Текст книги "Damsel In Danger"
Автор книги: Olivia Jaymes
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Текущая страница: 6 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
Chapter Twelve
‡
Jason had chosen a gentle horse for Brinley and had saddled his own stallion Rebel for himself. The steady rhythm of the hooves as they ambled along the path lulled them into a sense of quiet contentment that Jason was loath to break.
“I can’t believe how many stars I can see here in Montana,” Brinley breathed, her head tipped back to take in the purple night sky. “We didn’t have anything like this in Chicago.”
She’d handed him the perfect opening on a silver platter. He hated to ruin the serenity between them but he had questions he needed answered if they were ever going to get to the bottom of this case.
“I’d like to hear more about Chicago. There’s a little spot not far away next to a pretty stream. We can sit and talk.”
“That sounds good. I need to stretch my legs or I’m going to be really sore tomorrow.”
She’d told him she hadn’t ridden in about fifteen years so she was going to be sore tomorrow no matter what, but stretching her muscles wasn’t a bad idea. When they arrived at the clearing near the stream Jason nose tied the horses and led her to an old fallen log where they could sit. He should have brought some wine or something to help relax her.
“So tell me about Chicago,” he opened, deliberately keeping the question vague.
“I told you about my family. What else do you want to know?”
Her tone was light but Jason sensed an uneasiness in the way she held her body stiffly next to his. She didn’t want to talk about this.
“What made you move to Tremont?”
He couldn’t see her face well in the moonlight but he could tell she wasn’t smiling or laughing. “A new job. I wanted a fresh start. A place where I wasn’t the middle sister in the Snow family. I can be whatever I want here.”
“What do you want to be?”
“Happy,” she answered simply, still looking at the stars. “I want to be happy.”
“You weren’t happy in Chicago?”
“I was as happy as I could be but I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more out there.”
He steeled himself for her reaction. “Did the Tom Leeds situation make you unhappy?’
Jason heard the quick intake of her breath just before she hopped to her feet. He’d hit a nerve.
“I see you’ve been doing your homework. Is that what you were doing while I slept last night or did you have your brother do your dirty work?”
Brinley hadn’t bothered to disguise the disdain in her tone and he couldn’t really blame her. He was a man that liked his privacy and wouldn’t enjoy being investigated any more than she did.
“Actually I had one of my partners, Jared Monroe, do the research. Are you surprised that I had to do it? I needed to see if you had some link to Roger Gaines.”
She spun around, her body rigid with anger. “I told you I didn’t. You don’t believe me, obviously.”
He could hear the hurt in her voice and felt about one inch tall knowing he had put it there. He needed to make her understand this was about the case and not about her. He believed in her and everything she said.
Jason stood as well but she backed away, clearly not wanting to be near him. “I do believe you. But there might have been something you weren’t even aware of. How can I ask you tell me something that you don’t know?”
“Tom Leeds doesn’t have anything to do with this. You were just poking around in my life looking for some kind of scandal. Well, you found one. I wonder what I’d find if I did the same to you.”
More than she’d bargained for, that was for sure.
“I wasn’t,” he tried again. “If you’re the one clue to a murder I’d be a lousy damn cop not to check into your past. Let me ask you this…what would you say if I asked you to tell me about your life?”
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, crossing her arms over her chest. “I was born in Chicago. My life has been pretty uneventful. I went to the University of Illinois and became an elementary school teacher in a private school. I’m not married and I don’t have any kids.”
“I hope you can see how that wouldn’t help me in the least. I didn’t want to upset you but I guess I should have told you straight out that I was delving into your background. I apologize.”
Brinley’s chin lifted and then she nodded. “Thank you. And I do understand. I really do. I was just upset that you mentioned Tom Leeds. That’s a situation I thought I had left far behind me.”
Glad that they were back on friendly terms, Jason reached and took her hand in his, gratified when she didn’t pull away. He didn’t want them to be enemies. If the arousal stirring inside him at the touch of her skin was any indication, he wanted something much more.
“Will you tell me about it? Is he still an issue?”
If this guy was making life difficult for Brinley Jason would happily get involved. Holding himself very still, he waited while she decided if she could trust him. Even in the moonlight he could watch the expressions flit across her features one by one until she settled on acceptance.
“No, he’s not a problem any longer. He really wasn’t even before I left Chicago.” Still holding his hand, she tugged him back to the fallen log where they’d been sitting earlier. “I think I better start at the beginning.”
Jason settled next to her while she gathered her thoughts. He wished he didn’t have to make her talk about something that was obviously upsetting but he didn’t have a choice. It was the life in law enforcement… Weeding through good people to find the bad. Sometimes innocents could get hurt in the process.
“I met Tom when I was teaching his daughter. He came to a parent-teacher conference and he was—oh, I don’t know—charming, I guess. Very charismatic. He had money and connections and he swept me off my feet. I kept saying that we couldn’t date and that it wouldn’t be ethical but he continued to send flowers and gifts. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.”
A million warning bells went off in Jason’s brain all at once hearing her describe some rich douchebag who pouted when he didn’t get what he wanted. Brinley seemed too down to earth to fall for a guy like that.
“So I finally went out on a couple of dates with him.” She groaned and rested her head in her hands for a moment. “To say that he and I weren’t compatible is an understatement. He wanted someone to listen to him. Adore him. Needless to say after two dates I told him I didn’t think things were going to work out between us. That’s when the trouble started.”
“Sounds like he needed an attitude adjustment,” Jason observed, ready and willing to give the lesson if need be. “So he started stalking you.”
“Not right away. At first it was more subtle. He spread rumors about me at the school. Made it difficult to work there. Then he went to the board and said I wanted to keep his daughter Cicely back for second grade. It wasn’t even true. Cicely had issues but academics weren’t one of them. Mostly she wanted attention from her father and she didn’t care much how she got it. She was a real behavioral problem.”
“And the board listened to him,” Jason prompted. “Sided with him?”
Brinley rubbed her temple and nodded. “Some of them did, yes. I didn’t find out until later but several of the board members knew what he was like. He’d done this before to another teacher a few years ago. God knows who he’s torturing now.”
She shuddered delicately and he didn’t hesitate to place an arm around her, pulling her close to him. Resting her head on his shoulder, he felt her relax against him. Humbled by her forgiveness and trust, he stroked her hair and let her finish the story at her own pace.
“Even when it was over and he’d moved on to another victim I knew I needed a change. I quit and took another job but it wasn’t what I was looking for. I have a teacher friend who works in Denver who has a friend in Tremont. My family was shocked when I accepted the job but I have no regrets. This was the new start I’d been looking for and not just because of Tom Leeds.” She looked up at him and his heart skipped a beat at her beautiful face outlined in the moonlight. “I never mentioned Tom because I don’t think it could be him. He’s moved on and so have I.”
“He has an alibi and Jared can’t find a connection to Roger Gaines.”
“Because there isn’t one. Tom Leeds is a dead end.”
Jason hoped that was the case. “I just need to make sure. I can’t be too careful with your safety.”
“You worry a lot. I’m fine. No one is going to mess with me with you around to scare them off.”
“That was the plan. But what about that guy tonight? Do I need to scare him off too?”
Jason hadn’t yet met the idiot who had cancelled dinner on Brinley the other night and had only seen him drive away earlier this evening but he would happily let the guy know that he was no longer in the running.
Brinley deserved better.
“Greg? I don’t think I’ll be seeing him again. I told him that it wasn’t going to work out.”
“How did he take it?”
“He wasn’t happy but I think he got the message. There wasn’t really anything between us. We’d only been out a few times. I met him at the coffee shop. We didn’t even kiss.”
Confirmation this Greg guy wasn’t very bright. “Two dates and he didn’t kiss you? He’s a slow mover.”
“Maybe he wasn’t that attracted to me. What do you usually do by the second date?” Brinley slapped her hand over her mouth and giggled. “Forget I asked that. I’m not sure I want to know.”
“Of course he was attracted to you. Who wouldn’t be? I sure as hell wouldn’t be just holding hands with a beautiful and desirable woman. I’d at the very least get a kiss on the first date.”
*
The electricity had been building between Brinley and Jason for the last twenty-four hours. Maybe more. When she’d fallen asleep in his arms last night, she’d never felt more safe and protected despite the fact that she might be in danger. She trusted that Jason would never let anything happen to her.
Now hearing that he found her attractive…even beautiful and desirable made her heart leap at his softly spoken words. Gathering every bit of courage she had inside she gazed into his eyes, curiosity winning over fear.
“Is this our first date?” she asked, trying to sound light and playful but her throat was tight with an unnamed emotion. Arousal swirled in her belly whenever Jason was near. She needed to know if he felt the same.
Jason smiled, a dimple appearing in his cheek. “The night you invited me to dinner was our first date. And then last night when we watched movies together was probably our second. So this would be number three.”
Brinley had a decent idea of what Jason did with a woman on the third date and she wasn’t nearly ready for that. He was a good man and she was attracted to him but she’d been burned before, moving too fast in a relationship.
One step at a time.
“I don’t think those count but we can call this our first date.”
She tried to keep her tone neutral but the words came out rushed and breathless. Wiping her damp palms on her shorts, she tried to rein in her racing heart. The thought of kissing Jason overwhelmed everything and anything.
His hand slid behind her neck and tugged her closer, heat sweeping through her from head to toe. “Then we both know what comes next.”
His hands stroked up and down her spine in a slow, soothing motion that did little to settle the maelstrom of emotions whirling inside. Her bones turned to jelly under his hypnotic ministrations even as her breath hitched at his touch.
She let her hands slide up his strong arms, feeling the hard muscle under her palms. His skin felt warm as her fingers trailed up his shoulders to loop around his neck. He had moved closer, and his lips were mere inches from her own. She could feel his warm breath as his lips slowly descended. He stopped mere millimeters from kissing her.
“I’ve wanted to do this since the first day I saw you.”
Then his lips were on hers. The kiss began as a gentle whisper, a brush of his mouth. She’d expected an alpha male such as Jason to devour and dominate but instead he seduced and cajoled, drawing her ever closer. Moth to flame. Magnet to pure steel.
Jason nipped at her lower lip and ran his tongue along the seam until she was practically begging him to dip his tongue inside her mouth. His mouth finally sealed with hers and his tongue began a gentle exploration. The sensuous foray sent desire coursing through her veins and settled low in her abdomen. She pressed closer to his body and answered his tongue with her own. Her head spun and her arousal inched higher as she breathed in his delicious scent. Spicy and distinctly male, Brinley let it wash over her, pulling her further from the horrors of the last two days until they were only people in the world.
In his strong arms there was no room for fear, the only danger to her heart.
By the time he dragged his lips from hers everything had changed. They’d moved from casual neighbors to friends to near-lovers in a short forty-eight hours. As much as her body yearned for what she knew would be out of this world pleasure with Jason, her head wouldn’t allow total surrender. Some shred of self-preservation held her back from giving him everything.
It was too soon. Too fast. Brinley needed to catch her breath.
She placed her palms on his chest and could feel his heart under her fingers, racing as quickly as her own.
“That was…amazing,” she finally said.
“Why do I get the feeling you’re not happy about that? Usually an amazing kiss is a good thing.”
“It is good,” she protested, trying to find the right words to explain what barely made sense in her own mind. “I just don’t want to move too fast, that’s all. I’ve done it before and it didn’t turn out all that well.”
For his part, Jason didn’t look too upset by her edict. “I can understand that and respect it. I’ve done the same. I guess it wouldn’t be bad to slow things down, especially since I’m supposed to be keeping you safe, not stripping you naked.”
Heat burned in her cheeks as a vision of the two of them undressed and writhing on a bed flashed in front of her eyes. She’d never been much for sex in the past – she usually ended up disappointed – but with Jason it promised to be very good indeed.
“So we’ll slow things down then?”
He’d agreed so she couldn’t understand why she felt depressed at the mere thought. It was just that the kiss had been so damn hot…
“Slow and steady. That’s what I always say.”
A take charge kind of man like Jason had probably never said those words in his entire life.
“Really? I haven’t heard you say that since I’ve met you.”
Rubbing the back of his neck, Jason gave her a grim smile. “Actually I never say that. I was just trying to be a good sport about getting slapped down.”
“You didn’t get slapped down. I just…” Brinley took a deep breath and tried to explain. “With everything going on I feel kind of overwhelmed at the moment. It’s not that I’m not attracted to you. Because I am–”
“Brinley, stop,” Jason commanded, bringing a halt to her emotional babbling. “You don’t have to explain anything to me. I get it. You have a lot going on in your life right now and it’s okay. I’m not going anywhere. When the time is right we’ll both know it. And honestly? This isn’t the moment. But when it’s time I do have one request.”
He was grinning now and she couldn’t do anything but smile in return. He’d taken an awkward situation and turned it completely around. Another reason she liked him so much. “Name it.”
He leaned closer so he was whispering in her ear. “Be gentle with me.”
Choking with laughter, she sighed dramatically and tapped her chin in consideration. “I’m not sure I can promise that.”
To her delight Jason chuckled and dropped a kiss on her nose. “Fair enough. How about we head back to the barn?”
Jason helped her mount up and they rode slowly back, taking their time and enjoying the quiet of the evening. He was a special man not to have taken offense. She’d known plenty of males that would have pouted or been angry. He really did understand her need to slow things down.
The funny thing was…now that he’d agreed to do it, she wasn’t so damn sure that’s what she wanted.
Because she wanted him more than anything.
Chapter Thirteen
‡
The next morning Jason peeked in on a sleeping Brinley before getting to work. Lying with her cheek pillowed on her hand, she looked peaceful and worry free. Not at all like the woman of last night who had been first angry with him for investigating her background and then obviously scared of the two of them moving too fast.
He had pushed too much but the fire that burned between them was too hot to ignore. One way or another, he was going to end up in bed with the pretty Miss Snow. It was only a matter of when, not if.
A knock on the door and Huck barking had Jason jogging down the hall to answer it before Brinley woke up. They’d both stayed up until about two in the morning and he wanted her to get some rest. He was used to not sleeping so it didn’t bother him as much.
“You’re late,” Jason said as he opened the door to his business partner and best friend Logan Wright. Logan had been a small town sheriff when Jason had met him but now he was a full-fledged partner in JLJ Consulting, doing most of the field work. Today he was going to watch over Brinley while Jason and West went to talk to Anita Hazlitt. “But I’ll forgive you if you have donuts.”
Logan, with his patented grin, held up a white paper bag even as he scratched Huck behind the ears. “Would I disappoint you? Now get out of my way. I need a cup of coffee stat.”
Jason stepped back to allow Logan to pass. “I just made a fresh pot. Help yourself.”
Dropping the bag on the counter, Logan reached into the cabinet and pulled down a mug, Huck right beside him.
“So all you need me to do today is a babysitting job? Sounds too easy. There must be a catch or something.”
Jason bit into the glazed cruller with relish before tossing a piece to Huck, who downed it in one gulp. “No catch. West and I are going to talk to Roger Gaines’s supposed girlfriend and I don’t want to take Brinley along. For all we know Anita is the killer. A crime of passion, so to speak. I don’t want Brinley in the line of fire if things go south.”
“So Jared found her? That man needs to sleep more.”
Logan was the father of twin toddlers so he didn’t have much room to talk.
“The way you’re slurping down that java it looks like you could do with a little more shut eye too.”
Logan grinned over his coffee cup. “I do okay in that department. But on those rare occasions both kids are actually asleep, Ava and I have much better things to do than rest.”
“I’m a poor, lonely bachelor so spare me the details.” Jason held up his sticky hands in surrender.
“With a pretty houseguest to protect you don’t sound too lonely to me,” Logan shot back with a laugh. “Be careful or you’ll end up like the rest of us. Married with kids and driving a minivan.”
“Don’t give me that shit. You love being a family man. And you don’t drive a minivan. You drive a truck.”
“By the grace of God,” Logan said dramatically. “But didn’t Jared tell you? He bought Misty a minivan last week. It’s only a matter of time before it becomes the default transportation for them. Poor bastard.”
“There are worse things,” Jason chuckled at the look of dismay on his friend’s face. “Although none come to mind at the moment.”
Logan leaned forward as if to say something very private. “Don’t tell anyone this…but the other day I was watching something on television. I don’t remember what it was. But a commercial for a minivan came on and I actually found myself thinking that it looked like a nice vehicle. Holy shit. Luckily I caught myself in time and told Ava to slap the crap out of me if I ever say the ‘M’ word. Of course she said she’d be happy to.”
“Your secret is safe with me. I’d hate to ruin your reputation as a pain in the ass alpha male stud.” Jason popped the last bite of donut into his mouth, the sugar rush just what he’d needed this morning to get going. “I told Brinley before she fell asleep that I was going to have my partner stay with her today so she won’t be shocked when she wakes up and I’m gone. Since we don’t know if she’s in danger don’t let her out of your sight. She may not like it but until we know more she’s going to have to deal with it.”
After refilling his cup Logan sat down at the island and rummaged through the bag for a chocolate frosted. “What is your gut telling you?”
Logan was an instinctual lawman, eschewing rules, regulations, and often evidence that pointed in a certain direction. He trusted the little voice inside of him more than anything.
“You sound like West. The thing is I’m not sure my gut can be trusted. It almost got me killed,” Jason admitted. He’d been following his instincts when he was captured by the drug cartel.
“You told me the story but I’m not sure I believe it. Your gut was telling you where the bad guys were. It was just shit luck you were captured. You saved some lives that day.”
“My gut is telling me there’s a lot more than we know about this case. We haven’t found the true motive.”
“Generally people kill for one of a few reasons.” Logan began ticking them off on his fingers. “Love. Money. Revenge. Anger. Maybe self-defense. Which one are you leaning toward?”
“None of them. That’s why this case pisses me off.” Jason slapped down his coffee cup in frustration. “Did the brother kill Gaines because of money? Did Enright kill for revenge? I don’t think it’s self-defense or anger as there were no signs of a struggle. That leaves love. And that’s why you’re watching Brinley today. Just in case Anita Hazlitt murdered Roger Gaines in a love gone wrong scenario.”
“Personally I like this Enright guy for it, but then I’m not following the case very closely. I only know what you’ve told me.”
“Right now he’s number one on my list as well.” Jason heaved a sigh and rinsed out his cup in the sink. “Jared is checking the man’s finances and West – in between all the other shit he has to do – has been looking into how happy that marriage is. Hopefully he’ll know something today.”
Logan pointed out of the front window. “Speak of the devil. He’s pulling into your driveway.”
Jason was in a hurry to get to Anita Hazlitt, who lived about an hour out of Tremont in Harper. Seth Reilly was the sheriff there so if there was any trouble, Jason knew that backup wouldn’t be far away.
“Take care of Brinley. And Huck.” Jason gave the dog a pat on the head. “I should be home before dinner.”
Logan popped a piece of donut into his mouth. “Jesus, will you just go find a killer? For someone that’s just supposed to be your neighbor you’ve got your tighty whities in a bunch. Huck and I will take very good care of your lady friend.”
Of course Logan would, but now that Jason was heading out the door he was finding that he didn’t want to leave Brinley behind.
He was going to miss her today. And that was ten different kinds of messed up. He shouldn’t be so attached to her this quickly.
But then last night’s kiss hadn’t been your regular garden variety first date kiss either. It had been so hot it about singed his eyebrows. Brinley Snow might look innocent, but she sure as hell didn’t kiss like one.
“See that you do,” Jason growled as he headed out the door to join his brother in the SUV. “And tell Brinley I’ll call her later.”
“Why bother? I can just pass her a note before study hall. Do you like Jason? Check yes or no.”
Jason slammed the door but could still hear Logan’s peals of laughter as he descended the porch steps. When he returned tonight he needed to remember to punch Logan right in that gut that he trusted so much.
