Into Dust. B.J. Daniels

connected the last name. Hamilton was pretty common so she wasn’t surprised he hadn’t made the leap. He pursed his lips, letting out a low whistle before he picked up his drink and drained it.

      “That definitely puts things in perspective,” he said after a moment.

      This was why she didn’t tell people about her father.

      “I would think you’d have secret service watching you,” he said.

      She shook her head. “They only provide agents for the underage children of candidates after the primaries.”

      He looked surprised. “Well, I’m sure once you call the police—” The waitress returned with their drinks and took away the empty glasses.

      She fiddled with her torn blouse. “I can’t go to the police.”

      Jack seemed both surprised and maybe relieved to hear that. She didn’t blame him for not wanting to get involved. After all, he’d hit that man who was trying to abduct her. He was a hero. But that came with police reports to fill out, followed by an investigation. Once the media got involved... She quaked at the thought.

      “Why don’t you want to go to the police?”

      She took a sip of her wine before she said, “Do you have any idea what it’s like being the daughter of first a senator and now a presidential candidate who, according to the polls, is headed for the White House?”

      “Not a clue.”

      “I’ve been in the spotlight for one reason or another from as far back as I can remember.” She could feel the alcohol coursing through her blood and felt stronger. She took another sip of her wine and continued. “The rule at our house was always ‘don’t cause trouble because a scandal will hurt your father’s career.’ Since I left home to go away to school, I’ve tried hard to live my own life. But even when I thought people didn’t know who I was, I was still in my father’s shadow. Buckmaster Hamilton casts a very large shadow.”

      “This friend you were staying with...”

      “More like an acquaintance. But she didn’t know who my father was. Or at least I didn’t think she did.” Cassidy frowned. “Her boyfriend, though... I think he may have known. That’s the other thing about being...famous by extension. People are nice to you for the wrong reasons. It’s hard to have true friends.”

      “Where were you headed earlier?” he asked, suddenly intent.

      “To meet her and her...boyfriend.” Cassidy felt her eyes widen as her heart dropped. “I was set up, wasn’t I?”

      * * *

      JACK TRIED NOT to down his entire second drink. Cassidy was the daughter of the future president? What the hell was his father doing trying to abduct her? His father could be stubborn, worked too much, put too much value in making money and was a hard-nosed businessman. But to do something like this? It boggled his mind.

      Worse, what was he going to do now? After seeing that wad of money his old man gave Ed and knowing how his father was about employees who didn’t do their jobs to suit him, Jack knew his father wouldn’t stop.

      Nor would Ed. He’d be more careful next time. He’d be more prepared. But like Jack had learned, you didn’t let Tom Durand down or there would be hell to pay.

      So how could he walk away now? Cassidy would be a sitting duck. And he didn’t want to think about what his father would do when he found out that Jack was involved in fouling his plans.

      “Look,” he said to Cassidy. “You have no reason to trust me.” On the surface, he looked like an urban cowboy today instead of the former rodeo cowboy who’d grown up on a huge ranch outside of Houston. His father had bought the ranch as a tax deduction and given it to him lock, stock and barrel when he turned twenty-one. But the deal had always been that he would take over his father’s import/export business at some point.

      Once he told his father he had no interest in doing that, that’s when it seemed Tom Durand had changed. Now he wondered if he’d ever known his father at all.

      Clearly, the last thing he could do was tell Cassidy who he really was or that he thought he knew who was behind her attack—at least until he had proof.

      So he stretched the truth. “But if you’ll let me, I’ll try to keep you safe until we can find out who is behind this and why.”

      She took a drink of her second glass of wine. He could see from the shine in her eyes that she was feeling the alcohol. His plan hadn’t been to get her tipsy, let alone drunk. He’d just needed a drink to calm his nerves and a place where they were safe so he could think what to do next.

      “What do you have in mind?” she asked.

      He wasn’t that surprised that she was willing to trust him. She’d already proved she was too trusting given that she’d trust the acquaintance and boyfriend. But what did he have in mind? His thoughts raced as he considered how he could keep her safe—and yet find out the truth about his father’s involvement.

      “We’re going to have to hide you out somewhere until I can get to the bottom of this. For starters, who knew you were in Houston besides this so-called friend and her boyfriend?”

      “No one.”

      That surprised him. “Not even your family?”

      She shook her head. “They think I’m still in New York with a Frenchman I met while studying abroad.”

      A Frenchman. Great. “So not even the Frenchman knows?”

      Again she shook her head.

      “Okay.” He studied her. “Also, you’re too cute and too blonde and too easy to recognize.”

      She grinned, taking it as a compliment. “How about if I was a redhead?”

      “I’m thinking brunette. I don’t know how you feel about cutting your hair...”

      Cassidy shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about cutting it,” she said as she pulled a long lank of her blond hair around to consider it. “A brunette, huh? So a disguise?” The idea seemed to appeal to her. He wondered if it would have before her last glass of wine.

      Even with the changes he was suggesting, she’d still be adorable, there was no getting around that. She had one of those classic faces, huge blue eyes, a button nose and bow-shaped mouth. She looked so damned innocent that he felt a stab of guilt. He wasn’t much better than her pretend friends she’d been staying with. Except that he wouldn’t sell her out.

      He recalled hearing his father talking about the election and the Hamilton family. Cassidy’s mother, Sarah Johnson Hamilton, had returned from the dead about a year ago. Apparently, she’d tried to kill herself more than twenty-three years before by driving into the Yellowstone River. Her body was never found.

      Then one day she just showed up—with no memory of the years she’d been gone. He remembered his father saying that her six daughters were now adults. He frowned as he recalled that the two youngest, twin girls, had only been a few months old when they’d lost their mother.

      Going by age, that would have been Cassidy, he realized with a start. There was another one like her? He wondered where she was and if she was safe. His father had remarked that he couldn’t believe how much that family had been through. Hadn’t their stepmother died last year in a car wreck?

      “You’re sure you don’t want to change your mind and go to the police?” he asked, feeling he had to give it one more shot since it was the smart thing to do—even if it would involve him and force him to lie. Whatever differences he and his father had, he wasn’t throwing him under a bus until he knew the truth.

      “If I go to the police, my name will be in every newspaper and so will my father’s. And what is it you think the police can do to protect me? My father would insist I come home so he could hire guards. Or maybe I would get agents watching me 24/7. I wouldn’t be