Page 155 of Nash Falls
“Is that truck you were in last night the only vehicle you have?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll issue you a company car then. You like Porsches?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never driven one.”
Rhett grinned. “You’ll like it.” He paused. “The lady I was with last night?”
“Yes?”
“She’s not my wife. I’m not married.”
“But from what I heard last night, she is.”
“Yes. But between you and me, it’s not going to last. I’m not talking about her marriage. I’m talking about her and me.”
“Yes sir.”
“My father’s security team was quartered at his estate in the hills, where we were headed last night. They also traveled with him.”
“That’s normally how it’s done, sir. Security is no good if they’re not with you.”
“I’ll arrange a room for you at the estate. Sometimes I’m at my penthouse here in town. If I’m there, you’ll stay in a condo I own in the building, one floor below me.”
“Understood.”
“My stepmother, Mindy, lives at the estate as well, as does my older stepsister, Angie. She’s got mental and emotional issues, and mostly stays in her room.”
“Okay.”
“Mindy has an infant daughter. She was my father’s third wife,” he added.
“And your father? You said he died?”
“Yeah, he killed himself, long story,” Rhett said tersely. “We’ll get you all set up and everything with the paperwork and all. Take about a week. I’m not going anywhere, so don’t worry about mysafety during that time.” Rhett put out his hand. “Welcome aboard, Dillon.”
It was all Nash could do not to crush the man’s soft, manicured hand in his hard-earned, callused one.
“Thank you, Mr. Temple.Reallyglad to be aboard, sir.”
CHAPTER
76
AWEEK LATER NASH DROVE HISnew silver Porsche Boxster up the winding hills to Rhett’s estate. He keyed the code he’d been given into the call box, and the gates swung inward. He drove through and parked next to a pale blue Porsche 911 S/T. If this was Rhett’s ride, Nash figured, then the other convertible was still in the shop having its windshield repaired. Or maybe he’d scrapped it and just bought this one. Or five of them.
Billionaires were definitely not like the rest of humanity.
When Nash stepped out of his car he buttoned the jacket of his new, tailored, sleek black suit courtesy of his employer. Nash’s white shirt gleamed against the sharp sunlight. The bump under his jacket heralded the presence of his Glock in a shoulder holster. The backup Beretta rode snugly on his ankle under his flared pantleg.
A man dressed in butler’s livery answered the door, introduced himself as Colin, and led Nash up to the top floor, where Rhett was seated behind a desk in his father’s former office. In a chair in front of him was Mindy, her sleeping daughter in her lap. The butler withdrew, and Rhett introduced Nash to his stepmother.
Nash looked at the baby and said, “What’s her name?”
Rhett answered. “Amanda, Mandy for short. Your idea, right, Min?”
Nash knew that Amanda had been the name of Rhett’s mother, to whom the man had been very close before her untimely death.
