Secret Service Rescue. Elle James
her father to care for. She was really upset. The staff nurse calmed her with a sedative. I didn’t think anything of it.” He looked at his mother’s face. “Until now. I bet it was deep-seated guilt gnawing at her.”
“Why would she do it?” Kate swayed, pressing her hand to her chest. “I had a daughter and I didn’t know it. All these years...”
Trey slipped an arm around his mother’s shoulders and drew her close.
“How could she?” Kate pressed her cheek into her son’s chest. “My mother loved me. Why would she give my baby away?”
“Could she have done it to protect you and the baby?” Thad asked. “Grandpa Adair was a mean old bastard.”
Daniel stood back, trying not to eavesdrop on the family’s business, but was nevertheless shocked at Kate’s story. Was this how the rich and famous lived? Stealing babies, threatening loved ones?
If it was, then he wanted nothing to do with it. He’d grown up in an average family where they had their arguments, but they loved each other. His father was as much a part of his life as his brothers. It sounded as though Kate’s childhood had been less beautiful than her family had let on to the public.
Daniel made a note to himself to call home the next quiet moment he had to himself.
“Where is she?” Jed Kincannon entered the waiting room. “Has she spoken yet?”
“She’s still unconscious.” Daniel pulled his boss aside and told him what he knew, which wasn’t much. “The kidnappers escaped and burned any evidence they might have left behind in the house.”
Jed let out a deep breath. “I want to be there when Ms. O’Hara wakes up. We need to know what she knows. The sooner she identifies her kidnappers, the better. I want them off the streets before they cause any more grief.”
“You and me both.”
Kate stepped up to Jed. “Do you think they’ll try to take her again?”
“They took her once,” he said.
“But they didn’t present a ransom note or any demands,” Samuel argued.
“Maybe they were waiting for proof of her lineage,” Thad said. “Now that we’re involved, it could mean even greater danger for her.”
“We can’t let anything happen to her or her father.” Kate faced him. “Daniel, I want you to provide Shelby’s security. I trust you the most of any agent.” She smiled, laying a hand on his arm. “I know you’ll do everything in your power to protect Shelby, even take a bullet for her.”
“I’d say he’s good for it,” Samuel nodded. “He took three for you.”
“Exactly.” Kate’s hand was warm on Daniel’s arm. “Take care of my granddaughter. I want the opportunity to get to know her.”
Patrick O’Hara stepped through the door, his face haggard. “They chased me out.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “She never woke up. The doctor said it’s to be expected with head trauma. They’re keeping an eye on her tonight, but expect she’ll wake up in the morning. The good news is that they didn’t detect any brain swelling or hemorrhaging.”
Lucy Sinclair, Thad’s fiancée, followed Patrick into the room, crossed to Thad and slipped an arm around his waist. “I got here as quickly as I could and checked in with the nurse in charge of the floor. It’s like Mr. O’Hara said, she’s sleeping. Other than being a little dehydrated, her vital signs are good. She should be up and talking by morning.”
Trey glanced down at his watch and across to his wife. Despite her attempt to look in control, Debra was sagging under the weight of the baby. “There’s no use all of us waiting for her to wake up. We should go home and get some rest. Tomorrow will be stressful in itself.”
“Trey, you need to get Debra home and off her feet.” Kate turned to Patrick. “You and Shelby will be staying at the Winston Estate.”
Patrick crossed his arms over his chest. “You can’t order me around like you do the rest of the world. I have a business to run on the Outer Banks.”
Kate nodded. “I know. But we almost lost Shelby tonight. If there’s any possibility her kidnappers will try to take her again, she needs protection. Can you provide that for her at your bar?”
Patrick’s lips pressed into a thin line. After a long pause, he answered, “No.”
“Then I implore you to bring Shelby to the Winston Estate where she can have 24/7 protection by the most trusted man the Secret Service has to offer.” She nodded toward Daniel. “I’ve just tasked Daniel Henderson with the duty of providing protection for Shelby.”
Daniel bit down hard on his lip to keep from reminding her that he hadn’t agreed to play babysitter to a twenty-three-year-old woman. He’d rather be out investigating this case, finding the men responsible for the attempts on Kate’s life and kidnapping her granddaughter. But discussing that in front of the rest of the family was not professional.
He’d wait and get her alone to discuss his duties in private.
For the time being, if the former vice president wanted him to provide security for her granddaughter, he’d protect her granddaughter.
“Okay,” Patrick said finally. “I’ll get my assistant manager to run the bar for the next few days. And I’m only doing this for Shelby. If I had any other choices, I wouldn’t have come to you.”
“Patrick.” Kate stared into his eyes. “I thought my baby was dead.”
“Her name was Carrie,” Patrick bit out. “She was beautiful, just like you.”
“Was?” Tears welled in Kate’s eyes.
“She died in an auto accident when she was only twenty-four. Shelby is all I have left and I’ll be damned if I lose her, too.” Patrick walked out of the room, leaving a stricken Kate in his wake.
Daniel turned away, unable to watch as tears slipped silently down Kate’s face.
“I never knew my own daughter.” Kate’s voice shook.
“We had a sister.” Samuel stared after Patrick’s retreating figure.
“And we’ll never know her.” Thad hugged Lucy close.
Daniel wanted to storm through the room and yell at all of them, “You have Shelby. Don’t screw it up with her.”
“Mother,” Trey said. “Go home. Get some sleep. I’ll stay.”
“No need,” Daniel said. “I’ll keep watch through the night. If she wakes, I’ll call.”
“She should be surrounded by familiar faces when she comes to,” Kate said.
Patrick stood at the doorway. “Which isn’t even one of you. I’m staying.”
“Fair enough.” Kate hooked Trey’s arm and leaned on him as they walked out of the waiting room. As she passed Daniel, she paused. “Keep her safe.”
Daniel nodded. “I will.”
Then the Winstons stepped into the elevator that whisked them to the ground floor. All the tension left the floor with them and Daniel let himself take a deep breath.
Patrick stood beside him, his gaze on the closed elevator doors. “She’s as beautiful today as she was when we first met. If not more so.”
Daniel didn’t comment. He saw a lot of Kate in her granddaughter’s features. If Shelby had half the gumption of her grandmother, she’d be a formidable foe and a dedicated friend.
“I’m going to sit with Shelby. There’s a chair in the room that reclines.” Patrick stuck out his hand. “I understand you were the one who pulled her from the burning home. Thank you.”
“You’re