one of the men stepped forward. “Hi, I’m Samuel, but you can call me Sam.”
“Sam.” Shelby took his hand. “You’re all so tall.”
“We take after our father,” he said.
The next man stepped forward and held out his hand. Shelby shook it. “Name’s Thad. I work with the Raleigh Police Department. I’d like to ask you some questions about the men who held you captive.”
Shelby’s face paled and she snatched her hand away.
“Thad,” his mother touched his arm. “Can’t it wait just a few minutes?”
Thad frowned. “We need to catch the men who did this. Shelby’s the only witness we have.” One look at his mother’s face and he nodded. “Okay, just a few minutes.”
Sam shook his head. “You look so much like Mother.”
Her face pale, her eyes wide, Shelby chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m sorry. It’s going to take some time getting used to all this.”
The door opened again and the doctor entered. “Good grief, are we having a family reunion?”
“We’re going.” Trey nodded to his brothers. “Let’s give our niece some room.”
“I have questions,” Thad insisted.
“They can wait until we get to the estate,” Kate said softly.
The doctor stepped past the people standing around and shone a light into Shelby’s eyes, then pressed his stethoscope against her chest.
“What estate?” Shelby leaned around the doctor. “I’m going home as soon as I get the okay from the doctor.”
The doctor straightened and tucked the stethoscope in his pocket. “That will be as soon as we can get your discharge papers.”
“She’s okay?” Kate asked.
The doctor nodded and stared down at Shelby. “Drink plenty of liquids and take it easy for a few days.”
“I can go?” she asked.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” Shelby tossed the sheet aside and swung her legs over the side of the bed. “Come on, Granddad, let’s go home.”
Patrick O’Hara shook his head.
Daniel braced himself for the coming storm.
“Honey, we’re not going home yet. Not until the police find the ones responsible for kidnapping and almost murdering you.”
“If we’re not going home, then where are we going?” Her eyes narrowed and her arms crossed.
“You’ll stay with us at the Winston Estate,” Kate said, her tone brooking no argument. “You’ll have round-the-clock security. Daniel Henderson will be your bodyguard.”
Daniel almost laughed at the shock on Shelby’s face. He wasn’t sure what she found most disturbing—staying at the Winston Estate or having him as a bodyguard.
He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “If it’s any consolation, it’s not my idea of a good time, either.”
Shelby stood on shaky legs, wearing slim-cut, cream-colored trousers, a short-sleeved cashmere sweater, sandals and undergarments thoughtfully provided by her supposed grandmother. The clothing she’d been wearing for the past two weeks had probably been condemned and thrown away as unfit for the granddaughter of the former vice president.
Though her knees wobbled and the pain meds she’d been given hadn’t quite worn off and left her feeling a little fuzzy headed, Shelby refused to show even the slightest weakness to the Winstons or the odious man who’d been assigned as her bodyguard. That he was no happier about the arrangement than she was did little to appease her. Strangely, it made her more angry and disgruntled about the entire arrangement.
“I have assignments to complete. I can’t do them without going to the library in Beth City,” she muttered.
Daniel Henderson stood beside her, his face impassive, wearing mirrored sunglasses that completely hid any expression in his eyes, frustrating Shelby even more.
“You can’t leave the estate until we find your kidnappers.”
“Like hell,” she stated. “I’m not giving up one prison for another.”
“Trust me, the Winston Estate is far from a prison.”
“It’s a prison if I’m not allowed to leave.”
“Perhaps allowed is too strong a word. But it would certainly be ill-advised.”
She snorted. “No difference.” They stood in the lobby at the hospital’s entrance, waiting for her grandfather to complete the paperwork to release her. Kate and her personal secretary waited close by.
Did he have to stand so close? Shelby shifted away from Daniel. He shifted with her. His bulk was doing funny things to her insides. She’d tried to blame it on the breakfast she’d been served by the hospital staff, but it had been pretty darned good after the bologna sandwiches and bagels she’d been given for the past two weeks. She’d eaten every last bite and wanted to lick the plate, but just managed to refrain with Daniel, Kate and her grandfather looking on.
The food had given her the strength to make it this far, and a lighter dose of pain medication didn’t make her head fuzzy. She almost felt normal. Almost as if her world hadn’t been upended and thrown her off-kilter.
A grandmother and three uncles. And all this time she’d thought it was just her and her grandfather against the world.
Patrick signed one last form and turned toward the exit, his gaze zeroing in on Kate. She stood looking cool, calm and confident in her gray suit, her hair short and stylish with just a hint of frost at the temples. No dyes and highlights for her. And she didn’t need them. She was beautiful, even in her late fifties, the lines by her eyes adding character.
Shelby didn’t want to like the woman, didn’t want to believe a word she said. Not when she’d abandoned her own daughter and then claimed she hadn’t known she was alive. How does a mother not know her baby was alive?
Patrick’s face gave him away. He might have said he was over Kate a long time ago, but the way he looked at her at that moment said the opposite.
“Oh, dear.” Her heart aching for her grandfather, Shelby pressed a hand to her chest.
“What?”
“This isn’t right.”
“What isn’t right?” Daniel asked.
She tried to think of something to say that would make it better. “We don’t belong with the Winstons. My grandfather and I should just go home. We can manage on our own.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Daniel captured her arm. “You were almost killed. Those men who kidnapped you are experienced thugs. What training do you have to defend yourself against them?”
Her back stiffened. “I took a self-defense class one semester during my undergraduate degree.”
Daniel snorted. “And how’d that work for you?”
Shelby opened her mouth to give him a sharp retort, but she didn’t have one. The reality of the past two weeks sitting in the dark wasn’t something she wanted to happen ever again. “I’ll be more aware.”
“When you’re outnumbered, outweighed and outgunned, being aware may not be enough.”
“It will have to be.” She smiled at her grandfather as he closed the distance between them.
“Ready?”