by Lisa Childs
“Find out what?” Alex asked.
Jared was right. They couldn’t keep him reading or playing in his room all the time. He went to school. He would eventually overhear something.
She drew in a deep breath and turned toward their son. “People think your father and I are getting married.”
His blue eyes brightened and a big smile creased his little face. “That’s—”
“But we’re not really getting married,” she hastened to add. “We’re only letting people think that we are.”
“Why?” he asked. But she suspected it was more than his natural inquisitiveness that had him asking questions.
“Because it’s going to help catch the bad guy who took away your aunt Lexi,” she said. “Remember how I said I was going to help? This is how I’m helping.”
“No,” he said. “I meant why aren’t you getting married for real?”
Pain clutched her heart. She wished the wedding would be real. She wanted it to be real. “You know that not all mommies and daddies are married.”
He had friends with divorced parents.
He nodded. “But those mommies and daddies don’t love each other anymore.”
And he thought they did? Maybe he’d overheard the television replaying the impromptu interview she’d given Kyle Smith.
She opened her mouth but she had no words. She couldn’t deny her feelings for Jared. She did love him. And she wouldn’t lie to her son.
“We have to catch this bad guy before we can do anything else,” Jared spoke for her.
Alex nodded as if he completely understood.
Rebecca wished that she did. Was Jared implying that something could happen after the bad guy was caught? That he might actually propose then? Or was he only putting off Alex’s inevitable disappointment?
She had a feeling that she would be even more disappointed than their son.
His eyes still bright with excitement, he moved closer to the presents Jared had piled onto the coffee table. He asked, “Are these gifts real?”
Nerves fluttered in her stomach as she remembered finding that veil stained dark brown with old blood—with Lexi’s blood. What else of Lexi could be inside those boxes? Her body had never been found.
“Alex,” she cautioned as she reached for him. “You really shouldn’t touch them.”
“So they’re not real...” Alex uttered a soft little sigh of disappointment.
“We’re not sure what they are,” Jared said. “We need to get them checked out before anyone opens them.”
“How?” Alex asked.
“I’m going to have an agent pick them up and bring them down to the Bureau,” Jared said. “They’ll x-ray them there.”
The little boy giggled. “Like Mommy x-rays people to check for broken bones?”
Jared smiled. “Yes, like that.”
“When is the agent coming?” she asked.
“He’ll be here soon,” Jared assured her.
Rebecca breathed a sigh of relief. She would be glad when the presents were gone.
Alex stepped a little closer to the coffee table. “That one’s so pretty,” he mused. And as he pointed, the small brightly wrapped present, piled on the others, toppled down onto the floor.
As it had the other night, the cover fell off the box and the contents spilled out. The box was too small for anything too gruesome or frightening.
But, like the veil, Rebecca immediately recognized the sapphire-and-pearl earrings that bounced across the hardwood. Her hands shaking, she leaned over to pick them up.
“That present was real, Mommy,” Alex said. “And they’re pretty.”
And like Lexi, Rebecca had thought they were gone forever. That she would never see them again...
“There’s a note, Mommy,” Alex said as he reached down for the box.
“No,” Jared told him, then softened his sharp tone and continued, “don’t touch that. We might need to check it for fingerprints.”
Alex nodded. “Yeah, fingerprints...but Mommy is touching the earrings. Won’t she mess up the fingerprints?”
“Yeah,” Jared said. “Let me talk to Mommy alone a minute while you pick out a bedtime story in your room.”
Her son brushed past her on his way to his bedroom. But she couldn’t take her gaze from the jewelry cradled in her palm. She was aware, though, that Jared moved, that he leaned down and picked up the note he’d told their son not to touch.
“What does it say?” she asked him.
Instead of answering her question, Jared asked one of his own, “What are they? You must recognize them or you wouldn’t be staring at them like that.”
She shivered. “They were Lexi’s something blue...” Their grandmother had given them to her.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “I shouldn’t have brought the gifts inside the apartment. I should have had the agent pick them up from the front desk.”
She curled her fingers protectively around the earrings. She wouldn’t have wanted anyone else touching her family heirloom.
“What does the note say?” she asked again.
He reached out and squeezed her shoulder. “Becca...”
She wanted to lean into the warmth and strength of his hand. Or turn and burrow into his arms, seeking comfort and protection. But Jared had warned her that the fake engagement would put her in more danger, and she’d ignored his advice. She’d told him she could handle it. So she stiffened her spine and prepared to handle it.
“I already know it’s another threat,” she said. That was all she received lately—either through phone calls or dressing room visits or cruel gifts. “Just read it to me.”
He sighed but he recited the words he must have memorized since he didn’t even look at the note. “Something borrowed. Something blue...”
He hesitated. And she knew there was more to it than that.
“Jared...”
“Don’t go through with the wedding,” he continued, “or you’ll be dead, too.”
Chapter Eighteen
He found her in his bed. But she wasn’t sleeping. She jumped when he pushed the door fully open and stepped into his bedroom. “It’s just me,” he said. “I didn’t think you’d still be awake.”
He wasn’t sure if he would find her in his bed, either. He’d had to invite her every night—after they tucked their son into his bed. But Jared had left before Alex’s bedtime.
“What did you find out?” she asked.
“The other boxes held just gifts,” Jared assured her.
“Are you sure?” she asked. “Maybe I should have opened them because I would recognize anything that belonged to Lexi.”
“If it had belonged to Lexi,” he said, “there would have been some not-so-cryptic note included. There were no more notes like that one.”
She expelled a shaky little breath.
“One note was more than enough,” he said. It had shaken her. And it had shaken him, too. “More than enough to convince you that I’m right—that it’s too dangerous to go through with this fake wedding.”
She shook her head. “I was getting threats before we even got engaged. Someone grabbed me before we got engaged.”
“But let you go because you weren’t engaged,” he pointed out. “That dress fitting is coming up in a couple of days. We need to call this off.” Because he couldn’t risk losing her.
“I still won’t be safe,” she said, her voice vibrating deep in her throat, but not with fear—with anger. “I won’t be safe and neither will any engaged woman in the country until the Butcher is stopped.”
He couldn’t argue with her. For one, he was too damn tired. So tired that he stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed with her. And for another, she was right; nobody was safe until the Butcher was caught.
So he drew her against him and held her. He could keep her safe here—in his arms. He wished she could stay there forever, pressed tightly against his heart that filled with love for her. But he couldn’t tell her of that lov
e now; he could barely acknowledge the feelings himself. He had to focus instead on protecting her.
“We’ll find another way to catch him,” Jared said, “without putting your life at risk.”
She settled against his chest with a soft sigh. But he knew it wasn’t resignation. She wouldn’t give up, which she confirmed when she said, “He’s gone free too long. He’s hurt too many people. This is the fastest way to catch him.”
And the fastest way for Jared and Alex to lose her. He tightened his arms around her. He wouldn’t let her go. “Then I’ll protect you,” he promised. “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you.”
For their son’s sake but mostly for his.
Now her breath shuddered out in a sigh of relief that caressed his chest. Then her lips slid over his skin.
And he wasn’t tired any longer as his pulse began to race and his heart hammer. He tipped up her chin and kissed her with all the passion burning inside him. While he didn’t want to tell her how he felt about her, he set out to show her. He made love to her tenderly and slowly—kissing and caressing every inch of her silky skin.
She moaned and writhed and cried out as pleasure overwhelmed her. But it wasn’t enough. He wanted to give her more. He made love to her with his fingers and his mouth and his tongue.
But she wanted more. She reached down and wrapped her hand around him, stroking him to madness. His control snapped, and he thrust inside her—into her heat and warmth. She wrapped her legs around his waist and arched into his every thrust. They moved in perfect rhythm. And together, staring deeply into each other’s eyes, they came apart—their sanity and hearts lost as they found ecstasy.
The words filled his throat then—the declaration of love he wanted to give her. He had to give her...
But it would only complicate things further, and they were already complicated enough. So he swallowed his words and settled her against his chest again, against his heart, and wrapped his arms tightly and protectively around her.
And he hoped he could keep the promise he’d made her—that he could make sure nothing happened to her. He had to keep her safe.
* * *
REBECCA AWOKE ALONE the next morning. Maybe Jared was only in the kitchen or playing with Alex. But the apartment felt emptier than that. It felt like he was gone.
She felt like he was gone—because there was an emptiness in her, too. He’d promised to protect her, so there was probably a guard or two at the door. Or maybe one of his friends, a special agent, ready to follow her wherever she wanted to go. She had no doubt that Jared was trying to keep his promise to protect her—by finding the killer before she was in any danger.
But then he could be putting himself in danger. He’d interviewed so many suspects that he must have talked to the killer—more than once. If the Butcher suspected he was getting close, he might stop Jared before Jared could stop him.
Despite the warmth of the bed, she shivered. Then a phone rang, and she jumped. Maybe it was Jared, though, so she grabbed up her cell from the bedside table. “Hello?”
And her heart sank at that ominous hesitation. But after a few seconds, it wasn’t the raspy voice that spoke to her. It was a familiar one. “Becca?”
“George?” She hadn’t heard from her childhood friend in years. Six to be exact. He’d called and expressed his concern for her when Lexi had disappeared. How could Jared have ever suspected him? “Is everything all right?”
“Yes,” he replied. “I think so...”
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“An FBI agent called me a couple of days ago,” he said. “He wants me to come to the Chicago office for an interview. Do you know if I’m actually considered a suspect?”
“George, I don’t know.” Could Jared really consider him a suspect?
“It’s the agent—the one I’ve heard on the news that you’re engaged to,” he said with an emotional crack in his voice. He was hurt.
Kyle Smith had made sure that news report had gone national—she wasn’t even sure where George lived since he’d moved away from their hometown in Ohio.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
“I didn’t know if you were the one who mentioned my name to Agent Bell...”
“It wasn’t me,” she assured him. “I don’t believe you had anything to do with Lexi’s murder. I know you would never hurt her.”
“I would never hurt her,” he agreed.
“It was Harris Mowery,” she said. “He’s the one who told Jared about you.”
“Mowery?” He cursed. “Of course it was him.”
Jared most definitely had interviewed the killer—when he’d interviewed Mowery. “I know it’s him,” she said. “He was the one who hurt her.”
“He’s the reason Lexi’s gone,” George said. “I’m sorry, Becca...”
She shivered again—at his strange apology. “Why, George?”
“I shouldn’t have called you.”
“I’m not sure why you did,” she admitted. She hadn’t heard from him in six years. “You don’t have any reason to be concerned about Jared interviewing you.”
Or did he?
“It’s just strange,” he said, “being questioned in her disappearance, especially after all this time.”
“Jared is just being thorough,” she said. “He won’t arrest anyone without evidence.” No matter how much she’d wanted him to put Harris Mowery behind bars for the rest of his miserable life.
Instead, the man was engaged—going to get married—probably going to have children. He was doing all the things he’d robbed Lexi of when he’d taken her life.
“I know,” George said. “It’s just strange. But I really called for another reason.”
“What’s that?” Rebecca asked.
“Aren’t congratulations in order?”
She’d known George too long to lie to him. So she said nothing.
“You are getting married, right?” he asked. “That’s what all the news reports are saying.”
She didn’t know if she would actually make it to the altar or not. Jared had promised to protect her, not marry her. But she needed to say something, so she repeated what she’d told Kyle Smith. “I love Jared Bell very much.”
“You must,” George said, “since you’re risking your life to marry him.”
She sucked in a breath of shock at his comment.
“I’m sorry, Becca,” he said. “I’m just repeating what that slimy reporter’s been saying—that that sick killer will probably go after you.”
“I’ll be safe,” she assured him and herself. Chief Lynch had promised her, and now so had Jared.
“I hope so,” George said. “I really wish you all the best, Becca.”
“Thanks,” she said. But she wasn’t sure what else to say to him beyond, “Goodbye.” She ended the call with an uneasy feeling twisting her stomach into knots.
George’s call had been strange. She doubted he’d called to offer his congratulations. Was he really worried about Jared interviewing him?
Why?
She couldn’t believe he had anything to do with Lexi’s death. He’d been like a brother to them. Maybe that was why he’d called—because he was genuinely concerned for her safety.
So was Jared.
He didn’t understand that she wasn’t just doing this for Lexi and the Butcher’s other victims and potential victims. She was doing this for him, too. He needed to catch the one killer who eluded him. The Butcher was his white whale—the one who’d hurt his otherwise spotless career, the one who caused Jared great guilt with every new victim the killer claimed.
She had to do this. For him...
That was how much she loved him.
The phone rang again, and she breathed a sigh of relief. It had to be him. “Yes?” she answered it.
But there was that ominous pause. And then that raspy voice asked, “Are you getting the message yet? Have you canceled the wedding?”
She tensed, but instead of fear, anger co
ursed through her. She was done playing the victim to this monster—done with the sick games. “Absolutely not.”
“Then you’re going to die.”
The line clicked dead...like she would soon be if the caller’s ominous prediction came true.
Chapter Nineteen
“You didn’t have to come back early from your honeymoon for this,” Jared told Dalton Reyes. But he was damn glad he had. He’d seen firsthand how fiercely Reyes had protected Elizabeth when she’d been in danger. The former gangbanger had the street smarts to help keep Becca safe.
And Jared needed all the help he could get. His stomach knotted with dread. Her dress fitting was only hours away.
Reyes smacked his shoulder. “You had my back,” he reminded Jared. “Now I’ve got yours.”
“It’s not my back I’m worried about,” he murmured as Becca walked into the living room after closing the door to Alex’s bedroom.
With her hair caught up in a high ponytail, she looked younger than her nearly thirty years. She looked like a teenager. Too young and too vulnerable to face a killer. But as she stepped closer, he saw the resolve and determination on her beautiful but pale face. He also saw the moisture of tears in her eyes. Saying goodbye to their son had affected her. Was she worried that it might’ve been her last time?
Unconcerned that Reyes watched them, he pulled her into his arms. “I will protect you,” he promised. He would make damn sure she saw their son again.
Fortunately their son was safe; Blaine Campbell was in his room, probably hooked up to the lie detector test with the list of questions Maggie Campbell had given the little boy to ask her husband. Blaine would protect their son with his life.
Jared had good friends. And he’d never needed them more than he did now.
Becca clung to him for just a moment before pulling back. Tilting up her chin, she said, “Let’s do this.”
He wanted to kiss her—wanted to bring her back to bed and make love to her. Just in case it was the last time...
Not for her, though. She would be safe. He intended to confront the killer before the man could get to her.
“You’ll ride up with Reyes,” he said.
