FOR THE CHILDREN Read online

  When he pulled into the driveway, he felt Abby tense beside him. "There's no one home. I called earlier," he said.

  "So we just go inside and call your boss, then wait for him to show up?"

  "That's it. I figure it should take him a half hour to get here."

  "All right." She turned in her seat. "Girls, Damien wants us to go into this house for a while."

  "Okay." The twins clambered out of their car seats, and the accepting trust on their faces made him want to reach out and hold them. But he couldn't allow himself to feel any emotion right now. Now they were back on the enemy's turf, and he had to be prepared to face a threat. So he waited for them to get out of the car, then he walked with them to the door of the house.

  He found the spare key in a crack above the light fixture next to the door. When he swung the door open, a welcome blast of cool air swirled around them in the desert heat. "Stay right behind me," he said to Abby in a terse tone. He pulled his gun and searched the whole house, until he was convinced they were alone.

  Opening his cellular phone, he called his office. It only took a few moments to give his boss instructions. When he closed the phone, he saw Abby watching him.

  "What did your boss say?"

  His mouth curled up in a smile that was without humor. "He didn't like it, but he's going to do it. He knew why I insisted that I meet him here. He'd do the same in my situation."

  "So we just wait?"

  "Yeah. Now we wait."

  He paced between a window at the front of the house and one at the rear. No one could approach the house without being seen. Abby sat on the couch and read to the twins, but he heard the tension in her voice. After the longest thirty minutes he'd ever experienced, he saw a cloud of dust far down the road.

  Abby had seen it, too. "That must be them."

  "Probably."

  He felt her glance on his back. "Where should we go?"

  "Stay right here for now."

  The car pulled into the driveway of the house, and both front doors opened. His boss, Frank Cantrell, and a thin blond woman stepped out of the car.

  Abby's gasp told him that she'd seen the woman, too. "That's Janna! Girls, your mommy is here!"

  The twins ran to the front window, and Damien said sharply, "Get them away from the window."

  "But that's my sister."

  "You don't know who else is in that car."

  Abby pulled the girls against her, and the joy in her eyes turned to fear. When Frank rapped at the front door, she shrank back against the wall.

  Damien pulled the door open, and Frank and the woman stepped inside. The twins broke free from Abby and threw themselves at the woman.

  "Mommy! Mommy!"

  The blond woman bent down and swept them into her arms. The three of them stood locked together, tears streaming down Janna's face.

  Finally Janna let go of the girls and leaned back to look at them, wiping the tears off her face. "You've gotten so big since I've been gone," she whispered. Smoothing the hair back from their faces with her hands, she pulled them into her arms again. "I missed you so much."

  Janna's words appeared to jerk Abby out of her trance. Rushing forward, she grabbed her sister's arms. "Are you all right, Jan? What happened? Where have you been?"

  Frank stepped forward. "Your sister will explain everything to you later," he said gruffly. He turned to Janna. "I kept my part of the bargain. I didn't say anything on the phone about you being here and you've got your kids back. Now give us the name."

  Janna took a deep breath and seemed to hold more tightly to her daughters, then looked at Frank. "Harry Porter murdered that Stefanetto man. He told me so himself."

  Without waiting for an explanation, Frank plucked a phone out of his pocket and hurried into the next room. Damien heard him talking, his voice urgent.

  "What's going on here, Janna?" Abby asked.

  "I'd like some answers myself." Damien stepped up to stand next to Abby.

  She spun around to face him. "Did you know about this?" she demanded. "Did you know Janna was here?"

  "Do you think I would do that to you, Abby?" he asked. "Don't you think I would have told you if I had known what was going on?"

  She dropped her gaze. "I'm sorry," she said softly. "Of course you would have told me."

  He wanted to sweep her into his arms, to hold her until his pain and her fear disappeared, but instead he took a step away from her. Turning to Abby's sister, he said. "I'm glad you're here. We've been worried about you, Ms. Stewart."

  Janna smiled shakily. "I know. I could tell when I talked to Abby." She turned to her sister. "Thank you for taking such good care of them," she whispered. "I would have died if anything had happened to them."

  "What happened down in Mexico?" Abby asked. "You sounded so strange on the telephone. I was so worried."

  Janna buried her face in her daughters' hair again, then stood up and faced Abby and Damien. "I thought it was just a business trip, although I was surprised it came up so quickly. For the first few days, that's exactly what it was. Harry is a business associate, my boss, so I didn't question his presence. We had meetings in the morning, then I did tourist things in the afternoon." A delicate pink color flushed her cheeks. "I was flattered when Harry wanted to tag along with me. He was very attentive."

  As Janna paused, fear sliding over her face, Damien asked gently, "Then what happened?"

  "You're going to think I'm the most stupid, naive person in the world." she muttered. "I certainly did, after I realized what was going on." She paused as if gathering herself, then continued. "Every day there was one meeting in the morning that my boss told me I didn't have to attend. He told me to go out shopping. Which I did until the fifth day. I had seen all the shops, and there wasn't anything else to do. So I came back early and sat outside the office to wait for the next meeting."

  "What happened then?" Damien had grabbed a pad of paper and was taking notes.

  "The men my boss was meeting with began to shout, and I could hear them plainly." Janna swallowed, and fear crept into her eyes again. "They were talking about me. The men asked someone when he was going to get the information from me, and Harry told them to relax. He had it covered. But they started to press, and then Harry began to shout, too."

  She looked around, and Damien nodded at her reassuringly. "Go on, Ms. Stewart."

  Janna whispered something to Maggie and Casey, and the girls went into the kitchen. "Harry told the men that I always left my kids with my sister when I went on a business trip, and that was where they had to be. He said it wasn't his fault if their men couldn't take out one woman and two little girls."

  "Then what?" Damien moved closer and took Janna's hand. "Then they started discussing the best way to dispose of the girls and make it look like an accident once they found them," Janna whispered, starting to cry again. "Harry told them I was scared to death of water, and they probably didn't know how to swim. When I heard that, I tried to leave. All I could think about was getting back home, but they must have heard me. Harry came out the door and took me back to the hotel.

  "He wouldn't let me out of his sight after that. He admitted he killed that Stefanetto man and told me that the girls had seen him do it. I knew he was going to kill me and the girls, too." She licked her lips and looked over at Abby. "The next day was when you called. I was frantic that you would tell me where you were and he would find out."

  "How did you get away?" Abby asked, taking her sister's other hand.

  Janna gave her a watery smile. "Harry still went to his meetings in the mornings, I guess to find out if his thugs had found the girls. He left a guard in the hall so I couldn't get away, but I was able to search the room and yesterday morning I finally found some money he'd hidden. I managed to pack a few things in my carry-on, then last night when he went into the bathroom I tied his belt to the door knob and fastened it to the coat rack. I started running and didn't stop until I was on a plane back to Las Vegas. And when I went to the FBI, I
told Frank I wouldn't give him any information until I had my daughters back. He said they were with you and safe, but by then I didn't trust anyone."

  Frank came back into the room. "He checked out of his hotel last night and vanished. There's no record of him arriving in this country."

  "We used a private jet when we flew down to Mexico," Janna said. "My boss said it was owned by his business associates."

  "Did you leave from McCarran?" Damien asked, certain they hadn't flown out of the Las Vegas airport.

  "No, a private airstrip somewhere out in the desert. We had to drive for a while before we got there."

  "Is that how you usually flew when you went on business trips?" he asked.

  Janna shook her head. "We always used regular airlines. I guess I should have thought something was up when we took that private jet."

  "Porter was careful to arrange it so that you wouldn't figure out anything was wrong," Damien said gently. "Don't blame yourself. That's why he whisked you out of the country so fast, before Maggie and Casey had a chance to tell you what had happened. It was probably the only plan he could come up with on the spur of the moment. He knew his only hope was to separate you, then get rid of the girls when you weren't there to protect them."

  "How could I have worked for my boss for this long and not known what kind of people he associated with?" Janna asked, her voice breaking.

  "You saw the side of him he wanted you to see. And what reason would you have had to suspect otherwise?" Damien squeezed her hand, then let it go and stood up. "Don't beat yourself up, Janna. You're as much a victim as your daughters are."

  "What happens now?" she asked in a small voice.

  "Yes, what do we do now, Damien?" Abby stood to the side and watched him. He couldn't read the expression in her eyes.

  "Our first priority is keeping all of you safe." Frank Cantrell, Damien's boss, stepped forward. "I've arranged for all of you to be taken to a safe house out of state. Only Kane and I know where it is. Kane is going to find Porter, and in a few days you'll be back to your old life again."

  Abby stood and watched Janna talking to Damien and Frank and knew that Frank was wrong. Her old life was gone, and she would never get it back.

  And she didn't want it back. She had lived safely, teaching her classes, spending time with Janna and Maggie and Casey, and avoiding anything that could cause her the kind of pain that parting with her fiancé had caused. Then she had met Damien, and he had demolished all of the carefully constructed barriers around her heart. She loved him, and that was never going to change.

  Would he ever love her back? Something in her would not let her give up on him just yet.

  As Frank transferred their luggage from Damien's car to his, and Janna and the girls went into another room, she turned to him. "Why aren't you coming with us to the safe house?"

  "I have to catch Porter, Abby. I'm the agent in charge of this case, and it's my responsibility. There will be U.S. marshals at the safe house to protect you, and Frank is going to stay there, too." She saw a muscle twitch in his jaw. "The only way the twins and you and your sister are going to be safe is if Porter is behind bars. And right now I won't trust that to anyone but myself."

  "What happens after you find Porter and arrest him?"

  "He'll be indicted and tried for murder. The girls will probably have to testify, but we'll make it as easy for them as possible."

  "That's not what I meant, Damien. What about you and I?"

  "Is there a you and I, Abby?"

  "I think so." She watched him steadily.

  His eyes softened. "You know I care about you, Abby. I care a lot. But I can't give you what you want. I don't know if I ever could. I know you want a home, and children…" He turned away and shoved his hands into his pockets. "I don't know, Abby."

  "I'm not asking you to promise anything," she said, her heart breaking. "All I'm asking is that you'll give it a chance."

  He stared out the window for a long time. "All right, Abby, after this is over, I'll come and see you," he finally said. "But this was a stressful time for you, and we sometimes do or say things under stress that we wouldn't do otherwise. I'm not going to bold you to anything right now."

  "I'm not going to change how I feel," she said, feeling tears trembling in her throat. "I love you, Damien."

  At that he turned around. His face was pinched and tight, and she saw the pain, deep down in his eyes. "I know you think you do, but you don't know me. Not really."

  "I know everything I need to know about you," she said, passion in her voice. "Enough to know I'm not going to change my mind."

  He glanced out the window, and his mouth thinned. "It's time to go. Frank's waiting."

  She wouldn't leave without one last kiss. Stepping close to him, she pulled his head down and kissed him with all the passion inside her. For a moment he stood stiffly, his arms hanging at his side. Then, with a groan, he wrapped them around her and pulled her close. She tasted desire, need and despair equally in his kiss.

  "We're ready to go, Abby."

  Janna's voice came from behind her, and Damien stepped away from her. "Take care of yourself," he said, then he opened the door.

  She wanted to say something more, something that would bind him to her, some magic that would make him understand how much she loved him. Instead, she whispered, "Be careful, Damien. I'll be waiting for you when this is over."

  He shut the door quietly behind them. As they drove away from the house, she saw Damien standing at the window. She watched him get smaller and smaller until he eventually disappeared.

  * * *

  Chapter 16

  «^

  Damien walked up to the front door of the tiny house and smiled as he heard the sound of childish voices drifting around the corner. Janna's car was parked in the driveway, and he noticed that the car seats were gone. Maggie and Casey were growing up. Pausing on the porch, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

  It was opened almost immediately, although he noted with approval that Janna first looked through the spy hole he'd installed. "Hi, Damien," she said, pulling the door wide. "Come on in."

  Out of habit she led the way into the kitchen, pausing only to pour him a cup of coffee. "The girls are in the backyard," she said over her shoulder. "Let me call them in. I'd never hear the end of it if I didn't."

  Damien sat down in his usual spot at the table and absently drank from the chipped blue mug, the same one he'd used every time he'd visited Janna during the past few months.

  He'd finally caught Porter, and the murderer had agreed to a plea bargain. He was now busy providing the kind of details that would eventually bring down many mobsters in Las Vegas.

  But Damien hadn't been able to walk away from Maggie and Casey, and he'd visited them and Janna frequently. In a few moments he heard the excited chatter of children's voices as Maggie and Casey approached the house.

  "Damien," they shouted in unison as they charged through the door. "You came to see us."

  Damien opened his arms wide as they threw themselves at him. Their tight hugs brought him only joy now. The pain had been buried in the past, where it belonged. He would always grieve for his son and unborn child, but be had learned a few things over the past months. He had learned to cherish the present and hope for the future. And he had learned that some gifts are too precious to scorn. He tightened his arms around Maggie and Casey, then he let them go.

  "What have you two urchins been up to?" he asked, wiping a smear of dirt off Maggie's face.

  "We're building a bear trap," Casey said eagerly. "Just like we did at the cabin. Mommy promised we could make chocolate-chip cookies for bait, just like Aunt Abby did"

  Damien's chest contracted at the sound of Abby's name, and his heart leaped with hope, but he asked casually, "Is your aunt Abby helping you with the bear trap?"

  Maggie shook her head. "Aunt Abby had to go away. We haven't seed her in a long time."

  The hope in Damien's chest shriveled
into the dust of despair. He knew very well that Abby had gone away. He'd spent the past three months searching for her, to no avail. But he continued to hope she would be unable to stay away from her beloved nieces.

  "I'm sure you'll see her soon," he said, trying to force a smile onto his face. "Your aunt Abby loves you very much."

  "We talk to her on the phone all the time," Casey volunteered. "She says she misses us."

  "I'm sure she does, Casey."

  He talked to the twins for a few more minutes, then Casey squirmed off his lap. "We got to go work on the bear trap," she announced as she dashed out the door.

  Maggie slid off his lap more slowly. She stared at Damien for a moment, then she took a step closer as if she'd made a decision. "We found a fairy tree behind our house," she told him.

  Damien remembered the fairy tree they'd found at the cabin on Shea's ranch, and felt a lump forming in his throat. He only had one wish, and he'd give anything to have it come true. "I'm glad," he whispered. "Have you made any more good wishes?"

  "Only the same one I made at the lake. Do you want to know what it is?"

  "I thought you couldn't tell or it wouldn't come true."

  "Sometimes it's okay to tell. You can tell if you've had the wish for a long time and it hasn't come true."

  "All right, then, what's your wish?"

  "You can't tell anyone else," Maggie warned, watching him solemnly with hazel eyes that were so much like her aunt's.

  "Cross my heart," Damien said, doing so.

  "I wished that you would be my daddy."

  For a moment Damien couldn't answer as his chest expanded and his throat swelled. Then he pulled Maggie into his arms and against his heart. "If I could have a little girl, I would want one exactly like you," he whispered into her ear. "But I can't be your daddy because your mommy and I aren't married." Slowly he eased Maggie away from him and looked down at her face. "But can I tell you a secret?"

  She nodded as her eyes lit up. "I like having secrets."

  "Maybe someday I could be your uncle."

  He watched her as she processed his words, then gave him a grin. "If you can't be my daddy, then being my uncle would be the next-best thing."