said.
“No. I’m going myself. I need to check on my car and talk to my instructors. If I hurry, I might catch them before they leave for the day.”
“But is it safe for you to go?” Kate looked to Daniel.
His lips pressed into a straight line. “I can be with her every step of the way.”
“You can take one of the cars,” Kate offered.
Shelby put her foot down, determined to do it her way. “No, I won’t be chauffeured around in a limousine.”
“I need to go out to the bar and check on things there,” Patrick said. “We can go in my vehicle.”
“How long will you be staying?” Daniel asked.
Patrick scratched his chin. “I’m not sure.”
“Then I’ll take her in my vehicle. She needs to be at the Winston Estate at night. The security is tighter here.”
Patrick nodded. “Fair enough.” He stared at Shelby. “Do you want me to follow you to the university?”
“No, Granddad. I’ll be fine with Daniel.” Much as she hated admitting it, she felt protected with her bodyguard around. “You need to check on things back home.”
His bar was his livelihood. He needed to be there to manage and keep it running as smoothly as possible. Shelby wondered how much time he’d spent away from it while she’d been missing. Probably more than the staff could handle on their own.
As if reading her mind, her grandfather reassured her, “The staff has been taking care of things fine without me, but I want to make sure they don’t need any more supplies.”
“Go on.” She squeezed his hand. “I’ll be okay.”
Her grandfather hugged her. “Don’t go disappearing on me again. I can’t lose you twice. My old heart can’t go through that again.”
“Like you’re old.” Shelby snorted. “You were a kid when my mother was born, and my mother was a kid when I was born. That makes you pretty young for a grandfather.”
And Kate Winston looked too young to be a grandmother. Perhaps if she’d been old and gray, Shelby would have been more accepting of her. But she was too darned young and looked every bit the formidable political candidate.
Before she’d learned Mrs. Winston was her grandmother, she’d admired her as the former vice president and had hoped she’d run for president. Now…
Shelby sighed. She had a hard time believing the woman hadn’t known her daughter was alive. What mother didn’t go to her daughter’s funeral or ask to see her daughter, even if she was dead?
The jury was still out on Grandma Winston. The thought of calling her Grandma nearly made Shelby laugh out loud at the absurdity. “Come on. It’s quite a way to go to get to Beth City and I want to get there before all the professors go home.”
Daniel frowned. “Beth City?”
“You didn’t think I was going to school here in Raleigh, did you?” She smiled at his disapproval. “I live on the Outer Banks. Beth City was the nearest school with the master’s program I needed.”
“Do be careful,” Kate said. “We still don’t know who is responsible for taking you in the first place.”
“That’s why we’ll be taking the big guns, right?” Shelby rolled her eyes toward Daniel and then relented. “I’ll be okay. It’s broad daylight. I was abducted after dark in an empty parking lot. There will be students and faculty still milling about. If we get there before they all leave.” She headed for the door. “Come on, Granddad. Mr. Henderson and I will walk you to your truck.”
“I don’t know. I think I’d like it better if you stayed here and let someone else do your running around for you,” her grandfather said, second-guessing himself.
Shelby stopped in the middle of the room and propped her hands on her hips. “Let’s all get one thing straight.” Her gaze moved from one person to the next. “I did not escape one prison to be trapped in another. This estate is pretty and tastefully decorated, but if I can’t come and go, I might as well be in that basement in the dark, tied to a chair.” Her body shook with the force of a harsh tremor. “I can’t live like that.”
“But—” her grandfather started.
“Patrick,” Kate cut in. “Let her go. Daniel will take good care of her.”
Her grandfather glared at Kate. “You have three sons. Shelby is my only family. If I lose her…”
Shelby’s eyes stung at the anguish in her grandfather’s voice. She went to him and hugged him close. “You’re not going to lose me. I promise.” She turned back to Daniel. “And so does Daniel.”
Daniel’s brows furrowed and he stood tense, his hands balling into fists.
“Don’t you?” Shelby pleaded with her eyes.
Finally he relaxed his hands and he nodded. “I’ll do the best I can to keep her out of trouble.”
Shelby’s grandfather laughed. “You’ll have your hands full. That girl is as sweet as they come, but trouble seems to follow her wherever she goes.” He kissed Shelby’s forehead. “Okay, then. Go to school, though what good it will do you at the bar, I don’t know.”
“Granddad, you were the one who told me a good bartender is an underpaid psychiatrist.”
“Yeah, and you don’t have to have a fancy degree to be a bartender.”
“I know, but the bar might not always be there. I have to be able to support myself.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And you were the one who told me to get a degree.”
“You’d have done it without me telling you to. Besides, you already have one.”
“I could never have done it without your love and support and the tip money I make at O’Hara’s. But a psychology degree won’t buy me much. I have to go further and get my master’s.”
“I know. I know. I just like to yank your chain.” Her grandfather smiled.
Maddie poked her head in the office door. “Mr. Kincannon is here to see you, Kate.”
“Send him in, please,” Kate said.
A tall brown-haired man with tinges of gray entered. “Ah, I see the young Ms. O’Hara is getting around. I trust you didn’t receive any injuries from the explosion earlier?”
Shelby frowned at the man. “No, I did not.” Her eyes narrowed. “Should I know you?”
Daniel stepped forward. “This is my boss, Jed Kincannon, director of the Secret Service.”
The older man held out his hand.
Shelby took the hand, but she didn’t get a good feeling when she shook it. She wondered
