“Believe it or not, I’ve thought of that. I know how to take care of myself. You should have seen the neighborhood I grew up in. The total opposite of Erin’s childhood. My branch of the Eagleton family are the black sheep. I have a locksmith coming to my house in—” she checked her watch “—an hour. I need to be there so he can change my locks, so if you’ll excuse me, I need to be going.”
“Have it your way.” Nicholas moved away from her white Mustang.
When she slipped behind the steering wheel, she inhaled a calming breath and started her car. As she backed out of the parking space, she noticed Nicholas open the rear door of an SUV only three vehicles away and wait for Max to jump into it. She went through the security checkpoint with Nicholas’s black Tahoe a vehicle behind hers. When she turned right, he did, too. Her grip tightened as he continued to follow her.
Although she had nearly a full tank, she pulled into a gas station. Nicholas came up behind her.
She shoved open her door and marched back to his SUV. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Escorting you home the best way I can.”
Her head pounding, she opened her mouth to give him a piece of her mind, but when she couldn’t find the words she wanted to say, she snapped her teeth together, then spun on her heel and stalked to her Mustang. Fine. He could waste his time “escorting her home.” That didn’t mean she would talk to him or even acknowledge his presence.
As she continued her drive to her house in Arlington, she kept looking back to see if he was still behind her. Although it was too dark to see his face, she imagined his pleased expression for following through with what he’d wanted to do. There was one part of her that felt like a suspect being tailed and another part that warmed when she thought about him trying to protect her from the person who’d taken her keys—for what reason, she had no idea.
In college she’d had her purse snatched on campus when walking back to her dorm from the library late one night. She had been so angry she’d chased after the guy, caught up with him and tackled him to the ground. A campus cop who’d rushed to her aid had lectured her about the risk she’d taken. She supposed it had been foolish, but her reaction to being robbed was automatic. She’d come from a tough area of Washington, DC, and had learned to stand up for herself.
Selena pulled into her driveway and stared at her house, her first, earned by hard work after years of studying and being at the top of her class at school. She was going to prove to her uncle she wasn’t like her mother and was willing to work for everything she got. She didn’t want a free ride from him or anyone.
Her porch light illuminated the front part of her redbrick two-story home with white trim and green shutters. Hers—as of six months ago. She noticed Nicholas had parked at the curb and exited his Tahoe. He came around the hood. She quickly grabbed her purse, took a spare house key from the bottom of the driver’s seat and climbed from her Mustang.
“That’s as far as you need to go. You’ve escorted me home.” She waved toward her house. “Nothing is amiss. You can run along now.”
He planted his feet apart, crossed his arms and said, “Not until you go in the house to your front window and wave to me. Then I’ll leave.”
“What if I don’t?” the imp inside her asked.
“Then I’ll stay here all night.”
His determined look drilled right through her. “You’re impossible.”
“It comes in handy when I deal with stubborn people.”
“You think I know where Erin is.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
“Then I believe you.”
“Really?”
“I told you I would be honest with you. I’m worried about you. I think something is going on. It might be connected to the Jeffries case or something else. I don’t know. Miss Chick today went to some trouble to get your keys. Why?”
“To rob me?”
“There were a lot richer people there than you.”
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Maybe they thought I was wealthy since Senator Eagleton is my uncle. When you catch the person, ask her.”
“I will. Nothing was taken from your purse in your office, so it wasn’t that kind of robbery. Could the person have been after something—”
“I don’t need a protector,” she interrupted, remembering all the times she alone had protected herself from the predators in her childhood neighborhood. “I’ve been taking care of myself most of my life. Go home. Look out for yourself.” Frustration churned her stomach.
“Just as soon as I know you’re safe inside and the locksmith has arrived.”
“Now you’re putting more conditions on your leaving.”
“What can I say? I changed my mind.”
Clamping her lips together, she pivoted and strode toward her porch steps. As she mounted them, the feel of his gaze on her back made her shiver. For most of her life, she had been the only one who took care of herself. What would it be like to have someone who cared?
No! I won’t go there. At times, she wasn’t even sure the Lord was there anymore. As a child she’d sought refuge in the local church, latching on to the promise that God loved her. But did He? While growing up, she’d been so alone.
Absorbed in thoughts of the past, she unlocked her front door and moved into the foyer. One look into the living room and she froze.
Selena stared at her trashed living room then, beyond at the dining room and part of her kitchen. What if the intruder was still here? She sidled toward the table nearby and pulled open a drawer. Keeping her eye on the staircase to the right, she felt for her revolver. When her fingers encountered the barrel, she quickly clasped the handle and withdrew it.
“What do you think you’re going to do with that?” Nicholas’s deep voice sounded from the entrance.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Defend myself. The person could still be in here.”
“Put it on the table before someone gets hurt.” Nicholas drew his gun.
“I know how to use it.”
“I don’t care.”
She did as he ordered, actually relieved he was here. She must be more exhausted than she thought.
“Now, go outside, open my tailgate so I can call for Max, then you’re to stay on the porch while Max and I search the rest of the house. If the locksmith comes, have him wait with you.”
Selena nodded then headed to his Tahoe and released Max. She’d been around the rottweiler enough to know he was a well-trained dog. He could be fierce, but she wasn’t afraid of him.
“Come,” Nicholas said from the doorway.
Max trotted toward her house. Selena followed behind him and stopped at the top of the steps, gripping the post, trying to ignore her headache.
“Check it.” Nicholas disappeared with Max into her house.
She lost sight of them when the pair went up the stairs. With only two bedrooms and a bath on the second floor, they were back in the living room within five minutes.
“Do you have a basement?”
“Yes. The stairs to it are next to the back door.”
He and Max vanished around the corner into the kitchen. The whole time they were gone, her