LITMIR.BIZ

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      “I haven’t touched most of those things since I unpacked.” She looked up into his eyes. His pupils were so dilated from the medication that she could barely see the dark cognac brown of his irises. “Maybe you should rest.”

      “When I need a nap, I’ll let you know.” He flashed that killer grin. “In the meantime, I’m your protector.”

      In spite of his light tone, she took him seriously. Her instincts told her this was a man she could trust with her life. In a way, she already had. Within moments of meeting Jesse, she’d told him the secret behind her move to the mountains. None of her friends in Denver knew how much she’d lost. Fiona’s story was that she and Abby were going to live at the cabin and seek a more peaceful life. Peaceful? Not today!

      She cleared her throat and said, “Burke told me to look for signs that someone had been in my house.”

      “Keep at it.”

      She closed her closet door and led him into Abby’s room, which was more cluttered than the rest of the house but didn’t seem to have been ransacked.

      “I can’t imagine why anybody would want to rob me,” she said. “I don’t keep valuables here.”

      “From what you told me, you don’t keep valuables at all.”

      “Things aren’t important to me. I care about people. People matter.”

      He mattered. She’d only just met Jesse, but he mattered to her. Why was she so drawn to him? Very likely, because he was an incredibly good-looking man. His straight black hair was combed back from his forehead. He had high cheekbones, deep-set eyes and a firm jaw. But his features weren’t perfect. His nose looked as if it had been broken more than once. And he had a scar on his chin. An interesting face.

      “Let’s go to the next room,” he said.

      The guest room with the colorful handmade quilt was neat as a pin. Again, the closet door stood open. It was the same in the den.

      The only rooms left to search were the kitchen and her studio. She backtracked through the living room, passing the dining table where she and Abby had begun their Christmas decorating with a centerpiece of handmade clay elves and reindeer.

      In the kitchen, her gaze went to the top of the fridge where she’d left the antique Colt .45. The rectangular box appeared to be unmoved. She should take it down and make sure the gun was still inside. But something else caught her attention.

      “The apples.” She pointed to a bowl on the table. “There are only three, and I’m sure I had four. I remember because I was going to run in here and grab an apple for Elvis.”

      “Elvis?”

      “Carolyn’s horse. She dropped by earlier.” It seemed crazy that someone would break into her house for a healthy snack. “I could be wrong. Nothing else is out of place.”

      That left only her pottery studio. She went through the laundry room attached to the kitchen and stopped outside a closed door. “I always keep this door locked so Abby can’t come in here unsupervised. Too many sharp implements. And a kiln.”

      She reached up for the key that hung from a hook near the top of the door frame. It was gone. Had she misplaced it?

      Jesse reached past her and turned the doorknob. “It’s open.”

      She stepped inside. Her potter’s wheel was in one corner. The kiln in the other. The long table between them was cluttered with sketchbooks and current projects. On the opposite side of the room, tall storage cabinets against the wall were opened. The larger boxes had been dragged out to the center of the room and opened. “Someone was in here.”

      “Don’t touch. There might be fingerprints.” Using one of the sketching pencils, he opened the lid on one of the boxes and peered inside at an assortment of small kitchen appliances that she didn’t use anymore. “Anything missing?”

      “Hard to tell. That’s just clutter.”

      “Your intruder didn’t come here to rob you. He didn’t take the flat-screen TV or the computer. I’d say he was looking for something specific.”

      But her house hadn’t been torn apart. The drawers and cabinets in the kitchen were untouched. “He was searching for something big enough to fit into one of these boxes.”

      “Something that’s about the size of a suitcase.” With the fingers of his right hand, he raked his black hair off his forehead. “Something that’s gone missing.”

      Fiona realized that she should have been frightened. The unlocked door and the boxes were evidence. An intruder had been inside her house. Instead, she felt angry and confused as she imagined a stranger wandering through her house, poking into her things. “I’m not in the mood for guessing games. What was he looking for?”

      “The ransom,” he said. “A million dollars in cash. That much money in small bills would fill a suitcase.”

      “Why would anyone think the ransom was in my house?”

      “That’s a million-dollar question.”

      “How about an answer?”

      “Your property is close to the Carlisle’s. If the kidnappers were on the run and had to stash the money, they might have stopped here.”

      “If so, they wouldn’t have to search,” she said. “They’d remember where they stashed it.”

      “There are two of them.” He rested one hip on a high stool beside her worktable. “One of them might have decided he didn’t want to share with his buddy. So he hid the money in your house. Now his buddy is looking for it.”

      She remembered the voices she’d heard last night. It has been late, after two o’clock. She couldn’t make out the words but they sounded angry.

      Her awareness of fear became reality. The danger—real danger—had come too close.

      She stared through the window of her studio and saw the searchers approaching the barn. If anything was hidden here, they’d surely find it. But if they didn’t, what should she do?

      “Fiona.” He spoke her name softly. “It’s all right. Nothing bad is going to happen.”

      “How can you say that? Those men could have come into my house last night. How would I have protected Abby?”

      “I’m here now. I’ll keep you and your daughter safe.”

      Panic shivered through her. She wanted to run, to get as far away from here as possible. But where could she go? She didn’t have a house in Denver anymore, didn’t have enough money to stay in a hotel. “I can’t afford to hire you, Jesse.”

      “You already did. Remember? Pro bono.”

      She wasn’t too proud to accept charity, especially when her daughter’s safety was involved. Still, she asked, “Why?”

      “I owe you,” he said simply. “Your husband took a chance on hiring Longbridge Security when I was first starting out. Because I proved myself capable of protecting Wyatt Grant—the district attorney of Denver—my reputation was established. I’ve been busy ever since.”

      His calm tone and steady gaze bolstered her confidence. Her fear began to recede. “You’ll stay with me and Abby until this is over?”

      “Your guest room looks comfortable.”

      Gratitude urged her toward him. Avoiding his sling, she hugged the right side of his body. “Thank you.”

      His right arm encircled her. For a long moment, they held each other in a clumsy embrace. Fiona had touched plenty of other men since her husband’s death; she was an unrepentant hugger. But being this close to Jesse was different. His nearness awakened long-suppressed feelings of sensual warmth, the memory of what it was like to be a woman.

      She

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