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They went as a group to Trey’s party. Nick, Isabelle, the twins and Whitney rode in the SUV, and Gabe followed in his rental. Isabelle had called and asked if the Marino clan could come along even though Trey had already told her to bring anyone she wanted. Of course Trey, easygoing as he was, had been amenable.

“Nice house,” Gabe commented as he exchanged glances with Nick and gestured to the gray-sided home rising three stories above the ground, the roof with peaks and angles, “for a teacher.”

“Trey’s mother owns it,” Isabelle told him. “A lot of homes in Catasaga are passed down through generations. Ours was.”

Gabe stared at the structure for a moment but made no further comments.

“Let’s go!” Jamie made the comment and both boys headed to the slate path that ran down the left side of the house.

“I’ve got them.” Whitney sprinted off behind them.

Gabe rolled his eyes. “They’re a handful.”

“They miss their friends. Socializing with other kids their age.” Which was becoming more and more of a problem and would soon have to be addressed.

Retrieving the ill-fated cookies, beer and a big pizza that Gabe insisted on buying, the two men worked in tandem. Gabe was a mystery to her, even though she’d been around him for three days. At times, he was remote and thoughtful. Or he could be playful, as he’d been with his cousin and brothers when they and the boys were in the lake last night. He’d tossed Whitney in, raced with Connor and showed the twins a swim stroke they didn’t know. But Isabelle noticed that at least one of the agents stood on the deck all the while, studying the surroundings.

“What are we going to do about you guys not swimming?” Isabelle asked as they headed toward the back. All three agents carried guns everywhere they went now and bathing suits wouldn’t accommodate weapons, of course.

“We’re going in.” This from Nick. “We’re taking turns so two of us are in possession of guns at all times.”

“Whitney said she had first dibs,” Gabe exclaimed.

“She always does where water is concerned.” At her questioning expression, Nick added, “Whitney got swimming scholarships to college.”

“That’s cool. I can tell she loves the water.”

When they arrived at the gate, Isabelle watched Nick survey the area through his ever-present sunglasses. He was to stay close to her, Whitney to the boys, while Gabe checked the surroundings, using his binoculars as often as he could get away with ostensibly looking for birds in the trees.

They went into the pool area. The sun sparkled off the water—the smell of chlorine was in the air, and it was hotter back here. Trey approached them. “There you are.” He took Isabelle’s hands and kissed her on the cheek. Hmm. That was unusual. “The kids are in the pool already with the nanny I haven’t met yet.”

“They should have said hello.”

“No worries.” He pivoted. “Nick, hello again.” He held out his hand to Gabe. “I’m Trey.”

Gabe stepped forward. “Gabe Martin.”

“So, you’re cousins with the nanny. And friends of the president?”

“Actually, our older brother was.” The lie came easily to Gabe’s tongue. “But Jimmy spent time at our house.”

Huh! Gabe was even better at dissembling than Nick.

He held out the pizza. “We brought refreshments. I hope they aren’t duplicates.”

“Beer, too,” Nick added.

“Bring them this way.” After they added their contribution to the table set up under a gazebo of weathered wood, they stepped out on the slate surrounding the pool.

Isabelle gestured to the water. “I think I’ll get in with the boys.”

“Have fun,” Trey called out as she made her way down to the deep end.

“Hi, guys.”

Jamie was hanging on to an inflatable whale. “Come on in, Mom.”

Nick was beside her without her noticing his approach. He sat down, too. “Go on in, Isabelle.”

Standing, she kicked off her sandals and slid the sage-green sundress over her head. At the edge of the pool, she dived in. When she surfaced, she caught sight of Nick, picking up her dress from where she’d left it in a puddle on the slate. His face was somber as he held the frothy material in his hand. When she saw him rub a strap between his fingers, she dipped underwater. She shouldn’t be noticing those things about him.

And he shouldn’t be caressing her dress like a lover would.

After a bout in the water, Isabelle hiked herself up to sit on the edge of the pool on the other side from Nick (best to keep her distance), and a man approached her. She shielded her eyes to shade them from the hot rays. “Hey, Burke.” The police sergeant dropped down to sit next to her. He looked different today in mid-thigh navy swim trunks and a light blue shirt that matched his eyes.

“Isabelle. All these times I’ve been to the house, I don’t think I ever saw you in a swimsuit.”

“Maybe not. Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I can only stay till four. I have the night shift.”

“Thanks for all you do for the city. And for me. What’s happening now is above and beyond the call of duty.”

“I’m glad to be of service, ma’am.” He glanced at Whitney and Nick. “They’re cousins, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And the other came in for reinforcements?”

“Yes, but we shouldn’t be talking about this openly. Tell me something about yourself, Burke. Do you have a big a family?”

“Nah. Just me. Parents killed when I was young. I was adopted by a cop.”

“Is that why you became one?”

“I suppose so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Nothing. Can I get you something to drink?”

Pulling herself up as he did, she said, “Sure, I’ll go with you. You’re not off the hook to tell me more. Especially since I’m an open book to you.”

“Ha! I’ll think about it.” He gave her a once-over. “Since you look so great in that suit.”

He studied the assholes at the pool. All these people celebrating the Fourth of July. Independence Day. He wanted his own independence, so he was stepping things up. As soon as this debt was paid, he’d be free. He’d buy a cabin in the Adirondacks with the money he earned from this gig and live up there. God, he hated being controlled by people. Being told what to do. Soon, though, he wouldn’t be beholden to the fucking pricks who wanted to hurt the president’s sister.

Right after they scared the shit out of her.

“Who’s the guy Isabelle went to the bar with?” Whitney asked from where she treaded water five feet away from the edge of the pool. Her long dark hair, pulled up in a ponytail, was wet. Nick sat on the chaise, his gaze scanning the area. The boys had gotten involved in a game of Marco Polo at the shallow end, and the monotonous “Mar-co” and “Po-lo” filled the air.

“The cop who’s been read into this.”

“Mmm. Attractive. Shoulders to die for.”

“Think so?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t get distracted by him. We have a job to do.”

“I’m not. At least she’s safe with him.”

Nick grunted.

“Background check okay?”

“Yep.”

“He likes her.”

“Everybody likes her.”

“She’s sweet. But I mean as a man. I recognize the signs.”

“Huh!” He tried to make his voice noncommittal. “I wonder if she has a thing for blonds. Husband, the teacher, this guy.”

Nick kept an eye on the two of them. Olsen got her a beer—Nick didn’t know she drank the stuff—and stood with her by a table, talking. Unfortunately, Nick couldn’t help but notice the swimsuit hugging her breasts, tapering in at her waist, cut high at the thighs. Though the thing was demure, it gave Nick the jitters.

“Nicky, what’s wrong with you?”

“Wrong?”

“Yeah, you seem stirred up.”

“It’s my job to be stirred up.”

“You’re never upset on a job. Is it because you didn’t want to do this protection?”

“Maybe. I am edgy. Which could also be my agent’s sixth sense.” He stood. “I think I’ll walk around.”

As he moved away from his very insightful cousin, he breathed easier. He’d dodged that bullet. He’d have to be careful now not to give her any more reason to question him about his reactions to Isabelle.

Trey approached Isabelle as she and Burke were talking by the table. He wore green swim trunks, and she noticed for the first time that he had a nice chest, sprinkled with blond hair a bit darker than that on his head. “Is it okay if I steal Isabelle away for a minute? I have someone who wants to meet you.”

“Can’t it wait?” Burke retorted. “I won’t be here long and was hoping to spend time with her.”

A dark shadow crossed Trey’s face. She’d never seen the expression before. “I’ll bring her back.”

“Okay by me,” she said to her host. “I’ll see you before you go, Burke.”

As they walked toward the house, Trey leaned down close. “I think the guy’s sweet on you.”

“Burke? No, we’re friends because of my connection to the president. He has orders to keep an eye on the house.”

“You don’t see it.” He opened the back door. “You don’t see a lot of men looking at you.” He winked. “Me included.”

Oh!

The inside of his house was huge and open, with skylights and big windows. Obviously, it had been remodeled. The kitchen was state-of-the art, shining with stainless steel and granite. In the living room, which had a high ceiling and modern furniture, they came upon a woman seated in a rocker by the window, watching the partiers.

“Hey, Mama. I want you to meet Isabelle Barton. I taught her kids last year. Isabelle, this is my mother, Ava Hanover.”

The woman was around eighty, Isabelle guessed, with a full head of white hair. “Sit down, Isabelle. Trey, I’d like some ice tea if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course not. Isabelle?”

“Sounds good to me. I’ll keep your mother company.”

Mrs. Hanover focused on her. “You’re the young widow Trey talks about so much.”

“Does he?”

“Yes. All nice things, dear.”

“I like him, too.”

His mother looked at where Trey had gone. “He needs more in his life than those old books you find for him.”

“I’m sure he has a lot of friends. Other teachers at school.”

“Hmm. Not women friends.”

Isabelle shifted uncomfortably.

Mrs. Hanover’s expression was kind. “So, tell me what it’s like to be the sister of the president.”

Isabelle gave her the usual spiel. “But, in truth, I’m an introvert and I don’t like the attention I get from being his family.”

“I understand. My husband was a mayor of Catasaga and I didn’t like the attention, either.”

She cocked her head. “Have you lived here all your life?”

“In Catasaga, yes.”

“This is a lovely home.”

“It is. Trey bought and redid it, then asked me to live here with him.”

“Oh, I assumed the house was yours.”

“This? No, we could never have afforded something so big and fancy when my Joe was alive.”

Isabelle remembered something Gabe said after they arrived.

Nice house …for a teacher.

“I could have sworn Trey told me it was a family home.”

“You must be mistaken, dear. We’ve only lived here five years. Some of Trey’s investments paid off and he scooped this place up.”

“Bird-watching?”

The softly spoken words came from behind Gabe. Female. Not Isabelle. He turned. God, she was little. Not much more than five feet, hair in what they used to call a pixie cut, and brown eyes. “Yeah. I think I saw a blue warbler.”

“I read bird books at the store.”

“The store?”

Holding out her hand, she smiled. “Mary Ellen Lewis. I’m Isabelle’s partner at Barton Books.”

He should have remembered the name. He’d been boning up on everybody in Mrs. Barton’s life. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Gabe, Nick Martin’s brother.”

“I heard. It’s interesting your whole family is here to build a deck and some bookshelves.”

“Connor came for the deck. Whitney for the boys. I’m here for some vacation.”

“Hmm.”

“And our parents live an hour away. We’re all headed there eventually.”

“That makes more sense.” She sipped from a glass. “What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a teacher.”

“Like Trey?”

“No. At a vocational school down South.”

She looked out over the pool. “Do you swim?”

“I’ve been known to. You?”

“Never learned. Can’t believe I ended up on a lake. Not that I had much choice.”

“How come?”

She shook herself. “Happenstance.”

Over her head, he saw Nick approaching. He hoped nothing was wrong, but the expression on his brother’s face indicated otherwise.

“Hey, buddy.” To Mary Ellen he added, “Hello, Ms. Lewis.”

“Mary Ellen, please. I was getting to know your interesting brother.”

Nick’s eyes did not fill with amusement, as they normally would at Mary Ellen’s use of the word interesting.

“Did you need me for something?” Gabe asked.

“Yeah, there’s a path through the trees. I’m heading out there for a walk if you want to come.”

“Sure. Mary Ellen, glad to meet you.”

“You, too.”

Gabe could feel her gaze on them as he and Nick left her. When they reached the gate and stepped outside the pool area, he asked, “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”

“Yep. Let’s get farther away.”

They made the trek to inside the tree line, and Nick stopped.

“I just got a text from headquarters. The day you arrived, when Isabelle and I went to the bakery to get cookies for this shindig, someone showed unusual interest in her.”

“I imagine a lot of people do. She’s beautiful and the president’s sister.”

“I had a hunch. So I took a picture surreptitiously. In all the excitement, I forgot to send it until this morning. A skeleton staff is at the Threat Assessment Center today, but they had time to run it.”

“And got something?”

“Uh-huh. The guy in the store’s name is Clark Mason.” Nick held his gaze. “And his name is on the Secret Service Watch List.”

In the SUV on the way home, all five of them were quiet after a long day at the pool. Gabe followed behind them in his own sedan. The sun had set and the trees kept them in shadows. After a few minutes, Jamie piped up from the back seat with, “The kid, Tommy, I was playing Marco Polo with asked me and Ryan to come to his house tomorrow. He’s got a pool, too.”

Isabelle sighed. Before she could react, Whitney spoke. “We’re going on a picnic tomorrow, guys.”

“Oh, yeah.” Ryan. “I forgot.”

“I don’t wanna go on a picnic. I wanna play with my new friend.” His brother was nowhere near as cooperative. Isabelle could picture Jamie’s scowl and furrowed brow.

Nick took a quick glance at her. “I—”

Blinding headlights from oncoming traffic pierced the darkness ahead of them.

“What the hell?” Nick flipped down the visor, then gripped the wheel.

The car drew closer and swerved into their lane. A sudden jolt rocked the car. Nick yanked at the wheel, and the vehicle slid to the shoulder of Lake Road.

Though wearing a seat belt, Isabelle jerked forward, but Nick’s hand had prevented her from hitting the dash. The air bags hadn’t activated.

She gasped.

The boys screamed.

Their car bumped along, swiped a guard rail and came to an abrupt halt. As soon as she had her wits, Isabelle whipped around. She saw Whitney had thrown herself over the boys, once again protecting them.

Nick turned, too. Calmly, he asked, “Is everybody okay?”

“Jamie, Ryan?” Isabelle could hear the concern in her voice.

Whitney, breathless, moved off them. “They’re fine.”

Isabelle heard the muffled sounds of crying. It broke her mother’s heart. “Guys, we’re okay.”

“We had an accident!” This from Ryan, who bordered on hysteria now.

“Somebody mistakenly crossed the line.” Again, Nick didn’t sound flustered. But she knew him well by now and caught the traces of concern. “It’s late, guys, and these roads are dark.”

Whitney scrambled to the edge of her seat. To Nick, she whispered, “They didn’t stop.”

Nick responded just as Gabe came to the door. “Of course they didn’t.”

The scent of bacon still tinged the air from that morning’s breakfast, and a chilly wind was blowing in through the window over the sink, when Isabelle entered the kitchen.

Nick looked up from where he sat with Gabe at the table. Everything had changed tonight and he was worried about her. “Did they settle down?”

“Finally.” She dropped onto a chair. “They were scared, Nick.”

“I know. You were, too, and had a right to be. We have a problem.” After he spoke, he noticed her hands were shaking.

He exchanged a look with his brother, and Gabe said, “Isabelle, we’re here to protect you.”

“I know. Thank God for the car and its upgrades. And you all have training in what to do if there are problems.”

Whitney addressed her from where she stood at the stove. “I made you tea.”

After Whitney served drinks, and sat down, Isabelle tried to sip, but the cup shook so badly she couldn’t. Nick got up and closed the window.

“Somebody really wants to hurt me and my boys.” Isabelle bit her lip. “I thought maybe they just wanted to scare me. But they tried to run us off the road.”

Nick couldn’t help himself. He reached out and covered her hand with his. Hers was ice-cold.

“We’re here to protect all three of you. That’s exactly what we did tonight.”

“You did. But my children…I couldn’t live if…” Her voice trailed off. Then she asked, “Was I wrong to insist on covert protection? This certainly wouldn’t have happened if there had been a battalion of you here.”

“At first I thought you were wrong,” Nick told her. “But as your brother said, if we brought out the guards, these people would just bury themselves until everything settles down. Even for a year or two. You’ll never know when they pop up again. This has to be dealt with now.”

Whitney intervened. “We have some ideas about this whole thing.”

“I hope so.”

Whitney added, “And we’re not going to get away with no friend outings anymore. You heard them in the car.”

“I agree.” Nick gestured to his family. “The three of us have a plan. We formulated it while you were with them upstairs.”

She nodded, sending light brown strands everywhere. “Anything. This has to end.”

Nick spoke again. “First off, we’re going to send the boys to Washington with Whitney to stay with your mother.”

Her resigned sigh kicked at his heart. “They weren’t supposed to go until August. But, yes, I think they should go now.” She gripped Nick’s hand. “They have to be safe, Nick. They have to be.”

“They will be. I promise.” He really meant that. “We’ll call your brother in a minute. But there’s something else.”

“What?”

“Try not to blame yourself for this. But I took a picture of the man at the bakery yesterday.”

If possible, her face drained of more color.

“I sent it to headquarters. His name is Clark Mason.”

“I don’t know a Clark Mason.”

“The authorities do,” Gabe said. “He’s on the Secret Service Watch List.”

Her eyes filled. She’d almost reached her breaking point.

Gabe continued, “I’m sorry, Mrs. Barton. After the incident tonight, after discovering a possible perpetrator, we have to take more precautions.”

“I told Nick in the car yesterday that I wouldn’t balk at anything. And certainly now I won’t.”

“Gabe will stay in Catasaga to look for Mason. He’ll go elsewhere if the trail leads him. As I said, Whitney will accompany the kids to D.C. and hopefully, the president will get more protection for your mother’s house.” Evelyn Hicks had been ambassador to Japan and kept on some security.

“Am I going with them?”

“Not right away.” Nick’s brow furrowed. “We don’t want to lure these people to D.C. We hope to handle the situation here. But not until we get some more details on this guy. So I’m taking you out of town for a while until we get a better grasp on who is involved and what’s going on here, starting with Mason.”

Isabelle asked, “Where are we going?”

“Where no one would know to search for us.”