One-Click Buy: June 2009 Harlequin Blaze

by Tori Carrington

  Her stomach did a little flip. And it wasn’t merely from hunger. Being involved with Jase Campbell had the potential to be the biggest mistake she’d ever made in her life. But she’d gone way past the point of being able to draw on reason and logic. There’d be a price to pay when she had to go back to Santa Fe, but that was not going to stop her from making the most of the time she had with Jase.

  But for now, she was going to stop staring at him like a gawking teenager. Turning, she found a space to sit on a nearby bench and eased her feet out of Jordan’s super-stylish shoes.

  Glancing down, Maddie saw that her toes had turned red where the shoes had put pressure on them. She was beginning to think that the only way that the Sex and the City women had managed to survive their fabulous footwear was to walk in the shoes only while on camera.

  Then pushing the thought of her aching feet away, she simply tried to drink in everything around her. Though she’d seen plenty of pictures of Central Park on TV and in the movies, none of it had accurately captured the experience of being here.

  A wide range of sensations bombarded her—from the familiar aroma of horses and leather to the more foreign smells of exhaust fumes and sunbaked pavement. Layered through those were the scents of food—onions, pizza—and humanity.

  The sun beat down and moist heat bounced up from the cement sidewalks. Flowers bloomed everywhere, spilling out of pots and neatly bordering the walkway. Others grew among the rocks and boulders.

  But it was the people who fascinated her. Throngs of them passed by pushing strollers, riding bikes, clicking cameras. There was such a variety of voices, accents and foreign languages. She recognized Spanish easily but was hard-pressed to identify most of the others.

  And there were so many different types, ages and sizes—from teenagers racing around in skimpy halter tops to elderly couples walking at a more leisurely pace. A dignified-looking older man using a motorized wheelchair caught her attention. A portly woman in a pink suit hurried by him carrying two large shopping bags. Maddie had to look twice, but she was sure it was the same woman she’d seen in Eva Ware Designs when they’d first entered the main salon. It seemed to her that perhaps half the population of New York had chosen to take a lunch break in the park.

  “C’mon, we have to find a picnic spot.” Jase reached for her hand.

  She glanced down at the shoes. “Can’t we eat here?”

  Leaning down, he scooped the high heels up and handed them to her. Then he urged her off the path onto the grass. It felt cool and soothing beneath her feet.

  “Barefoot in the Park. There’s an old Neil Simon movie by that title,” he remarked as he led her further away from the footpath.

  “Starring Jane Fonda and Robert Redford when they were in their twenties. You know that film?”

  “Jordan has a copy of it. She’s a real movie buff. One of her favorite ways to relax is watching old films.”

  “I used to watch movies all the time with my dad. He has an amazing collection. Some of them are really old—The Thin Man and some Charlie Chan movies.”

  “You’ll have to look through Jordan’s collection. How about here?” Jase asked.

  “Great.” He’d chosen a circular stretch of grass at the foot of a hillside banked with large boulders. A line of trees branched off on either side providing plenty of shade, and a soft breeze offered respite from the heat. Maddie glanced over her shoulder. The footpath was still visible, but it was a couple hundred yards away and the sounds were muted.

  Jase settled himself cross-legged on the grass, and after hitching up her skirt, she joined him.

  “Sorry there’s no picnic blanket.” He dug into the bag and handed her a hot dog and a bottled water.

  “I’ll complain later when I see the grass stains. Right now I’m too hungry to care.” She turned her attention to the hot dog. The spicy aroma of onions and chili had her stomach growling.

  “I ordered it loaded,” Jase explained.

  She licked mustard off her thumb, then bit into the hot dog. The explosion of flavors on her tongue had her closing her eyes and sighing. “It’s great. I can even taste some of the flavors of Santa Fe.”

  “It’s the chili,” Jase said around a mouthful. “Although I like mine hotter.”

  “So that it cauterizes your throat.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Me too.”

  The second time she paused to lick condiments off her fingers, Jase dug in the bag and produced napkins.

  For a few moments they ate in silence, except for the muted sounds from the footpath. And farther away, she could hear the sounds of New York City traffic—the horns, the revved motors. But here in this spot, the buzzing of bees was louder.

  She’d eaten nearly the whole hot dog when she set it carefully on a bed of napkins and opened her water bottle. As she swallowed the cold liquid her thoughts slipped back to the four-way conversation they’d had with Cash and Jordan.

  “Penny for your thoughts,” Jase said.

  She met his eyes. “Ever since I got that phone call from Mr. Fitzwalter, my mind has been filled with questions.”

  Jase used one of the napkins to wipe his mouth. “Maybe I can help. Ask away.”

  Maddie hesitated. She didn’t want to return yet to the questions that had been plaguing her about her parents’ separation, about Eva, about Eva’s death. Not when the sun was shining so brightly and they’d found a little oasis of seclusion in the teeming city. So she asked, “Tell me about your family.”

  His eyebrows rose. “I’ll bet that’s not the question at the top of your list.”

  “Maybe not.” She smiled as she stretched out her legs and leaned back on her hands. “But I asked it. I already know you have a brother.”

  Jase gathered up their trash and put it in the empty bag. “D.C., aka Duncan Dunleavy, is a captain in the army’s military police. He’s served two tours of duty in Iraq, and he’s currently on leave because of a leg injury. Last night when I landed at LaGuardia, I called my office and he picked up the phone. He visited my mother and sister in Baltimore for a while and then a couple of days ago he decided to drop in on me.”

  “But you were out of the country.”

  Jase nodded. “He decided until I got back that he’d work at my office. My partner being the smart man that he is took D.C. up on the offer. My brother likes to keep busy. You might have a chance to meet him in person later today—depending on how long his charade runs with Adam.”

  “And the rest of your family?”

  “My father was a career military man in the marines. Nineteen years ago, when he was just a year short of early retirement, he was killed by friendly fire.”

  “I’m so sorry, Jase.”

  “It was a long time ago. D.C. and I were nine and ten, and we were very close to him, which is probably why we both ended up joining a branch of the military. Then there’s my mother, who’s a high-school principal in Baltimore.” He smiled. “You’d like her. She’s a petite woman—but tough. She takes no prisoners. And there’s my sister Darcy who’s still in college. She’s not sure yet what she wants to be when she grows up. Currently she’s torn between law school and joining the staff of our congresswoman. D.C. and I don’t want her going into the army or the navy, so we’re bad-mouthing lawyers and politicians.”

  Maddie’s eyes widened. “Why?”

  “We learned when she was two that anytime we offer advice, she does the exact opposite.”

  She laughed, and he joined her. The way he described his family, she could almost picture them.

  “I’ve got a cousin too. Sloan Campbell. He trains horses out in the San Diego area. His father and mine were stepbrothers. I haven’t seen him in years.”

  She tilted her head to one side. “How did you end up in the security business?”

  Jase’s eyes grew more serious. “I guess one answer is that my father’s dream was to open his own private-investigation firm once he got out of the army. I always thought that one
day D.C. and I might join him—a sort of family business. That’s why I went to Wharton and majored in business. But I also got into security and investigation because I like solving puzzles.”

  “Puzzles?”

  “It was the same thing that drew me to special ops in the navy. Oh, I liked the action and adventure, the adrenaline highs, but it was coming up with a plan that I liked best. There’d always be this goal, and I’d enjoy coming up with more than one way to get to it. Because a good op always needs back-up plans.”

  Maddie studied him for a moment. The man had a natural bent for making light of things—even serious issues. But there was something more serious in his eyes when he talked about his work. “It sounds a bit like designing jewelry. I get a vision of the finished product in my head, and then I have to figure out a way to get there.”

  “It’s a lot like that.” Jase reached out and took her hand. “Now, why don’t you ask me the question that put that frown on your face when you were eating?”

  Maddie sighed. It helped that Jase had taken her hand. It was a question that had been nagging at her ever since she’d started to get to know her sister. “What can you tell me about Jordan’s relationship with Eva?”

  “Jordan never talked much about it, but I sensed it wasn’t as close as she may have wanted it to be.”

  “Why not?”

  “Eva was a very self-contained woman, very focused on her art. Jordan never put it into words, but I think your sister believed that if she had inherited her mother’s talent for designing jewelry, she and Eva would have been closer.”

  Something tightened around Maddie’s heart. “Do you think that’s true?”

  Jase shook his head. “I think Eva distanced herself from everyone because the most important thing to her was her art and Eva Ware Designs. Your sister called it tunnel vision. That’s why Jordan’s description of how your mother might have wanted to handle the robbery rings so true to me. I should have anticipated that Eva would have wanted to keep it quiet and minimize the scandal.”

  Releasing Maddie’s hand, he rolled to his feet and paced to the boulder. “That’s why she came to me instead of going to the police. I should have pressed harder to convince her to let my partner Dino work on it. But I was scheduled to leave the next morning and I was thinking about the three hostages they were holding.” He whirled to face her. “I’m betting Jordan’s right and Eva did some investigating on her own.”

  Maddie got up off the ground and moved to him. “You believe she figured out who broke into the store.”

  “Yes. And I’m betting it was someone we met today.”

  The faces ran through Maddie’s mind on a little video loop—Arnold Bartlett, Cho, Michelle Tan, Adam. She didn’t want it to be any of them.

  “If I hadn’t taken that case in South America, if I’d just been here…”

  Maddie lifted her hands to his face. “The father and the son you helped rescue might be dead. It won’t do any good to blame yourself for Eva’s death. We’ve got to concentrate on solving the puzzle. Who ran Eva down and why?”

  AT HER TOUCH, Jase felt his temper and frustration with himself ease. “You’re right. And we should get on it.”

  “So what’s the plan? I was thinking before we go back to the office, we should go to Eva’s apartment and find the appointment calendar. I’m sure it will tell us something.”

  He took her wrist in his hand intending to guide her out, but then he felt her pulse speed instantly at his touch and it drew an immediate response from him. They had places to go, people to see. But what he felt when he looked into her eyes had him backing into the boulder and drawing her closer.

  “Jase?”

  It wasn’t objection he heard in her tone. It was invitation. That alone had fire moving through his veins and whatever good intentions he had went up in the smoke. He’d promised himself that he could wait until they went back to the apartment.

  But wasn’t this why he’d brought her here to this out-of-the-way spot?

  He drew her closer until her body was pressed fully against his. Then, wondering if he’d had any choice at all, he murmured, “Maddie,” and touched his lips to hers.

  If she had protested in any way, made a sound, put those hands on his chest to push him away, he might have been able to keep it short, quick and simple as he had earlier when he’d kissed her in the office. But her mouth went from cool to hot in an instant, burning with an urgency that mirrored his. Her arms went around his neck, she threaded her fingers through his hair and pressed herself close to him, pushing him harder into the granite boulder.

  He simply had to devour her. He ran one hand down her back to her hip and splayed his fingers, drawing her closer. Her body was so strong, so soft, so supple. Just as he remembered. And those sounds she made in her throat. It seemed he’d waited forever to hear them again. He ran a greedy hand over her. More heat surged through him, incredibly, impossibly.

  Suddenly frantic, he grabbed her hair, drawing her head back so that he could plunder the sweet, moist recesses of her mouth. Then, murmuring her name, he spun her around and rammed her against the granite boulder. In some part of his mind that was still functioning, he knew that he should draw her around to the other side of the rock where they would have more privacy. Then he could have her. He was skilled enough, she aroused enough. It would be crazy, wild. Wonderful.

  He could raise her skirt and sink into her, lose himself in her the way he had during the night. He spun her again, moving her closer to the other side of the boulder. The second time he turned her, he felt a chip of rock sting his face.

  There was only one thing Jase knew of that could dislodge a piece of granite like that. A bullet.

  While his mind rocketed to full alert, his body operated on instinct, pushing Maddie behind the outcrop of rock and shoving her down.

  He heard her suck in air. “What?”

  “Shh.” He clamped his hand over her mouth and listened hard.

  Nothing.

  He glanced down at Maddie. Her face had gone white, and her eyes held both questions and fear.

  He lifted his hand from her mouth and shifted his weight a bit so she could breathe.

  She touched his cheek. “You’re hurt. What happened?”

  “Someone shot at us.”

  “I didn’t hear—”

  “They used a silencer.”

  “And they hit you?”

  “No.” Relieved that she wasn’t going into shock, he continued, “The bullet dislodged a piece of granite.”

  “Who?”

  “It’s a pro,” he said, thinking aloud. “He may think we ducked behind here to make love.” Jase figured that thanks to him their actions had pointed in that direction.

  “In that case, he’ll wait us out,” Jase mused. “But if the shooter doesn’t buy into that idea, it’s not going to be long before he circles through the trees to come at us from the other side to finish the job. That’s what I’d do.”

  Maddie’s lip trembled, but her eyes stayed clear and focused on his. “What are we going to do?”

  Jase wriggled out of his blazer, took his gun out of its holster and stuffed it in the back waistband of his jeans. “I’m going to see if we can sell him on the fact that we’re back here having at each other. And you’re going to stay put.”

  Rolling off her, he crumpled up his jacket and lobbed it so that half of it fell just beyond the edge of the boulder. Hopefully, it would lie well within the sight line of the shooter.

  “Now, give me yours.”

  Maddie levered herself up and tugged off her jacket.

  Jase took it and tossed it a little to the left of his blazer.

  “Now what?” Maddie asked.

  Jase’s eyes shot to her face. Her lips weren’t trembling anymore. The trace of fear was still in her eyes, but so was a gleam of determination. She was game for anything. He took her chin in his hand and kissed her quickly. Then he took his cell phone out of his pocket and handed it to h
er. “You’re going to dial 911, fill the operator in and describe our location. We’re about half a mile into the park off the 60th Street entrance. Then cross your fingers and pray that the shooter thinks we’re back here having a good time.”

  She moistened her lips. “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to use the rocks for cover, crawl into the trees and circle behind him.”

  “No.” She grabbed a fistful of his T-shirt. “You stay here too until the police arrive.”

  “He’s a pro, Maddie. He might not have waited to see me toss our clothes. He could already be heading this way to fulfill his contract.”

  “Then it’s too dangerous.”

  He gripped her shoulders and let his eyes go hard. “You have to trust me. I’ve done this kind of thing before. Besides, it could be more dangerous if I stay here. We could both end up dead.”

  He waited until he saw acceptance in her eyes, and then he crawled away.

  WITH TREMBLING HANDS, Maddie set the cell phone on the ground beside her. The police were on their way. Talking to the 911 operator and focusing on describing their location had distracted her. But she’d lost track of the time. Plus the adrenaline that had flooded her system when Jase had told her they’d been shot at had faded.

  Only the fear was left. She was still looking at the spot where Jase had crawled into the trees. How long ago had that been?

  Too long.

  As fear raged through her, images and snatches of what he’d said to her before he left drifted back into her mind. She pictured the way he’d handled his gun before he’d stuffed it into the waistband of his jeans. He was a pro too, she reminded herself.

  You have to trust me, he’d said. I’ve done this kind of thing before.

  And he had, she lectured herself. He’d worked special ops.

  He’d be all right. He had to be. But why wasn’t he back? Why hadn’t the police arrived yet?

  Fisting her hands at her sides, Maddie listened hard. But all she heard was the distant traffic and the muted sounds of park visitors as they passed by on the footpath below. No sirens. No gunshots.

  A sudden thought occurred to her. The man who’d shot at them had used a silencer. He could have already killed Jase without making a noise.