seen her with his own eyes, he’d never have believed it.
She walked down the metal ladder to the tarmac, a purse over her shoulder, an overnight case in her hand. She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail, as if she’d thrown it up in a hurry. Sunglasses hid her eyes, but the thin line of her lips telegraphed her anxiety.
His gaze moved down the rest of her, the long, slender body he’d known too briefly. She seemed awfully thin, fragile. He’d always thought of her as fragile, though.
Her jeans were worn Levi’s, her shirt plain white, short-sleeved, pressed. None of the designer clothes she’d worn when he’d known her before. Why in hell was she back? Surely she wasn’t going to hook up with Todd again. Hadn’t she had enough?
He remembered the last time he’d seen her. She’d been scared. No, terrified. As he had with every other possession, Todd had held on to her with an iron fist. She’d had to plan an escape, as daring as any prison break. Like a fool, Nick had helped her, putting everything he had on the line. He should have stayed out of it. But the welts on her back, the bruises on her legs…
She said something to Gina, then turned his way, walked as if each step cost her, which, if she was headed back to the Xanadu, was sickeningly true.
He opened the back door of the limo, took his place beside it. Waited as she got closer. Wondered…
She stopped about twenty-five yards from the car. Her mouth opened slightly as she recognized him. With a slow hand, she took off her dark sunglasses.
Where she’d looked anxious a moment ago, he now saw surprise furrow her brow. She hadn’t expected him. Was she pleased? Embarrassed?
Moving forward again, her gaze moved down to the tarmac until she was even with the front of the limo. “Nick,” she said, her voice bringing back memories he’d just as soon forget.
“I never expected to see you again.”
She closed her eyes briefly and when she opened them again he saw a hardness that hadn’t been there the last time he’d seen her. “Things change.”
“Yeah,” he said. He took her overnight bag, like the good little chauffeur that he was, then helped her into the cavernous back seat, startled at how she nearly disappeared against the white of the interior.
He put her bag in the trunk, then got in behind the wheel. The moment he turned on the engine, the bullet-proof Plexiglas that separated the wheat from the chaff lowered a few inches. Not enough for him to see more than the top of her pale blond head, but enough for him to hear her.
“How have you been?” she asked.
“Me? Swell. In fact, I haven’t had to be a driver for over a year, with the obvious exception of this trip. I’m moving up the food chain.”
“I see,” she said, although he knew she didn’t see at all.
“What brings you back to sunny Las Vegas? Come to see the new Celine Dion theater?”
She didn’t answer until he’d reached St. Rose Parkway, heading toward 15. “I see you’ve still got that charming wit.”
He glanced in the rearview, but she was staring out her window, hidden once more behind her sunglasses. “I just do what I’m told,” he said. “Keep my nose clean.”
He heard her sigh, and for a moment he felt bad. But only for a moment. She’d gotten away once. He doubted she’d get away again. The woman knew who Todd was, had seen what he could do. And still, she’d come back. Probably for the money. Wasn’t that always the bottom line?
Hell, she’d never had it so good as when she belonged to Todd. She’d been a cocktail waitress working her way through U.N.L.V. when Todd had found her. He’d fallen hard from the first moment he’d laid eyes on her and he’d pursued her with his unique brand of determination. Jenny had been all of twenty-one when he’d begun his campaign. Todd’d treated her like a queen, taking her to the best shows, the finest restaurants. They’d traveled a lot in the jet and he’d even set her up with her own suite at Xanadu. Right down the hall from his.
Nick had been an errand boy back then. He’d just started with the organization and was learning the ropes when he’d been assigned as her driver and bodyguard.
Nick had been attracted to her from the start. Who wouldn’t be? It wasn’t just her looks, although they would have been enough, but Jenny was bright, funny and had a sweetness about her that made him think of his childhood in Wichita. Todd had him watch her like a hawk, not the least bit afraid that Nick would take advantage of the situation. A man would have to be an idiot to touch Todd’s woman.
But during that time Nick had come to know her. He’d understood how she’d found herself in a situation she’d been woefully unprepared to handle. By the time she’d figured it all out, it had been too late. A captive in a glitter palace, she was subject to Todd’s capriciousness and vile temper. That’s why Nick had helped her. Because she’d been a victim. This time, she was walking in of her own free will. She probably thought she had good reasons, but as far as he could tell, no reason could be good enough for someone like Jenny to walk back into the lion’s den.
A soft mechanical whir made him look back just in time to see the window go up, locking them each in their own compartments. He wished she would move so he could see her more clearly in the rearview. But maybe she didn’t want to be seen.
He kept his eyes on the road. She wasn’t his affair. Messing with Jenny Granger was a surefire way to get himself killed.
JENNY LEANED HER HEAD back against the plush white leather of the limo seat. She knew Todd wouldn’t hurt Patrick, but the knowledge didn’t make things easier. There were only three things she loved in this whole world. Her mother. Her son. And the man in the front seat.
At least, she’d thought she’d loved him.
She stared out the window at the familiar landscape. Here, in Henderson, the city looked like any other. There was the Super Kmart, the 99-Cent store, the dry cleaner’s. Of course, other cities didn’t have casinos every few blocks or video poker in the grocery stores. But lives were led here that weren’t connected to the massive gaming industry. Kids went to school, mothers drove in car pools.
She hadn’t seen her own mother in more than two years. Like someone in the Witness Security Program, she’d cut off her ties to the past, because she’d known Todd would stop at nothing to find her. She still couldn’t figure out how her cover had been blown. She’d been meticulous in her deception, covering every base. She had a birth certificate and social security card, both in the name of Mary Pierson. She’d moved to Milford knowing Todd had never heard of the place and that she had no ties to the tiny city whatsoever.
So where had she slipped up? She shook her head. What difference did it make? He’d found her. Discovered Patrick. And now, she was sure, he’d demand his pound of flesh.
She’d done the one thing Todd couldn’t tolerate—she’d tricked him. She’d run off with no warning and no word. Risked everything. He hadn’t known she was pregnant. But he had decided to marry her. In those last few weeks, she’d been witness to Todd’s astonishing ego, his taste for luxury and glitz.
No one belonged in Las Vegas more than C. Randall Todd. He was the epitome of conspicuous consumption, and for Todd more was not enough. Nothing was enough. God, the money he’d spent on her. She could have lived for a year in Milford on the diamond he’d given her for their first month anniversary. If she’d taken it with her. She hadn’t. She hadn’t wanted anything of his, no matter how high the resale value. He was the most purely evil man she’d ever met.
Stupid, stupid and naive. She’d never believed anyone could be that evil, not in the flesh. She’d been so blind, so trusting. There was no one to blame but herself, and now Patrick was in the bastard’s clutches.
She would not cry. Her gaze moved back to the man behind the wheel. Big mistake.
Nick Mason.