by Donna Fasano
* * *
It was after eleven when Katie went in to check on Gina for the last time before going to bed herself. Jason had started another week of working the night shift.
Since making the stupid mistake of asking Jason if he wanted to kiss her, Katie couldn't help but notice how the atmosphere in the house had grown uncomfortable. She should never have approached him. She should never have tried to force a progression in their relationship.
A horrified shiver coursed across her skin even now as she remembered how he'd been so surprised by her question. He'd stiffened and stammered. He'd been so embarrassed that after a few floundering moments she had become completely self-conscious. Finally, they had said a hasty goodnight in unison, and Katie had escaped to her room. It was so obvious to her now that Jason simply didn't want a relationship with her.
Well, that wasn't really true, she had to admit. She knew he was interested in her. Over the past few days since the incident, the attraction she'd sensed he'd felt all along still glittered in his eyes, showed in his expression every time she noticed him studying her. And she noticed him studying her often.
Tucking the blanket over Gina, Katie whispered her usual quick prayer for the child's safety, then closed the bedroom door and went down the hall to her own room.
As she slipped out of her clothes and into a long satin nightie, her mind returned once again to Jason.
Something was holding him back, and after their long, awkward weekend together, she thought she'd figured out what it was—guilt.
Jason had talked a little about his wife, Marie. Katie hadn't minded listening to him reminisce. She hadn't minded, that is, until he'd begun to vaguely imply that he wasn't entitled to live happily since his wife had died.
Oh, he hadn't come right out and said those words exactly, but Katie had gotten his message as though it were as clear as cool spring water. And she'd become quite certain that his heart was surrounded by a thick wall of self-blame constructed by his memories of Marie. Judging from the little things he'd said, here and there, Katie surmised that he'd subconsciously decided that his interest in her as a woman constituted happiness, and that only seemed to place more bricks on the barrier he'd built to protect his heart.
It was probably just as well, Katie thought as she slipped between the cool, cotton sheets and reached up to snap off the bedside lamp. She couldn't hide from her parents forever. Just as she couldn't hide from the situation with Everett. And once Jason discovered who she was and that she'd used him to hide out—
An odd noise cut into her thoughts and she sat upright in the bed. A vague sense of dread pinched at her as she listened hard to the silence, stared into the darkness. Had she really heard something? She'd been so preoccupied with her thoughts she couldn't be entirely sure. Should she get up and walk through the house?
Never in the weeks since she'd lived here had she felt the least bit afraid to be alone in the house with Gina. Was her imagination working overtime because her emotions were in such turmoil over Jason?
There! She heard it again. A light thumping sound on the outside of the house.
What could it be? A dog from the neighborhood sniffing around the garbage cans, maybe. A branch tapping against the house. She dismissed this last notion, realizing that there wasn't a tree close enough to the house to make such a noise.
Another thud sounded in the inky blackness, and Katie's heart rate accelerated. This time the noise sounded much closer to her bedroom window.
Easing the covers back, she crept out of bed and made her way to across the room. The shade was pulled down to the sill, and she reached out, intending to take a peek into the yard.
A shadow rose up on the shade, and the cold claw of fear raked its way down Katie's spine. She backed up from the window several steps, her breath frozen in her throat.
The person outside the window reached out and pushed against the screen.
He's coming inside! her mind screamed at her. He's breaking into the house.
Then she noticed the long, narrow shadow thrown against the shade by the object the intruder was carrying. A gun? But why would a thief bring an unwieldy rifle if he intended to rob a house? Maybe it was a stick, she thought. A stick he intended to use to break the glass if the window was locked.
Gooseflesh broke out on her bare arms as her muscles became numbed by the stark terror that swept through her like a gust of icy wind. Then her hands began to tremble, but the cold fear seemed to have congealed all logical thought. She couldn't move, couldn't think, swamped by a stark vulnerability.
Gina. The small whisper came from somewhere in the back of her brain. Katie might be terrified, but she was the child's only means of defense against this intruder.
The thought shocked her muscles into motion. As swiftly and silently as was possible, Katie rushed down the hall and into Gina's room. She scooped up the sleeping toddler and hurried into Jason's bedroom where she knew she could locate the nearest phone.
With shaky fingers, she dialed 911. Sitting stiffly on the edge of the bed, she cradled Gina in one arm and gave the dispatcher all the information that was asked of her.
Somehow she felt safer here in Jason's room, with his things around her, the scent of his woodsy cologne lingering in the air.
But rational thought returned, bringing with it a horrifying question—had she checked to see if the doors were locked before going to bed? The fearful chaos that crowded her mind again made it impossible for her to remember.
Even though the dispatcher urged her to stay on the line until a police officer was on the scene, Katie placed the telephone receiver into its cradle and hurried out of the room. There was someone outside the house trying to get in, and she refused to make it possible for him to simply walk through the door. If he was planning on breaking in, he was going to have to work for it. She raced to the front door.
Locked. She sighed, clutched the still-sleeping Gina to her chest, and rushed across the living room floor and into the kitchen.
Katie stopped dead in the middle of the room. The dull thumps she'd heard outside her bedroom window were now coming from the other side of the back door. The frilly white curtain covered the glass, so she was unable to see the person outside. But the moon threw a wavy-gray shadow against the curtains.
Her eyes fixed instead on the bronze-colored knob. An overwhelming panic made her chin begin to tremble and her eyes well with stinging tears when she saw the doorknob slowly begin to turn.
A sudden thought shone through the dark chaos in her brain—her father! Had her father found her? Had he hired some goon to bring her home? Her heart was pounding so loudly she was certain the sound of it was going to awaken Gina.
He was a powerful and influential man. She'd seen him play some conniving tricks on his political adversaries. But would he stoop to breaking the law? She seriously doubted that he would. Her parents loved her. They wouldn't terrorize her like this.
Something hard and solid smacked against the door glass, not with enough force to break it, yet loud enough to make Katie jump and squeal at the unexpected noise. Gina's eyes blinked open, and immediately sensing Katie's fear, the little girl began to sniffle.
"Shhh," Katie crooned to Gina, certain that if the intruder was alerted to their presence, he would be led to commit some violent act.
There was a scuffling sound on the other side of the back door. Without waiting for the door to crash open, Katie clutched Gina to her and blindly ran out of the kitchen.
* * *
"But I did slow down, Officer."
Jason leaned on the car door and inhaled, attempting to discover whether or not the driver had been drinking. "Well, sir," he told the man, "that wasn't a Yield sign. It was a Stop sign."
Darting a glance back at his patrol car, Jason could see Danny, the young officer he was training, speaking on the radio. Jason had instructed Danny to request a 10-26A on the driver of the car they had stopped. He grinned, watching Danny nod at the radio as the dispa
tcher relayed the report of traffic violations.
Jason turned back to the driver. "Have you had anything to drink this evening, sir?"
"I don't drink alcohol," the man informed him in a huff. "I was visiting with my girlfriend across town—"
"Hey, Jason!"
The nervous tone of Danny's voice had Jason pushing himself away from the car.
"The dispatcher requested a 10-100."
A frown formed on Jason's brow. It wasn't often that the dispatcher cleared the air for an emergency message.
Danny listened for a second, relaying the words as they came over the radio.
"There's an Ida Boy," Danny said, then cocked his head toward the radio.
Trespasser outside, Jason mentally translated the confidential code signal. But that was a routine call, one that shouldn't have been broadcast as an emergency message.
When Danny looked at him again, the young man's face had gone pale. "Oh, Jason..."
The frown between Jason's eyes deepened. "What, Danny? What is it?"
"Dispatch says it's... it's at your address."
Hot adrenaline shot through his system, tensing his muscles into hard knots. He turned to the driver of the car he'd stopped for a traffic violation. "I'm not going to ticket you." He gave him a stern look. "But it's not because you weren't in the wrong. In the future you need to obey the traffic signs. They're there for a reason."
"Yes, Officer," the man said. "I know that. And thank you, sir."
But Jason barely heard the man's words as he hurried to his cruiser. His body was tight with worry. His baby girl's life could be in jeopardy. And Katie—
Jason inhaled deeply. He had to keep his thinking clear and calm. He was training Danny, and he didn't want this young cop to see him lose his head.
"We're going, aren't we?" Danny asked.
"Hell, yes, we're going."
"At least the trespasser is outside."
As far as we know, Jason thought silently. He prayed he wouldn't hear the dispatcher call "Ida Charles," letting them know the trespasser had gained entrance.
"Listen—" Jason snapped himself into his seat belt and noticed that his partner did the same "—call in a 10-69, let them know we're en route to the scene. Oh, and you'd better request a 10-52."
"10-52?"
The Ten Code System varied with each police department. Memorizing it and the alphabet shorthand was a difficult part of any new officer's training.
"Permission, Danny," Jason said. "We need permission to leave the area."
He reached down and set the light dome on top of the car to flashing. Gravel sprayed as he pressed the accelerator to the floor. The car shot across the empty intersection that marked the southern perimeter of his sector.
"Get on the radio, Danny! We'll be pulling up in front of my house before you even get the okay for us to be there."
Danny fumbled with the handset, and Jason kept both hands on the steering wheel, his gaze focused on the road ahead of him. Automatically, he checked and rechecked the sparse traffic around him and thanked the Fates that it was late enough for most people to be home and not out driving on the roads.
A dozen should haves whizzed through his mind. He should have refused to work these swing shifts, then he'd have been home tonight. He should have refused to be a part of the training program—the very cause of the swing shifts. It didn't matter that he hadn't been given a choice, he should have thought about his daughter's safety first. He should have installed floodlights on the back of the house. That way his yard could have been lit up at the flick of a switch. Motion detectors. That's what he needed to—
Stop! he told himself. He could easily drive himself stark, raving mad. But the idea that something bad might happen to Gina and Katie had his normally calm and logical mind turning to mush.
Horrible visions kept intruding into his brain—visions of his family being hurt by some stranger.
He slid to a halt, his front wheel bumping up onto the grass. There were two police cars parked in front of his house, and Jason felt relieved that other officers were on the scene.
As he ran toward the front door, the calm professionalism in him overrode his chaotic worry, and he noticed that all the lights in the house were on and several neighbors were watching.
He burst into the living room where a fellow officer, Mike, assured him that everything was under control.
"Katie!" Jason shouted. He looked at Mike. "Where is she?" he asked. "And where's Gina? Are they all right?"
"They're both in the back bedroom," Mike told him. "Sam's with them. The house was dark when we arrived. We searched the yard, front and back first. The back door was wide open, so we searched inside. We found Katie with Gina."
The fear center of Jason's brain screamed at him to find Katie and his daughter, to see for himself that they were safe and unharmed, that the situation was under control. But the cop in him was well-trained, and he trusted the officers he worked with.
"Forced entry?"
"Actually, no," Mike said. "But the nanny told us she couldn't remember if she'd locked the door."
"I locked it before I left for work." Jason's voice was suddenly sharper than he intended as he asked, "Did Katie open it?"
Mike shook his head. "She says no."
"Then something isn't making sense here."
"I'd better tell you," Mike said, "Katie was extremely upset when we arrived. She refused to leave your daughter, refused to leave the master bedroom, so Sam decided to take her statement back there."
"They're in my room..." Jason said the words more to himself than to Mike. Why would Katie hole up in his room?
Danny came in through the front door. "I talked to some of the neighbors," he told Jason.
"Tell Mike what they had to say—" Jason lifted his hand and pointed in the direction of the hallway "—because I haven't had a chance to check on—" guilt flooded him because he knew that Katie came to his mind just as much as Gina did "—to check on my daughter."
"Sure," Danny said.
When Jason walked into the room, he barely acknowledged Sam. Katie's normally rosy complexion was sallow, and fear shadowed her eyes. She was seated on the very edge of his mattress, and at the sight of him she stood up. But she didn't move an inch from the bed. In fact, she glanced back over her shoulder to where Gina was sprawled out, sleeping in the middle of the mattress. Relief flowed warm through his veins. His baby girl was safe and sound.
Then, helplessly, his eyes traveled down the length of Katie's body, and he noticed the gossamer fabric of the pale pink nightgown she wore. His robe covered her shoulders like a cape, the cotton terry cloth looking much too masculine and coarse against the soft and feminine image she made standing there in the slinky, formfitting gown. The dryness of his throat made it difficult for him to swallow, let alone speak.
He raised his eyes once again to Katie's beautiful face, and he tried to focus on the situation at hand. This woman had taken good care of his daughter, had protected her, and continued to protect her. Despite the fear she must have experienced. He felt grateful. He felt... he felt...
Jason didn't dare try to put a name to the heated emotion that pumped into his heart, seeped into his limbs. He wanted to hold her, whisper his thanks against her warm, silky neck.
"Are you all right?" he asked, not realizing that he'd whispered the question in a frantic tone.
She nodded, and although Jason knew full well that Sam was standing there with them, he suddenly felt as though he and Katie were all alone.
Obviously sensing that they needed time together, Sam gave a small cough into his loose fist and said, "I'll be out in the living room, Jason. But Mike and I will need to talk to you before we go."
The officer left the room, closing the door behind him.
Katie rushed at him.
"Oh, Jason," she said, hurling herself against his chest. "I was so scared."
"It's okay."
He wrapped his arms around her, and when h
e felt her tremble in his embrace, something happened to him. Something unexplainable. Something wild and irrational.
"Damn, Katie," he said against her golden hair. He hugged her tight against him. "I was scared to death, too."
The delicate, womanly scent that clung to her aroused him and made his blood throb, fiery and thick, through his body.
She looked up at him. "You were?"
His nod was small, almost imperceptible. "I was afraid you'd be hurt. I was afraid someone wouldn't get here in time. I was afraid..." He let the words fade, unable to actually voice the horrible thoughts that had crashed around in his head as he'd pushed the car to go faster and faster. "I was just so damned afraid. For Gina. For you."
The tenebrous expression that deepened her blue eyes was gut-wrenchingly mysterious, and it ignited in him an impulsive desire. Their gazes locked and held for what seemed like endless moments. Jason felt as though he'd suddenly jumped onto a raft with Katie—a raft that was sweeping them into the frothy waters of wildly churning white rapids. And as he felt himself being whisked along this swiftly moving stream of passion, he knew without a doubt that he was going to kiss her.
Chapter 6
His mouth captured hers in a kiss that was urgent and forceful. And it was just what Katie needed.
Under normal circumstances, he would never have kissed her—this kiss had been provoked by the chaotic emotions that had bombarded him. His muscles were tense with all that he was feeling, every powerful fiber and sinew of his shoulders and neck seemed to strain under her fingertips. But wanting and needing him so, she refused to worry about the repercussions of their actions. She denied her misgivings regarding the future and allowed herself to be carried along on the swift current of the moment.
The moist heat of his velvet tongue skittered lightly across her lips, melting every icy shard of fear that had her insides frozen. His strong arms slid around her, his palms flat against her back, making it so easy to lean against him and let all the anxiety trickle from her body.
