Forbidden Fantasies Bundle(146)

Zoë glanced around at the people who were depending on her. They believed in her. And so did she. If Jed Calhoun-Ethan Blair-Lucifer tried to get away from her, she’d just track him down.

Bailey’s voice sounded in her ear. “Our quarry has just started down the steps.”

Rising, Zoë scanned the stairs. It took her a moment to pick Hadley Richards out of the group of people because he wasn’t in a three-piece suit. Instead, he wore khaki shorts and a tan golf shirt.

Straightening her shoulders, Zoë strode forward.



GAGE ROLLED the remainder of his soggy cone up in his napkin and pitched it toward a nearby trash can. “Three points,” he said when it fell in.

“Don’t you have any nerves at all?” Bailey asked. “There are at least a dozen ways that this could go wrong.”

“Which is why it’s important to control the nerves,” Gage pointed out. “Besides, I’m enjoying myself. It isn’t every day that I get a sexy nurse to answer to my beck and call.”

Though she kept her gaze on her quarry, Bailey’s eyebrows shot up. “Sexy, I’ll take. But I’m not at your beck and call.”

Gage sighed. “A man has to have some fantasy life, especially when confined to a wheelchair.”

Bailey remembered that Gage had been confined to a wheelchair for almost a year after being shot and losing his leg. One of the bullets had lodged close to his spine, and after removing it, the doctors had made no promises. It must have been pure torture for a man who’d lived the kind of life Gage Sinclair had.

As if he’d read her mind, Gage said, “I thought of you a lot in that year I spent in the hospital.”

Thought of her? Bailey glanced down to find that he’d tipped up his head and was looking at her. What she saw in his eyes broke her concentration for a minute. Was he actually hitting on her in the middle of an operation? This was definitely not the man she’d looked up to as her mentor. This was—

With a mental jerk, she tore her gaze away from his and looked back into her camera just in time to see Zoë reach the steps. Zoë stopped and waited for Hadley to descend. Good girl, Bailey thought. That had been the plan. If at all possible, Zoë was to get Hadley Richards to join her at the foot of the steps. Things could get complicated if he took her up into the memorial chamber.

Just then, a youngish man in a lightweight jacket with an iPod in his ear joined Zoë at the foot of the stairs. He seemed to be urging her up the steps toward Hadley.

“Uh-oh,” Bailey murmured into her mike. “I’ll bet he’s got a gun concealed in that jacket.”

“Yeah,” Jed said. “It’s in his left hand.”

Shifting the camera slightly, Bailey saw Jed rise and start up the stairs.

“Let her handle it,” Bailey said. But even as she spoke, she made an instant decision. “Get someone else to be at your beck and call, Sinclair. I’m going to get closer.”



“MOVE.” The word was barely audible, but Zoë felt the press of hard steel against her side. Fear shot through her as the young, hard-eyed man to her left led her toward Hadley. Jed was ten steps ahead of her, so she saw him rise and start to climb, the dog leading the way. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of Bailey taking pictures on a step parallel to hers. She wasn’t alone, she reminded herself.

“Zoë.” Hadley smiled as she reached him. “It’s so good to see you again.”

She met his eyes steadily. There was a coldness there that she hadn’t seen six months ago. She gave him the shy smile he was used to. “I…I don’t understand the gun. I just want to talk about those reports.”

Hadley scanned the crowd. “Yes, I want that, too. But not here. It’s too crowded, and the humidity is oppressive today.”

He returned his gaze to hers and smiled, but his eyes remained cold. “If you’re thinking of screaming or making a run for it, my friend Digs here has a silencer on his gun. He’ll pull the trigger, and I will call for help and then fade into the crowd.”

He would, she realized. Considering the clothes he was wearing, Hadley would figure that the description offered by any potential eyewitnesses would fit any number of tourists who were visiting the memorial. And, of course, he didn’t know he had four witnesses who could identify him. As far as he knew, he had nothing to lose by having Zoë shot.

“My limo is close by. It will be much cooler inside. Come. We’ll take a little ride and chat.”

Already they were moving quickly down the steps. A cold sliver of fear moved up Zoë’s spine. Jed and Bailey were behind them now. Gage was in his wheelchair and Ryder at the vending cart. None of them could help her without letting Hadley know that he was being watched. If Ryder and Gage moved now, their whole plan would have been in vain.