Shadow Keeper by Christine Feehan

  "The head injury is very severe. His prognosis isn't good. At most, he might live another three years. We're giving him the best possible environment, but there is nothing to be done for him. She's consulted the best surgeons in the country, but the answer is always the same. There was too much damage. She doesn't want to accept that diagnosis, and I can't blame her. She loves him, and he's the last of her family. I can see that they're very close. Sandlin doesn't recognize her face, but somewhere inside him, he remembers her because if she can't visit for longer than three days, he becomes extremely upset."

  "Have you told her that?" Giovanni asked.

  Goodman shook his head. "What's the use? She works two jobs just to pay to keep him here. Making her feel guilty when she's already trying to do her best for him wouldn't do her any good."

  "It's about her understanding that he does remember her. Not the way we would like, but the memory is somewhere inside him. She needs to know that." Giovanni felt his heart clench in his chest when Sandlin suddenly pushed the book to one side and waited for his sister to look down at him. His smile was beautiful, reminding Giovanni of an innocent child's. "He's still very intelligent, isn't he?"

  Goodman nodded. "Very much so. It's strange what brain injuries can do. It's wiped his memory so we had to teach him to walk and talk again, yet he can solve incredible math problems. He can read at any level, but he doesn't always remember that he read a book the night before."

  "Is he good with the nurses?"

  "That's the other remarkable thing. We had to teach him to talk. He doesn't know his sister, but he never fails to remember manners. The brain is still such a mystery."

  Giovanni held out his hand. "Thank you, Mr. Goodman. You have my number if you should need it. I'll be checking in regularly, as will my people."

  "I'm very sorry that Tammy, at the front desk, allowed a total stranger through." He turned back, looking toward the front of the building, anger building all over again. "She won't be very long in her job." He clearly planned to fire her right away.

  Giovanni had to agree with the administrator's decision. All the patients or clients in the facility were vulnerable. It was Tammy's duty to guard them, not just wave people through. "Make certain you get a full description of the intruder from her if at all possible." He suspected that wouldn't happen. Watching the tape several times had him believing Tammy was more interested in doing drugs and talking on the phone to her friends than doing her job. He'd been a rider too long not to recognize all the signs.

  He crossed the room to stand behind the couch, one hand sliding into the thick silky curls tumbling down Sasha's back. "It's past visitors' time, honey. They want Sandlin in his room."

  She closed the book reluctantly. "I was thinking maybe he should come home with me just for a few days so I know he's safe."

  Sandlin sat up, a frown on his face as he took his book from his sister's hands.

  Giovanni smiled to reassure him. "It's under control, Sasha. This is home to him and he's comfortable here. He's gotten to know the staff and the routine. Moving him would only make it difficult for him. Easier for you, but much more difficult for him and you don't want that."

  Sandlin's fingers bit down on Sasha's arm hard enough to hurt her. He could see the whiteness in the knuckles. "His shadow tells me things."

  Giovanni knew that others would think Sandlin was lost in his mind if he spoke of shadows, but nevertheless, it made him uneasy. He couldn't talk to Sasha about his work, not until she had committed. Breaking with a shadow rider had long-reaching consequences once his or her shadow tangled together with a chosen partner's. Already, he could feel Sasha mixed with himself. It was oddly potent, adding to the emotional high he got just from being with her. It also added, evidently, to the intensity of sexual attraction. He'd never been so physically attuned to a woman. It was all he could do to keep his mind from straying to thoughts of her.

  "I know, sweetheart," Sasha said gently. "We're good at reading shadows."

  "What does it tell you?" Giovanni asked.

  Sandlin leapt up, snatched the book from Sasha's hands and hurried out of the room. Sasha stared after him, getting to her feet much more slowly. Tears swam in her eyes, and Giovanni immediately pulled her into his arms. She hadn't cried for herself, but this--this with her brother--was threatening to crush her. He felt the weight of her sorrow. Goodman might not think she knew her brother's prognosis, but she did.

  "He'll be safe," he said. "I've already put in a call to a security company we use sometimes. They're all former soldiers, good men, very well trained. Sandlin will have round the clock protection. Goodman has agreed to use them. The woman at the front desk is supposed to have every single visitor logged in, but she hasn't been doing her job. She'll be fired. She's a terrible liability for them. Patients might have wandered off, and if this intruder was looking to harm Sandlin, he could have hurt not only your brother, but any of the other patients as well."

  He walked her from the room, down the hall toward the front door, shielding her as best he could with his body when some of the night staff came out of rooms to gawk at them. Really, he knew, at him, but she wouldn't want to be seen crying. She stuck her chin out and kept walking, not looking at anyone as they made their way outside.

  Emilio and Enzo were waiting. He lifted his eyebrow, but Emilio shook his head. They hadn't found him. Giovanni was fairly certain they wouldn't. Whoever was stalking Sasha was very clever, a cockroach, Giovanni thought him. One that disappeared into cracks and came out when no one noticed. Emilio walked ahead of him, Enzo just behind. They made a show of it, wanting whoever it was, if he was observing, to know that Sasha wasn't alone anymore.

  "Has anyone ever made you uneasy?" Giovanni asked as they walked through the parking garage toward his car. "Anyone at all. In a grocery store. A clerk. Bumping into someone at a bank or perhaps a teller. In the club, someone fixating on you."

  She looked up at him and, to his astonishment, those sapphire eyes held amusement and a hint of mischief. "Only you."

  He felt the smile start somewhere around the vicinity of his heart. "I guess I had that coming. I did fixate on you, didn't I? Someone other than me."

  The amusement faded and she shook her head. "No, but then, I've been so busy the last couple of months. I set up my brother in the facility and found my apartment. I was lucky, the former tenant moved right before I applied. Pietro said she wanted to go to Salt Lake to be with her grandson and his wife. I got the job at the club and then the deli. I wouldn't have noticed someone fixating on me if they came up and bit me."

  He glanced over his shoulder as if he could still see the Hendrick Center. "What about when you visit your brother? When you first brought him there, you had to be very aware of anyone who came near him." He paused by the car, reaching for the passenger door.

  "I wanted to investigate everyone," she agreed, shifting her weight from foot to foot.

  It was the only real sign of nerves she'd given. He opened the door, glanced into the car as he stepped back to allow her entry and froze. The bomb was sitting right out in the open, on the driver's seat. There were wires looped all through the steering wheel and going across to the passenger seat.

  "Wait." He caught her arm and pulled her back behind him, away from the car. He'd practically thrown her, using more force than he intended.

  "Damn it. He got into my car. You can't just break that easily into these types of cars. Emilio. Enzo. Move back. Fast." Even walking, he was already sending a mass text to his family. "We can't stay here," he said, hurrying her back toward the elevator. "If he has a remote detonator, he could kill everyone." The bodyguards closed around them, taking them to the outermost section of the garage.

  "This is getting out of hand, Emilio. I want her somewhere safe where this psycho can't get to her."

  "Detonator? Is there a bomb??" Her voice was very steady. "Giovanni, I'm not the fainting type. If he's done something else and I see it, there's a possibility that I can
identify him through something he's used, or the way he does it. You know that. I don't fall apart easily."

  She didn't, but he wanted to protect her from everything. What was the use of his family? Of all his training? He might not be able to ride shadows because of the hardware in his leg, but he still was lethal as all hell. He had money. Power. None of that seemed to matter. All the security at his disposal and Sasha was still being terrorized.

  "I'm not calling the police this time, honey. I'm sending you back to the hotel to stay with Francesca."

  Sasha remained at his side, not moving around him, not trying to fight him, although her gaze continually strayed toward the car. She waited patiently until he was finished with the text messages and then looked at him expectantly.

  Giovanni couldn't have told anyone why, but just the fact that she did that, waited for him to call in reinforcements without harassing him or asking questions when she had every right to, made him want to fall right at her feet. She was amazing to him. He almost couldn't believe she existed--a woman who actually told the truth. She said what she meant. She looked him straight in the eye without guile. She didn't get hysterical or cry to manipulate him--and her tears would work. She had every right to break down, but she didn't.

  "He's put a bomb in the car. I only glanced at it, but I didn't see the wires connected to anything. That doesn't mean it's safe. I'm okay with bombs, but Vittorio is an expert. He's going to take a look and tell us if it's legit or not. In the meantime, I'm going to have Demetrio and Drago drive you to the hotel where Stefano lives as soon as they get here; they're on the way. They'll take you up to Francesca."

  She was already protesting, shaking her head. "Absolutely not. I'm staying with you. This is my mess, and I'm not taking it to Francesca."

  "Francesca is safe at the top of the Ferraro Hotel, Sasha," he said. His brothers were converging from every direction, moving out of the shadows, their pin-striped suits making it nearly impossible to see them until they stepped completely out of the dark. "That's the safest place I know for you, right now," Giovanni said. "If you're there, I won't have my attention divided, trying to keep my eye on you and deal with this mess."

  "You can't deal with a bomb. They have professionals for that."

  "We were all taught to disarm various types of bombs, honey." He brushed back her hair with gentle fingers. "It wasn't like he had a lot of time to put this thing together. For all I know, it's all show. If he wanted us dead, why didn't he hide the damn thing? Or blow it when we walked up to the car? It's probably not armed, but I'd feel better if you joined Francesca, got a little sleep and then we can figure things out when we're all feeling fresh in the morning."

  Sasha looked startled as Stefano and then his other brothers strode up to them. "Where did you all come from? That was fast."

  Riding shadows was fast. Sometimes it felt as if his entire body was torn to pieces and parts of him were left behind. The faster the tube, the worse the sensation. Still, it was what he'd been born to do. Sasha and her brother, Sandlin, had also been born with the ability, but it was too late to adequately teach her to do anything but get from one place to another. Giovanni's father had used the ability to carry on affairs. He wouldn't want to think that his wife might do the same.

  "Sasha, are you all right?" Stefano asked immediately.

  "Yes, I'm fine. I'm actually more shaken up that this man managed to walk right into a closed and guarded facility and see my brother. That made me feel as if Sandlin was extremely vulnerable. He can't take care of himself and I have no idea what this person wants with me, let alone with him."

  The little catch in her voice was nearly Giovanni's undoing. He pulled her into his arms and nuzzled the top of her head with his chin. "I'm so sorry, baby. We'll sort this out."

  "I hate that you're having to get involved and I may have inadvertently put you in danger." Her head came back against his chest and she briefly closed her eyes. "Tell me why you aren't going to involve the police."

  "The fact that he broke into your house made him a stalker, Sasha," Stefano said. "Police can help with that sort of thing, perhaps investigate where we can't as fast. This puts him in an altogether different category. We can work this far faster than they can. You'll have to trust us."

  Her gaze was fixed on Stefano's face. "You're saying that you believe he's a real threat to my life, or my brother's life, maybe even Giovanni's. And your family plans to take care of him yourselves."

  Giovanni held his breath. His woman was intelligent and reading between the lines.

  Stefano nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

  "I have a concealed weapons permit," she volunteered. "I don't carry, but I could if you think it's necessary. My guns are locked up in the safe at the deli. Pietro was sweet. I inherited my grandparents', parents' and my brother's. They're all hunting weapons, and the handguns were for shooting ground squirrels and snakes. I'm a good shot. Well, actually a marksman, but that's neither here nor there. Do you think I should be armed?"

  "Right now, I think you need to be anywhere but here," Giovanni answered.

  "Don't." Her protest came out a whisper. She looked at each of his brothers' faces, then his. "You intend to kill him if you find him, don't you?" She stared Giovanni straight in the eye, just as Emme entered.

  He couldn't look away. This was a telling moment. Most people would give them a lecture about taking a life and say that it was up to the criminal justice system. She either accepted that some men were outside that law and got away with crimes all the time, or she wouldn't. He didn't look away. He had to know if she could accept who his family was and what they stood for. He nodded slowly. He'd learned not to speak aloud anything that might incriminate his family. Stefano had all but said the same thing to her.

  "I would, too," she said. "I think I'm getting one of the handguns out of the safe."

  "Taking a life is never easy, nor should it be done lightly," Stefano warned.

  "It's called self-defense," Sasha said. "I have the right to protect myself and my brother. Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I'm not capable of shooting someone coming at me."

  "I'm a woman," Emme reminded gently. She reached for Sasha's hand. "My brothers know a woman can be strong. Right now, Francesca, who we all love dearly, is being guarded by Mariko, a woman. She's trusted to look after Stefano's and our family's most precious treasure. Nothing is going to happen to your brother. We won't let it. You're not alone in this."

  Sasha looked around at the tight circle and then the four men standing guard over them. She swallowed hard and nodded. "Thank you. All of you. I don't know why you're helping me like this, but I appreciate it."

  "Demetrio and Drago are going to drive you back, Sasha," Giovanni reiterated. "Please go with them and stay in the hotel with Francesca and Mariko. I'll be there as soon as I can. Go to bed and just forget all this."

  She glanced at her watch. "I do have to work tomorrow. Both jobs." Before he could protest, she stopped him. "You know why. I can't miss any hours on my paycheck. Sandlin deserves the best of care, and I'm going to give it to him."

  "Honey, it's absurd for you to think that I wouldn't help you," Giovanni said.

  "I'm accepting the clothes from Lucia's Treasures, which isn't easy for me," Sasha pointed out. "But Sandlin is mine. I don't know how else to put it. I have to be the one to take care of him. He'd do it for me."

  Giovanni wasn't going to argue. He'd gotten the concession from her of accepting clothing and he'd had everything sent to his home, including a few extra things she didn't know about. He'd assumed he would have a fight on his hands, she was that independent, but with her allowance, he was getting off the hook.

  "We'll talk about it tomorrow. Go to the hotel. Have chocolate, talk to Francesca and Mariko and then go to bed. The place is enormous and you won't be disturbing anyone or putting my brother and sister-in-law out. We crash there all the time."

  "We're all here, standing mostly in the dark, with thes
e giant columns around us, why?"

  Giovanni didn't know whether to curse because she was so damned smart or shake her. "You notice Emme just joined us later than the others, right? She searched the garage for your stalker just in case he was standing by with a remote to detonate the bomb. Or if he was hiding, hoping the damn thing would go off and he could see us blown to smithereens."

  "I see. You kept his attention on you while she searched."

  "He was less likely to think a woman would be with us under the circumstances. Emme is very thorough."

  Sasha started to step away from him, but Giovanni caught her, turned her around and pulled her body up against his. He tipped her chin up and took possession of her mouth. There was just something about the way she responded every time. Her body melted into his without the least hesitation. Her mouth opened under his and when he swept inside, she gave him everything. Instant everything. She gave herself to him.

  He loved the way she did that. The way she tasted. That exotic apple cinnamon that seemed to be always on his tongue where he could just barely taste it, setting up a craving for more. He definitely needed more. He kissed her like she belonged to him and they were completely alone, because when he was kissing her, the world faded away and there was only pure feeling.

  Stefano made a sound, clearing his throat, and Giovanni snapped out of it, remembering what he was supposed to be doing. He handed her off to Demetrio and turned back to his brothers, the smile fading to be replaced by the very serious face of the Grim Reaper.

  "Let's get this done."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Pleasure burst through him. Giovanni opened his eyes, acclimating himself immediately in the way he'd been trained. It wasn't easy with hot blood rushing through his veins, spreading flames throughout his body. Silk glided over the bare muscles of his thighs, adding to the roaring in his mind and the thunder in his ears. He dropped his hand onto her head, fingers tunneling into Sasha's mass of curls.

  He'd spent the better part of the night with his brothers and cousins, in the parking garage, dismantling the bomb, which hadn't been hooked up. It had merely been sitting on the driver's seat. Still, they took it apart and carefully had each piece sent for analyzing, to find everything they could get from it. He was in Stefano's penthouse where he'd crawled into bed beside a sleeping Sasha.