Guardian

by Catherine Mann

  The thought stopped David up short.

  Hadn’t he become like that in his personal life? Letting the failure with Leslie hold him back from risking anything else? He’d told himself he was keeping relationships uncomplicated for Haley Rose’s sake…

  Now he wasn’t so sure.

  For the moment, he couldn’t do anything more about the trial. But when it came to Sophie? He could follow this attraction, see where it led, be sure he was going into the affair with his eyes open and expectations in check.

  He skimmed the back of his fingers down Sophie’s arm. “Time to choose your prize.”

  A wry smile played with her lips. “I’m having trouble deciding what I want.”

  “You seem like a woman who knows her own mind.” He ached to close the inches between them.

  A shower of crushed ice sprayed them.

  “Oops.” Haley Rose clutched her empty cup, her eyes wide with overplayed innocence. “Sorry, Dad. Sorry, Sophie.”

  David brushed the ice chips from his shorts. “Don’t worry, runt. Accidents happen.”

  “Hey, lady,” the duck-shoot vendor bellowed, chomping her chewing gum. “Are you gonna pick something or not?” Chomp, chomp. “You can have one from this row or two from that.”

  “Why don’t we just let Brice and Haley Rose choose again?” Sophie dabbed the wet spots on her cotton top, only just dried from their dousing on the log ride.

  He grabbed her shoulders and turned her back to the dangling prizes. “They both already have a prize, since you’ve kicked this game’s ass. Come on, Sophie. Be a kid for a minute. If you don’t decide on something, I’m going to get the five-foot alligator and put it in your office.”

  Brice reached, stretching up on his toes to get a long stuffed toy snake. “Cool.”

  Sophie stopped Brice’s arm midway and turned to David. “You’ve convinced me.”

  She paced along the stall, taking her time, gently touching different dangling stuffed animals, a spotted dog, a long-necked flamingo. As she analyzed her choices, David wondered if she ever made impulsive decisions. Not likely, given her legal-eagle mind.

  Sophie lingered in front of a plush brown bear, and he thought she’d made her logical choice. Suddenly, the smile that never failed to drive him to his knees melted over her face.

  “That one.” She pointed to a two-foot-tall pink kangaroo. “I want that one.”

  All three of the vendor’s golden nose rings glinted in the booth’s flashing lights as she unhooked the neon toy. Sophie had surprised him again, but he wasn’t going to argue. She’d probably settled because she couldn’t make up her mind, and they needed to go home.

  Sophie stroked a finger over the tufted head of the tiny joey tucked in its mother’s pouch.

  Seeing the gesture sucker punched him breathless. He understood why she’d chosen it. The mama with her baby.

  This woman wasn’t an affair type.

  David felt like someone had doused him with a cup of ice.

  Brice stepped closer to him and mumbled softly, “My dad bought her a golden elephant necklace once after he went on safari.”

  Sophie looked away, blanching.

  David shook his head. “Come on, kids. Time to load up and head home.”

  He cut a path straight for the concession stand, where he slapped down a ten for cotton candy, scooped up his change, and searched for the nearest exit. Brice and Haley Rose bolted ahead, bags of cotton candy sailing like kites from their hands as they left the park.

  Instinctively, he scanned the thinning crowd in the dark lot. Small clusters of bathing-suit-clad tourists wandered in and out of the endless stretch of T-shirt shops. A handful of familiar faces from the base. Nelson, the old subcontractor with a chip on his shoulder, strolled past now like a jovial Santa with his wife and grandkids, arms loaded with prizes. Even one of his fellow testers, Vince Deluca, sat at a tattoo booth with his wife, both too far away to call out. He would have to remember to ask the hotshot pilot what ink he’d added to his tat collection.

  Normal loitering. Enough to keep him alert, but nothing out of the ordinary. The kids’ school would undoubtedly be happy with the profits from this packed event.

  David offered Sophie a bag of cotton candy. “Want some?”

  “Thanks.” She reached inside, dodging the blue to pinch off a piece of purple.

  Spun sugar had never looked so good. Although a cheap bag of cotton candy was a far cry from a solid gold elephant necklace.

  Yes, he wanted to sleep with her, even if she didn’t seem like the affair type, but this wasn’t exactly the right place to make his move. He needed a distraction. He mulled a question that had been burning in his mind since the courtroom. “How did you get your Bronze Star?”

  Her mouth stopped working mid-bite, then she swallowed slowly. “I was deployed to Iraq five years ago. I was in a convoy. A roadside bomb went off, leaving a big hole that cut us off from the rest. An ambush ensued like clockwork.”

  All too well he could see the mayhem, smell the acrid gunfire and fear.

  “We were all wearing full battle rattle for protection, but the others in the truck were injured. I held off our attackers until the rest of the convoy could swing back around with help.”

  She said it so simply, so unemotionally, but in reality, the heat of battle was anything but calm. Sure, a person had to be focused, but the mayhem? The death? He knew better than to ever reach out and pat her back, because that would connect the moment to too many bottled feelings. This wasn’t the place to let them free.

  A sigh rattled through her, her eyes becoming clear again. She hugged her stuffed kangaroo closer. “I wonder where I should put this.”

  The kangaroo or the memories? Sometimes moments just had to be segmented off because there was really no way to reconcile them.

  There was a lot more to this woman than a sharp mind and a hot body.

  He nodded to the toy in her arms, opting to assume she meant the prize, not the past. “Not exactly a golden elephant.”

  “It’s better.”

  “Leslie would have rather had a golden elephant.”

  “I wanted another baby. I got an elephant instead.” Sophie gasped, cursed, then filled her mouth with more cotton candy. “I didn’t mean to say that.”

  For some reason he didn’t want to analyze, he needed to know why she preferred a cheap, stuffed marsupial to that exotic necklace. So he ate cotton candy and waited.

  She shook her hair back from her face, her smile at odds with her melancholy eyes. “I didn’t want a football team or anything. Just one or two more children. It’s lonely growing up an only child. Don’t you think?”

  “I wouldn’t know. I always had Madison.” Keep the answers simple. Give her time. What would he do with the information she divulged? He was a man who couldn’t maintain a relationship with his own parents, much less his wife.

  “Lowell put off having more until I gave up asking. Doesn’t sound much like a model marriage, huh?” Sophie looked up at David, her eyes glittering like dew-kissed daisies again. “The toughest part was that I really loved him. He loved me, too. But neither of us got what we planned on from each other.”

  He wasn’t surprised she’d loved her husband, since he couldn’t imagine Sophie marrying someone if she didn’t love him. That didn’t mean he enjoyed hearing the words spoken. “What did you plan on?”

  “Times like today.” She sighed, futility weighting each word. “This wouldn’t have been exciting enough for Lowell. He needed real roller coasters.”

  David tried to remember all the reasons he couldn’t have her, why they would only hurt each other. Instead, he thought of a woman with tears in her eyes as she brushed her fingers over a little ’roo.

  Without giving himself time to change his mind, he draped an arm over her shoulders. She didn’t object, so he pulled her head to rest against his chest as they walked.

  Sophie clutched the kangaroo and baby joey closer. She slid her othe
r arm around his waist and tucked her hand in his back pocket.

  She rested her head on his shoulder. “This is just a break. We still have to work.”

  “I know.” Right now it felt like they were totally in sync. He wished that day to day he could have a lawyer like her working with them rather than the one who it seemed worked against them.

  “Where do we go from here with the case?”

  And with the two of them?

  Her unspoken question hung in the air. Since they were in the middle of a park full of people and their kids were around, he settled for the more literal question.

  “We have to return to where it all started. First thing tomorrow, we need to take another look at Ricky Vasquez’s house.”

  That still left them with another long night under the same roof.

  * * *

  Slider steered his Bayliner ski boat closer to Madison’s dock, about fifty yards out, close enough to check out the house without worrying about being identified in the dark. Lights blinked on a half dozen other craft partying on the night waters. He’d scouted this spot well earlier today. He could watch to his heart’s content in complete anonymity.

  And even if someone recognized him, there was nothing wrong with him being here. He would just claim he’d been coming by on a whim. There might be some surprise, but no one would doubt him or question his attraction to Madison. She was a sensual woman, without question, but the high-maintenance sort. Great for an affair, too much trouble for the long haul.

  Sophie, however? That woman would hold a man’s interest for a long, long time.

  Floodlights clicked on, illuminating the Palmiere lawn a second before a side door opened. Slider tugged his baseball cap lower on his head, boat deck rolling lightly under his feet with the slap of wake from other crafts. Sophie stepped into view, David Berg just behind her. His palm was planted possessively on the small of her back as they made their way toward the dock. The sound of their voices carried on the wind, their words not distinguishable yet. Not surprising, given the way they ducked their heads close together, if it was flirtatious talk. Probably vanilla stuff, nothing with any real grit to it.

  Sure, he liked a little kink in his sex, nothing way out there, just some light bondage. Thoughts of gagging and tying up Sophie Campbell made him rock hard. Yeah, he would enjoy introducing her to the pleasures that could be found in real power plays.

  These days, he controlled his world. His old man would be proud of the way he didn’t take shit off anyone anymore.

  No one would humiliate him ever again.

  Adjusting the idle on the engine, he powered up to edge closer to the dock, then cut back. He reached for a fishing rod and cast into the water, just for show while he watched.

  He couldn’t afford for the truth to come to light or the charges would be far worse than negligence. His ass would be nailed to the wall. He’d been taking kickbacks from subcontractor Keith Nelson for over a year, once he’d realized what the guy was up to. Nelson thought his gut instincts were infallible. So what did it matter if he skipped a few test runs to shave expenses? As long as he could supply the lowest bid, he could keep offering his “invaluable” services to the test world.

  Shit.

  Just went to show, the old axiom about getting what you paid for was true. Nelson swore his “adjustments” had never been a problem before the gun turret malfunction. All that mattered now was getting through the trial without their deal coming to light—without Sophie following the paper trail right back to him.

  He cranked the reel, bringing in the line and casting again as Berg and Sophie reached the end of the dock. They clicked on the dock lights. They sat on deck chairs, side by side. Their voices carried louder, clearer across the water.

  “We’ll fly out after breakfast,” Berg said.

  Slider’s ears perked up. He reeled slowly, listening.

  Sophie stretched out her legs in front of her. “What’ll we tell the kids?”

  “The truth. We’ll tell them that we’re working.”

  She tipped her face up to Berg. “And what are we doing now, David? Where are we going?”

  “Where do you want us to go?” He stroked her jaw.

  “I would think that’s obvious.” She thrust her fingers in Berg’s hair, guiding his head down to hers.

  From the way she threw herself into the kiss, Slider wondered if he might have to reevaluate Sophie Campbell as purely vanilla. How her nails clawed Berg’s back. The way she wriggled closer, demanding more.

  A noise sounded from the house, a door slamming, and then the two brats came running down the wide stairs leading from the house to the lawn. The couple on the dock broke away sharply as a jumble of kid voices carried on the wind.

  “Watch movie with…”

  “…made a huge bowl of popcorn…”

  “With lots of butter.”

  “Please!”

  Berg and Sophie stood, laughing softly and murmuring something about no time alone tonight, maybe tomorrow…

  Tomorrow. When they were set to fly over the accident site. From the sound of it, they were seriously working together on finding a definitive answer.

  Things had been so much easier when they’d been adversaries. He really hated this for both of them.

  It would be a real loss to the air force if both of them died.

  * * *

  Sunday morning, Sophie finished loading the last of the breakfast dishes after the pancakes Nanny made for everyone—which translated into a lot of pancakes, topped with bananas and fat strawberries.

  Even in this large home, they were all under one another’s feet twenty-four/seven. She and David hadn’t been able to sneak even a moment alone to kiss, much less take things further.

  Within a couple of hours, she would be alone with David on a plane, checking out Ricky Vasquez’s house—not where he lived now, but where he’d been injured.

  She’d visited the accident site twice in the course of putting her case together. She knew what the Vasquez house looked like from the ground—the gaping holes torn into the living room where the six-year-old boy had fallen asleep on the sofa. But she’d never thought to ask to see the accident from the air, the bird’s-eye view, the way Caleb Tate and his crew would have seen it that awful day.

  In an airplane.

  David had arranged to rent a private plane at a remote airport for all Sunday afternoon. He’d told her before he had a private pilot’s license. She just hadn’t thought about going up with him.

  David had said the flight could give them both fresh insights, retracing the day. They would leave as soon as his friend arrived to watch over Madison, Nanny, and the kids.

  Thank goodness David had made plans for the kids to stay safely behind so she didn’t have to explain why there was no way in hell she would let her son go up in a small craft. The trauma, the memories, would be too much for Brice after the past year. His nightmares had only stopped a couple of months ago.

  She wasn’t sure when hers would end.

  Madison sealed away the leftover strawberries in a container. “You didn’t have to load the dishes.”

  “You’ve opened your home to use for the weekend. It’s the least I can do.”

  Her hostess focused on the seal with extra concentration. “You and David had work to accomplish and a safe place to stash the kids. He’s my brother.”

  “I’m sure we’re just being overly careful, but I have to confess the car wreck on Friday rattled me, too.”

  “This case you’re working on, the one with Captain Tate, how do you work together when you’re on opposite sides?” She leaned back against the granite countertop. “Are you thinking he’s innocent after all?”

  Was she considering that now? Allowing her feelings for David to influence her? She didn’t think so. If anything, she felt that David was coming over to her side.

  What would it do to him when the evidence came through that someone he’d trusted had messed up…had quite possibly
lied about it? “David and I are both just concerned with finding the truth so no one else gets hurt.”

  “There must be so much classified stuff you can’t even discuss.”

  “There is.”

  “And all your paperwork here, it’s just…minor stuff.”

  Where was Madison going with this? “We’ve done some brainstorming, reviewing of old records.”

  “Today, you’ll be able to look more in depth, though, at work.”

  Sophie turned to Madison, something in the woman’s voice niggling at her. Something off. She studied the woman’s blue eyes, so like David’s, searching for the hidden meaning. But for some reason, her lawyerly skills weren’t as easy to tap into around this family. “It’s always easier to work without the kids around.”

  “Of course.” Madison shoved away. “I’ll take good care of them, spoil them rotten with lots of junk food so they’re completely wired when you get back.”

  Sophie hooked arms with David’s sister, trying to ease the tension in the air. “You are an original.”

  “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

  “I meant it as one.”

  David filled the doorway, looking so damn hot in a pair of camo pants and a plain T-shirt. “My buddy Chuck just called. He and his fiancée are only five minutes away. So we can leave soon.” He looked at Madison. “Mind if we use your car? Chuck’s fiancée is a whiz with vintage cars like mine. She’s itching to look over the Scout before they move, and I’m sure not arguing with a free tune-up. If my sister can help me out with a spare set of wheels…”

  “Sure.” Madison reached into her Hermès handbag, fished out the key fob needed to unlock her car, and tossed it to her brother. “Make sure you speed, or it’s a waste of a good ride.”

  David snatched the key ring in midair. “My bad-girl sister to the end.”

  Madison shrugged, her smile brittle. “Life’s boring otherwise.”

  Boring sounded good to Sophie right about now.

  David palmed her back and led her from the house. The hot possession of his hand at her waist made her wish all their problems—the case, the crazy world—would fade away so she could enjoy this time away with him. In a regular world, they would go out to eat, walk along the lake, duck into his place or even a hotel for a long, long night together.