Dangerous Master by Tawny Taylor Page B

find, she jog-walked the mile-long trek to the terminal. She made a beeline for the line at the US Airways check-in counter, her eyes skimming the travelers, looking for her target.
    Too young, too young, family with kids, male, male, male, another woman who was too young. Where was Grandma Belton?
    The door behind her swished open, and out of reflex, she stole a glance over her shoulder.
    Yes! Ruby Belton. And who was that? Her companion was, maybe, in his early forties. Many, many, many years younger than her. And he wasn’t hard on the eyes either.
    Grandma Belton gave his ass a pat.
    You little cougar!
    Mandy met them at the end of the check-in line. “Excuse me, Mrs. Ruby Belton?”
    “Excuse you.” Ruby Belton gave her a squinty stare. “Do I know you?”
    “Not exactly.”
    “Then how do you know my name?” Ruby turned to her companion, thumbing over her shoulder. “This lady knows my name.”
    “I see that,” he said, giving Mandy a what’s-up look.
    “Her family hired me,” Mandy explained.
    “Oh, hell!” Ruby shouted. “They just can’t leave me alone. I’m not going back there.” She wagged an arthritic finger at Mandy. “You can’t make me.”
    Mandy lifted her hands in the universal sign of surrender. “I’m not trying to make you do anything. They just hired me to find you.”
    “Good.” Ruby tried to push Mandy aside. She couldn’t. At five feet nothing, she couldn’t weigh more than eighty pounds. Mandy figured she had to outweigh her by at least forty pounds. “You found me. Now, get outta my way. Me and Bob have a plane to catch.”
    “Yes, I won’t make you late for your flight.” Mandy pulled out her phone and handed it to Ruby. “As soon as you call your daughter and let her know you’re safe, I’ll leave.”
    Ruby’s lips thinned. Considering her lips weren’t more than pink slashes, that was saying something. “I don’t want to. She’ll try to stop me.”
    “Babe,” Bob said, taking the phone from Mandy. “I think it’s a good idea. If you don’t call her, she may try to report you as kidnapped. I don’t want to spend my honeymoon in jail. She’s going to know where to find us.”
    Honeymoon? These two were married? This was going to be interesting.
    Ruby’s sigh was highly exaggerated. “I see your point.” She accepted the phone from Bob, poked the number pad with an index finger, waited a few seconds, barked, “I’m fine, now leave me the hell alone,” and cut off the call. She shoved the phone back at Mandy. “There. I made the call. Now let me go.”
    Swallowing back a chuckle, Mandy stepped aside. “Have a wonderful honeymoon.”
    Ruby’s smile was 100 percent naughty. “You know I will.” She gave Bob’s ass another crack, then hurried to catch up with the end of the line. Bob followed, dragging three suitcases behind him.
    That was the end of that.
    Feeling some sense of accomplishment, Mandy headed outside, into yet another downpour. She was soaked to the skin by the time she reached her car. Her hair was wet. Her clothes were saturated, glued to her skin. By some miracle, however, her cell phone, which had been in her jeans pocket, wasn’t ruined. It rang shortly after she’d flung her soggy self into the driver’s seat. Blinking at the rain droplets dribbling off her eyelashes, she answered the call.
    “Hey!”
    “Did you get the old lady?” Sarah asked.
    “I did. Get this—she’s going on her honeymoon.”
    “Go, Grandma!”
    “There’s more.”
    “What?”
    “Grandma’s new husband is probably at least forty years younger than her. And he wasn’t hard on the eyes at all. In fact, he was a pretty decent-looking man.”
    “Why would a guy like that marry an old woman, you think?”
    “I would’ve guessed her money, but after seeing them together, I think he married her for the sex. I think Grandma Belton’s into some kink.”
    “That’s wrong, on so many levels.”
    Starting her car, Mandy wedged the phone between