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Ashley watched the two men approach her and realized that the man with Ron Stevenson must be Colin’s replacement. She’d heard about Colin’s accident first thing that morning. She’d liked Colin, and been sorry to hear about his accident.
Now she studied his replacement and was startled to see he was intent on an inspection of his own. His attitude annoyed her. She knew what he saw and knew he wouldn’t be impressed with her slight build and her lack of obvious assets. Not that she cared what he thought about her. What difference did it make to her? She was glad she wasn’t the type of woman to attract a man like the one coming toward her. She would bet he had no trouble gaining all kinds of attention from most women.
But not her.
Although he wore the dark suit and tie that was the uniform of the men in the protective service, she did not consider him average. Exactly what it was that disturbed her about him still eluded her. His eyes seemed to probe for secrets she might wish to keep. She shivered, made uneasy by the predatory way he moved.
“Ashley, I’d like you to meet Nicholas Logan,” Ron said once they reached her side.
Ashley dropped the towel on the bench beside her and held out her hand.
“How do you do?”
Her instincts were telling her that she wanted to leave a safe distance between herself and this man. Those instincts were right on target, she discovered when he took her hand and shook it.
Ashley felt a strong current of electricity shoot through her that made her want to leap away from him. Instead, she nodded, then casually released his hand, taking care not to rub her palm against her leg to ease the tingling she felt.
Ron cleared his throat before speaking. “I understand you have plans for the evening.”
“Yes. Todd and I have tickets for The Nut cracker Suite.”
Neither man changed expression, which was a dead giveaway to Ashley, who had been around similar men for most of her life.
“Have either of you seen it?”
When Ron said nothing, Logan cleared his throat. “No, ma’am. I haven’t.”
“Have you ever been to the ballet?”
Both men shook their heads slowly, their expressions carefully blank.
Briskly she turned away, saying over her shoulder, “Well, you’re in for a treat. We’ll be leaving at seven.”
By the time she finished her workout, Ashley decided she had over reacted to the new agent. She was being silly. He was no different from the other special agents—there to do his job.
As soon as she left the gym, the men followed her at a discreet distance back to the living quarters of the presidential family.
Both her brothers enjoyed having the agents at their beck and call, and spent hours talking sports with them. Jamie, at fourteen, and Matt, at eleven, were still young enough to enjoy the attention, especially since their dad had such a busy schedule.
It was like having male nannies whose attention was always focused on them. All of which was fine and dandy. For now. Just wait until Jamie started to date. She had a hunch he wasn’t going to appreciate the security measures quite so much then.
She was thankful that Todd was comfortable escorting her to various functions. They had been friends for years. Todd’s family had moved to Washington when her father was first elected to the presidency because Todd’s father was a member of the Cabinet.
Their non-romantic friendship was very important to her. Todd’s even disposition helped her keep her sanity. He had suggested they go to The Nut cracker because he knew how stifled she was feeling.
She needed to get out for a few hours. She’d been home from school for two days and already missed her life there.
If her dad approved of her plans for a winter vacation she’d be gone in a few days. This year she wanted to have the holiday vacation all her friends took for granted—one away from supervision by older adults.
Somehow she had to convince her father that she could travel without a gaggle of Secret-Service men proclaiming to the world who she was. Just once she wanted to be treated like a normal college student, without a care in the world.
Nick and Ron took their supper break early. Nick waited until they finished before saying, “Not very friendly, is she?”
Ron didn’t need to ask for clarification of the “she” in question. “Actually she surprised me this afternoon. Usually she’s more talkative. She may be upset about Colin. The accident was a shock to everyone.”
“I’m surprised there was no mention of Colin’s death during the meeting.”
“Chambers spoke to us individually before you got there. We’re all having to deal with it.”
“How long were you partners?”
“Two years.”
Nick noticed that Ron wasn’t comfortable with his questions, so he changed the subject.
“Are you looking forward to the evening’s entertainment?” Nick asked.
“Are you kidding? The last thing I consider entertainment is watching a bunch of people running around on their tiptoes.”
Nick laughed. “I’m with you there.” He looked at his watch and pushed his chair back. “Guess it’s time to get back to work. I can see this detail is going to be a barrel of laughs.”
Chapter 2
Washington, D.C.
Monday night, December 21
Nick sat directly behind Ashley Sullivan at the theater. Her date for the evening was Todd Jessup, son of William J. Jessup, the Secretary of Labor. The two of them seemed en grossed in all the activity taking place on stage. Nick made no effort to watch the stage. He wasn’t there to be entertained. Ron sat in the row in front of Ashley, while two men were in the lobby and two more in a car outside, all connected by radio.
Out of habit Nick continued to scan the area, watching the audience and their reaction to the onstage festivities. He wasn’t the only one less than enamored by the whole thing. He noticed several bored expressions, and one man nearby had dropped off to sleep.
Intermission finally came. Ron and Nick made certain that one of them was in front of Ashley and Todd, while the other one followed directly behind. Once they reached the lobby Todd turned to Ashley and offered to get her something to drink.
She glanced around the crowded area and smiled. “That sounds great. While you’re waiting in line, I’ll go to the ladies’ room. I’ll meet you back here.”
She ignored Nick and Ron, as though they weren’t there. Heck, maybe they were invisible, Nick decided. That would certainly make their job a good deal easier.
He quietly followed her through the mass of milling people, keeping a general eye out for anything that might be deemed unusual. Ashley stopped a couple of times and spoke briefly to acquaintances. She had just disappeared around the corner of the hallway leading to the ladies’ room when Nick saw a flurry of movement out of the corner of his eye.
A woman was making a beeline for the same area, her expression intent, her attitude bordering on rudeness in her rush to follow Ashley through the hallway leading to the ladies’ lounge. 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. I also want you to know how much we appreciate your willingness to cancel your vacation plans in order to fill the unexpected gap in ranks here.”
The man certainly didn’t miss much.
“I’m pleased to be here, Mr. President,” Nick said, surprising himself that he actually meant it. Other than Ashley’s obvious negative reaction to him, Nick had found working the White House detail pleasant enough. He’d quickly adjusted to the new surroundings and considered himself fortunate to be working with Ron.
He glanced at Ron, who now stood behind the president, and was startled to see his partner flash him an almost imperceptible wink.
What is going on here?
President Sullivan continued to speak. “I understand your plans were to head out West for a couple of weeks of skiing in the Colorado Rockies.”
Since his vacation plans hadn’t been a state secret, Nick wasn’t as surprised that the president knew about them as he was surprised that Sullivan mentioned them.
“Plans have a way of changing in this business, sir,” Nick replied.
“Why don’t you and Stevenson have a seat and let’s talk about the possibility of getting some skiing into your schedule, after all.”
Sullivan returned to his desk while Nick and Ron sat down in the chairs arranged in front of it.
With a rueful smile Ron said, “I’ve already explained to President Sullivan that I’ve never seen a pair of snow skis in my life, much less been on any. I grew up in Florida.”
Nick didn’t know of any agency requirement that called for an ability to ski. Since he’d spent his early years in Wyoming, learning to ski had been a natural part of growing up for him. He waited for more information.
Sullivan sighed and shook his head. “You know, gentlemen, children can be the greatest joy and the biggest headache a person can experience.”
Uh-oh. Now he was leading up to the subject of his daughter.
“So I understand, sir.”
“Ashley has made it quite clear that she does not wish to participate in the family’s idea of a winter vacation this year. Ray Clarke has invited our family to spend a few days with him on his yacht doing some deep-sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico.”
Nick knew that Raymond Clarke and James Sullivan had been college roommates who had remained close friends in the intervening years. Clarke had made a name for himself in New York real estate. Nick wasn’t surprised to hear that the Sullivans had been invited to spend their vacation time with him.
The president continued, “Jamie and Matt are counting the days until time to leave. Ashley, on the other hand, swears she becomes nauseated watching the waves rush the beach. All she’s been able to talk about since she returned home from college is going skiing with a group of her friends.”
Nick gave Ron a quick glance, but Ron’s full attention was on the president.
