The Bodyguard's Assignment. Amanda Stevens

about the police?” Helen asked. “You said you called and told them everything. A cop on the take isn’t unheard of.”

      “I know that.” Kane had hinted as much when he’d called her. “I’ve got people in places you can’t begin to imagine.”

      Grace shuddered, glancing around the darkened streets.

      “The cops have been all over your office,” Helen said. “Going through your files, reading your phone messages. I wouldn’t be surprised if they’ve put out an APB on you.”

      Grace wouldn’t be surprised, either. She was their key witness, after all. “Did they take anything from my files?”

      “I don’t know. But a detective came by my office asking questions.”

      “What kind of questions?”

      Helen shrugged. “The usual stuff—if I’d heard from you. Where I thought you might be.”

      “What did you tell him?” Grace asked anxiously.

      “The truth. I hadn’t heard from you then, and I didn’t know where to find you.” She leaned across the table toward Grace. “What are you going to do?”

      “I’m not sure,” Grace admitted. “Lay low for a few days until I can figure things out.” She hadn’t told anyone, even Helen, about her mother’s kidnapping. The last thing she needed was a horde of cops descending on the nursing home, alerting Kane that she’d talked. “You talk to a friend, I’ll know it. You talk to the cops again…I’ll know that, too.”

      Helen nudged the briefcase toward her. “I got the money you asked for. As much as I could on such short notice.”

      “I don’t know how I can ever thank you,” Grace told her. “I’ll pay you back as soon as I can.”

      Helen’s brown eyes clouded. “It’s not the money I’m worried about. You’re in too deep, Grace. You can’t do this alone. You have to go to the police.”

      “I can’t. Until I figure out who’s feeding Kane information, I can’t even trust the police.” Grace’s smile was strained as she glanced at Helen. “You’d better get going before someone sees us together. I don’t want to involve you in this mess anymore than I already have.”

      Reluctantly, Helen stood. “Will you keep in touch?”

      “If I can.”

      “Be careful, Grace. Kane—he’s going to be even more dangerous now. As for Rialto and Calderone…” She trailed off with a shudder, her silence more eloquent than words.

      LONELINESS welled inside Grace as she watched her friend disappear into the darkness. She was on her own now. There would be no further contact with Helen until Grace and her mother were safely out of the country. Maybe not even then.

      Her plan was fairly simple. After the exchange was made, she and her mother would head for New York, to Grace’s father’s place. Harry Drummond had left them years ago to go chasing after stories halfway round the world, and he’d never looked back. But as successful as he’d become, as arrogant and coldhearted as Grace knew him to still be, she didn’t think even he could turn his back on them now. He had the money and clout needed to get them out of the country as quickly as possible, and Grace was prepared to use whatever trickery and coercion necessary to enlist his help.

      Once Helen was out of sight, Grace rose with the briefcase and made her way through the café to the street. Outside, she paused, glancing in both directions before she headed toward the parking lot on McKinney.

      In spite of the cold, the streets were crowded with the after-work crowd pursuing happy hour with a vengeance in the bars and cafés that lined the West End. Grace didn’t pay much attention when someone bumped into her. But when a hand grabbed her elbow, she gasped and tried to jerk away.

      “Keep walking,” a masculine voice told her. “Don’t look back.”

      Grace’s heart thudded against her chest. She had only a split second to decide what to do, but as she gathered her strength to fight back, the man’s hand tightened painfully on her arm, as if he’d intuited her response before she had.

      “Don’t try it,” he warned. His voice was low and dangerous, edged with an unfamiliar drawl.

      He was too large to be Kane. This man had to be at least six three, with broad, powerful-looking shoulders beneath a sheepskin jacket. Grace was a tall woman, but at five nine, she still had to struggle to match her stride to his.

      His face was shadowed by the brim of a Stetson hat, but when she glanced up, she had the immediate impression of chiseled features. Of a strong jaw and a stubborn chin.

      “What do you want?” she demanded, trying to cloak her panic behind bravado.

      “You know what I want.” Almost the exact same words Kane had spoken to her on the phone.

      Grace’s heart almost stopped. “What makes you think I won’t start screaming right here in the middle of the street?”

      “That’s not your style, is it, Grace?”

      The way he said her name…that voice…

      Grace stumbled in shock. He hauled her up, grasping her arms in his hands as he steadied her. Their gazes met, and beneath the brim of his hat, gray eyes watched her coldly.

      “Brady?” She said his name in wonder, almost afraid to believe it was really him. “What are you doing here?”

      “What do you think I’m doing? I came here to protect you.” His voice was hard and grim, edged with bitterness as sharp as a knife blade.

      “Protect me? But how did you know…” Her voice faded as the impact of the situation hit her. For five years, she’d waited for this moment. Waited for the chance to tell Brady Morgan how sorry she was for what she’d done to him. She had no idea where he’d gone off to when he left the police force, or what he’d been doing all these years. But staring up into his eyes, Grace realized that time hadn’t dimmed his feelings for her. He still despised her as much as he had the last time she’d seen him.

      “How did you know where to find me?” she finished quietly.

      “It doesn’t matter. We need to keep on the move. Someone may be following you.”

      Grace started to glance over her shoulder, but his grip on her tightened. He turned her toward the street and started walking, pulling her along at his side.

      “You said you came here to protect me,” she said breathlessly, trying to keep up with him. “Who sent you?”

      When he didn’t answer, she slowed her steps, until he was forced to do the same.

      “Who sent you, Brady? Why are you really here?”

      “I told you. I’m here to protect you.” His voice was as frigid as his gaze.

      “What does that mean?” she asked almost angrily.

      His jaw tightened. “It means I’m taking you someplace where you’ll be safe.”

      That stopped her cold. She jerked her arm from his grip. “I’m not going anywhere. Not until you tell me exactly what you’re up to.”

      “What’s the matter, Grace? Don’t you trust me?”

      His sarcasm stung, but Grace knew she had it coming. She lifted her chin. “Right now, I’m not in a position to trust anyone.”

      “That’s why I’m here.”

      Was it her imagination, or had his voice softened? Hope trembled through Grace, and she closed her eyes briefly. She wanted to believe him. She wanted more than anything to have an ally, but her mother’s life was at stake. Brady Morgan had once been an honorable man, but five years could change a person.

      So could betrayal.

      She