Nick waited near the entrance to the lounge, keeping an eye on the middle-aged woman. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions. There was no reason to think that Ashley might be in danger. However, he didn’t intend to take any chances.
As soon as the door opened into the lounge, the woman reached inside her handbag. Nick was right behind her, reaching for the weapon in his shoulder holster.
By the time he realized the woman was pulling out a package of cigarettes and eagerly lighting one, Nick found himself inside the ladies’ room, creating a stir among the occupants. Hoping to be as inconspicuous as possible, he backed out the doorway, but not before Ashley spotted him in the mirror, where she had paused to freshen her lipstick.
She spun around and glared at him. Grabbing her purse, she marched after him, following him into the hallway.
“My God, can’t I even go to the restroom without being followed?”
Keeping his voice down, he replied, “I’m sorry. I saw a woman who seemed to be in a big hurry to follow you in there.”
Ashley folded her arms across her chest and leaned back so she could meet his gaze. Her eyes blazed.
“Well, aren’t you the observant one? No wonder they’ve entrusted you with such a sacred detail—following me around.” She straightened, dropping her arms to her side. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you, Special Agent Logan, but most people, after having been in the theater for this length of time, tend to rush to the facilities at intermission. Perhaps that idea never occurred to you. Probably not. The sterling guardians who surround us don’t have such normal ordinary needs, do they?”
All right, so he’d made a fool of himself. It wasn’t the first time and probably wouldn’t be the last. In this business he preferred to err on the side of safety. Obviously she wasn’t going to take any of that into consideration.
However, she sure as hell didn’t need to be so sarcastic.
Nick cleared his throat and fingered his tie. In a carefully modulated tone he murmured, “Look, I said I was sorry, okay? I’m still adjusting to this job. I’ll work at being more circumspect in the future, all right?”
Ashley’s gaze never faltered. It was obvious to Nick that she was struggling to control several choice remarks that she would, without doubt, love to make.
He had to give her credit for the fact that she didn’t make them.
Instead, she shook her head in frustration and, turning on her heel, returned to the lobby. Nick followed.
Todd and Ashley found each other in the large lobby and joined a group of people discussing tonight’s performance. Nick and Ron waited a few feet away.
Ron glanced at Nick from the corner of his eye and muttered, “What the hell did you do to our Ms. Ashley, Nick? She came charging out of the lounge area with fire in her eyes. I made the mistake of asking her how she was enjoying the performance so far and she almost took my head off.”
Nick glanced at his partner with an innocent expression. “What makes you think I had anything to do with her reaction? She may be hating the show tonight.”
“Because she kept looking over her shoulder as though all the hounds of hell were after her, and when she spotted you, she muttered something about you spoiling the entire evening for her.”
“Surely the lady exaggerates—I did not ruin the entire evening. I’d have to call that an overreaction on her part. After all, the night is young.”
“overreaction or not, I bet her father will hear her views on the subject before the night is over.”
Nick stuck his hands in his pockets and continued to scan the milling group of people. “Fine with me. Maybe they’ll fire me and I’ll get my vacation time, after all.”
“You wish. Come on, those blinking lights must mean the thing is starting up again.”
His resigned tone almost made Nick smile, almost being the operative word. At the moment he was far from being in a smiling mood. By the time everyone was seated and the lights were dimmed, Nick felt certain he detected steam coming from Ashley’s ears. What he had done hadn’t been all that bad. So maybe he’d been a little overzealous, but it had been an honest mistake.
He sat there and watched her as she slowly relaxed and became caught up in the music and the story unfolding on stage.
Todd reached over and took her hand, and she turned so that Nick had a view of her profile. She’d worn her hair up tonight, with little tendrils falling around her ears and on her neck. Her cheeks were flushed, no doubt from temper. She had the longest eyelashes he’d ever seen on a person…the longest and the thickest. Funny he should notice such a silly thing.
Washington, D.C.
Sunday, December 27
Almost a week later Nick arrived for work at the White House. Upon signing in, he was told to report immediately to the Oval Office. The summons came as something of a relief. The tension whenever he was around Ashley was obvious to any observer. His mere presence appeared to irritate her. He did his best to stay out of her line of vision. When she was forced to interact with him, her icy politeness made her opinion of him abundantly clear.
He’d already admitted to his supervisor that he’d bungled the diplomatic part of his job with his charge. He’d spoken to Chambers a few days after the theater outing about the possibility of switching his assignment. He’d been turned down. Nick had attempted to explain Ashley’s animosity toward him but was cut off in midsentence. He was informed that he could make amends or not. It was his choice. It wasn’t necessary for the person he protected to like him.
With this summons, however, Nick knew that Ashley’s feelings were very important to her father. Since she’d let several days go by, he had begun to think she had kept the theater incident to herself. Obviously he’d been wrong.
As soon as he walked into the anteroom of the Oval Office, one of the aides announced his presence to President Sullivan. Nick was invited to enter. He fought the impulse to straighten his tie and smooth down his hair before he nodded and walked into the Oval Office for the first time in his life.
His first surprise was to find Ron there, casually visiting with the president.
His second surprise was the warm smile of welcome on President Sullivan’s face. Before Nick could think of anything to say, James Sullivan walked over to him and held out his hand.
President Sullivan was an imposing, charismatic figure. Tall and lean, he looked as though he would be at home riding the range on the back of a horse. Since he’d been born in, and served two terms as governor of, the state of Colorado, James Sullivan could easily be descended from pioneer stock who had settled the West generations ago.
He was a young president, barely in his fifties into his second term of office. Not only was he known as a tough negotiator and a fierce warrior when it came time to fight for legislation he backed, Sullivan was also widely recognized as a staunch family man.
Nick had assumed that anyone his daughter didn’t like would get an automatic veto from the president. Therefore, his friendly demeanor caught Nick by surprise.
“I’m very pleased to meet you, Logan. I’ve been hearing good things about you.
