She gasped. He was still looking at her! She pressed a hand against her chest. Good Lord, her heart was going crazy.
And then he smiled. A slow, devastating one that curled to the left in a lopsided fashion before transforming into a full-fledged smile. With dimples.
She slumped against the column. Dopamine overload. Skyrocketing tachycardia. Okay, now you can faint.
Chapter Six
“Come on!” Abigail rushed toward the staircase.
“What’s the big hurry?” Madison struggled to keep up with her. She passed her dog bag to Josh. “I can’t run in these heels. I’m afraid I’ll fall and hurt Dolly.”
Josh’s jaw shifted slightly, his only sign of annoyance, but Abigail noticed it.
“I’ll take her.” She grabbed the dog bag and ran down the stairs, quick and nimble in her athletic shoes.
“Not so fast!” Madison yelled. “You’ll scare Dolly!”
Abigail glanced at the bag. Dolly was poking her head out and grinning like she did whenever she was in a car. “She’s fine!”
“What about you?” Madison’s voice filtered down the staircase, along with the clunking sound of her heels. “Why are you acting so weird?”
Good question. Abigail paused when she reached the ground floor. It wasn’t like her to fixate on a man. “I . . . want to know who he is.”
“Who?” Madison clambered down the last of the stairs with Josh beside her, making sure she didn’t fall.
“The guy who got out of the limo.” Abigail started down the Center Hall and called back over her shoulder. “There was something different about him. Don’t you think?”
“I didn’t get a good look at him. I was too busy looking for— Oh my God.” The sound of Madison’s footsteps stopped abruptly. “You think he’s a vampire?”
Abigail blinked. Did she? No, of course not. Vampires weren’t real. She glanced down at the bag in her hand, and Dolly tilted her head, regarding her curiously. “That would be crazy, wouldn’t it?” she whispered.
Dolly yipped in agreement.
“The voice of reason.” Abigail continued toward the West Colonnade. She’d seen the hysteria all over the Internet. She’d even watched the video that claimed to show a vampire being beheaded. It had looked like a movie clip to her, starring a kilted Scotsman as the hero, killing his foe with his mighty claymore. The guy he’d supposedly decapitated had turned to dust, but that was easy enough to fake with special effects.
As soon as she entered the West Colonnade, the toy poodle began to bark. Abigail stopped. She’d never seen Dolly this agitated. The dog was scratching at the sides of the leather tote bag, her yipping growing more frantic.
Madison ran to catch up with them. “Abby! What did you do to my baby?”
“Nothing.” Abigail winced when Dolly tried to leap out. She quickly set the bag on the floor.
Dolly jumped out and scampered into the West Wing. Abigail chased after her, then halted at the doorway that led into the waiting room outside the Oval Office. Madison and Josh stopped beside her. Two Secret Service agents were stationed across the room, just outside the door to her father’s office. Her heart stuttered when she spotted the mystery man halfway across the room, seated beneath a painting.
Dolly advanced toward him, growling and baring her sharp little teeth. He stood, his attention focused entirely on the dog. Abigail opened her mouth to tell Dolly to stop, but the dog suddenly collapsed onto the carpet, limp and silent.
“Dolly!” Madison ran to her dog and fell to her knees.
She lifted her dog’s head. “Dolly, speak to me! Oh my God, what’s wrong with her?”
“She’s fine,” the mystery man said, glancing back at the pair of Secret Service men, who remained quiet and expressionless. “I think she’s . . . sleeping.”
“Sleeping?” Madison repeated, her eyes wide.
Josh leaned over to inspect the dog. “She’s okay. She’s still breathing.”
“Oh.” Madison pressed a hand to her chest. “Thank God.” She peered down at her pet with a perplexed look. “Poor baby. She must have worn herself out.”
Abigail watched silently from the doorway, her gaze darting back and forth between the limp dog and the mystery man. A strange thought seeped into her mind, that somehow he had shut the dog up and caused her to fall asleep. She opened her mouth to question him, but then his gaze shifted to her.
And she forgot how to talk.
She’d almost fainted before from seeing him at a distance. Now that he was close, she could hardly think. Hardly breathe. Her heart pounded, and her mouth grew dry. She licked her lips, and his gaze flickered to her mouth, then back to her eyes.