Chapter Twelve
As Jenna called for room service to collect her tray later, she realized she still had heard nothing from Brock. She thought he would check in at lunch since the big golf game should be over, and she now wondered what he was doing. His things were all still in the room, so at least she knew he hadn’t left.
She pushed her room service tray aside and got into the shower. Waiting was not something she did well, so she decided on some stretching and meditation time after her shower. Then she remembered she started her meditation practice after Dan left her five years before, and that sent her down an entirely new line of thought.
Five minutes into her yoga routine, the knock at the door interrupted Jenna’s downward-facing-dog. She opened the door a crack, thinking it would be room service to pick up her tray.
“Dan, what are you doing here?”
Dan pushed the door. “Just let me in, Jenna.”
“What are you doing? Brock could come back any minute. I have no idea what he is doing or where he is.”
“I don’t care anymore.” He forced his way inside and walked her backward toward the bed, gently pushing her down with one hand. He landed on top of her and pressed his lips on her neck as he rubbed his hands across her breasts. “God, I’d forgotten—almost.”
“Dan, what’s gotten into you? Get off me.” Jenna felt Dan freeze, and then he rolled off her.
He lay still with one arm across her, but saying nothing. He turned on his side and looked at her. “Do you really want me to stop, Jenna?”
Jenna looked into his dark-blue eyes, now looking almost black and only inches away. She remembered those eyes but didn’t answer.
He pushed himself up and stood over her. “Is it over? I need to know. I can take it, whatever you say, but I must know now. I can’t keep waiting on forgiveness that might never come.”
Jenna knew this was the point everything could change, but instead of panic, she felt only calm, as if she’d been waiting for this day. “Calm down, Dan. Better yet, resume your prior position here beside me, and take a breath.”
Dan did as he was asked and lay there, looking at the ceiling and saying nothing.
Jenna rolled over on top of him.
Dan moaned and buried his face in her hair, breathing her in. “Yeah, I remember your smell, the feel of your hair, and your skin. It’s like coming home.”
Jenna’s brain, conditioned for caution, wanted to protest that things were moving too fast, that she was afraid, worried, but her body had its own ideas.
Dan began to remove her yoga pants and T-shirt. “Say it now, Jenna, if you want me to go. But if I go, it will be for good this time. I can’t keep playing this game. Do I go? Tell me!”
She shook her head no, and before she knew what had happened, her clothes were on the floor, and he was naked and beside her. His fingers and mouth traced their way down her body from chin to toe, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. His touch got rougher and more demanding, and she felt her body come alive. His lips reached her breasts, making her gasp.
Jenna stopped thinking and gave in to her feelings, focusing on what her body was telling her. She moaned and closed her eyes, arching her body upward. His tongue teased her, his lips found her own, and she was lost. His hands traveled her body until she cried out for release. He entered her with an urgent thrust, and for a moment, he didn’t move. She wondered if he, too, was thinking about old times. She matched his need with her own as they rode that wave of desire and passion until they could contain it no longer. Jenna could tell he was holding back for her, and when her release came, she felt as if the years of desire had been awakened and satisfied all at once. She felt Dan shudder, and he lay so still for so long she started to worry. She pushed at his shoulder.
He rolled off with a groan. “Jenna, I, well, I’m sorry. I wish I could have lasted longer, but I couldn’t, even thinking about baseball, engine parts…nothing could delay me too long.”
“You need not have worried as it turned out. It seems that my body remembered what to do pretty quickly.”
“Thank the gods. At the risk of repeating myself, it was like coming home, but different.” He rolled over on his side and propped up on his elbow to look at her.”
She reached over and ran a hand through his hair. “As much as I have enjoyed this, Brock could arrive at any time. I’ve not heard from him at all, but I assume golf will be over soon if that is where he really is. But who knows.”
“At a time like this, you are thinking about Brock. Why are you worried about him? Isn’t it time he went back to where he’s from? Besides, if he finds us here together like this, it will help shorten the explanation, right?”
Jenna ran her fingers across his lips. “I’ll handle things with Brock. Don’t get involved, please.”
“Well, I am involved, and if he had walked in a minute ago, it would not have been pretty. You need to wrap things up with him, Jenna.”
“I know, but let me handle it my way. I have a plan, my own plan.”
Dan sat up and looked around for his clothes. “Well, since you need to get ready for another admirer, I suppose I’ll be going now.”
Jenna sighed and headed for the bathroom to make repairs, grabbing her phone on the way. “Very funny.”
Dan got dressed, found his shoes, and followed Jenna into the dressing area. “Seriously, Jenn, I’m a little worried about your good-bye Brock plan. What if he doesn’t take it well?”
“Brock would never hurt me, if that’s what you are worried about.”
“Still…” Dan was interrupted by a knock at the door. “I don’t suppose Brock would knock, would he?”
“No, it’s room service to get my tray.”
Dan sat at the desk and checked his phone messages.
Jenna let room service in for the tray. Then, ignoring Dan, who was busy texting someone again, she went into the dressing room and grabbed jeans and a clean T-shirt.
“Your phone is making noise out here,” Dan said.
Jenna joined Dan and picked up her phone. “His game is over, so he’ll be on the way back any minute.”
Dan sat to put on his shoes. “I guess you’re kicking me out then, huh? Remember, I’ll be back downstairs at six so we can get to Tybee by six thirty. I’ll leave handling Brock up to you. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it’s time to get rid of pretty boy.”
Jenna ignored Dan’s comment. “Brock got a dinner meeting invitation from some big business guy down here from New York who he met on the golf course. He asked me to forgo the senator’s party to go with him. I’m now telling him via text that I can’t. I’ll encourage him to go on to the dinner without me, and I’ll suggest maybe he could stop by the party later, knowing he likely won’t.”
Dan leaned against the dressing room door, watching her finish the text to Brock. “Your idea of handling Brock, huh? Let’s hope he goes for that.”
“Even if he comes over later, it won’t matter. He likes working the room. And if your girlfriend will be there, he’ll like it even more. So, is Harper coming?”
Dan scowled. “Not with me, she’s not. I’ve not talked to her. She was supposed to meet up with friends, and there were plans to discuss visiting a few people in the area. That was the last I heard about that. Some of her friends didn’t have an invitation to the Ball, so they needed to work things out. I wasn’t that interested. And stop calling her my girlfriend. This is not high school.”
Jenna raised her eyebrows and looked at Dan. “Well, it should be an interesting evening with or without your girlfriend. Speaking of, isn’t it time to get rid of her since we are getting rid of extraneous people? Hmm, yeah, two can play that game. Now, go do something productive.”
Dan kissed Jenna on the neck. “Come on, give it up. She is not my girlfriend , and she was never my girlfriend . And the way you talk to me, it’s just shameful. You know that I can’t get rid of her, since she is now our primary suspect. So, I shall leave you now to get prepared for Mr. America, and I’ll go do something productive. Then I will get into my James Bond outfit and see you in a few hours.” As he got to the door, he turned and smiled. “And l will make you pay.”
“If you will stop saying girlfriend, I’ll pay anything. Sorry I started that little war.”
After Dan left, Jenna couldn’t decide if what she felt was the afterglow of their lovemaking fading or more about the reality of what might happen next. She didn’t feel guilty about Dan, but something was not right. All her alarm bells rang, and it made her crazy she couldn’t find the fire.
After working herself into a state of anxiety, Jenna decided not to think about the future with Dan, but to concentrate on what was ahead that evening. “One thing at a time, one day at a time,” she whispered. They must catch the thief or thieves in the act. That was the mission, and nothing else. Jenna’s job was to stay close to the senator’s wife, who, though not sporting the actual Blalock necklace on this night, would still be wearing valuable jewelry. Even when not wearing the fake Blalock, that no one else would know was a fake, her other jewelry was real. She looked at her watch again, wondering where Brock was.
Dan wanted everyone to think the Blalock necklace was the real thing and worth the risk for the thief. That Mrs. Roseland would be showing off her anniversary gift on the big night was well publicized. Jenna was glad she’d not talked to Brock about any of this in detail, especially that the necklace would be fake. If that fact got out, it would ruin their plan, and Brock did like to talk, especially when drinking. His absence now told her he was mad about her going to the party without him.
Dan and Jenna remained frustrated about no response from any of Dan’s contacts about whom they suspected the thief might be or if the red hair meant anything at all, real or fake. Was it a woman with red hair, or was it a plant, and if so, why? Was it one person, two people, or a team? Was it a seasoned thief who teamed up with a woman, new to the game and with no record? She knew Dan had the exact questions going through his head. But they had faced worse odds.
Jenna looked at herself in the mirror one last time, spritzed a bit of perfume, and slipped into her shoes. Again, her mind drifted to Harper, and she wondered if she’d show up at tonight’s event. She wasn’t sure what it would mean if she did or didn’t. How did she get an invitation for such an exclusive event? Why couldn’t she place her? What was it blocking her memory? She was more positive than ever she had seen her somewhere before.
She ran through some possibilities again. Maybe it was at an art gallery, art auction, or somewhere around when she was in her photographer mode. She couldn’t make the connection, but it sat on the edge of her memory as she shuffled back through the past few years. She tried to recall exactly what Harper said about seeing her before when they met at the dinner, but it was all too vague. Jenna was now kicking herself she had not followed up on that conversation. But Harper had quickly turned to a line of questions that made Dan uneasy, and they had left.
Jenna looked at her watch. In about thirty minutes she and Dan were scheduled to leave for the senator’s house, so she poured herself a small glass of wine and went outside to sit on the patio. She welcomed the slight breeze, and the temperature was comfortable enough to relax outside for a few minutes without sweating. She gazed out at downtown Savannah, the old city that successfully withstood wars, hurricanes, and Yankees, and was still going strong. Savannah was that unique blend of the aristocratic, sophisticated, and eccentric that she loved. It made for the most interesting photographs she had ever taken. Everything about it brought back her grandmother and the best childhood memories of her life.
Her phone chimed a reminder to meet the limo driver downstairs. She looked in the mirror, fixed her lipstick, and took a deep breath. This night might be one of surprises. She started toward the door as a text came through from Dan telling her he was waiting at the car downstairs. She sent up a silent prayer, “Okay, Gran, I could use your help tonight.”
Though Jenna wasn’t religious or superstitious, she often talked to her grandmother in times of stress. If heaven existed, she knew her grandmother would be listening, and that always made her feel better. Dan would often laugh at her for calling on her grandmother before they went through any of their risky operations back in Paris, or elsewhere, especially when they tangled with organized crime. And every time they walked away unscathed; she would thank her grandmother. After a few close calls, and a half-dozen successful ventures, Dan stopped laughing.
Jenna left a note for Brock in the room, telling him she didn’t know when she would return in case he decided not to attend the party. What he would do, she had no idea. She was finding it hard to predict what Brock would do.
The trip to Tybee was without incident, but the weather was taking a turn for the worse. Thunderstorms were moving in from the west, but if luck was with them, not before they arrived on Tybee. She couldn’t help but see it as an omen. She checked her phone but found no messages from Brock. At this point, he was moved to the bottom of her list of things to worry about.
Dan’s last-minute decision to do a bit of time snooping around on Tybee earlier didn’t turned up anything new, he told her on their trip to the island. His main mission was to meet all of the senator’s security team again and give them a short talk about what he was looking for. It didn’t escape Jenna’s notice he went out of his way to come back into town just to get her when he could have stayed on Tybee with the senator’s team.
Two other limos were parked in front of the facility when they arrived. Dan shook his head as he looked around as they got out of the limo. “I don’t see any security yet. Lots and lots of doors to cover and not enough security. I see one man on the main door. Where are they?”
“Why are those two limos still sitting there? Are there people in them?” Jenna asked as they got closer.
Dan looked at his watch and then looked around. “It’s too early for the party guests.” They walked on by the cars with the darkly tinted windows and went on to greet the security guy at the main door.
Hearing noise from the cars, Jenna turned to see who the occupants were. She saw two long legs slid out of the first car. There she was, Miss Gail Wells. Her long, dark-brown hair was piled high on top of her head, making her look even taller. Between the hair and the high-heel shoes, she was close to six feet tall. A shorter man with silver hair got out on the other side. He thinning hair barely covered his scalp, and his round glasses seemed too big for his lined and serious face. Jenna thought he looked like a lawyer. She followed Dan inside and grabbed his arm. “It’s the Wells woman.”