“Will I be able to call or give them a number where they can reach me?” Diane asked.

“Everyone will have temporary cells by tonight. Once we reach Whitley Point you can call them.”

“Thank you.” Diane squared her shoulders. “You two go ahead. I’m fine.”

Blair slid her arm around Cam’s waist. “Come on, darling. Better fill me in on what’s going on.”

“Let me get this straight.” Blair leaned against the dresser in the bedroom watching Cam pack this time. “I’m being spirited away to Whitley Point surrounded by armed guards, while you drive for twelve hours out in the open where anyone could follow you.”

“We’re not going to be followed.”

“Then why can’t I come with you?”

Cam passed Blair the extra suitcase. “You need to take anything?”

Blair dropped it on the bed. “Yes. I’ll pack in a minute. Why can’t I go with you?”

“If anyone is watching us they’ll have a hard time following two separate groups. It buys us time.”

“Bull. You don’t want me with you in case someone comes after you again. In case someone…” Blair stalked across the room and pulled the shirt Cam was folding from her grasp. “Someone tried to kill you last night. And you think they might try again, don’t you?”

“Blair—”

“Don’t lie to me.”

Cam cradled Blair’s face between her hands and kissed her softly. “I won’t. You know that.”

“That’s what you think, isn’t it?”

“It’s a consideration, especially in light of my past relationship with Valerie. Matheson might suspect that she would come to me and that I might be able to bring her in. If someone wants to prevent that, getting me out of the way is the logical step.”

Blair forced herself to keep her expression neutral, even though the calm way that Cam discussed why someone would want to kill her chilled her to the core. If she wanted Cam to tell her the truth, she had to be able to handle the truth. No matter how much it terrified her. “Did you tell Valerie where we’re going?”

“No, but she has a number to call me.” She lowered her hands to Blair’s shoulders and rubbed them softly. “I’ll be okay. I’ve got good people with me and I know what I’m doing.”

“Do you think Valerie will call?”

Cam sighed. “I don’t know. When it comes right down to it, her training may win out. And she’s been indoctrinated not to trust anyone.”

“I don’t like us being separated.”

“Neither do I, but it’s only for a few hours. I’ll be there tonight, and we’ll wake up together tomorrow.”

Blair closed her eyes and wrapped her arms around Cam’s waist. “You didn’t sleep all night. You’re hurt and tired. You’re not at your best, Cam, and you need to be.”

“Savard and Davis will be with me. They’ll do the driving. I’ll sleep.”

Blair rubbed her cheek against Cam’s shoulder. “I don’t want other women taking care of you.”

Cam laughed. “I think I’ll be safe with them.”

“What about the thing Saturday night I’m supposed to do for Lucinda?”

“I don’t like it,” Cam said, “but we all agree we can’t keep you completely out of the public eye. Lucinda is arranging for a suite of rooms at the Copley for us and the rest of the team for the weekend. I’ll be your escort, and Savard will accompany Diane.”

“Oh, Stark’s going to love that.”

Cam grinned. “It’s all in the line of duty.”

Blair leaned back, a glint in her eyes. “Is it, now? Then you’d better pack something besides work clothes. Like a tux.”

“That’s what rental places are for.”

“And you better make sure you sleep in the car,” Blair murmured, running her fingers along Cam’s collarbone and down over her chest. “I missed you last night.”

“Me too.”

“What about your hip and shoulder?”

“I’m stiff and sore, but functional.” Cam kissed Blair, taking her time, because it would be hours before they saw each other again and despite her words of confidence to Blair, she knew that anything could happen in the interim. “Besides, massage therapy will be good for them.”

“Then I’ll put you on my schedule for the morning.”

“I’ll be there.”

Blair held her tightly, unable to imagine any other possibility.

Chapter Thirteen

“Paula,” Blair said with quiet intensity, just the slightest bit of edge in her voice.

“Yes?” Stark said solemnly.

“If you had a round robin, why didn’t you bid more?”

Diane snorted and, despite the fact that it had been dark for over three hours and it was impossible to see the beach, Wozinski seemed to find something fascinating happening out the window. Stark hastily squinted at her cheat sheet, obviously at a loss.

“A king and queen in every suit. I would’ve taken the bid if I’d known you had that much meld,” Blair said.

“I didn’t see it,” Stark said bleakly. “I was so excited about the pinochle—”

“Never mind. It doesn’t matter.” Blair abruptly pushed back her chair, strode across the kitchen, and slammed out the door.

The room was silent for a moment and then Diane rose. “It’s freezing out there. She doesn’t have a jacket.”

Wozinski glanced at Stark. “Should I go with her, Chief? I can take her jacket.”

Stark shook her head. “Hara is out back and Tanner stationed a team in a vehicle on the street. She’s covered.”

“I’ll take her jacket,” Diane said, patting Wozinski’s shoulder as she passed behind his chair. “But thank you.”

“Yes ma’am.” Wozinski flushed. “Pleasure.”

It took less than thirty seconds for Diane to reach the back deck after grabbing Blair’s jacket, but she saw only a single figure standing at the railing, facing toward the ocean—shorter than either herself or Blair by several inches and more slender than Stark. Hara. Not Blair. For an instant, her heart twisted with an overriding sense of dread, as if Blair too had walked out the door and simply vanished. Just like the morning she had awakened in the guesthouse in a still room beneath a silent dawn and realized that Valerie had disappeared while she’d slept. “Where’s Blair?”

Hara did not turn, and even in the darkness, Diane knew that she was watching Blair. The cloud cover was so dense even the light from the full moon barely penetrated the inky sky.

“Sitting on top of a dune, fifteen yards down the path and ten feet off to the right.”

“It feels like thirty degrees out here, and you just let her go?” Diane snapped.

“Thirty-eight degrees.”

“Never mind,” Diane muttered, hurrying down the stairs to the path. A minute later she knelt beside Blair. “Put your jacket on.”

“Thanks,” Blair said, shrugging into it. “You don’t need to stay.”

With a sigh, Diane shifted around to sit facing the same direction as Blair and leaned against her. When Blair wrapped an arm around her, she snuggled closer and lightly rested her head on Blair’s shoulder. “Couldn’t you brood inside where we can have a fire?”

“It’s a lot harder to do if you’re comfortable.” Blair pressed her cheek to Diane’s hair. “Do you have any idea how much I hate waiting here, safe and sound and protected by armed guards, while Cam is out there somewhere with people who want to kill her?”

“I think I know,” Diane whispered.

“Oh, honey, I’m sorry,” Blair said. “Of course you do.”

“Renée called Paula with an update,” Diane pointed out gently. “She said everything was fine and that Cam was resting.”

“I know.” Blair sighed. “But that was three hours ago and they’re not due here for another four at least. Anything can happen.” She reached beside her and dug her fingers into the cold sand. “I just want to be able to protect her the way she protects me.”

“I bet you already do.”

Blair laughed harshly. “Hardly. Since everyone thinks I’m so important, I seem to be the one destined to wait, just like tonight.”

“You are important—”

“I’m no more important than Cam or you or Stark or any of the others.”

Diane wrapped both arms around Blair’s waist and hugged her. “You, Blair Powell, may not be more important than the rest of us, although I happen to think you’re pretty special and I’m sure Cam does too, but it’s not about Blair Powell.”

“No, it’s about the first daughter.”

“Yes. And I imagine that makes it all the harder.”

“There’s a reason you’re my best friend, you know,” Blair said softly.

“Besides the fact that I’m smart, beautiful, and well-connected in the art world?”

“Those are definite pluses, but you might be the only person other than Tanner who’s ever understood that having a famous father mostly just sucks.”

“Yes, I never did think living in a mansion was all that cool when it came with a bunch of state troopers hanging out on the front porch.” Diane tried not to shiver from the cold. She sensed Blair’s mood beginning to lighten and wanted to keep her talking. “Tanner could relate, because she had to put up with a lot of the same thing. Not the bodyguards and everything, but having a lot expected of her because of who her father was.”

“Mmm,” Blair said, patting the sand she’d squeezed into a hard ball back into the ground. “Tanner understands. But she’s not a girl, like you are. It’s not the same.”

“You mean you wouldn’t snuggle with Tanner in the dark?” Diane teased.

“Snuggling is not what I had in mind with Tanner. Definitely not when we were teenagers.” Blair thought back to how wild and drop-dead sexy Tanner had been then. “And I don’t think I would, even now. After all, I’ve had a lot more practice resisting you.”

“Thanks, I think.” Diane kissed Blair’s cheek. “We have to go inside, sweetie. I’ve officially frozen my ass off.”

Blair reached for Diane’s hand as they rose. “Thanks for coming out to get me and just for…getting it.”

“Cam’s going to be okay,” Diane said gently. “She’s amazingly good at what she does, and besides, Felicia and Renée are with her.”