She searched his eyes, saw his determination. He wasn’t exaggerating. “All right. I promise I won’t put myself in the path of a bullet for you.” For the first time in her life, she made a promise she knew would willingly and knowingly break.
God forgive her.
Sam forgive her.
*
His back to the wall, he sipped his Guinness, only half paying attention to the flatscreen over the bar. Chad allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction as the Saints’ quarterback heaved a pass to the end zone. According to the phone call he’d received, Sam was completing his own pass. Thalia’s hare-brained scheme had worked.
As a cheer went up when Washington intercepted the pass, the door to the bar opened. A frown on his face, the bar’s newest patron scanned the crowd and found his target. He pushed his way through the throng and slumped into the booth.
“What are you doing here, Andy? Why aren’t you at Sam’s place?”
Andy signaled to the waitress and ordered a cola. “Because he just fired me.”
“What? Why?” Had Sam found out about their plan? Would he be next?
“He said I put Rosie at risk by letting her go with Thalia into the public part of the club.” Andy worried his goatee. “I didn’t know she’d left the security office until they returned. But he’s right. I should have been in the office with her and at least gone with her.”
“Crap. All right, first off, you’re not fired. Take a week’s vacation while I talk to Sam and calm him down. It’s my damned sister’s fault, not yours. When Thalia gets something into her head, there’s no stopping her.” He waved toward the television. “Those football players have nothing on her when it comes to offensive strategy.”
Look at him. He’d let her talk him into assigning Sam and Jill to her club in the first place. And ended up in front of a media firing squad, his career in flames.
Andy chugged half his drink before the waitress had managed to get two steps away from the table. “You guys may have to come up with a new plan ’cause there’s trouble in paradise.”
Acid from his stomach slicing at the back of his throat, Chad stilled. “They were fighting?”
“Rosie thought she saw a sniper in the building opposite and threw herself over him. Livid doesn’t even begin to describe Sam right now.”
Crap. Crap. Crap. When Thalia had proposed the scheme of having Rosie as Sam’s bodyguard, he’d argued against it for this very reason. All they needed to make Sam withdraw from Rosie was to remind him of how he’d lost Jill. He rubbed his temple against the headache that stabbed behind his eyes.
“All right. We’ll wait and see how things shake out. Rosie won’t let Sam pull away without a battle.”
“And if she does?”
“Then I guess I have to call in the big guns.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
When Chad walked into his office, Sam held up his hand motioning for Chad to wait. “Isn’t there any way we can get someone in there without raisin’ their suspicions?”
“Sorry, Watson,” squawked a voice from the speakerphone. “Your guy Phillips’ escape made the terrorists frickin’ paranoid about the rest of the hostages. They’ve doubled the guard on the camp and have booby trapped all the buildings. They’re suspecting their own shadows right now. There’s no way you’re going to be able to put a new face in their midst without having them suspect something.”
“I’m not about to let my guys rot in that hellhole they’ve taken them to. I want them out of there by whatever means necessary. I’ve got manpower and I’ve got money. Just tell me what you need and you’ve got it.”
“I appreciate the offer, but at the moment, you have to put your faith in the American and Colombian governments’ negotiations. I’ll call you when I hear anything else. Sorry I couldn’t be more help.”
Sam stabbed the button, cutting the connection. Another curse befouled the air. He rubbed his temples against the headache forming at the back of his eyes. “What do you want, Chad?”
“Got a question for you.”
“What?”
“What the fuck is going on with you? Why are you being such an ass to Rosie?”
Good question. Things had spiraled out of control ever since that night he’d tried to slow things down between them. “None of your fuckin’ business.”
“You made it my business when you tried to fire Andy.”
“Yeah, okay.” Sam’s shoulders slumped and he stared at the ceiling. Shit, he missed Rosie, but he couldn’t take the chance while there was still a stalker possibly gunning for him. But Chad was right; it wasn’t Andy’s fault that Thalia-or Rosie-had deliberately kept Andy out of the loop. “Yeah, I was pretty pissed off that night and took it out on the wrong person. I’m glad you told Andy he’s not fired. I need to apologize to him for that.”
He stalked to the bathroom and grabbed a bottle of Tylenol from the cabinet and downed two caplets dry. When he returned, he stayed in the doorway to the bathroom and met Chad’s gaze. “As for what’s going on between me and Rosie, that’s between me and her. It’s none of your business.”
“It is my business because it’s possible you’ve given her a reason to sue the company for sexual harassment. I’m in charge of the D.C. office, remember? It’s my job to look out for the company even if the owner doesn’t like my advice.”
“Rosie won’t sue.”
He rubbed his eyes. Shit he was tired. Between worrying about Rosie and the Colombia situation, he’d been putting in twenty-hour days. Hell, he’d fallen asleep at his desk the night before. Make that early this morning.
Chad waved an arm toward the door to the outer office. “Then let’s talk about how you’ve got Sandy on edge, how Troy’s about to throttle anyone who walks into his office, and the whole accounting staff is having fits over your last memo. Not to mention that you look like shit, Sam.”
When Sam flipped him off, Chad sighed. “You’re exhausted because you’ve been staying here late every night for the past week. Go home, Sam. Go talk to Rosie. Straighten this mess out before you lose her completely. Before she comes and asks me for a transfer because damn it, Sam, that’s going to happen too fucking soon.”
“This from the man who let his wife slip through his fingers because he was too fuckin’ busy feeling sorry for himself to pay any attention to her.”
Chad stiffened. When he spoke his voice was quiet, but he couldn’t disguise the bitterness filling it. “Who better to give advice? Yes, I fucked up a good thing with Lauren. I was too blinded by everything that happened to see that I was driving her away. That’s why I hate to see you make the same stupid mistake.”
“It’s not a mistake, goddamn it. It’s for her own damned good. I won’t see Rosie hurt.”
Chad slammed his hand flat on the desk. “Goddamn it, Sam. What the hell’s wrong with you? You’re hurting her!”
Because then she’ll continue to be in harms’ way. “You may be my manager in the office, which gives you the right to make suggestions about my business decisions but you sure as hell have no right making judgments on my love life.”
“Someone’s got to get through that thick skull of yours and make you see what you’ve got right in front of you before you crash and burn. You’re Hauberk, Sam. You go down, we all go down with you. Rosie loves you. Or is that what’s scaring you?”
“I’d rather lose her and know she’s alive than have her in the stalker’s cross hairs. Or have you forgotten I’m a target right now?”
“You stupid, pigheaded, shit-for-brains asshole, haven’t you figured it out yet? There is no-”
“Uh, Sam? Chad?” Sandy stuck her head in the door. “You guys want to keep it down-you’re starting to attract a crowd out here.”
Sam shook his head and stared Chad down. “It’s okay, Sandy. We’re done here. Chad’s leaving right now.”
Chad cursed once then stalked to the door. “Fine. You want to play it that way, asshole? You’ve got it.” Chad
