He didn’t have long to wait. The kid tried the door and pushed it open slowly. As soon as he took a step inside the bathroom, MacGyver jerked the door the rest of the way open, causing the kid to lurch forward with a surprised expression widening his eyes. Immediately, MacGyver slammed the edge of the door into the kid’s head, and he stumbled sideways. MacGyver shoved the door out of his way and launched an uppercut to the kid’s jaw that nearly spun his head around, and he went down in a heap of lanky arms and legs.
MacGyver leaned against the doorframe and listened for sounds from the barroom. A low drone of conversation was all he heard.
“Okay, we’re clear. Let’s go.” Without looking, he held out his hand for the woman behind the door, but she didn’t respond. Doing his best to hide the impatience flooding through him, he yanked the door toward him and spotted her, sprawled on the floor, passed out in a pile of off-white fabric.
Huh! Figured that would happen sooner or later. This might actually work out better than if she’s awake.
He lifted her, tossed her over one shoulder and, after checking the hallway for activity, darted for the men’s bathroom. When he opened the window, Travis’s car blocked the alley, lights out, and he leaned against the building. His scowl drew the chocolate-brown skin of his forehead together as MacGyver handed the unconscious bride through the window. Her wet, filthy wedding gown was plastered to her body and reeked of vomit.
“What the hell, MacGyver?” Travis’s nose wrinkled as he stared at the woman’s pale features. “Who is she?”
“Don’t know.” MacGyver grunted as he landed beside Travis. “I got a text from the congressman saying to get her out of there and keep her hidden.” He lifted her slight weight from Travis’s arms, waiting for him to open the passenger door and lean the seat forward before placing her on the black leather. “Not sure what she has to do with finding Jeremy Dahl, but the congressman made a good call, because she was definitely headed for trouble. I couldn’t leave her.”
That was the truth, as far as it went, but MacGyver wasn’t willing to share the details with Travis—that he wouldn’t have abandoned her anyway, with or without their current employer’s directive. Why he made that decision wasn’t entirely clear to him, but something about those amazing eyes, the fresh tear tracks and her courage touched him in a way no one had for a long time.
Fuck that. Not going there.Lonely was preferable to having his heart ripped out and handed to him again.
“Where to?” Travis jumped behind the wheel.
“The hotel.” MacGyver avoided Travis’s gaze as the man swiveled toward him, one hand halfway to the gearshift. “Don’t attract attention, man. There’s a reason we came out the window, and I’d rather it didn’t follow us.”
“What’s wrong with her? Are you sure we shouldn’t take her to the hospital?” Travis jammed the car in gear and rolled to the end of the alley as quietly as possible in a souped-up Mustang. He made a left onto the street that ran in front of Wally’s, and everything appeared normal as they sped up, soon leaving the grungy tavern behind.
“Nothing wrong with her that a good night’s sleep and a little hair of the dog won’t fix.”
“Are you shittin’ me, MacGyver? She’s drunk?” Travis’s customary frown pinched his brows together as he glanced in the rearview mirror. “What’s with the wedding get-up?”
MacGyver shrugged. “Don’t know.”
Travis was abnormally quiet for the next fifteen minutes while they zipped through heavy traffic to reach the hotel where PTS Security had put them up. Vallegro Towers, with forty-some floors, over two thousand rooms and a spacious casino and showroom, was new and quickly making a name for itself among Vegas high rollers and visiting businessmen. They’d been lucky to get last-minute reservations.
There were half a dozen cars ahead of them when Travis pulled in front of the hotel and motioned to a valet. “Have you given any thought to how you’re going to get her inside without someone calling the cops?”
Travis had a point. Carrying an unconscious woman in a wedding dress would attract attention. The fancy hotel’s clientele would likely take one look at him in his worn blue jeans, ratty T-shirt and leather jacket and suspect he was up to no good. His dirty ball cap, pulled low over his eyes, and twenty-four hours of stubble covering his face would no doubt cement their opinions.The best defense is a good offense.He couldn’t make them invisible, so he might as well use the props he’d been given.
He turned toward Travis and pushed his cap farther back on his head. “You gotta tell ’em what you want them to think. Watch and learn, buddy.” MacGyver threw his door open and stepped out just as the valet tapped on Travis’s window.
MacGyver plastered a congenial smile amid his stubble, reached into the backseat and scooped the woman, whose name he still didn’t know, into his arms. She moaned and curled into him, hiding her face perfectly. One arm wound around his neck, and damned if it didn’t feel right. He laughed out loud as though she’d said something funny and planted a kiss beneath her ear.
“Excuse me. Pardon me, folks. My new bride had a little too much to drink at the reception and I need to get her to our room before she starts our marriage off by throwing up on me.” MacGyver chuckled, along with several of the people standing around him, until the doorman swung the door wide with a grin. MacGyver glanced over the top of the Mustang into Travis’s amused eyes. Hefting the woman closer, he strode into the lobby.
As they approached a group waiting for an elevator, he leaned over and spoke in her ear, but loudly enough for others to hear. “Hang on, sweetheart. We’re almost there. You’ll feel better once the world stops spinning. I promise.”
The woman moaned as though on cue.
MacGyver gave the people gathering around the elevator his most apologetic smile. “My wife was too nervous to eat, and all the champagne toasting at the reception went right to her head. She was even too sick to change into her honeymoon clothes. I think she’ll be okay, though, as soon as she can lie still for a while. I just hope she’s okay on the ride up in the elevator. We wouldn’t want to inconvenience you folks, would we, honey?”
He shrugged when her only answer was to burrow deeper into his chest. The elevator doors opened, and a half dozen people filed out. The strange looks he got from them were quickly explained away by helpful members of the first group.
Travis had caught up and stood a few feet away as though he wasn’t really with them. When it was his turn to step onto the elevator, he hesitated and turned to MacGyver. “You think she might puke in there? I don’t think I could handle that. I’ll wait for the next one.”
MacGyver nodded and let out a slow breath as, one by one, the people already on the elevator came to the same conclusion and stepped off. He hit the button for the fifth floor when he and the woman he held in his arms were the only ones left.
Silence settled around him and his unconscious bride as the doors slid closed and the elevator started up. She moaned and snuggled closer. He studied her face as a sleepy frown furrowed her brow. The graceful curve of her neck drew his attention, within millimeters of his lips. Faint traces of her perfume tantalized him before being overwhelmed by other, less pleasant aromas. Uncertainty and something close to possessiveness tugged relentlessly at his tangled thoughts. What the hell was he doing? Considering the congressman’s mysterious text, she might be in danger from an unknown threat, but if he let the blonde bride stay in his life too long, he’d be in trouble too.
Chapter Three
MacGyver placed her gently on the king-size bed with its satin bedspread and bevy of pillows. For a few seconds, he stared at her perfect features. Her long blonde hair, done up in some kind of fancy braid, was tousled, windswept and wet. Fine strands clung to her cheek, and he reached to brush them away. Unbelievable, how soft and smooth her skin felt. Her full lips formed into a frown, and she whimpered before she rolled to her side and into a ball.