And Kate Winston looked too young to be a grandmother. Perhaps if she’d been old and gray, Shelby would have been more accepting of her. But she was too darned young and looked every bit the formidable political candidate.
Before she’d learned Mrs. Winston was her grandmother, she’d admired her as the former vice president and had hoped she’d run for president. Now…
Shelby sighed. She had a hard time believing the woman hadn’t known her daughter was alive. What mother didn’t go to her daughter’s funeral or ask to see her daughter, even if she was dead?
The jury was still out on Grandma Winston. The thought of calling her Grandma nearly made Shelby laugh out loud at the absurdity. “Come on. It’s quite a way to go to get to Beth City and I want to get there before all the professors go home.”
Daniel frowned. “Beth City?”
“You didn’t think I was going to school here in Raleigh, did you?” She smiled at his disapproval. “I live on the Outer Banks. Beth City was the nearest school with the master’s program I needed.”
“Do be careful,” Kate said. “We still don’t know who is responsible for taking you in the first place.”
“That’s why we’ll be taking the big guns, right?” Shelby rolled her eyes toward Daniel and then relented. “I’ll be okay. It’s broad daylight. I was abducted after dark in an empty parking lot. There will be students and faculty still milling about. If we get there before they all leave.” She headed for the door. “Come on, Granddad. Mr. Henderson and I will walk you to your truck.”
“I don’t know. I think I’d like it better if you stayed here and let someone else do your running around for you,” her grandfather said, second-guessing himself.
Shelby stopped in the middle of the room and propped her hands on her hips. “Let’s all get one thing straight.” Her gaze moved from one person to the next. “I did not escape one prison to be trapped in another. This estate is pretty and tastefully decorated, but if I can’t come and go, I might as well be in that basement in the dark, tied to a chair.” Her body shook with the force of a harsh tremor. “I can’t live like that.”
“But—” her grandfather started.
“Patrick,” Kate cut in. “Let her go. Daniel will take good care of her.”
Her grandfather glared at Kate. “You have three sons. Shelby is my only family. If I lose her…”
Shelby’s eyes stung at the anguish in her grandfather’s voice. She went to him and hugged him close. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise.” She turned back to Daniel. “And so does Daniel.”
Daniel’s brows furrowed and he stood tense, his hands balling into fists.
“Don’t you?” Shelby pleaded with her eyes.
Finally he relaxed his hands and he nodded. “I’ll do the best I can to keep her out of trouble.”
Shelby’s grandfather laughed. “You’ll have your hands full. That girl is as sweet as they come, but trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes.” He kissed Shelby’s forehead. “Okay, then. Go to school, though what good it will do you at the bar, I don’t know.”
“Granddad, you were the one who told me a good bartender is an underpaid psychiatrist.”
“Yeah, and you don’t have to have a fancy degree to be a bartender.”
“I know, but the bar might not always be there. I have to be able to support myself.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And you were the one who told me to get a degree.”
“You’d have done it without me telling you to. Besides, you already have one.”
“I could never have done it without your love and support and the tip money I make at O’Hara’s. But a psychology degree won’t buy me much. I have to go further and get my master’s.”
“I know. I know. I just like to yank your chain.” Her grandfather smiled.
Maddie poked her head in the office door. “Mr. Kincannon is here to see you, Kate.”
“Send him in, please,” Kate said.
A tall brown-haired man with tinges of gray entered. “Ah, I see the young Ms. O’Hara is getting around. I trust you didn’t receive any injuries from the explosion earlier?”
Shelby frowned at the man. “No, I did not.” Her eyes narrowed. “Should I know you?”
Daniel stepped forward. “This is my boss, Jed Kincannon, director of the Secret Service.”
The older man held out his hand.
Shelby took the hand, but she didn’t get a good feeling when she shook it. She wondered how long it would be before she trusted a stranger again.
“Jed, do you have anything to tell me about the men who abducted my granddaughter?” Kate asked.
“Nothing yet,” he replied.
“I have the feeling this is Cartel related. They use dirty tactics like this.” She gave the man a direct stare. “Don’t you have any undercover agents who have infiltrated the Cartel?”
“We don’t have any leads at this moment.”
“Nothing? Not even a motive? Why would someone want to hurt my granddaughter? Who would have dug deep enough to learn something even I didn’t know?”
“I don’t know.” Kincannon shook his head. “And we have nothing.”
“What about Richard Nelson?” Kate asked.
The director tilted his head. “What about him?”
“He’s made several statements about eliminating the opposition. I’m his competition in his campaign to secure the party nomination for the presidential election.”
Kincannon seemed to consider her words. “That’s a possibility. He wants to position.”
“We’ve had this discussion before. I’ve toyed with the idea of backing out of the race, but I haven’t made up my mind. And I don’t want word of my decision, or indecision, to leave this room, is that understood?”
Shelby could see how the woman had built her reputation as a strong political candidate and opponent. She didn’t mince words and she thought through everything.
Kincannon nodded. “My lips are sealed.”
“As are mine,” Daniel said.
Shelby almost smiled.
Kate didn’t mess around. She demanded loyalty from the people around her, and they seemed willing and almost happy to give it to her.
Kate turned to Patrick and Shelby. “If someone is after me and my family because of my run for president of the United States, can you imagine if I were to actually go through with it?”
She shook her head. “Sometimes I wish I was that eighteen-year-old girl back on the Outer Banks. Before I was forced to marry the man my father chose for me, before I entered politics. My family wouldn’t be under attack and I wouldn’t have to worry about having a target painted on my back every time I step out my front door.”
Patrick stared at her. “It was the life you chose.”
Kate nodded. “Not really, but that’s water under the bridge.” She turned to Kincannon. “I’ve asked Daniel to provide for Shelby’s security.”
“What about you?” Kincannon asked.
“If this is an attack on my family because of my former position or my current politics,