Dead by Midnight - Beverly Barton [157]
“No, it’s my fault for nagging you about it day after day.”
“Look, honey, I’ve kept a lot bottled up inside me. I should have told you that my mother and the kids are still being harassed by a few stupid people about my moving in here with you. And I should have explained that I’ve been getting some pretty nasty phone calls from a handful of people letting me know how displeased they are by my conduct.”
“Your conduct?”
“Oh, the objections about my conduct range from my setting a bad example by living in sin with a woman of ill repute to I should be forced to resign for spending taxpayer dollars to protect a woman like you.”
Poor Mike. No wonder he had exploded the way he had.
“I guess I owe you an apology, too,” she said. “I think the stress is getting to me more than I realized. I thought everything had settled down somewhat, that the sharks were no longer circling and it was reasonably safe to go back into the water. But apparently the ladies from the Women for Christian Morality were just waiting for a chance to attack.”
“I think Patsy Elliott set them straight today,” Mike said. “In her own diplomatic way she told them that their actions were neither moral nor Christian and that by deliberately being cruel to another human being they were going against Christ’s teachings. ‘Love one another.’ ‘Judge not that ye be not judged.’ She quoted Scripture to them, chapter and verse.”
“Patsy is one in a million,” Lorie said. “God bless Patsy Elliott. If only all ministers could be like her.”
“She’s a good person.” Mike centered his gaze on Lorie’s face. “Am I forgiven?”
“There’s nothing to forgive,” she told him. “It’s been a terrible afternoon, and the sooner we put it behind us the better.”
“I agree.” Mike nodded toward the closed kitchen door. “I’ll tell Jack and Cathy that they can go on home.”
“No, don’t. I mean, wait just a minute.”
“Is there something else?”
“You can’t stay,” she said.
“What do you mean I can’t stay? I thought—”
“I wish you could stay. I want you to stay. But not at the cost of your reputation and your job. And not when Nell and the children are being put in such an awful position. It’s not fair to ask you to pay such a high price—”
Mike grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “I’m not walking away from you. Not while you’re in danger. I won’t do it. I can’t.”
“No matter what the personal cost to you and your family?”
He loosened his hold on her shoulders, eased his hands down her arms, and took her hands in his. “I can’t promise you a future and I’m sorry about that. But I can offer you my protection. I need to do this, Lorie. Please, don’t send me away. Not yet.”
Biting down on her bottom lip in an effort not to cry, she closed her eyes and prayed for guidance. How could she possibly refuse his request knowing what it meant to him? If he could keep her safe, no matter what the personal cost, then when all was said and done, he could walk away with a clear conscience. He would then be able to forgive himself for the way he had treated her in the past and move on with his life.
“You can stay,” she told him. “But I’m not sure about—”
“I’ll sleep in the guest bedroom tonight.”
“All right.”
The Misners’ cook had prepared dinner before she left and the housekeeper would clean up when she came on duty in the morning, so only the Misners and their bodyguards were there to welcome him. He was glad that he wouldn’t be forced to kill the cook; after all, she was just an innocent bystander. The bodyguards were, unfortunately, collateral damage. The 8:00 A.M. to 8:00 P.M. guards had been relieved by the night shift before he arrived. Lucky day shift. Unlucky night shift.
Feeling safe and secure in their mansion on the hill, behind locked gates and with two trained professionals guarding them around the clock, Jean and Jeff had been the perfect host and hostess.