Page 13 of Deceive Me
Telling herself to shut up, she followed her charge up the stairs. Not that she had much choice given that Sydney had claimed her hand. Those tiny fingers twined with hers felt foreign, strange. She wanted to shake them off and clutch them closer at the same time. Between that and the heat licking along her spine at the knowledge that Deacon was directly behind her, right on level to get a great view of her ass, she wondered if she was having some sort of mental break. She never had to fight to focus on work, never worried what a man thought of her as a woman—hell, she barely thought of herself as a woman. Maybe the shock of Diako’s reappearance in her life was the cause.
All the more reason to kill the fucker as soon as possible.
The second floor of the house was bisected by a long hall that jigged to the right at the end. It didn’t extend far enough for that to be the back of the house, though. Elliot knew Dain had a copy of the house’s blueprints, but reviewing them herself had had to wait. She made a mental note to commit them to memory later.
“The back half of this story is a Jack-and-Jill suite intended for guests,” Deacon explained behind them. “Since the master is downstairs, I’ve taken one of those rooms for now to be close to Sydney.” He opened doors as they went along, showing them a large study and third guest bedroom at the front near the stairs. Elliot glanced into each. Somehow Deacon was always there, right where she couldn’t help but brush against him. And every brush made her breath catch, damn it.
“Saint and King can stay in the guest room,” Deacon said. “I’m assuming you’ll be downstairs, Dain?”
They continued down the hall, passing two additional rooms that were currently empty, one on either side. “I’ll stay in the library,” Dain said. “The couch in there will do fine, and I want to be close to the equipment just in case.” They’d agreed to keep all weapons not currently being worn in a locked chest in the library under constant surveillance. Sydney had been raised around guns, but she was still a child and no one wanted to risk her safety. “We’ll take shifts on a rotating basis, of course, but I’d rather everyone get as much rest as possible until things begin to heat up.”
There was no question of them not heating up; they all knew that. Diako didn’t travel outside the realm he easily controlled, ever. It was how he’d stayed alive, stayed on the throne of the kingdom he’d created. Retaliation for his heir’s death appeared to be an exception.
Deacon acknowledged Dain’s plan with a nod as he led them down to the end of the hallway. “I’m in this bedroom here.” He indicated the room at the hall’s elbow. The position of the door meant he could see anyone coming from the stairs; no one could get to Sydney’s room without passing his. Good plan. “The adjoining room can be Elliot’s so she’ll be directly across from Sydney.”
Not a good plan.
“Isn’t that great, Elliot?” Sydney bounced up and down, practically vibrating with excitement. “You’ll be right next to me. Almost like a sleepover; would you like to stay in my room for a sleepover sometime, huh?”
“Um, maybe. Let’s get settled first, okay? We’ll have plenty of time for sleepovers.” As if she knew all about them.
Right.
Sydney pouted up at her, and Elliot wondered how the hell Deacon ever resisted that face. The kid was cute, no doubt about it.
Deacon gestured to a door down the short corridor at a right angle to the original hallway. “That’s yours, Elliot.”
She did no more than glance in. The sight of the connecting door open to the bathroom made her chest feel funny. She turned to Sydney. “And where’s your room?”
Sydney’s grin went wide. Elliot carefully surrounded the fragile fingers that slipped once more into hers, ignoring the tension caused by Deacon’s gaze as it followed them into a room with pale pink walls and stuffed animals piled on the bed. Sydney went straight over and picked up a ratty-looking cat that Elliot recognized from this morning.
“This is Katie Kitty.”
A favorite, Elliot had no doubt. She listened to Sydney discussing Katie’s wonderful qualities, then introducing the rest of her animals while Elliot scanned the room for security issues. Though the usual kid clutter existed, Deacon had a toy chest against one wall that Sydney seemed to make use of for everything but her animals. A bookshelf overflowing with books occupied another wall, next to a large double window curtained with light, flowing pink material, not see-through but allowing in the sun. Elliot walked over to look out.
A second later Sydney ducked beneath the material with her, Katie clutched to her thin chest. “It’s pretty, isn’t it? Not like our old house. I didn’t have a window. Now I can see everywhere, and the people next door have horses that visit our fence sometimes, and Daddy lets me pet them when we’re out. And roll down that hill in the grass. And…”
Elliot lost track of the conversation as her gaze settled on the hill across the road from Deacon’s land. For a second she swore she caught a glint of light flashing off metal or glass. On instinct she shuffled Sydney behind her hip.
The move brought a pause in Sydney’s chatter.
“Uh-huh,” Elliot said.
The little girl continued, unaware of Elliot’s focus centered outside.
“Syd, c’mere and be telling me about this new baby doll,” Fionn called through the curtain. Sydney bumped Elliot’s leg as she turned away from the window, but Elliot continued to stand. To watch. In the back of her mind she heard Fionn teasing Sydney, heard Dain and Saint’s low-voiced conversation near the door. The buzz of activity fell away as she breathed deep, in and out, allowing her warrior mindset to click online. Whoever was out there posed a threat to her team, to her client, an innocent little girl who’d been standing in this very spot a few seconds before.
She couldn’t allow that.
Another breath, waiting, waiting. Seek and destroy. This was who she was, who—
Another flash.
Got him.
She turned quickly, flinging aside the filmy curtain. Sydney sat on a rug across the room, showing Fionn a line of baby dolls. Safe.
Three strides brought Elliot to the door and Dain.
