Ms. Starr’s Most Inconvenient Change of Heart (A Raven's Run Romantic Mystery Book 1)

by Dorothy St. James

  The heat in his gaze made me think he might kiss me again. And that was the last thing I wanted.

  Wasn’t it?

  I told my body to jerk away from him. But I didn’t move. My lips quivered.

  In the end, it was Logan who broke the spell.

  In a quick, violent move, he shoved me to the ground. My knees slammed against the hardwood floor. At the same time, the glass on one of the large windows facing the lake exploded.

  Chapter 14

  Logan landed on top of me right before smoke filled the room. So much for fending off my budding tears. They streamed down my cheeks as I coughed and cried out a plea to let me know what was happening.

  “Stay down,” he rasped.

  His hand moved roughly against my side as he reached for his handgun.

  With gun in hand, he commando crawled toward the door. Through the haze, I watched as he grabbed a smoking canister and tossed it out the broken window.

  After a few tense moments, he slowly rose up from the floor to peer through the window’s remnants at the threat that had sneaked up on us. This shouldn’t be happening. Logan had promised we’d hear someone coming miles before they arrived.

  I started shaking. If he’d been wrong about one thing, what else had he been wrong about? Being able to protect us?

  “Do you see anyone?” I whispered a little too loudly.

  He shook his head. After peering out the window for a moment longer, he crawled back toward me. The grim look on his face did nothing to allay the fear clawing at my throat.

  “It’s not the police,” he said. “They’d have announced their presence by now. It’s someone else. Likely someone who wants us dead.”

  I swallowed hard before saying, “You seriously need to work on your pep talks. I’m a quivering mess of nerves here. I need talk of unicorns and rainbows.”

  He jerked in surprise. After a moment, a smile creased the corners of his mouth. “The unicorn is on its way, princess. When it farts, rainbows come out its ass.”

  I laughed. It was a nervous chuckle. My body still shook with fear. And yet it felt good to laugh with Logan.

  For a fleeting moment, I thought we might escape this cabin with our lives.

  And then another explosion tore the lakeside door off its hinges. With a shout, a team of armed men dressed in black military fatigues, masks, and bulletproof vests rushed into the room.

  Logan, bless his brave heart, put himself physically in front of me. He emptied his clip. Two men fell. But they were already getting back up by the time the other armed men reached us. Their bulletproof armor had kept them safe.

  Out of bullets, Logan resorted to hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, for us, there was only one of him and six of them. One swing of the butt of an assault weapon landed Logan flat on the ground.

  With a battle shout, I swung at the nearest man. Before I could make contact, the attacker grabbed my arm and twisted it behind me.

  I struggled against his hold. But he’d pinned me against his body while another man started patting me down in search of weapons.

  “Getting your jollies feeling me up?” I sneered.

  I don’t know where that spurt of bravery—or perhaps it was foolery—had come from. Actually, that’s not true. I did know where it came from. I was mad as hell that I’d survived years of heart surgeries, a leap off a very tall building, and a knife-wielding druggie only to be killed because I’d walked into the wrong room at the wrong time mere days before my dream wedding.

  The man patting me down didn’t seem to hear me or my sarcasm.

  “She’s unarmed.” His clipped announcement was for to the man who’d entered the cabin by stepping carefully over the wreckage that had once been a wooden door.

  “Good. Keep her restrained,” the man said. He was dressed in a light tan suit. His gaze darted to where Logan still lay motionless on the floor. “What happened here? I said he wasn’t to be harmed.”

  One of the men squared his shoulders and stepped forward. “Unavoidable, sir. He attacked us. Would have fought to the death for the girl. And he’s a damned good warrior. Minimum force was used in subduing him.”

  Mr. Tan Suit nodded.

  Logan groaned and rolled to his side.

  I was thrilled to hear that groan. I tugged against the man holding me, desperate to get to Logan. I had to touch him to know for myself that he was okay. But the hands twisting my arms painfully behind my back only tightened their grip.

  “Hold still,” the man restraining me growled.

  “Thacker?” Logan looked confused as his gaze shifted from me to the man standing over him and then to me again. “What the hell?”

  “Sorry about the heavy-handed entrance.” Mr. Tan Suit reached out a hand to help Logan up. Logan refused it. Instead, he struggled to climb to his feet on his own.

  “What’s going on?” Logan demanded. His voice sounded raw and scratchy from the smoke that was just now starting to dissipate.

  “You tell me what’s going on,” Mr. Tan Suit answered. He placed his hands on his hips. “Have you gone rogue? That must be the reasoning behind your odd behavior, because I know we don’t condone breaking into private companies, setting off bombs—”

  “It wasn’t a bomb. I deployed a harmless flash bang,” Logan interrupted.

  But the man didn’t seem to hear him. “Running from the police.” His voice rose as he gestured toward me. “And with a woman who claims to be your wife? What am I supposed to think about all of this?”

  “I told you about the virus we’d stumbled—” Logan tried to explain only to be ignored.

  “You know what I think.” Mr. Tan Suit gestured toward me again. “I think she’s the reason you’ve gone off the rails. I think that girl and whoever she’s working for is using a past connection with you to control you. For what purpose? I don’t know. But I sure as hell don’t like it.”

  Whoa. What? All I wanted was a divorce so I could get married and make my mother happy. I wasn’t the one blasting down doors or hitting people with the butts of their guns. “Logan? What’s going on? You know this guy? Who is he?”

  “Sam, meet Ben Thacker. The head of Hart Security.”

  “I’D LIKE TO SAY IT’S nice to meet you, but...” Sam glanced at the man still restraining her. Her eyes were bloodshot from the smoke bomb. Her voice was hoarse.

  It took all of Logan’s self-control not to rip the arms off the men who were restraining her. But what would that accomplish? He was outnumbered. If he attacked Thacker’s personal army again, the only thing he’d achieve would be to get another bump on his head from the butt of an AK-47.

  Find out what’s going on first. Slam fists into faces second.

  It took several calming breaths to get to a point where he could follow his own advice. Even if that bastard had his hands all over Sam’s arms, she wasn’t in danger. Not at the moment.

  “Sam’s not part of this. She’s innocent,” he forced through clenched teeth. “Let her go.”

  “Innocent? That’s not what our sources say. She was sent into Global Tech to wreck your cover. She then searched my office. And she’s stayed with you to be an inside source to the enemy.”

  “Why would I—?”

  “It’s not true,” Logan stated, his anger building.

  “No?” Thacker said. He sounded surprised that Logan refused to consider the idea. “Even Rafe believes her ill-timed return to your life was a setup.”

  Logan looked straight into Sam’s eyes when he said, “Your sources are wrong. Rafe’s wrong.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because I know her. I trust her. And if you don’t order those goons to let her go, I’m going to physically remove their hands.”

  Thacker sighed before nodding to the two men dressed in black combat gear.

  “Thank you,” Sam said with the dignity of a queen once her arms were freed.

  “If she’s hurt in any way, you and I are going to have a big problem.” Una
ble to stand being parted from her for a moment longer, he pulled Sam into the circle of his arms. He ran his hands up and down her body, feeling for broken bones or lumps or bruises. He enjoyed touching her too much. “Are you okay, Sammy Jammy?” he whispered.

  She nodded. “Just a little sore.”

  While he didn’t find any obvious injuries, he did notice how violently her body trembled. He tightened his arms around her hoping he could share his strength with her. “Damn you, Thacker. You didn’t have to charge in here like this and scare my friend half to death.”

  “I’m not scared,” Sam said.

  “She’s not your friend. She’s your wife,” Thacker pointed out.

  “On paper. She’s my wife on paper only.” He tightened his hold a bit more. “And she is my friend. A friend who is so terrified she can barely stand.”

  “I’m not scared.” Her voice still trembled. But this time Logan heard the anger in it. “I’m furious. Majorly so.”

  She pulled away from him and then marched right up to his employer to poke him in the chest with her slender finger. “Do you know what you’ve done?” She poked him in the chest again. “Just look at this place. Sure, it might not have been the Ritz. It was better than the Ritz. It was Logan’s refuge, the place that held all his fond childhood memories. An hour ago, he’d fretted over an ink stain on the sofa. And now look. You wrecked it. You came blasting in here when all you’d needed to do was to knock. You wrecked his Shangri-La, and for what?” She dared to poke Thacker in the chest again. “I want to know what you plan to do about it. How are you going to fix this for him?”

  Thacker glared at Sam and her offending finger.

  Logan took a step forward prepared to intervene. Sure, Thacker might look all neat and harmless on the outside with his hand-stitched suit and devil-may-care expression. But Logan knew better. Thacker was a trained assassin and a man you never wanted to make an enemy.

  “Well?” Sam asked when Thacker continued to stare.

  “Sam,” Logan warned. “You have to understand, sir. She’s protective. We...um...once helped each other survive.” Which he was sure Thacker already knew about. Thacker was thorough that way. He’d known about Logan’s childhood illness and had probably known about the marriage even before Logan had.

  “Of course the company will pay for the repairs. And replace the broken furniture,” Thacker offered.

  Sam didn’t look pleased. She wouldn’t have known that such a gesture coming from Thacker was unheard of. She continued her staring contest with Thacker for a while longer before saying, “I suppose that’ll have to do. Next time, knock.”

  “Are you sure she’s not controlling you?” Thacker grumbled. “Because it sure seems like she’s in charge here.”

  Since no one was pointing guns or holding Sam hostage, Logan decided to let that comment go...for now. “How did you find us?”

  Thacker hesitated.

  Logan frowned at that. Why didn’t Thacker have a ready answer? Rafe had warned him that Thacker had been cooperating with Global Tech. Had the head of Hart Security turned against his own agents? Had Jason Billings found Thacker’s pressure point, or his price?

  “Well?” Logan knew he sounded just as bossy as Sam had when demanding Thacker answer him. Her strong-willed attitude had gotten results.

  His boss rubbed the back of his neck before mumbling, “We followed the tracker.”

  “The what?” Certainly Logan didn’t hear what he thought he’d heard.

  “It’s a safeguard, as much for you as it is for the company. If one of our agents were ever lost to the enemy, we’d have a way to find him. Or at least we’d be able to find his body.”

  “How did you put it on me without me knowing about it?” Logan demanded.

  Thacker pursed his lips. “Injected while you were knocked out during a routine medical procedure.”

  The words that came out of Logan’s mouth weren’t pretty. He’d trusted Thacker. Apparently, that trust had been misplaced.

  “We can talk about the hows and whys later,” Thacker said calmly even though the tips of his ears were now bright red.

  “Damn right we will,” Logan said. “Right now I want to talk about how we can untangle Sam from this dangerous op and how we’re going to stop that virus from activating.”

  Thacker wandered around the room clearly checking for hidden dangers before telling his men to wait for him outside. Not a good sign.

  Whatever Thacker needed to say, he didn’t want witnesses.

  Chapter 15

  “Things don’t look good,” Logan’s boss said as soon as we were alone with him. The older man had placed himself with his back to the fireplace. His gaze kept shifting between the door, Logan, and me. His shoulders seemed to tense every time he looked in my direction.

  Apparently, he didn’t trust me. And perhaps he was even a little afraid of me. I didn’t know what to make of that. I’d never been an imposing figure in anyone’s life. Even my roommate’s cat walked all over me. He’d literally walk over me.

  I was tempted to go “boogie-boogie” to the man to see if he’d jump. But this was Logan’s boss. For Logan’s sake, I figured I shouldn’t antagonize him.

  Besides, he’d agreed to pay for the cabin’s repairs. That had to count for something. Still, I couldn’t hold back a smile when his nervous gaze shot my way again.

  “There’s nothing funny about this situation,” Thacker said. It sounded as if he’d barely restrained himself from tacking on a sneered, “young lady,” as if I were a truant teen. “Your husband had no authorization to break into Global Tech. It took all my contacts to get the police to cancel the BOLO and the manhunt. But no matter how sweetly I talked with Jason Billings, I could not convince him to call off his Global Tech army.”

  “You talked sweetly with him?” Logan asked with a chuckle. “Your sweet talk always involves a gun.”

  “Not this time,” Thacker was quick to say. He jammed his hands into his pockets. “Not with Billings. His political reach runs too deep. You’re lucky I’m not throwing you to him. You do realize this fiasco will cost the firm millions in contract dollars. Nothing ruins a security firm’s reputation faster than having one of its employees break into a company it was hired to protect.”

  Logan’s shoulders dropped. “I’m sorry, sir. The op didn’t go as I’d planned.”

  “Because of her.” Thacker pointed his craggy finger at me.

  Logan pinched his lips together and turned to look out the shattered window. I bit my tongue to hold back the sharp words perched in my mouth, begging to jump out.

  “I don’t know why things fell apart,” Logan said after a tense silence filled the room.

  “Yes, you do,” Thacker said.

  “He’s working to stop a deadly computer virus from infecting the world’s computers and you’re quibbling over my bumbling entrance? It was a mistake, by the way. And I didn’t search your office. I was just...wandering. This isn’t about me, and you know it. Don’t you have a team of computer experts at the ready to help Logan—oh, I don’t know—save the world?”

  “Sam has a point. I could use additional resources. As I told you before—”

  “When I ordered you to not get involved?”

  “Yes, then. But I couldn’t follow those orders. Not knowing what I knew. You have to understand. The virus will crash secure networks and leave countries vulnerable to both cyber and real-time attacks. And what I learned yesterday is that it’s going to go live in a week’s time.”

  Thacker frowned. “Do you have evidence to support your accusation?”

  Logan’s shoulders dropped a little lower. “No, sir. I wasn’t able to pull a copy of the virus off the computer.”

  “That means it’s still your word against Global Tech’s stellar reputation. They write the world’s most popular programs to defeat computer viruses. Are you sure you didn’t stumble across a virus they had downloaded to study? I’m sure they work with emerging viruses all th
e time. It’s their job to know what’s out there in order to stay ahead of the bad guys.”

  “I’m sure that’s not the case, sir. This virus is set to insert itself into computers, cell phones, tablets, and the like during their next global update.”

  “And yet you have no hard evidence?” the insufferable man asked again.

  “No, sir.”

  “I’m sorry, Logan. There’s nothing Hart Security can do. I cannot and will not ask my employees to put the company and their freedoms at risk because of what you think you saw on Global Tech’s network system.”

  Logan’s jaw tensed. He was clearly clenching his teeth again. That was a bad habit I remembered he’d had back at the hospital. His doctor had warned him that if he didn’t stop, he’d one day lose all his teeth. Apparently, the warning hadn’t worked.

  “Sam,” he said.

  “Yes?” I answered eagerly, anxious to be included in the conversation.

  “She needs protection,” he said without looking in my direction. “And she needs to have her name untangled from mine and the Global Tech break-in before her wedding next week.”

  “Wedding? I’m confused. She’s married to you.”

  Logan clenched his jaw again. “Not for long. Just until the papers are signed. Protecting her...helping her won’t be breaking any laws.”

  Thacker sighed. “I suppose not. I’ll see what we can do.”

  “I need a copy of the divorce papers delivered here. The original didn’t survive our great escape from Global Tech,” I added.

  Thacker nodded. “I’m sure something can be worked out. In the meantime, even though I can’t assign anyone to investigate your Global Tech virus, I do need to hear what you found and review what you’ve done so far. Perhaps once I get a full picture of the damage you’ve done, I can get our legal team to do something to keep you from serving jail time.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Logan said, still avoiding eye contact with me.

  Thacker and Logan both sat on the old denim sofa to peer at the computer screen. Since it didn’t look as if I’d been invited, I wandered into the kitchen. I patted my middle as I opened the refrigerator door.