Willing

Chapter 14

She barely stifled the urge to tell the reporter where to stuff it, knowing he wanted her to lose her cool.

“Even more interesting, the man is currently shacked up with his partner’s daughter, and they are both explosives experts.”

“What the hell are you getting at?” Daniel’s voice was deadly, but not out of control.

She looked over at him, continuing toward the house. “Ignore him, Daniel. He’s blowing smoke out of his behind, and pretty soon he’s going to set himself on fire.”

“Like you set fire to your father’s compound? Is it true your father died in the fire, Ms. McCall? Do you think he died from smoke inhalation before the fire got to him? It puts a different complexion on the recent million-dollar life insurance policy your dad took out naming you as beneficiary, doesn’t it?”

Two thumps sounded from behind her, and she spun around to see what was going on. Daniel was walking toward her, and the reporter lay unmoving, half on the sidewalk and half on the street.

“Daniel, what did you do?”

“He tripped. Over my foot.”

She stared at the reporter and then looked toward the car where the photographer was busy trying to fix his camera under the interior lights. From his lack of reaction, she had to assume he hadn’t seen anything. He certainly hadn’t gotten any pictures, not with his camera out of commission.

“You can’t leave him lying half in the street.”

“He accused you of killing your dad. He’s lucky I didn’t throw him in front of the next passing car.”

The reporter groaned and started moving.

Daniel nodded toward him. “See. He’ll be fine. Unfortunately.”

“He knew an awful lot about you and me for that matter. Not to mention some insurance policy I’m darn positive my dad would never have taken out. He doesn’t trust insurance companies.”

“I know. I wouldn’t buy in to the school until he agreed to insure the property.”

“Why didn’t Dooley mention that policy?” she asked as they walked into the house, and Daniel closed the door behind them. “It would support his whacky accusation you had something to do with the school’s demise.”

Hotwire and Claire were nowhere to be seen, but she could hear typing from the study, and Claire’s bedroom door was shut.

“I don’t know.” Daniel pulled her around so she was looking up into his face. “Are you okay?”

“Other than knowing someone tried to kill my dad and apparently planned all along to lay the blame on me? Sure.” She smiled to make a joke of her words, but it slipped at the seriousness of his expression.

“I don’t like this one dam—darn bit. I don’t think you’re safe, Josette.”

“I’m not a helpless little bubblehead, Daniel. If anybody comes after me, I’m more than ready to give them a taste of the temper I’ve been keeping under wraps for the past three days.” And she meant it.

She would welcome a chance to meet her enemy face-to-face and take them apart with every trick her dad had taught her.

“They didn’t meet your dad head-on. They tried to blow him up. If you hadn’t been there, he would be dead.”

“If I hadn’t been there, the security system would have been set at a higher level for motion detection outside his room. I turned it off when I went for a walk.”

“If they came prepared to blow up the compound, they came prepared to dismantle your dad’s security features.”

“I told myself the same thing, but that doesn’t change the fact they didn’t have to.”

“And that doesn’t alter the fact you saved your dad’s life.”

“Maybe you’re right.” Heaven knew she didn’t believe in carrying false guilt around. Daniel had enough of that for both of them.

She moved into his arms until she was wrapped up against him, seeking his strength and warmth. “I know it’s stupid, but, Daniel, I always thought he was indestructible. It never occurred to me that anybody could kill him. I guess I thought he was never going to die.”

Burying her face against his chest, she couldn’t say anything more past the lump of emotional revelation clogging her throat.

His hand rubbed up and down her back. “I know, sweetheart. There’s nothing stupid about it. I used to think that my mom couldn’t die either. I mean, she’d survived years of marriage to my dad; I couldn’t conceive of him seriously hurting her. He needed her. Even I could see that, though I wouldn’t call what he felt love.”

“I’m sorry she died.”

“I am, too, but I’m not going to make the mistake with you that I made with her.”

She pulled back so she could see his face. There had been an odd quality in his voice. “What do you mean?”

“You’re in danger right now.”

“So?”

“I want you to go stay with Wolf and Lise until the enemy is contained.”

“No.”

“I’m not giving you a choice, Josette.”

“Really? How do you plan to get me to Wolf’s? Carry me there with my arms tied behind my back?”

“If I had picked my mother up and carried her out of the house, she wouldn’t have been there for my dad to throw against a wall.”

“She would have gone back to him, just like I’m going to Nevada to see if my dad is there, even if I have to walk down the side of Wolf’s mountain and hitchhike cross-country. If you really want to make sure I’m safe, you’re going to have to keep me with you.”

“Josette—”

“Think about it, Daniel. I’m trained to protect myself and to neutralize the enemy. Please trust me to make the right decisions for my own safety.”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No. You didn’t have one with your mother either,” she couldn’t help saying.

He sighed, but didn’t argue with her. No anger evident in his eyes at her mutiny, he brushed the hair away from her temple. “You’re so perfect, such a special woman. I don’t want you hurt.”

Tears unrelated to her dad’s dangerous brush with death filled her eyes. “I’m a former mercenary, Daniel, not a debutante.”

“You’re my woman.” He nuzzled her face. “And so soft.”

Her mind splintered away from their discussion as his gentle touch drew forth a reaction from her body that had nothing to do with making war. She turned her face toward his and met his lips halfway.

She opened her mouth, and their tongues collided in a mutual need to taste. Her hands slid of their own accord up his chest and around his neck as her body pressed into the hard length of his. His arms were already locked around her, but they tightened until she felt melded to him despite the clothes separating flesh hungry to touch naked flesh.

“This is becoming a habit.” The humor in Hotwire’s voice couldn’t even dampen the need Josie felt to connect with Daniel.

She ignored the other man’s presence and went up on her tiptoes to increase the pressure of her lips against his.

It was Daniel who drew away, holding her firmly separated from him when she tried to burrow back into his arms. He turned his head toward Hotwire. “This had better be good.”

“I chased down the leads Josie uncovered and followed up on the suggestions Claire made at dinner. Someone is definitely using the deceased veteran’s name to live under.”

“Where?” Josie asked.

“You were right…Nevada. In a sparsely populated area south of Reno.”

“That sounds like Dad.”

“I made plane reservations for tomorrow, but we’ve got to do something about Claire. She needs to stay somewhere else for the duration.”

“You’re leaving tomorrow?” Claire came into the room and pushed her glasses up on her nose, looking at Josie with that vague look she got when she was concentrating on a new program.

“We think my dad’s in Nevada. We have to check it out.”

“And you need to stay somewhere else for a while,” Hotwire added.

“Why?”

“The house has been compromised. You won’t be safe staying here alone,” Josie replied. “Will that be all right?”

Claire bit her lip and didn’t meet Josie’s eyes, but she nodded. “Sure. I’ll get packed tonight and leave in the morning.”

“Where are you going to stay?” Josie asked.

“Don’t worry about it. There are plenty of places I can go.”

Josie didn’t like the vague answer. “Are you sure? You haven’t had anyone over since you moved in, and the only time you go out is to visit the old people in the nursing home where you work, or volunteer at the shelters downtown. I don’t want you staying in one of them while we’re gone.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Hotwire said, sounding meaner than Josie had ever heard him.

“We can rent her a hotel suite,” Daniel suggested.

“No, thank you.” Claire smiled at Josie. “That won’t be necessary, believe me. I’ll stay at the nursing home. They’ve got several empty beds right now, and the staff likes me.”

She sounded surprised by the fact, but Josie wasn’t. Claire was an angel to the old people, and the staff all loved her for it.

“You’re going to live in a nursing home?” Hotwire demanded, not sounding appreciably more pleased by that idea than Claire sleeping in a shelter.

“I’ve stayed in worse places. Much worse if you want the truth. Staying with Essie or one of the other old ladies won’t be a problem for me at all, and as long as you don’t mind me borrowing your computer for a while longer, I can keep up with my classes.”

“That’s not a problem.” He looked at Josie. “What about your classes?”

“I’m not carrying a full course load this summer like Claire is. I’ll catch up later, and if I can’t, finding my dad is more important than passing a couple of computer classes, but Claire shouldn’t have to make that choice. None of this is her problem.”

“Standing by my friends is not a problem,” Claire said, her voice firm with purpose.

Hotwire insisted on seeing Claire settled into her new accommodations before informing Josie and Daniel he’d booked flights for only the two of them. “Someone should stay here in case the bad guys come back and try to break in again. Besides, I can use the time to investigate those fanatics in the Rockies that have possession of your laptop.”

“You sure you can handle it?” Daniel asked.

“On my worst day.”

“Then why did you make Claire leave?” Josie asked.

“She could be at risk if they did come back, and she’d be a distraction even if they didn’t.”

“I thought there was something going on there.”

Hotwire frowned. “Nothing’s going on.”

“But you want her,” Daniel said bluntly.

“Yes. I’m not going to have her, though. Did you know she’s a pacifist and a vegetarian?” Hotwire asked, sounding as if he didn’t know what to make of either of those facts.

“She’s also a crack programmer and has design skills that are going to outshine Andy Grove’s one day.”

Hotwire just shook his head.

The pale yellow stucco house was listed as belonging to Andrew Taylor, but Daniel didn’t doubt the dusty jeep in the driveway was registered to Tyler McCall.

“That’s Dad’s jeep,” Josie confirmed as Daniel parked their rental car behind it and cut off the engine.

The Oregon license plate had been carefully smudged with dirt so as to be unreadable, but this close the distinctive image of Mt. Hood between the letters could be made out.

Hot, still air hit him, the minute Daniel opened his car door, compromising the air-conditioned interior. Nevada was no hotter than a lot of places he’d been, but its desert sun was strong and bright, shimmering on the sand like liquid air.

Josie came around the car, and they went together to the front door. There was no answer to their first knock, or their second.

She pushed the doorbell, and a muted chime sounded through the thick wooden door.

“Dad, it’s me! Open up.” At the continued lack of response, her brows knit in a frown. “Either he’s not here, or he’s pretending not to be.”

With Tyler, either was possible. “Let’s take a look around back.”

“Watch for electronic eyes. Dad isn’t going to have a safe house without some heavy-duty security features, and I don’t want to deal with triggering one of his traps.”

Daniel agreed and tread carefully as they made their way around to the back of the house. He almost missed the first eye hidden behind a scrub bush against one wall, but spotted the second soon after. He avoided them both. The back patio’s weathered brick was devoid of outdoor furniture or any sign of life.

Josie made a sound of disgust as she looked around. “Well, that netted us nothing.”

The sliding glass door to the interior was covered with a privacy curtain so they couldn’t see into the house, and all the back windows had interior shutters, which were closed.

“We’ll have to go inside,” Daniel said, eyeing the subtle signs of Tyler’s security system.

It took almost thirty minutes to disable it and break into the house. When they did, the sparsely furnished southwestern-style home was empty.

“Where could he have gone without the jeep? This house isn’t exactly on a bus line.”

“Maybe we should be asking who he went with.”

Josie’s features tightened. “Or more importantly, did he go of his own accord?”

“There’s no reason to believe he didn’t. There are no signs of a struggle, and we only discovered this place because you’d read the journals. What are the chances his enemies know about it, too?”

She smiled briefly. “Knowing my dad’s penchant for privacy, very small, but where the heck is he?”

Daniel didn’t bother answering the rhetorical question, but started searching through drawers in the kitchen. Josie joined him and when their search revealed nothing useful, they moved to the other rooms, looking in every conceivable place for an indication Tyler had even been there.

There was nothing. He’d made a clean sweep of the place before leaving.

Josie picked up the phone. “I’m going to try redial. It’s the last thing I can think of.”

“Good idea.”

She pressed the button and listened. Her soft green eyes lit with satisfaction as the phone was picked up at the other end.

Then she said, “This is Andrew Taylor’s secretary. I’m calling to confirm his return ticket to Reno.” She waited, listening to the other person speaking. “No return ticket? But I’m supposed to pick him up at the airport. Perhaps you can find his ticket under his card number.” She read off a credit card number Hotwire had identified as belonging to Andrew Taylor of Nevada. “Hmm…What flights are available for return tomorrow?…Yes, I see. Let me call him on his cell and ask which one he’d prefer. Thanks. Oh, is there any way we can link this ticket to his outbound, or are we going to have to pay one-way fares?…Thanks, that would be great.”

She hung up the phone. “He flew to Missoula International Airport on an early morning flight, but he didn’t book a return flight.”

The location was too much of a coincidence, being the closest airport to the GPS location for her laptop. “He knows the group that blew up his school and tried to kill him.”

“And where their headquarters are evidently. He’s gone to face them alone. Why didn’t he call us?”

He liked the way she subconsciously linked them together as a unit, but he didn’t agree her dad had gone off on a Lone Ranger mission. “More likely he’s doing a recon.”

“Alone,” she said disgustedly. “What happens if he’s caught gathering information?”

Daniel couldn’t believe she’d asked that. “Josie, this is your dad we’re talking about. He was LLRP in Nam and has been training other mercs ever since. He may be past his prime in age, but no one is going to see him unless he wants them to.”

“So, do we follow him to Montana?”

“We’d be better off waiting for him to come back here.”

“He didn’t book a return flight.”

“Not as Andrew Taylor, but it’s possible he booked one under another alias as an extra level of security. It’s the kind of thing your dad would do.”

“Right. Let’s call Hotwire and see if he can find out.”

“Can’t you look? You brought your new laptop with you.” He wasn’t as jealous of Hotwire since Josie had said she didn’t want him and shown Daniel how much she did want him, even after he said tactless and sometimes stupid things.

However, it still bothered him that his friend’s computer savvy gave him a role in Josie’s life that excluded Daniel.

“Hotwire is a lot faster at this stuff than I am.”

“Does he have the list of names you compiled from the journals?”

“Yes, and he’s continuing to search on those names as well as Andrew Taylor. I hope he has better luck turning something up on the others than I did.”

Josie made the call, and an hour later, Daniel’s guess was proved right. A flight had been booked for the day after tomorrow from Missoula International to Reno under the name of Yancy Carpenter, another name off Josie’s list.

“So, we just wait for him here?” she asked after hanging up the phone, clearly not thrilled with the idea.

“It’s our best chance at crossing paths with him.”

“We could fly to Missoula.”

“And do what? We know the general area to look, but we have no way of knowing which direction your dad chose for his reconnaissance.”

“So, we wait.”

Daniel shrugged.

“What if he decides to fly back to Oregon instead?”

“Hotwire’s at your house in case he goes there, and Tyler has my cell phone number memorized.”

“If he remembers it.”

“He remembered this place and enough to figure out who is trying to kill him. I doubt his memory is as impaired as you and the doctor thought.”

Josie went to the sink and poured herself a glass of water from the tap filter. “You think he was faking me out?”

“Yes. Probably for your own protection.”

She took a long drink and then licked her lips in a move guaranteed to spark libidinous thoughts. “Why? I could have helped him.”

Daniel decided he could use his own glass of cooling water. “He may have raised you to be a soldier, but that doesn’t mean he wants you risking your life for him.”

“I’ve risked my life plenty of times.”

That wasn’t something Daniel needed to think about. “From what Tyler told me, he didn’t like you going into the mercenary business. He wanted you to teach other soldiers how to fight.”

She leaned back against the counter, her clingy pink tank top an invitation to sin. “He liked my move into computers even less.”

Daniel did his best to drink his water and ignore the invitation. “He’s worried you won’t fit in, and he feels like it’s his fault.”

She shrugged, and her top lifted to expose a slim band of silky skin above the waistband of her shorts. “He taught me how to be a soldier, but I’m learning how to be a woman now.”

“I don’t think you’ve got much to learn.” He reached out and brushed his finger along the bare patch of skin. “You seem to come by it pretty naturally.”

“Thanks.” She smiled, as if his opinion really mattered.

After the way he’d screwed up with her more than once, that surprised him.

She looked around the small kitchen. “I guess we can stay here.”

“No way. Did you see your dad’s bed?” It was an extra-long twin, not a bed meant for two people to share, and Daniel planned to share Josie’s bed every chance he got.

“If we leave, we might miss him.”

“We can meet his flight and leave him a note here just in case. Until then, I say we check in to a decent hotel.”

“Are you going to fill the room up with roses again?”

“Do you want me to?”

She shook her head, her eyes filled with soft green lights. “As long as you’re in it, I don’t care what else is there.”

They found a room in a two-story Spanish-style hotel in a small town about fifteen miles from Tyler’s safe house. Daniel checked them in to one of the hotel’s two suites, available because the hotel was almost empty during the off season. Its courtyard boasted an outdoor pool and Jacuzzi.

Josie wanted to go swimming, and Daniel was more than willing to indulge her, but first they had to go shopping for swimsuits. Daniel insisted she try them on before buying.

First she came out of the dressing room wearing a dark blue one-piece with a white racing stripe down both sides.

Daniel shook his head. “I want to see more of you.”

Josie could feel the blush crawl up from her toes as the sales clerk smirked, giving Daniel the once-over. Her expression said she’d be more than happy to try on two Band-Aids and a thong if that’s what he wanted.

He didn’t even spare her a glance, his hot, dark gaze fixed on Josie’s figure under the demure swimsuit. “Please?”

“Okay.”

Next, she tried a solid white bikini with a lift bra in the top that made her look as though she actually had a little bit of cleavage. The bottoms were styled like low-rider shorts, being slightly more modest than regular bikini bottoms. She liked the suit a lot and went out to Daniel with a smile on her face.

He made no effort to hide his obvious arousal at the sight of her, but shook his head. “Try on the green one.”

He’d grabbed it off the rack, saying it was the same color as her eyes. It wasn’t anything special, though, just a very basic string bikini. The small triangles that comprised the top did nothing to enhance her meager curves, and the bottoms made her feel almost naked in their briefness.

However, when she walked out of the dressing room, Daniel’s approval was instantaneous. He looked ready to eat her like ice cream, and his hard-on was pressing against his jeans zipper in a definable ridge.

“It’s perfect.”

She looked down at herself. Okay, so the thin fabric of the top revealed her rapidly hardening nipples, and she could see that might be a turn-on for him, but did he realize how small the bottoms were? They barely covered her pubic hair and wouldn’t have if she didn’t wax her bikini line.

She did it for the same reason she bought sexy underpants, so she would feel more feminine under her clothes. It had hurt like Hades the first few times, but it worked. She got a major mental boost knowing she had a tidy triangle of curls adorning her most feminine place.

And now her secret little habit made it possible to wear a pair of bikini bottoms that had less fabric in them than a handkerchief.

Her gaze lifted to Daniel. “If you expect me to wear this, you have to buy a Speedo.”

He shook his head, not looking even sort of repentant. “No can do.” He pointed to the area below his waist with his whole hand. “You can see what being around you in a swimsuit does to me. A Speedo just won’t cut it.”

The sales clerk coughed and turned away, her expression priceless.

Josie was too busy trying not to blush, herself, to laugh, but she had to admit she could understand Daniel’s dilemma. No way would a tiny pair of briefs hold his erection inside.

But, “The pool isn’t heated.”

“Ice cubes wouldn’t help with you in that suit.”

“Maybe I should get the blue one.”

“No.”

She smiled, really liking the buzz his uncontrolled reaction to her gave her. “Okay, I’ll buy the green one, but I get to pick out something for you to wear, too.”

“Not a Speedo.”

“Agreed.” She smiled, wondering what he would think of the leather thong made to look like a loincloth she’d seen in an on-line catalogue once.

By the time they made it back to the hotel after shopping, they were both hungry for dinner and decided to eat before their swim. They didn’t make it to the pool until a little after eight in the evening.

They were both used to getting a lot of physical exercise and started off swimming laps.

A hand on her ankle was the only warning Josie got before going under. She came up sputtering and glaring to be met by a grinning Daniel.

“You’ll pay for that,” she threatened.

He laughed at her, and no way was she going to let him get away with it.

Remembering his weakness, she attacked, tickling and trying to dunk him at the same time. She succeeded, only to get pulled under with him. She came up wrapped in his arms and with his lips locked against hers. They kissed and played and teased until she was so aroused from all the touching, she could barely stay afloat.

She anchored herself to his shoulders and wrapped her thighs around his hips, trapping the evidence of his excitement between them.

He grinned down at her, his hands gliding along her bare back and over her hips to cup her bottom in the water. “You surrender?”

She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed with contentment. “If this were really what surrendering was like, wars would end before they started.”