Lethal Attraction: Against the RulesFatal Affair

by Linda Howard

  “I want to take apart that bill he was sponsoring, line by line,” Sam said. “Maybe I’ve totally missed the boat on this. I’ve been thinking jilted lover, but they don’t tend to plant bombs.”

  “No,” Malone agreed. “They tend to dismember.”

  “Which is why I’ve focused most of my attention on his love life.” Sam got up to pace. “We’ve uncovered a slew of recent ex-lovers, a few with complaints about some of his, um, fetishes.” She sent a sympathetic glance to Nick since he was hearing this for the first time. “But maybe Cruz is right. Maybe the Lorena Bobbitt was intended to throw us off.”

  “He was dismembered?” Higgins squeaked, his baby face gone pale.

  “A detail we’ve managed to keep out of the press,” Farnsworth said with a pointed look at his detective.

  “Yes, sir.” Higgins got up to leave. “I need to get back to the lab where it’s safe.”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “Run back to your cave, Higgins, and leave the dirty work to those of us in the field.”

  “You can have it. I’ll send you details on the EDs when I have more, but I can tell you they were crude and you got lucky, Sergeant. Damned lucky.”

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “I know.” She saw him out and turned to find every man in the room focused on her.

  No doubt sensing a battle royal in the making, Celia stepped into the kitchen.

  “Before you all get going,” Sam said, “I have something I want to say, and I want you to listen to me without interrupting.”

  When they agreed with their silence, she pushed her fist into her aching gut and took a second to look each of them in the eye—Dad, her hero and her rock; Chief Farnsworth, beloved friend and respected leader; Captain Malone, boss and mentor; and Nick, quickly becoming more important than anyone. All of them cared about her. She had no doubt about that, just as she had no doubt they’d go to any lengths to keep her safe.

  “I’m sure you two have cooked up a plan to toss me into a safe house for the weekend,” she said to her father and the chief, “but that’s not going to happen.” Before they could protest, she held up a hand to stop them. “I’m going to continue to work this case until I close it, and I’m not going to let punks or terrorists or whoever strapped an ED to my car and Nick’s take me off the streets. The minute they think they have that kind of power over me, I’m done on this job and you know it.”

  Pausing, she made eye contact with each of them again. “I know you’re worried, and I know you care. But if you care about me at all, don’t ask me to be a coward. I won’t deny that bomb scared the shit out of me.” She let her gaze fall on Nick. “When I saw your face covered with blood, my heart almost stopped. So I’m going to get them. If for no other reason than they hurt you, and that’s simply unacceptable to me.”

  Nick’s hard expression softened into a smile that engaged his eyes and filled her heart with emotions she had never experienced quite so strongly before.

  To Farnsworth, she said, “Let me do my job. I’ll take every precaution I can. I’ll run things from here, stay as close to home as I can, but I won’t hide out. I dare any of you to tell me you wouldn’t rather go down in the line than run scared from scum who think they can take us out like yesterday’s garbage.”

  A full minute of silence ensued, during which she noticed Farnsworth and Malone watching her dad and understood they were going to take their cues from him.

  “I’d like to see that immigration bill,” Skip finally said. He glanced at Nick. “I’m a political junky in my spare time. I might catch something in there we can use.”

  “I’ll get it for you.” Nick checked his watch as he stood up. “My staff should be back from Richmond by now, so let me make a call. What format do you prefer?”

  “A fax would work. We can pop it right into my reading device. I can see two pages at once that way.” Skip rattled off the number and followed Nick into the kitchen.

  “I’m going to go lean on the lab to speed things up with the boomer,” Malone said as he pulled on his coat.

  Sam was left alone with the chief. “I know what you’re going to say.”

  “Do you?”

  She squirmed under the heat of his stare. In a rush of words, she said, “I’m sorry I lied to you about Nick. But I was so afraid you’d take me off the case, and after Johnson I needed it. You know I did. I tried to fight what was happening between us, but he was just there for me, every step of the way and I, um…Why are you smiling?”

  “In some ways, you’re exactly the same as you were at twelve, you know that?” He took a step closer to her, the smile fading. “But if you ever, ever lie to me again, Sergeant, I’ll have your badge. Are we clear?”

  “Crystal,” she said, swallowing hard. “Sir.”

  “Get O’Connor cleaned up—and fast. I don’t want any more bad publicity for you or the department.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He called out his goodbyes to Skip and Celia before donning his coat.

  “Chief? Thank you for understanding why I have to do this.”

  “I would’ve done the same thing myself. In fact, your dad predicted your little speech almost down to the last vowel. We were ready for you.”

  “Well, sheesh,” she huffed. “Here I was thinking I’d handled you, and I’m the one being handled?”

  “You gotta get up a lot earlier in the morning to get one past a couple of crusty old vets like us. Truth is, we would’ve been disappointed if you’d done it any other way. You’re a chip off the old block, Holland.”

  “Thank you, sir. You couldn’t pay me a higher compliment.”

  “I know.” He glanced toward the kitchen. “You think about what it would do to him if something happens to you. It’d be the end of him. You think about that.”

  “Yes, sir,” she whispered as she watched him go down the ramp.

  CHAPTER 23

  With Nick outside on the phone, Sam went into the kitchen where her dad was reading the bill.

  She bent to kiss his cheek. “Thanks for the help. I hate feeling like I’ve totally missed the point on this one.”

  “Don’t know for sure yet that you have. Just because it’s taken a few twists and turns doesn’t mean you aren’t on the right path.”

  “That’s true.”

  “Seems like a nice kid.”

  “Who? Higgins?”

  “No,” he said grinning. “Nick.”

  “Oh, right.” She wasn’t ready to go down that path with him just yet. “So, hey, I hear you’ve been keeping secrets.”

  “You’re one to talk, and which secrets are you referring to?”

  Sam raised an eyebrow as she slipped into a kitchen chair.

  “Oh. Celia.”

  “Uh huh,” Sam said, delighted by the faint blush that appeared on his ruddy cheeks.

  “Well, I was going to tell you.”

  “Except you were too chicken so you got her to tell me.”

  “Something like that.”

  Sam laughed. “I’m happy for you.”

  “Really? You are?” His relief was almost as comical as his embarrassment.

  “Of course I am. She’s terrific. What would we have done without her the last couple of years?”

  “No kidding. Thing I can’t understand is why she’d want to shackle herself to this?” With his eyes, he took in his useless body, the chair, the whole situation.

  “She loves you. I think it’s that simple.”

  “She’s not in it for the house or the pension, in case you wondered.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Sure you did, because I’ve trained you to be as cynical as I am.”

  “Well, maybe it crossed my mind for an instant, but listening to her talk about you…she’s genuine.”

  “I think she is,” he said, seeming incredulous. “In fact, she wants to sign something that says she gets nothing, you know, after…”

  “Which says to me she should get it.”

  “See? That’s
what I think, too. It wouldn’t bother you or your sisters if she got a cut?”

  Sam stood up to rest her hands on his shoulders and brought her face down to his. “All I want is you, here with us, for as long as we can have you, for as long as you want to be here.”

  “You haven’t forgotten, have you? About our deal?”

  Sam thought of the prescription bottle she had stashed in a safety deposit box. “No.”

  “And you’re still willing? If the time comes…”

  Fighting back the sting of pain in her belly and her heart, she kept her voice steady when she said, “If the time comes.”

  He released a long deep breath. “Good. Okay. Let me get back to this. I’ll report in if anything jumps out, Sergeant—or should I say Lieutenant?”

  “Not quite yet.” She kissed his forehead. “Thanks for the help.”

  “My pleasure.”

  And she could see that it was. He seemed more vital, more alive in that moment than he had in a long time. She should’ve been bringing him into her cases on a more formal basis all along and vowed to do so going forward. His mind was as sharp as ever, and if using it gave him a reason to stay in the fight, then she’d use it and no doubt benefit from it.

  *

  Nick ended the call with Christina and stashed the cell phone he’d borrowed from Sam in his pocket. He rested against the porch rail and let his eyes wander up and down the quiet street. Some of the townhouses were painted in a variety of bright colors while others were fronted by brick or stone. The red brick sidewalks sloped and curved over tree roots. Black wrought-iron gates added a touch of class to the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

  Was someone out there right now watching him? Hoping to get another shot at Sam? Or at him? The thought sent a chill chasing through him as he contemplated the sudden changes in his life. Last Saturday, he spent the morning in the office and then played in a pickup basketball game at the gym. He went out for a few beers with the guys he’d played with and went home alone.

  Now, a week later, John was dead, he was in love with Samantha Holland and someone had tried to kill them both. Any doubt that he was in love with her had evaporated during the interminable trip through shattered glass to get to her after the bombing. He’d had just enough time to imagine a return to the empty existence his life had been without her to be certain he loved her.

  Three doors down on Ninth Street, a metal “For Sale” sign caught his attention as it banged against a brick-front townhouse. The creepy sound reminded Nick of ghost towns and spaghetti Westerns. Another trickle of fear crept along his spine as he took a long look up and down the deserted street.

  “What’re you doing out here in the cold?” Sam asked as she joined him on the porch.

  “Nothing much.” He extended a hand to her. “Where’s your coat?”

  “I’ll share yours.” She slipped her arms around his waist and burrowed into his coat. “Mmm. Warm.”

  As Nick held her close, he wondered how he had survived, how he had lived without her for all the years since he first met her. He closed his eyes and rested his cheek on the top of her head.

  “What are you thinking about?”

  He couldn’t tell her he loved her. Not now. Not in the midst of murder and chaos and not when she wasn’t ready to hear it. Later, he decided. There’d be time. He would make sure of it. “That you showed a lot of spine before, letting them know you planned to stay on the case.”

  “Yeah, well, apparently they predicted that’s what I’d say and had planned for it.” She looked up at him. “I just cashed in every good judgment and sterling moral code chip I’ve earned in twelve years on the force to bring you into my life.” With a coy smile, she added, “I hope you’re going to be worth it.”

  Realizing the huge step she was taking, he framed her face with his hands and kissed her. “I will be. I promise.”

  “I was kidding.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  She brought him down to her and sucked the breath out of his lungs with a passionate kiss.

  “Sam,” he gasped, burying his face in the elegant curve of her neck. “God.”

  “What? What is it?”

  “When I think about what might’ve happened.” He raised his head, met her sparkling blue eyes and was grateful. So very grateful. “I know this is all so new, but the thought of losing you…again…I don’t want to lose you.”

  “You won’t. Nothing’s going to happen to me.”

  “They could take a shot at you right now. We’re totally exposed standing out here.”

  She reached up to caress his face. “You can’t do this. If you’re going to be with me—”

  “If?”

  She smiled. “I get hurt every now and then. I have close calls—not like I did today—but stuff happens. You can’t let fear rule you. That’s no life for you—or me.” She hesitated, as if there was something else she wanted to say.

  “What?” He sensed her tension before he felt it. “Babe. What?”

  “When I was married,” she said haltingly, “Peter obsessed about my safety, my whereabouts, my cases. It wasn’t healthy, and while it wasn’t the only problem we had, it made a bad situation much worse. It was totally suffocating.”

  “I hear what you’re saying, and I understand. I really do. I’ll do my best to give you room to breathe, but you’ve got to give me some time to adjust, okay? I’m not used to the woman I care about being nearly blown up in my front yard. It’s going to take me a while to get used to the dangers that go with your job.”

  “Fair enough.”

  He brushed his thumbs over the deep, dark circles under her eyes and pressed a gentle kiss to the lump on her forehead. “You’re whipped. Do you think you could sleep for a bit?”

  “I guess I could try, but my mind is racing. I want to get everyone here later when Freddie gets back to start all over again. We’re missing something. I know we are.”

  “You won’t be any good to anyone if you run yourself into the ground. How about a nap to recharge?”

  She flashed that coy smile he’d come to love. “Only if you join me.”

  “Here? With your dad in the house?”

  “He can’t shoot you.”

  “That’s not funny. He can have me killed. Easily.”

  “I was married, Nick. He knows I’ve had sex.”

  “Not with me.”

  “I’ll bet he doesn’t think we were baking cookies last night.”

  “That’s what we were doing. If he asks, that’s exactly what we were doing. Baking cookies—all night long.”

  Laughing, she took his hand to lead him inside. “We’re going to crash for a bit,” she said to Celia. “Freddie is due back later tonight. If we conk out big time, will you wake us up when he gets here?”

  “I sure will, honey. Can I get you two something to eat?”

  “I don’t think I could eat yet,” Sam said, running her hand over her belly.

  “Me either,” Nick said. “But thanks anyway.” He glanced at the kitchen where Skip was still engrossed in the immigration bill. “If you could fail to mention to Chief Holland that I’m upstairs, too, that’d be cool. In fact, I’d pay you.”

  Celia chuckled and waved them up. “I’ll see what I can do.”

  Feeling like a teenager sneaking into his girlfriend’s room—a goal he’d never managed to achieve back then—Nick followed Sam up the stairs.

  She closed the bedroom door and pulled off her sweater.

  He winced at the ugly purple bruise on her chest. If he hadn’t stopped breathing, he might’ve enjoyed watching her strip. “I agreed to a nap. I didn’t agree to nudity.”

  “You want me to sleep, right?”

  “Uh huh.”

  She wiggled out of her jeans and panties and came at him with intent in her eyes. “I sleep best in the nude.”

  He took a step back and encountered wall. “He’s going to know. If a babe like you is my daughter, I’ve got her room bugged to make sure guy
s like me don’t get in.” Without allowing his eyes to leave her face, he said, “So he’s going to know I’m up here with his daughter—his beautiful, sexy, naked daughter—and he’ll call some of his cop buddies. They’ll drag me into a dark alley to rip the limbs from my body one by one, and then toss what’s left of me in the Potomac.”

  Laughing, Sam slipped her hands under his sweater and eased it up and over his head, catching him off guard when she nuzzled his nipple. That’s all it took to make him rock hard.

  “With an imagination like that, you should consider a career in fiction.”

  He kept his hands limp at his sides. Maybe if he didn’t leave prints on her he’d walk away with his life.

  “You really think you can resist me?” she asked, trailing kisses from his jaw to his collarbone as her breasts rubbed against his chest.

  “My life depends on it.”

  Her lips glided over his chest to his belly. “All that tough talk from before…” She unbuttoned his jeans, pushed them down and sank to her knees in front of him. “I think I’m about to make you my lapdog.”

  Sensing where this was going, he tried to escape.

  In a move that both startled and stirred him, she pinned him to the wall.

  He groaned, his fingers rolling into fists as her hot mouth closed around him. “Sam…please. I thought you liked me.”

  “I do,” she said, dragging her tongue in circles that made his head spin. “I really do.”

  A bead of sweat rolled between his shoulder blades, straight down his spine. “He’ll know, and he’ll kill me.”

  She managed to laugh as she sucked. Hard.

  “Jesus.” His breathing became labored, the heat of her mouth unbearable. “Sam, honey, come here.”

  “So you’re willing to play now?”

  “Yeah.” He helped her up, lifted her and sank into her in one easy movement. “Hell, you only live once, right?”

  She gasped from the impact.

  “Okay?” he asked.

  Her arms encircled him, and he bit back a moan when she made contact with the bump on the back of his head. “Yes,” she sighed. “So okay.”

  If he had to suffocate, he decided, he wanted to do it between Samantha Holland’s spectacular breasts, engulfed in her jasmine and vanilla scent. Dropping a gentle kiss on the bruise, he walked them—carefully, since his jeans were still twisted around his ankles—to the bed and lowered her.