The Private Bodyguard

by Cowan, Debra

  “That’s when he shot you.”

  “Yeah. I managed to get away in his car and went to the garage where I work. I took his laptop and switched vehicles to the SUV I drove here.”

  Meredith’s lips were tight and Gage wondered if it was because of what had just happened or because they were talking about the case that had been the last straw for them. She’d made no secret of her resentment about that.

  “My plan was to go to the State Attorney General in Oklahoma City, but I knew I couldn’t drive for five-plus hours. I was losing too much blood.”

  “So you came here for medical supplies.”

  He nodded, regretting that decision more every second.

  “How did he find you?”

  “My guess is he went to Oklahoma City first. When he couldn’t find me with my grandparents or at a hospital, he probably checked your house. Once he figured out you weren’t home, he would’ve called your hospital and learned you were out on vacation.”

  “But no one at the hospital would’ve told him where I went.”

  Gage could blame himself for the man finding them. “I talked about you and this place to Nowlin, told him we used to spend time here. This was probably his only lead so he drove down here. He must’ve run a property search to find this house.”

  Her face was carefully blank. He couldn’t tell what she was thinking.

  “Who was the other man?” She shuddered. “The Hispanic man?”

  “I think his name is Julio and he works for whoever’s behind the arson ring. Each of the coconspirators stated they only ever met with a man matching his description to contract for the arsons and receive their cut of the money once the job was done. My surviving Nowlin’s murder attempt must’ve prompted Julio’s boss to send him with the marshal and make sure he killed me.”

  She was silent for a moment. “Who is Julio’s boss?”

  “I can’t prove it, but I think it’s a man named Larry James. He was a fire investigator, terminated for—”

  “I remember. He was suspected of selling drugs, but it couldn’t be proven. He was fired for bad job performance or something like that. It was all over the news because he took it to arbitration and lost.”

  “Yeah. Since I could never isolate the flammable material common to all the fires, the task force couldn’t identify the torch or the person pulling the strings on the fire-for-hire plot. All of us working Operation Smoke Screen thought the suspects would give up a name once they were indicted, but we finally had to accept that none of them knew the identity of the mastermind. None of them ever met with anyone except the Hispanic man.”

  “So if Larry James is the one behind the arson ring, he did it for revenge?”

  Gage nodded. “And he got it. He pushed money at the very men who cost him his job then turned them in.”

  “They must’ve gotten involved with him because they didn’t know he was the same guy they’d gotten fired.”

  “Right. I’ve always thought the anonymous tip we received right before we made our arrests was from him, but like everything else about him, I can’t prove it.”

  “Did those indicted men get involved in the arson ring because of greed?”

  “Maybe one, but the others really needed the money. One to pay off a large debt, one to provide twenty-four-hour care for his elderly mother, one to pay for intensive care for his premature baby. Stuff like that.”

  “James involved those men, then exposed them? That’s cold.”

  “Yeah,” he said grimly. “He’s ruthless and if my suspicions about Julio are right, Larry James is going to know you’re with me. We have to get out of here.”

  “Look at you! You can’t go anywhere yet.”

  “The SOB who ran out of here saw you. We can’t stay.”

  She opened her mouth. To argue, he knew. He jumped in first. “Describe him to me.”

  She blinked. “What?”

  “The bastard who shot at you. Tell me what he looks like.”

  She barely hesitated, though her voice shook. “Shorter than me, about five foot six. Hispanic features, baggy sweatshirt and jeans. The sweatshirt was red, I think. The lamp in the living room was on, but I couldn’t see a lot of detail. There was something shiny around his neck, some kind of chain.”

  The more she related, the more ill Gage felt. “You saw him well enough to probably ID him. And he saw you.”

  Alarm widened her blue eyes. Gage wanted to hit something. Someone. He’d put her right in the line of fire, could’ve gotten her killed. “We have to go.”

  “But—”

  “We can’t stay, baby. He could come back and he might not be alone next time.” Gage saw anxiety cross her face, then heat spark in her eyes. She was angry at him. He didn’t blame her.

  She reached into the box for the sutures. “I want to know everything.”

  “I said I’d tell you, and I will, but not now.” He noted she hadn’t regained her color; her pulse still fluttered rapidly in her throat. “Get your things together and let’s go.”

  “Let me patch you up first. That wound needs to be closed.”

  “There’s no time for that.” Her reluctance, the uncertainty in her face tugged at him and he softened his voice. “I know you want to think this through. You always do. But you’ll have to trust me.”

  The look she gave him could’ve withered steel. She was already picking up another bandage. “It won’t take long.”

  “The bleeding’s nearly stopped, anyway,” he said impatiently.

  Her jaw firmed. “I’ll butterfly it.”

  Knowing it would take less time to let her do it than to argue with her about it, he agreed. Maybe the task would help calm them both. Urgency pounded through him as she carefully applied the winged bandage. Gage’s gut knotted when he noticed that her hands still trembled and she hadn’t regained her color. They needed to get out of here.

  Meredith glanced toward the marshal’s body and Gage turned his head to look, too. His warm breath tickled the inside of her arm. She barely registered the shiver that rippled through her and the sudden tightness of her nipples.

  Was this really happening? She’d been asking herself that about one thing or another since seeing Gage again.

  “We have to go, Meredith. Right now, the only thing that matters is getting you out of here, so move it.”

  She bristled, but the increasing strain in his voice and the grim look in his eyes kept her quiet. She finished with his shoulder and snapped the plastic box shut, feeling as if she’d stepped outside of herself. After tossing all her clothes, her makeup case and her hair dryer into a soft-sided leather bag, she shoved his T-shirts and boxers into a tote.

  His injured arm was useless so she had to help him put on his jeans and shoes. Which almost used up the last of her calm and took twice as long as it should have because she couldn’t stop quivering. She felt as if she were breaking apart, piece by piece. Though she hated to admit it, she wanted to curl up next to him and pretend this wasn’t happening. “Where are we going?”

  “Somewhere not connected to you or your family. Maybe to the other side of the lake.”

  “I know a couple with a place across the highway. They winter in Florida.”

  “Across the highway? Back in all those trees where people rent out trailers and cabins for vacationers?”

  She nodded, her chest tight because she still couldn’t get a full breath. “The place I’m thinking of is a cabin, owned by the Greens. They keep the utilities on in the winter so the pipes won’t freeze. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind us staying there for a bit.”

  He’d met the retired schoolteachers at one of the Borens’ summer cookouts. He rose and picked up both bags in his good hand. “All right.”

  “I’m bringing the medical kit, too.”

  He nodded and led the way out of the room. She could tell by the intent look on his face that his mind had shifted completely away from her. Well, some things never changed.

  Flipping off th
e light, Meredith glanced one last time at the bloody, motionless man on the floor. She stared at him in disbelief as fear skittered up her spine. Dead people were no rarity in her line of work, but she’d never been the one who’d gotten them that way. She followed Gage to the unlit kitchen, waiting as he stared out the window over the sink, scrutinizing the dark. After a moment, they continued to the garage.

  His shoulder had to hurt and she was concerned about renewed bleeding.

  Focus on his care, she told herself. Not the dead man in your hallway.

  “I’ll drive.” After turning on the garage light, she opened the back passenger-side door of the silver SUV with a crumpled front fender and motioned him inside. “You need to lie down. I’ll get our coats, the food I brought and a couple of blankets for you.”

  He frowned, angling his body so that she was caught against the door, surrounded by his heat. Blue eyes glittered down at her, fully aware of her now. “I don’t want you to drive. If that guy is tailing us, he’ll see you. He might shoot.”

  “Well, I don’t want to do any of this, but if he is following us, he’ll shoot regardless of who’s driving. I’ve spent every summer of my life down here and I know this area well enough that I can drive the back roads without my lights if I have to. A stranger to the area won’t be able to keep up.”

  The tic of his jaw told her he didn’t like the idea, but it made sense. Even though she knew he wouldn’t let her drive solely because it was best for his injury, she added anyway, “You need to be as still as possible. The best thing for you is to take the backseat.”

  When he nodded curtly in agreement, she gave an inward sigh of relief.

  “I’ll keep an eye out for a tail.” He ducked his head, slowly lowering himself onto the edge of the leather seat. His knees still outside, he curved a hand around her hip, startling her. She had no time to brace herself for the current of energy that zinged to her toes. She told herself it was the stress of the situation that had her pulse going haywire, not the man she’d nearly married.

  His fingers flexed on her flesh. “I’m sorry about this. The last thing I wanted was for you to be involved.” His eyes were dark, tortured. “But you’re in this as deep as I am now.”

  She said nothing. What was there to say? That he made her as nervous as what had just happened?

  He was her patient and as a doctor, she should’ve had no problem being with him, but as a woman who’d been in love with him, she had a big problem.

  Right now, all she could do was put one foot in front of the other. She returned with the blankets and coats as well as the food she’d brought here. Who knew how long they’d have to stay at the Greens’?

  Meredith was relieved to see Gage was inside the car and lying on his good side, facing front. His knees were bent because he was too tall to stretch out. Once she was behind the steering wheel, she adjusted the seat to give him more room. And to give herself another moment to deal with the emotion churning inside her.

  She shook so hard, it took two tries to get the key in the ignition. Then her hands wrapped tightly around the steering wheel.

  She’d come here to say goodbye to a man she thought was dead. Instead, she’d learned he was very much alive and there was no goodbye in sight.

  Chapter 4

  He was in bed with Meredith and it wasn’t a dream.

  In the first wash of daylight, Gage looked across the king-size mattress. There she was, closer than he’d had her in eighteen months. She slept on her back, one arm resting on her forehead, blond curls spread across the pillow. The hem of the dark green long-sleeved shirt she’d thrown on when they’d left her family’s lake house rode up enough to bare a thin strip of creamy flesh.

  He remembered fighting to stay alert as they’d driven across Highway 259 and weaved along the twisting roads in the heavily forested area. They hadn’t been followed. Meredith had parked behind the Greens’ secluded cabin, then searched for a key. She’d found it inside the porch light fixture.

  The last thing he remembered was her taking off his shirt and restitching him. He still wore his jeans. There was no memory of her getting into bed with him.

  He was going to enjoy it as long as possible, since it might not happen again. Inhaling her subtle apricot scent, he rolled over on his good side to study her.

  He watched the rise and fall of her breasts beneath her shirt. An extra blanket she’d found was a soft mound of yellow bunched at her waist. Very carefully, he inched over until he could skim his fingers over her sunshine hair. His injured shoulder throbbed, but it didn’t matter. He itched to touch her cream-and-rose skin, stroke the fine bones of her cheeks and jaw. The elegant line of her nose. Her lips.

  Thick dark lashes lay against her cheeks. He wanted to see her eyes. He wanted to see all of her. Peel away the covers and find out if she had on her jeans or only panties. Just look.

  His gaze rose again to her face as he propped himself up on one elbow.

  She stirred, shifting on her side to face him. Her eyes were still closed. The unguarded vulnerability on her face had a sudden fierce protectiveness welling inside him. As well as the regret he’d lived with for the past year.

  He rolled to his back, then carefully sat up and got his feet on the floor. His hands clamped on to the mattress as weakness swept through him and he bowed his head. Silently, he cursed himself up one side and down the other for involving her.

  He hadn’t done it on purpose, but that didn’t mean she was in any less danger. He couldn’t let anything happen to her. He wouldn’t.

  “Gage?” she said in her smoke-and-velvet voice.

  He looked over his shoulder, his entire body going tight at the sight of her tousled hair and sleepy blue eyes.

  “Are you okay? Do you need some ibuprofen?”

  “I’m fine.” The pain helped dull the want burning in his belly. A little.

  In the growing light, he searched her face. The warm flush on her cheeks and the fall of unruly curls brought to mind all the mornings he’d woken to see her looking just like this. The way she used to look at him before they had split up.

  Her eyes were that clear endless blue he wanted to drown in, and a wave of longing hit him. Just the sight of her put a hard throb in his blood. And the dreamy way she stared at him, as if she hadn’t yet remembered why they were together, what he’d done, unraveled every reason he had to keep his hands off her.

  He wanted to pull her across the bed and bury his face in her hair. Kiss her sweet, warm neck. Taste her delicate skin. Her lips. He wanted to get his mouth on her. He didn’t care where.

  There was about as much chance of that happening as there was of no wind in Oklahoma. Furious that things had come to this, he was unable to stop the roughness in his voice. “Why don’t you shower and I’ll see if I can find something for breakfast?”

  At his tone, the drowsiness faded from her eyes. She stiffened. “I should look at your shoulder first.”

  “It’s fine. You can check me before I clean up, when you put something over my bandage to keep it dry.”

  She sat up and shoved her silky hair back out of her face with both hands. “All right. I won’t be long.”

  He faced front, staring down at the floor, staying put until he felt her get out of bed and heard her close the door to the small bathroom behind him.

  He might’ve lost a lot of blood, but his body still responded to her and he couldn’t have hidden it. Once she was out of the room, he carefully pulled on the denim shirt he’d borrowed from her brother and moved over to the window adjacent to the bathroom door.

  His SUV sat undisturbed where Meredith had left it under a winter-stripped oak. The pines and cedars were a vivid burst of green in the midst of the gray-and-white landscape. Frost glittered on the windshield and windows, covered the branch-strewn ground. There was no sign anyone had been out there.

  After snagging Meredith’s cell phone, Gage made his way to the front of the cabin. This place was smaller than the Borens’
lake house, but comfortable. Besides the one bedroom, there was a black-and-white kitchen with sparkling appliances, glowing wood floors and a red front door with tall narrow windows on either side. The living area was small, with a red leather sofa and overstuffed chair grouped around a rock fireplace. So much for Meredith sharing a bed with him because she wanted to. Apparently, there was nowhere else for her to sleep.

  Gage kept to the side of the window until he’d checked the front porch and copse of trees on both sides of the house. He saw no one.

  The place was secluded and Meredith had said the neighbors to the right used their cabin only in the summer. She wasn’t sure about the neighbors on their other side. Both houses were about two hundred yards away from the Greens’ cabin. The gravel road leading to the porch gave a clear view of anyone approaching from the front.

  Satisfied for the moment that the Hispanic man hadn’t found them, Gage called Ken Ivory again. Last night, Gage had told the State Attorney General the bare bones of what had happened at Meredith’s lake house. Ivory had offered to send protection, but Gage objected, saying it could draw attention to where he and Meredith were. Not to mention that he feared someone like Julio could be working in Ivory’s office or watching every move the man made. Gage had been relieved when the AG said he would handle the incident discreetly.

  Nowlin’s body had been moved and no local law enforcement involved. After answering a spate of questions and asking some of his own, Gage hung up and opened the plastic bag of food Meredith had brought. There were two giant cinnamon bagels—her favorite—a half loaf of bread, coffee, chili, soup and crackers. He started the coffee and turned on the oven to toast the bagels about the same time he heard the creak of pipes in the bathroom, the faint rush of water.

  It took zero imagination for him to picture her in the shower. His mind jumped straight to memories of water sluicing over her full pink-tipped breasts, down her sleek belly and legs. His hands would follow, then his mouth.