Runaway Heiress

by Jennifer Morey

  He seemed to gain control first, resting his forehead against hers and ending the fiery kiss.

  “Where did that come from?” she asked. Holy crows. She couldn’t get enough air and heat burned low in her abdomen. Instantaneous passion.

  “I wish I knew.” He glanced back at the car and then returned for another kiss, although he didn’t let this one sail them away. “Is there a back entrance to the Center?”

  “Yes.” They’d parked in front of the building and walked to the apartment complex. She realized then that he’d taken her to this bench on purpose so he could get her close enough to try an identify them—or see if she’d tell him. Should she be offended?

  He stood and took her hand, leading her toward the side of the building. A sidewalk there provided cover, also landscaped with several trees and shrubs. At a door near the middle, Sadie stopped and used the badge she had hanging from her neck by a Revive Center lanyard. Inside she led him down an empty hallway and then turned to follow another until they reached the lobby, greeting two workers who passed them along the way.

  At the front door, Jasper stopped her. She let him go first and followed him out onto the sidewalk, then he hurried her to their car, Jasper’s rental.

  Sadie craned her neck as he sped them away. The other car didn’t follow. They’d successfully eluded them. But who were they? Sadie shuddered, already knowing.

  * * *

  Back at the hotel, Jasper arranged to meet with Dwight about the tail. He didn’t like how easily he and Sadie had been spotted. They’d decided to meet in Dwight‘s room. Jasper knocked and Sadie’s head security guard opened the door. He had insisted on coming out so Jasper had sent his own guard home.

  Jasper put his hand on Sadie’s back as they entered. It was an automatic thing, until she looked back, eyes smoky with desire. He stepped inside the hotel suite, this one a little smaller than his and Sadie’s but still with all the luxuries.

  “Make yourselves at home,” Dwight said, going into the kitchen area. “Anything to drink?”

  “No thanks,” Sadie said.

  Jasper shook his head and turned back to the living area. The Good Dinosaur played on the television. Dwight was a Disney fan. Go figure. Jasper stepped farther into the open room, watching Arlo yell in his high-pitched voice with two T. rexes, Nash and Ramsey.

  “It lightens the spirit,” Dwight said from the kitchen.

  “Dwight always picks the animated films on movie nights,” Sadie said with a smile a sister would have for her brother.

  “I can see how that would get the mind off darker thoughts,” Jasper said. “Or pasts.”

  “Dwight was Special Forces,” Sadie said.

  “Exactly.” Jasper didn’t add that certain Special Forces types didn’t cope with civilian life so well once they left the Warfighter Theater. He didn’t have to. Without seeing Dwight’s reaction he knew the man medicated himself on animated films. It was an outlet. A healthy one, if he didn’t bottle up too much.

  “I didn’t watch them until I met Sadie,” Dwight said. “She saved me.”

  She’d saved a lot of people. That made it exceedingly difficult for Jasper to hold her lies against her. He looked over and saw her innocent wariness, gaging him.

  “That car in front of the Center,” Jasper said. “Let’s talk about that.”

  Dwight brought drinks to the living room, holding three sodas with both hands. He placed them on the coffee table.

  “I know you said no thanks, but...” He ran his hand through the air, down low toward the cans. “It’s root beer.”

  Jasper couldn’t stop a half grin and saw Sadie smiling, too. He picked up a can of soda and cracked it open.

  Sadie reached for a can and sat back, watching the movie for a bit.

  “I followed you,” Dwight said. “Sticking to the shadows like we agreed.”

  “I saw you.” He’d made sure to watch his surroundings, to protect Sadie.

  “You’re the only one who did. Those two blokes in the parked car didn’t see me. They saw you and Sadie, though, walking in the parking lot. They didn’t see you park, just walking.”

  Jasper had realized that.

  “They didn’t see you leave. I stayed and watched them after you left. Eventually they got out of the car and went to the apartment building. They talked to a couple of tenants in the parking lot and then went inside, piggybacking after someone badged through the door. They were inside for about thirty minutes and then came back out. Stayed in their car until another one arrived. They work in shifts watching the Revive Center.”

  They were waiting for Sadie. They probably hadn’t attacked because she was with Jasper. Or maybe they would have tried to tail them back to the hotel, find out where she was staying and get her that way. They’d tried before, at her remote home in Wyoming.

  As always, why the homeless man was killed troubled him. If the two were connected, why kill a homeless man and then attack Sadie? Sadie cared about Bernie. The killer may have known that. Depending on how long the Revive Center had been under surveillance, the killer could have.

  “I followed the first car,” Dwight said, jarring Jasper out of his thoughts. “They’re staying at a hotel not far from the Center.”

  “Maybe we should go pay them a visit,” Jasper said.

  “My thoughts exactly.”

  Chapter 8

  Jasper wouldn’t let her stay at the hotel by herself, so Sadie tagged along with him and Dwight. She was a little anxious over how they planned to get information out of the men who’d staked out the Revive Center. She wasn’t crazy about confronting people who were capable of killing.

  The hotel had a lounge and they checked that first. The men’s car was parked in the lot so they were in the building somewhere. Jasper and Dwight had guessed right. Although Sadie hadn’t seen the men close up, she recognized the driver’s bald head and stocky build. The man sitting next to him at the bar laughed at something the smaller man said. He was thinner and taller and had short dark hair.

  Dwight approached one side of the duo and Jasper the other. Sadie stood back to Jasper’s right. The two men looked from one man to the other and then both froze when they saw Sadie.

  “I’d introduce ourselves but you already know who we are,” Jasper said.

  “We’ve never seen you before,” the bald man said.

  “Let’s cut the bull. You were parked in front of the Revive Center. Why?” Jasper pulled open his jacket a fraction, just enough to show he was armed.

  “You must have us confused with someone else,” the thinner man said.

  “I followed you from the Center to this hotel,” Dwight said. “We know you were watching for Sadie.”

  “Sadie?” the bald man repeated, sliding a glance toward her.

  She lifted her chin, refusing to crumble with his subtle challenge. Sadie wasn’t the name he’d been given.

  “Our business is our business.” The bald man stood, having to look up at Jasper. “You’d best be minding your own.”

  “Or what?” Jasper asked. “Who do you work for?”

  “Or you may find yourself in a lot more trouble than you think.”

  The thin man stood and took his partner by the arm. “Let’s get out of here.”

  “Who sent you here?” Jasper asked.

  “Have a good night,” the thinner man said.

  As they started to walk away, Dwight stepped forward as if he’d go after them, but Jasper stopped him.

  “You have it backward, by the way,” Jasper called after the men. They paused and turned to look back. “You both may find yourself in a lot more trouble than you think. Tell your boss he better back off.”

  The bald man scoffed and the thinner man grinned cynically.

  “The big guy has a
sense of humor,” the bald man said.

  Around them people began to take notice of them, conversation fading as the music continued to play.

  “I think you know who you’re talking to,” Dwight said.

  “Jasper Roesch from some highfalutin PI agency.” The bald man nodded. “Yeah. We know all about you.”

  Sadie saw that Jasper was neither surprised nor alarmed. He must have expected them to know about him. They had, after all, staked out Sadie’s company and probably at least knew of the attack at her home.

  “Then you’re not as smart as I suspected,” Jasper said. “Tell your boss he’s been warned.” He stepped forward until he loomed over the bald man. “And none of you will get another chance.”

  “That’s awfully big talk for one man,” the thinner man said, still wearing that creepy grin.

  “You assume there’s just one?” Jasper’s grin was much more shrewd and fearless.

  “You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” the bald man said.

  “Then enlighten me.”

  With a scoff, the bald man turned, the thinner man following.

  Sadie wondered if either man realized Jasper had only tried to dupe them into revealing who’d sent them. She could tell him, but then she’d have to tell him the rest and not only did she not trust him with what he’d do with that information, she feared the consequences.

  “Well, that was a waste of time,” Dwight said, coming to stand beside Jasper.

  “Not entirely. A message will be delivered.”

  “You may have poked the sleeping tiger.”

  Jasper turned to look at him. “Which tiger would that be?”

  Bernie’s killer or the one that sent attackers crashing through her fence?

  Dwight looked away, meeting Sadie’s eyes. He wouldn’t say a word unless she gave her consent. And she wouldn’t, at least, not yet. Not until she had no other choice.

  * * *

  “I hope park benches don’t become a regular thing for you,” Sadie said, sitting on the Warren Park bench facing the lake.

  Today she’d abandoned her flannel for an eye-catching white sweater dress, gray over-the-knee boots and a stylish matching gray hat with a brim that angled over her sexy dark eyes. She’d left her hair down and the thick, wavy mane covered her shoulders and tops of her breasts. That narrow path of thigh between the hem of the dress and the top of her boots had drawn his attention more than once. She wore tights for warmth but her legs might as well be bare.

  “Being in the same environment as the killer sometimes helps me piece together clues,” he said, choosing not to let his mind wander back to their kiss on the last bench they’d shared. “What was the killer thinking, bringing Bernie here? Why this park?”

  “Is anything coming to you?”

  “Not yet. But it must have meant something to the killer. He had a reason for choosing this place.”

  Sadie turned away, her gaze going over the park and lake. Could she tell him anything that might help? Would she? Jasper had brought her here not only for himself. He hoped some of her guarded shell would crack enough to give him some kind of clue.

  After several seconds, she faced him again. “You really do think Bernie’s murder is related to those men tailing me, don’t you?”

  She must not have believed it when she’d made the suggestion herself after the attack. “Because of where Bernie’s body was placed, yes.”

  “Why?”

  “It was too deliberate. It’s as though Bernie was chosen because he meant something to you.”

  She drew in a breath. “No. That can’t be.” Denial made her react that way. She may have wondered if Bernie’s murder was related to the attack but she’d never considered someone would be killed because she cared for them.

  He was on to something. She knew of a reason or someone who would have a reason to go after her through her precious homeless people. “Why not?”

  “My comings and goings at the Revive Center were not made public.” She was reaching again, making up excuses.

  “You came to the Center in secret?” he challenged her.

  She averted her face, once again taking in the grounds.

  “Damn it, Sadie. Give me something.” He couldn’t leash his frustration any longer. “Who would hurt someone you care about?”

  When she turned to him again, he could see her fearful hesitation along with her own frustration. Just when he thought she’d open a door, she abruptly stood and began walking away.

  He easily caught up.

  “You brought me here on purpose,” she said. “The perfect setting to get under my skin. The killer brought Bernie’s body here for a reason and you wanted me to see it up close and personal.”

  She blamed him for trying? How could she be upset with him? She was the one lying, not him.

  “You need to come clean with me about your past,” he said. “I did bring you on purpose but I also came here to get a feel for the killer’s intent.” He hadn’t lied about that. Coming here had reinforced his hunch that Bernie’s murder was related to her attack.

  She walked without responding.

  “Why won’t you trust me?” he asked.

  Stopping, she faced him with troubled eyes. He wanted to make her feel safe so she wouldn’t ever have to look that way again. She frustrated him to no end with her secret-keeping but her stunning Spanish beauty and glimpses of vulnerability deflated that.

  He took her hand and tugged her to him, slipping his arm around her and then running the backs of his fingers along the soft skin of her face.

  “Who would hurt someone you care about?” he asked again.

  Closing her eyes, she moved into his caress as though the touch drugged her. If this continued he’d be on to other things in a hurry. He put his fingers beneath her chin and waited for her to open her eyes.

  “Trust me with that much, Sadie.”

  She closed her eyes again, tighter, but then opened them again, looking straight into his eyes for many more seconds.

  “The last man I trusted turned out to be someone I didn’t know,” she said at last.

  Okay, now they were getting somewhere. He lowered his hand from her face, holding her loosely. “What did he turn out to be?”

  She gazed down at her hands flattened on his chest between his open jacket. “When I met him he said he owned a company that manufactured high-tech components that go into spacecraft. Military electronics. He took me to nice restaurants and was always a perfect gentleman. He spoke like an educated man and made lots of money.” She looked up and into his eyes again. “But I found out he had no college education and his closest friends were either addicted to drugs or dealing them. He had a criminal record, mostly related to drugs. My father hated him so I didn’t think to do a background check on him. I felt this perverse kind of thrill that I would fall for a man so unlike my father. It was the dumbest decision I’ve ever made.”

  “You married him?”

  “No. I told you the truth about that. But I moved in with him. That was enough to put me in danger. I barely got out of there with my life.”

  Elated he’d gotten that much out of her, Jasper ran his hand up her back in an encouraging rub. “Why did you have to leave that way? Was he abusive?”

  “And a liar. And very dangerous. He went ballistic when I confronted him on the drugs and afterward refused to let me go see a doctor. I was a prisoner in my own house.”

  Everything was starting to make more sense. “How badly did he hurt you?”

  “He smacked me a few times, mostly slapping my face. He never punched me and actually was proud of that. He threatened to, though. He liked to use that against me, his threats to start punching or kicking me. I got away before he could. And I have to stay away.”

  Ja
sper couldn’t wait to track this guy down and teach him a thing or two about how to treat a woman. But he had to tamp down his rage and stay in line with what she finally revealed.

  He had so many questions he had to take his time choosing the one he needed to ask first. “How did you get away?”

  “Steven helped me escape,” she said.

  “Why Steven?” Was he her friend or someone else?

  “He works for...him.”

  Jasper didn’t miss how she’d carefully avoided saying the abusive man’s name. “He still works for him?”

  “Yes.”

  She admitted to her lie that Steven had been head of security at the Revive Center.

  “Who was killed trying to help you?” he asked.

  Her eyes lowered and he felt her slipping away, retreating back into her protective shell.

  “You told me once that you didn’t want to risk anyone else’s life,” he pressed. “Who was killed, Sadie?”

  She lifted her gaze. “A police officer.”

  He couldn’t believe she’d told him. “You went to the police over the abuse?”

  She hesitated and he saw her work for a reply, which told him all he needed to know. She wouldn’t tell him the truth about that.

  “Yes.”

  No, she’d gone for another reason, something that involved her ex. “What’s his name?”

  She shook her head.

  “What about your ex? I need his last name, Sadie.”

  And that’s when he saw her go behind her shell again. He’d get no more out of her. He let her go when she gave a gentle push.

  She started walking again. He fell into step beside her, satisfied he’d gotten much more than he’d anticipated, but he wasn’t quite finished with their talk.

  “A hero never hurts his woman,” he said. “A hero never hurts anyone. A hero protects those close to him. They don’t have to be close to his heart. They can be close in proximity. A hero protects the innocent and tears down the guilty. Especially for those closest.”

  “You think I don’t know that?”

  “I’m just saying. There’s a difference between a hero and a guy like the one you were with.” Jasper hadn’t said it but he’d tear down her ex if he ever found him. And she should know by now that she could trust him.