She wouldn’t be safe at the Andersons. Nor would the Andersons be safe from Derrick if she stayed.
She picked up the baby carrier, with her son sleeping peacefully inside, and, praying she’d made the right decision, headed for the waiting limo.
As she walked, she found herself glancing around, still feeling uneasy. She was relieved, however, to see no unfamiliar cars parked along the wide, treelined street. Knowing Derrick would be flying in terrified her more than she’d thought possible. What if he’d taken an earlier flight?
As she and Tim approached the long, sleek black car, the uniformed driver emerged from behind the wheel. Kit watched him move to the rear and open the trunk, unable to hide her surprise. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but this man didn’t fit her inexperienced image of a chauffeur. He looked too fit, his shoulders too broad, his arms too powerful, his body too compact and controlled. No, this man looked less like a chauffeur than a bodyguard—or a hired thug.
Her heart suddenly seemed a drum that she could not quiet. Did Sanders think she needed protection on the way to Huntsville? Was he worried that he wouldn’t be able to talk Derrick into returning to Montana? All too easily panicked, she felt the way she had the day she left Montana. Here she was again. Running for her life. But this time with her baby son. What would she have done without Sanders here?
She hugged Andy to her as the driver took her single bag from Tim, placed it in the trunk and closed the lid.
“You’re sure you’re going to be all right?” Tim asked.
She nodded, dragging her gaze away from the limo driver to reassure Tim with a smile, to reassure herself. “We’ll be fine.”
The driver touched the brim of his cap as he moved past Kit to open the rear door. He looked strong and capable as both a driver and a bodyguard. He turned toward her, reaching for the baby carrier and diaper bag.
Reluctantly, she handed the carrier to him, watching closely as he leaned into the back of the car. He quickly strapped Andy into the rear seat, as if he’d done this sort of thing dozens of times before, and she began to relax a little.
As he stepped back, she noticed he wore a pair of worn brown cowboy boots. Only in Texas, she thought. Or Montana.
He stood back to hold the door for her, waiting, his eyes downcast, his demeanor subservient. And yet, Kit sensed a wariness in him that seemed to confirm her suspicion that Sanders had hired her a lot more than a limo driver.
“Good luck, Kit,” Tim said. “If there’s anything I can do…”
“Thank you. I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me and Andy.”
She had wanted to say more, but afraid she’d cry, she quickly ducked into the back seat of the car beside her son. She was even more afraid she’d break down and tell Tim the truth. The last thing she would do was put any more lives in jeopardy.
The driver closed the door and hurried around to slide behind the wheel. Kit looked back through the dark tinted glass—one final goodbye to Tim and the sanctuary she’d found in Texas—as the limo pulled away from the curb Beside her, Andy fell into the sleep of angels and babies.
“Please let me know if there is anything you need, Mrs. Killhorn,” the driver said.
“Thank you,” she said, surprised by how deep yet soft his voice was, and how completely free of a southern accent.
Kit quickly dismissed the driver from her thoughts, confident that Sanders had seen to her safety in every possible way. As the car sped down the street, she didn’t look back again.
“I’ll give you and the baby some privacy. Just use the intercom.”
The driver hit a power switch, and a tinted window went up between them, leaving her in the silent darkness of the back seat with only her sleeping son and her cell phone.
Kit watched the houses along the wide streets of old Galveston blur by: gleaming white works of art, ornate with spacious verandas and gentle roof lines, lounging in the shade of live oaks and palms under the Texas sun.
But the sky was filling with ominous dark storm clouds.
She closed her eyes, trying not to worry. About the past. Or the future. Sanders had seen to it that she and Andy were safe for the time being, she thought, glancing toward the privacy window that hid the limo driver. She snuggled against the deep leather of the seat. Warm and safe in this quiet cocoon, she drifted off.
* * *
SANDERS GOT the page just as Derrick’s plane touched ground at the airport. He hurried to the nearest phone and picked up, half expecting to hear Kit’s voice, afraid she’d changed her mind or there’d been some sort of problem. He’d thought he’d covered everything. By now Kit should be safely in the limo and on her way with Derrick Jr. to Huntsville.
“Uh, this is Maury with Unlimited Chauffeur Service, and, you know that pickup you ordered? Well, I’m at the address, only she isn’t here.”
“What do you mean, she isn’t there?” Sanders demanded.
“I was supposed to pick up a redhead and a baby, right? Well, I got here and the guy in the house says she left in another car with another driver about twenty minutes ago.”
Sanders stared in stunned silence at the gate Derrick would be coming out of at any moment. “Someone else picked her up?”
“A chauffeur in a limo,” Maury said.
Sanders swore. “Unlimited sent two cars and drivers to the same address?”
“Afraid not,” Maury said. “The other limo wasn’t from Unlimited. The guy at the house saw an A-1 Rent-a-Ride sticker on the rear of the vehicle..”
“A-1-Rent-a-Ride?”
“It’s a place near the pickup address. So unless you called two limo companies, I don’t know what to tell you.”
Kit must have gotten cold feet, decided to take off and had called her own limo and driver. Only Kit would never do that even if she could afford it. She’d jump on a bus. Maybe even splurge and take a train or plane. But she’d never hire a limo and driver. Not Kit.
So what had happened? He’d been so sure he’d convinced her to go to Huntsville, or he would never have left her alone.
He spotted Derrick coming through the arrival gate and cursed his bad luck. Derrick stopped, caught sight of Sanders and no Kit or the baby, and scowled angrily, obviously unhappy that Sanders had had to go to Plan Two: Huntsville.
Wait until he heard that something had gone wrong with both plans and that Kit and baby were missing. Again.
The sound of a phone ringing pulled Kit from a less-than-peaceful sleep. She sat up, disoriented, instantly afraid. Then she remembered where she was and realized the phone she heard was the cellular Sanders had given her. She reached into her purse.
“Hello?”
