Guardian

by Catherine Mann

  After a self-conscious walk to her suitcase, Sophie shrugged on a cotton pajama-shorts set and scraped her hair back from her face.

  David watched her from the bed, his bare chest and legs honed with whipcord strength. A tic in the corner of his eye belied his air of lazy nonchalance. “The mustache was my proverbial nose ring.”

  “What?” Talking with David could be dangerous, as she’d found out that night at Madison’s. Sex, even making love, was easier than whispered revelations.

  “Kids like Hannah pierce their noses to shock adults, prove they can be different from their parents.” He nodded toward the hall, to a framed black-and-white photo on the wall of him and Haley Rose. “My father wanted a clean-shaven attorney for a son. I grew a mustache.”

  Apparently taken in the early days of his career before he’d become a major, David wore a uniform as he cradled a chubby toddler. Haley Rose’s pigtails sported matching blue ribbons.

  “And you joined the air force. What about your mother? What did she want for her son?”

  “She wanted peace at any price.”

  At the expense of her children’s happiness and emotional well-being? Obviously David had made different choices for himself as a parent. He was a great father.

  Her breath hitched on achy emotions. Sophie looked away from the picture. The combined impact of the ribbons and uniform choked her, the picture too like one of herself and her father tucked in the back of a drawer.

  “I didn’t join right away.” David combed his fingers through his hair, still mussed from their lovemaking. “I grew a mustache the summer before law school, as some sort of symbol that I wasn’t completely knuckling under to what my old man wanted.”

  She blinked to clear her mind of the past, certain she must have misheard David. “Law school?”

  He glanced at her quickly before looking away, his eyes taking on a distant look.

  “In spite of my hell-raising high school years and partying while I did the semipro golf circuit, I managed to get college grades good enough to squeak into law school. I had to go. Berg men only play golf to make business contacts on the course.”

  An image of him hitting golf balls along the shore came to mind, how natural he’d looked, how at ease. How sad that his father couldn’t celebrate David’s successes and strengths. It sounded to her like the old man had been too busy trying to bring up a clone. And with these peeks into his past, she wondered what he was trying to relay. She’d found he shrouded his own needs so often, she had to dig through his words to find the hidden meaning. So she sank to the edge of the bed and listened.

  “All the areas of gray you lawyers deal with—I hated it. Nothing is right or wrong, everything has mitigating circumstances.” He scratched the back of his neck. “If halfway through a case I discovered a client was guilty, I wouldn’t be able to defend him. No way would I be able to take the oath.”

  She didn’t see it quite that way, but arguing would stop him from talking. “How deep into law school did you get before you changed your mind?”

  “I made it through the first year before I realized I was living my father’s dream, trying to make up for all the grief I caused him while I was a teenager. I dropped out. Dad about had a coronary.” His familiar humor shone through, but with a darker edge. “Mother and Leslie weren’t too pleased with my revised career plan, either. But the colonel’s mentorship stuck, and here I am.”

  “You love your job.”

  “I am my job.”

  Sophie let loose a sigh she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. Although she had difficulty reconciling how Leslie had treated Haley Rose, Sophie began to see the edges of gray as well. The woman in the picture was so young. Dark smudges of weariness marked the pale skin under her eyes. Just as she and Lowell hadn’t found what they were looking for in their marriage, neither had David and Leslie.

  “Sophie, I understand you’ve lost a lot the past year. I’m not saying your fears aren’t important. But I’m not Lowell Campbell. I’m careful. Yes, I get a thrill out of my job, but I have my priorities in order.” He gripped Sophie’s shoulders, his silvery blue eyes intense. “The job can’t offer anywhere near the rush I’ll get from walking my daughter down the aisle someday.”

  She winced, more from his words than his insistent touch. Gramps had walked her down the aisle, because her father had been fifteen years in the grave.

  David lifted her hand, holding it in his. “With the upcoming promotion to lieutenant colonel, I’ll be riding a desk most of the time. Think about it, Sophie. Before you turn away, use that reasonable legal mind of yours and think about it.”

  Think about it? Think about what? “David, what exactly are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you and I should give a real relationship a try. Yeah, I know we’ve known each other for a year and a half at work, but we should try to know each other outside of base. Date. Hell, maybe even more. I haven’t made any secret about being wary after my divorce. Still, I gotta confess there’s a part of me that wants to have it all again someday. The white picket fence, family, you know…a life together.”

  “Marriage?” Even thinking the word scared her to her toes.

  He kissed her wrist. “Hell, forget I said anything and give me a chance to take you out on a real date with flowers and music.”

  Except he’d already hinted at more when she was only just coming to terms with the idea of an affair. And even though the possibility of all those old dreams filled her with wishful longing, she wasn’t the girl she’d once been. The woman she was now was wounded, wary, and hell yes, too afraid to risk having her world shattered again.

  His eyes narrowed, and he set her hand down. “What’s wrong?”

  She shot to her feet, overwhelmed. Her teeth chattered as if she was going into shock, for God’s sake. “David, I can’t deal with this right now.”

  “Sophie.” He reached for her. “Come on, let’s forget about talking and just make love until we’re too tired to walk.”

  If she fell into his arms…“I have to plan a strategy for tomorrow. That’s tough enough to do when I’m worried about our children.”

  Our children.

  Her heart leapt from her throat straight into her mouth. She ran. Not caring if she appeared cowardly, she pushed past him and dashed straight for the ice cream in the freezer.

  * * *

  That hadn’t gone remotely like he’d wanted.

  David rolled from the bed and to his feet. He hadn’t planned on proposing to Sophie so fast, it just seemed like the moment called for it. Was it so wrong to want her in his life forever?

  He yanked on a pair of cargo shorts and shrugged into a T-shirt. If he went back out there, things would just be awkward between them. And damn it, her look of horror at the mere mention of the word marriage stung. More than a little.

  Some space would be welcome to get his perspective back. His sister had been pestering him all day to talk, and she really deserved better than to be blown off because he’d turned into a sap over Sophie.

  He jammed his feet into deck shoes, without socks, and made tracks back into the living room. Sophie stood at the kitchen counter, scooping pistachio ice cream into a bowl. He wanted to walk up behind her, wrap his arms around her, and nuzzle aside her hair to kiss her neck. But the way she refused even to look at him said far more than any words.

  “Sophie, I’m going over to Madison’s. I won’t be long. Keep your gun and cell phone in reach. The security system is fully armed. I’ll have my eyes on this place the whole time.” Still she didn’t speak, which torqued him off. He didn’t deserve the cold shoulder. He pulled his 9 mm from his gear bag and strapped it to his ankle. “Does that work for you?”

  It was one thing to ignore him talking but another to blow off a direct question.

  Sophie turned, her eyes guarded as she leaned against the counter. “I’m qualified to enter a combat zone on my own. I’m sure I’ll be fine here while you check on your sister.”
>
  He didn’t bother correcting her assumption that he was only looking after Madison’s safety. The less said right now, the better, because angry words were brewing in his gut.

  Double-checking the security system, he locked the door after him and shifted his attention to his sister’s place. The night was quiet, only a couple of boats on the water. Not much road traffic, either, just the rumble of a motorcycle shutting off a house or two down.

  Madison’s stucco mansion was lit up like a Christmas tree, just as he’d asked her. Floodlights illuminated every inch of the yard and the two-story home. Although she should learn to pull her curtains on all those walls of windows. The whole world could see her doing her yoga workout in the great room.

  He started across the lawn.

  And so did someone else.

  A man sprinted from the yard next door. Lights streamed over him, but with his face turned away, there wasn’t much to go by. Male. Tall. Athletic. Blond.

  David leaned down to draw his 9 mm out of his holster, sidestepping behind a stone statue to evaluate. His whole body hummed with tension. No one would get past him to Sophie. Back flat against the oversize lion, he monitored the lawn. His mind barely registered the rough concrete.

  The guy would have to go by him to get to Sophie. David would tackle the bastard on his ass before he could blink. David’s grip tightened on the gun, his muscles tensing for action.

  Except the intruder pivoted toward the main house, not the guest quarters where David lived, where Sophie was now.

  The man was headed directly for Madison’s steps.

  David launched forward like a bullet out of a gun. His legs ate the space between himself and the man in seven heartbeats. Launching, he caught the man by the shoulders and slammed him to the gritty Nevada earth. The intruder bucked under him, thrashing and twisting with more strength and dexterity than David was expecting.

  But then that’s why he’d brought a gun. Just in case.

  He pressed the 9 mm to the bastard’s head. “So much as breathe and I’m shooting.”

  The guy underneath him stopped moving. “Major Berg?”

  Now David felt like someone had slammed him in the gut, because he knew that voice. He knew this man.

  He rolled the intruder to his back, confirming his guess. “Caleb Tate? What the fuck are you doing breaking into my sister’s house?”

  FOURTEEN

  Madison flew down the steps barefoot toward her brother—who had his fist twisted in Caleb’s shirt. “David, stop.” Dread swelled through her, along with a feeling of inevitability. What she’d had with Caleb had been too good to last. “It’s okay, David. Caleb’s here for me.”

  Or at least she hoped he was.

  More than that, she wished she’d talked to her brother before now. Her attempts to reach him, to make him listen, had been weak at best because she’d desperately hoped to be wrong about her lover using her. Floodlights cast harsh light over the angry tendons standing out in both men’s necks.

  Pushing away from Caleb, David stood, but he didn’t stand down. The ugly black gun stayed firmly in her brother’s hand. “What’s Caleb doing here heading up the stairs to see you? At this hour?”

  Caleb stood, dusting off his cargo shorts. “I can speak for myself. I’ve been dating your sister.”

  “Dating?” The look of pure shock on David’s face was almost insulting.

  She shouldered between them and pushed her brother’s gun hand down. “Let’s go inside and talk like reasonable adults. I would prefer the neighbors not hear everything.”

  Without giving them a chance to argue, she started toward the stairs again, too aware of the caress of Caleb’s eyes over her in her workout clothes. But was it an act or for real? Damn it, she hated the insecurities whispering through her.

  She opened her door and let them keep right on following her. Rolling up her yoga mat, she hugged it to her chest like a barrier and sat in a chair, giving herself space.

  Her brother didn’t even bother sitting.

  “Talk, Madison,” David barked.

  Caleb stepped forward, chest puffed. “That’s no way to speak to her.”

  “Really, kid?” David lifted an eyebrow. “You’re going to lecture me about my sister? What are you really? Her boyfriend? Because if you were, I think I would have heard about it by now. The same with dates. I would know. Nobody sneaks around with my sister.”

  “I’m with Madison.” He stopped talking, his jaw jutting.

  She couldn’t help but be touched how he didn’t point fingers at her for insisting they keep their relationship secret. Maybe he was as honest as she hoped.

  She set her yoga mat on the ground. “David, it’s my fault you didn’t know, that nobody knew. I didn’t want to tell anyone yet.” Ever? “I didn’t want people whispering about,” God, this part hurt to say, “how pathetic I looked sleeping with someone so much younger than I am.”

  “Sleeping together?” Wincing, David scratched the back of his head.

  Caleb crossed to her chair, lifted her hand, and held firm. “Madison, babe, you know better than that. I’m damn lucky to be with you.”

  David smiled tightly. “Then you should have been shouting from the rooftops how lucky you are to breathe the same air as my sister.”

  God, she loved her brother, and she had so royally messed this up. None of it was their fault, but she didn’t know how to make this right.

  Her lover braced her shoulders. “I know how lucky I am. And I also know I’m not in any position to be with anybody right now, not with the trial still hanging over my head. I didn’t want people thinking bad things about her because she was with me. I want to clear my name first.”

  David’s head tipped to the side. “How long has this been going on?”

  Standing, Madison stepped between them again. “Hello? I’m here, so don’t ignore me, please. Do you hear me saying anything about what you and Sophie have going on together? Or where she’s sleeping tonight? Nope.” She jabbed her brother in the chest with her pointer finger, then looked over at Caleb. “In fact, Caleb, I think you should go. Let me talk to my brother.”

  “Madison, I’m not going to confirm everything he’s thinking about me by walking out now.” He turned to David. “We started seeing each other two months ago.”

  Anger radiated off David. “You started an affair with my sister while you were in the middle of a trial that could send you to jail for two years. That in and of itself isn’t all that cool in my book. But what I really want to know is why the hell you didn’t tell me. Were you hiding something? Because God help you if you were using my sister to get some kind of inside track on any additional information I have on the crash investigation.” “Wow, Major,” Caleb said dryly, “nice to know you’ve been blowing smoke about believing in my innocence. But then I should have guessed as much if you’ve been spending time with the lawyer determined to send me away for two years.”

  Suspicion snapped in David’s eyes. “Do you have another reason for being here?”

  “You insult Madison by even hinting at something like that.” Mouth tight, he turned to her. “Do you believe that, too? That I’m here to somehow sway the case or find out information?”

  She hesitated for a second too long.

  “Shit,” Caleb hissed. “I’m an idiot for thinking you actually wanted me. I should have known better when you refused to tell anyone. Consider your embarrassing, inconvenient affair over.”

  Sadness and betrayal twisted inside her, along with a sense of inevitability. She’d known there was no way their affair could last. She just hadn’t expected it to hurt this much.

  Turning away, Caleb left through the kitchen, like he knew the way through her house. Which he did. He paused, though, at her refrigerator. His face paled as he touched the edge of the picture held up by a magnet. That sad photo drawn by the boy who’d been hurt. Sophie had put it there as a reminder, saying she’d promised the boy she would.

  And that
she’d promised his parents justice.

  Caleb slammed the door on his way out.

  Madison winced. Her brother cupped her shoulders and she flinched again.

  “Surprise, surprise,” she said, “I’ve made a mess of things again. I’m sorry if I’ve compromised the case in any way by letting him in here when Sophie’s notes were lying around.” Tears burned her eyes. Over hurting her brother, right? Not because Caleb had just walked out of her life. “I’m sorry for not saying something sooner.”

  He hauled her to his chest. “You tried to talk to me, and I didn’t listen. I owe you the apology.”

  How like David to shoulder the blame for everything. She angled back, thumbing away her tears. “I didn’t try very hard, and I’m so sorry about that, too. You’re the only person I haven’t alienated. We sure don’t have much of a track record in relationships, do we?”

  “Apparently not.” His wry smile didn’t reach his eyes. “Are you okay?”

  “No, but I will be.” She patted his face. “I really would just like to be alone. Go back to Sophie, baby brother. It would give me hope if one of us could figure out how to make a relationship work.”

  He didn’t move at first, studying her with those intense eyes until finally he must have realized there really wasn’t anything he could do for her. Nobody could. Her brother walked away, pausing by the refrigerator. He took the picture from under the magnet. “Be sure to arm the security system.”

  And he was gone.

  Her big, beautiful house echoed around her, empty, secured, like a damn fortress. Too bad they didn’t issue that kind of protection for the heart.

  * * *

  Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Sophie stirred her melting pistachio ice cream. She stuck the spoon in her mouth and sucked it clean while flipping a page in the file resting on the coffee table.

  Her eyes focused on the names and numbers detailed as she fidgeted against the itchy carpet irritating her legs. Of course the carpet was the cause, not the man she longed to wrap herself around for hours on end.