Chapter 12

Dalton

“I knew you were there and I made sure the staff didn’t get close enough to hear your declarations of love and affection for one another. I have to say I was impressed. I honestly didn’t think that you could get out of your own way to admit your feelings for her.” Jackson had gone out for something to eat against our orders to the contrary leaving her to lambaste me for getting too close to Gillian.

“I should know better than to try to get anything over on you. I couldn’t risk losing the ring. I got a little anxious and couldn’t wait to have it in my hand again. I got there and she caught me, but didn’t call for help.” I was feeling like a new man and there was something dead inside me which Gillian had reanimated.

“I told you that I would find it, but I had to wait for the right time to get inside to have a look around. I’m the new girl and the others still treat me like I don’t belong. You almost blew it, but I heard her explaining to Grant what happened.” I had suspected that she was under some kind of influence.

I was hoping for the Christmas miracle of her unable to control herself when she found I was alive. It was wishful thinking and I had a feeling she wasn’t going to be that amenable when we came face to face.

I wasn’t prepared for her reaction and I was looking for a clean getaway to a tropical setting of my choosing. Nothing was more upsetting than taking the control out of my hands. I still didn’t find what I was looking for, but I found something else more important.

I couldn’t quite explain how I was feeling, but I knew I was going through a bad case of withdrawals. I wanted her there with me, but I couldn’t possibly be expected to keep silent and do nothing about the heat between us.

“I’m guessing from how she responded from seeing me that it wasn’t a rush of unbridled emotions. The way that she was talking was indicative of somebody who was seeing their version of pink elephants.” It was the most profound moment of my life and I was feeling guilty for taking advantage of her in her diminished mental capacity.

“She was on a sedative given to her by the chef. It was apparently very strong and had the capability of making a person see things that weren’t there.” She had manifested a vision of me and was positive she could do anything without having to answer for her actions.

“I feel like such an idiot. I knew in the back of my head it wasn’t possible for her to act like she did. I don’t ever want her to know my dirty little secret. I will deny any wrongdoing. I have been very good at telling people what they want to hear.” What I had done was only a sample of what I could do.

I couldn’t even bring to mind other deviant acts currently brought to life in my head. It wasn’t fair to yearn for something out of my reach. To be that intimate was giving me a new understanding of how I had let an opportunity slip through my fingers to get to know her. I could shoot with the best of them, but a woman was still a mystery yet to be solved.

They were conniving and jealous always worried I was going to find something better in another woman’s arms. I lost several relationships with women who couldn’t trust me to be out with the boys late at night. Some men showed their true colors, I’d seen several of them fall from the fidelity wagon. I wasn’t one of them.

“I would say this experience is one you’re not going to repeat any time soon. I’m putting my foot down. There’s no way you’re going back in there no matter how much you want to.” I didn’t like being given an ultimatum. I was about to tell her she wasn’t my mother and thankfully, something stopped me before making her become unglued.

I heard somebody coming upstairs. I instinctively grabbed my gun when Jackson came flying inside out of breath and looking like the hounds of hell were on his tail.

“I was listening in on the radio and they have gotten word about her engagement in the newspaper of all places. They don’t need anybody to tell them she’s here. Her fiancé is making a huge deal and he’s not sparing any expense. The wedding is keeping them from getting closer. I don’t know why, but I sense there’s more to this wedding than undying love. It feels like a maneuver to keep people from looking any closer at their relationship than the vows they’re going to say to one another at the altar.” I could tell there was more on his mind, but he was trying to find his second wind before continuing.

“We could find out anything we want to know with Granger’s help. The one thing missing from all of this is his technological know how. He was a master manipulator on the keyboard and anything that was considered plugged in. He has never shied away from the opportunity to show us up in front of everybody else. I can only hope he’s lying low until the dust settles.” Granger was someone we counted on and he had disappeared without a trace.

“I’m no slouch when it comes to being computer savvy. I may not be in Granger’s league, but I can hold my own. We did manage to tap into the Security System without Granger’s help. I’m sure he would have gone to the trouble of getting audio, but we can’t afford someone finding a little bug during one of their sweeps.” Melanie was becoming a force to be reckoned with. We didn’t need Granger. We could muddle through the best way we knew how.

A security company came in once a day to go over anything that remotely had a radio signal coming from inside the rooms of the house.

“That’s all semantics. I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation. They know where she’s at and they are coming for her. They aren’t going to wait for the wedding. They know when she gets into the church there’s virtually no way they will be able to get to her.” I was hoping for more time, but time was a commodity we didn’t have much of.

“They won’t be able to get close with the security around them. If I were to put myself in their shoes, I would use something personal to make it necessary for her to leave the comfort and protection of the Hamilton family. I wouldn’t do this, but others have been known to use family members to lure their prey out of hiding.” I’d seen it too many times and amazingly, it worked practically every time the tactic was used.

“You just answered your own question.” Jackson went on to tell us they were going to make it sound like an emergency and use the love she had for her family and friends against her.

“They have a plan to snatch her up before the wedding. We need to know everything they are doing and how to circumvent it from happening without alerting them to our arrival in this town.” They probably knew something was up when the man they had sent in as a scout didn’t come back to report his findings.

“I don’t know what the two of you have gotten me into, but I’m tempted to walk away into the proverbial sunset. We both know I’m too stubborn and adventure driven to let the two of you have all the fun. Knowing you, you already have an idea of keeping her on our radar.” I had slipped a tracker on her favorite jacket. It was undetectable unless she was to walk through a metal detector of some sort.

“There’s no reason to get your feathers ruffled, Jackson. We’re not going to let anything happen to Gillian. She was always the voice of reason. We couldn’t do anything without her sticking her two-sense in. That girl is a piece of work, but she is our family. Every family has a black sheep and I consider her someone who doesn’t fit in with the rest of us.” Melanie was a woman who knew a class act when she saw her.

“You haven’t heard the best part. Whatever they are planning is going to happen within 24-hours.” I had noticed Gillian was leaving with her new husband to be.

The umbrella of her safety was dramatically at risk. They had everything covered at the estate, but outside the gates, she was fair game for whatever predator was waiting to jump out of the darkness.

“We need to initiate plan C. You probably think this is what I want, but it’s not. There’s no way we can let them get their hands on her long enough to extract information from her. It means we’re going to have to do something risky. For obvious reasons, I can’t be there during this exercise. I’m counting on you two to step up when it matters.” Somewhere along the way, they were going to get ambushed like lambs to the slaughter.