Deadly Little Secrets Page 0,100

managed only a “Wow, really?” before Jen was off on a tear about the wonders of dating the doting New Yorker, Jack D’Onofrio.

Maybe, just maybe, there was someone in the world for whom things could work out. If anyone deserved it, it was Jen.

“Hey, you’re tired, I know,” Jen said on a grin. “I’ve been running off at the mouth, but I need to get out of here and let you get going. Besides, I gotta go make kissy noises into the phone with Jack. You don’t want to be there for that, right?”

“Uh, no. Thanks for asking,” Ana said facetiously. “We’ll just take a rain check on that.”

“Hey, he wanted me to tell you he was sorry for everything that happened, you know, like empathetic and all.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it. Where is he today?”

“Back in New York, I think. Maybe Boston.” She waved toward the east. “Out that way. Why?”

“Just wondering.” Ana strove to keep her voice level, nonchalant. A hunch, a very troubling worry about New York Millionaire Jack, was buzzing in the back of her mind. “Hey, thanks for coming over,” she said, standing up as Jen did. “It really helped.”

Her friend gave her a hug and a pat on the back. “What friends are for, right? I can do that, most of the time.” She laughed, and gathered her things. “Call me, about everything, okay? I’m here for you.”

Ana nodded. “I know. Thanks.”

“Sure. Fly safe.”

Locking the doors behind her friend, Ana flew to her computer to run Jack D’Onofrio again. There had to be something that linked him, and she was going to find it.

Chapter Sixteen

The private jet was well appointed, the nurses dressed in regular clothes rather than scrubs, but Gates still felt the irritating sting of being under a doctor’s care. Two days out of the hospital and he was still annoyed by all the poking and prodding. He hated being hovered over.

He felt surprisingly good for someone who’d been shot. Then again, the doctor kept saying it was a miracle that the bullet had missed all the vital stuff. Essentially, he just had to heal from the surgery, the blood loss, and the shock to his body.

Piece of cake.

“So.” Dav stood in the doorway to the plane’s bedroom. “You’re insisting on this. Why?”

“We’ve been over it, Dav. Until Baxter and whoever else he’s working with can figure something out, it’s better for me to be away from here, away from you.”

“So you want me to take you to the Paris house and leave you there. It makes so much sense.” Dav’s dry answer said exactly the opposite.

“Dav, I work for you. I’m your security guru. It’s my job to be there and make sure you’re safe, not bring the target that’s on me to you too. You’ve got enough trouble dealing with the Central American faction and whoever’s lurking around, impersonating your dead brother and scaring Sophia, without my adding my crap to it.”

“We still don’t know that it’s your crap,” Dav pointed out. “Don’t look so belligerent.” Dav laughed. “I’ve no objection to a few days in Paris. However, we’ve got to stop in New York. That meeting with Goldman Sachs can’t be postponed any longer. I have a suite set up at the Waldorf. You can recuperate from this flight and prepare for the next one, tomorrow.”

“Yeah, yeah. I could just go on to Paris alone, you know.” He shifted. He was getting stiff spending so much time in bed. That reminded him of Ana, so he went after Dav again. “By the way, don’t think I haven’t heard about Carrie.”

Dav looked away, just a flicker of movement, but Gates saw it and knew he was on to something. “I don’t know what you mean,” Dav said, with bland unconcern.

Gates rolled his eyes. “The hell you don’t. I know you’ve been calling her, asking her out.”

Dav sighed, and Gates heard the puzzlement in it. “She won’t talk anything but business. Won’t meet with me. Especially after the gala.”

“Really? Why?”

Dav looked at him with an “it should be obvious” expression. “Sophia.”

“Oh. Got it.” Gates saw the problem immediately. He wished his challenges with Ana were that simple. He missed her with a need that ached like a sore tooth. “Give it time.”

Dav treated him to a long, thoughtful look. “Recent events have pointed out to me that I may not have time. Life’s precious, Gates.”

Gates gritted his teeth and sat up. The muscles in his gut protested, but he ignored the pain.