by Unknown
She had toyed with the idea of taking Monday off, but Colin had made plans with her brother and the others so she knew she would have to leave him and go to work and the idyll would be over.
She was late to work, finally arriving at ten just before an appointment at half-past the hour. She could barely concentrate on anything except the actual photography. The rest of the time, her thoughts kept flying back to Colin and the hours of lovemaking.
She couldn’t wait for evening to come and as soon as she could, she left work. She rushed into the house when she got home. “Colin!”
He came out of the bedroom and caught her in his arms as she flung herself at him. He picked her up while they kissed and then he carried her into his bedroom to make love to her.
Later, as he held her close and played with her hair, he thought about the day. “Mike talked to me again. He wants me to go to work with him. It would be like a partnership, although officially it’s a corporation. We’d share equally in the business.”
She twisted around to prop herself on an elbow and look at him. “Do you want to?”
“It’s appealing. I like Stallion Pass. You’re here. My friends are here. It’s a business I know and can do.”
“It’s dangerous.”
“Not too. Most of the jobs he’s taking now are for corporations about their electronic security as well as their security in general.”
“So you’re not going off by yourself,” she said quietly, holding her breath, realizing that she wanted to know for certain if he had abandoned that plan.
He smiled at her and pulled her down to kiss her before he shifted back to answer her. “No, I’m not going off to be a hermit.”
“Hallelujah!” she said, smiling at him in return.
“One more stray you’ve saved.”
“You were hardly a stray. Just someone hurt. Maybe I brought some sunshine to get rid of the dark in your life.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“Eat lunch with me tomorrow. We can eat in my office and no one can get to you there.”
“I don’t want to expose you to danger any more than I already have.”
“I think you’ve exposed me plenty,” she said, laughing and rubbing her hip against him. “C’mon. You won’t expose me—and I miss you. Just lunch. Okay? You can come in the back way. C’mon, Colin.”
“Against good judgment, all right. You know I want to be with you. I forgot an appointment yesterday with Mike.”
She giggled and he squeezed her. “You think that’s funny, but it’s not. All right, lunch at noon, and I’ll come in the back. I’ll bring something—maybe pizza.”
“Yum. Has anything turned up about the wreck we had or that stolen car?”
“Nothing. It was stolen off the street in San Antonio. That would have been easy to do. There are no leads, but we know he’s here.”
A chill ran over Isabella and she tightened her arm around Colin’s narrow waist. “If he’s here, how long will he wait to do something?”
“That’s the big question. I think we’ll get him. He’s made two attempts on my life. He’ll come after me again, and I just hope we’re all ready. If we can catch him, then I’ll be free to make decisions about the future.”
She snuggled down against him again. “The future is now and I love it!”
“Wanton wench,” he teased, turning to fondle her breast as he kissed her and conversation evaporated.
Isabella was wrapped in euphoria the next day, constantly watching the clock and eager for Colin to appear. She had dressed in a tailored orange blouse and skirt and had her hair tied behind her head with an orange silk scarf.
The minute Colin stepped through the back door, her pulse jumped. From a man with rugged good looks, he was quickly becoming the most handsome man she had ever known. Her gaze ran over him as swiftly as his passed over her. Carrying a pizza box in his hand, he wore brown slacks and a tan shirt that complemented his tanned skin and gray eyes.
“Do you smell yummy! I’ve been counting the minutes,” she said as she walked up and kissed his cheek. She took the pizza. “We’ll put this in my office. Before we eat, come say hello to Nick and Sandy. Right now, clients are gone and it’s quiet. Nick is getting ready to leave for a photography session on the square for the mayor.”
“I don’t envy him that job.”
She smiled as she accompanied Colin through the office as he said hello to Nick and Sandy.
“We’ll be in my office having lunch if you need me,” Isabella told Sandy. “I don’t have an appointment until two o’clock today.”
Sandy nodded her head and Isabella took his hand to walk back to her office. The minute she closed the door, she threw herself into his arms and wrapped her legs around him.
Startled, Colin caught her and braced his feet while he kissed her hard. Desire escalated and he kept expecting her to push him away, but she didn’t as he slid his hand beneath her skirt to slip his fingers into her silk panties.
In seconds she lowered herself to the floor and while they kissed, she unbuckled his belt.
He twisted away an inch to look down at her in surprise. “In your office, Isabella?”
She stood on tiptoe to kiss him. One look into her sultry, blue eyes and he had his answer. While he kissed her, he fumbled a packet from his billfold and as he put on the condom, her hands played over his chest.
He tugged away her panties and dropped them, turning with her to lean back against the door. He picked her up and she wrapped her long legs around him again.
Kissing her, he lowered her onto his thick shaft, sensations rocking him. He was lost now and beyond the point of no return as she moved with him and the world ceased to exist.
When release exploded within her, Isabella muffled a cry against his shoulder. They slowly regained their breaths and she stood while he continued to kiss her.
He raised his head to look at her, amusement, satisfaction and mischief in his eyes. “You forever surprise me,” he said.
She jerked her head. “I have my private bathroom over there.”
He nodded and left her and she gathered up her discarded clothes.
Shortly, they were both dressed and she had combed her hair again and retied it in her orange scarf. He watched her with amusement as she put the pizza in her microwave oven to reheat it. In minutes they had lunch spread on her desk.
“You didn’t tell me the program for today. I would’ve been looking forward to this even more.”
She winked at him. “I have to stay full of surprises to keep you interested.”
He leaned closer to catch her chin. “Darlin’, I’ll always be interested.”
She smiled at him. “Be careful or my appetite for pizza will be gone.” Her pulse skipped with his words and the unmistakable desire in his eyes. She leaned closer to him and put her chin on both her fists. “Colin, please let me take your picture.”
He laughed. “Was the lovemaking to soften me and get your way?”
“I don’t think it softened you up so much,” she drawled, giving him a hot look that sent his pulse racing. “Just a few pictures. You’re being here is no secret any longer and that’s the reason you gave me before.”
“All right, Isabella. You may take my picture. Why you want to, I’ll never know.”
She flung her arms around his neck and kissed him long and hard before she sat down and smiled at him. “Tonight we’ll go out on the ranch. You can bring all sorts of guys to protect you and let me take a few pictures in the woods. That’s wonderful. When you see your pictures, you’ll know why I wanted to take them. You have that mysterious, haunted look that is intriguing.”
“Mysterious!” He shook his head. “Whatever pleases you, pleases me.”
“So how’s it going with catching your man?”
Colin shrugged and leaned back. “I think I have too many people trying to protect me. We’re in an argument about it. Peter and Tyler don’t know about Brett who stays somewhere in
the background. Brett is highly competent. So Peter and Tyler are taking turns. But that means two people following me and while Peter and Tyler are good at it, they’re not that good. They haven’t been on the street or in action like Brett. They’ve had too many hours in the office and I think it’s easy to spot them.”
“Can you get rid of them?”
He nodded. “I’m working on it. Then, even though they deny it, I think Boone and Mike and Jonah are taking shifts. That means three guys are tagging after me. It’s like a damn Clouseau movie and it would be funny if it wasn’t a life or death matter. I don’t think our spy can risk coming after me and he’s just going to wait them out.”
“I take it you’ve talked to all of them about it.”
Colin nodded and drank soda from a can, setting the cold can on a coaster on her desk. “We’re hashing it out. They don’t agree and your brother and those guys deny that they’re following, but I know they are. I’ve seen them.”
“So if all of them pull away, you think you’ll be safe with just Brett?”
“Definitely. A lot safer than this way. This is ludicrous.”
“Why won’t Boone and friends agree?”
“I told you, they keep saying they’re not following me. I figure a few more days of this and some of them will see it my way because the guy won’t make a move with this entourage traveling with me.”
“Frankly, I’m glad to hear it, but I know it just postpones the inevitable. I’ve lived all my life with Boone doing wild and scary things and I’ve accepted it—”
“And done some of them with him,” Colin interjected dryly. “I seem to remember Boone talking about you two skinny-dipping in a strip mine at night one time when you were kids. That’s insane.”
“I didn’t get my head under. Anyway, I always accepted all those things, but I’ll have to admit, I’m worrying about you in a way I never did with my brother.”
“Is that right?” Colin said, leaning across the desk, his lunch forgotten.
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
“It went somewhere else. Come here,” he said, taking her wrist and pulling her into his lap to kiss her. Finally she pushed against his chest and stood up, straightening her clothes.
“I have an appointment and I can’t look too rumpled.”
He grinned and stood. “I’m late for my appointment with Mike, but that’s nothing new.” He gathered up the empty cans and she caught his wrist.
“Give me those, and you go on to your appointment.”
“See you at home tonight,” he said. He slipped his hand behind her head and gazed at her solemnly. “You keep alert about what’s going on around you. He could snatch you to get at me.”
“That just makes my day.”
“You might as well have your guard up. I feel certain I’m being watched by our man.”
“How on earth would you know with all these guys following you?”
Instead of answering her, he pulled her close to kiss her long and thoroughly before he released her. “That’s the best lunch I ever had.”
She grinned. “I hoped it would be. Eat lunch with me tomorrow.”
He laughed and nodded. “Same time, same place, same menu. See you at the ranch tonight.” She followed him to the door, standing in the doorway to watch him climb into his car and drive away. She looked up and down the alley, seeing someone park and go into a store, waving at another person she knew who worked two doors down. She didn’t see anyone tailing Colin, but she was certain he knew what he was talking about.
A chill slithered through her as she thought about the danger he was constantly in. There were moments in each other’s arms when danger seemed far removed, yet it actually wasn’t. They were all so sure they could catch the killer, but she knew what danger stalked Colin.
Colin entered Mike’s office and closed the door. “Sit down,” Mike said, coming around his desk to shake hands with Colin. Mike, wearing a red sport shirt and charcoal slacks, looked content.
“Marriage must be good for you. You’re more relaxed these days than I ever recall in the military.”
“Marriage is great for me,” Mike replied, amused. “There’s no way to compare it to military life.” He turned a chair to sit facing Colin, rather than put the desk between them. “What’s up?”
“I want you, Boone and Jonah to stop tailing me. Don’t tell me you’re not because I’m sure you are.”
“We must be getting sloppy.”
“Look, Brett’s tailing me and he’s damn good. I haven’t spotted him once, but I know he’s there. He would have been there to chase the killer, but Tyler led him away from me. He followed Tyler that night, thinking I was ahead of Tyler. I’d pulled off and was hiding in the bushes until they drove past. And I don’t think our man would’ve made a try if he had seen headlights in the distance behind me.”
“Okay, I’ll tell the guys. We just don’t want you hurt. This was our idea to make you bait. We don’t want it to end up going wrong.”
“I know you don’t and it was a good idea because if we can catch him, I can lead a normal life. That’s worth risk. I’m counting on Brett and I keep telling you, he’s good at what he does.”
“Okay,” Mike said, crossing his legs, “so we’ll pull back. You be careful. We can’t think of another thing we can do to help you.”
“Just stay where I can reach you if I need you.”
Mike nodded. “That’s damn little, but okay. Which man is following you now? Do you even know?”
“Yes. It’s Peter. We’ve had enough contact that I know their schedules. One thing, we know the killer is in Stallion Pass. He’s here and he’s watching and waiting. Let’s get him.”
“You just be careful and don’t take any unnecessary chances. I’m still not over letting you go in alone—”
“Forget it, Mike, for once and forever. On that mission each of us did what we thought we should. Now, think about where I can go and what I can do that might draw our guy out.”
“Will do. I’m glad you’re beginning to get your memory back.”
“Yeah. There’s still something—I just know there is. I still feel a gap.”
“It’ll come. Give it time.”
“See you later, Mike.” He stood and Mike followed him to the door where they said goodbye.
As soon as Colin left, Mike called Jonah and asked him to call Boone so they could all get together. He had a plan that he didn’t want to discuss over the phone.
Late that afternoon the three met on Jonah’s ranch. Mike drove his pickup beneath a tall live oak. Shade spilled over his friends and as he looked at Jonah in boots, jeans and a Western shirt and Boone in almost the same attire, he realized they were turning into cowboys.
Marriage and Texas agreed with all three of them, Mike knew, and he was heartily thankful for Savannah and Jessie coming into his life.
The three had parked their pickups far from the highway to insure no one could follow them without being easily observed. Climbing out of his pickup, Mike walked up to the other two men and greeted them.
“Colin stopped by the office today. He wants us to quit tailing him. He said that Brett always does and Peter and Tyler take shifts. Three trailing along behind him keep the killer away.”
Jonah nodded. “I agree, but none of us want Colin hurt.”
“How about we follow Peter and Tyler when they’re off their shift with Colin?”
Jonah nodded while Boone rubbed his jaw. “If they’re legit, then we’re leaving Colin in the lurch.”
“Not if Brett is doing his job. And the other one, either Peter or Tyler, will be somewhere in the background with Colin.”
“I think you have a smart idea,” Jonah said quietly. “It’s something we can do, and it may turn out to be important.”
“Settled?” Mike asked and the other two nodded. “Okay, let’s work out a schedule. We can let whoever sees Colin next know what we’re doing. I still don’t think the phones are safe.”<
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“I agree,” Boone said. “I can take the first shift. Which man do I follow?”
“Peter is tailing Colin now,” Mike replied. “Once we get started tailing one of them, we’ll know which one is with Colin.”
“Let’s hope something works here,” Jonah said. “Colin needs a break and he sure as hell doesn’t need any more trouble or to get hurt again.”
“I hope we’re doing the right thing,” Boone added before they broke up and each climbed into his own truck.
As Colin drove to the ranch late in the afternoon, he glanced in the rearview mirror. There was traffic on the highway and with two cars between them, he spotted the ever-present black sedan. Both Peter and Tyler had rented identical black sedans and they were incredibly easy to spot. Colin shook his head. He knew he should be glad they were back there, but he suspected they were keeping anything from happening. His thoughts jumped to Isabella and anticipation heightened his excitement over getting home to her.
Desire fanned to life, heating him while he thought about last night and today’s lunch date. Was he falling in love again? He hoped to hell not because he was certain her heart was safely secured in a vault more protective than Fort Knox.
But life with Isabella was fantastic. He couldn’t look far into the future and he saw no point in it. Instead, he just accepted each day and enjoyed being with her and loving her. When this was over and they had to part, they would.
He knew he had frightened her slightly at lunch when he had warned her that someone might try to grab her to get to him, but he wanted her to stay vigilant. They weren’t together in public and he thought she was safe at the ranch. It was reassuring to him to know that she could react as coolly as any soldier he had ever known.
He thought about Mike’s offer. Stay in Stallion Pass where his friends were. Have a job he liked and knew. Live with Isabella. That was the big one. Everything else diminished next to consideration about her. He couldn’t wait to see her.
Two hours later, he couldn’t believe what he had let himself in for.
Chapter 12
S ome of the hands had gone with them to give Colin protection. Now they were fanned out in the woods and he was with Isabella. Boone stood nearby with his weapon tucked into his waistband.
