Griffin Read online

  “If anything,” he said, “I was hoping my daughter would get a little older first.”

  “She clearly is old enough to understand too much now,” Lorelei said gently. “You can hear it in her words alone. Keeping this marriage going for her sake is more about teaching her that marital vows have no meaning. Of course that’s a very British way to look at things. It’s supposed to be the heir and the spare, but you already had those to begin with, so there really are no rules to wealthy British marriages now, are there?”

  He snorted and said, “That’s one way to look at it. Not the easiest and not the nicest but the old way. Yet the fact that Wendy’s a tramp doesn’t mean that she’s done anything criminal. I still refuse to believe that she would do anything to hurt her daughter.”

  “Quite possibly,” Griffin said, “but is there anything she’s done that would put her in a position of being compromised?”

  Jax snorted. “Sounds like the much harder question would be finding things she’s done where she wasn’t compromised.”

  They all sat here for a moment in silence, thinking about the woman with the blatant disregard for her husband’s reputation and who had complete disregard for her daughter’s well-being.

  “The thing is, it would have to be something so major,” Lorelei said, “for Wendy to even care about any repercussions from her actions.”

  “She’s not likely done anything like that,” Gerard said heavily. “She cares about studs, two- and four-legged ones. When we found out she was pregnant, I was ecstatic—she was not. She wanted an abortion or an open marriage. It was no contest to me. She’s no different now than when I first met her. I just can’t keep living like this. And I can’t keep putting Amelia Rose in these unhealthy situations.”

  Chapter 12

  Listening to the men discuss the issues was fascinating. Lorelei wasn’t sure how she’d been allowed to stay as a party to this except for the list that she had created with Amelia Rose’s assistance. Amelia Rose had taken off to play, as they certainly didn’t have any school lessons scheduled for right now while they both recuperated from their ordeal. When lunch had been served, Lorelei sat beside Griffin. And, when the day was finally done, she looked at the two men and said, “Does that give you any answers?”

  Bram answered, “More to the point, it narrowed the field. We have everybody in a security position cleared except for two.”

  “Which two?” she asked. “And were they not cleared just because they aren’t here?” The men shrugged but didn’t offer more information. “And what about the family?”

  “Family is the next layer,” Bram said. “We have to know who we can trust before we start combating the war that’s being waged from within.”

  “Do you think it was insidious intent or is this all by accident, this salting of unqualified men within the actual family members?” Lorelei asked. “Are they just circumstantial and random hires? Because you know now that hand-picked people are inside the house. More hand-picked people are inside the kitchen, even in the other security team, for God’s sake. Therefore, all facets of Gerard’s working life here from home are handled by people who were hired by somebody other than himself.”

  Griffin looked at her and smiled. “Figured that out, did you?”

  She nodded, a sad expression on her face.

  “I’m not sure how this plays out though,” Bram said. “That’s what we’re still figuring out.”

  Gerard growled and looked at Lorelei. “Where’s Amelia Rose?”

  “She’s in her room, playing computer games.”

  “Could you please check?”

  “I can.” She didn’t worry about Amelia Rose in her own home before, but, as they looked at the problems Gerard had with the household staffing, it would certainly be something Lorelei considered moving forward. With them doing this investigation, it would just bring up even more issues of trust for Amelia Rose among the staff. Lorelei pulled out her phone and called her charge.

  Amelia Rose immediately answered the landline in her bedroom. “Yes, I’m here. Yes, I’m fine and exactly the same since the last ten minutes when you contacted me.”

  Lorelei chuckled. “It was an hour ago, and your father asked me to check this time.”

  Lorelei raised her voice and said, “Poppy, I’m fine.”

  “Good,” he grumbled. “But you didn’t come for food.”

  “I ate earlier,” she said. “And I’m going to bed early too. I’m really tired.” And her voice did sound pretty rough.

  Lorelei took that as a hint and said to the girl, “I’m on my way up.”

  “Thank you,” Amelia Rose said, her words filled with obvious relief as she spoke.

  When Amelia Rose hung up, Lorelei looked at Gerard and said, “It’ll take her a while to settle down and to know that she isn’t in danger anymore.”

  “And, for that,” her father said, “we’ll keep working on getting to the bottom of this from our end. But please, Bram, make sure my daughter is safe, particularly while she sleeps in her own bed.”

  “I’ll post a man at her door right now,” Bram said.

  Lorelei winced. “That’s not guaranteed to make any of us sleep well tonight.”

  “I know,” Gerard said. “But this first gambit’s been tossed, and the kidnappers lost. I mean, it would make sense for them to try it again, from home now.”

  “Well, I hope you’re wrong,” she said. “It’s not what I want to consider at all.”

  He nodded. “I’ll be up to say good night to my daughter in a little bit. Tell her that, will you?”

  She nodded. “You know that she does understand that you do love her and that you will do anything to keep her safe.”

  Gerard smiled. “Thank you for that. She’s very important to me.”

  “All your children are,” Lorelei said. “I hope they all know it.”

  “I do too,” he said as he stared down at the list. “God, I hope so.”

  Not long after Lorelei left, the men wrapped it up. Gerard’s sons were both coming for a meeting the next morning, both of them perturbed at the call from Gerard’s home to theirs. And Gerard’s wife, who apparently was still out of town, would return as well. Gerard was determined to get to the bottom of this and have face-to-face meetings with everyone. Griffin didn’t have a problem with that. He just knew that those kinds of meetings rarely turned out the way people expected them to. But, hey, good luck to Gerard.

  Griffin was shown to a first-floor guest room not long afterward, with Jax in the guest room next door. As Griffin got ready for bed, he checked his watch. Already one in the morning. Somehow their entire Thursday had disappeared. Then that tended to happen on these jobs. That’s what he was used to, but he couldn’t get Lorelei off his mind.

  He’d slept beside her for the last several nights, if only for her own comfort, but he found that he was used to it himself, and he wanted to continue sleeping beside her. Walking away from that tonight was hard, and it would likely be every night from now on too. He walked into his en suite bathroom, closed the door, and had a quick shower. When he came out, he felt a deep sense of unease. And instinctively he knew Lorelei was suffering. He sat down, pulled out his phone, and texted her. You okay?

  There was a delayed response, which, for a moment, he thought meant that she was sound asleep, and then she texted back. How did you know?

  Instinct. I just got out of a shower, and it felt wrong. If we were anywhere close, I would have automatically come to see if you were okay. As it is, a text is about all I can do.

  I have to get used to sleeping alone. I can’t depend on you to chase away the boogeymen.

  No, he typed in. But I’m sorry if you’re not getting any sleep. How was Amelia Rose?

  She seems to be sleeping fine came the response. Wish I could.

  He understood. Well, I can’t walk through the halls of this place easily. I don’t even know where your room is. But you can always come visit me.

  And he left
it hanging of course. For all he knew, she’d lose her job if she did come to him. And he didn’t want to put that on her either. Knowing that there was probably no way for them to be together under Gerard’s roof, Griffin got into bed and closed his eyes. When his door opened ten minutes later, he was already alert and watching.

  She poked her head around the corner and stepped in. He didn’t say a word. He just pulled back the blankets, and she crawled in. With a heavy sigh, she rolled over, backed up against him, and fell asleep.

  He whispered against her hair, “This is really a bad habit.”

  He thought she was out cold, but she responded. “I know, but I figured there’ll be lots of times to learn to adjust, and I shouldn’t have to do it tonight.” And, with that, she shuffled closer, and this time she did fall asleep.

  He laid here with her in his arms for a long time. He needed sleep too, but this bundle of crazy comfort that he himself gained from holding her made him realize just how important she was to him. That in itself wouldn’t be easy to handle. It was pretty damn hard to have a relationship, given their professions. And, even if they did get that far, it’s not like he would be changing his. Although this was supposed to be a one-time deal, and he was already on a second Mavericks op, so he didn’t know how that would work out long-term.

  He laid here for a long moment and then thought he heard something. He froze, not wanting to disturb Lorelei, and, when a text beep came through, he reached for his phone.

  Are you there? Jax asked.

  Yeah, he replied. Heard something out in the hall. Don’t know if Lorelei was followed. That was something he hadn’t considered, and maybe he should have with everything going on. This wasn’t likely the best idea they’d had.

  Jax sent back a smiley face, then added, I’ll check it out.

  Griffin heard just the hint of a sound from his partner’s bedroom, but, even then, he knew something was off about this whole thing. Never, at any point in time, had he considered that Lorelei might have been an inciting party to this kidnapping, working with whoever else had planned this fiasco. And he sure as hell would hate to think of it now because it would mean his instincts were completely off, but he had to wonder.

  And then he realized, no, it just wasn’t part of who she was, no matter how people might look at this. No one understood how hard it was to get over a kidnapping. Besides, she’d had lots of opportunities to take him or Jax out. And she had done nothing but protect Amelia Rose.

  When he heard something again outside, he gently stepped out of bed, made sure that she didn’t rouse from his movements, and texted Jax. When Griffin got no reply, he went to the door and listened. He heard something. A scuffle.

  He opened the door silently and stuck his head out. Somebody came out of nowhere and smacked him hard on his jaw. He went down but was already rolling to come back up again. He lashed out with his foot, catching his assailant, dropping him hard on the floor beside him. He continued to fight hard and fast, and he caught sight of Jax’s fight going on beside him.

  But the thought uppermost in Griffin’s mind was that Lorelei was here. Hopefully she was sound asleep. But what if she wasn’t? He hated the dangling suspicion that said, what if she was behind this attack? He knew it couldn’t be true, but, until he got to the bottom of this, he had willingly forgone taking a closer look at her.

  And just when he took another blow and a hard boot to a rib, he heard a loud crash. He turned to see his assailant dropping. Lorelei stood trembling in the doorway with a lamp in her hand. The glass had been shattered over his assailant’s head. Well, that answered that question. He bounced to his feet, kissed her hard, and whispered, “Thank you. Now go inside and lock the door.” And he shut the door in her face.

  He then went after Jax’s attacker. Within minutes, he had him subdued and tied up beside the other one. “Those two men we haven’t interviewed,” he said.

  “I know,” Jax said, gasping, bent over, regaining his breath. “So, are they the missing two, or are they part of some completely different group that is involved?”

  “This is getting ridiculous,” Griffin said. He pulled out his phone and phoned Gerard.

  A sleepy voice answered.

  “This is Griffin. Two assailants attacked Jax and me. We have them both tied up in the hallway. What do you want to do?”

  Gerard became fully awake. Immediately he roared, “What? In my own house?”

  “We need to check on Amelia Rose.”

  Gerard was already up and running. “I’m racing toward her bedroom right now. I don’t know who else they would be after.”

  “Well, they came after us,” Griffin said, “but I’m not sure why.”

  “It has to be the investigations into my staff,” Gerard said over the phone.

  “Maybe,” Griffin said, still thinking it through.

  Griffin could hear Gerard speaking to the guard before opening the door and then the relief in his voice when he said, “Amelia Rose is in bed, sound asleep.”

  “Thank heavens for that.” He gave Jax a thumbs-up.

  “I’ll wake Lorelei and bring her here.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Griffin said. “I’ll send her up.”

  An edgy silence followed on the other end as Gerard assimilated that information. But his voice was hard when he said, “You do that, and then we’ll talk.”

  Just then Lorelei stepped through the doorway, listening from the other side. She reached out for Griffin’s phone. “There’s nothing to talk about,” she said in a cool tone to Gerard. “I can’t sleep since the kidnapping. I’m the one who came down to Griffin. And these two intruders may have followed me. I don’t know. But both have been secured, and I don’t recognize either of them.”

  “You come up here to Amelia Rose,” Gerard said, his tone back to normal. “I’m coming there. Maybe I’ll know them.”

  As Lorelei raced past them, Jax punched Griffin lightly in the shoulder. “Nice woman,” he said, “especially when she stands up and defends you.”

  “That is why she came down here,” Griffin said with a wry smile. “She hasn’t slept since.”

  “And we both understand that,” Jax said. “Still doesn’t change the fact that there’s something between you guys.”

  “Sure, but what?”

  “Well, it’s not like either of you are involved with anyone else. So there’s nothing really stopping you from having a relationship.”

  “Just our jobs,” Griffin said with a note of laughter.

  “Yeah, well, there is that. Not sure that we are even full-time with the Mavericks much less that we know what we’re doing with our futures now, do we?”

  “I thought the Mavericks gig was temporary,” Griffin said. “But I thought that when I helped out Kerrick. That’s when I was called into play. Now I’m not sure what the deal is. Except this seems almost like an initiation.”

  “The Mavericks team is not for everyone,” Jax said. “Yet I think a lot of navy guys, those with families, end up leaving the navy before they really want to. And this Mavericks life might work better for them. Or maybe those family guys just wanted the navy to change some of its rules.”

  “Hell, I’m single, and I was ready to leave before they tagged me for this job,” Griffin said. “I just hadn’t figured out what I would do in the meantime.”

  “Well, figure it out, and, if they need to tag you for jobs like this, that’s an option too,” he said. “Nobody said it had to be permanent and forever with the Mavericks.”

  “I know. Just feels odd.”

  “That’s because this op got to you. Because it’s been a while since you had a real relationship,” Jax said. “It hurts you when someone you care about gets hurt.”

  “Absolutely it does.” Gerard barged into the hallway, having obviously heard part of their conversation. “And if there’s anything there worth keeping, then you fight for it. But I really won’t take kindly to you playing fast and loose with Lorelei, and she’d have
my head if I were to say that in her hearing.”

  “She would, indeed,” Griffin said. “And I don’t know what’s going on between us. So far, it’s been a case of comfort.” He let them know quite clearly that they hadn’t crossed that line. But it showed how he wanted to.

  “Well, it won’t be for long,” Gerard said. “She’s a hell of a good woman, and I really don’t want to think of her getting hurt.”

  “Well, you’re a little late for that,” Griffin said, glaring at him. “She got hurt on this trip.”

  “That’s why I’m trying to stop it from happening again,” Gerard roared.

  Griffin motioned to the two men on the ground. “Who the hell are these guys?”

  One was conscious, a T-shirt of Griffin’s stuck in his mouth; the other was still out cold. Griffin rolled the one out cold over so that Gerard could see his face too. He stared at them in shock. “They both work for me. These are the two security men who we never got around to interviewing because we couldn’t find them.”

  “Who hired them?”

  “My brother,” he said, frowning. “But that doesn’t mean he knew these guys would turn against me.”

  “No, not at all,” Griffin said. “As we know, men are turned all the time. These bad guys prey on that chance.”

  The two men were lifted and hauled to Gerard’s office, and Bram was woken up and brought down to deal with the pair. When he recognized them, his face thinned, and his jaw firmed. He frowned at Gerard, pointed to one, and said, “This is the one I fought against being hired.”

  “And I overruled you, I suppose,” Gerard said, sagging into his oversize leather chair.

  Bram nodded. “That you did. Your brother wanted this one brought in and trained, and why was that?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. “Son of a friend of his or some such bullshit.”

  “Well, we need to know exactly what that was all about,” Griffin stated firmly, “because now, apparently, it’s a bigger issue than it was before.”