When You Dare - Lori Foster [148]
Once the news broke, he’d be pitied by some, scorned by the rest.
But it beat the hell out of dying.
Determined, he shoved Kathi back an arm’s length away but retained a bruising hold on her upper arm. It shamed him to know that, for even a second, Kathi had thought he’d go along with his daughter’s murder.
Deciding on a course of damage control, he started across the lawn toward the house.
“Bishop?” Kathi resisted him with each step.
Calmly, to keep her off guard, Bishop said, “Come with me now.”
“Oh. Yes, of course.” She drew a breath and stopped fighting him. “What are we going to do next?”
At the front of the house, he found the other guard standing there, dark sunglasses in place, but with an alert stance.
Bishop stopped in front of him and shoved Kathi forward. “Were you fucking her, too?”
“No!” Kathi reached out for him, but he kept her away. “Bishop,” she pleaded, “don’t be like this.”
Startled, the guard went very still. “Too?”
“George,” he said.
The guard pushed his sunglasses to the top of his head; he didn’t so much as look at Kathi. “No, sir.”
The relief was overwhelming. “Do you value your job, then?”
Without hesitation, he affirmed, “Yes, sir. Very much.”
“Then restrain her.” He pushed Kathi forward, and the guard automatically caught both of her arms. Lifting his phone to punch in a number, Bishop said, “The police will be here soon enough.”
“No!” Kathi fought with a decided lack of class or refinement.
Bishop turned away from her, but he couldn’t tune out the awful noise. And he couldn’t tune out the grinding guilt.
CHRIS DIDN’T LIKE IT when the alarm system glitched, shutting off and back on. Twice. It reset itself as it was programmed to do, but still he stewed. Had the weather affected things? It wouldn’t be the first time the weather had tripped something. It was all electrical, but on a backup system, too.
Going to the porch outside, Chris looked down the hill to the lake.
Though colder winds buffeted him and he could smell the impending rain in the air, it wasn’t all that bad yet. Beyond the lake, to the north behind the hills, he saw black clouds rolling in and bringing with them brilliant bursts of lightning.
Both dogs nervously circled his legs, almost tripping him. Sargie whined, and Tai put her ears back. Noisy weather sometimes spooked them, but this was odd behavior, especially since the thunder hadn’t yet reached them.
He crouched down to talk to them. “What’s the matter, Tai? There’s no noise yet. Dare will probably be home before the rain gets here, so you don’t need to worry.” She crowded in close to him, making her worry clear.
Sargie, always the jealous sort, wormed in front of Tai to soak up his attention, too. She whined in anxiety.
Laughing, Chris dropped to his ass and let the dogs crawl over him. To help put them at ease, he tussled with them a little, played and petted. In mere minutes, the skies darkened enough that the security lights flickered on.
Sargie turned and started a furious barking. She looked toward Chris’s house, but Chris saw nothing amiss.
“What’s the matter, sweetie? Did a leaf spook you? Is there a frog deserving of your wrath?” Often, when Dare was away, the dogs spooked easily. “Doesn’t say much about your trust of my abilities, does it?”
The lake grew turbulent, rushing up to the shore to splash over rocks and plants before ebbing out again. Fish jumped. Birds circled, swooping low.
He loved nature. He loved his place here.
If Molly became a permanent fixture, would it change anything for him? He liked her. Dare more than liked her.
Damn it, he didn’t want to be a third wheel…
The sound of a car sent the dogs bounding away and around the house in barking excitement. Chris was quick to follow. It had to be Dare, because no one else could get past the gates.
But when he saw Dare leaving the car, he knew something was wrong. The look on Dare’s face said it all.
Molly, bless her, didn’t appear to notice. She took her time greeting the dogs and