have gotten her out of this before it even started. He thought of the other woman, the one he hadn’t been able to save. That couldn’t happen again.
It. Couldn’t. Happen.
“Stop right there,” Boyd ordered, his voice slicing through the silence.
They were still a good twenty feet from the guesthouse. Literally with no place to hide or duck for shelter if Boyd started shooting.
“Take off your jackets,” Boyd demanded.
Colin had anticipated the demand, but Danielle obviously hadn’t. She gasped and mumbled something. Colin wasn’t happy with the demand, either, but Boyd wasn’t stupid. This was a weapons check. Colin only hoped it didn’t extend to the gun he was trying to keep hidden.
Danielle slowly unbuttoned her jacket. Like her lips, her hands were shaking now. That only made him curse more because she shouldn’t have to be going through this.
Colin dropped his jacket onto the ground in front of him. Danielle did the same. And she stared down at it, completely dodging his gaze.
“Now take off your shirts,” Boyd added.
This time, Danielle’s gasp was a little louder.
“Rethink that,” Colin insisted, aware it wasn’t his negotiator’s voice. But hey, he wasn’t speaking as an agent now, but a man defending his wife’s, well, whatever. Honor and modesty seemed insignificant compared to the hostage situation, but he didn’t want Danielle to have to strip down in front of a hit man.
Colin unbuttoned his shirt, popping a few buttons in the process, and he threw the garment onto the ground with his jacket.
“Prove to me that neither of you are armed,” Boyd countered.
Colin’s hands went to his hips. “I don’t mind taking off all my clothes, but think of your young hostage.”
“He’s not watching. Strip!”
Hell. Boyd wasn’t going to give them any breaks. “Keep your clothes on,” he mumbled to Danielle, and he passed her the phone so his hands would be free. He needed to do some maneuvering.
Colin pulled off his boots, socks and empty ankle holster, and he put them on the growing heap of clothes. Next came the pants. This was the tricky part. He slipped the snub-nosed .38 into the back pocket and eased off his pants so the gun would stay in place. His wedding ring was in that pocket, too, and he didn’t want either falling out. He dropped the pants onto the heap, as well.
Leaving him to stand there in his boxers.
With Danielle staring at him.
Since he’d been married to her for over three years, she’d obviously seen him buck naked, but for some reason, it felt damn uncomfortable. And even more uncomfortable that she’d probably have to strip, as well.
“Satisfied?” Colin said, turning toward the phone that Danielle still held.
“Yeah. Now, it’s the doc’s turn.”
“She doesn’t even know how to fire a gun,” Colin protested. To diffuse this, he needed to go on the offensive.
Too bad Danielle wasn’t going to like it.
But it was better than a strip-down.
Colin stepped slightly away from her so that he was still partly shielding her, and he met her concerned gaze. Concerned being a massive understatement.
“I’m going to lift your top a little just so he can see you’re not carrying concealed.”
She blinked. “Turn around. I’ll do it.”
Colin blinked, too. “Jeez. I’ve seen everything you have beneath those clothes.”
“Turn around,” she insisted. And she dodged his gaze again.
Great. Was she hiding some kind of body hickey that she’d received from a lover she’d adamantly denied having. He’d gotten a God, no from her when he’d suggested that she had found someone else. Still, it wasn’t his business anymore.
Even if it felt as if it were.
Danielle didn’t budge until he turned his back. Colin faced the direction where he thought Boyd was still standing, and he heard Danielle’s movements behind him. A moment later, her shirt dropped into her clothes pile. Followed by her shoes.
Then, her skirt.
Which meant she was standing there in her bra and panties. He hoped it wasn’t the skimpy underwear she preferred to wear. The woman certainly had stimulating taste in undergarments. His favorite was a devil-red set, with the bra barely covering her nipples and panties that left nothing to the imagination.
Unlike now.
He was imagining.
And cursing himself.
“No gun,” Danielle announced. “And I’m getting dressed now.”
“Take your things into the guesthouse,” Boyd insisted. “Dress there. I’ll call you after you’ve had time to get settled.”
“Get Luke those video games,” Danielle added, but Boyd had already hung up. She scooped up her clothes and held them in front of her like a shield.
She hurried toward the guesthouse, and even though Colin moved to her side after he gathered up his own clothes, he still caught a glimpse of the underwear.
It was the devil-red set.
Thankfully, the door to the guesthouse was unlocked, and she started to dress the moment they got inside. Not slowly, either. She was breaking some kind of speed record. Colin dressed, too, as he looked around to see what potential security hazards the place might have.
Windows for one thing. Two of them faced the estate, which meant Boyd could use them for surveillance. Colin went to them and shut the plantation-style blinds. He also locked both the front and back doors.
He strapped on the ankle holster and put the gun back inside, and after he put on his pants, he checked out the rest of the guesthouse. There wasn’t much to it. The main area had a sofa, two chairs and a small kitchen off to the right. On the left was a large bedroom suite with a bath. The decor was crisp and clean, the kind of place he would expect for the guests of a multi-millionaire like Griffin Vaughn.
“You think he has the place bugged?” Danielle asked.
“Maybe. But I doubt it.” He took the phone from her and made sure the end call button had been pressed so it would save the battery. Colin didn’t want to think what would happen if they lost use of the cell. The guesthouse had phones, but he couldn’t rely on those since Boyd had so far refused to use any of the estate phones.
“Check and see if we have food and water,” he instructed.
She finished buttoning her blouse but not before he caught a glimpse of her breasts. Yeah. That bra really didn’t hide much.
Danielle went to the kitchenette while Colin searched the place for bugs. Not that an eavesdropping device would be easy to find, but he looked in the obvious places. Under the phones. On the lamp bases. Beneath the coffee table and bed. He was just getting up from the floor of the bedroom when Danielle came in.
“There’s plenty of bottled water and canned goods.”
So, they wouldn’t starve. Of course, that was the least of their worries.
Danielle made a sweeping glance around the room, and her eyes landed on the bed. “Uh, how long do you think we’ll have to be here?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.” But he understood her hesitation about the bed. “If we’re still here tonight, I can take the sofa.”
“Oh. Sure.” She didn’t sound relieved, exactly, but he didn’t know what that tone meant. His ex was certainly acting funny. “Maybe