“Thanks.” She shifted awkwardly. “Um, you, too,” she mumbled.
“All right. I have to run. Let me know your travel plans. I can have a plane pick you up whenever you’d like. Maybe in the morning?”
So soon? She wasn’t ready to go. “I’ll let you know, Dad. Thanks.”
“All right. Talk to you soon.”
The line went dead. Darcy handed the phone back to Paige. “He’s ready to have me home.”
Grandma Tessa stared at her. “Of course you want to go be with your family,” she said. “If you’re safe now.”
Darcy nodded. Tears burned, but she refused to give in to them. It wasn’t right. “You’ve all been very kind.”
“Kind.” Tessa dismissed the word. “We like having you here.”
“I’ve liked being here.”
“You have things to do, yes? A life?” Tessa asked.
Darcy shrugged. “I guess.”
The old woman took her hand. “If you don’t have anything special waiting, you could stay a few days. Maybe a couple of weeks.”
Darcy wanted to so much it hurt. “But I’m an intrusion. I have a Secret Service team. Less now, but at least two agents.”
“Two. It’s nothing.” Tessa squeezed her fingers. “Say you’ll stay. We want you here.”
“But Marco and Colleen may not be happy about-”
“Of course they’ll be happy,” Tessa said. “I know my own children.”
Just then Joe walked into the kitchen. Tessa turned to him. “Tell her to stay.”
He frowned. “You’re leaving?”
“They’ve found the rest of the kidnappers,” Darcy told him. “Your assignment is over.”
The second she said the words, horror washed over her. Of course. Joe was only here because of her. Now he was free to return to the naval base and continue his regular life. The one that didn’t include her.
“But she should stay,” Tessa said. “Tell her. A few weeks. For the harvest and the first pressing. To bring life to this house. For you, Joe. She can stay for you.”
Darcy braced herself to hear that he was leaving as well. Emotions crossed his face, but they went so quickly, she couldn’t read them.
Tessa’s eyes widened. “You’re not going, are you?” she asked, sounding frightened. “Joseph, your family needs you.”
Time stood still until Joe nodded. “I know. I’ll ask for compassionate leave and I’ll stay a few more weeks.” He looked at Darcy. “You should stay, too. Unless you have something else you should be doing.”
That would mean having an actual life, which she didn’t.
“Not really.”
“Then we’ll both stay.”
Four simple words. They shouldn’t have given her heart wings, and yet they had.
17
Alex shrugged. “I didn’t mind the assignment.”
“But it’s not very high profile. When you get back to D.C. maybe you can get assigned to the president.”
He had the feeling she was talking about something other than the topic at hand, but then conversations with Paige were always filled with undercurrents.
“I enjoyed the opportunity to protect Darcy,” he said carefully, wondering why he cared about Paige’s opinion on anything. She was the one who’d pointed out the unfairness of his attitude-that if they got married, she would be the one to give up her job, not him. While he understood her intellectual argument, he resented the implication that he was the jerk in all this. Even if maybe he was.
Not that he gave a damn. Whatever they’d had was long over. They’d each gone their separate ways, and they would again.
“Hey, guys.”
Alex turned and saw Darcy standing at the entrance to the guesthouse. “You heard the good news?” he asked.
“About the kidnappers? Yes, Paige told me.” Darcy smiled at her. “I wanted to let you know, I’m not leaving here. Not just yet. There’s so much going on, and well, Tessa asked me to stay and I said yes. I’m thinking for maybe two weeks. I don’t know who my regular detail will be, so that’s why I’m telling you.”
“Not a problem,” Paige told her. “I’ll make the arrangements.”
“Thanks.”
Darcy waved and left.
Paige watched her go. “She’s changed,” she said, more to herself than him. “She used to be distant and sarcastic. Now she is warmer. Happier. I’m not sure how much of it is Joe and how much of it is the family, but I’m thrilled for her.” She turned to Alex. “I’d like to stay.”
“Here?”
“Yes, here. With Darcy. I’d like to be assigned to her. With the threat gone, she’ll go back to a normal-size team. I want to be a part of that.”
He’d thought they would both return to Washington. He’d thought they would have a long plane ride to discuss what she’d said to him about this not being a game.
“So that’s it?” he asked, angry but not sure why.
“What else is there?” she asked. “You want your high-powered career. You want to be the best agent ever, to be alone. I don’t want that anymore. Oh, I want to do a good job, but I want a life, too. I want people around me I love.”
Not him. She didn’t want him. Which was fine. The hell with her.
Joe had claimed the library as his office. He didn’t want to work in the winery, and there weren’t any other rooms that had desks and file cabinets.
Over the past couple of weeks, he’d settled into a rhythm of dealing with winery business in the morning and Lorenzo’s personal papers in the afternoon. The will reading was at the end of the week. That was his cutoff date, he told himself. The Monday after the will was read, he was out of here.
He hadn’t told anyone yet, although he didn’t know why he was putting it off. No one would be surprised. The family understood his stay was only temporary.
Only they weren’t acting like it. Assumptions had been made, and he needed to make sure they got unmade.
Darcy walked into the office, took one look at him, and collapsed into a chair. “Okay, you’re looking fierce about something. Are you planning a revolt?”
As always, the sight of her eased the band of tension around his chest. Her easy smile welcomed him, and the sway of her body made him think of hot nights-an excellent distraction. She was the one person here who didn’t want something from him.
“Not a revolt, an escape.”
“Going anywhere interesting?”
“I haven’t decided. You want to pick?”
She wore a short black and white skirt and a black sleeveless top. Her time here had added color to her skin and while she was still too skinny by far, there was a bit more meat on her bones.
He liked the changes. He liked her-which confused him, but in a good way.
“I’ve never been to Hawaii,” she said. “Living on the East Coast, our escape for sun and sand is usually Florida
