Harlequin Romantic Suspense January 2021

by Marie Ferrarella, Regan Black, Karen Whiddon

“Well, if you didn’t know, you didn’t know,” January said, resigned. She told herself that getting upset over what had happened wouldn’t lead anywhere.

  “That’s no excuse,” Sean bit out, furious about the oversight. “Luckily, Jacobs and his partner and a second squad car were in the area,” he told her, but there was no abating the red-hot outrage he felt. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

  January didn’t want the detective blaming himself. “Well, it’s not your fault.”

  “Oh, but it is,” Sean said, contradicting her assumption.

  Her eyebrows drew together. “Maybe it’s because of the hour,” she told the detective. “But I don’t understand.” She looked up at him. “Why would it be your fault?”

  “Because I’m thinking that whoever broke into your house had to be after Maya. That means that they followed me from the police station parking lot to your house. I am sincerely sorry, January, if I was responsible in any way for bringing those thugs to your doorstep.”

  She looked at him and saw the genuine regret in his eyes. He was sincerely sorry and there was absolutely nothing to be gained by making him feel even worse about it.

  “Well, you didn’t do it intentionally,” she said, absolving him of the guilt. “But now what?” She glanced at Maya.

  Maya had to be protected at all costs and they both knew that.

  “I’m not leaving you unprotected again,” Sean promised her.

  That sounded good, but she wanted specifics. “What does that mean exactly?” she asked Sean, then made a guess. “Are you planning on camping out in the middle of my living room?”

  “No, I’m taking you and Maya to my place,” Sean informed her seriously, explaining, “You’re moving in with me.”

  January hadn’t expected that. “With you?” she repeated a little uncertainly. “Do you have enough room?”

  “I have enough room,” the detective assured her. “Besides,” he added with a smile, “Maya’s little. She doesn’t take up much space.” There was a fond look in his eyes as he looked down at the little girl. And then he raised his eyes to January again. “Why don’t you go and pack a few things for you and Maya? And then we’ll get going. The sooner I have you out of here, the better.”

  This was really happening, January thought, stunned. It almost felt surreal. She needed to focus, to center her thoughts on things she could control. “How much should I pack?” she asked.

  “Why don’t you pack enough clothes for about five days,” Sean told her, doing a quick estimate. “If you wind up staying at my place for longer than that, we can always come back here and get some more of your things.”

  January blew out a breath, frustrated. It was hard wrapping her head around this turn of events. “I feel like a nomad,” she confessed as she began to go up the stairs again.

  “Better a live nomad than the alternative,” Sean quietly pointed out.

  He was right, January thought, pressing her lips together.

  She was doing her best not to lose it.

  She was a Colton, damn it. And Coltons could handle anything that was thrown at them.

  January started up the stairs again.

  Maya looked torn between following January and staying with her protector.

  Seeing her dilemma, Sean made a decision. “Wait up, January. You’re going to have company.” And with that, the detective took Maya’s hand and went upstairs behind the woman.

  Coming to the landing, January looked at the little girl. “Are you going to help me pack?” She smiled as she signed the question to Maya.

  For the first time since this whole terrifying thing had started tonight, Maya smiled at January and nodded her head.

  “Good,” January signed back to her, saying the words aloud for Sean’s benefit. “I could use your help.”

  “You know, I really appreciate that,” Sean told January as he followed her and the little girl.

  “Appreciate what?” January asked, not sure what the detective was referring to. Right now, the inside of her head felt like a giant jumble. It was hard thinking clearly and keeping everything straight.

  “That when you sign to Maya, you say all the words out loud,” Sean said.

  “Oh, that. Actually, I do that as a form of reinforcement,” she confessed. “I say something out loud because it seems to help my fingers make the right moves to convey the words.”

  “Well, whatever the reason,” Sean said, “I fully appreciate not being kept in the dark about your communication. It’s hard enough on me not to know what’s going on.”

  “Think how Maya feels,” January reminded the detective.

  He flushed, embarrassed that he had made it seem that he was emphasizing himself. Maya was the important one in this.

  “Yeah,” he agreed. “You’re absolutely right.”

  Packing, January caught herself smiling at the detective. In her experience, there weren’t many men who would be willing to give a woman they hardly knew her due the way he did.

  Detective Sean Stafford, she thought as she got another pair of jeans out of the closet, was a rare man indeed.

  The next moment, she ordered herself not to get carried away. She knew that she had a bad tendency to do that when she dropped her guard—and this was definitely not the time for that.

  Forcing herself to focus, January raised her guard again.

  Moving quickly, she managed to pack one suitcase for herself in short order.

  “What about Maya?” Sean asked. Watching January pack, he noticed that the only clothes that had gone into the suitcase were the ones that fit the social worker.

  “Well, we had plans to go clothes shopping tomorrow,” January told Sean. “But after what happened tonight, I suppose that’s out now.”

  Sean looked at her. “Why?”

  Was he playing games, or just testing her? “Well, because you just said we were going into hiding,” she reminded him.

  “No, what I said was I was transferring the two of you to my place. I didn’t say anything about actually physically going into hiding,” he told her.

  Okay, this was a test, she decided. She wasn’t about to have him trip her up. “I just assumed that going to what amounts to a ‘safe house’ wasn’t going to include any shopping sprees on the agenda. Was I wrong?”

  “No, not a shopping spree,” he agreed. “But there isn’t anything against going to buy some much needed clothing for a pint-sized princess,” he told her, smiling at Maya.

  Every time he found himself looking at Maya, Sean couldn’t help smiling. By the same token, he couldn’t help feeling furious and incensed that someone out there was willing to heartlessly do away with the child because she had had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  Sean was beginning to think that she had nothing to do with the dead men who had been part of the drug organization.

  For all he knew, Maya had just gotten lost while she was out with someone from her family. Without any identification on her and a limited ability to communicate, the little girl had been at the mercy of whoever’s path she had wound up crossing.

  Luckily, he thought, the path she had crossed had been his. Otherwise, who knew where she might have wound up? He abandoned the thought because to go on with it made him sick to his stomach.

  “So, how about it?” he asked January. She had closed her suitcase so he picked it up and carried it down the stairs for her. Maya was right behind him. “You think you might be up for a small shopping excursion tomorrow, once you two get some beauty sleep?”

  To be honest, she was having trouble thinking past the moment.

  “Right now,” January admitted, “sleep seems like a million miles away.”

  “Oh, it’s a lot closer than that,” Sean assured her. “And I’ve got a very comfortable mattress in my guest room.” />
  “Guest room,” she repeated, stressing the singular. “Not rooms?”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, just the one,” he told her. “After all, I’m just a poor public servant. What that means is that I can afford a two-bedroom apartment, not a fancy town house. It is on the second floor, though.” In case January didn’t follow him, what he was telling her was a good thing. “That means we can hear the bad guys coming.”

  She knew he was trying to make light of the situation in order to put her at ease and she did appreciate that. But the whole ordeal was still far too fresh in her mind for her to make peace with it yet.

  January highly doubted that she would be able to sleep at all for the remainder of the night, much less get enough sleep to feel refreshed enough in the morning to be able to go on this excursion he was proposing.

  Still, January reminded herself, she had been able to function on essentially an eyedropper’s worth of sleep several times before. She could certainly do it one more time.

  Standing on the first floor, she looked around for a moment. The first set of police officers had left, but the ones who had arrived in the second squad car were still there.

  “Are you looking for something?” Sean asked January. “Maybe I can help.”

  “No, I’m just trying to see if I’ve forgotten anything essential I might need for my sleepover at your place,” January answered.

  Well, at least she was keeping a sense of humor about it, he thought. In his book, that made her a pretty remarkable woman.

  Careful, Stafford. Keep it low-key. You don’t want to get carried away, he warned himself.

  “You know, if you think of anything you need later, like I said, we—or I—can always come back and get it for you,” Sean told her.

  “In other words, let’s hit the road?” she asked, amused.

  “Well, if you put it that way,” he allowed. “Yes, in any words, let’s hit the road.” And then he turned toward the two police officers. “I want the two of you to follow me in your car. I am not taking any more chances with these two.”

  “Understood, Detective,” said Officer Webber, the senior partner of the duo.

  The officers were more than happy to be Stafford’s escorts. They left the town house and January, glancing in Sean’s direction, locked the front door and set the alarm system.

  The officers traveled behind Sean’s sedan, acting as his safeguard, until he reached his apartment with his precious cargo.

  CHAPTER 13

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Sean said as he let January and Maya into his apartment. He set down her suitcase in order to be able to reset his security system. “You’re thinking that the apartment looks small.”

  January cut him short. He had come to their rescue and was now taking them in. There was absolutely nothing negative about that.

  “Actually,” she told the detective, “I prefer the word cozy.” January smiled at him. “It seems to fit better.”

  Sean made eye contact with her. She was attempting to flatter him. There was no need for that. “Well I prefer the word honesty,” he responded.

  “Okay.” She could go along with that. And, since he put such a premium on honesty, she had a question for him. An obvious one, in her opinion. “When was the last time you had this place cleaned?” she asked. While the dust wasn’t exactly an inch thick, Sean’s clothes were scattered around, looking as if they remained on the floor where he had dropped them—possibly in a hurry.

  There was also the very real possibility that tidiness was not a really big deal on his list of priorities.

  “Not sure,” he deadpanned, then quipped, “My maid has the month off.”

  “Was that after she ran screaming from this place, or before?” she asked, humor playing on her lips.

  He scanned the area through her eyes. “I guess I could stand to be a bit neater,” he admitted.

  January could only laugh in response. “You think?” she asked, amused, then added for emphasis, “You could stand to be a hell of a lot neater.”

  She glanced around the room again, imagining what the rest of the apartment looked like. “I take it that you don’t do much entertaining,” she commented.

  He saw no point in denying it and attempting to maintain some sort of an image of a life. “My job doesn’t exactly leave much time for that,” he told her.

  January would have definitely thought that a man as extremely attractive and sexy as the detective would have found some time to bring women into his life.

  Actually, she mentally amended, she would have thought Sean would have had to beat those women off with a stick.

  “I guess we have the same job.” When he raised a quizzical eyebrow in response to her comment, she explained. “I don’t have any free time, either. Being a social worker requires putting in a twenty-hour day—plus overtime,” she added whimsically. Maya was yawning, drawing her attention back to the little girl. “Okay, show me to your guest room so I can put this munchkin to bed.”

  Sean looked at Maya. She was swaying where she stood.

  “She looks like she’s about to fall asleep standing up,” he commented.

  January laughed under her breath. “I’m counting on that,” she admitted. Sympathy filled her eyes. “She really needs to get some rest.”

  “No argument here,” Sean agreed. “This way.” He paused only long enough to gather Maya up into his arms. She curled against him, resting her head on his shoulder.

  January picked up her suitcase, following the detective.

  “This layout is deceptive—actually larger than I’d expect,” she observed, looking around as he led her to the second bedroom.

  “Glad you approve. Tomorrow, after we buy some clothes for Maya, I’ll see about getting the two of you set up in a hotel.”

  She didn’t understand. January thought they had agreed about having Maya and her stay here. “Why would you do that?” she asked.

  Sean set Maya down on the double bed.

  Her lids fluttered. The little girl smiled up at him. It was obvious that she could hardly keep her eyes open. The next moment, they were closed again. Sean hadn’t even had time to tuck her in.

  Thinking that January was undoubtedly better at it, Sean stepped back and left that up to the social worker to do.

  “I thought you’d prefer that,” he explained, referring to her question about the hotel room, lowering his voice before it hit him that he didn’t need to. “You know,” he continued in a normal voice, “a bigger bedroom with two double beds. I’d take the sofa,” he added quickly in case January was worried that he was going to take one of the beds. Or that he wasn’t going to be there.

  “No,” January said, vetoing the idea. “This arrangement is fine. Besides, this is your home territory. I think you’d be more comfortable defending it. It would certainly be more familiar to you.”

  “True,” he said, thinking her comment over. It actually did make more sense to remain here. “Okay, if you have no objections, then, consider this your home until further notice. Can I get you anything?”

  “Peace of mind would be nice,” January answered wistfully.

  His smile was sympathetic. “I’m working on it.”

  Not nearly fast enough for me, she thought. Out loud she said, “I know. Thanks. And no, I don’t need you to get me anything.”

  “Good night, then,” he said, reluctantly closing the door behind him, even though he would have really liked to have stayed with January in the room, at least a while longer.

  January took in a deep breath and held it for a moment, then slowly released it. She spread her hand and pressed it against the door frame, imagining touching Sean’s face.

  “Good night,” January whispered to the door.

  * * *

  After twenty minutes had passed, she knew she was far too tense an
d restless to fall asleep any time in the near future. Right now, she definitely needed something to make her relax.

  But January had never been the type who believed in taking sleeping pills. Having any sort of alcoholic beverage to help her unwind wouldn’t have been her choice, either. This was not the time to start doing either one.

  That left hot tea, she thought. Hot tea used to do the trick when she was in college.

  She thought the odds of Stafford having any tea in his cupboard were probably slim to none, but she supposed she’d never know unless she ventured out and looked around.

  So, still in bare feet, January quietly padded into the kitchen. It was past two o’clock in the morning and the stillness that was both outside and in seemed to undulate around her, slipping under her skin.

  She could actually hear herself breathing.

  The apartment complex was silent. The residents in the area had long since gone to sleep.

  For all intents and purposes, January thought, at this moment in time, she was alone in the world.

  “Can I help you find something?”

  The voice, coming behind her, made January jump and gasp in surprise as she swung her fist at him.

  Standing behind her, Sean caught her arm before she could make a connection.

  “Hey, Champ, I’m one of the good guys, remember?” the detective asked.

  It took her more than a minute to still her pounding heart. Sean had definitely surprised her. She had thought that he was one of the home invaders, trying to break in again.

  Realizing her mistake, it occurred to her that Sean was standing much too close to her. She could feel herself responding, growing warm. January struggled to regain control.

  Finding her voice, she said, “I thought you were asleep.” Damn, why wouldn’t her heart stop pounding like this?

  A faint smile curved his lips. “A good detective sleeps with one eye open.”

  “Is it always the same eye, or do you alternate?” She knew she was making inane conversation, but right now, she was stalling for time until she felt her brain was back in gear.

  “That all depends on how long—or short—the night is,” Sean said wryly. “What are you doing up?”