Читать книгу For Her Protection - Lauren Giordano - Страница 9

Jillian bolted upright when the door bounced back against the wall. Sunlight streamed into the room, blinding her for a moment. When she opened her eyes, a large shadow blocked the doorway. She hadn’t even caught her breath before he was on her, shaking her, pulling her from the bed.

“What! What is it?”

He jerked her face up, trapping it between two very large hands. Hands that were spattered with blood. She opened her mouth to scream and he quickly clapped his fingers over her lips.

“Not a sound,” he breathed in her ear. She nodded and he slowly removed his hand.

“Luke, for God’s sake! What the hell is going on? You scared—”

He put his hand back over her mouth. “Not now. There’s no time. I need you to listen. Can you do that?” She nodded again.

“We’re leaving. Right now.”

“But why—”

He held up his hand in warning. “Later. Get the kids up. I’m gonna move the car. When I pull in front of the door, you haul ass out there and toss ’em in to me. Got it?”

“They need to dress and brush their teeth—”

“Screw their teeth! Do you see this blood? I didn’t cut myself shaving.”

Jillian felt her blood pressure skyrocket. “Well, fine, then. You’re in such a blasted hurry. Go get the car.” She hadn’t been awake two minutes and he’d already managed to make her lose her temper. What kind of mother woke her children and threw them into a car? With no breakfast? Without a washup? Why, the child authorities would be all over her in no time.

“And take the overnight bag with you. It’ll save a trip.”

“How soon can you be ready?”

She stripped off her gym shorts right in front of him. If he was going to make her rush, well then, dammit, she would show him a thing or two. She flung the shorts into the overnight bag and yanked out her jeans. Without stopping to put them on, she turned back to the dresser and with a scowl, swept all the kids’ loose items into the duffel, clearing the top in a heartbeat. She zipped the bag angrily and hurled it across the bed at Luke, who caught it in the chest, watching her with something close to shock in his eyes.

“How about two minutes? Is that bloody quick enough?”

“Look, there’s no need to go off.”

“Go off? You burst in here, scare the daylights out of me. It’s not even dawn yet and I am so not a morning pers—”

He held up one hand and the look in his eyes was enough to silence her. “Not now. You can chew me out in the car. Get the kids up.”

His grim, no-nonsense stare made her bite back the argument she wanted badly to start. She glared at him as she shimmied into her jeans and rammed her T-shirt into the waistband. He was still watching her when she pulled her hair back into a lopsided ponytail.

“You can have three minutes,” he countered.

“Your generosity knows no bounds.” Luke’s eyes narrowed at her waspish tone and she sensed that he was barely hanging on to his temper.

“Look, honey, I don’t need this right now. I just took out two guys who were about ten minutes from breakin’ down the door and killing all of us.” He nodded at her startled gasp. “Yeah, that’s right, Your Highness. So if it ain’t too friggin’ much trouble, I’d like to get the hell outta here as soon as possible.”

Jilly swallowed hard. Lord, she’d really gotten into it this time. “Luke…I—I’m sorry.”

“Forget it.” He turned on his heel and strode to the window, stopping to peer cautiously through the curtain before he cracked the door open. “Three minutes,” he reminded her.

“Whatever,” she muttered, irritated all over again at his orders. “You’re the one with the blasted stopwatch.”

It had been more than an hour and she still hadn’t spoken. It was just as well, Luke conceded. He needed to concentrate. They’d cleared the motel without any incidents. Well, if one considered neutralizing two enemies and pissing off Jillian as incident-free, then he was golden. He still hadn’t quite recovered from her impromptu striptease. Damn, she was hot. Burning hot. She had legs that went on for miles—legs that ended with a tiny pair of bikini panties that barely managed to cover her curvy butt. Along with those million-dollar legs however, went a very cranky morning disposition.

He took a deep breath and blew it out. Focus. He had to stay focused. They were safe for now. The road was clear behind them, and there wasn’t a single car in sight up ahead. He hadn’t seen anything to indicate they were being tailed. Another hour and they’d cross into North Carolina. Then he’d try Murphy again. Try Duncan. Hell, try anyone. Pretty soon they’d have to ditch their ride and find another.

As much as he was dreading it, he’d have to ask Mary Poppins how much money she carried. He prayed it was a lot—and that she’d converted her cash at the airport. If they were forced to convert British pounds or Euros to cash, they’d stand out like a sore thumb. And right now, he didn’t want to be remembered by anyone.

Hopefully, it would only be another day or so. There was a DEA office in Charlotte. He’d contact the agent in charge and request a safe house…just until he found out what the hell had happened down in Spartaville. Nothing since yesterday morning had gone according to procedure. And he’d just thrown the rulebook out the window back there at the Fleabag Inn.

Just as he’d suspected, Sloan had sent a couple of goons after him. One little explosion, and all of a sudden, Billy T. Lathrop, drug dealer extraordinaire, had been expendable. Luke knew Sloan had been growing suspicious of him, had sensed a distinct wariness on the supplier’s part over the last week or so. What he couldn’t figure out was why. Why now?

As far as he knew, his cover was solid. Murphy’s, too. They’d tag-teamed Sloan from the beginning but he and his partner had never even been seen together. There hadn’t been any outward signs to indicate he’d been made. But suppliers were an edgy bunch, and for good reason. There was always someone looking to take their place.

Luke had done everything Sloan had asked, passed every test. As Billy Lathrop, he had painstakingly won his trust. It was what the Gianetti boys did best. Luke had discovered long ago that he had the ability to persuade just about anyone to do just about anything. Well, he conceded, maybe not everyone. It hadn’t worked on Linda, at least not at the end.

Jillian was a piece of cake. She was wide open to suggestion. It hadn’t taken ten minutes before he’d convinced her she could perform surgery. And damn if she hadn’t risen to the challenge. He made a mental note to thank her later. Of course, she was miles apart from his former wife. Jilly was clearly somewhat of a free spirit. Even if she was a little scatterbrained, she’d jumped on a plane and crossed the ocean for those kids, and he’d be willing to bet the trip hadn’t been planned for a year—like Linda would’ve done. That’s assuming Linda would’ve actually taken a trip anywhere. In the end, she’d been afraid of her own shadow.

He risked a sideways glance at the free spirit and discovered she’d fallen asleep. No wonder she hadn’t given him a piece of her mind yet. He smiled then. Jilly trusted him, all right, but she sure didn’t like him very much. She’d managed to get the kids into their car seats without stirring them. He still couldn’t believe that one. Only James had awakened, and then only briefly. She’d calmly shushed him back to sleep with a kiss and a pat on the head. Then she’d made sure Luke caught her scowl of disapproval before fastening her seat belt and turning toward the window.

“Where are we?” The sleepy voice came from the back seat.

“Almost to North Carolina. You getting hungry, James?”

“Kinda. I guess I am.” Luke watched in the rearview mirror as his little friend rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “But you don’t hafta stop for me. Wait till Sarah gets to crying. Then you’ll hafta stop anyway.”

“Sarah will need her nappie changed. I should’ve seen to it before we left.” Luke heard the husky thread of sleepiness in Jilly’s voice and resolutely chose to ignore the jolt of awareness that crawled through his system.

“It’s a diaper, Jilly. Not a nappie. If you’re gonna live here, you gotta learn to talk like us.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw her wince, but then she straightened and smiled. “Good morning to you, too, James. I’m simply divine. Thank you ever so much for asking.”

The little man received her message loud and clear. James scowled and his cheeks got pink, but he muttered a surly good morning under his breath.

“Good morning to you, too, Luke. I feel I must apologize for my rude behavior earlier. I should have warned you that I tend to be rather foul in the mornings, especially before I’ve had any caffeine.”

He knew the coffee thing would come back to haunt him. He glanced over and was surprised to discover the halfhearted smile that had formed when she began lecturing James had broadened by the time her gaze met his. Her eyes were smiling, too.

“Perhaps we can start over. I promise I’ll be much less grumpy for the rest of the day.”

“You’re forgiven. In the future I’ll try not to wake you like I did this morning.” He shot a careful glance to the rearview mirror. Jilly caught his look and nodded slightly. With James awake, their talk would have to wait until later.

“We’ll need to stop soon for gas. I promise I’ll get you a big cup of coffee then. I had one for you this morning but I spilled it on my way back to the room.”

Flung, actually. Into the face of one of the hitmen Sloan had sent to track him down. Sadly, Luke’s cup had spilled into the crotch of the other moron who’d made the huge mistake of going for his gun. The wheezing air conditioner had covered the sound of his screams. That and the pillow he’d pushed into his face before knocking them both out for good. On the plus side, he’d gained two more weapons. A Glock 9 mm and a relatively decent-looking .45. He just hoped he wouldn’t end up needing to use them.

They’d left too many bodies behind at the motel. Only one dead one, but that would be enough to trigger an all-out man-hunt as soon as the night clerk was discovered. The agency would be there by now. Sloan’s thugs were long gone, but Luke sensed they wouldn’t give up anytime soon. If there was one rule in the drug-running handbook it was that witnesses couldn’t live. Sloan’s failure to kill him this morning had only upped the stakes. But he didn’t waste time worrying about that. By tonight the whole thing would be over. Jillian and the kids would be safe. And as for him…if Sloan found him, so be it. He didn’t particularly care one way or the other.

He shot a quick glance at Jilly. She was humming softly as she gazed out the window. He found it incredible that she wasn’t mad anymore. It made him wonder how she let go of her anger so quickly. How it disappeared—leaving no bitterness, no sarcastic aftereffects to keep it brewing. No cold shoulder that would take on a life of its own. Hell, nearly every argument he’d ever had with Linda had ended in a silent treatment that lingered so long he eventually forgot what the original disagreement had been about.

“How come we got up so early?” James’s voice had him glancing in the mirror again.

Luke shot a subtle warning look at Jilly. “I don’t know about you, kid, but I like driving in the morning. The road’s clear and it’s nice an’ quiet.”

James thought about it for a minute before slowly nodding his head. “Yeah, you’re right, Luke. Me, too.” He yawned again and then directed his attention at the back of Jilly’s head. “Jilly, I think we should drive in the mornin’ when we go to New York.”

“You’re probably right,” she agreed as she glanced at Luke. “As soon as Mr. Gianetti says we’re able to leave, we’ll get up very early and drive while it’s still dark, like we did today.”

“Cool. Maybe I could sit up front? You’ll need a good copilot.”

Jilly appeared shocked, but then quickly flushed with pleasure at his suggestion. Luke noticed she didn’t correct him on the New Hampshire part. He’d sensed the resentment James had toward her, and was curious as to the cause.

“Why, I’d love to have you as my copilot, James. You can hold the maps for me.”

“Mama? I need go potty. I gotta go real bad.”

Luke adjusted the mirror to include Samuel’s sleepy face. His eyes were wide and blue, the color not unlike Jill’s. The poor kid musta had six different cowlicks to go along with his morning bedhead.

“She’s not our mother, stupid!” James’s voice went from friendly to enraged in half a second.

“I not ’tupid.”

“James, he’s half asleep, for goodness’ sake. He made a mistake. Leave him alone,” Jilly instructed gently. She glanced at Luke for confirmation before turning to smile at Samuel. “Can you hold it, lovey? Just for a few minutes?” She grinned when he nodded his head. “Luke will be stopping just as soon as he spots a safe place.”

“You’re not our mom. You’re n-nothing like M-Mommy.” James gulped in a rush of air. “She was beautiful an…and…”

Luke watched her eyes soften as she directed her attention to James, who had started sniffling. She tried to hand him a tissue, but he turned away.

“James, I know I’m not your mum. I know you miss her. I miss her, too. But someone has to take care of you three and I’m the only one here to do that.”

“There’s my dad! If he kn-knew what you’d d-done…he’d come get me. He’d come for me, I know he would have. If you h-hadn’t made us leave.” James was crying in earnest now. “Now he’ll never find me. I hate you!”

Jilly’s eyes filled with tears and she quickly scrubbed them away as she turned back to face the front. Luke shot her an inquiring look, but she refused to meet it. “James, please…try and keep your voice down. Let’s not wake up Sarah. We can talk about it when we stop in a few minutes.”

“I don’t wanna t-talk to you. I wanna live with my d-daddy.”

“Hey, buddy. Let’s cut her some slack, okay?” Luke paused for a moment, unsure whether or not he should interfere. But frankly, he had enough to deal with just keeping them all alive. He’d get a monster-size headache if he had to listen to wailing kids. “Listen, pal, Jilly’s just trying to protect you.”

“I don’t need protectin’.”

“Maybe not,” he conceded. “But what about your brother? What about your baby sister?” He didn’t give James another chance to argue. “Since you’re the oldest, I thought maybe you could help me.”

“You want my help? Is this like…with bad guys?”

He did a quick mental shrug. If it gained him some quiet time, who was he to argue? “Sort of,” he said cautiously. “This mission involves driving you guys and Jilly to a safe place…and we need to get there as soon as possible. And we need to keep it secret.”

“You mean, like spies?”

“Yeah, we need to move quickly and quietly. So I need your help keeping your brother occupied.” He glanced at James in the rearview mirror. “That way, no one will notice us very much.”

“You gonna show me that bullet hole in your ass?” he asked as he sniffed away the last of his tears.

“James! For the last time, if I hear any more cursing out of you, you’ll be chewing on a bar of soap.” Jilly’s eyes snapped with temper.

Luke tried hard not to crack up. He swallowed the laughter that threatened to erupt from his chest. His lips still twitching, he forced himself to look out the window. The kid was funny as hell, yet still so innocent. And Jillian, with her very proper British accent sounded like she was ready to explode. Sweet Jesus… Just what kind of mess had he gotten himself into this time?

“You know, James, I’d listen to her if I were you. I’ve had the soap-in-the-mouth treatment.” He slid his glance over to Jillian and found that her frown included him. “And it really suck— It’s pretty bad,” he quickly corrected as she rolled her eyes.

“I can see it worked like a bloody charm on you,” she muttered under her breath. “Every other word out of your mouth is foul.”

“Trust me. You’re not gonna like it,” he finished, ignoring her. “Tell you what.” He paused to see if Mary Poppins was listening. “I’ll do it, too.”

James’s eyes got huge in the rearview mirror when Jillian burst out laughing. “You will? For real, Luke?”

“Yeah. If I say a bad word, then Jilly can wash my mouth out with soap, too. Is that a fair deal?”

“Do I still get to look at your a—your bullet hole?”

The kid had a one-track mind. “Yes, James. When we stop, I’ll let you see the bullet hole, all right?”

“Actually, now that you mention it, I need to take a look, too. Your bandage probably needs to be changed.”

Mary Poppins’s words were spoken crisply and matter-of-factly but he could see the color rise in her cheeks. Little Miss Efficient. If it were possible, she was dreading the task even more than he was. “That’s okay. I think I can handle it from here. You give me the stuff and I’ll take care of it.”

“How will you reach—”

“Jill, I said I’ll handle it.”

“Very well then.” He nearly grinned when she nodded and abruptly turned to the window, suddenly fascinated by the endless miles of green pasture that blurred past the window.

They all felt considerably better after the rest stop. Samuel got to pee, Sarah got a fresh diaper and Jilly finally got her coffee, which she sipped gratefully, waiting for the caffeine to make its presence known. Even James had declared a truce with her, albeit a grudging one. She wondered how long it would take to break through his stony silence, how long before he trusted that she wouldn’t leave them. Before he trusted anyone to stay.

Despite the considerable distance they’d covered, Agent Gianetti still appeared to be rather cautious. He’d insisted they get their breakfast to take away, choosing to head for a deserted park down the street from the fast-food place rather than eat inside the restaurant. Inadvertently he’d scored high points with James and Samuel who were thrilled to eat outside.

“Just because we’re eating at a picnic table doesn’t mean you should chew with your mouth open, Samuel.” Over the past three days she’d begun the arduous task of instilling in the children the most basic of table manners and the boys hadn’t been eager to embrace her instruction. Good Lord, if Rosemary Moseby could see them now, she would surely die of the shame.

“Jilly? Can we go play on the swings?”

“I’m sorry, did you ask that question with your mouth full?” She hid her smile as she bent over Sarah on the blanket she’d spread on the ground near the table. Even the little one appeared thrilled to be out of her car seat.

James chewed vigorously, swallowing the lump of biscuit in one gulp. “No, it’s gone, see?” He opened his mouth wide for her perusal and she shuddered visibly. Behind her, Luke smothered a chuckle.

Rome wasn’t built in a day, she reminded herself. At least he’d asked her permission. She glanced at Luke for confirmation and he nodded. “Very well then, James. You may take your brother over to the swingset for a little while.”

“Just a couple minutes, okay, guys?”

“Uh-huh. Thanks, Luke.”

“Take Samuel’s hand so he doesn’t fall,” she reminded James. He grabbed his brother’s hand, nearly jerking him off his feet, and launched across the field toward the swings.

“Did you make contact with your friend?” Her gaze still on Sarah, who was kicking up a storm, she heard Luke slide down the picnic table bench.

“Yeah, finally. Murphy—he’s my partner—said we left behind a big mess. Two guys are dead and two more are in custody. Said all hell—heck—broke out,” he quickly corrected when she smiled. “Somehow a transformer blew and the power grid went out for almost twenty blocks. That’s why I couldn’t reach anyone by phone.”

“How many bars of soap is that now?” She glanced up, shading her eyes to search the deserted playground for Samuel and James.

“I’m doing pretty well so far,” he countered.

She shot him a reproving look. “It’s only been two hours and you’re on at least your third bar.”

He grinned. “Like I said, I’m doing pretty well.”

“What happens now? Are we free to leave? Can we continue north or must we go all the way back to South Carolina?” She picked up her coffee, took a sip and then carefully set it back on the table near the blanket. “Can we drop you off in Charlotte, like you said earlier?”

“For now it looks like Charlotte,” he answered. “I’m not going back to Spartaville yet. At least not with the four of you in tow.” Luke set his juice down on the edge of the picnic table and smiled over the hopeful tone of her voice. “Murphy’s setting up a meeting with the SAC in Charlotte to take your statement.”

“But I don’t have a statement. I barely saw the man. I couldn’t possibly recognize him.”

“I know you’re eager to hit the road.” He hesitated, appearing to choose his words carefully. “I know this is inconvenient, but I still don’t like it. Duncan, my boss, seems to think this thing is under control. But those guys this morning…” He shook his head. “There’re too many missing pieces, if you ask me.”

“What exactly did happen this morning? Are we still in danger?” It didn’t feel as though they were. Yet when he’d burst through the motel room door this morning, she’d been terrified. His demeanor had been that of a warrior, the expression in his eyes deadly serious. And the intensity of his aura had been enough to make her skin prickle with fear.

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m being so cautious,” he admitted. “Ever since the explosion yesterday, nothing has gone according to plan. Now someone’s after us. Most likely it’s Sloan or someone who works for him.”

“Sloan is the drug dealer?” She picked up a rattle and gently shook it over Sarah’s face.

“Yeah. He’s pretty nasty on a good day, but he’s unbelievable when his plans get fouled up. Right now, he’s ticked at me.”

“Because you were trying to arrest him?”

“Sloan is one of the biggest heroin dealers in the southeast. Yeah, I was trying to nail him. If I hook him then I can finally get a lead on the supplier. There’s one guy—one freakin’ guy running this ring and we can’t figure out who he is. Goes by the name of Castillo. I don’t know if it’s really his name or if it’s a place—nothing. Whoever he is, people sure as hell fear him.”

“Well, did you get him—this Sloan person?”

“No. Murphy said we got a couple of his flunkies, but Sloan disappeared.”

Luke was clearly displeased with the outcome of his mission thus far. “Once we drop you off in Charlotte, we should be safe enough, right? I mean, if he’s after you…” She felt guilty even voicing the statement. Here he was, protecting them and all. But dammit, she hadn’t asked for any of this.

“Maybe.” To his credit, Luke didn’t appear angered over her disloyalty.

“Then we can go?”

“We’ll see.” His noncommittal response sent angry heat to her cheeks.

“What does that mean? You can’t hold us indefinitely.”

“I cahn’t?”

“Stop teasing,” she ordered. “Why can’t we leave?”

“Are you forgetting that you saw him, too? I can’t be sure that he’s only after me. If I let you leave, he could just as easily send someone after you.”

“Well, if he’s on the run like you say—”

“It doesn’t mean a thing,” he interrupted. “Last night two men were ordered to take me out,” he emphasized. Several seconds passed before he spoke again. “Those orders may have included you.”

“But that means we’re in danger whether we’re with you or not.”

The sun shone warm on the back of her neck, mocking the shiver that jolted up her spine. The sound of mingled laughter carried across the field from the swingset, blending with the birds chirping in the magnolia tree behind them. It felt completely safe.

Yet the blood on his hands had been incredibly real. The spatters on his shirt defied the illusion of safety. “Your shirt…I mean the, um, blood and everything. Those men— Did you…I mean, you didn’t have to—”

Jillian glanced up, her expression clearly anxious. Christ, she was actually worried that he’d killed those scumbags. It was the typical bleeding-heart reaction Luke saw all too often and he could feel his blood pressure rising. Drugs and drug dealers were a plague that needed to be dealt with harshly. Drug abuse was not a feel-good social cause. Period. Luke mused that Jillian was probably one of those types who thought addicts should be coddled rather than tossed into jail. Her Ladyship didn’t want to believe those guys would’ve killed her in a heartbeat. She didn’t seem to appreciate the fact that he’d probably saved her royal ass.

“You weren’t hurt again, were you?”

Hold everything. She was worried…for him? “Nah, I’m fine. And I didn’t have to—you know, kill anyone.” He paused then and frowned. He shouldn’t be telling this woman anything. He had a job to do, no matter what it took to accomplish it. Why was he wasting time trying to reassure her?

“But the blood on your—”

“I just had to disable them. There’s a big difference.” It probably wasn’t a good time to tell her about the desk clerk’s fate. Or how close they’d come to meeting the same end. He glanced down at the front of his shirt, noticing the faint spatters of blood for the first time. “Is it really noticeable from where you’re sitting?”

She squinted up at him, shading her eyes from the sun that rose behind him. Luke’s nerve endings felt her perusal all the way to the top of his head and he mentally cursed himself for being so stupid. Hands down, when this op was over, he was gonna find himself a woman. The dry spell had obviously gone on for much too long.

“No,” she said finally. “It’s sort of faded and brown. Looks more like you spilled something all over you.” Her expression changed to doubt as she wrinkled up her nose. “I have an old shirt that might fit you. My suitcase is in the boot. Before we start up again, I’ll look for it.”

“I can’t imagine you’d have anything that would fit me.” Not with that body. She was built like a dream. He stood and stretched his legs, dispelling his fantasy and draining the last of his juice before he tossed the cup in the trash can.

“I’ve got a few of Ian’s old shirts. They might work.” Jilly picked up a plastic key ring and shook it as Sarah cooed.

His interest perked up another notch. “Who’s Ian?”

She sighed and he noticed that she seemed to want to look everywhere except at him, instead choosing to scan the playground for the boys. “Oh, that’s a long story. He’s an old friend.”

Luke sat gingerly on the end of the picnic table and forced himself to drop it. This girl was none of his business. He didn’t want to know anything about her or the kids. Only what he needed to keep them alive. In the grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter how many damn boyfriends she’d had. It didn’t matter one freakin’ bit.

After tonight, Jillian would spend a day or so in Charlotte for debriefing. Then they’d head north to resume life in what was probably a quaint little New Hampshire town. And he’d never see any of them again. The days they’d spent with him would fade in their memories until it became just another funny story of Jilly’s adventures.

But just because they were safe for the moment, didn’t mean he could afford to let down his guard. He needed to stay focused. Nothing about this op had been routine. Even Murphy had been reluctant to start the final reports on the failed mission. Something wasn’t right. He just didn’t know what. But his gut still strummed on red alert, telling him to keep them out of sight. He’d never ignored his gut before. He sure as hell wasn’t about to start now.

Annoyed with himself, he readjusted his position on the end of the table. Despite the gauze padding and the glow-in-the-dark Band-Aids, his butt was still pretty sore. What he really needed was underwear. When James had discovered in the men’s room that Luke wasn’t wearing any briefs, he’d wanted to rid himself of his Spider-Man underpants. And Samuel would’ve followed right along. A trio of men going commando. Now wouldn’t Her Ladyship have appreciated that?

She glanced over just in time to see him wince. “What is it? Is your wound hurting? I knew you should’ve let me clean it.”

“What is it with this fascination for my butt? You took one look at it and now that’s all you can think about,” he said, forgetting that he was trying to maintain a professional distance. Something about that British accent made him want to prod her. So cool on the outside…so prim and proper. But just under the surface—lava, baby.

She pressed her lips together and frowned. “Yes…well, as fascinating as I found your backside, it simply didn’t stop traffic for me—if you know what I mean.” She finally turned to stare at him. “I realize it’s probably not possible, but if you could be serious for a single moment…”

“Sure. Try me.”

“I’m trying to determine whether or not you’re in pain. I have more of those pills.”

“The chick stuff?” He shook his head. “You know, all of a sudden, my cramps are much better.” Her Ladyship had a damn fine temper, he noted. He couldn’t tell whether she wanted to laugh or haul off and smack him.

“Is your injury hurting worse?”

“Oh, that.” He waved away her concern. “Nah, it’s fine. Just a little sore, that’s all. It’s draining okay and I cleaned it with the stuff you gave me. Stop worrying about it.”

“It sounds like you’ve had some experience. Have you been shot before?”

He limped over to the blanket and gingerly sat down, and before he realized it, he’d reached out a finger and was tickling Sarah’s belly. “Only a few times.”

Her eyes were incredulous. “Only a few? Good Lord. What does your wife think about your line of work?”

He smiled at the now chortling Sarah. “Not very much. She, uh, left me four years ago.”

Jilly tsked under her breath. “I’m sorry about that. Were you married long? You don’t look very old.”

“Six years. We met in college.” He glanced up, reading the sympathy in her eyes. She really was way too soft.

“And how long have you been doing this drug thing—chasing dangerous criminals?”

“This thing I’ve been doing is called drug enforcement and I’ve been doing it for ten years, since I graduated from college.” He knelt down on the blanket and made a face at Sarah and was rewarded with a smile.

“Well, you must be pretty good at it,” she answered as she tucked a strand of hair back into her ponytail. “Or I guess you would’ve gotten yourself killed by now.”

Luke did a double take and then realized she wasn’t being sarcastic, only direct. “Yeah, I guess you could say that. What about you?” he challenged. “Ever been married?”

She made a face as though she’d just sipped bitter lemonade and wanted to spit it out. “No, thank goodness. I almost did, though. What a mistake that would’ve been.” She shook her head ruefully. “How’s that for absurd? I’m twenty-seven years old and I still have trouble saying no. My mum nearly had me talked into marrying the man she wanted. In her eyes, he was bloody perfect.”

He smiled over her disgruntled expression. It wasn’t hard to believe at all. Jillian struck him as the kind of girl who leaped first and then thought about looking when it was too late. “So, what stopped you?”

The gray-blue eyes grew very wide, almost startled. “Why, the children, of course. I mean, I was going to break it off anyway. We were so completely different,” she added absently. “But then I got the call about my sister.”

Her voice catching, he watched her eyes grow suspiciously misty. Warning bells jangled in his gut. Somehow he’d managed to push the wrong conversational button. She rubbed her arms, as though she’d suddenly realized she was cold.

“She…passed away two weeks ago,” she said, her voice starting to break. “I only learned of it, um, a week ago, Tuesday.”

Ten days ago. And she’d already been here a week. Luke rocked back on his heels, stunned by the enormity of what she’d been through, surprised by the courage it must have taken to hop on a plane and fly halfway around the world to tend to her sister’s children. He watched as she took a deep breath and forced back the tears that threatened to spill over. Watched in amazement when she regained control almost instantly.

Jillian hadn’t just learned that trick on the transatlantic flight. He recognized a control freak when he saw one—he’d had the misfortune of living with one—and realized that his initial impression of her was probably wrong. Despite her flighty exterior, Mary Poppins was very tightly wrapped.

“How come you’re here alone? Isn’t there anyone who could help you?”

“My mum—she’s…busy with things back home.” Jilly averted her eyes and he knew instinctively that it was with shame. His thoughts drifted to his own family. For the most part, the Gianettis were a traditional Italian-American family, but due to the sheer volume of them, there was definitely a strong dysfunctional element. Yet he couldn’t help wondering what the hell had gone down in the white-picket-fence Moseby house. Judging by the way her eyes were swimming, this was definitely the wrong time to ask.

“So what happened with the guy? The one your mother picked out for you.”

“Oh, Ian didn’t want— He thought three chil—” Jilly clamped her mouth shut and suddenly stood, her movements jerky. “We broke up.”

This was getting interesting. He settled himself more comfortably on the blanket. So Ian was an ex-fiancé…not simply the old friend she’d claimed.

“Uh, could you watch Sarah for a minute? I really should fetch the boys back over here.”

“Sure. Tell ’em they’ve got five more minutes.” He watched her walk away while his brain automatically began processing what he’d just learned. His mind filtered everything as though it were a giant puzzle, the unfortunate byproduct of too many years as an operative. He couldn’t shut it off, so he’d learned to use it to his benefit. Once a puzzle piece fell into place, everything else became sharper, more focused.

For some strange reason, Jilly’s mother hadn’t thought her dead daughter worth the effort of an overseas trip. Nor, apparently, her three grandchildren. And loverboy Ian didn’t want to be saddled with someone else’s kids. Luke was willing to bet they’d both applied pressure on Jilly, tried to convince her to stay home. And she’d still chosen to go it alone. With that piece of information, he added “stubborn” to the mental column marked Jillian.

He checked his cell phone for the millionth time, grateful the damn thing was finally working. His fingers itched to call his partner. He wondered if Murphy had come up with any new information to fill in some of the holes in the investigation. Anything that would take the edge off his jumpy stomach.

According to Murphy, the junkie grapevine was abuzz with news. Notorious for both good information and bad, the top story today was about Billy T. Lathrop. Word on the street had him on the run with a price on his head, a damn high price, now that he thought about it, and that he was as good as dead.

Sarah chose that moment to grin up at him, cooing as she reached for his finger. The tiny little tug on his finger caused an even stronger tug in his chest, in the vicinity where his heart had once resided. He would’ve sworn on a stack of bibles that Sarah was looking straight into his eyes when she smiled. He jerked back in reaction.

The sooner he got back to the streets, the better. He’d dealt his hand in life. And he meant to play it out until the end. The faces on his cards were pushers and pimps, not angelic children, not beautiful women who would need him too much.

Dammit to hell! He didn’t want to be interested—in any of them.

But there were still too many unanswered questions. Like why Sloan had seemed to know the bust was coming? Or, where the hell the backup team had been when the building had blown to smithereens? As he replayed the takedown in his mind, he fingered the slug in his shirt pocket, a growing sense of uneasiness trickling through his brain.

Who the hell had shot him?