class at school. She was going to prove to her uncle she wasn’t like her mother and was willing to work for everything she got. She didn’t want a free ride from him or anyone.
Her porch light illuminated the front part of her redbrick two-story home with white trim and green shutters. Hers—as of six months ago. She noticed Nicholas had parked at the curb and exited his Tahoe. He came around the hood. She quickly grabbed her purse, took a spare house key from the bottom of the driver’s seat and climbed from her Mustang.
“That’s as far as you need to go. You’ve escorted me home.” She waved toward her house. “Nothing is amiss. You can run along now.”
He planted his feet apart, crossed his arms and said, “Not until you go in the house to your front window and wave to me. Then I’ll leave.”
“What if I don’t?” the imp inside her asked.
“Then I’ll stay here all night.”
His determined look drilled right through her. “You’re impossible.”
“It comes in handy when I deal with stubborn people.”
“You think I know where Erin is.”
“Do you?”
“No.”
“Then I believe you.”
“Really?”
“I told you I would be honest with you. I’m worried about you. I think something is going on. It might be connected to the Jeffries case or something else. I don’t know. Miss Chick today went to some trouble to get your keys. Why?”
“To rob me?”
“There were a lot richer people there than you.”
She lifted her shoulders in a shrug. “Maybe they thought I was wealthy since Senator Eagleton is my uncle. When you catch the person, ask her.”
“I will. Nothing was taken from your purse in your office, so it wasn’t that kind of robbery. Could the person have been after something—”
“I don’t need a protector,” she interrupted, remembering all the times she alone had protected herself from the predators in her childhood neighborhood. “I’ve been taking care of myself most of my life. Go home. Look out for yourself.” Frustration churned her stomach.
“Just as soon as I know you’re safe inside and the locksmith has arrived.”
“Now you’re putting more conditions on your leaving.”
“What can I say? I changed my mind.”
Clamping her lips together, she pivoted and strode toward her porch steps. As she mounted them, the feel of his gaze on her back made her shiver. For most of her life, she had been the only one who took care of herself. What would it be like to have someone who cared?
No! I won’t go there. At times, she wasn’t even sure the Lord was there anymore. As a child she’d sought refuge in the local church, latching on to the promise that God loved her. But did He? While growing up, she’d been so alone.
Absorbed in thoughts of the past, she unlocked her front door and moved into the foyer. One look into the living room and she froze.
Selena stared at her trashed living room then, beyond at the dining room and part of her kitchen. What if the intruder was still here? She sidled toward the table nearby and pulled open a drawer. Keeping her eye on the staircase to the right, she felt for her revolver. When her fingers encountered the barrel, she quickly clasped the handle and withdrew it.
“What do you think you’re going to do with that?” Nicholas’s deep voice sounded from the entrance.
She glanced over her shoulder. “Defend myself. The person could still be in here.”
“Put it on the table before someone gets hurt.” Nicholas drew his gun.
“I know how to use it.”
“I don’t care.”
She did as he ordered, actually relieved he was here. She must be more exhausted than she thought.
“Now, go outside, open my tailgate so I can call for Max, then you’re to stay on the porch while Max and I search the rest of the house. If the locksmith comes, have him wait with you.”
Selena nodded then headed to his Tahoe and released Max. She’d been around the rottweiler enough to know he was a well-trained dog. He could be fierce, but she wasn’t afraid of him.
“Come,” Nicholas said from the doorway.
Max trotted toward her house. Selena followed behind him and stopped at the top of the steps, gripping the post, trying to ignore her headache.
“Check it.” Nicholas disappeared with Max into her house.
She lost sight of them when the pair went up the stairs. With only two bedrooms and a bath on the second floor, they were back in the living room within five minutes.
“Do you have a basement?”
“Yes. The stairs to it are next to the back door.”
He and Max vanished around the corner into the kitchen. The whole time they were gone, her heartbeat thudded against her rib cage, her breathing shallow. What if the intruder was hiding in the basement? Or there was more than one person? When minutes later, Nicholas and Max rounded the corner and crossed the living room, she sagged against the wooden railing, not realizing until then how tense she’d been while they were checking out her house.
“Does the rest of my place look like the living room?”
“Yes. You’ll need to go through your home and let me know what’s missing. I’ll contact the local police about what happened, but since this might be connected with the White House break-in, I want to deal with it.”
“I’ll do a walk-through tonight, but I’m too tired to do more than that.” The past weeks finally wreaked their havoc on her.
“Why don’t you wait until tomorrow. In fact, go to bed. I’ll take care of the locksmith, dust for fingerprints since this is tied to a theft at the White House and stay until he leaves. Okay?”
She hesitated, so tempted by his offer.
“I’ll make sure everything is locked up.” Nicholas’s gaze strayed to something beyond the porch.
She swung around and saw Mr. Lamb, the locksmith, park his van behind Nicholas’s SUV. “I can’t go to sleep until I know the locks have been changed. I want all three door locks replaced even though I only had the front one on the key ring.”
“You might also think about getting an alarm system.”
“Believe
