by Karen Foley
“Ma’am?” The guard looked concerned. “I believe Marshal Cooper will be right back if you’d like to wait.”
“That’s okay,” she demurred. “I know where to find him.”
He was halfway to his feet, clearly uncertain what to do, since his own assignment was to stand guard outside the judge’s hospital room. For a moment, Caroline felt sympathy for him.
“Please don’t worry about me,” she called. “I’ll probably run into the marshal and his deputy in the stairwell.”
But he was speaking into his earpiece, and Caroline pushed the door open and quickly made her way down the stairwell. On the first floor, she found herself in a wide corridor, bustling with medical personnel and visitors. Directly across from the stairwell entrance was a revolving door that led to the parking lot. Pushing through the doors, she looked around for Jason or Deputy Black, frowning when she didn’t see either one of them.
It was possible they had taken the elevator back up to the third floor, in which case Jason wasn’t going to be pleased to find her gone. Quickly, she redialed Patrick’s number.
“Hey, Caroline,” he said. “I’m glad you called me back. How’s your father doing?”
“He’s actually showing signs of improvement,” Caroline said. “Is everything okay out there?”
“Yes, everything is fine,” he assured her. “I just wanted to be sure you were okay, and to let you know that Devon Lawton was placed into a foster home. I think it’s going to work out for him.”
Before she could respond, a hand descended on her shoulder and spun her around. She found herself staring into Jason’s face, and if his eyes had reminded her of tempered glass before, now they were positively shardlike.
“That’s wonderful, Patrick. Look, I have to go,” she said hastily. “I’m sorry. I’ll try to give you a call later today, okay?”
She disconnected the call, knowing her expression looked guilty.
“Let’s go,” Jason said. Without waiting for a response, he took her elbow in a firm grip and steered her back toward the building. At the entrance, he stiff-armed the revolving door, preventing anyone from using it, as he cleared a way for her. Then he hustled her effortlessly inside and over to the stairwell.
Only when they had climbed quickly to the third floor, and she was breathless and panting, did he finally pull her to a stop and push her up against the wall.
“Don’t ever do that again,” he said, his eyes blazing into hers. Then he bent his head to claim her mouth in a kiss that was both demanding and exhilarating. Pinned between his hard body and the wall, Caroline could only hang on.
Slowly, the kiss changed and became softer. Deeper.
She gave a hum of approval and slid her hands to his back, clutching him tighter. He stroked her tongue with his own, pushing past her teeth to explore her more fully. Caroline felt light-headed, but whether it was from their mad dash up the stairs or from his kiss, she couldn’t tell.
Finally, he dragged his mouth away and bent his head to hers. The only sound in the stairwell was their ragged breathing. When he lifted his head to look at her, she was shocked by the expression in his eyes. He looked haunted.
“Jason.” Her voice came out as a husky whisper. “What is it?”
“It’s okay,” he said. “I’m okay. I just didn’t know where you’d gone. And when the deputy said you’d left...” His voice trailed off.
“I’m sorry—I should have waited for you to come back, but I thought you were outside.”
He gave her cheek a gentle flick of his thumb. “As if I would leave you. But Jesus, I stepped away for five minutes, and that’s all it took for you to vanish.”
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I just had to make a call, and I couldn’t get any reception inside.”
“Promise me now that you won’t do that again,” he said. He took the sternness out of his words by planting a warm, tender kiss against her mouth.
“I promise.”
He straightened and glanced through the window of the stairwell door, to where Agent Black and the guard stood vigil outside her father’s room. Caroline could see his pulse beating strongly at the base of his throat, and she realized just how much her disappearance had impacted him. The knowledge made her feel both guilty and pleased.
He exhaled harshly and scrubbed a hand over his hair. When he looked at her, she could see he was back in control. “It’s almost six o’clock. Would you like to stay a bit longer or head back to Santa Cruz?”
After that smoking-hot kiss, Caroline couldn’t believe he thought there was even an option. Her father was still heavily sedated and had made a turn for the better. There was nothing more she could do for him today.
“I think I’d like to head back to the beach house,” she said. As fast as you can drive, please.
“I’ll let Deputy Black know,” he said, completely unaware of the direction of her thoughts. “It’s getting late, and I’d like to go through those case files before it gets too late.”
His words were like a dash of cold water. Caroline thought about the medical malpractice cases she had reviewed. What would Jason think about the judge’s decisions in those cases? Would he agree with the rulings, or would they somehow diminish his opinion of William? Jason also had a law degree, so maybe there were nuances to the cases that he would understand. Still, there was a part of her that was reluctant for him to read the files. He’d always looked up to the judge, maybe even more than she had. She didn’t want to see that change.
“Maybe the cases should wait,” she said. “At least for tonight.”
11
BY THE TIME they reached the beach house, it was nearly nine-thirty. They had stopped along the way for a quick bite to eat, but Caroline hadn’t had much of an appetite. Jason had insisted she look at the dessert menu, and when she’d been reluctant to choose something, he’d selected two slices of chocolate cheesecake to go. They made the rest of the drive in silence, each wrapped up in their own thoughts. Behind them, on the highway, Jason could just make out Colton and Deputy Mitchell in the second car.
After parking in the gravel driveway, Jason came around and opened Caroline’s door for her, before reaching into the back for the box of case files. He intended to take a look at the three cases that she thought might be linked to her father’s shooting. Balancing the box under one arm, he fished in his coat pocket for the house keys, and Caroline followed him along the dark path to the front door.
“I must have forgotten to leave the front light on,” she said offhandedly. “And I also forgot the cheesecake in the car. Be right back.” Jason paused to watch her jog lightly back to the driveway. Deputy Black pulled in behind them, illuminating Caroline with his headlights. Satisfied that she was safe, Jason turned back to the front door and inserted the key, and then he went completely still. The door pushed open before he even turned the key.
Swiftly, he set the box down and pulled his weapon out, motioning for Colton to secure Caroline. He waited as Colton hustled her to the second car and put her in the front seat next to Deputy Mitchell, who was driving. They backed out of the driveway and drove away. Jason caught a glimpse of her pale face in the passenger window of the car before they turned a corner and disappeared from sight.
With Caroline safely out of harm’s way, Jason used his foot to nudge the door open wider, holding his gun and a small flashlight out in front of him. He scoped out the room but detected no movement. Colton was at his side in seconds, his own weapon drawn, and together they did a complete sweep of the house. The rooms were empty, but whoever had broken in had trashed the place. Drawers had been pulled out and upended on the floor, and furniture and lamps had been tipped over. Picture frames and collectibles lay smashed on the floor. A quick check revealed nothing of value had been taken. The judge kept a wad of cash stashed in a drawer in the bedroom,
and the contents of the drawer had been dumped out, but the money was left untouched. Whoever had broken in wasn’t interested in stealing anything. They’d either hoped to find someone at home or they were sending an ominous warning.
The French doors that opened onto the balcony had been left ajar. Inspecting them, Jason saw that one of the panes of glass had been smashed, allowing the intruder to gain access.
“Okay, let’s canvas the area,” he said to Colton. “Check with the neighbors—see if they noticed any activity here today.”
As he and Colton circled the house, Jason put in a call to the local police. He didn’t know if the intruders were still in the vicinity, but he knew the extra police activity would deter them from hanging around.
Once they had cleared the perimeter of the property, he called Deputy Mitchell and let him know it was safe to bring Caroline back to the house. By the time they arrived, two cruisers were also on-site. Jason walked over to Caroline, intercepting her before she could even step onto the walkway.
“The house is clear,” he said quietly, not wanting to alarm her any more than necessary. “But there’s been a break-in. Someone disabled the electrical at the service drop, which is likely why the alarm wasn’t triggered.”
“If they wanted me, they could have waited,” she pointed out in a calm voice. “But they didn’t. They just wanted to scare us.”
“Maybe,” Jason muttered, but he knew he wasn’t being truthful.
He had a pretty good sense that whoever had done this was also responsible for the shooting. The implications were frightening, and his mind raced with all the possible scenarios. Had Eddie Green been involved, after all? It seemed more than coincidence that Caroline’s beach house had been tossed only hours after he had confronted Eddie.
Or was someone else responsible? One thing was certain: they were being watched. Whoever had broken into the beach house knew that they were staying there. This was a deliberate attempt to frighten them off. Instead of scaring Jason, it only pissed him off. Nobody would hurt Caroline while he was alive to prevent it. He’d protect her with every resource he had at his disposal, and no sacrifice would be too great.
“Listen, I want you to stay in the vehicle with Deputy Mitchell until I’ve finished talking with the police,” he said, rubbing her arms. Despite the warmth of the evening, she was shivering. “We won’t stay here tonight. We’ll find a hotel.” He gestured toward the house. “I’m just going to grab our gear, and I’ll be right out. Ten minutes, tops.”
“What about my father?”
“I’ve already taken care of it. Extra men are being assigned to protect him. Trust me—nobody is going to get within a hundred feet of the judge, okay?”
“Okay.” She retreated to the cruiser, but she looked shaken and pale. “Be careful, Jason.”
He crouched down on the pavement beside her open door and took her hands in his. “Whoever did this is long gone,” he assured her. “This was done as a scare tactic, nothing more. That means that we’re getting close to finding out who did this, and they know it. They’re getting desperate.”
“Which makes them more dangerous,” Caroline said urgently. “Just watch your back, okay?”
“Always.”
He left her under the protection of two deputy marshals while he returned to the house. Inside, the police were inspecting the damaged French doors.
“We’re not going to be able to do much tonight,” the lieutenant said. “We’ll have to wait until the electricity is restored, or at least until tomorrow, when we have some light. We’ll secure the house and leave a cruiser here overnight.”
Jason nodded. “Get a team in here in the morning to dust for fingerprints, and check the area around the house for footprints, especially where the electrical input was damaged.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jason made his way upstairs. In Caroline’s room, he gathered up her clothing from where the intruders had strewn it across the floor and bed and packed it quickly into her small suitcase. As he was leaving the bedroom, his shoes crunched over broken glass, and he bent down to inspect the floor.
He’d stepped on a picture frame. Turning it over, he saw it was a photo of Caroline and her father, taken one summer when she was just a teenager. He wanted to think that the broken picture was just collateral damage, and that the intruder hadn’t deliberately smashed this particular photo. But someone had used a fat black marker to draw an X over both of the judge’s and Caroline’s eyes, reminding Jason of the stupid cartoons he used to watch as a kid. You knew when a cartoon character was dead because his eyes were crossed out. The home invasion had been personal, and if Caroline had been alone in the house, she’d likely be dead right now.
The thought chilled him.
Swiftly, he returned to his bedroom and gathered up his own discarded clothing, stuffing items into his duffel bag with no regard for whether he wrinkled them or not. He just wanted to get Caroline the hell away from the house.
It wasn’t until he had her in his own car and they were speeding away from the beach house, with the flashing lights of the police cars receding in the distance, that he began to breathe easier. The car carrying Colton and Deputy Mitchell was somewhere behind them, and they’d agreed to rendezvous at a hotel about fifty miles south of San Francisco. Whoever had attacked Judge Banks had sent a clear message: they wanted Caroline, too. It took all Jason’s training and restraint not to slam the palm of his hand against the steering wheel. He was pissed off on a level so deep that he had to shut that part of himself down or risk losing focus on what was important—Caroline and her safety.
“Are you okay?” she asked softly.
He nodded, unable to even summon a false smile for her. “I’m good. I’ll be better once we’re at the hotel, and I’ll be perfect once we catch the goddamn bastard who’s doing this.”
“Did any of the neighbors see anything? I mean, it hasn’t been dark for all that long—whoever broke in had to have done it during the day. How does someone burglarize a home in the middle of the day without anyone noticing?”
By blending in.
For a moment, Jason thought he’d said the words aloud. He didn’t want to frighten Caroline, because she was already pretty freaked out, but he suspected that whoever had broken into the beach house had been dressed in a way that wouldn’t draw attention. A landscaper maybe. Or a cable guy.
He’d send one of his deputies back in the morning to gather information, but for tonight, he just wanted to hold Caroline in his arms and reassure himself that she was safe.
* * *
CAROLINE SET HER bag down on the small chair by the bed, and turned to Jason. She could barely see him in the darkness. He secured the locks on the hotel room door before moving over to the windows to pull the shades. Only then did he flip on the small light next to the bed.
Unlike the opulent suite they had stayed in during her first night, this room was a standard room with only the basic amenities. But it was clean and spacious, and the knowledge that she had deputy marshals in the rooms on either side and across the hall made her feel secure. But having Jason in the room with her was what truly made her feel safe.
She watched as he shrugged off his sports jacket and then unfastened his holster, carefully removing the weapon and laying both the gun and the holster on the table near the window, within easy reach. He pulled a second gun out of the back of his waistband and laid that weapon on the table next to the bed. The sight of the guns had a sobering effect on Caroline, but she understood that if she was going to love this man, she had to accept that this was part of his life.
Finally, he turned to her, and she moved into his arms. He held her for a long moment before she leaned slightly back and looked up at him.
“If I haven’t said it before, thank you for everything.”
A smile touched his mou
th. “Everything?”
“You know what I mean,” she said, smiling in spite of herself. “I know you didn’t have to do this.”
“Ah, sweetheart,” he said, bracketing her face in his big hands and searching her eyes. “There’s no way I couldn’t do this. Judge Banks is like a father to me. He’s all I have.”
“Not anymore,” she said, searching his face. “You have me now.”
He gave a low groan, and then his mouth was on hers and he was kissing her as if he thought she might vanish at any moment.
“It’s okay,” she breathed against his mouth. “I’m here.”
If she had been terrified about losing him earlier that day, she could sense that he was having similar feelings about her after seeing the house ransacked. But whereas she had already accepted that she was falling in love with Jason, and acknowledged that she wanted him in her life, she didn’t think he’d had that same epiphany. She knew instinctively that he wouldn’t welcome those feelings. But she also knew that whether he wanted to admit it or not, he was falling for her, too.
Caroline pressed her lips gently against his, shaping the contours of his exquisite mouth. A shudder went through him, and he made a sound. His arms closed tighter around her. Caroline slid her hands along his rib cage and angled her mouth ever so slightly across his, enjoying the sensuality of the kiss.
His arms held her captive as he plundered her mouth, his tongue moving against hers with expert precision. Caroline welcomed his heat and strength, and she could actually feel her body blossom beneath his touch, as if anticipating their joining.
Jason dragged his mouth from hers, trailing his lips over her cheek until her found the juncture of her jaw and throat and pressed his lips to her hammering pulse.
“I want to make love to you,” he said, his voice ragged. “I’ve thought of this all day, but I understand if you don’t want to.”
