Page 9 of Savannah Heat
He put a hand on her back and steered her toward a limo waiting at the curb. “I’ve got a surprise.”
“Finding you here in Savannah might be the only surprise that I can handle this year. Where are we going?”
“I told you, it’s a surprise.”
Chapter Five
Jenna got into the waiting car with Dan, and her internal alarms were all ringing, but she ignored them. She could already feel the chemistry working. She didn’t think she had the energy left to fight it. “I’m not the biggest fan of surprises, Dan, as you might recall.”
“I know. I do remember you always liked the illusion of control. However, it’s truly an illusion. We control nothing much.”
Jenna looked out the car window. Any place but his eyes and his mouth. “It seems so true today,” she whispered. Her stomach settled down after the first few miles, and by the time they got to their destination, she was feeling almost normal. She said little as Dan made small talk about the weather and the area and how much he liked Tybee Island. She had already guessed that Tybee was where they were headed.
Once on Tybee Island, they headed for an exclusive little B&B famous for a superior small restaurant attached, both known mostly by the locals and Savannah elite. Dan had always loved the place, and he knew the chef and owner. Jenna pushed the memories of their long weekends there to the back of her mind.
Jenna let her mind travel back in time. It seemed Dan had tapped into his old friendships once again.
“I’ve arranged for lunch on the private balcony upstairs,” he told her as he ushered her through the main restaurant and up the stairs.
Jenna felt herself swept along in the riptide that was Dan Kelly, and she settled in for the ride, but this time with one big difference. That chaos mixed with excitement that Dan always brought worried her now. It was not like before when she was younger and swept up in his wake, and she felt as if nothing could hurt them. She didn’t want to go back to that kind of life. Her heart couldn’t handle it. And she now knew there were plenty of things to hurt them.
They spent some time catching up on mundane things and skirting around anything too personal. After the main course was served, they both grew quiet, and Jenna wondered what was coming. She knew Dan never did anything without a reason. Though he might make jokes about control, he liked to have it as much as she did.
Dan took a sip of wine, and then another before he spoke. “Jenna, I have something to say, but you must promise to let me say it without you running away again. Can you do that?”
“Well, you do have me on an island without my own transportation, so I’m limited on my running options.”
As he poured more wine into her glass, Dan frowned. “I’m serious. I couldn’t risk you taking off again. I have a few things that need to be said. First, I did not stay away before or leave to hurt you, but rather to protect you. After we split up—well, after I left—I was struggling to find buyers for all those stolen gems and not get murdered along the way. The insurance investigator, Gail Wells, started tracking me. Not to mention that FBI psycho, Sal Amato, who tried to kill me more than once. And why? I don’t know who tipped Gail Wells off, or if she and Amato were working together, but she was hot on my trail. I didn’t want to lead her, or especially Amato, to you.”
“But why didn’t you…”
“Stop. Now you said you’d let me tell you before you interrupted.”
Jenna held her breath as one thought entered her mind—Dan was back for more, more high-priced jewelry to be found at these three big events for Senator Roseland. But why would he be? Did he need money? Was it even possible?
“No, I said I wouldn’t run. But okay, go on.”
“Okay, no more interruptions, please. I need to get this out.”
As Jenna looked him in the eyes, she saw something not there before. But she wasn’t sure what it was—sorrow, pain, fear—she couldn’t tell. And that rattled her more than anything else.
Dan looked even more serious as he moved the food around on his plate. “I wanted to get away from Wells and Amato. Getting out of the country was the easiest way to do it and would lead them away from you. That is how I ended up in Europe and out of the Gail Wells territory, or so I thought. I went to Paris for a while and bought a race car. I hired a crew, and my brother Elliott wanted to drive it. You remember his love affair with fast cars, I’m sure. He went to a special driving school outside the city to learn how to manage the car, and we thought he was ready. He swore he was.” Dan’s voice cracked, and he paused to take another drink of wine. “But he wasn’t ready. He bribed a member on the pit crew to tell me how good he was doing, handling the car and keeping control. I didn’t stay at the track much, so I took their word for it.”
The server brought them another bottle of wine.
Dan paused, looked at Jenna, and shrugged. “Why didn’t I ever go find out how things were going myself? He was scared I’d not let him drive, and he lied to me. He crashed the car and nearly killed himself in the trials.”
“Oh, Dan…”
Dan shook his head and held up one hand. “He’s in a specially equipped house with a housekeeper and caregiver in upstate New York now. He’s paralyzed from the waist down.”
Jenna felt the tears form. She knew how close Dan and Elliott were. “Oh, Dan, I’m so sorry. Why…”
Dan held up his hand again. “In some ways, he took it better than I did. I was depressed for a long time. I felt responsible. My baby brother was paralyzed at twenty-five, and he will spend the rest of his life tied to a chair, needing help to take a bath and go to the bathroom. My carelessness and risk-taking ways cost him plenty. I wasn’t fit company for anyone.
“As soon as he was taken care of in New York, I went back to Paris to pack it in, not really having much of a plan. But that didn’t stop me, no. I left Paris and went to London, then Dublin—all to forget everything. I couldn’t, of course. It wasn’t about where I was; it was about who I was. I just delayed the pain and eventually went back to Paris to one of the few people I knew I could trust. Luc was in Paris. You must remember me talking about him. Anyway, he was on the force at the same time I was and married a woman from Paris. Luc’s wife inherited a fortune, so he decided life in Paris sounded better than his New York detective life and pay, and they moved there. Who wouldn’t, right?”
Jenna shrugged and shifted in her chair, watching Dan’s face.