The Marcelli Bride

Tessa cupped her face. “Maybe, but on you they’re beautiful pounds.”

“That’s not what my supervisor’s going to say after my next physical.” She straightened and glanced at Darcy. “They’ve caught the last of the kidnappers. Your father will be calling in the next minute or so. The call will be put through here.”

Darcy wondered if she looked as surprised as she felt. Caught? “Already?”

Paige smiled. “It’s been nearly four weeks. But the ringleaders had gone pretty far underground.”

Tessa stood and patted her hair. “The president?” she asked, sounding stunned. “Phoning here?”

“You look fine,” Paige said with a grin.

Darcy tried to enjoy the humor of Tessa worried about her appearance for a phone call that wasn’t for her, but she could only deal with her rising panic.

No! It couldn’t be true. If the men were caught then she was free to leave. Actually, she had to leave. The Marcellis would want their house back.

But she wasn’t ready. She and Brenna hadn’t finalized the label designs, and the family was still in mourning, and what about Joe? They had to talk and she had to tell him that she….

The phone rang. Paige reached for it.

“Agent Newberry,” she said crisply, then nodded at Darcy. “Yes. She’s right here.” She held out the phone.

Darcy took it. “Hello?”

“Please hold for the president,” a female voice said as Paige left the kitchen.

Darcy waited a second, then heard, “Darcy?”

“Hi, Dad.”

“You’ve been told?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Good news all-around. The last of them was rounded up this morning.” He laughed gruffly. “I’ll sleep better at night knowing my girls are safe now.”

Two months ago Darcy would have dismissed the statement or at least reinterpreted it to mean he was glad Lauren was safe. Now she wasn’t so sure. Maybe he meant it. Maybe she did matter to him.

“I’ve been talking to your sister,” he continued. “She mentioned you’d like to get more involved with things here at the White House.”

Darcy winced. That wasn’t exactly what she’d said. “I thought it would be nice to do more.”

“I’m glad,” he said, sounding as if he meant it. “I always knew your space was important to you.” He hesitated. “Do you young people still talk about having your own space?”

She smiled. “Not really. But I know what you mean.”

“Good. When you come home, we can talk. I’d like to have you around more, Darcy. You’re very important to me.”

“Thanks.” She shifted awkwardly. “Um, you, too,” she mumbled.

“All right. I have to run. Let me know your travel plans. I can have a plane pick you up whenever you’d like. Maybe in the morning?”

So soon? She wasn’t ready to go. “I’ll let you know, Dad. Thanks.”

“All right. Talk to you soon.”

The line went dead. Darcy handed the phone back to Paige. “He’s ready to have me home.”

Grandma Tessa stared at her. “Of course you want to go be with your family,” she said. “If you’re safe now.”

Darcy nodded. Tears burned, but she refused to give in to them. It wasn’t right. “You’ve all been very kind.”

“Kind.” Tessa dismissed the word. “We like having you here.”

“I’ve liked being here.”

“You have things to do, yes? A life?” Tessa asked.

Darcy shrugged. “I guess.”

The old woman took her hand. “If you don’t have anything special waiting, you could stay a few days. Maybe a couple of weeks.”

Darcy wanted to so much it hurt. “But I’m an intrusion. I have a Secret Service team. Less now, but at least two agents.”

“Two. It’s nothing.” Tessa squeezed her fingers. “Say you’ll stay. We want you here.”

“But Marco and Colleen may not be happy about—”

“Of course they’ll be happy,” Tessa said. “I know my own children.”

Just then Joe walked into the kitchen. Tessa turned to him. “Tell her to stay.”

He frowned. “You’re leaving?”

“They’ve found the rest of the kidnappers,” Darcy told him. “Your assignment is over.”

The second she said the words, horror washed over her. Of course. Joe was only here because of her. Now he was free to return to the naval base and continue his regular life. The one that didn’t include her.

“But she should stay,” Tessa said. “Tell her. A few weeks. For the harvest and the first pressing. To bring life to this house. For you, Joe. She can stay for you.”

Darcy braced herself to hear that he was leaving as well. Emotions crossed his face, but they went so quickly, she couldn’t read them.

Tessa’s eyes widened. “You’re not going, are you?” she asked, sounding frightened. “Joseph, your family needs you.”

Time stood still until Joe nodded. “I know. I’ll ask for compassionate leave and I’ll stay a few more weeks.” He looked at Darcy. “You should stay, too. Unless you have something else you should be doing.”

That would mean having an actual life, which she didn’t.

“Not really.”

“Then we’ll both stay.”

Four simple words. They shouldn’t have given her heart wings, and yet they had.

17

“Y ou’ll be leaving soon,” Paige said. “That must make you happy.”

Alex shrugged. “I didn’t mind the assignment.”

“But it’s not very high profile. When you get back to D.C. maybe you can get assigned to the president.”

He had the feeling she was talking about something other than the topic at hand, but then conversations with Paige were always filled with undercurrents.

“I enjoyed the opportunity to protect Darcy,” he said carefully, wondering why he cared about Paige’s opinion on anything. She was the one who’d pointed out the unfairness of his attitude—that if they got married, she would be the one to give up her job, not him. While he understood her intellectual argument, he resented the implication that he was the jerk in all this. Even if maybe he was.

Not that he gave a damn. Whatever they’d had was long over. They’d each gone their separate ways, and they would again.

“Hey, guys.”

Alex turned and saw Darcy standing at the entrance to the guesthouse. “You heard the good news?” he asked.

“About the kidnappers? Yes, Paige told me.” Darcy smiled at her. “I wanted to let you know, I’m not leaving here. Not just yet. There’s so much going on, and well, Tessa asked me to stay and I said yes. I’m thinking for maybe two weeks. I don’t know who my regular detail will be, so that’s why I’m telling you.”

“Not a problem,” Paige told her. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Thanks.”

Darcy waved and left.

Paige watched her go. “She’s changed,” she said, more to herself than him. “She used to be distant and sarcastic. Now she is warmer. Happier. I’m not sure how much of it is Joe and how much of it is the family, but I’m thrilled for her.” She turned to Alex. “I’d like to stay.”

“Here?”

“Yes, here. With Darcy. I’d like to be assigned to her. With the threat gone, she’ll go back to a normal-size team. I want to be a part of that.”

He’d thought they would both return to Washington. He’d thought they would have a long plane ride to discuss what she’d said to him about this not being a game.

“So that’s it?” he asked, angry but not sure why.

“What else is there?” she asked. “You want your high-powered career. You want to be the best agent ever, to be alone. I don’t want that anymore. Oh, I want to do a good job, but I want a life, too. I want people around me I love.”

Not him. She didn’t want him. Which was fine. The hell with her.

Joe had claimed the library as his office. He didn’t want to work in the winery, and there weren’t any other rooms that had desks and file cabinets.

Over the past couple of weeks, he’d settled into a rhythm of dealing with winery business in the morning and Lorenzo’s personal papers in the afternoon. The will reading was at the end of the week. That was his cutoff date, he told himself. The Monday after the will was read, he was out of here.

He hadn’t told anyone yet, although he didn’t know why he was putting it off. No one would be surprised. The family understood his stay was only temporary.

Only they weren’t acting like it. Assumptions had been made, and he needed to make sure they got unmade.

Darcy walked into the office, took one look at him, and collapsed into a chair. “Okay, you’re looking fierce about something. Are you planning a revolt?”

As always, the sight of her eased the band of tension around his chest. Her easy smile welcomed him, and the sway of her body made him think of hot nights—an excellent distraction. She was the one person here who didn’t want something from him.

“Not a revolt, an escape.”

“Going anywhere interesting?”

“I haven’t decided. You want to pick?”

She wore a short black and white skirt and a black sleeveless top. Her time here had added color to her skin and while she was still too skinny by far, there was a bit more meat on her bones.

He liked the changes. He liked her—which confused him, but in a good way.

“I’ve never been to Hawaii,” she said. “Living on the East Coast, our escape for sun and sand is usually Florida or the Caribbean. But Hawaii sounds really nice.”

“I know a couple of places. Quiet. Secluded. You could go naked.”

“Joe!” She glanced over her shoulder toward the closed library door. “You have a family of lurkers. I love them to pieces, but they don’t grasp the concept of privacy.”

She was cute when she blushed, cuter still in his bed. They hadn’t had much opportunity to make love. Not with so many people in and out of the house. But soon, he promised himself. Soon.

“How’s it going?” she asked in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

He decided to go along with it. “Not bad. Running a winery is a lot of work. Sometimes I can feel the walls closing in.”

Her concern turned sympathetic. “Your family is dependent on you in a way they’ve never been before.”

He nodded.

“That makes you feel funny,” she said. “You thought it would be different. That they were strong on their own. But things aren’t always as they seem.”

He looked at her. There was something in his voice. “We’re not talking about the Marcellis, are we?”

She shook her head. “I was thinking about my situation.”

“Lauren?”

“No. My father. He’s…” She looked out the window. “I haven’t felt a part of his life for a long time. I thought he didn’t care about me, but now I wonder if that was just an excuse for me to stay mad and not try.”

He didn’t know what they were talking about but knew Darcy would explain further if she wanted him to know.

She returned her attention to him. “As a naval officer, are you legally and morally obligated to keep the president’s secrets?”

He hadn’t seen that coming. “Yes. I have top secret clearance. I’m a good security risk.”

“You have to be better than good,” she said. “You have to be….” She swallowed. “You can’t tell anyone.”