Argeneau Family 12. The Renegade Hunter(10)

"Oh, Mortimer," she heard Sam say anxiously. "What's going on? Decker brought Jo inside all blank-faced and wouldn't tell me what had happened. He took Jo upstairs and sent her to her room and then went to check on Dani and Stephanie and hasn't come back. He was controlling Jo, wasn't he?"

"Yes, honey, he had to."

Jo froze in the upper hall at Mortimer's words. Decker had been controlling her? He had to? What the…

"Why?" Sam asked. "What's happened?"

"A rogue got onto the property," Mortimer explained. "One of Leo's sons. He attacked Jo. It's all right," he added quickly as Sam gasped in dismay. "She's fine. Nicholas was following the rogue and saved her before he did more than bang her up a bit."

"Nicholas?" Sam asked even as Jo repeated the name in her head. She suddenly had a flash of the man she'd seen on the lawn with Mortimer and Bricker. They were standing in the dark and he was peering down into her face, telling her his name was—

"Nicholas Argeneau?" Sam spoke the name running through Jo's mind, and then added, "The rogue Nicholas Argeneau. He was here too?"

"Yes. He was apparently tailing Leo's son and followed him onto the property to keep him from causing trouble. He saw him attack Jo and stopped him."

A moment of silence fell below and Jo eased for ward, moving close enough to the railing that she could see the tops of Sam and Mortimer's heads, but no more. She had no desire to be caught. Jo suspected they would stop talking if they knew she was there.

"So this Nicholas Argeneau," Sam said grimly, "the rogue Nicholas Argeneau… helped save Dani and Stephanie at the beginning of summer and has now, again, risked getting himself caught to save my sister?" Sam asked slowly in what Jo fondly thought of as her sister's lawyer voice. "Does that make any sense to you?"

"No." Mortimer sounded weary, and his hand came into view as he ran his fingers through his hair. "But that's what's happened."

"Why would he do that?" Sam asked, and then, voice serious, said, "Are you sure he's a rogue, Mortimer? A man who'd risk himself to save complete strangers just doesn't sound like a—"

"He's a rogue, Sam," Mortimer interrupted firmly. "And I don't know why he did what he did tonight. Maybe he's trying to make up for the past. Just be glad he did and Jo is safe."

Sam released a little sigh, and her head moved as she nodded. "I should go check on Jo."

"Leave her be, honey," Mortimer said, and Jo eased a little closer to the rail to see him catching Sam's arm as she made for the stairs. "Decker wiped her memory and put it in her head that she's tired and wants to sleep. Leave her be until morning. You might stir some of her memories if you talk to her tonight. They'll be more likely to stay wiped if you leave her until morning."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, sounding worried.

"So long as she doesn't see Nicholas or Leo's son again, those memories should stay buried," Mortimer assured her. "Now come on. I need to call Lucian and I'd rather not be too far away from you until we're sure Leo's son isn't still prowling the property."

"Is there a possibility he is?" Sam asked with dismay.

"We think he's fled. The gate was open when the men went to search. We think he slipped back through the woods while Nicholas and Jo were kiss ing and slipped out through the gate when Bricker left his post to investigate the noises he heard."

"Nicholas and Jo were kissing ?" Sam asked as if Mortimer had said they'd been having sex on a coffee table in the living room in front of the whole party. Jo understood, however; she was a little shocked at this news herself. She'd been kissing some guy she didn't know but who'd saved her from some guy who'd attacked her?

"I'll explain in a minute," Mortimer promised. "I really have to call Lucian. Come on."

"But why were they kissing?" Jo heard Sam ask as Mortimer led her away from the entry and into the library.

Much to Jo's regret, the door closed before Mortimer could answer. She would have liked to have heard that answer herself.

Jo stayed where she was for another moment, her mind spinning a little. Most of what had been said made no sense to her. Decker had wiped her memory and put it in her head that she was tired? She'd been attacked by a rogue, whatever that was, and some fellow named Nicholas, also a rogue, had saved her… apparently risking himself in some way to do so? And she'd been kissing him?

It was the bit about wiping her memory that bothered her most. What did that mean? And how could it have been done? Oddly enough, however, while she wondered about that, Jo was also having strange flashes of memory in her head, just bits of memory that were very disjointed and didn't make a lot of sense. Mostly she just kept seeing the dark-haired man's face.