Man with the Muscle

by Julie Miller

  “You forgot this.”

  Alex slowly straightened beside her, holding up the bloodstained, wrinkled, faded blue bandanna he’d been sitting on.

  Heat rushed into Audrey’s cheeks and she plucked it from his fingers. “I didn’t mean to keep it so long.” She stuffed it inside her bag. “I’ll buy you a new one.”

  “I never pictured you as the sentimental type.”

  “I am not sentimental. I’ll replace it.”

  “I’m not interested in your money,” he whispered. “I just don’t want to see you hurt again. Not by violence or pressure or loss.”

  “Stop that.”

  “Stop what?”

  Audrey opened her mouth, drew in a breath to speak. His dark eyes hooded, and she watched in perplexed fascination as the distance between them vanished and he closed his mouth over hers.

  Dear Reader,

  Can you believe it? The year 2010 marks the tenth anniversary of my first Harlequin Intrigue novel! In 2000 One Good Man launched The Taylor Clan series and its suspenseful spin-off, The Precinct. Since then I’ve shared many tales of love and suspense featuring the men and women of Kansas City’s fictional Fourth Precinct. Now, ten years later, as a special treat for my many faithful readers, Harlequin Intrigue and I have come back to The Taylor Clan to present the next generation of Kansas City heroes with this book, Man with the Muscle.

  Alex Taylor first appeared as a gang member and foster-home nightmare in Gideon Taylor’s story, Kansas City’s Bravest. The troubled teen needed a father—he needed a home. And what better way to learn about being a man, and being a cop, than becoming a Taylor? Now Alex has matured into a hunky hero in his own right, as the newest member of KCPD’s premier SWAT Team. These are the guys you call on when there’s no way out—when danger is at its deadliest—when you need the best of the best to save the day. These are the specially trained tough guys who will lay their hearts and their lives on the line to protect the people and the city they love.

  I hope you enjoy my miniseries The Precinct: SWAT. And I hope you enjoy meeting the next generation of Taylor Clan heroes in this first story.

  So read on! You’ll find The Precinct: SWAT wherever Harlequin Intrigue books are sold. For news about this series and more, check out my website, www.juliemiller.org.

  Happy reading!

  Julie Miller

  JULIE MILLER

  MAN WITH THE MUSCLE

  For my readers—

  thank you.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Julie Miller attributes her passion for writing romance to all those fairy tales she read growing up, and to shyness. Encouragement from her family to write down all those feelings she couldn’t express became a love for the written word. She gets continued support from her fellow members of the Prairieland Romance Writers, where she serves as the resident “grammar goddess.” This award-winning author and teacher has published several paranormal romances. Inspired by the likes of Agatha Christie and Encyclopedia Brown, Ms. Miller believes the only thing better than a good mystery is a good romance.

  Born and raised in Missouri, she now lives in Nebraska with her husband, son and smiling guard dog, Maxie. Write to Julie at P.O. Box 5162, Grand Island, NE 68802-5162.

  Books by Julie Miller

  HARLEQUIN INTRIGUE

  841—POLICE BUSINESS*

  880—FORBIDDEN CAPTOR

  898—SEARCH AND SEIZURE*

  947—BABY JANE DOE*

  966—BEAST IN THE TOWER

  1009—UP AGAINST THE WALL**

  1015—NINE-MONTH PROTECTOR**

  1070—PROTECTIVE INSTINCTS†

  1073—ARMED AND DEVASTATING†

  1090—PRIVATE S.W.A.T. TAKEOVER†

  1099—KANSAS CITY CHRISTMAS†

  1138—PULLING THE TRIGGER

  1176—BEAUTY AND THE BADGE†

  1201—TAKEDOWN*

  1245—MAN WITH THE MUSCLE

  CAST OF CHARACTERS

  Alex Taylor—The newest member of KCPD’s elite SWAT Team 1. A second-generation Taylor, the most respected name in Kansas City law enforcement. With that kind of pressure on him to make good, does he really need to be working private bodyguard duty for a rich-girl attorney looking to make a name for herself? Or are the threats to her life—and his heart—the most dangerous challenge he’s ever faced?

  Audrey Kline—The flame-haired attorney fits the profile of the kind of woman the Rich-Girl Killer targets. She’s young, beautiful, wealthy—and in the Kansas City limelight as she prosecutes a powerful gang leader. Will her quest to become a success independent of her father’s power and influence be her crowning achievement? Or her death sentence?

  Rupert Kline—Audrey’s father. Founder of Kansas City’s most prestigious law firm.

  Harper Pierce—An old friend and classmate of Audrey’s.

  Demetrius Smith—Gang leader on trial. He’s got money, power and a twisted penchant for intimidation.

  Steve Lassen—Reporter making a comeback with his coverage of the Rich Girl murders.

  Clarice Darnell—The Mistress of Fundraisers. If there’s a gala to coordinate in Kansas City, she’s the go-to woman.

  Jeffrey Beecher—Clarice’s executive assistant.

  Bud Preston—Jack-of-all-trades.

  Gretchen Cosgrove—Victim #2 just turned this case into a serial killer murder investigation.

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Prologue

  The acrid stench of fear and burnt flesh tainted her expensive perfume and quickened his pulse as he put out his cigarette on her sculpted cheekbone.

  Her silent scream spasmed through her and she gurgled beneath his hand on her throat, sputtering words with no sound. Her eyes pleaded, wept, their vain tilt not so pronounced as they’d been out on the terrace yesterday evening, laughing at him in the moonlight.

  His gloved hand was dark against her alabaster skin. He carefully tucked the cigarette butt into his pocket. It was a lousy, disgusting habit, but tonight had called for something special. He brought both hands to her neck, squeezing a little harder, then easing his grip before closing off her airway again—teasing her, tormenting her with the false promise of freedom.

  Just as she had tormented him with her promises.

  No more. He was the one with the power over her now. He was the one in control of their destinies. He couldn’t be hurt. He couldn’t be used. He wouldn’t be denied. Strength surged through him. Dominance. Superiority. His hands jerked around her throat as the anger consumed and cleansed him.

  His breath came deeper, stronger as hers constricted. He straddled her chest and sat, feeling her writhe helplessly, weakly, futilely beneath him.

  “You’re not so high and mighty now, are you, Gretchen?” He pulled up his stocking mask, wanting her to see his eyes, to know he was the one who’d put her in her place. “You want to rethink saying no to me?”

  She nodded.

  Tears and desperation and the blood on her cheek made her look vulnerable, more human than the icy beauty who’d led him on for so many months—smiling at him, sharing conversations, accepting his gifts—yet ultimately dismissing him as if he was of no more importance than a piece of furniture. For a moment, he paused to tenderly brush aside the damp golden hair that stuck to her forehead. She looked beautiful, stretched out beneath him, begging to do his bidding. This was how it could have been between them—how it should have been. He wa
nted to kiss her. He nearly did. But no, he wouldn’t leave even that little trace of DNA. He was too smart for that.

  Too smart for all of them.

  Stupid bitches.

  “Too late.” With a snap, he crushed her windpipe. In a matter of seconds, she was dead.

  When the spark faded from her eyes, it took his rage and need with him and he breathed a sigh of relief. He reached for his bag.

  Precisely three minutes later, he set about the tasks of cleaning her wounds, untying her wrists and ankles and rewinding the electrical cords before returning them to their storage compartment inside the bag. He wrapped her in her pink silk robe and carried her into the adjoining room where he laid her on the bed and arranged her just so, crossing her hands over her heart in sweet repose, draping her hair over her damaged cheek, carefully removing one of her diamond earrings and closing her eyes.

  “Goodbye, sweetheart.”

  He returned to the opulent, oversize bathroom where he’d surprised her and quickly rolled up the drop cloth he’d used and cleaned any other signs of his presence there. Finally, he stripped off the tan coveralls he wore, packing them and his gloves inside his bag. When he was certain the upstairs hallway was clear, he hurried down the back steps and locked the bag in his vehicle outside. The music from the violins, viola and cello filtered through the crisp night air and masked his footsteps as he flicked the cigarette butt into the storm drain at the curb.

  Then he straightened his jacket and jogged around to join the others at the mansion’s front drive, ready to be shocked and outraged when some poor unlucky soul discovered Gretchen’s body.

  And the message he’d tucked beneath the covers beside her.

  Chapter One

  “You’re the saddest bunch of heroes I’ve ever seen.” The chiding female voice cut through the buzz of lively conversations, three different television broadcasts and the chattering clacks of pool balls breaking across a table behind Alex Taylor. “You got the guy. The D.A. will put him away.”

  “Let’s hope.” Alex slid onto the green vinyl seat in front of the Shamrock’s polished walnut bar and pulled some cash from the front pocket of his jeans. Not even the bright blue eyes and sympathetic smile of Josie Nichols standing on the other side could shake him from the mood he was in. “I need to order some beers.”

  “Hello?” The bartender slapped her washrag on top of the bar with a purpose, demanding his full attention before glancing over at the flat-screen TV hanging in the corner behind her. “You hope? KCPD’s standoff with that gangbanger Demetrius Smith is all over the news. Getting him and his lieutenants off the streets just made Kansas City a hell of a lot safer. If I can walk out to my car at night and not have to worry about getting mugged or raped or caught in the cross fire between his gang and someone else, then I’d say you got the job done. You should be celebrating. Not bringing down the mood of the bar.”

  “Smith’s gotten out with nothing more than a slap on the wrist more than once. Evidence disappears. A witness decides not to testify.” Alex closed his eyes and shook his head, seeing the gangly body of a ten-year-old boy cradled in Sergeant Delgado’s arms as he crouched down behind an alley fence, waiting for their commanding officer’s all-clear order. He’d have thought the kid was sleeping if it hadn’t been for all the blood on Delgado’s uniform. Two bullets in such a tiny body—and there’d been nothing they could do. Alex opened his eyes, sharing a bit of the grim truth that was forever etched in his memory. “Smith was laughing when we brought him out of that house. An innocent boy died today, and he was laughing. Like he wasn’t even accountable for what happened. He’s got connections we can only guess at. If the D.A. doesn’t make the charges stick—”

  “That won’t happen this time,” Josie insisted. “I can feel it in my bones. Smith’s going to prison. That makes you heroes.”

  Try telling that to the mother of the boy they hadn’t been able to save. If they’d cleared the house where Smith and his buddies had been holed up ten minutes sooner, Alex and his team of SWAT—Special Weapons and Tactics—officers might have been able to get him to a hospital before he bled out. Calvin Chambers didn’t even have any gang tats on him. And he sure as hell hadn’t fired any gun. He’d been an innocent kid cutting through the wrong backyard at the wrong time.

  Alex knew more about gang life than young Calvin probably had. He’d had the remnants of the Westside Warrior tattoo he once thought meant he belonged to something important lasered off his back a decade ago, after he’d been adopted into a real family as a teen. Once he’d been Alexis Pitsaeli, street punk and foster home nightmare with no father to speak of and a mother who prized her drug addiction more than her child. Up until Gideon and Meghan Taylor had set him straight and loved him enough to make him a Taylor, too, Alex had been headed straight to prison or an untimely death.

  If Alex hadn’t been adopted into the Taylor clan, it wouldn’t have surprised anyone to find him shot dead in a gangbanger’s backyard. But Calvin Chambers?

  He swallowed the bile of irony and rage and guilt, and laid a twenty on top of the bar. “First round’s on the new guy.”

  He nodded back to the corner table where Captain Cutler and the rest of his five-man SWAT team had taken up residence to lose the stress of the day to booze, camaraderie or the company of one of the pretty ladies who seemed to get a thrill out of flirting with the cops who frequented the Kansas City bar. Raucous laughter from the corner table bounced off the walls. Great. He’d missed the joke. It had probably been on him, anyway. Though he’d been on the force for five years now, he’d only been a member of SWAT for eight months. It was like surviving his rookie year all over again.

  “Five drafts and some pretzels,” he ordered.

  Josie shook her dark brown ponytail down her back and pushed the twenty dollars beneath his fingers. “You need to learn the rules of the house, Taylor. On a night like this, the first round’s on me.” Apparently, she was more intuitive than a cheerleader. “I’m sorry about that boy. I know it’s hard to lose anyone on a call like that. But you didn’t shoot him.”

  “I didn’t get him home safe to his mom, either.”

  A bit of temper flared in the bartender’s cheeks.

  “Smith and his thugs are the only ones you should be blaming. You and Rafe, Trip, Holden and the captain ought to all be commended for stopping those losers. That drug house was just outside a school zone. Kids walk by there every day. Bringing guns and drugs and violence into a family neighborhood just…galls me. As far as I’m concerned, we’re lucky no one else died. And we owe that to you and your team.”

  Josie shivered from the top of her head to the hem of her jeans as the emotions worked through her system, and Alex felt his lips curve with half a smile. “So how do you really feel about it?”

  She reached across the bar and flicked his shoulder with the towel. “Don’t you get smart with me, Taylor.” Rocking back on her heels, she pointed a big-sisterly finger at him. “And stop battin’ those baby browns at me. I can’t help it when I get my Irish up.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Somehow, she’d successfully broken through the gloom and doom that had settled around his shoulders. Yes, a boy had died tragically today. But many more would be safe because of his SWAT team’s actions. For the sake of Josie’s smile, he’d look on the bright side.

  “There’ll be no ma’aming around here, hotshot. Heck, I bet I’m younger than you. What are you, twenty-six?”

  “Twenty-seven.”

  “Ha.” She tapped her thumb against her chest.

  “Twenty-four. So no ma’ams. And put your money away—it’s no good here.”

  When she turned around to pull out five frosted glasses and start drawing beers, Alex stuffed the twenty into her tip jar. He didn’t know Josie all that well, beyond the fact she was a slain cop’s daughter and could play a mean game of pool. But he’d seen the thick backpack and textbooks that meant she was in school, and suspected that tending bar at the Shamrock was how s
he supported herself. He wasn’t going to let her big heart and true blue loyalty to KCPD keep her from putting food on the table.

  While he waited for her to set up the tray of drinks and pour a bowlful of pretzels, Alex let his gaze wander back to the news broadcast on the television. Michael Cutler, the leader of SWAT Team One and the man who’d recruited Alex from a list of prospective beat cop candidates to join KCPD’s most highly trained and specialized response team, was finishing up a recorded interview with the reporter. Cutler’s tall build and salt-and-pepper hair cut a commanding figure as he answered the blonde woman’s questions. Cutler was a good ace—he reminded Alex a lot of his own adoptive father, Gideon Taylor, the fire department’s chief arson investigator. He was no-nonsense, tough, but fair.

  Cutler handled the interview with the same confident air of calm with which he ran the unit, explaining their mission to assist the drug task force in storming the house while protecting the security of the officers on the scene. When the reporter asked whether he thought the cops or someone in Smith’s gang had shot that boy, a pointed glare from Cutler indicated the interview was over.

  With the reporter on live back in the studio, Alex watched the tape continuing in the corner of the screen, showing Trip and Sergeant Delgado escorting a handcuffed Demetrius Smith into the back of a police car while Captain Cutler and Holden Kincaid stood guard over Smith’s two compatriots being loaded into another black-and-white. Alex was nowhere to be seen in the camera shot. He’d had the inglorious duty of stowing gear and coordinating cleanup with the task force.