No Ordinary Billionaire (The Sinclairs) (R) (17 page)

“Eventually, you may have to give him one or you’ll never catch him,” Jared said thoughtfully.

“No,” Dante said emphatically. “I’m not putting Sarah out there as bait.” He couldn’t stand the thought of her being in harm’s way. Joe had suggested the same thing, but Dante couldn’t stomach it.

“Is that what we need to do? I’ll do it.” Sarah’s voice was close. “I’d rather take the risk than live afraid forever.”

Dante’s head jerked to the right to look at her standing at the bottom of the stairs. “Not happening,” he insisted as his eyes devoured her. He gaped as he took in the minuscule dress she was wearing. It was a nautical blue-and-white-striped dress with a halter top and was fitted to her body like a glove. Her long, slender legs were revealed to her upper thighs. “New dress?” he croaked, his eyes narrowing as he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. In that dress, the halter bodice made it impossible for Sarah to wear one.

“Yes.” She smiled at him, turning in a circle so he could see the dress. “I love it. It’s so comfortable.”

Holy shit! “Where is the back of it?” Dante’s eyes almost popped out of his head as he noticed the dress was nearly backless, and it showed a large expanse of her creamy skin because it was cut clear down to the small of her back.

“It’s a summer dress. Emily said she really couldn’t notice my shoulder scars. Are they showing?” she asked nervously.

“No.” It wasn’t her scars he was worried about; it was exposing that slender, shapely body for every other man to ogle.

“Isn’t it cute?” Emily exclaimed as she and Randi came down the stairs and stood next to Sarah.

Dante broke out in a sweat and his cock came to immediate attention as Sarah slowly walked into the room. God, she was beautiful. He was hard-pressed not to grab the blanket from the back of the couch and cover her up, but the last thing he wanted to do was squelch her newfound confidence with uncovering her scars.

“Are all of the clothes like this?” Dante looked at Emily desperately as he spoke.

Emily smiled brightly. “A lot of them. The styles this year look fantastic on her. She’s so tall and elegant.”

“Oh, fuck, I’m screwed,” Dante blurted out, his voice pained.

He heard the sound of Grady’s laughter as he closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the couch with a tortured groan.

CHAPTER 11

“Honey, Beatrice and I are both feeling so much better. I guess we didn’t have food poisoning after all.” Elsie Renfrew looked Sarah right in the eyes and lied to her.

Sarah looked at the two gray-haired women sitting in her exam room and bit her lip to keep from laughing. Beatrice and Elsie had made an emergency appointment, the so-called emergency obviously being that their curiosity was killing them.

She’d realized it was a sham almost from the moment the two of them had come into her exam room together with guilty expressions. Both of them looked rosy from the afternoon heat, but neither one of them looked the least bit under the weather.

“No more stomach pains?” Sarah asked calmly.

The two ladies shook their gray heads at the same time.

“No more nausea?”

They kept shaking their heads as they shot beaming smiles at Sarah.

Sarah closed their patient charts and put them on the cupboard. “Okay, ladies . . . what are your questions? You two are horrible charlatans. I was worried when I heard that both of you were sick.” She gave them what she hoped was an admonishing look, but it was difficult when they were smiling up at her so innocently. Sarah knew better, but it was hard to lecture two elderly women.

“We heard about what happened to your house. We were worried,” Beatrice confessed contritely. “We haven’t seen you around town, and you didn’t play for senior bingo. You’re always there.” Beatrice sounded genuinely concerned, her eyes wide and troubled.

Sarah’s heart melted. These two might be trouble, but their concern touched her. Not even Elsie could fake the alarm Sarah could see in her sharp eyes. “I’m fine. I’ve just been busy taking care of things for the house. I’m staying with a friend.” She couldn’t tell them the truth. It was best if nobody else learned about her stalker and started talking.

“I don’t understand why someone would do something like that. Amesport is usually a safe town,” Elsie commented, her tone almost frightened.

Sarah put her arm around the elderly woman. “It is safe here, Elsie. Nothing else has happened. It was probably just a drunk tourist.” The last thing Sarah wanted was for either of these women to be afraid. They both lived alone, and she didn’t want them to be scared in their own homes. The attacker was after her and her alone.

“I’m not worried,” Beatrice said ferociously. “If I knew who did it, I’d knee him in the balls for what he did to you, just like they taught us at that self-defense class at the center.”

“Beatrice, the correct term is ‘testicles,’” Elsie corrected her friend. “Sarah’s a sweet girl. Let’s not be crude.”

It had been a while since Sarah had been called a girl, and she found it amusing that Elsie actually thought using the term “balls” was vulgar. She’d worked in a big-city hospital with a lot of gang-related incidents. There probably weren’t any really crude words that she hadn’t heard at least hundreds of times. “I appreciate that you were both concerned, but you can see that I’m fine. Next time, don’t make up a story to see me. Just stop in.” Sarah opened the exam room door, and the two women rose to leave.

“I heard you weren’t doctoring that Dante Sinclair anymore. Too bad. He’s one hot tamale,” Beatrice informed Sarah as she walked out the door. “You could have burned up the sheets with him.”

“After they get married, Beatrice,” Elsie said adamantly.

“Really, Elsie, you need to become a modern woman. Nobody waits until they’re married anymore,” Beatrice muttered informatively.

Sarah watched the interplay between the two women and almost burst into laughter.

“I thought he was the one,” Beatrice remarked, disgruntled, as she stepped into the hallway. “I was so certain. But there’s always that nice Jared Sinclair. He always stops and chats with us when we see him. I really like that boy.”

That surprised Sarah, and she wondered if Jared just couldn’t manage to get away from them when he saw them and didn’t want to be impolite. She was really wondering how he’d react to being called a boy. “I’m—”

“She’s already with me,” Dante’s low voice sounded from the doorway of the exam room across the hall. “I had to stop seeing her as a doctor.”

Sarah gawked at Dante as he joined them in the hallway and proceeded to charm the two elderly women.

“So you understand that I couldn’t see her anymore as a doctor because we’re together,” Dante told the two women, grinning charismatically at both of them.

“I knew I was right,” Beatrice chattered. “I knew you two would end up together. I told Sarah that before you even got here.”

“Did you?” Dante turned his head and raised an eyebrow at Sarah.

Sarah knew her face was flushed, and she wasn’t sure if she was flustered or angry. She’d asked Dante to stay hidden in the exam room across the hall so he didn’t make the patients uncomfortable. That had become their daily routine. She saw her patients while Dante sat across the hall with a gun and his computer to kill time.

Most of Dante’s superficial wounds were nearly healed, but his ribs had to still be tender—not that he ever complained. She might not be his physician, but at least he was in a doctor’s office in case he had any problems.

Sarah sighed as she watched Dante charm his way into the two venerable women’s hearts. She could tell by the way Beatrice and Elsie were looking at Dante that he was finagling his way into their good graces. She knew he wasn’t doing it intentionally. Not really. He was just being the Dante who was used to working in public service, and he actually chatted with them naturally and appeared to be genuinely interested in Elsie’s work at the paper and Beatrice’s self-proclaimed talent of matchmaking.

Another reason to like him! He spoils my dog and is nice to old ladies.

“Are you the friend that Sarah’s staying with?” Elsie asked stealthily, obviously hoping to get even more of a scoop.

Sarah wanted to laugh at the pseudo-affronted look on Dante’s face. “Of course not,” he answered, trying to sound insulted. “That would be highly inappropriate, and I respect Sarah,” he said emphatically.

Elsie tittered happily. “You’re such a gentleman.”

Sarah had a hard time not giggling. He’d said exactly what the ladies wanted to hear and made sure they knew he’d be offended if they even suggested she was staying with him. Obviously, he wanted people to know she had a protector, but he didn’t want anyone to know her exact location.

The ladies chattered to Dante all the way out to the reception area, where he brilliantly ushered them out the door without making them feel unwanted.

Sarah waved at the two women as they disappeared around the corner and Dante pulled the door closed.

“You realize that you just let the whole town think that we’re an item,” Sarah told Dante reproachfully.

“Good,” Dante replied with a grin. “I was hoping they’d tell everyone. That way, every man in town will know that you’re not available. It will keep me from having to beat the crap out of any guy who touches you.”

She wasn’t available? It had been ten days since Dante had shackled her to his bed and made her lose her mind. “You’re being rather presumptuous, aren’t you?”

“Not at all,” Dante answered arrogantly. “I was the man who caused your first screaming orgasm, the first man to taste your—”

Sarah slapped a hand over his mouth to stop his flow of naughty words. “Stop.” They were in the reception area of her office, for God’s sake, and her office manager was still here. Kristin had needed to be privy to some of the information regarding Sarah’s attack and knew why Dante was there. But she certainly didn’t know that Sarah slept with Dante every single night, and dreamed up all kinds of dirty fantasies both awake and asleep. Sarah couldn’t think about that night ten days ago without her panties getting moist.

Who am I kidding? Just looking at him or hearing his voice makes me melt.

Dante’s hazel eyes were pinning her with a sinfully playful look, one that she was fairly certain no woman on earth could possibly resist. Unfortunately, Sarah knew that Dante was aware of exactly how his dirty mouth affected her. He lifted her hand from his mouth slowly, kissing her palm before letting it go. “They were your last patients. Let’s go.”

Sarah turned and went into the storage closet to grab her purse and hang up her white coat and stethoscope before joining Dante by the door. For once, she didn’t argue with him about wanting to take a walk. She’d worn a new pair of shoes from the wardrobe Emily had picked out for her, and her feet were killing her. Three-inch heels? What had Emily been thinking? Sarah loved the professional skirt and blouse, but her feet were aching from standing all day in very cute but very uncomfortable shoes. Thankfully, they were the only pair of heels Emily had bought that were quite this high.

She hopped into Dante’s truck and kicked off the heels with a moan of relief.

“What’s the matter?” Dante asked, hesitating before closing the passenger door.

“Shoe torture,” she answered with a frown. “My feet hurt.”

Dante closed the passenger door quickly and jogged around to seat himself in the driver’s seat. “You don’t like the shoes?” Dante asked with a scowl as he started the engine. “We’ll get different ones.”

“No,” Sarah answered hastily. “I like them. I just don’t think three-inch heels are designed for a working physician. I think they’re supposed to be worn for leisure occasions.”

Dante chuckled as he pulled onto Main Street and headed toward the peninsula. “Why would you want to wear painful shoes when you’re supposed to be doing something pleasant?”

“You know what I mean.” Sarah shot him a small smile. “They’re for going out to dinner, or to a wedding. They aren’t made to work in all day.”

They drove in a companionable silence for a while, Sarah rubbing each of her feet to get rid of the cramping.

Finally, she approached a subject that she knew he wasn’t going to like, but something they needed to discuss. “Dante?”

“Yeah?”

“You know that we can’t live like this forever. I need to start living a normal life again. Joe says that John might not surface until he sees me going about my normal routine.”

“Not happening,” Dante snarled. “I’m not leaving you vulnerable.”

“You can’t stay here forever. And I’ve lived most of my life isolated. I’m grateful that you’re protecting me, but I have to move on from this. If putting myself back into a normal routine will help flush John out, I’ll do it.”

Dante accelerated through the gate of the peninsula so hard that his tires burned rubber. He didn’t speak as he drove into his driveway and parked the truck. Sarah waited, as usual, in the truck while Dante checked out the surroundings. He jerked open the passenger door.

“Get out,” he ordered, unfastening her seat belt with one smooth motion of his hand.

“You’re not being rational,” Sarah told him calmly as she slid out of the seat. Honestly, he’d never levelheadedly discussed the possibility of her going about her normal life again to get John to come out of hiding, but she needed him to understand. “I can’t hide forever. I need to give him an opportunity to show himself if he’s going to.”