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Dino said nothing. For the first time since he’d walked into the office, he heard worry in the colonel’s voice.
McGuire picked up his cigar and jabbed it at the air again. “That’s where the trouble is. Someone has taken advantage of my little girl.”
“How?” Dino asked.
“Some bastard is smuggling drugs into the country in those toys. Cocaine.”
Dino thought for a minute. How much cocaine could be smuggled in toys? “It must be a rather small-scale operation.”
McGuire’s expression turned very grim. “Small, but very profitable. My contacts at the CIA tell me that the cocaine is premium quality and the person running the operation targets a select group of clients who are willing to pay very generously for high quality and the guaranteed discretion of the distributor.”
Dino nodded thoughtfully. “The rich folks don’t have to lower themselves to rubbing elbows with someone on the street.”
“Exactly. But drugs aren’t the worst of it. The profits from this little enterprise are being used by a terrorist group out of Latin America to help establish a cell in this country. That’s brought in both Homeland Security and the feds—which means the whole situation’s got cluster fuck written all over it.”
Dino silently agreed. “Does your daughter know about the smuggling?”
The colonel shook his head. “I thought about telling her, but I know her too well. She’d be furious that someone was using her shop that way. There’s no way I could convince her to keep her nose out of it. She’d start poking around, and that could put her in even more danger.”
“What else did your CIA informants tell you about the operation?”
“Someone on the other end in one of those small towns is loading the drugs into the toys just before they’re shipped here.”
Simple, safe, Dino thought. And a toy store was a good cover. “There has to be someone in the store who knows which pieces have the drugs in them.”
“Yes.” McGuire tapped his cigar on the desk. “And the feds’ prime suspect is my daughter. They think she’s part of a damn terrorist smuggling ring.”
Dino kept his eyes steady. “Is she?”
McGuire’s color heightened, but there was no other sign of his brief struggle for control. His voice was flat and firm when he spoke. “No. She’s not. From the time she was a little girl, she’s dreamed of running a toy shop—a place where she could make children’s dreams come true. That was her mother’s dream, too. Nancy even designed some dolls. It was something they shared before Nancy passed. Cat’s not involved in this criminal enterprise, but someone else in that shop has to be.”
“Any idea who?”
“She has two full-time employees. Her assistant manager is Adelaide Creed, a retired accountant, and Cat looks on her as a second mother. And she often speaks of her buyer, Matt Winslow, as the brother she never had. She also has a part-time employee, Josie Sullivan, a sixty-five-year-old retired schoolteacher. Any one of them is close enough to the business to be involved. Hell, they could all be working together.”
“I assume you’ve run background checks on each of them, and none of them has an urgent need for money, or a sudden influx of the same.”
McGuire nodded. “I used a man your boss recommended—Jase Campbell. He researched their finances and found nothing out of the ordinary. On top of that they each appear to be stellar citizens. Josie was given an award from the mayor for excellence in teaching, and Matt is going to school at night to get his MBA. When she first retired from her career as an accountant, Adelaide Creed worked for Congresswoman Jessica Atwell. When the governor appointed Atwell Attorney General, Adelaide applied for work at the Cheshire Cat.”
“So you have no leads.”
“None. And my informants tell me that the feds expect to move on the operation any day. This whole thing is about to come crashing down on Cat’s head.”
“And my job is to bodyguard her?”
“Not just that. You’ll be on the inside. I want you to take a look around and find out who’s on the receiving end of the stolen goods. Maybe you can even get a lead on the mastermind behind the whole thing. According to my sources, the feds don’t have much of a clue there. Bobby claims you’re one of the best operatives he’s ever had under his command. He says you have a special kind of sixth sense when it comes to investigations.”
Thinking it was better not to comment on that, Dino said, “Isn’t the sudden appearance of a bodyguard going to raise the suspicions of whoever is involved?”
Dino watched some of the tension in the older man ease.
“Not if your cover story is good enough. And yours is excellent.”
Noting the gleam in the colonel’s eyes, Dino had a hunch that he wasn’t going to like it.
“You’re my daughter’s new fiancé.”
2
THE FIRST FIVE BEATS of silence that followed his announcement allowed James McGuire a moment to study the young man sitting across from him. Dino Angelis looked perfectly at ease, his elbows resting on the arms of the chair, his legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. McGuire had seen the same kind of seeming relaxation in jungle cats while they watched their prey. And like those cats, he wagered that Dino Angelis could move quickly enough when he was ready.
He agreed with Bobby—Angelis was smart. So far, his questions had been perceptive and to the point, his comments insightful. The man didn’t believe in wasting words. For a split second, right after he’d said the word fiancé, he’d read surprise in the younger man’s eyes. Other than that Angelis hadn’t revealed much of anything he was thinking since he’d ambled into the room. He’d make a formidable opponent in a poker game.
As the five beats stretched into ten, McGuire said, “Any questions?”
Dino raised one finger. “Who’s going to believe in a fiancé who turns up out of the blue?”
Once again he’d zeroed in on a key point. McGuire opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a manila envelope. “Got it covered. This is your complete history with my daughter—from first meet to secret weekends here in Manhattan at the Waldorf to the night that you popped the question on the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. Melted my little girl’s heart. She loves to skate—could have competed nationally if we hadn’t had to move around so much. Your relationship has been hush-hush so far, but Cat’s invited you here for Christmas to publicly announce the engagement and to meet her family. You have a two-week leave from the Pentagon.”
“Where am I going to be staying? I can’t do a very good job of protecting your daughter if I go back to my hotel room every night.”
McGuire opened the envelope and pulled out a key. “Cat’s apartment building is a co-op. A few months ago, the apartment next to hers became available, and I bought it for her as a surprise Christmas gift, figuring she could expand the space she has now. You can stay there. Both apartments overlook a courtyard that connects the building to the block the Cheshire Cat is on. As far as Cat’s employees are concerned, it will appear that you’re staying with her. You’ll have a day to memorize your background story before you drop in at the shop and surprise my little girl.”
“How is your daughter going to react to all this? Won’t she want to know why you’ve hired me to act as her bodyguard?”
“I’m not going to tell her that part.”
“Then whywould she agree to this fake fiancé masquerade?”
“I’m going to persuade her to cooperate over drinks this evening.”
Dino’s eyes narrowed. “You think she’ll agree?”
McGuire kept his smile easy, confident. There was still that little obstacle to overcome. Cat was her father’s daughter. She could be stubborn when she wanted to.
“Cat has a weakness for wanting to please her father—especially at Christmastime. And the fake engagement is the onlyway to protectmywife and daughter from Lucia Merceri.”
Dino inclined his head toward the portrait on the wall. “I’m not following. What part does your mother-in-law play in all of this?”
“Nothing in the drug smuggling part. But the old battle-ax is the prime mover in the fake engagement scenario.” McGuire leaned back in his chair. “Just about the time I learned about the danger my daughter is in, my wife came to me in tears. It seems that over the past year, her mother has been asking for progress reports on what Gianna is doing to get Cat ‘settled.’ Turns out my wife has been placating her mother with stories, telling her that Cat has been seeing someone secretly. Gianna told Lucia she discovered the trysts by accident and she hasn’t wanted to get involved because she was afraid of jinxing it.”
“An interesting story,” Dino commented.
“Yeah. In my wife’s defense, I have to say that she’s been focused on her daughter Lucy’s pregnancy and didn’t have much time left over to run a campaign to get Cat a husband. So she made up a whopper. And Lucia’s been fascinated by it. Last week she announced that she was coming over here to celebrate Christmas with us, and she wants to meet the man Cat is seeing. My wife is in a panic about what her mother will do when she discovers the lie. It won’t take Cat long to figure out that if she goes along with this masquerade, she can bring some peace to the family during the holidays, and her stepmother will owe her. Christmas is a special time for Cat. She wants to make everyone happy. And Lucia is flying back to Rome on New Year’s Day. Crisis over.”
Dino studied the colonel. “So the fake engagement is supposed to fool your mother-in-law until New Year’s Day?”
“It could actually last a bit beyond that, depending on how the drug smuggling problem is resolved. I’m leaving the story about your eventual breakup in Gianna’s capable hands. Apparently my wife can lie like a trouper.”
Dino unfolded himself from the chair and picked up the key and the envelope. “If that’s all, sir, I’ll take this back to my hotel room and go over the specifics.”
McGuire rose and extended his hand. “Good, good. You’ll report for duty at the Cheshire Cat tomorrow no later than eleven hundred hours.”
“Yes, sir.”
McGuire waited until Dino had his hand on the doorknob. “One more thing.”
Dino glanced back.
“It’s not part of the job, but it would be great if you could get Cat to relax and have a little fun. The girl is so focused on her store that she doesn’t take time to smell the roses anymore.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
McGuire managed to hold in his sigh of relief until he’d watched the elevator doors slide shut on Dino Angelis. That had gone almost too smoothly. Then he took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a familiar number at the Pentagon.
“Jimmy, you’ve called to tell me you owe me fifty bucks, right?” Bobby Maxwell asked.
Grinning, McGuire sank into his chair. Bobby had always been a bit cocky, so he kept his tone serious. “You haven’t won the bet yet. They haven’t even met. And first things first. My daughter’s in danger. That’s his primary mission.”
“A little adventure is just what they need. It’ll bring them closer.”
“It might turn out to be more than a little adventure.”
“Angelis has the best instincts of any man I’ve ever trained.” Bobby’s tone too had turned serious. “If there’s something going on in your daughter’s store, he’ll spot it. And he’ll know what to do.”
“I hope you’re right.”
“I am. And I’m also right about the fact that he’d make the perfect man for our little girl.”
“We’ll see,” was all McGuire said. But he was already hoping that his friend Bobby would win the little wager they’d made. He too thought that Dino Angelis just might be the perfect match for Cat.
CASS ANGELIS’ CELL PHONE RANG just as she was about to leave the tower room in her house. A glance at the caller ID had joy bubbling up inside of her. “Dino?”
“You probably already know I’m not going to make it home for Christmas.”
She’d sensed that much last night. She’d also sensed there was more, but the images she’d seen in her crystals hadn’t been clear. Except for the woman—tall with reddish hair and stunning green eyes. Turning, Cass moved to her desk and sat down. The client who was due any minute would have to wait. Cass could hear traffic noises in the background on the other end of the line.
“I’m in Manhattan on a job. I couldn’t say no.”
“I understand.” And Cass did in spite of the band of pain that tightened around her heart.
For a moment, there was silence on the other end of the line, and Cass waited. Of all of her “children,” her son Dino had always been the most reserved.
Twelve years ago when her husband Demetrius and her sister Penelope had been killed in a freak boating accident, Cass and Dino, her brother-in-law Spiro and his four children, Nik, Theo, Kit and Philly, had moved into the huge house Cass’s father had built. From that day on, Cass had raised her nephews and niece as her own, and Dino had come to regard them more as brothers and kid sister than cousins. Dino had been the only one who’d had a desire to see the world, the only one who’d moved away from San Francisco.
“There’s a woman,” Dino finally said. “I sense that the Fates have put her in my path for a reason. And I had a vision about her.”
The redhead, Cass knew. “You’ll figure it out.”
Dino laughed then, and Cass’s mood suddenly lightened. “You’ve been saying that to me for as long as I can remember.”
“A mother’s job,” Cass replied. “And I don’t recall that I was ever wrong.”
“I’ll get home as soon as I possibly can. My discharge papers are coming through in a couple more weeks. That was supposed to be your Christmas present.”
“Well.” She hadn’t seen that, hadn’t even allowed herself to hope for it. “I’ll have a surprise for you too—when you get here.” She wanted Dino to meet Mason Leone, the man she’d been dating, in person before she told him that after all these years, she’d fallen in love again.
The traffic noises grew louder. “I have to go. I’ll try to keep in touch. Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Cass said, but Dino had already disconnected.
A quick glance at her watch told Cass that she still had a few minutes before she had to go down to her office. Crossing quickly to her desk, she took her crystals from a drawer. Midnight was usually the hour when she could see things more clearly. But she simply couldn’t wait.
Sinking into her chair, she cleared her mind and waited. One by one the crystals began to glow in her hands. In their centers, mist blossomed, parted, then closed again. In one, she saw Dino in his full dress uniform dancing with the redheaded woman she’d seen before. Around them, lights twinkled. As the mists thickened in one crystal, they thinned in another.
Cass glimpsed a doll this time, with a porcelain face and a red silk dress. When her attentionwas drawn to a third crystal, Cass felt fear knot in her stomach. She could see the redheaded woman again, but she was no longer with Dino. She was in a dark place, and she was facing the barrel of a gun. The shot that rang out nearly had Cass dropping her crystals.
In spite of the client who was waiting for her, Cass sat where she was for a few more minutes while fear warred with joy inside of her.
Dino and the woman would be facing serious danger, but Dino had been right. The Fates were making him an offer, and if he chose to accept it, he would find his true love.
ON HER WAY DOWN from her office, Cat took a moment to breathe and glance around her store. A toddler clutching his mother’s hand had decided to sing along with the rendition of “Jingle Bells” pouring out of the sound system. Another child was busily plucking ornaments off the Christmas tree she’d set up in one of the corners. Cat grinned. She had to retrim that tree almost every night, but it was worth it.
The bell over the Cheshire Cat’s door jingled. From her vantage point halfway up the spiral staircase in the center of her store, Cat spotted Mrs. Lassiter and Mrs. Palmer, two of her most loyal customers. No doubt they were here to pick up their dolls. She dashed down the rest of the stairs. Just as she reached the two women, the bell jingled again, and more customers pushed their way into the store. Cat briefly shifted her gaze to the newcomers, and she immediately recognized them as two sisters, Janey and Angela Carter. They had also ordered the dolls. Cat sent them what she hoped was a welcoming smile.
“I came to pick up my granddaughter’s doll,” Mrs. Lassiter said in a voice that carried. “It’s one of the special ones you ordered from that place in Mexico.”
“Yes. From Paxco, Mexico.” Cat did her best to project calm reassurance. “I’m sorry, but they haven’t arrived yet. I expect them—”
“You said they’d be here today. What’s the problem?”
Ignoring the nerves dancing in her stomach, Cat smiled. “No problem.”
“When will they arrive?”
Cat wished she knew. “I’m hoping tomorrow. Thursday at the latest.”
The bell over the door jingled again, and a portly whitehaired man entered and looked around. Cat was sure she’d never seen him before, and yet there was something about him that was familiar. He crossed to Adelaide and cut rudely into the line in front of her counter. Someone voiced a protest, and for a moment Adelaide lost her usual pleasant expression. She even dropped a toy soldier she was about to ring up. Then she said something to the man and pointed in Cat’s direction. As he strode toward her, Cat suddenly figured out why he might look familiar. With his white hair and mustache, and the narrow unframed spectacles that sat nearly on the end of his nose, he reminded Cat a bit of Santa Claus.
Oh, how she wished he were. Where was Santa when you needed him?
“But you’re not sure?”
Cat shifted her gaze back to Mrs. Lassiter. Worry outweighed the annoyance in the older woman’s voice now, and Cat could see the same concern reflected in Mrs. Palmer’s face, as well as in the Carter sisters’.
The shop was packed. It was Christmas week in Manhattan and lunch hour—that time of day when both locals and tourists poured into stores with one purpose—to finish their Christmas shopping.
And her father had wanted her to join him for lunch in midtown? Right. Her family didn’t really have a clue about the kind of pressures that built once you combined Christmas, children and toys.
