“He really had no choice,” Clay said. “The team is Jake’s responsibility. He needs to know what’s going on.”
“I suppose.”
Clay tucked her arm into his and towed her along the hall to Jake’s room on the second floor. Dressed in black slacks and a white shirt, his thick, silver-touched black hair still damp, Jake answered the door just seconds after Clay’s knock.
“Are you alright?” he asked Ellie, motioning them inside. Worry lines creased his forehead.
“I’m fine, thanks to Clay.”
“What happened?”
With Clay’s help, Ellie explained about the man who’d broken into her room and attacked her.
“Do I have to go to the police?” Ellie asked softly. “I don’t want to, Jake. I’d rather forget the whole thing.”
Jake seemed to mull the situation over. The skin looked tight over his high cheekbones; his lips formed a narrow line.
“I don’t see how we can avoid it,” Clay said.
Jake remained uncertain. “Maybe Ellie’s right. She has to compete. This could cause considerable stress for her. It might even mean some bad publicity. You never know how something like this will look in print.”
Clay shook his head. “I don’t know, Jake. The man threatened Ellie’s life. I think—
“I don’t care what you think!” Jake snapped. “I have to do what’s best for the team.”
Clay clamped his jaw. “It’s your decision. Yours and Ellie’s.” There was no mistaking the disapproval in his voice.
“I’d really like to forget it,” Ellie said. “I’m not even going to tell my parents. They’d only worry, and I don’t want that. I need to concentrate on my riding.”
“Well, I guess if that’s what you want....” Jake sounded relieved.
“I don’t like it,” Clay said. “But if that’s the way you want it, I’ll accept your decision.”
Ellie flashed him a grateful smile. “Thank you, Clay.”
“Why don’t you stay at the hotel and rest for the day?” Jake suggested. “You can start riding again tomorrow.”
Ellie shook her head. “I need to get back to work. It’d rather be busy, keep my mind off what happened. Besides, I want to spend some time with Jubilee.”
“You want to go out there with us?” Clay asked Jake.
Jake nodded. “I’ve got work to do, as well.”
“I’ll drive. There’s a blue Mercedes in the parking lot. Meet me there in ten minutes.”
Ellie returned to her room to change into her riding clothes. Just being there by herself made her nervous. She kept glancing around, waiting for someone to leap out at her. The door was locked, and she’d checked the room, but it wasn’t enough.
In her haste to leave, she grabbed a shirt in the closet and knocked several pairs of riding pants off their hangers in the process. Groping the closet floor on her hands and knees, her fingers closed over the pants and something else. She pulled the whole handful out into the light to discover a man’s black leather jacket.
Her pulse kicked up. Holding the jacket at arm’s length, staring at it as if it were a cobra instead of a coat, she tossed it onto the chair, finished dressing, and raced next door to get Clay.
He spied her pale face as he opened the door. “What’s happened?”
“The man who attacked me must have gotten too hot in the closet. He left his jacket behind.”
Clay followed her back her to her room and picked the jacket up off the chair. Moderately expensive black leather cut aviator-style. He rummaged through the pockets and pulled a pack of Galloise from inside. Two cigarettes had been smoked. In the left pocket, he found a tissue and part of a crumpled white business card. The name had been partly torn away, but the address was in Charleston, South Carolina.
“That’s Jake’s address,” Ellie whispered.
