Summer Vows (Arabesque) (5 page)

Throwing back his head, Jacob laughed loudly, the sound
reverberating inside the SUV. “Do you really believe that all you have to do is
write a check and make it okay? Money isn’t the cure-all for everything in one’s
life,” he added.

“Are you telling me your girlfriend would refuse a
no-strings-attached gift?”

“I’m certain she would
if
I had a
girlfriend. I happen not to like women who are fixated on money, because as a
government worker I’ll never make the Forbes list of the wealthiest people in
America.”

Punching the Start Engine button, Jacob signaled and then
smoothly maneuvered away from the curb. Reaching for the sunglasses on the
console, he placed them on the bridge of his nose as he followed the signs for
the airport exit.

“You didn’t answer my question, Jacob,” Ana said when he headed
north.

“What’s that?”

“Why did you take my phone and credit cards?”

“The plan is for you to disappear.”

Her eyes were wide behind the lenses of her oversize
sunglasses. “Like in the Witness Protection Program?”

Jacob nodded. “Exactly. And you’re not to use the internet.
Without your cell and credit cards it will make it difficult for someone to
track your whereabouts. It will be the same with your car parked in the reserved
spot at your condo. Even if someone decided to fit it with a tracking device
they’ll be disappointed because it won’t be moved for weeks.”

“I live in a gated community.”

“That may be a slight deterrent, but it’s still penetrable.
What makes you think your condo’s security can’t be compromised?”

She exhaled a soft breath. “I didn’t think of that.” A
comfortable silence ensued, Ana staring through the windshield at the Atlantic
Ocean on the right of the highway and the Gulf on the left. “And you think I’ll
be safe here in the Keys?”

Jacob took a quick glance at the woman who unknowingly had set
into motion a private war that was certain to end in casualties, while he’d
pledged Diego that his cousin would not become one of the victims. “You’ll be
safe with
me
.”

“You sound very confident, Jacob.”

He smiled, exhibiting a mouth filled with straight white teeth.
“I am not a neophyte when it comes to protecting witnesses.”

“I’m not a witness, because I didn’t see who shot Tyler,” Ana
argued in a quiet voice. “One minute I was standing talking to him, and then the
next second he was on the ground bleeding from a chest wound.”

“Tyler’s lucky that bullet didn’t hit an artery otherwise his
wife would’ve found herself a widow and her children fatherless.”

Ana closed her eyes as if to shut out the scene that continued
to haunt her. “His wife is five months pregnant with their fourth child.”

Jacob didn’t tell Ana that the shooter had probably worked
alone, but if he’d had a spotter, then she wouldn’t be sitting next to him. He
wasn’t certain whether something had spooked the sniper or he felt he had to get
off the shot or lose his target, but destiny had determined that his target
would get a reprieve.

“My dad hired some people to try to find whoever shot Tyler. Do
you think they’ll catch who’s behind it?”

“I’d like to believe they’ll find him.”

It was the first time Jacob heard a modicum of fear in Ana’s
voice. He didn’t want to believe that she didn’t know that the Coles would spend
every dollar of their vast wealth to keep her safe. He’d agreed to look after
her because of his close bond with Diego. It wouldn’t be the first time he would
step in to help the Coles. At Diego’s request he’d helped Vivienne Neal uncover
who had been responsible for her husband’s hit-and-run. His involvement in
solving the conspiracy that led to the death of the U.S. representative was
instrumental when he was recommended for a promotion as an assistant director of
the Miami-based federal detention center.

Diego married Vivienne and they had asked him to become
godfather to their son whom they named Samuel Jacob Cole-Thomas. Although they
lived in the same state, he didn’t get to see his friends as much as he would’ve
liked. Oversight of staff to supervise the U.S. Marshal Service at four Miami
federal detention centers left him little time to socialize. It was only when
the mandate came down that he had to take at least two months of his accrued
vacation leave or he would lose it had he become aware that his career had taken
over his life.

Jacob couldn’t remember the last time he’d had a normal
relationship with a woman, at least one that lasted more than a few months,
because they were no longer a priority whenever he was directed to search for a
fugitive or assigned to witness protection. At first he’d come to regret sitting
behind a desk, because he’d missed the adrenalin rush of being in the field, but
after a while he’d come to appreciate a measure of normalcy when he wasn’t on
the job 24/7, or on an assignment that took him away from home for weeks, or on
occasion months.

Ana had asked if she was safe with him and he hadn’t lied to
her when he said yes. No one he worked with knew he had a house in the Keys.
Some of them had been to the renovated apartment he rented near downtown Miami
whenever they got together to view a game, but on a whole most of his coworkers
knew him to be a very private person. Even when some of the single guys got
together socially they never saw him with the same woman more than twice.

Jacob didn’t know why he wasn’t able to form a lasting
relationship with a woman because it hadn’t been that way with his parents.
Theirs had been a fairy-tale love affair when at the age of seventeen his father
had spied the woman he would eventually marry. The pretty girl had been a
cheerleader for the opposing football team. He took her to his prom and he was
her date for hers, sparking a lot of controversy that she was dating the running
back from their rival team.

“What made you decide to live in Long Key rather than Key
West?”

Ana’s query pulled Jacob from his musings. “Key West is too
crowded and touristy. Long Key is more for those looking for laid-back
solitude.” He gave her a quick glance. “Have you ever been to the Keys?”

Ana gave Jacob a spontaneous smile for the first time. “When I
was sixteen I’d decided to leave home. Destination: Key West. I’d accelerated in
high school, graduating a year ahead of my peers and I was ambivalent about
going to college. I’d read about Ernest Hemingway living in Key West, and I was
always drawn to the bohemian lifestyle.”

“How were you planning to support yourself?”

“I’d closed out my bank account, and I figured if I lived
frugally then it would’ve lasted me until I took control of my trust.”

“How long was that going to take?”

Ana turned her head to stare out the side window. “Nine
years.”

“At sixteen you’d saved enough money to last you for nine
years?”

A smile softened her mouth. “At sixteen I’d believed I could
live on five thousand dollars for nine years. What did I know about money? All I
knew was when I asked for it to buy something, I got it. I loaded up my car and
took off in the middle of the night. I got as far as Miami before the police
pulled me over.”

“Were you speeding?”

“No. They told me the car had been reported stolen.”

“Should I assume the car was in your father’s name?” Jacob
asked as he struggled not to laugh.

“It was. The police held me until Daddy arrived. What he didn’t
say frightened me more than if he’d gone off on me. He refused to talk to me,
then loaded my bags in his car and arranged to have my car driven back to Boca
Raton. I didn’t get to see that car again until it was time for me to go to
college. Having my dad, whom I adore, not talk to me for weeks cured me of
wanting to live in Key West.”

“What made you decide to strike out on your own?”

“It had to be impulsivity or a temporary lapse of common sense.
When Daddy finally did talk to me he said that if I’d wanted to go off and see
the world, then he would’ve hired a chaperone to accompany me wherever I wanted
to go. The fact that I didn’t trust him enough to tell him of my plan hurt him
more than I could’ve imagined. He reminded me of that when the rumor about bad
blood between Serenity and Slow Wyne was made public.”

“You didn’t tell him about what went down between you and Basil
Irvine?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because if my father hadn’t thought I was capable enough to
run the company, then he wouldn’t have relinquished control once he decided to
retire. Would you have asked my brother that question if he were CEO?”

A frown settled into Jacob’s features. “It’s not about gender,
Ana.”

“Then what is it about?” she asked, her voice rising in
annoyance.

There was only the sound of the slip-slap of rubber on the
roadway as he drove onto the Long Key Channel. “It’s about trust and respect,”
Jacob said softly. “It couldn’t have been easy for your dad to start up a new
record label when he had to compete with legendary giants like Atlantic,
Capitol, Sony, Epic and RCA. Nowadays you have to go head-to-head with Virgin,
Interscope, Slow Wyne and Island Records Def Jam and Roc-A-Fella. The genre and
players may have changed, but the business is still the same.”

“How do you know so much about record companies?” There was no
mistaking the awe in her tone.

“I read a lot,” Jacob said glibly. “I need you to answer one
question for me.”

“What’s that?”

“Are you feuding with Basil Irvine?”

“No. Basil has been in business long enough to know he can’t
win every negotiation. Justin Glover isn’t the first artist he’s failed to sign
to his label and I’m certain he won’t be the last. I’ve lost count of the number
of performers we’ve lost to other labels for one reason or another. I just suck
it up and move on.”

“Maybe that’s because you’re a gracious loser. I don’t like to
keep bringing up gender, but you have to remember you’re a woman, so someone
with an ego like Irvine’s isn’t going to accept defeat as graciously from a
woman as he would from a man.”

Ana knew Jacob was right about her gender when it came to
Basil, but she wasn’t about to admit that openly. Basil had earned a reputation
as an astute and aggressive businessman, and despite his reputation as a
misogynist women still fell over themselves to be seen with him.

Jacob turned off onto Royce Creek Drive, driving a short
distance before pulling into the driveway of a two-story house. Maneuvering
under a carport, he lowered the windows, and then cut off the engine. He rested
a hand on Ana’s shoulder. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Unbuckling her seat belt, she shifted on the seat in an attempt
to take in her surroundings. One side of Jacob’s house overlooked a canal with
direct access to the Atlantic Ocean. Ana smiled when she thought of waking up to
water views. Her favorite pastime was sitting on her condo’s balcony at sunset
drinking a chai latte. It was as if all the stress of the day faded as the sun
sank lower in the horizon before disappearing and leaving the darkening sky with
splashes of red and orange.

She didn’t have to wait long. Jacob returned, sans the hat he
should’ve discarded a long time ago. To say he wasn’t into fashion was an
understatement. She did recall him wearing a suit to the baptism, but that was
expected because it was held in a church. What she couldn’t remember was him
being at Diego’s wedding.

Ana stared, her eyes becoming wider behind her glasses as Jacob
came closer. Without the hat she was able see all of his face. Her gaze lingered
on the elegant ridge of his cheekbones before moving down to his sensual,
masculine mouth. She found her protector to be genuinely handsome, and she could
not imagine why he didn’t have a wife or a girlfriend. The only alternative was
that he wasn’t into women. That would have been devastating because he was the
epitome of masculinity. His cropped black hair, tall, broad-shouldered physique,
lithe stride and soothing, modulated deep voice should have drawn women to him
like moths to a flame.

Jacob opened the passenger-side door and extended his arms.
Placing her hands on his shoulders, Ana found herself cradled to his hard chest
before he slowly lowered her feet to the ground. “You can go in now and look
around while I bring in your bags.”

She walked in through the side door, finding herself in a space
that doubled as a pantry, laundry room and a place where Jacob had stored tool
boxes, fishing rods and other boating equipment. A trio of bright orange life
vests hung from hooks on the wall along with two racing bikes suspended from a
rack. She then entered an all-white state-of-the-art kitchen. Beyond the kitchen
was a living/dining room with a vaulted ceiling. A curving black wrought-iron
staircase led to a loft. All of the floors on the first level were gleaming
black slate, a shocking contrast to the lighter colored furnishings.

The house was airy, filled with an abundance of light, and
spotless, and Ana wondered perhaps if Jacob employed a cleaning service. Ceiling
fans in the living and dining rooms turned on at the lowest speed, dispelled the
build-up of heat. She heard barking and went to investigate. She’d grown up with
a menagerie of pets, but the condo where she now lived did not allow pets of any
kind.

Making her way to the back of the house, she stared through
French doors at a magnificent German shepherd locked in a large crate under a
black-and-white-striped awning. She’d just unlocked the doors and opened them
when Jacob’s command stopped her.

“Don’t go near him!”

She turned, seeing the frown between his eyes. “Why not?”

“He’ll hurt you.”

Ana froze. “What do you mean he’ll hurt me?”

“If he doesn’t know you, he’ll attack.”

She blinked once. “Why would you want to keep a dog like that
around?”