Harlequin Intrigue June 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: To Honor and To ProtectCorneredUntraceable

by Debra

  Evan found it difficult to believe how happy it made him when Juliet touched him of her own accord. Even something as simple as a brush of her hand on his arm meant more to him than entire embraces from other women.

  He was feeling better about this operation than he had since Juliet showed up at the warehouse yesterday morning. He’d lost faith for a little while when he’d seen the state of her house, but now, understanding the reason, he could even understand that.

  And she had just giggled and run out of the room.

  And they were about to sleep together in his bed.

  The thought of it thrilled Evan in ways he never would have thought. And it wasn’t about sex. Obviously, Juliet wasn’t agreeing to have sex with him, so he could just push that thought right out of his mind. Which, surprisingly, didn’t upset him one bit.

  Just the thought of being in bed next to her was more than enough. Able to help her if she needed him, or just knowing she was sleeping peacefully even if he didn’t.

  In the dark, lying with her after their respective showers, he could feel Juliet’s discomfort. At first she fidgeted, tossed and turned. Obviously, being back in a bed reminded her of the attack. He wasn’t sure what he could do, if anything, to help.

  “I’ll be okay. I just need to get used to it.” She answered his thoughts before he could even voice them.

  “I’m never going to let something like that happen again,” Evan told her softly, reaching out to touch her back.

  Juliet slid a little closer. He wrapped an arm around her, pulling her all the way over to his chest.

  “Right now just try to get some sleep,” he murmured.

  It was as if her body needed a haven, a place where her mind felt safe, and Juliet was almost instantly asleep.

  Long after he could hear her even breathing, Evan stayed awake, appreciating having Juliet in his arms. What he’d said to her was true. He would die before he let anything like the attack happen to her again. While they were undercover he didn’t plan to let her out of his sight. But for now he just held her gently while she slept, and eventually fell asleep himself.

  Evan awoke a few hours later to a knocking on his door. The sun was already up, but Juliet was still asleep. He glanced over at the clock: 6:30 a.m. Later than he had been sleeping, for sure, but still too early for someone to be knocking.

  Evan reached for the Glock on his bedside table, easing away from Juliet’s sleeping form. His phone buzzed with a message.

  At your door. Hurry up, sleeping beauty.

  Sawyer. Evan was tempted to ignore Juliet’s brother’s message, but knew he’d just start knocking louder. Evan slid out of the bed, slipped on a T-shirt with his pajama pants and went to open the door.

  Sawyer and Cameron. Great. But at least they had doughnuts.

  “Why the hell are you two here at this ungodly hour in the morning?”

  Cameron dropped the doughnut box on the table. Sawyer, quite familiar with Evan’s house, began making coffee.

  “We had an idea. Wanted to run it by you first before talking to Juliet,” Sawyer told him.

  “Do I need coffee before hearing this grand plan?” Evan wondered if he should mention that Juliet was asleep upstairs.

  “It’s not a grand plan so much as a safety precaution for Juliet,” Cameron said. “We were talking to one of the geeks in the tech department...”

  “Excuse you, I happen to sleep with the head geek from the tech department every night,” Sawyer said, pouring himself a cup of coffee from the pot before it was even finished brewing.

  “Okay, so you guys were talking to Megan, and she told you what?” Evan asked. Megan was Sawyer’s genius fiancée, who had recently come to work for Omega.

  “Tech has developed a short-range tracker/emergency response initiator that is virtually undetectable, even with a scanner, or someone monitoring frequencies,” Cameron replied, pushing Sawyer out of the way so he could get his own coffee.

  “And you want Juliet to have it.”

  “Yes.” Both men said it at the same time.

  “An added safety measure for everybody. Plus, it would probably make her feel better about the entire operation,” Cameron stated.

  Evan nodded. Even though he had no plans to let Juliet out of his sight the entire time they were on Cady’s property, a backup safety measure was never a bad idea.

  “She’s going to do fine. Although she’s been getting a string of emails from some sick secret-admirer-type bastard. So this distress mechanism Megan designed might help Juliet more than you even thought.”

  “What the hell emails are you talking about?” Sawyer demanded. Both his and Cameron’s posture stiffened.

  “They’re not actually coming to Juliet, they’re addressed to Lisa Sinclair. Creepy stuff that mentions specific details about her attack last year. I’ll show you.” Evan got out Juliet’s laptop and showed her brothers what she’d been dealing with for nearly a year.

  Sawyer dropped into a chair. “Why didn’t she tell us about all this?”

  Evan shook his head. “She said she didn’t want to put a burden on anyone. That we had ‘real’ cases we were working on.”

  Sawyer’s expletive was ugly. “That’s the most asinine thing I’ve ever heard. This stalker thing is obviously escalating. Look at how many more there have been in the last three months. And that ratio quadrupled in the last couple of days.”

  “I know.” Evan gave a long exhalation. “I don’t like it. As soon as we get the drone codes situation under control with Cady, I’m going to make this top of my priority list.”

  Cameron had been leaning against the counter, silent since Evan had shown them the emails. He spoke up softly now. “She shouldn’t have had to go through this alone. Not after what she’s been through. I’m going over to her house right now to talk to her.”

  Evan put out an arm to stop him. “Cam, that won’t work.”

  “I’m her brother. She’ll let me in. I just want her to know she’s not alone in this.”

  Evan sighed. “She’s not at her house.”

  “Where the hell is she?” Sawyer asked. “Is she back at Omega again? She spends too much time there.”

  “No,” Evan said, and cleared his throat. “She’s upstairs. Asleep. In my bed.”

  Evan watched as the two men he had been friends with for over fifteen years looked at him as though he was an adversary. Sawyer stood next to Cameron, both glaring at Evan.

  “What do you mean, she’s up there in your bed?” They studied his clothes. Obviously, Evan had also been sleeping when they had gotten there a half hour ago. It didn’t take them longer than the average three-year-old to put the details together.

  “What the hell are you doing, Evan?” Sawyer’s words were quiet, making them all the more menacing.

  “Did she want to go to bed with you or did you push it?” Cameron’s voice wasn’t as quiet.

  Evan’s whole body tensed. “You two are my best friends in the world, but you better watch what you say right now. I would never put Juliet in a situation like you’re suggesting.”

  Sawyer’s breath flew out in a huff, and he relaxed against the counter. “Damn it, we know that, Evan. It’s just, first the undercover work, then those emails, and now you tell us she’s sleeping with you.”

  “It’s too much, too soon,” Cameron agreed.

  “She wasn’t sleeping sleeping with me. You both know she and I can’t go under at Vince Cady’s house with her cringing every time I touch her. So we’ve been spending as much time as possible together in the last thirty-six hours.”

  Evan thought mentioning her house and the shape it had been in probably wouldn’t help the situation overall. Her brothers would feel the same way she had at first. As if there was no way she could handle the case.

  “She can handle the case,” Evan said, as much to himself as to Sawyer and Cameron. “I believe that.”

  “You be careful not to let things get out of hand, Evan. Don’t take it
too far.”

  Evan reminded himself that these were Juliet’s brothers. Brothers who loved her very much, which was why they were being so overprotective. But they knew him, knew how long Evan had carried a torch for their sister. They just didn’t like that anyone would care that much about her.

  “You know how I feel.” Evan snapped his mouth shut and reached for the coffee, to give himself a moment to formulate his words.

  “How you feel about what?” Juliet’s voice chimed in from the kitchen doorway.

  Evan stopped, frozen. How much had she heard?

  “Hey, little sis. We were just talking about some tracking and emergency equipment the tech department has come up with,” Cameron said.

  Thank God. Evan really didn’t want to get into his feelings for Juliet, with two of her brothers sitting in his kitchen, while he was wearing his pajama pants. Juliet, thankfully, had changed out of the T-shirt and boxers she had slept in, and put on yoga pants and a sweatshirt before coming downstairs.

  Sawyer hugged his sister. “Yeah, Megan came up with something we’d like you to wear while undercover. It’s a tracking and distress device. Only good short-range, but completely undetectable. Perfect for while you’re at Cady’s house.”

  “We were dropping by to see what Evan thought of it. Didn’t expect to find you here this early in the morning.” Cameron’s eyebrow rose.

  Juliet flushed just a little bit, but she was used to dealing with her brothers. “It’s not what you think.”

  “So Evan assures us.”

  Evan poured Juliet a cup of coffee and handed it to her. How he wished it was what it looked like. Nothing would make him happier.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Getting rid of her brothers took a couple hours. Juliet loved them, she really did, but they were ridiculously overprotective. When her oldest brother was around it was even worse, although Dylan was usually the most reasonable. He understood, by experience, that sometimes no matter how traumatic the event, you just wanted to be left alone.

  Juliet definitely didn’t want to talk with her brothers about being in bed with Evan. No matter how innocent it had been.

  And definitely didn’t want to talk about how good it had been to lie there with him.

  She had avoided sleeping in a bed all these months because of her fears. But being in one with Evan, she’d found her fears hadn’t really crossed her mind. She’d been too busy thinking about him. About how close he was and how good he smelled.

  And how she was nervous about being in the bed with him, but it was a good nervousness, not a bad kind.

  And how she wanted to kiss him again. And more.

  She knew Evan had lain in bed last night, so close, and watched her. But it was because he was worried about her, not because there was any real interest on his part.

  This was all just part of a critical case for him. Undercover work. She needed to remember that.

  But Juliet was definitely beginning to wish it was more.

  She looked over at him, dressed all in black now, as she was, ready to go do the reconnaissance work at Cady’s house. There were others who could handle it, providing details about the outside of Cady’s house and his security. But both Juliet and Evan felt it important to do it themselves.

  She looked forward to it, actually.

  They weren’t really going onto the grounds, just nearby, to see what they could see. Covered by darkness, they would be counting guards, getting a lay of the land, so to speak. Juliet suspected this entire escapade was for her benefit, and she didn’t mind.

  “You ready?” Evan asked.

  “Yep.”

  “Okay, we’ll need to park a couple of miles away. We’re not sure how far out Cady’s guards patrol. We don’t want to take any chances.”

  They drove one of Omega’s cars rather than Evan’s Jeep, since it would be less recognizable.

  “Have you got the tracker Megan and her tech people made?”

  Juliet reached down and grabbed the locket hanging around her neck. “It fit in here perfectly, even behind the picture. It’s crazy how thin that thing is.”

  “Yeah, well, Megan’s mind is pretty amazing.”

  Juliet didn’t bring up how she had once accused Megan of working for the very enemy Megan now worked so hard to defeat. She knew how in love Sawyer and Megan were; Juliet had never been happier to be wrong.

  “Let’s just hope we don’t have to use it tonight,” she said, looking out the window as they drove into Anne Arundel County.

  “Such a huge criminal sitting right under the navy’s nose. Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Evan parked the car. The Naval Academy was only a few miles away.

  “Cady has a lot of gall being right out here in the open,” Juliet said as she got out of the car.

  “He’s very selective about whom he deals with. That’s why we’ve never been able to get close to him. I’m still amazed he approached Bob Sinclair in the first place.”

  Juliet asked, “Are you worried? Do you think Cady is suspicious?”

  “He hasn’t survived this long without being so. But I don’t think he’s any more suspicious of us than he is of anyone else.”

  Juliet wasn’t sure if that made her feel better or worse. “Let’s hope it stays that way and that I don’t do anything to freak him out.”

  Evan squeezed her hand. “You won’t.”

  They left the car and walked through the shadows until they reached the top of a very small hill just outside the gated property line of Vince Cady’s estate. From here they had a pretty clear, although not complete, view of the house and grounds. But there shouldn’t be any danger of them being caught.

  They both stood silently, using night vision goggles to study the premises for a long while. Juliet counted two sets of three roaming guards passing by every eight minutes.

  “Do you see the ones on the roof?”

  She moved her focus upward. “Roger that. Looks like two sets of two.”

  “Yeah. That’s a pretty well covered place. Cady definitely isn’t taking chances.”

  “If we have to get out of there in a hurry, it’s going to be nearly impossible.”

  “I know.” Evan’s voice reflected all the solemnity Juliet felt. It was going to be more important than ever that she keep it together and do her job.

  “Let’s get the amplifier planted.”

  Juliet followed Evan down the hill, closer to the wall that surrounded the property. They needed to get the device as near as they could without it touching the structure, which probably had some sort of sensor.

  “Why does it need to be so close?” Juliet asked quietly.

  “It helps amplify the signal of your tracker, but it also contains a small explosive. Not enough to do any real damage, but enough to cause a distraction if we need it.”

  “That makes me feel a little better.” Sometimes being just a couple seconds ahead of everyone else was enough when you were undercover.

  They weren’t expecting a guard on this side of the wall, so far away from the others, but evidently Cady even had someone patrolling the exterior. Juliet’s gaze flew to Evan’s as they heard him coming toward them.

  The guard was alone and talking on his radio, so evidently he wasn’t aware they were there. But that wouldn’t stop him from bringing this whole operation crashing down on them if he caught them.

  He’d be directly on them in just a second.

  Juliet felt a moment of panic as Evan grabbed her by the waist, spun her around and pushed her to the ground. Knowing he was trying to get them under the cover of a fallen tree, she slid back as far as she could, and he scooted with her. She didn’t let the fear overwhelm her. It was Evan this close to her; it was okay.

  He didn’t have time to turn around before the guard came by, which left Juliet and Evan in a lover-like embrace. She quickly pulled her dark sleeves over her hands and wrapped her arms around Evan’s neck, trying to cover as much of his exposed skin as possible.

 
Both of them were silent as the guard passed by only feet from where they hid. He began walking away, then stopped.

  Juliet’s heart hammered in her chest. Had he seen them? Could he have possibly seen the amplifier?

  Evan’s arm moved just the slightest bit, and she realized he was removing his weapon from his shoulder holster. There was no way Juliet could get to hers, the way they were wound together, bodies pressed up against each other from chest to toe. And Evan was facing the wrong direction to shoot.

  His hand skimmed up to where her arms were wrapped around his neck. Silently, he pushed his Glock into her hand.

  If the guard became a dire threat, Juliet was going to have to be the one to take him out.

  There was no doubt the man was armed. Like the other patrols they had seen, he carried a modified HK-33 submachine gun. The guard might have orders to shoot on sight. Hopefully, it wouldn’t come to that, but Juliet had to be ready.

  Evan trusted her to be.

  Why was the guard still stopped? Did he see something? Sense something was off?

  Juliet relaxed minutely against Evan when the man lit a cigarette in the darkness. He didn’t know about them at all; he was just trying to get away with having a smoke on the boss’s dime.

  Evan and Juliet waited as the guard took drag after drag on his cigarette. Although Juliet didn’t relax, she knew there was no way he would be casually smoking if he suspected there was anyone hiding nearby.

  Evan obviously knew it, too. Because Juliet could feel his fingers begin to trace up and down her back. All of a sudden she was very aware of all the places their bodies were touching.

  All the places.

  Evan ran his hand down her spine and splayed it over her hip, pulling her the slightest bit closer. His hot breath rushed across her neck.

  The guard finished his cigarette and reported in on his radio that all was clear and he was headed to the south end of the property.

  Juliet and Evan didn’t move from where they lay, although she relaxed the arm that held the Glock. Evan’s hand remained on her hip, his hard body pressed up against hers.