlin was being looked after.

  Sandlin stepped closer to Giovanni. "Is she going to live with you?"

  Giovanni nodded. "As my beloved wife. I'll cherish her, Sandlin."

  Sasha's brother scrunched up his face as if thinking about it. "You feel scary."

  He was scary. Giovanni knew he was. He was a trained assassin. A bearer of justice to those able to wiggle their way out from under the system. "Never to Sasha, or you, Sandlin. For you, but never to either of you. I'll protect you both. Sasha has an enemy. He was here the other night. He brought you your key chain with the picture of Sasha on it."

  "I lost it again." Sandlin looked around the room as if he might spot it. "My friend brought it to me."

  "No, no, Sandlin." Sasha was alarmed. She let go of Giovanni's hand and stepped close to her brother. "He isn't a friend. The man who was here, who gave you the key chain, he's trying to hurt us. You can't ever be alone with him again."

  "I lost my key chain, Sasha," Sandlin said.

  "You gave it back to Sasha," Giovanni reminded.

  Sasha moved around Giovanni and took the book that was pressed tightly to Sandlin's chest. "Don't worry, Sandlin. I have your key chain. I'm keeping it safe. I'm going to read to you."

  "Right now?" His face lit up.

  Sasha nodded and gestured toward his favorite couch. He liked it because it was positioned directly below the row of lights and it illuminated his book no matter if all other overhead lighting was off. Sometimes, if he stayed up late reading, the staff turned off the other lights.

  Sasha sat at the end of the couch as she often did and Sandlin immediately lay down, his head in her lap. He handed her the book he was reading. Giovanni glanced at the cover. It was The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes. The volume was old and worn, but Sandlin held it like it was a golden treasure.

  While Sasha read to him, Giovanni drifted over to the bodyguard. "I'm Giovanni Ferraro." He held out his hand.

  The bodyguard's grip was firm but brief. "Nolan Rockman. How's it going?"

  "My question to you?"

  "It's been fairly quiet. Visitors were all confirmed. Some workmen were working on a couple of windows that were broken. They checked out, but to be sure, I kept Sandlin on the far side of the building until they were gone. He's a sweet man, Mr. Ferraro." He looked over Giovanni's shoulder at the siblings on the couch. "I can't imagine anyone trying to harm him."

  Giovanni half turned to look at them, too. His heart melted every time he saw her. Enzo had stayed with the car to make certain there weren't any presents in it when they came out, but Emilio was draped against the wall, just to the right of Giovanni, trying to look less lethal and failing miserably.

  It was Sandlin's expression that caught his eye as he looked at the two of them on the couch. He looked as if he was sitting in heaven surrounded by angels. His face held a light as he looked at Sasha as she read to him. Her face held a similar expression. Filled with love. Sweet, unconditional love. His woman had plenty of it to give and she did so without thinking once of the cost to herself.

  The light dimmed for a brief second and seemed to sway. Sasha coughed and rubbed her eyes, but continued to read. When she did it a second time, Giovanni saw tiny bits of dust floating in the rays from the bank of overhead lights. It looked for a second as if white powder spun in the flickers. The lights shimmered, as if they'd moved, and he caught a glimpse of a thin transparent line running from the seats in the couch to the light above it.

  He was moving before it really registered what was happening. Why the lights kept dimming and appeared to sway. The trip wire one identified with the military. He threw his body over Sandlin and Sasha, covering her head with his shoulders and arms, his body completely blanketing Sandlin so that his chest sm
ashed Sasha's brother's face.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The crash, as the bank of lights fell onto Giovanni's back, reverberated through the room and shook the building. He was hit so hard, for a moment he thought his back was broken. Glass shattered and fell around them, covering the couch. Shards were hot as they pierced through his clothing. The metal rod holding the bank of lights hit across his back and bounced off, rolling onto the floor. Broken plaster rained down, a cloud of it so that for a moment the room seemed white. The ceiling cracked all the way across the room and down one wall. He tried to move his bad leg, but something bit at his calf and hurt like hell.

  Emilio was there immediately, pushing the metal rod aside and gently brushing glass and plaster off Giovanni's back. "Wait, don't get up," he cautioned. "You're covered in blood."

  Giovanni took a moment to assess his physical condition. His back hurt, but it wasn't as if anything was broken. His calf hurt the worst. He lifted up just a bit, to ease his weight off the two under him. Immediately there was a flare of pain as if needles were poking into his back, but he knew the wounds were more superficial than anything else.

  "Sandlin?" Sasha's voice trembled. "Sandlin, say something. Giovanni? What happened?"

  He realized she couldn't know what had happened. He had her pinned down under him, his arms surrounding her head, his chest over her face. Poor Sandlin was in a very uncomfortable position, but he was alive. Giovanni could feel movement under his body as Sasha's brother squirmed.

  "I've got to get off them before I crush them," Giovanni warned Emilio. In three minutes his entire family was going to show up, and Stefano was going to lose his mind. Emilio would get chewed out and so would Sandlin's bodyguard. He forced his body to roll off the couch but he landed on his belly. A groan was torn from his throat as pain shot up his injured leg and flashed through his back. He knew he'd been hit with the heavy metal rod. That was the pain in his back. The leg pain worried him. He'd been off work too long waiting for the damn thing to heal to have something go wrong with it.

  "Giovanni." Sasha's voice soothed him. He could hear the alarm and a part of him was happy she cared enough to be worried.

  Emilio's hand on his shoulder prevented him from pushing up off the floor. He couldn't see Sasha or Sandlin, but he was aware the staff was already checking on the few patients who had been in the room and hustling them out.

  "You've got a large piece of glass from one of the lights in your calf," Emilio explained. "And several pieces in your back. That was an explosion," he added.

  "I got that," Giovanni said, trying not to laugh at his cousin. Emilio sounded so affronted. "Just get that shit out of me, but check Sandlin first. I think I crushed him."

  "You smashed my face." Sandlin crouched beside his head, leaning down to peer into his eyes. There was a trace of amusement, as if the man found the entire thing funny. "You have blood all over your back."

  Sasha sat on the floor beside him, stroking caresses in his hair. There were tears running down her face. "You could have been killed. What happened?"

  There was no way they could keep this to themselves. The police would already have been called by the staff. He knew the detectives assigned to Sasha's case would be coming, but Giovanni wasn't going to tell them anything he had learned--his brothers would get that information. "Baby, don't cry. I'm all right. The light structure above the couch the two of you were on fell."

  "What the fuck happened, Giovanni?"

  That heralded the arrival of his oldest brother. He found himself grinning. He reached for Sasha's hand, the movement sending another flash of pain through his back. "In case you were wondering, Stefano, I'm all right."

  "You don't look it. Emilio, where the fuck were you?"

  "That's not a very nice word," Sandlin said. "Why are you so angry? Giovanni is going to marry Sasha." He patted Giovanni's arm. "I have to go now."

  Giovanni could see the man assigned to Sandlin hovering, worry etched into his face. He kept glancing at the ceiling, as if afraid the rest of it would come crashing down. That was entirely possible. "Get Sasha out of here. I don't want anything falling on her head."

  "I'm not leaving you. The ceiling is fine. It has a few cracks, but it's intact," Sasha assured. "Even if the entire thing was falling, I'd be staying, so don't waste your breath."

  Emilio continued to pull the shards of glass from his back. Giovanni could see that Vittorio had shown up. Taviano came striding into his line of vision. He crouched beside Stefano.

  "What happened?" Stefano asked, his voice a thread of sound.

  "Bastard definitely has skills when it comes to setting charges. He rigged a line between the couch and the lights and just got lucky that we were all here in one place. Sandlin's bodyguard mentioned a glass company was working on repairing windows. He kept Sandlin on the other side of the Center. The bastard has military experience, Stefano, which means, since we have his DNA, we should be able to identify him. He's an expert. That trip wire was nearly in-visible. I just got one glimpse of it because the light shone just right on it," Giovanni told him.

  He wanted to curse at Emilio as the man patiently removed the shards from his back. "Get the one out of my leg. It hurts like a mother."

  "Stop complaining," Stefano ordered. His hand on Giovanni's shoulder and the worry in his voice belied his words. "He's waiting for the doc."

  "I don't need a doctor. It's a piece of glass." Giovanni wanted to sit up. He felt vulnerable lying on the floor facedown. It helped that his brothers had arrived. He could hear Ricco talking to some of the staff, gathering information. "Did the bodyguard go with Sandlin?"

  "He's safe, in his room. The guard is in with him," Stefano assured.

  "Check out Sasha. Make sure she wasn't hit by any of the glass," Giovanni ordered.

  "I'm fine. You had me completely covered," Sasha assured.

  "Cops are here. Bradshaw and Maverick," Taviano whispered. "Emmanuelle is giving them quite a performance, wringing her hands and looking as if she's going to burst into tears any moment. They're both occupied with reassuring her the world isn't coming to an end."

  "Anything else you can tell us?" Stefano asked Giovanni.

  "He's clever, methodical and an expert in explosives. He has military training. He isn't afraid to take chances and he knows how to blend in. He set those charges to blow exactly the direction he wanted them to. He scouted this room and knew this couch was always in poor lighting and the overheads had to be on and it has a lamp if the overheads are off."

  "As long as I've been coming here," Sasha added, her voice pitched low to match Giovanni's, "no other patient used this couch because of the way it's always darker in this corner. Sandlin likes it because he thinks of it as his."

  "So, he somehow got that information out of someone on staff or a volunteer. He knows how to manipulate people," Stefano murmured. "We're dealing with a professional, not some shmuck off the streets."

  "Mr. Ferraro." Detective Maverick announced his arrival. "Is your brother all right?"

  "I'm alive," Giovanni said. "But a little worse for wear."

  "Ms. Provis? You and your brother okay?"

  Sasha's fingers tightened in Giovanni's. She inched a little closer to him as if she could protect him. He liked that. The detective represented conventional authority, and ordinarily, his family would have welcomed the investigation and helped it along as best they could. Sasha's attacker had attacked someone they considered a family member, and that meant it was family business. She was already thinking along those lines.

  "We're fine thanks to Giovanni. He shielded both of us."

  "That's what the witnesses said. We'd like you and your brother to give us your accounts."

  There was something in the detective's voice that bothered Giovanni. He detested not being able to turn over and see the man's face. He was at a distinct disadvantage, but he was surrounded by family.

  "My brother is back in his room and has a bodyguard. He has a brain inju
ry that prevents him from being able to answer your questions, Detective," Sasha said. "His doctor will confirm that. I'm very concerned that my stalker is out to kill my brother, and I don't understand why you haven't gotten any closer to finding him."

  Giovanni could have kissed her. He squeezed her hand in an effort to try to tell her he was proud of her.

  "Giovanni, we're going to remove the shard in your calf," Emilio said. "The doc is here. We can try to numb it."

  "Just take the fucking thing out," Giovanni snapped. He was done with lying on his belly while dust settled around them and the cops questioned everyone.

  "What happened?" Maverick asked.

  "You can't wait until the doctor finishes with him?" Sasha sounded outraged. "Seriously, Detective. Someone rigged the light fixture to blow while I was reading to my brother. I don't know if his intention was to kill us or injure us or just plain scare us. My brother is fragile as are the other patients here." Her voice wobbled.

  Giovanni realized she was close to breaking down. "Baby, I'm right here. Sandlin's okay and so am I." He didn't want her to cry, not without him able to hold her and shield her from the two detectives. They were good men. He knew they were and they were just doing their jobs, but they didn't like the Ferraros. They believed the family was involved in criminal activities rivaling their enemy, the Saldi family. Neither detective wanted a war between the two powerful families in their city.

  "I'm sorry, Ms. Provis," Maverick said immediately. "If the doctor says your brother can't talk to us, of course we'll leave him alone. We do need Mr. Ferraro's account."

  "My account. Fuck, what the hell are you doing, Doc?" He was much more dramatic than needed.

  Sasha fell for it, her little gasp and the way she hitched closer to him, her hands in his hair, was gratifying. "Be careful," she hissed to the doctor.

  Giovanni wanted to pull her into his arms. She was protective of him, but he knew she was sliding close to the edge of a cliff. So much fear and trauma could send one cascading over. She had lost her parents and the brother she knew forever. She was clinging hard to Sandlin, even though the doctors had cautioned her that his life expectancy wasn't long. To have him menaced in any way, to have a persistent stalker threatening her brother's life, was too much. Anyone was bound to crumble, even for a few moments.