Secret Service Rescue. Elle James

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      Though her knees wobbled and the pain meds she’d been given hadn’t quite worn off and left her feeling a little fuzzy headed, Shelby refused to show even the slightest weakness to the Winstons or the odious man who’d been assigned as her bodyguard. That he was no happier about the arrangement than she was did little to appease her. Strangely, it made her more angry and disgruntled about the entire arrangement.

      “I have assignments to complete. I can’t do them without going to the library in Beth City,” she muttered.

      Daniel Henderson stood beside her, his face impassive, wearing mirrored sunglasses that completely hid any expression in his eyes, frustrating Shelby even more.

      “You can’t leave the estate until we find your kidnappers.”

      “Like hell,” she stated. “I’m not giving up one prison for another.”

      “Trust me, the Winston Estate is far from a prison.”

      “It’s a prison if I’m not allowed to leave.”

      “Perhaps allowed is too strong a word. But it would certainly be ill-advised.”

      She snorted. “No difference.” They stood in the lobby at the hospital’s entrance, waiting for her grandfather to complete the paperwork to release her. Kate and her personal secretary waited close by.

      Did he have to stand so close? Shelby shifted away from Daniel. He shifted with her. His bulk was doing funny things to her insides. She’d tried to blame it on the breakfast she’d been served by the hospital staff, but it had been pretty darned good after the bologna sandwiches and bagels she’d been given for the past two weeks. She’d eaten every last bite and wanted to lick the plate, but just managed to refrain with Daniel, Kate and her grandfather looking on.

      The food had given her the strength to make it this far, and a lighter dose of pain medication didn’t make her head fuzzy. She almost felt normal. Almost as if her world hadn’t been upended and thrown her off-kilter.

      A grandmother and three uncles. And all this time she’d thought it was just her and her grandfather against the world.

      Patrick signed one last form and turned toward the exit, his gaze zeroing in on Kate. She stood looking cool, calm and confident in her gray suit, her hair short and stylish with just a hint of frost at the temples. No dyes and highlights for her. And she didn’t need them. She was beautiful, even in her late fifties, the lines by her eyes adding character.

      Shelby didn’t want to like the woman, didn’t want to believe a word she said. Not when she’d abandoned her own daughter and then claimed she hadn’t known she was alive. How does a mother not know her baby was alive?

      Patrick’s face gave him away. He might have said he was over Kate a long time ago, but the way he looked at her at that moment said the opposite.

      “Oh, dear.” Her heart aching for her grandfather, Shelby pressed a hand to her chest.

      “What?”

      “This isn’t right.”

      “What isn’t right?” Daniel asked.

      She tried to think of something to say that would make it better. “We don’t belong with the Winstons. My grandfather and I should just go home. We can manage on our own.”

      “Don’t be ridiculous.” Daniel captured her arm. “You were almost killed. Those men who kidnapped you are experienced thugs. What training do you have to defend yourself against them?”

      Her back stiffened. “I took a self-defense class one semester during my undergraduate degree.”

      Daniel snorted. “And how’d that work for you?”

      Shelby opened her mouth to give him a sharp retort, but she didn’t have one. The reality of the past two weeks sitting in the dark wasn’t something she wanted to happen ever again. “I’ll be more aware.”

      “When you’re outnumbered, outweighed and outgunned, being aware may not be enough.”

      “It will have to be.” She smiled at her grandfather as he closed the distance between them.

      “Ready?” he asked.

      “I am. But I think we should go home.”

      Her grandfather’s brows drew together. “Shelby, honey, after what happened, I don’t think it’s safe. I can’t provide the kind of protection Kate can.”

      Staying at the Winston Estate would be as hard on him as it was on her. They didn’t belong with these people. The Winstons traveled in an entirely different circle from the folks at the O’Hara Bar and Grill on the Outer Banks where she and her grandfather lived and worked.

      The worried look on her grandfather’s face made her reconsider for the moment. She stepped outside the hospital where two long black limousines stood waiting at the curb.

      “Tell me we’re not going in those,” she said.

      Daniel’s mouth twitched into a grin, although his eyes were invisible behind his mirrored sunglasses. “Then I won’t tell you.”

      Thad walked up behind them. “If we could move it along, the cars have been waiting for thirty minutes in a no-parking zone. The hospital security staff would like us to get going.”

      Her father hooked her arm and led her toward the limo. The chauffeur opened the back door for her.

      The closer she got to the dark interior, the faster her heart raced. “No.” She braced her hands on the roof of the car and refused to step inside.

      “Is there something wrong?” Kate asked.

      “I can’t get in. It’s too...”

      “Too what, dear?” Kate laid a hand on her arm.

      “Too dark,” Shelby whispered.

      Kate’s hand gently smoothed over her arm. “It’s okay. You don’t have to ride in the limousine.” She turned to the driver. “Take it back to the estate. Miss O’Hara will ride with Trey in his vehicle.”

      The driver nodded, rounded the front of the vehicle and got in.

      Kate’s brows rose as she directed a glance at her oldest son. “You don’t mind bringing the O’Haras and Mr. Henderson, do you?”

      “Not at all, Mother.” Trey turned away from the hospital. “If you’ll follow me to the parking lot—”

      The limousine engine revved and died. The driver cranked it again and the same thing happened.

      “What do you suppose is wrong with the limousine?” Debra frowned, making a note on her smartphone. “I have it serviced regularly.”

      “Not good.” Daniel gripped Kate and Shelby’s arm. “Get down!”

      Trey spun Debra around, shoved her behind the open door of the Jeep and shielded her with his body.

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