by Elle James
Riley grabbed the tray on one side and Mack grabbed the other, steadying it until it rested solidly on the table.
“And Chef Saulnier has lemonade for everyone.” He looked up at Riley. “May I have a cookie and lemonade with the big people?”
Riley smiled down at him. “Of course you may.” She handed him a napkin. “Choose the one you want.”
He reached for a large chocolate chip cookie and placed it on his napkin. “These are the best.” He glanced at the chef. “No offense.”
“None taken,” the chef said, and backed out of the room, leaving them to enjoy the lemonade and cookies.
The men waited for Grace, Riley and Charlie to make their selections before they made their own.
Charlie held her cookie in her hand, her gaze slipping across each of the marines in her living room.
Riley could almost imagine the wheels turning in the older woman’s mind. Finally, Charlie’s gaze landed on one of the other men. “Mustang, how’s the house hunting?”
He shrugged. “I’m still looking. I have a lease on an apartment that doesn’t run out for another three months, so I have plenty of time to make a decision.” He gave the widow a twisted smile. “Why do you ask?”
“I’m thinking, if you’re not too busy house hunting, you might like to make a visit to this Russian expert.”
He nodded. “I can do that. When would you like me to do this?”
“As soon as possible.” Charlie crossed the room to him and laid the two rings in his palm as if placing the weight of the world in his hands. “I get the feeling these rings might give me a clue as to who murdered my husband.”
Mustang closed his fingers around the rings. “I’ll get right on it.”
“Let me get a picture of those.” Jonah pulled out his cell phone and snapped a photo of the rings in Mustang’s palm. “I’ll run a photo recognition on the rings as well.”
“If you don’t mind,” Riley said, “I think it’s about time to get Toby back home. He has a busy day ahead of him. He starts a new school tomorrow and I want him to be rested.”
Mustang slipped the rings into his pocket and gave Mack a bear hug, clapping a hand against his back. “Glad we wrapped up this little party without losing any of us.”
“Thank you all for your efforts in keeping me, Riley and Toby alive,” Charlie said. “I couldn’t have done it without Declan’s Defenders. The marines don’t know what they’re missing, but I’m glad I found you. We might yet learn what happened to make someone want to kill my husband.”
“We’ll do the best we can. In the meantime, I wouldn’t consider you out of danger,” Declan said. “A kidnapping attempt and an order to poison you aren’t leaving me feeling all warm and fuzzy.”
Charlie drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Thank goodness I have you all to look after me and others who come along. And thank you, Declan and Grace, for agreeing to move onto the estate until we resolve these issues.”
Riley frowned. “You’re moving out of the apartment?”
Grace nodded. “We haven’t had time to talk, but yes. Since I’ll be working closely with Charlie, she thought it would be best if I lived closer. And Declan will need easy access to the computer room and Jonah if he’s going to lead the others in their work with Declan’s Defenders.”
“I’ll miss you,” Riley said.
“Yeah, but it will work out better, since you have Toby living with you now. You’ll need that extra bedroom for him.” Grace hugged Riley. “I’ll move my things over the next week. Toby needs a room all his own.”
Riley helped Toby clean up his cookie crumbles and wipe the chocolate off his face. Already, his eyes drooped, and he was ready to go home.
Mack lifted him in his arms, and the boy laid his cheek on the marine’s shoulder.
Riley’s heart swelled. The man would make a good father. Losing his own little brother at a young age had made him more aware of children and their needs.
Not only would he make a good father, he’d make a good husband. Not that she was thinking that far ahead. They’d only just met a week before. But she felt as if she’d known him much longer.
The man was honest, caring and protective. He’d be there for the ones he loved and give them what they needed.
Love.
Her pulse quickened as she contemplated the future. A future that included Mack and Toby.
“I can call a taxi to take us home. You don’t have to drop us off,” Riley offered, knowing she’d rather have Mack take them home. And when they got there, she’d ask him to come in for a drink and maybe more...
“I brought you here. I’ll take you home.” Mack frowned. “You’re not trying to get rid of me, are you?”
She slipped her arm through the crook of his elbow. “On the contrary, I want to make sure you aren’t getting tired of me and my ready-made family.”
Mack patted Toby’s back, a smile slipping across his face. “I kind of like this ready-made family. If you don’t mind, I’d like to stick around. You know. Ask you on a date. With Toby, of course. We hardly got to know each other during all the excitement.”
“I feel like I know you already.” Riley leaned her cheek against his arm.
“I hope that’s a good thing,” he said.
“Only the best.” She squeezed his arm and let go as they reached his truck and he opened the back door.
Mack settled Toby in the back seat and buckled him in. The boy’s eyes never opened. He was down for the count, for the night.
Mack opened Riley’s door.
She stepped into the opening without climbing up. Instead, she turned to face him.
He leaned in, closing the distance between them, and brushed his lips across hers. “I’ve wanted to do that all evening.”
Riley wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her toes to press her lips to his. “And I’ve wanted you to do that for the past four hours.”
He settled his hands on her hips and pulled her close. “Does it matter that we haven’t been on a first date?”
She shook her head. “Not in the least. I told you... I feel like I know you.”
“You don’t even know my favorite sports team or color or where I grew up.”
She shook her head. “None of that matters. I know what’s here.” She pressed her hand to his chest. “You have a big heart, capable of a lot of love. That’s all I need to know for now.” She gripped his cheeks between her palms and angled his head down to hers and kissed him with all her heart and soul.
He held her against him, deepening the kiss until his tongue slipped past her teeth to caress hers in a long, sensual glide.
When at last they came up for air, Mack pressed his forehead against hers. “Always and forever,” he murmured.
She leaned back and looked up into his eyes. “Why do you say that?”
“I think I could fall in love with you...always and forever.”
Her heart felt as if it would burst. “Don’t you think it’s too soon to say that?”
He shook his head. “I know what’s in my heart now. I’m not going to change my mind. But if you need more time to come to the same conclusion, I’ll give it to you. I’m in this for the long haul.”
“Good, because I can’t think of anyone I’d rather spend my life getting to know.” Riley looked up into the man’s eyes, her own reflection shining back at her. “Always and forever.”
* * *
Don’t miss the next book in Elle James’s
Declan’s Defenders miniseries,
Available September 2019 wherever
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Smokies Special Agent
by Lena Diaz
Chapter One
Frozen ground crunched behind her. Remi Jordan whirled around. The trail was empty. She whipped back the other way. Nothing except shadows met her searching gaze. The woods had gone as silent as a tomb. Even the icy wind had quit blowing, as if the entire mountain was holding its breath, waiting to see what would happen next.
Waiting to see if she would be next?
Remi drew a slow, deep breath, the chilly air prickling her lungs. Sound could carry for miles up here, or not at all, and seemed to bounce all over the place. Figuring out the direction it came from was nearly impossible. Someone was definitely stalking her. But figuring out where they were, and how far away, was beginning to feel like an impossibility.
Stepping to the side of the path, she listened intently and pretended to study the two-by-six white blaze painted on the bark of a spruce tree. Similar patches of paint in varying colors served as guideposts all up and down the Appalachian Trail. She’d seen dozens of them since she’d begun her daily AT hikes on the Tennessee side of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
She shoved both her hands into her jacket pockets. If the person following her was close enough to see her, he probably thought she looked vulnerable, oblivious to danger. But she was far from helpless. Her right hand caressed the butt of a loaded SIG Sauer 9 mm hidden in her pocket.
The gun had been a gift from her father on her eighteenth birthday, the butt of the weapon engraved with her name. He’d been critically ill for months and knew he wouldn’t make it to her nineteenth. It was his fervent hope that the pistol would do what he no longer could—protect her, keep his remaining daughter safe.
Her throat tightened. If her father knew what she was doing, he’d feel hurt, betrayed. He’d berate her for taking unnecessary risks with her safety. But how could she sit and do nothing? Ten years ago she’d done nothing. Then her twin sister had disappeared and was never seen again. That one, horrible mistake haunted her every single day. Having another woman’s death on her bruised and battered conscience was more than she could bear.
As if a switch had been flipped, the wind picked up again. The crisp pine-scented air was heavy with the promise of snow as it whipped the long blond strands of her hair back from her face. Evergreen branches clacked together, their needles brushing against bark with an unsettling shuh-shuh sound. And somewhere overhead a bird twittered, as if everything was right with the world. As if nature itself denied the evil that had once taken place here, evil that was again poised to strike, to destroy another family, unless Remi could find a way to stop it.
Could she have imagined footfalls echoing her own? Could she be wrong in thinking that someone had been trying to match his steps to hers, to disguise his pursuit? She considered the idea, then discarded it. Her faults were many, but imagining things wasn’t one of them. There was no other reasonable explanation for the sounds she’d been hearing since starting out on this trail at sunup.
I’m close this time, Becca. So close. I can feel it.
She could almost see her stargazing, unicorn-loving twin sister rolling her eyes in reply. It was her signature trademark, especially when the two of them were together. When they were kids, it had made Remi furious. Now, she wished with all her heart that she could see her sister roll her eyes at her just one more time.
I miss you so much, Becca. So. Much.
Once again, she started down the well-worn path. It wasn’t long before another sound sent a fresh rush of goose bumps across her skin. This time, she didn’t stop. Instead, she scanned the woods from beneath her lashes, trying not to be too obvious as she searched the shadows surrounding her.
What had she heard? The whisper of fabric against a tree? A rattle of loose rocks across a part of the path sheltered by the tree canopy, where there wasn’t much snow to reveal anyone’s passage? Or was it simply a raccoon skittering through the underbrush searching for its next meal?
This feeling of unease outdoors was foreign to Remi. Normally, she was more at home outside than inside. She especially loved mountains—or at least, the mountains back home in Colorado. These lush, evergreen-choked Smokies were as different from her dramatic soaring Rockies as a black bear was from a polar bear. Both were beautiful and special in completely different ways. But this unfamiliar wilderness seemed to be closing in on her, thickening the air with a sense of menace and filling her with dread.
Was this how Allison Downs had felt when she’d hiked through the Shenandoah National Park and was never seen again?
Or Melanie Shepherd in the Dry Tortugas?
Or even her own sister, when their high school senior class trip had gone so horribly wrong?
“Stop being a spoilsport, Remi. That waterfall is supposed to be gorgeous by moonlight and I’m tired of being stuck here in this stupid tent. No one else’s parents make them go to bed at ten o’clock. It’s embarrassing.” Becca tried to push through the tent flap, but Remi blocked her way.
“It’s too dangerous,” Remi told her. “Daddy said it’s the wrong time of year to go up that trail. The water level is too high and the rocks are slippery with ice. Besides, since when do you care about nature, other than those stupid constellations you love to look at?” She studied her sister. “You’re meeting someone, aren’t you? Some boy.”
Becca rolled her eyes. “You’re just jealous because no one asked you to party.”
“I knew it. Who? Billy Hendricks?”
Another eye roll. “Oh, please. Billy’s like a lapdog, panting at my heels. What’s the challenge in that? I’ve hooked a much bigger fish than silly Billy.” She laughed and tried to move past Remi. But Remi grabbed the sleeve of her sister’s jacket and held on.
“Becca, stop. You’re going to ruin this whole trip. If Daddy finds out that you’re sneaking out, especially to meet a guy, he’ll take us back home early.”
Her sister’s mouth tightened. “If anyone is ruining this stupid trip, it’s Dad, not me. At least the other chaperones have the sense to leave their kids alone. No one else’s parents are in a tent right next to theirs. He’s smothering us.”
“He loves us. He wants to keep us safe.”
“From what? Last time I looked, cancer wasn’t lurking in the woods.”
Remi drew in a sharp breath. “That’s low, Becca. And completely unfair.”
Remorse flashed in Becca’s light brown eyes, which were a mirror of her own. For a moment, Remi thought her sister was going to give in, maybe even apologize for using their mother’s recent deat
h from breast cancer as a barb in an argument. But Becca suddenly shoved her backward, forcing her to let go of the jacket.
Becca’s hands tightened into fists at her sides, a clear warning for Remi not to try to stop her again. “There are fifty kids out here in this stupid campground and ten chaperones. Ten! We can’t even skin a knee without stumbling over some anxious parent with a first aid kit. You’d think we were still in elementary school instead of planning which colleges to go to in the fall.”
“Becca—”
“This is your fault. Our entire trip has been a disaster, all because you told Dad the school needed another chaperone. You know how overprotective he is. You should have kept your mouth shut. And you’re going to keep it shut this time or I’ll make you regret it. You owe me this. Leave me alone. Let me have some fun.” She flung open the tent flap and disappeared into the night.
Remi swallowed hard at the memory of her sister’s long, wavy dark hair rippling out behind her. That was the last time she’d ever seen her.
A little farther down the trail, the trees and brush on her right thinned out and then disappeared altogether. A fifty-foot break revealed endless miles of dense, forest-covered peaks and the occasional bald where disease or insects had killed large swaths of trees and undergrowth. Charred earth and blackened trunks spoke of wildfires that had ravaged this area in recent years. And through it all, little white puffs of mist rose toward the sky like ancient smoke signals, adding to the blue-white haze that gave this section of the Appalachians their name.
She stopped, mesmerized. Not by the scenery. But by thoughts of her sister so long ago. A lifetime ago. Had Becca made it to this section of the AT the night she disappeared? Was this the spot her killer had chosen for his attack? Had she looked out over this beautiful vista underneath a bright full moon, completely unaware of the danger that crept up on her from behind?
If Remi was the killer, this was where she’d make her move. It was remote, isolated and empty. She hadn’t passed anyone since leaving the trail shelter this morning, miles from here. It was too cold to attract many hikers at this time of year. The crowds of northbound thru-hikers, or NOBOs, with dreams of completing the two-thousand-mile trek in one year from Georgia to Maine wouldn’t clog the trail until spring. The lack of NOBOs to contend with was one of the reasons the ill-fated senior class trip had been planned for midwinter instead of closer to graduation.
