“Give me a call if you decide you want to try out my services.”

He hesitated for a brief instant, then cupped her hand in his while he flashed a careless grin. “Your services?”

Her throat tightened. Even as her brain told her that retreat would be wise, she allowed her hand to remain in his. Only one other time in her life had a man had such an immediate effect on her. Then she’d gone with emotion, listened to her heart instead of her head, and she’d wound up betrayed and hurt. Desperately hurt.

“My company’s services, of course,” she amended, keeping her voice light. “You might decide you want to meet your perfect match after all.”

He kept his eyes locked with hers while his thumb stroked the inside of her wrist. Her pulse stuttered; then her stomach dropped to her toes.

“I won’t.”

She remained unmoving, her gaze tracking his movements as he walked toward the door while she waited for her pulse to settle. It didn’t.

Dear Reader,

Have you noticed our new look? Starting this month, Intimate Moments has a bigger, more mainstream design—hope you like it! And I hope you like this month’s books, too, starting with Maggie Shayne’s The Brands Who Came for Christmas. This emotional powerhouse of a tale launches Maggie’s new miniseries about the Brand sisters, THE OKLAHOMA ALL-GIRL BRANDS. I hope you love it as much as I do.

A YEAR OF LOVING DANGEROUSLY continues with Hero at Large, a suspenseful—and passionate—tale set on the mean streets of L.A. Robyn Amos brings a master’s touch to the romance of Keshon Gray and Rennie Williams. Doreen Owens Malek returns with a tale of suspense and secrets, Made for Each Other, and believe me…these two are! RITA Award winner Marie Ferrarella continues her popular CHILDFINDERS, INC. miniseries with Hero for Hire, and in January look for her CHILDFINDERS, INC. single title, An Uncommon Hero.

Complete the month with Maggie Price’s Dangerous Liaisons, told with her signature grittiness and sensuality, and Dad in Blue by Shelley Cooper, another of the newer authors we’re so proud to publish.

Then rejoin us next month as the excitement continues—right here in Intimate Moments.

Enjoy!

Leslie J. Wainger

Executive Senior Editor

Dangerous Liaisons
Maggie Price

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Major Richard Neaves:

Thanks, big brother! If it weren’t for you, I never would

have found my way to the Oklahoma City Police

Department…where I found my Perfect Match.

MAGGIE PRICE

turned to crime at the age of twenty-two. That’s when she went to work at the Oklahoma City Police Department. As a civilian crime analyst, she evaluated suspects’ methods of operation during the commission of robberies and sex crimes, and developed profiles on those suspects. During her tenure at OCPD, Maggie stood in lineups, snagged special assignments to homicide task forces, established procedures for evidence submittal, even posed as the wife of an undercover officer in the investigation of a fortune-teller.

While at OCPD, Maggie stored up enough tales of intrigue, murder and mayhem to keep her at the keyboard for years. The first of those tales won the Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart Award for Romantic Suspense.

Maggie invites her readers to contact her at 5208 W. Reno, Suite 350, Oklahoma City, OK 73127-6317.

Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 1

Jake Ford leaned against the bar, surveilling the blonde while she moved among the wedding guests with the skill of a seasoned pickpocket. Another time, another place, someone working a crowd with such adeptness would have spiked his inner radar to full alert. That wasn’t the case this night. She wasn’t covertly lifting valuables from the well-heeled guests and tonight he wasn’t a cop, only a guest.

She was the groom’s sister. He knew that because his partner, Whitney Shea—Whitney Taylor as of an hour and a half ago—had described her soon-to-be sister-in-law several times. Stunning was the term Whitney had used to sum up Nicole Taylor.

His partner had hit the mark.

Overhead, crystal chandeliers spilled light across the hotel’s mirrored ballroom. Champagne flowed from a fountain that gurgled to a pool at the base of a swan sculptured in ice. A pianist caressed ivory and ebony keys, filling the air with a smoky love song. Jake was aware of the rustle of silk and the murmur of conversations as couples swayed on the dimly lit dance floor, but he kept his attention focused on Nicole Taylor. Smiling, sometimes laughing, she moved with abandon through the sea of some of Oklahoma City’s most elite citizens. She tweaked a gray-haired judge on the chin, hobnobbed with the mayor, chatted up the district attorney. While she mingled, Jake caught more than a few appreciative male gazes aimed her way.

One of those was his own, he acknowledged. Her slinky blue dress had a scooped-out back and a side slit that offered flashes of leg he couldn’t help admire. On occasion, she tucked what he figured was her business card into the breast pocket of a tailored suit coat or slid one into a manicured hand that clutched an evening bag.

He wondered what a woman who looked as if she’d stepped out of a man’s darkest, most seductive dream did for a living.

He studied her profile, his gaze tracing one high, slanting cheekbone, the sweep of jaw that looked as if it had the potential to take on a stubborn slant. Her hair, a mix of blond and gold tones, was pulled back in an intricate braid coiled at the base of her long, elegant neck. Even from a distance he could tell that her eyes were a vivid blue to match her dress. His gaze slid downward to the glossy coral lips that curved into an intimate smile when she eased her card into the breast pocket of a tall, lanky Latino with smooth olive skin and an ebony mustache. From the smoldering look in the man’s dark eyes, Jake figured he was contemplating devouring her in two bites.

Instinct told him she was a woman a man would beg for.

He clenched his jaw as he watched her polished nails skim tantalizingly down the Latino’s lapel. It didn’t please him that the sight of her curved, full lips stirred something dark and elemental inside him.

Something that hadn’t stirred in a long time.

Pulling his gaze away, Jake stared into the glass he clutched. He wished fervently for Scotch instead of the tonic water he’d ordered. But, like a hell of a lot of other things he’d once savored and enjoyed, Scotch was in his past. So were cigarettes. And women.

Especially women.

He closed his eyes. He’d thought he had gotten past the bad dream. Had managed to go a few weeks without waking up in a cold sweat, then staring at the ceiling until dawn, thinking about his wife and daughters. Had actually thought that two months of meeting with the department’s shrink had relegated the claw-infested demon to the murky depths of his subconscious. He’d been wrong. The dream had slammed into him again last night with a double-fisted punch, tormenting him with the haunting memories that had burned into his soul.

He’d lost so much. Too much.

It had been a hell of a lot easier to lock the racking pain deep inside him than it was to face it every day. But after more than a year and a half of drifting through a numb haze, reality had hit him square between the eyes when he’d been charged with the death of a woman he’d been seeing. And seven other murders. After that, he’d had no choice but to finally accept what his life now was.

Accept that his job was all he had left.

Things could be worse, he reminded himself. The insane hours that were a natural part of working Homicide suited him. As long as he was busy wading through blood, gore, paperwork and court appearances, he didn’t have time to think. Time to regret. Time to want what he would never again allow himself to have.

He lifted the glass to his lips, grimaced at the tonic’s sweet tang, then glanced back over his shoulder. He felt a tic of disappointment when he discovered that Nicole Taylor had faded into the crowd and was no longer in sight.

His gaze drifted past the dance floor to a maze of round tables covered in white cloths and topped with centerpieces of velvety red roses. Detectives from OCPD’s Homicide detail had taken over a couple of the tables. Most had brought their spouses or significant others; from all the backslapping going on and the heads thrown back in laughter, it was evident that everyone was having a good time. On any other occasion, Jake would have joined his co-workers, but not tonight. Not at a wedding.

Tonight he preferred solitude.

A bark of nearby laughter caught his attention. The bride and groom, their respective parents, grandparents and siblings had moved a few feet from the bar and now formed a smiling group while a photographer snapped photos. Jake saw the joy that shone in Bill Taylor’s eyes as the assistant D.A. leaned to kiss his bride. Dressed in a slide of pearl-dotted white silk, her auburn hair swept back, Whitney smiled up at her husband, her face a study in joy.

Jake’s mouth curved. Theirs was a perfect match. A solid one. He’d had once-in-a-lifetime happiness like that. A long time ago.

That, he thought, was why he made it a point to avoid weddings. They reminded him of what he’d had…and lost. Still, it hadn’t been a sense of duty that had brought him here tonight. He loved Whitney like a sister, and nothing could have kept him away. But he’d had enough and it was time to go.

Turning back to the bar, he drained his glass. The prospect of climbing on his Harley and running the engine wide open through the still September night eased the tenseness that had settled across his shoulders. Maybe by the time he got home his mind would be void of the memories the evening had stirred.

Maybe the dream would lay dormant tonight.

“Get you another?” the tuxedo-clad bartender asked when Jake sat his empty glass on the bar.

“I’ll pass. One’s my limit when there’s no alcohol involved.”

After stuffing a tip into the snifter on one side of the bar, Jake turned and nearly collided with a sea of white.

“Want to dance, handsome?”

He cocked his head. “Isn’t the bride supposed to hang out with the groom at their wedding?”

“She’s also supposed to dance with her partner,” Whitney stated, her eyes glowing like rich emeralds. “It’s the law.”

“Look, Whit, I’m a little rusty at the social graces. I was about to head—”

“Later.” She snared his hand, tugged him past linen-covered tables loaded with silver trays of sliced meats, breads, fruit and champagne by the bucket. “Dancing is like having sex,” she stated over her shoulder. “You never forget how.”

“Wanna bet?” he muttered, giving thought to the months of self-imposed celibacy he’d endured.

When they reached the dance floor, Whitney turned and gave him a level-eyed look. “Besides, it’s bad luck to make the bride unhappy on her wedding day.”

“Bad luck for whom?”

“You.” She stepped forward, leaving him no choice but to shift into dance position. “If you don’t cooperate, I’ll shoot you in the kneecap.”

He smirked as they moved to the slow beat. “You expect me to believe you’re packing heat under that wedding dress?”

“Trust me, Ford, you don’t want to find out.”

“Guess not.”

Whitney exchanged a few words with a couple who danced by, then stated, “Lieutenant Ryan looks happy.”

Jake followed her gaze to the spot on the dance floor where their boss was locked in an embrace with his wife, A.J., head of the department’s Crime Analysis Unit. “Yeah.”

“Weddings have that effect,” Whitney continued, then sighed. “They remind people of good times.”

“I had that same thought.”

Her gaze flew back to his, her eyes sobering. “Annie,” she said softly. “You were thinking about your and Annie’s wedding.” Her hand tightened on his. “Jake, I’m sorry. I know how much you miss her and the girls.”

He wasn’t surprised Whitney had hit the mark. After all, they’d ridden the streets together, risen through the ranks with equal speed and then wound up partners in Homicide. At one time or another, they’d both been through their own private hell. His had begun two years ago when a bomb exploded on a plane over the Gulf of Mexico, killing his wife and infant twin daughters.

“Yeah, I miss them,” he said quietly. “But I’m hanging in there.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

The last thing he wanted was his partner worrying about him on her wedding night, so he opted for a change of subject. “You know, Whit, while you’re lazing on some beach in Cancún, I’ll be clearing the Quintero case,” he said, referring to the drive-by shooting that had ended the life of a seven-year-old boy who’d been on the wrong street corner at the wrong time. “When I take down Cárdenas, the glory will all be mine.”

She gave him a bland look. “Dream on. It’d be a stroke of luck to unearth Cárdenas’s girlfriend. Even if you do, you’ll never get her to testify she was in his car, much less that he was the shooter.”

“Such little faith,” Jake chided. “Maybe you ought to stay here and work the case, and I’ll go to Cancún.”

Whitney pretended to consider his suggestion, then shook her head. “I don’t think Bill will go for that.”

“I won’t go for what?” the subject of conversation asked as he glided into view beside them, his sister in his arms.

Jake felt a jolt when Nicole Taylor’s gaze met his. From across the room those sapphire eyes had seemed vibrant. Close up, they were mesmerizing.

Whitney gave her husband a coy smile. “You won’t leave me here and take Jake to Cancún with you. Right?”

Arching a brow, the assistant D.A. glanced down at his sister. “I have no clue what’s going on, but it sounds like I got here just in time. Mind if we switch partners so I can reclaim my wife?”

Nicole’s gaze flicked back to Jake’s face, then her lips curved. “Get lost, big brother.”

He’s not my type. Nicole sensed it the instant Whitney fluidly handed off her dance partner and Nicole found herself in the strong circle of the man’s arms.

He was tall and lean, his straight, shaggy hair as black as the suit he wore. He had a handsome, rugged face with high cheekbones and a strong sweep of jaw. It was a combination that drew a woman’s gaze. He had certainly drawn hers while he’d stood alone at the bar, nursing a drink. The sight of him had brought to mind a sleek, dark panther, coiled to spring. The closed look in his eyes had not encouraged company.

It was those eyes that now had an alarm clanging in her head. They were the color of rich, aged whiskey, and she could only think that she could blissfully get lost in them…the same way she had a long time ago when another dark gaze had turned her system just as jittery.

The memory of that disaster had her struggling to clear her thoughts.

“I’m Nicole Taylor,” she said as he guided her over the floor with smooth steps. “Bill’s sister.”

“Jake Ford.”

“Whitney’s partner, right?”

“Right.”

Nicole followed his lead, moving to the music’s slow, sensuous beat. She told herself to relax, that their dance was just a casual social gesture that would last only a matter of minutes. Still, his body was so close, so firm.

She tilted her head. “I’ve heard about you.”

“Then why are you still dancing with me?” he asked, his gaze locked with hers.

When she’d spied him from a distance, she had decided he was compelling. Up close, his dark looks and strong features had a devastating effect. As did the warm, musky scent of his aftershave that curled into her lungs.

“I’m still dancing with you because I love to dance,” she answered. She knew the dim light and the piano’s soft notes were meant to soothe, yet that hadn’t stopped the nerves at the base of her neck from knotting. “Sebastian says dancing is good for the circulation. Helps your capillaries oxygenate.”

Jake’s forehead furrowed. “Whatever.”

She let out a measured breath. The man was definitely not big on conversation. Good thing she was.

“Anyway,” she continued lightly, “Whitney has only good things to say about you.”

“I pay her well.”

Inching her head back, Nicole stared up, studying his face. She found no glint of humor in those dark eyes. “If you didn’t pay her to say good things,” she began slowly, “what would Whitney have told me about you?”

“To stay away.”

Against all reason, his gruff words quickened Nicole’s pulse. She was suddenly aware of the firm presence of his hand against her waist. Cognizant that only a thin barrier of silk lay between his palm and her flesh.

“Why would your partner tell me to stay away from you?”

His gaze remained steady on hers. “Long story.”

Without conscious thought, Nicole splayed her fingers over his shoulder, then tightened them. She felt something beyond the ripcord of hard muscle. Stress. Strain. Jake Ford was as tense as wire.

“Are you on duty, Sergeant Ford?”

“Jake. No. Why?”

“You’re in cop mode.”

He blinked. “Cop mode?”

“Expression hard. Noncommittal.” Her fingers kneaded his shoulder. “Unyielding.”

“What do you know about cop mode?”

She smiled. “Oh, I’ve matched a few police officers.”

His eyes narrowed. “Matched?”

“Making matches is my business—”

“Matches, as in ‘close cover before striking’?”

God, he was so intense…and handsome. “Matches, as in relationships. I have a high success rate. I can just sense when two people belong together—it’s a gift.” Having found her opening, she plucked a business card from the evening bag that dangled on a slim chain from her shoulder.

“Here you go.”

Jake moved his hand from her waist to accept the card. “‘Meet Your Match,”’ he read, then moved his gaze back to hers. “You work there?”

“Yes. I also own the company.”

He looked back at the card, arched a dark brow. “You’re a romance engineer?”

“That’s right.” She was proud of the title, of her company’s success and the knowledge that she offered people the potential for a lifetime of happiness. “I engineer relationships. Quite successfully, if I say so myself. I’m working on franchising.”

As if mulling that over, he remained silent. Around them, muted conversations hung in the air as couples drifted past, swaying to the soft music.

“In other words, people pay you to fix them up on blind dates,” he finally commented.

“Not ‘blind dates.’ When we sign on a client, we conduct background checks and do an intense interview. The person actually knows a lot about their date, including what they look like, before they even meet.”

She gave a subtle glance at the firm left hand that cupped her right. Interest—a purely business one, she told herself—stirred when she saw he wasn’t wearing a wedding band. “So, Sergeant Jake Ford, is there a special woman in your life?”

The slow song ended, another began. Without missing a step, he continued moving in the same smooth rhythm.

“No.”

“Maybe you’d like to check out our services?”

He handed her card back. “No.”

This time, his hand settled against her back where silk gave way to bare skin. His touch was light, but potent enough to widen her eyes as an unexpected flash of need took her by surprise. Air clogged her lungs. She stiffened her spine beneath his palm and willed her feet to keep moving while she kept her gaze on his.

He was watching her with seeming ease, but she could see the shimmering intensity in his dark eyes.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Fine.” She needed oxygen. She wasn’t into self-deception. Just like another man in her past, Jake Ford’s looks, his demeanor…his touch were tempting. Too tempting. Already, her hormones were surging in a direction where the fine edge of reason began to blur.

Now that she’d felt the heat of his flesh against hers, she wanted his touch to continue. Deepen.

Not going to happen, she told herself, putting mental skids on her thoughts. She would never again approach a relationship with her emotions calling the shots. She’d been down that road with her ex, and found it was full of potholes. Now she was smarter. Wiser. And she had learned how to face a problem head-on. The thing to do in this instance was to take control and go on the defensive.

She would feel a whole lot better—safer—if Jake Ford were off-limits. And she was the perfect person to make that happen.

“I have a client who might be perfect for you,” she said as she began tucking the card into the breast pocket of his suit coat. “She’s a doctor. A medical doctor, intelligent and gorgeous. Let me know if you change your—”

Her words slid back down her throat when he snagged her wrist. His hand was steady, his fingers unyielding as steel.

His dark eyes narrowed. “Not interested. And I won’t change my mind.”

The image of those firm, controlled hands exploring every inch of her body clicked into her brain, sending heat surging into her cheeks.

A shadow flickered across his eyes, then disappeared. He released her wrist. “No offense.”

“None taken.” Pursing her lips, Nicole dropped the rejected card back in her purse while regarding him. “Has anyone ever mentioned that your biorhythms might be in the negative range?”

He missed a step, picked the beat back up again. “My what?”

“Biorhythms. You strike me as being overly tense, so yours might be in a negative cycle. Sebastian says if a person’s biorhythms are negative, it’s hard to do well in certain areas.”

“Who the hell is Sebastian?”

“Sebastian Peck, my personal trainer at Sebastian’s.”

Jake’s mouth curved into a sardonic arch. “The prissy gym on the northwest side of town,” he commented.

“Actually, it’s a health club.”

“Bet it’s got piped-in music and a juice bar.”

“That’s right.”

“Not my kind of place. I work out at the police gym.”

Nicole’s left hand slid down to settle on his biceps. The well-formed muscle evidenced a strenuous workout regime.

“Sebastian isn’t taking new clients now, but he owes me a favor,” she said, undaunted. “I can set up an appointment to get your biorhythms charted. It doesn’t take long.” By then, she might have figured out how to convince Jake to agree to a date with the gorgeous doctor.

“My biorhythms are fine.”

“Just think about it. I’m in the book—call me if you change your mind.”

His eyes narrowed at the same instant the music faded. From the opposite side of the dance floor, an uncle of the bride’s announced that the wedding couple was getting ready to leave the reception.

“We should wish them well,” Nicole said.

“You give Whit and Bill my best,” Jake stated evenly. “I’ve stayed too long as it is.” His hand was a light presence on her elbow as they walked to the edge of the dance floor.

Squaring her shoulders, Nicole turned to face him, offered her hand. “It was nice to meet you, Jake. Give me a call if you decide you want to try out my services.”

He hesitated for a brief instant, then cupped her hand in his while he flashed a careless grin. “Your services?”

Her throat tightened. Even as her brain told her that retreat would be wise, she allowed her hand to remain in his. Only one other time in her life had a man had such an immediate, stunning effect on her. Then, she’d gone with emotion, listened to her heart instead of her head, and she’d wound up betrayed and hurt. Desperately hurt.

Now all of her senses screamed at her to do an about-face and run for the hills. For some incomprehensible reason, she stayed put.

“My company’s services, of course,” she amended, keeping her voice light. “You might wake up some morning and decide you want to meet the doctor after all.”

He kept his eyes locked with hers while his thumb stroked the inside of her wrist. Her pulse stuttered, then her stomach dropped to her toes.

“I won’t.”

Even as he turned and walked away she took a step backward. Then another.

Feeling the aftershock of his touch in every pore, she curled her fingers over her palms. She remained unmoving, her gaze tracking his progress toward the door while she waited for her pulse to settle. It didn’t.

Hours later, her nerves still thrumming, Nicole lay in her bed, thinking about Jake Ford. About his dark eyes and ruthless good looks. About the way the attraction she’d felt for him had hit her like a freight train and hadn’t abated.

Even for a woman who knew he wasn’t the type of man she wanted, those thoughts made him dangerous.

Too dangerous.

Stifling a groan, she dragged a pillow over her head and breathed deeply of the soft scent of vanilla that drifted from the linen pillowcase. At least Jake wasn’t part of her brother’s new family, she reasoned. He was Whitney’s partner; there was no reason she and the cop with the whiskey-colored eyes would ever cross paths again.

And that, all of her instincts told her, was a very good thing.

Chapter 2

He shouldn’t have danced with her. Shouldn’t have touched her, shouldn’t have stroked his thumb across her wrist.

Jake scrubbed a hand across his face. Over a week had dragged by since Bill and Whitney’s wedding. Over a week. He had lost track of how many times he’d berated himself on the subject of Nicole Taylor. Even now, his mind kept wandering out of the parked detective cruiser in which he sat and back to the hotel’s glittering ballroom. To the heady feel of her in his arms. To her tempting scent.

To her.

“Dammit!” Setting his jaw, he pushed away the maddening thoughts and focused his mind. He stared out the windshield at the decrepit brick apartment building that looked like a hulking mammoth on the dark, weed-infested lawn. A bare bulb glowed above the building’s crumbling cement porch, sending weak rays into the moonless night. His most reliable snitch had sworn that the girlfriend of Ramon Cárdenas, primary suspect in the drive-by homicide of seven-year-old Enrique Quintero, planned to show up at the apartment building sometime tonight.

Jake had been on the stakeout since sundown. So far, no girlfriend.

He had the cruiser’s windows open; the heat of late September hung heavy in the still night air. In the distance, traffic rumbled along the interstate that cut a swath through downtown. Several houses away, a dog broke into a flurry of barks, ending when a gruff male shout splintered the air. The police radio in the cruiser’s dash crackled softly, the dispatcher sounding as if he were speaking a foreign language.

As if on automatic pilot, Jake’s brain processed the garbled information, which included a female patrol officer notifying dispatch of a Signal 7 at Stonebridge, a swanky gated housing community in the far northwest part of the city. A Signal 7 meant a dead body. One of the Holy Grails of police work was that an unexplained death got treated as a murder right from the start. If his name had headed Homicide’s list to take the next call, Jake would have responded. He glanced at the luminous dial of his watch, knowing that the team of detectives pulling night shift this month would head to the scene in a matter of minutes.

Settling down in his seat, he swallowed the last dregs of his convenience-store coffee, then tossed the foam cup over his shoulder. He gave an unconcerned glance at the back seat, littered with the wadded sacks and empty cups from that week’s take-out meals. He had a few days before Whitney got back from her honeymoon—he would shovel out the cruiser before then.

With the bitter taste of coffee still on his tongue, his hand automatically went to the pocket of his chambray shirt, found it empty. He scowled. Dammit, he hadn’t smoked in two months, five days and seven hours. When the hell was he going to stop reaching for the pack of cigarettes that wasn’t there?

Smoking was the least of the things he missed, Jake reminded himself, his mood turning as dark as the night around him. He couldn’t quite forget the bite of aged Scotch. Or the heady feel of a woman. A soft woman with stunning blue eyes. A woman who smelled good enough to make a man wonder how it would feel to have her move beneath him in the dark.

A woman like Nicole Taylor.

He exhaled a slow breath. He could still feel the way her pulse had spiked beneath his thumb. After that, it had taken all of his control not to press his mouth to that soft place on her wrist and find out if she tasted as good as she looked.

Doing that would have only compounded the already idiotic move he’d made when he’d slicked his thumb across her flesh. He didn’t want to start something he knew didn’t have a chance in hell of going anywhere. Didn’t want to sample what he couldn’t allow himself to have.

Yet, because he’d given in to the impulse to hold on to her longer than he should have, he couldn’t forget the gratifying stutter his touch had put in her pulse.

That memory wasn’t the only thing giving him trouble.

Until that night, all he’d wanted was to rid himself of the clawing dream that dragged him to that second in time when a bomb ignited and ripped apart his world. The dream had faded the past several nights, just as the police psychologist had assured him it would. Problem was, his subconscious had replaced that dream with one of Nicole. A dream that, in one way, was far more disconcerting because there was no therapy for it. No way to talk the woman out of his head, no logical way of ridding his system of her.

She was there. Inside him. All of his instincts told him he was going to have one hell of a time shaking her presence. But shake her, he would.

He had learned the hard way that what fate tossed out was not always kind. Learned in the most horrific way how fast a person’s life could change. How, in a slash of time, happiness could transform into grief. Numbing, ceaseless grief.

Before he could switch off his thoughts, he saw again the memorial service crowded with relatives, friends and cops, where music drifted and the cloying scent of roses hung in the air. There had been no caskets—there couldn’t be, not when jagged shards of the plane’s fuselage were all that had been left floating in the Gulf of Mexico. He’d bought one cemetery plot, stood alone in grim silence while a granite headstone with the names of his wife and twin daughters was positioned at the head of the empty grave. He hadn’t gone back to the cemetery since that day.

With the memories closing in on him, Jake rubbed the heel of his hand over his heart. Never again. Never again would he leave himself wide open for fate to deliver another staggering blow. For that reason, there was no room in his life for Nicole Taylor, or any other woman.

The sudden ring of his cell phone cut through the still night air, jolting him from his thoughts. Jake clicked the unit on, said his name.

“It’s Ryan.”

“What’s up, boss?”

“Any luck on the surveillance?”

Lifting a brow, Jake propped his elbow in the door’s open window. Lieutenant Michael Ryan didn’t usually call to check on the status of a stakeout. “Negative. I plan on giving it another couple of hours for Cárdenas’s girlfriend to show. Unless you’ve got something else you need me on.”

“That’s why I called. I want you to take the Signal 7 that dispatch put out about ten minutes ago,” Ryan stated, then gave the location that had been broadcast on the radio.

“I heard the uniform call it in.”

With a habit he’d picked up from a veteran street cop when he was a fresh-out-of-the-academy rookie, Jake grabbed a pen off the dash, angled his hand to catch the pale wash of a streetlight, then jotted the address on his left palm. “Any reason you don’t want Gianos and Smith on it?” he asked, referring to the detectives pulling night shift that month.

“It’s not that I don’t want them on it,” Ryan commented. “In fact, Gianos gave me a call from the scene—he and Smith were wrapping up an interview a couple of miles from there when the call came out. After Gianos got ID on the woman who found the guy’s body, he figured he’d better give me a heads-up. He was right. Taking that into consideration, I think it’d be best to put you on this one. Since you’re without a partner while Whitney’s on her honeymoon, Gianos and Smith can give you a hand with follow-up interviews and paperwork if you need help.”

“Okay.” Jake glanced across the street at the apartment building that seemed to breathe neglect. He wouldn’t get a lead on Cárdenas tonight, but he would get the bastard. He’d made that promise to himself and to little Enrique Quintero’s grieving mother. Jake knew too well what it felt like to lose a child.

“So, Lieutenant, who’s the woman who found the body?” he asked as he switched on the cruiser’s ignition.

“Your partner’s new sister-in-law, Nicole Taylor.”

Jake began to swear, slowly, steadily, as he stomped the accelerator and the cruiser shot from the curb.

Fifteen minutes after he’d hung up from talking to his boss, Jake pulled to a stop in a pool of light at the wrought-iron gate that blocked the entrance to the exclusive housing community. To his left sat a tidy security building; to his right, small spotlights hidden in manicured shrubs illuminated a brick wall with Stonebridge in flowing brass script.

He tugged his gold badge off the waistband of his faded jeans. “Sergeant Jake Ford,” he said, flashing the badge at the guard on duty inside the building. While the guard logged him in, Jake noted the nearby panel of buttons where visitors could contact one of the residents to get buzzed through the gate if the guard wasn’t around.

Inching the cruiser forward, Jake waited while the gate drifted open on silent gears. On the far side of the gate sat several sprawling houses, outlined in the glow of gas lamps that lined the street like rows of tiny moons. Even at night, the houses all looked massive. About one hundred times too massive for a cop’s salary, Jake decided as he steered the cruiser through the entrance and along the well-lit street.

After checking the address he’d inked on his palm, he turned a corner. The pulse of a blue-and-red strobe from the scout car parked in a circular driveway had him bearing down on the accelerator.

The house beyond the driveway was brick, and as immense as the others in the neighborhood. Jake figured if the stiff owned the house where his body had wound up, he was a very rich stiff.

Seconds later, Jake inched the cruiser past the medical examiner’s black station wagon. He parked behind the lab’s crime scene van, then climbed out. As he reclipped his badge onto his waistband beside his holstered Glock, the night air settled around him, still and gauzy, full of humidity.

Yellow tape had been strung from the house’s columned front porch to manicured shrubbery, then fanned out to loop around two of the matching gas street lamps. From the back seat of the scout car that sat idling in the driveway, Jake caught the glint of light off golden-blond hair.

Nicole.

While he ducked beneath a stretch of crime scene tape, it registered in his brain that the last thing he expected to feel when he saw her was pleasure. As if sensing his presence, she turned her head, her gaze meeting his through the scout car’s back window. The stress in her eyes tightened Jake’s throat, had him hesitating with an inexplicable need to go to her, to comfort. He set his jaw. She had found a dead body—whether it was a homicide or a natural death, proper procedure was for him to get the facts from those already working on-site, then view the body himself before he talked to any witness. Doing that gave the investigator a better idea of what questions to ask. And an edge on knowing if a witness was lying, which happened a lot during homicide investigations.

“Evening, Sergeant.”

Jake turned, relieved to have his attention pulled from Nicole to the female officer who approached him. She looked on the official side with her blond hair pulled back from her earnest face and a silver clipboard in one hand.

“Evening.” The first time he’d worked with the patrol officer was at a scene a couple of weeks ago, and her name had slipped his mind. He checked the brass tag above the right pocket of her gray uniform shirt: C. O. Jones.

“Jones,” he added. With more than a little effort, he kept his gaze off the scout car where Nicole sat. “You responded to the initial call, right?” he asked, remembering that it had been a female officer who’d called in the Signal 7.

“Affirmative.” The red-blue lights from the scout car winked in rhythm as she jotted his name on the crime scene log.

“Who’s the victim?”

“Man by the name of Phillip Ormiston.”

Jake arched a brow. “Of Ormiston Funeral Home fame?”

“The same. He owns the entire chain.”

“Any idea yet on cause of death?”

“The M.E.’s assistant is inside checking the body, but I haven’t heard anything for sure. To me, it looked like Ormiston just dropped dead in his entry hall. No blood, no sign of trauma that I could see. According to one of the neighbors, Ormiston was into fitness. He jogged around the neighborhood and played racquetball a couple nights a week at a gym called Sebastian’s.”

“Maybe Ormiston’s biorhythms took a dive into a negative zone,” Jake muttered.

“Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” He moved his gaze to the scout car. Nicole’s back was to him now, her gaze glued to the house’s open front door. While he watched her, she raised her left hand and slowly curled her fingers through the metal security screen that kept the person in the back seat separated from the officer in front. For some reason he could not fathom, Jake’s chest tightened at the thought of her being caged inside the black-and-white.

“That’s who found Ormiston’s body,” Jones said, her gaze following his. “Her name’s Taylor. Nicole Taylor.”

“Yeah.” He remet the officer’s gaze. Jones had done things by the book—she’d checked the scene, secured it, then put the person who discovered the body in her scout car while she advised dispatch to contact Homicide.

He also had procedure to follow, Jake reminded himself when he again felt the pull to walk over and open the car’s back door. Right now, it was his job to find out what Nicole had already told the officer on the scene.

He nodded in the direction of a sleek red Jaguar parked in the circular drive. “Is that Miss Taylor’s?”

“Yes. The registration checks to her.”

“What did she tell you?”

“That Ormiston is a widower and a client of the dating service she owns.” As she spoke, Jones pulled a business card off her clipboard and handed it to Jake. He glanced down, saw it was identical to the card Nicole had tried to slide into his pocket while they danced. The remembered feel of her warm flesh beneath his palm rose in his brain like a seductive phantom.

“Can you imagine a man with Ormiston’s money needing to hire somebody to find him a date?” Jones asked.

Frowning, Jake jabbed the card into his shirt pocket while picturing again the way Nicole had worked the crowd at the wedding. It wouldn’t surprise him to find out that some of the men who signed with her company hoped to get a date with her.

“What does she say about her relationship with Ormiston?”

“She claims their association was purely business.”

When Jake realized he felt stupidly pleased, he scowled. Any other woman, he thought, shoving his fingers through his hair. Why the hell couldn’t it have been anyone else on earth sitting in the back of that scout car instead of the woman who’d crowded his thoughts for days? And nights. At this point, the best he could hope for was that Phillip Ormiston had dropped dead from a nice, tidy aneurism.

“What reason did Miss Taylor give for being here?” he asked.

“She said Ormiston didn’t phone her with a report on the last date he’d had through her service. That’s apparently a standard thing for clients to do. He also hadn’t shown up tonight at the gym for his scheduled racquetball game. When he didn’t answer his phone, Taylor says she got worried and decided to stop on her way home to check on him. She referred to it as an extension of the customer service she offers her clients.”

Jake looped his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans. “How did she get in the house?”

“She said she didn’t realize the front door was only partially closed until she knocked. When she did, it swung open. She walked in, saw Ormiston lying on the far side of the entry.” Jones paused. “She touched the body.”

Jake expelled a muffled curse. “Why?”

“She said she thought he’d maybe fallen and hit his head, that he was unconscious.” Jones glanced toward the house. “The way he’s lying there, I can see how she’d think that.”

“If Ormiston was dead, he couldn’t have buzzed her through the security gate. Did she say how she got in?”

“No. If you need me to, I can check with the guard to see if he let her in. And if so, why he did without authorization from the person she was visiting.”

“Do that. Also find out if Ormiston had any other visitors tonight. Any idea who the victim’s next of kin is?”

“Ormiston’s a widower, with one son who lives a couple of miles from here. The neighbor I talked to is getting his address so we can make the death notification.” Jones angled her chin. “You want me to do that, or will you?”

“I’ll do it after I’m through here.” Jake looked back at the scout car. Nicole’s gaze had not moved from the house’s front door; her fingers were still threaded through the security screen. His stomach tightened. Dammit, she wasn’t under arrest, he knew that. She wasn’t a suspect. She was a witness, waiting to be interviewed. Maybe, he thought ruthlessly, his reaction to seeing her caged was because it hadn’t been that long since he’d been locked in a cell, charged with eight counts of murder.

“I need to have a look at the body,” he grated. Turning, he stalked across the pristine lawn toward the house while Jones took two strides to his one to keep up. “While I’m inside, Jones, I want you to do something.”

“What’s that, Sergeant?”

Jake paused at the brick steps that led up to a porch lined by tall, fluted columns. “Move Miss Taylor to my cruiser.”

“To your cruiser?”

He wanted Nicole out of that cage; he wasn’t going to waste breath trying to explain why when he didn’t understand it himself. “That’s right, Jones, to my cruiser. Think you can handle that?”

“Sure thing, Sergeant.”

“Tell her I’ll talk to her as soon as I get done inside.”

Jake took the steps two at a time. As he strode across the porch, he toyed with the seeds of suspicion that, when it came to Nicole Taylor, he was destined to act like an idiot.

When he walked through the wide front door, he saw the usual contingent of forensic people milling in the foyer. Opposite the door, a curving staircase of gleaming oak swept up to the second floor. The sight of Phillip Ormiston’s body lying facedown at the base of the staircase centered Jake’s thoughts on business.

He recognized the man crouched beside the body as Zack Upchurch, the M.E.’s assistant.

“Evening, Zack. What can you tell me?”

“Evening, Sarge.” The man used his tongue to nudge a toothpick from one corner of his mouth to the other. “Not a whole lot at this point.”

Jake nodded. No matter what time of the day or night he ran into Upchurch, the man’s brown hair was always standing in spikes, as if he’d come to whatever scene he’d been called to directly from bed.

“Any idea of time of death?” Jake persisted.

“Twelve hours, give or take.” The surgeon’s gloves Up-church wore gave his hands a grayish hue that matched the dead man’s face. “Have to wait until we get him on the table to give you a better idea.”

A flash of light to his left had Jake turning his head. Beyond an arched doorway, a lab tech wearing a blue jumpsuit snapped pictures in a living room with paneled walls, acres of matching upholstered furniture and a shiny hardwood floor.

Detective Wes Gianos, a tall, swarthy man, stood near the room’s green marble fireplace, talking into a cell phone. When he saw Jake, he raised a hand.

“Ford just got here,” Gianos said into the phone as he walked across the expansive tapestry rug toward the entryway. “Smith and I will head there in a few minutes.”

“Got another call?” Jake asked as Gianos clicked off his phone and slid it into the pocket of his suit coat.

“This one’s on the east side. Got two DRTs,” he said, using cop shorthand for victims who were dead right there. “One shot, one stabbed. Sounds like the Gun and Knife Club is hard at work.” Gianos nodded toward the staircase. “Meet Phillip Ormiston. Did the uniform outside bring you up to speed?”

“Yes. Any sign of a struggle in the house?”

“No. Smith and I also checked for signs of forced entry on the doors and windows. Didn’t find anything.”

“Any drugs around?”

“Negative.”

Jake stepped forward. Leaning in, he examined the body, making sure not to touch anything that would get the forensic types all bent out of shape.

Dressed in a tan linen shirt, dark slacks and leather loafers, Ormiston looked as though he’d lain down on the marble floor to take a nap. His dark hair, fading to gray at the temples, lay sleek against his head. Beneath the spill of light from a crystal chandelier, a diamond winked from the ring on his left pinkie finger; a thick gold bracelet circled his wrist.

Jake figured he could mark robbery off the list of motives if it turned out someone had killed the man.

He met Upchurch’s gaze. “Any sign of trauma?”

“None that I’ve seen so far. Nothing visible on his neck. No defense wounds on either hand. This guy’s big and has the look of someone who works out, so it’s not like he couldn’t have fought back.” The M.E.’s assistant rose. “I’ll get a sheet from my station wagon, then turn him over. Maybe we’ll find something on the front of him, but I’m not wagering money on that.”

Gianos waited until Upchurch went out the front door, then looked at Jake. “Since Ryan wants you on this case, I didn’t question Nicole Taylor. Figured you ought to handle that.”

“Not a problem.”

“There’s something you need to check in the kitchen before you talk to her.” As he spoke, Gianos aimed his thumb across one shoulder in the direction of a brightly lit hallway that led toward the rear of the house.

“What’s that?”

“There’s a basket from a bakery on the counter, partially filled with muffins. A couple of empty wrappers are inside, so you’ve got to figure Ormiston sampled a few.”

Jake furrowed his brow while his mind fell into sync with Gianos’s thoughts. They had a healthy-looking man with no sign of trauma who seemed to have dropped dead while walking across his entry hall. “You saying you think he was poisoned?”

“I think I don’t know what to think.” Gianos shrugged. “Look, I know Nicole Taylor is Whitney’s new sister-in-law and her brother Bill is the number two man in the D.A.’s office.”

Mentally, Jake missed a step. “What’s that got to do with Ormiston maybe getting poisoned?”

“Could mean nothing…or something. All I know is there’s a card with Nicole Taylor’s name on it tied to the muffin basket.”

Jake felt his spine stiffen. “What does the card say?”

“‘Phillip, we’ve only just begun. Yours, Nicole.”’ Gianos shook his head. “The patrol cop mentioned that when she questioned Taylor, she claimed her association with Ormiston was purely business.”

“Yeah, that’s what Jones told me.”

“Maybe that’s true,” Gianos observed. “All I know is if a woman sent me a basket of goodies with a note like that, I’d get the idea her interest in me went beyond business. If the woman looked as good as Nicole Taylor, I’d welcome that interest.”

“Holy hell,” Jake muttered.

Gianos and Smith headed out the door just as Upchurch returned with a sheet. The M.E.’s assistant and one of the lab techs rolled Ormiston’s body onto the sheet.

The toothpick in the side of Upchurch’s mouth seesawed as he inspected the front of the dead man. “No sign of trauma on his neck, no blood visible.” Upchurch raised a shoulder. “Too early to tell, Sarge, but this death might be a natural.”

“And it might not be,” Jake countered.

“Might not.”

Jake knew that Gianos had been on target to turn a suspicious eye toward the muffins. At a death scene, you looked at everything that way.

Staring down at Ormiston’s body, Jake expelled a slow breath while his mind worked. Muffins were mostly carbohydrates, which the body digested faster than fats and proteins.

“Upchurch, I need a quick autopsy,” he began. “The M.E. needs to pay close attention to the stomach contents, the degree of digestion. Make sure he knows I want a tox screen on body fluids for poisons, both for time of death and cause of death.”

Upchurch cocked an eyebrow. “Poison, huh?”

“It’s possible,” Jake said, then headed for the kitchen.

She’d had to keep busy, or go crazy.

Gnawing her bottom lip, Nicole stared down at the folded sacks, empty foam containers and cups she’d aligned beside her on the back seat of Jake’s car. Now that she’d finished the task and had nothing to occupy her mind, she was again conscious of the clutching nervousness in the pit of her stomach.

At least she felt a little more calm in the back of Jake’s car with its windows rolled down than she had in the police car with its cagelike effect.

In an unconscious gesture, she flipped her thick blond braid behind her shoulder, then twisted her fingers together while she gazed out the open window at the massive brick house. She had found Phillip’s body nearly two hours ago, and her hands had yet to stop trembling. Except for attendance at an occasional funeral, she had never gotten close to a dead body. Certainly had never discovered one. Or touched one.

She’d done all three tonight.

Closing her eyes, she fought back a wave of unsteadiness. She concentrated on taking deep, controlled breaths, tried to remember the breathing exercises Sebastian had taught her to battle stress. The only thing closing her eyes did was bring a clear picture of Jake into her awareness.

He had looked grim, rugged and all-business when he’d climbed out of his car, this car, and headed across the lawn toward Phillip’s house.

She had thought constantly about him since her brother’s wedding. Crazy thoughts, she acknowledged. Thoughts she should have easily discarded because she knew the type of man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with, and she was certain Jake Ford wasn’t even close. Still, she hadn’t managed to rid her mind of him. Not since they’d danced…

The next instant the door beside her swung open, snapping her eyes open.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

In the wash of light from the street lamps, Jake’s eyes looked almost black as he leaned through the open door. “Uh…waiting for you. The female officer told me to stay—”

“The trash, Nicole,” he stated through his teeth. “What the hell did you do to my trash?”

“Oh.” Her gaze dropped to the sacks and empty containers sitting in rows beside her. “When I get nervous, I have to have something to keep me busy. To keep my mind focused.”

His gaze stayed on her face, frank and assessing, as he propped a forearm along the top of the car’s open door. “Sorting trash gets your mind focused?”

“It helps.” No way was she going to admit that all she’d gotten from sitting in his car and organizing fast-food sacks were thoughts that had focused on him.

He swung the door open wider. “I need to talk to you. It’d be easier if we both sit in the front seat.”

“Okay.” She had answered what seemed like a million of the uniformed officer’s questions, and she doubted she could give Jake any more information. On a sigh, she slid out of the car into the warm night air. When she turned to face him, she discovered that, without the strappy heels she’d worn while they danced, she was a full head shorter than he.

His eyes were cool, very cool, as they inched down her body, taking in her white, oversize dress shirt, navy leggings, thick socks and workout shoes. His slow, measured assessment filled her with unease. She wasn’t sure if it was the man or the cop—or both—who made her feel as if she were not being looked at, but into.

The sound of muted conversation pulled her attention toward the sprawling brick house. The wheels of a stretcher holding a black body bag clattered as two men rolled it over the doorstep and onto the porch.

Her throat tightened. “He must have had a heart attack.”

Jake closed the car’s back door with a quiet snap, then turned. His handsome face held no expression. “What makes you think that?”

“Phillip confided in me that he’d had a heart attack a few years ago. It was a mild one, but enough to have him start working out and eating right.”

“Phillip,” Jake echoed. A muscle in his cheek jerked, but his eyes stayed level on hers. “Right now his death is unexplained. That’s how I’m investigating it.”

He leaned around her and pulled open the front passenger door. The movement brought him close enough for her to catch his warm, musky scent. For a mindless moment, they were back on that dance floor, their bodies swaying in slow, seductive unison. As if feeling again the heady sensation of his thumb against her wrist, she curled her fingers over her palms.

He pointed toward the front seat. “Climb in.”

He said the words with such quiet authority that she instantly complied. She watched as he skirted the hood, pulled open the door, then settled behind the wheel.

“Tell me about Ormiston.” As he spoke, Jake propped his wide shoulders against the car door and dangled one hand over the steering wheel.

Dressed in a rumpled chambray shirt and worn jeans, black hair on the shaggy side, Jake might come across as relaxed. Not to her. Nicole considered herself an expert when it came to reading people, and she saw the leashed intensity in the alert tilt of his head, the sharpness in his dark gaze.

“Phillip was a client of Meet Your Match.”

“For how long?”

“Maybe six months. I’d have to check his file for the exact date he signed his contract.”

“Did you know him before he became a client?”

“No.”

“He just walk in off the street and sign on?”

“Well, I did meet him at a charity fund-raiser and gave him one of my cards,” she amended. “He showed up in my office the next day and signed a contract.”

“Did you and Ormiston go out?”

She blinked. “I don’t date my clients.”

“Why were you at his house tonight?”

She told him the same thing she’d told the female officer, ending with “It wasn’t like Phillip not to call the office when he was scheduled to. Wasn’t like him to miss a racquetball game. I was concerned.”

“Was he scheduled to play racquetball with you?”

“No, Sebastian. They played a couple times a week.”

“Is it standard operating procedure for you to drop by each of your client’s houses to check on their welfare?”

“Of course not. Phillip had been having…problems and I felt he needed special attention.”

“What sort of…problems?”

“He was unhappy that I had yet to connect him with a woman whom he felt would make a suitable mate.” She lifted a shoulder. “I understood his impatience. His wife passed away two years ago. He was lonely, and at a point where the loneliness was turning into depression. I’m a firm believer some people aren’t meant to live their lives alone. Phillip is…was one of them.”

When Jake didn’t shoot back another question, Nicole realized he’d turned his head to stare out the windshield into the dark night. He seemed lost in thought, his profile hard and unyielding. As she studied him, the weak light from the street lamps seemed to shift, and for a brief instant, she saw what she thought was utter desolation in his eyes.

A quick, surprising tremor around her heart had her leaning to touch his arm. “Is something wrong?”

He jerked his head around so fast that she snatched her hand back. His eyes were hooded, his face as expressionless as carved stone. “So, Ormiston was unhappy you hadn’t managed to find him ‘Miss Right.”’

She took a deep breath. Whatever brief emotion she’d seen in his eyes had been replaced by a chilling remoteness.

“Yes, Phillip was unhappy. Some clients have a hard time at first understanding how long it can take to find their perfect match.”

Jake flicked a look over his shoulder toward the house. “Ormiston was loaded. Seems to me he’d have no problem getting a date.”

“He knew quite a few single women, but no one he wanted to get serious about. He ran a huge, thriving funeral business with locations all over the state. At the minimum, he put in sixty-hour work weeks. That limited the time he had to make connections. Phillip wasn’t a twenty-year-old man who wanted to hang out in singles’ bars, hoping to meet someone.”

“How many women did you fix him up with?”

“Quite a few over the past couple of months.” Frowning, Nicole shoved her braid over one shoulder. “Phillip claimed nothing clicked with any of his dates, which surprised me.”

“So, you had a dissatisfied customer on your hands. Was he planning on ending your association?”

She linked her fingers, twisted them. “Yes. The last time I saw him he said he wouldn’t renew his contract.”

“When was this?”

“A few days ago.”

“Where?”

“At Sebastian’s.” She looked out the windshield just as the black station wagon into which the men had loaded the body bag crept slowly along the street. Sadness for the man she had known settled inside her. “I guess none of that matters now,” she added quietly.

“Since Ormiston thought he got a raw deal, he might have planned to bad-mouth your company. I doubt that would have made you happy.”

In the next heartbeat, Nicole vividly understood that the man with whom she shared the car’s close, intimate confines was not conducting an interview, but an interrogation. It wasn’t fear that stiffened her spine, but temper.

“Of course that didn’t thrill me. I’m in business to make my clients happy. I feel a lot better when I succeed at my job. Don’t you?”

“There’s a lot of people behind bars who can swear to that.”

“Are they all guilty?” she asked coolly.

He gave a short laugh. “Most claim they aren’t.”

For a slow, languorous moment he studied her, his dark eyes on hers. Watchful. Nicole tried to ignore the knots that tightened in her stomach.

Finally he asked, “Do you think Ormiston would have been happier if you had agreed to go out with him?”

His question caught her like a slap in the face. “What makes you think he wanted me to go out with him?”

“You slide your business card into his pocket at a charity to-do. The next morning he shows up at your office. Not hard to figure out what was going on.”

“Nothing was going on, Sergeant. I don’t date my clients.”

“But he did ask you out, right?”

“Once, after he signed his contract.” The lethal sureness in Jake’s eyes brought all of her nerves swimming to the surface. “I refused, and Phillip didn’t ask again. I told him to be patient, that we’d only just begun looking for his perfect mate.”

Jake reached into his shirt pocket, pulled out a small plastic bag. “‘We’ve only just begun,”’ he murmured, angling the card inside the bag until it caught light from the nearby street lamp. “Sounds familiar.”

As she read the message with her name below, a shiver skittered like a bony finger down the back of Nicole’s neck. She lifted her gaze. “Why do you have the card in a bag?”

“It’s evidence.”

“Of what?”

“That you sent Ormiston a basket of muffins.”

“Of course I sent them.” She forced her voice to remain even while anxiety shredded her insides. “I don’t understand—”

“Did you bake the muffins?”

“No, I bought them.”

“Where?”

She gave him the name of the bakery a few blocks from her office. “I have an account there.”

“Why did you send them? If Ormiston was going to cancel his contract, why bother with muffins?”

“He called my office yesterday, said he’d decided to renew his contract. I had my assistant order the basket, with directions to deliver it to Phillip’s office.”

“Why muffins? Why not a bottle of wine? A couple of cigars?”

“Like I said, Phillip was into healthy living. The muffins were low fat.”

Jake held up the plastic bag. “Is this your handwriting?”

“No, I told my assistant the message I wanted on the card. He dictated it when he placed the order.”

“So you didn’t go to the bakery? You didn’t pick out the muffins? Didn’t deliver them yourself?”

Her hands and her jaw constricted with equal force. “I’ve never seen them. My assistant, Melvin Hall, ordered the muffins over the phone. He’s never seen them. Are we done, Sergeant? It’s been a hell of a day and I want to go home.”

“Almost.” Jake slid the bag back into his shirt pocket. “How did you get in here tonight?”

“The guard on the gate let me in.”

“So, you’ve visited Ormiston’s house so many times that the guard recognized you?”

“I’ve never been here before tonight.” She raised her chin. “I guess the guard thinks I have an honest face. When Phillip didn’t answer the guard’s call, the guard buzzed me in so I could leave a note on Phillip’s front door.”

“Did you leave a note?”

“No, I found Phillip’s body instead. Are we done?”

“For now.”

She shouldered open the door, was out of the car like a shot.

“Hold on.”

She’d taken two steps when he caught up with her.

“I said hold on.”

She wheeled on him just as he snagged her elbow. Momentum had her stumbling forward, her body colliding with his. For a split second, she had the impression of slamming into rock-hard muscle.

“You said we were done.”

He reached out his other hand when she teetered. “You’re upset. I want to make sure you’re okay to drive.”

“Of course I’m okay!” she flung back, jerking from his hold. “I’m used to finding dead bodies. Touching them. Accustomed to getting grilled by a cop. A cop who accuses me of…of…”

“I haven’t accused you of anything, Nicole.”

“Sending bakery muffins!” she shot back.

His mouth quirked. “So far, I’ve restrained myself from hauling you in on that charge.”

She closed her eyes for an instant. “Was Phillip poisoned? Was there something in the muffins?”

“I have no idea.”

“Then why were you asking—”

“It’s my job to ask,” he said quietly, his face awash in light and shadow as he gazed down at her. “I told you up-front I’m investigating this as an unexplained death. That means I work it as a murder until I can prove it wasn’t.”

“What if it was?”

“Then I’ll find out who did it.”

She shook her head. “Do you think Phillip was murdered?”

“Nobody knows until the M.E. knows.” He shrugged. “Until then, I have to ask a lot of people questions. I may have to ask you more. That’s because I can’t exactly ask Ormiston.”

She dragged in a shaky breath. “You may be used to dealing with death on a daily basis, but I’m not. I can’t believe this happened to someone I know.”

Eyes narrowing, Jake studied her face. “If you don’t feel up to driving home, I’ll take you.” The concern in his voice tugged at something deep inside her. “I have to go see Ormiston’s son,” he said quietly. “It’ll be no problem to take you home first.”

They were standing close, their bodies more casual than intimate, and she knew full well what was between them was business. Yet, the thought of again sitting beside him in the close confines of his car sent a pool of heat spreading through her belly that made her legs go weak.

That heated weakness had her remembering how she’d succumbed so easily to another man’s touch. How a twin flood of need and desire had swept her away until she’d nearly drowned. How she’d hurt when she discovered the truth about the man she’d known next to nothing about when they’d rushed into marriage. How easily he’d betrayed her trust.

Never again, she reminded herself. She’d resolved a long time ago that logic—not emotion—would guide her on her search for her soul mate.

Right now, logic told her to run as far away from Jake Ford as possible.

“Thanks,” she said, taking a step backward toward her Jaguar. Then another. “I can drive myself.”

Chapter 3

“Yeah, yeah,” Jake said into the phone the following morning as he rocked back in his city-issue desk chair. “Cárdenas’s girlfriend didn’t show last night at that apartment building like you told me she would. You know what that means, Julio?”

“What?”

“You gave me bad information.”

“Look, man—”

“No, you look. Cárdenas shot a seven-year-old boy just for standing on a street corner. His girlfriend can make him for the homicide. I want her.”

“She got wind you’re looking for her, so she’s lying low.”

“Not low enough so you can’t sniff her out,” Jake countered. “I told you, you want my help with that warrant hanging over your head, you’ll get me a line on where I can find her. Tonight.”

Jake slammed down the receiver on a curse. Almost immediately, the phone rang. He snagged it up, checking the clock above the assignment board where grease-penciled letters displayed each homicide team’s working cases. Nine-o-five. He needed to be at Ormiston’s office when it opened at ten, and he hoped this was the call from the M.E. he’d been waiting on.

It was.

“I just finished the autopsy on Phillip Ormiston.” The deep timbre of Dr. John McClandess’s voice boomed across the line. Jake pictured the man eternally garbed in a white lab coat, his gaunt face sharpened to the bone, black eyes vibrant, gray hair combed back from the temples. “My assistant left a note saying you wanted me to call with my preliminary findings.”

“That’s right.” With his desk in its usual state of avalanche, Jake had to dig to unearth a pad and pen. “So, Doc, do we have a healthy man who dropped dead of natural causes?”

“We do not. As you said, the victim was healthy. He didn’t have a heart attack. Didn’t suffer an aneurism or a stroke. I have ruled out natural death as the cause.”

Jake tensed. “Was it something he ate?”

“You’re referring to the muffins, which my assistant mentioned in his report.”

“Right.” Jake pictured again the stunned disbelief that had settled in Nicole’s blue eyes when she realized where his line of questioning about the muffins she’d sent Ormiston was headed. That look had haunted him throughout the night.

“I see in the report that you’ve sent the muffins to Sky Milano in your forensics lab. A chemical analysis needs to be run just to be sure, but I doubt Sky will find anything suspect.”

“Good.” Jake didn’t realize he’d been holding his breath until the word came out in a hiss. “So, what did kill Ormiston?”

“I found a minute puncture on the right side of his neck,” McClandess answered. “He was given an injection, Sergeant. Of what, we won’t know until the toxicology results come back. Whatever substance he was injected with caused the muscles necessary for respiration to shut down. Official cause of death is respiratory paralysis.”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “So, the guy suffocated?”

“Basically, yes.”

“You got any idea what it was someone pumped into Ormiston?”

“It’s conjecture at this point. Certain drugs could bring on that kind of paralysis. A few poisons come to mind, too, all undetectable except by chemical analysis.”

“How fast can you get the tox test results to me?”

“A week.”

“That’s too long, Doc.”

McClandess sighed. “I’ll put a rush on the tests, but I can’t promise anything. Our lab is as backlogged as OCPD’s.”

“Yeah.” While his mind cataloged the steps he needed to take to get the Ormiston investigation rolling, Jake rubbed his gritty eyes, then glanced at the tidy desk that butted against the front of his. Whitney had a few days to go on her honeymoon. He hoped to hell she was enjoying herself.

“Okay, Doc, what’s your best guess on time of death?”

“The air-conditioning in the house was on a low setting. The victim was lying on a marble floor, which cooled his body at a faster rate than normal. I estimate Ormiston had been dead about five hours before he was found, give or take an hour.”

Jake slashed notes across the pad. He knew that establishing time of death was more elusive than most people thought. It couldn’t be pinned down exactly unless the death was witnessed or the victim’s Timex stopped ticking during the crime.

“So, you’re saying the killer showed up at Ormiston’s house between four and six yesterday afternoon.”

“Yes.”

Jake tapped the end of his pen against the notepad. They hadn’t found an appointment book at Ormiston’s house to indicate he had anything scheduled yesterday afternoon. Jake hoped his luck would change when he got to Ormiston’s office.

After checking a few more facts with the M.E., Jake hung up, eased back in his chair and gave an idle glance around the office.

At this time of the morning, most of his co-workers were out on calls, doing follow-ups or cooling their heels in court. Only two other cops—Grant Pierce and his partner, Elizabeth Scott, were at their desks. Scott, an expert on statement analysis, had replaced Pierce’s mentor, Sam Rogers, who’d died of a heart attack. Jake made a mental note to ask Pierce how Scott was working out before he shifted his mind back to his case.

“Respiratory paralysis,” Jake muttered, his gaze settling on the notepad. “By injection.”

Nothing at the crime scene indicated the killer had gained entry other than by knocking on the front door. There had been no sign of a struggle. No defensive wounds on Ormiston’s hands to indicate he’d tried to protect himself. It was logical, then, to go with the assumption that the two knew each other, that Ormiston felt no immediate threat, even trusted his killer to some extent. Could be a family member, Jake mused. A friend. Maybe someone Ormiston knew on a more casual basis. Someone he’d dated?

Last night, the guard at Stonebridge had copied the log of every person and vehicle who’d gained access to the gated community in the past twenty-four hours. The only person logged in to see Ormiston was Nicole Taylor. That didn’t mean a lot, Jake acknowledged. The list didn’t cover people who Ormiston might have buzzed through the gate while the guard wasn’t around. It also didn’t list everyone who lived there, or the yard crews, housekeepers and other service workers who knew that month’s security code. And Jake knew that the killer could have parked his car outside of Stonebridge, scaled the seven-foot brick wall that surrounded the complex, then walked to Ormiston’s house. If that were the case, the killer had to be in good shape.

Maybe someone who owned a gym and played racquet-ball on a regular basis?

He opened his desk’s bottom drawer, hefted out the yellow pages and checked the address for Sebastian’s. Lifting a brow, he realized the gym shared space in the same building with Meet Your Match, Nicole’s dating service.

When Jake caught himself wondering just how chummy Nicole and Sebastian-of-biorhythm-fame were, he scowled. He ought to be entertaining that thought solely because they both had links to a homicide victim, but Jake knew that wasn’t the case. Dammit, he couldn’t get Nicole out of his head. He’d spent most of the night picturing how she’d looked at the crime scene when he first saw her sitting in his cruiser. Her spine had been board-stiff, her face bathed in a mix of thready light and shadow that made her skin look pale. Too pale. Her eyes had been closed, and he could have sworn she’d been doing some sort of deep-breathing exercise. The vulnerability that had seemed to wrap around her had touched off twin urges inside him to take and protect.

He expelled an oath that had both Pierce and Scott swiveling their heads in his direction. Holding up a palm, Jake muttered, “Forget it.” The partners exchanged a look, then shifted their attention back to their own work.

Jake shoved the yellow pages back into the desk and slammed the drawer shut. Where Nicole Taylor was concerned, he wasn’t going to take or protect. She was a material witness in what only minutes ago had turned into an active homicide investigation. Nothing more, nothing less.

During their initial interview he’d gone by the book, treated Nicole like any other witness. He had given her every opportunity to lie to him, yet his sixth sense continued to send the message that she’d told him the truth. Plus, there were logical points in her favor. She’d discovered and immediately reported finding Ormiston’s body. Admitted her connection to the victim. Had no compelling, obvious motive to kill.

When murder was involved, all those things added up.

What didn’t add up was that he couldn’t seem to wipe the woman from his mind. That alone was dangerous. She was a temptation, and he was a man who didn’t want to be tempted.

Right now, what he wanted didn’t matter, Jake reminded himself. The job mattered. Now that he knew for sure her client had been murdered, he had no choice but to pay Nicole a visit.

With the late-morning sun beaming behind him, Jake shoved through a revolving door and stepped into the cool, sumptuous foyer of the sleek office building that lanced upward from a forest of blue and purple hydrangeas. Raking his fingers through his hair, he crossed the wide lobby with its pink marble columns and glossy ornamental trees. He paused near a bank of elevators to check the building’s directory. Names of high-priced boutiques, specialty shops and several cosmetic surgeons were listed. As were a beauty salon and skin-care clinic with French-sounding names. Seconds ticked by while he continued scanning the list of trendy businesses that occupied the building’s ten floors. His gaze paused on the name Sebastian’s. He slid a hand into the pocket of his navy sport coat, fingered the key ring he’d found in Ormiston’s desk drawer when he’d searched the victim’s office. The instant he’d seen Sebastian’s and the number seventy engraved on the key, Jake realized Ormiston had a locker at the gym. He’d called dispatch and had them send a patrol cop to the gym to make sure no one opened the locker. Jake then called Gianos and Smith. Right now, the two detectives were getting a search warrant. While he waited for the paperwork to arrive, Jake figured it would be a good time to see Nicole.

He needed to get a lead on something soon, he thought, punching the elevator’s call button. Except for the key, the office from which Ormiston had operated his funeral home empire had been devoid of clues. There had been nothing on the man’s calendar to show he planned to meet anyone yesterday afternoon. Neither his secretary nor his assistant—or anyone else—knew of anyone who wished Ormiston ill.

Someone did, Jake thought as he stepped into an elevator. Someone thought ill enough of the man to stab a needle into his neck and inject him with something that paralyzed his lungs.

Seconds later, the elevator chimed its arrival at the building’s top floor. The doors glided open; a tall man stalked on, his shoulder ramming into Jake’s.

“Sorry.”

Though the man uttered only one word, Jake registered his thick accent.

“No problem.” As he stepped into the hall Jake’s gaze swept the man’s face. His eyes narrowed while the cop in him cataloged the familiar sharp cheekbones, olive complexion and black mustache over the mouth set in a hard line. Jake made the connection just as the elevator doors slid closed. The Latino.

His thoughts scrolled back to Bill and Whitney’s wedding reception. He’d watched Nicole tuck her business card into the man’s breast pocket while he gazed down at her with simmering desire. Today, it had been anger in the man’s eyes. Jake wondered if Nicole had another unsatisfied customer on her hands. If so, why?

He strode down the quiet, carpeted corridor that led to a waiting area furnished with coral-colored sofas and glass tables. As he approached the desk that rose from a pool of shell-pink carpet, he was aware of the low strains of classical music drifting on the air.

“Welcome to Meet Your Match.” The woman behind the desk was a good-looking brunette with big, wide-set eyes. She wore a trim, midnight-black suit and candy-red lipstick. “Are you interested in speaking with one of our relationship counselors?”

“If your boss is one of the counselors.”

“Do you have an appointment with Miss Taylor, sir?”

“I don’t need one.”

The woman’s perfect mouth thinned a fraction. “I’m sorry, sir, Miss Taylor is unavailable. I’ll be happy to arrange a consultation with one of our other counselors.”

Jake shoved back one flap of his sport coat to reveal the badge hooked to the waistband of his jeans. He was aware that only a few months ago he would have grinned, slid a hip onto the brunette’s desk and charmed his way into her boss’s office. Maybe even invited the receptionist to meet him for a drink after work. If the chemistry was right, finessed her into his bed. Those days were over, he acknowledged with grim acceptance. The I-don’t-give-a-damn lifestyle he’d embarked on after Annie and the twins died had led to the murder of a woman he’d dated and resulted in his being set up to take the fall for eight homicides. If it hadn’t been for Whitney’s dogged belief in his innocence, he’d probably be locked in a cell right now.

Those sobering experiences had opened his eyes, made him realize he had to face the pain of losing his family and live with the hand fate had dealt him. Fine, he was working on that. What he didn’t have to do was leave himself open to having his heart ripped apart again.

“Sergeant Jake Ford,” he said while the brunette’s gaze scanned his badge. “Please ring Miss Taylor’s office. Now.”

“Of course.” Nerves had the woman’s hand shaking as she snatched up the phone.

Seconds later, she shook her head, replaced the receiver and rose. “Mel—Miss Taylor’s assistant—isn’t at his desk. I’ll need to escort…” Her voice drifted off when the phone trilled.

“Better answer that.” Jake pointed toward a softly lit hallway behind the reception desk. “Her office that way?”

Lifting the receiver, the woman moistened her red-glossed lips. “Yes, but you can’t—”

“I can.” Letting the flap of his jacket fall back into place, he stepped around the desk and headed down the hallway.

The next waiting area was cozier, its pale upholstered chairs, polished tables and soft watercolors lending a more personal atmosphere. An oak desk with a computer and empty swivel chair sat to one side of a door marked Private. A nameplate at the desk’s front edge read Mel Hall.

Because his natural inquisitiveness had paid off more times than he could count during past homicide investigations, Jake strolled to the desk where a single file folder lay. Using a fingertip, he turned the file his way, read the label. DeSoto Villanova. Jake lifted the file’s cover. The Latino’s smiling face stared back at him in vivid color, which emphasized the man’s swarthy good looks. Clipped on the opposite side of the file was a form titled Confidential Questionnaire with all the blanks neatly filled in. Pursing his lips, Jake closed the file, wondering again what had riled Villanova.

Turning from the desk, Jake neared the closed door. What he now recognized as Nicole’s just-under-the-smoldering-point scent settled around him. Without any effort, he again felt her soft flesh beneath his palm as their bodies swayed to the pianist’s love song. He clenched his teeth. Never before had he known a woman who could haunt and inflame.

Annie, his first love, his only love, had been comfortable, solid, a part of his soul. Nicole made him feel as if a flare had ignited inside him.

The knowledge of how just her scent affected him hitched his irritation level up a notch. He rapped once on the door; without waiting for an answer, he shoved it open, then froze. All of his senses zeroed in on the compelling sight of a barefoot Nicole bent nearly double in front of her desk, her trim, skirt-clad bottom tilted upward. Her hands were clamped onto the desk’s front edge, and for a split second Jake wondered if she was trying to shove the solid piece of mahogany toward the far wall where a floor-to-ceiling window gave an impressive view of the Oklahoma City skyline.

He might have sworn off women, but the hot ball of lust that lodged in his gut sent the message he was far from dead. Slanting one shoulder against the doorjamb, he crossed his arms over his chest and enjoyed the enticing view of woman. Seconds later, Nicole’s hips did a quick, enthusiastic twitch and he swallowed back a whistle. After it appeared she might wiggle indefinitely, he figured he’d better make his presence known.

“Waiting on a date, Taylor, or will you take pot luck?”

At the sound of his voice, she bolted upright and whirled to face him. “What are…?” Color flared across her cheeks as she raised a hand to smooth her sleek French twist. “Sergeant Ford, usually visitors don’t just barge into my office.”

Last night, she’d turned an oversize shirt, leggings, white socks and workout shoes into a fashion statement. Now she looked incredibly polished in a trim, traffic-stopping red suit. It occurred to Jake the woman could wear a gunnysack and look good.

“I knocked,” he said, angling his head toward the reception area. “Your secretary’s not around.”

“My assistant, Melvin…Mel, is in the kitchen making tea. I always have tea after my daily yoga session.”

“Yoga? Is that what that was?” Pushing away from the door, Jake roamed into the office, cataloging the chairs and sofas upholstered in peach, gleaming wood tables and glowing brass lamps, all arranged against a background of soft tan walls. “I thought yoga was where you sit on the floor with your legs crossed and your palms up.”

“That’s a different discipline. I study under Sebastian.”

“Under?”

Her chin lifted. “He’s my instructor. Sebastian says the best positions are those that put you into the moment.”

Jake paused inches from her. The smoldering scent that had settled around him in the outer room now snaked into his lungs. He felt the quick, helpless pull of need, and damned both himself and her for it. “Sebastian has a point,” he agreed. “That position certainly put me into the moment.”

Nicole could feel the hammer of her heart against her ribs as she gazed up into Jake’s dark eyes. His black hair skimmed the collar of the white dress shirt he wore beneath a blue sport coat. A bright paisley tie hung down the front of the shirt; his faded jeans accentuated his lean, muscular thighs and rangy build. He looked, she thought as her stomach muscles knotted, irresistibly handsome.

The spicy male tang of his cologne drifted around her, conjuring up the heady moments she’d spent dancing in his arms.

He’s not what you want, she reminded herself, and took a step backward.

“Can I help you with something?” As she spoke, she slid her feet into the pair of spiky red heels she’d toed off earlier.

“Yeah—” Obviously aware of movement behind him, Jake turned.

Nicole watched his sharp cop’s eyes narrow as they took in the man who’d stepped through the door carrying a small tray. Her assistant was tall with dark blond hair, blue eyes and a square jaw. Today, Mel was dressed in neat slacks and a white shirt that emphasized his broad shoulders. In the four months he’d worked for her, Mel’s efficient, friendly demeanor had won her undying gratitude. Her decision to help pay for his college tuition had garnered her assistant’s total devotion.

“Oh, sorry, boss,” he said with an easy smile. “Didn’t realize you were with a client.”

“It’s all right.” Glad for an excuse to distance herself from Jake, Nicole moved to the seating area in one corner of the office. “Sergeant Ford isn’t a client.”

A thought had her hesitating when she reached the coffee table around which a love seat and two wing chairs were grouped. She gave Jake a look across her shoulder. “Unless you’re here because you’ve decided to go out with the gorgeous doctor?”

“I’m here about Ormiston.”

The tightness she’d felt in her chest since she found Phillip’s body intensified. She’d lain awake all night, haunted by images of her client collapsed on the marble floor at the base of the staircase, of his glassy, sightless eyes….

“I need to look at his file,” Jake said.

“Of course.” She nudged a few magazines to one side of the table. When a gold pen rolled across the table’s polished surface and onto the toe of her shoe, she frowned.

“Something wrong, boss?” Mel asked.

“No.” Realizing who the pen belonged to, she slid it into her suit pocket, then swept a hand at the table. “Just put the tray here, Mel. And please bring in Mr. Ormiston’s file.”

“Sure.”

She met Jake’s gaze. Because she wanted to maintain as much distance from him as possible, she gestured toward one of the wing chairs. “Would you like something to drink?” she asked, settling onto the love seat.

“No, thanks.”

“The tea’s Siberian ginseng,” Mel pointed out.

Despite the tenseness that gripped her, Nicole fought a smile at her assistant’s expectant look. Not in any circumstance could she picture Jake Ford sipping tea out of a china cup.

“I’ll pass.”

With a shrug, Mel settled the tray holding her favorite china teapot and matching cup and saucer on the table.

“How about some coffee instead?” Mel asked. “We have several blends. Or maybe you’d prefer an espresso or latte?”

“Just the file.”

“Sparkling water?” Mel persisted.

Jake raised a dark eyebrow. “The file.”

“I’ll bring it right in.”

While Mel headed toward the door, Nicole picked up the teapot. She felt the intensity of Jake’s gaze on her while she filled her cup.

“Siberian ginseng?” he asked. “That one of Sebastian’s brews?”

“No, Mel blends all of our teas. He gets the ingredients from his uncle Zebulon, who cultivates fresh herbs as a hobby.”

Jake leaned forward, propping his elbows on his thighs. “Tell me something. Do you know any normal people?”

She blinked. “Normal?”

“Somebody who doesn’t know what the hell a biorhythm or yoga discipline is? One person who doesn’t give a damn if their capillaries breathe because they’re too busy loading their system with fried food and black coffee? Someone who can find a date on their own without paying to get fixed up?”

Raising the china cup to her mouth, Nicole forced herself to project an outward calm. She took pride in her work and her lifestyle, and she did not appreciate the man’s cynical attitude. However much she’d like to smash her teacup over his head, she wouldn’t do it.

“You, Sergeant,” she said coolly. “From seeing the fast-food sacks in the back of your car, I’d say you’re overly normal. Probably veering toward average. Perhaps even on the dull side.”

The instant narrowing of his eyes gave her some small sense of satisfaction. It also reminded her of how irresistibly drawn she was to his intense, dark looks…and how intrigued she was by the man.

He sat back in the chair, raised a hand. “Look, I didn’t mean—”

Whether he was about to apologize she would never know because Mel chose that moment to whisk back through the door.

“Need anything else, boss?” He gave her his usual warm smile while handing her Phillip Ormiston’s file.

“Not right now. Thank you.”

A faint beep sounded. Mel angled his left wrist, pushed a button on his watch. “I’ll need to leave in fifteen minutes.” He slid Jake a look before his gaze resettled on Nicole. “I could reschedule the appointment if you need me here.”

“Nonsense,” she stated. “Edna needs to see her doctor. In fact, why don’t you leave now so you won’t be rushed?”

“If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure.”

“Leave the tray. I’ll deal with it in the morning.”

Jake waited until Mel closed the door behind him, then said, “My bet is your eager-as-a-puppy assistant is on the sunny side of twenty.”

“He turns twenty-one next month,” Nicole replied. “Mel’s two semesters from getting a degree in marketing. He works here full-time and takes care of his mother—she has severe diabetes and arthritis. Her prognosis isn’t good,” Nicole added, feeling a tug of worry over the increasingly frail woman. “Mel has a lot of responsibility, but he never complains. He does a wonderful job and he isn’t afraid of long hours. I consider the day he answered my ad for help one of the luckiest in my life.”

“Well, there’s a glowing recommendation.”

“Trust me, Sergeant, Mel has earned every word.”

Jake’s gaze dropped to the file she’d placed on her lap. “The M.E. called this morning with a cause of death on Ormiston.”

With the change of subject, her hands became so unsteady that she replaced the china cup on its saucer. “It wasn’t a heart attack, was it?”

“No. Someone gave your client an injection that paralyzed his lungs. He basically suffocated to death.”

“Poor Phillip.” She spoke quietly, feeling the blood drain from her face when a dizzying realization set in. “It wasn’t something in the muffins, then?”

Jake angled his head. “They’re at our lab for analysis. But, no, the M.E. doesn’t think the muffins had anything to do with Ormiston’s death. Even if they did, the bakery verifies your story. Mel called and placed the order, had the muffins delivered to Ormiston’s office.”

She nodded slowly. “That doesn’t mean I didn’t inject Phillip with whatever it was that killed him.”

One corner of Jake’s mouth lifted. “Here’s a tip. Don’t point out things like that to a homicide cop.”

She gave him a thin smile. “I’m sure you’ve already thought of that.”

“Everyone’s a potential suspect, until I can prove them innocent. In fact, why don’t you tell me where you were yesterday afternoon so we can get that out of the way?”

Nicole shifted on the love seat’s cushions. Logically, she understood why Jake had to ask the question. Still, that didn’t stop a little ball of discomfort from wedging in her stomach.

“I attended a benefit luncheon at the Overholser Mansion,” she began. “After that, I drove downtown and met with my attorney about the prospect of franchising my company.”

“Met with him until when?”

“About four. I drove to my decorator’s shop where I spent an hour or so selecting fabric for drapes I’m having done.”

“Then?”

“I came back here, worked out at Sebastian’s and drove to Phillip’s house. You know the rest.”

Jake’s gaze returned to the file in her lap. “I need the names of the women you fixed Ormiston up with.”

When she hesitated, he added, “I can have a subpoena here within the hour if you have a problem giving me the information.”

“No.” She slicked her tongue over her lips. “It’s just that I promise my clients privacy. Confidentiality.”

“You promised that to Ormiston, too. If someone he met through this dating service killed him, they gave up all right to privacy.”

“Yes.” She stared at the fingers she’d linked together. “It’s my company’s responsibility to make matchmaking a safe process. We do an intensive screen on all of our clients. Conduct background checks. Credit history. Psychological and personality tests. What if we missed something?”

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