Beneath the shop’s bright lights, the gash that slashed his left eyebrow looked even rawer.

Claire didn’t let herself try to imagine how he’d got injured. She’d spent too many hours alone in various foreign countries, fearing he was lying dead someplace.

“Are you saying you flew all those hours to get here because you suspected someone wanted to kill my handyman?”

“Yes, I travelled today with the sole intention of getting here, to you, as soon as I could. But it wasn’t because I thought someone planned to slit your handyman’s throat.”

“Then why? Jackson, why are you here?”

“Because someone wants to kill you.”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Before embarking on a writing career, Maggie Price took a walk on the wild side and started associating with people who carry guns. Fortunately they were cops, and Maggie’s career as a crime analyst with the Oklahoma City Police Department has given her the background needed to write true-to-life police procedural romances, which have won numerous accolades, including a nomination for the coveted RITA® Award.

Maggie is a recipient of a Golden Heart Award, a Career Achievement Award from Romantic Times BOOKreviews, a National Reader’s Choice Award and a Bookseller’s Best Award, all in series romantic suspense. Readers are invited to contact Maggie at 416 NW 8th St, Oklahoma City, OK 73102-2604, USA. Or on the web at www.MaggiePrice.net.

Jackson’s Woman

MAGGIE PRICE

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

To “old” friends Mary Nichols Denson and Karen Westfall Perez, with thanks for the warm memories, the great sleepovers, the triple dates and all the dreams we used to weave.

Prologue

The dark-haired geologist who swung open the door to his favorite Barcelona restaurant was tall, lean and lanky, in the prime of his life.

In five minutes, he’d be dead.

At the tree-shaded park a safe distance away, a man fueled by cold revenge stabbed a button on his cell phone.

“Target’s in.” Without waiting for a reply, he ended the call.

Through powerful binoculars the man scanned the lunchtime crowd jamming the sunny sidewalk in front of the restaurant. When he spotted the two blond women who’d paused to check the menu posted outside the restaurant, his throat closed. Each dressed in a bright sundress, their skin tanned, they looked so much like his wife and teenage daughter he felt a wave of nausea. Sweat beaded his forehead, his palms.

Don’t go inside. The warning flashed in his brain while fresh grief that was beyond name, beyond reason, ripped at his gut.

The older of the two women pointed at something on the menu and shook her head; the younger one shrugged. They continued down the sidewalk, skirts swishing against tanned legs, neither knowing that the decision to bypass the restaurant had saved their lives.

Layer by layer, he rebuilt control so that his hands were rock-steady when the teenager with friendly brown eyes appeared around the corner. The kid was solidly built, wearing jeans and a red T-shirt.

No reason for anyone watching him to suspect that the blue backpack hanging over one shoulder held a deadly device.

The teen tugged open the restaurant’s door and stepped inside. Minutes later he strolled out, sans backpack.

The man turned and headed for the far side of the park, the soles of his scuffed boots silent on the thick grass. He was three blocks away when the deafening blast rocked the air. Even from a distance, he could hear agonized screams.

His stomach clenched as the memory of other screams razored through him. He’d arrived at the safe house too late, had no choice but to stay hidden while listening to his wife and daughter scream before they died.

They’d been gone two weeks. Two weeks of despair, confusion and agony.

Now, a feral tangle of rage and hate and revenge drove him to make the bastard responsible for their deaths pay.

Today he had accomplished the first step toward that goal.

Jackson Castle’s twin brother was dead.

His woman would die next.

Eye for an eye.

Chapter 1

Good to be home, Claire Munroe thought while juggling her purse, overnight bag, keys and one of the cardboard boxes containing the finds she couldn’t wait to display in her antique shop. It was late—all the businesses in Oklahoma City’s Reunion Square had closed hours ago—so she’d parked at the curb, a few feet from Home Treasures’ entrance. Smart move, she decided, since the temperature hovered in the eighties and the box weighed a ton.

In the hushed darkness there was only the click of her sandals on concrete as she lugged everything across the sidewalk.

Thankful for the carriage lamps that cast puddles of light on the shop’s entryway, she managed to slide her key into the lock on the first try. The dead bolt snicked open; when the door swung inward she was greeted by cool air and the scent of the apple and pine potpourri she’d placed all around. A wash of weak light glowed from the pair of timer-operated globe lamps that went on each evening at dusk.

She had been away for only one night, but to a woman who’d sacrificed so much to own the building that housed her shop and the cozy apartment over it, even that short time away had been too long.

Balancing the box against one hip, she turned, intending to punch her code into the alarm panel, but hesitated when she saw the glowing green light indicating the system wasn’t armed. Glancing across her shoulder, her gaze swept the dim shop with its lofty ceiling. Curio cabinets loaded with salt cellars, fragile teacups and enameled boxes sat exactly where she’d left them. Nearby, the mahogany table topped by a small antique chest and a collection of pewter ale mugs appeared just as it had when she’d locked up the previous evening and set the alarm.

Claire sighed. This was the third time she’d come home and found her alarm unarmed after arranging for her handyman to do repairs while the shop was closed. Silas Smith was in his late seventies and getting forgetful. At least the sweet old man had remembered to lock the dead bolt.

Using the tip of one sandal, Claire shoved the door closed. She slid her keys into a back pocket of her jeans, relocked the door and headed toward the rear of the shop. She had one more box to retrieve from her SUV, then she would set the alarm and head upstairs. Topping her agenda was a hot soak in the tub accompanied by a glass of chilled wine.

All thought of that agenda flew out of her head when her foot rammed into something solid, sending her lurching forward. The weight of the box added to her body’s momentum and she went down hard, her right side slamming against the box’s top edge.

The impact knocked the breath out of her. Everything went dim for a moment, like a blown fuse snapping off all the lights.

Claire remained motionless until her vision cleared. Her breath shuddered out. Then in. Slowly, she eased into a sitting position, wincing against the pain in her ribs.

Whatever she’d tripped over hadn’t been there when she’d locked up her shop the previous evening. Shoving her hair out of her face, she looked over her shoulder.

Her eyes went wide when she saw the leg that jutted into the aisle. It was khaki-clad and wore a heavy, paint-spattered work boot that she recognized.

“Mr. Smith?” Claire asked, scooting toward her handyman.

He was sprawled on one side, his back to her. The thick gray hair that always gleamed like silver looked dull in the shadowy light.

“Mr. Smith?” Claire repeated, her voice thready.

He had a bad heart, had suffered a heart attack the previous year. Fingers unsteady, she leaned across his body and touched his hand. His flesh was ice-cold.

“Oh, no.” She closed her eyes. He hadn’t turned on the alarm because he’d never left the shop. Had the poor man lain here for hours, suffering, needing help before he died?

Heartsick, Claire pushed to her feet, flinching at the catch in her side. She needed to call the police. Her cell phone was in her purse, which had gone airborne when she fell.

She flicked on a nearby lamp. When she leaned to retrieve her purse, a weak sweep of light illuminated the handyman’s pale face…and the gaping, bloody slit across his throat. Her brain frozen with shock, Claire stared at the dark crimson that had pooled from the wound.

Then reality hit with a hard jolt and she pressed a hand to her mouth to hold back a scream. All at once the air around her felt too cold. Too quiet. And then she heard a faint creak, the way a floorboard protested weight, that seemed to come from above. From her apartment.

Oh, God! Oh, God!

Hair rising on the back of her neck, the sensation of another presence clamped like fingers around her throat. No way was she staying here to find out if Silas Smith’s killer was upstairs, waiting for her with his bloody knife.

She spun, raced toward the front door. Her heartbeat battled her aching ribs, her temples pounded while her trembling hands fought the dead bolt. Jerking the door open, she darted out into the night that now seemed thick with shadows.

Five feet from the door a dark form stepped into her path so suddenly Claire didn’t have a chance to evade, much less stop. Sandals skidding, she rammed into a solid, unyielding frame.

The collision dragged a shriek from her. The hands that locked onto her shoulders were all that kept her on her feet.

“What the hell?”

The deep voice barely registered past the roar of blood in Claire’s ears. She recoiled against the man’s grip, but she was no match for the iron strength she felt in his hands. All she could see was a face awash in shadows; all she could think was the hands now controlling her were the same ones that had sliced her handyman’s throat.

“Let go!”

Blinding terror and the honed instincts of a child who’d grown up warding off advances from her mother’s numerous boyfriends blasted through Claire. Teeth bared, she bunched her right hand into a fist and swung. Her knuckles connected with his jaw, snapping his head back.

He grunted. In the next instant, he spun her around, jerked her back and trapped her against his hard, rock-solid body.

With her arms locked against her sides, she kicked, her heel ramming into his shin. “Let go!”

“Dammit, Claire, it’s me.”

She went rigid. No, it can’t be. She was so scared, she was hallucinating because there was no way she could be struggling in the thick shadows with the man from whom she’d walked away two years ago.

But the familiar scent of musky aftershave and potent male told her different.

“Let…go.” It was no longer solely fear that had her fighting his hold, but also shock and a desperate need to see if it was really him.

He kept her captured against the hard press of his body a second longer, then released her. She whirled, and in the weak wash from a carriage lamp she stared up into Jackson Castle’s hard blue gaze.

Her lungs heaved. Her throat was locked so tight she couldn’t speak. How could this be real?

“Jackson…” she finally managed.

His eyes swept up and down the street. “What the hell’s going on?” he asked in an almost inaudible whisper. “Who are you running from?”

“I…” She took a step backward, then another. He was dressed in black jeans and a black T-shirt, making him difficult to see; only his bare arms, hands and face made him visible. She strained to get a better look at his face, but the shadows were too heavy. “What are you doing here?”

“Tell me who you’re running from,” he demanded.

“I…don’t know.” She fought to think past her shocked disbelief from finding her handyman murdered and plowing into Jackson Castle on her doorstep. Then her thoughts careened in on what he did for a living and she took a stumbling step backward.

“Did…you…have anything to do with that?”

“With what?”

“With…. With…. Oh, God!”

He closed the space between them, his hands locking on her shoulders again, tight, giving her a shake. “Claire, tell me what happened.”

“He’s dead!” she blurted in a voice that even to her own ears sounded far away. “Inside. Someone slit his throat.”

Jackson’s right hand shifted from her shoulder. “Who’s dead?”

“Silas!”

She didn’t see Jackson reach for it, but now he held a pistol pressed against his thigh. Her heart pounded even harder. His job required that he always carry a gun, but she’d never gotten used to that. Had been unable to get used to a lot of things about Jackson Castle’s lifestyle. “Jackson, what the hell are you doing here?”

His fingers tightened on her shoulder. “Who is Silas?”

“Silas Smith. My handyman.”

“Did you see who killed him?”

“No. I…just got home…and found him. I might have heard someone upstairs in my apartment.” She shook her head. “I’m not sure, it could have been the building settling.”

His mouth tightened. “Is the key to the inside staircase in the same place?”

Claire blinked. Of course Jackson remembered the key. He’d been trained to recall every detail of everything he experienced. Things like that came in handy for a man who, in addition to other duties, slipped like smoke in and out of foreign countries to deal with rebels, terrorists and fanatics.

“The key’s still where it was, but there’s no reason for you to go into the building.” Her voice shook. “If you have your cell phone, we can call the police. I have a friend who works homicide. We can call Liz, wait for her to get here.”

“After I check the building,” he said flatly.

No way was Jackson going to let a possible suspect escape. And he had a good idea who that suspect might be. He had no proof Frank Ryker had managed to get into the country, much less make it to Oklahoma City. Nor would someone with his training have to resort to throat-slicing to take out a handyman. But these days his mentor and former partner was operating on icy adrenaline and hot lust for revenge so Jackson wasn’t taking chances. Not when Ryker’s ultimate goal was to kill Claire. In case he was here, Jackson had no intention of giving him a chance to melt into the night before the local law arrived.

He looked back at Claire, his cop’s mind assessing her condition. In the dim light her skin looked ashen, her eyes glassy with shock. She trembled outwardly. He set his jaw, wishing he had time to explain what was going on, but the danger was too great.

He did a quick surveil of the area. All the shops, restaurants and other businesses in the square were closed, so he couldn’t stash Claire in one of them while he checked her building. His rental car was parked behind her shop; he’d kept tabs on her enough to know she owned the SUV sitting at the front curb. He quickly nixed the idea of having her lock herself inside either vehicle and wait for him. If Ryker was around, it would take him only seconds to bypass any lock system. And then he’d have Claire.

And kill her.

Jaw set, Jackson leaned in, keeping his voice low. “I’m going to check your building—”

“You’re not leaving me here on the sidewalk,” she interrupted in a harsh whisper. “You’ve got the gun, I’m sticking with you.”

Even in the shadows he saw the determined glint in her eyes. Too bad she hadn’t been this adamant about “sticking with him” two years ago. Would regret, he wondered, ever fade?

“I’m not leaving you out here,” he agreed. “You’re going in with me. Behind me. Don’t make any noise. At the first loud sound, hit the floor.”

Her eyes widened, flicked to his automatic. “Loud sound, meaning gunfire?”

“Meaning anything. Don’t get too close in case I have to step back fast.” And so you don’t get hit by shots aimed at me, he added to himself. “Once we’re inside, I want you to stay in my line of sight so I’ll know where you are. Keep glancing over your shoulder to make sure no one sneaks up on us from behind.”

“All right.” Claire pressed a palm against the ache in her right side and pulled in a trembling breath. Her nerves were shimmering and her insides had tangled into a dozen frayed knots.

“Jackson, I don’t understand why you’re here,” she said in a shaky whisper. “Why are you even here?”

“To check on you.”

His gaze was unreadable, his tone as offhand as if he’d just driven across the city to get there when chances were he’d woken up that morning on some other continent. Every move the man made, everything he did was deliberate. She knew damn well his checking on her was far from casual.

“Stay close.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze, then stepped past her, holding the automatic against his thigh. Silently, he positioned himself at one side of the shop’s gaping front door.

For Claire, the whole night had turned surreal. Within the past five minutes she’d found her handyman murdered and literally run head-first into the man who’d once embraced her heart as no other had. The man she had never thought she would see again.

Had never wanted to see again. Because she’d known, in her heart, how much it would hurt to be reminded of what she’d sacrificed in order to obtain her one solid goal: A life with permanence, where people stayed in one place and put down roots.

She’d been right.

She met his grim gaze while her heart tattooed in her ears. “Jackson, be careful.”

One side of his mouth lifted. “That’s my plan.”

Gun clenched in both hands, he flattened his back against the door frame, then stepped inside.

Claire couldn’t stop pacing.

Left hand pressed against her aching ribs, she roamed the living room of her spacious, high-ceilinged apartment. There was too much tension racing through her blood for her to sit still. The horrific image of Silas Smith with his throat a bloody gash. Her grief over the dear, sweet man’s violent death. Her shock at running full-throttle into Jackson Castle.

Immediately after the surreptitious—and uneventful—search she and Jackson had conducted of her shop, her upstairs apartment and the storage room across the hall, he’d pulled out his cell phone and called 9-1-1. A patrol car had arrived minutes later. Claire’s friend, Oklahoma City Police Department homicide detective Elizabeth Scott, her partner and the crime scene investigators soon followed, and the medical examiner showed up shortly afterward.

With so much going on and so many people swarming her building, Claire had yet to find an opportune moment to talk to Jackson one on one.

Diverting around her couch that bloomed with small pink roses, she glanced across the room. He stood just inside the apartment’s open front door, talking in muted tones to Liz, who had already questioned Claire at length. And since her partner had sat in, Liz had held back from asking certain girlfriend-type questions, the most pressing being: why had the lover Claire walked away from two years ago suddenly shown up tonight?

Claire wished to hell she knew.

Sidestepping the pedestal table that held china cups on a silver tray, she continued pacing. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Liz jot on a notepad, then return a small leather case to Jackson. Claire knew the case held the badge and credentials that identified him as a Special Agent with the Diplomatic Security Service—the U.S. State Department’s law-enforcement division.

Had he shown Liz his ID because his presence here was official? Claire wondered. If so, what sort of business had prompted a DSS agent who mostly operated under a veil of secrecy in foreign countries to suddenly show up on the shadowy sidewalk in front of her building?

The building Claire had worked tooth and nail to own, along with the contents of the antique shop and the cozy apartment she and her aunt had once rented.

The apartment that was the only real home Claire had ever known.

Over the past two years, she had morphed Home Treasures to reflect her own personal stamp and was making a tidy profit. She’d met a man for whom she cared deeply, a man who loved her, who wanted a future with her. Brice Harrison had been ready—was ready—to give her the type of life craved by a woman who’d survived a rootless childhood that hovered one frightening step from physical abuse. Claire had nearly convinced herself to grab onto that life. To write off her growing uncertainties and her frustrating inability to totally forget the past.

And the man who’d played such a large role in it.

Dammit, why was he here?

Claire reached the fireplace—filled for summer with lavender hydrangea blooms—reversed and headed back the way she’d come. It was a wonder her sandals hadn’t worn a trail across the Multan rug that spread its muted colors over the hardwood floor.

She could understand Jackson’s being in Oklahoma City—they’d first met while he was on loan to a multi-agency anti-terrorism task force working out of the National Memorial Institute. So it was possible a similar assignment had brought him back.

But that didn’t explain why he’d shown up tonight. Especially since they’d agreed to sever all ties. So, why was he here?

And why did it have to be now, when she’d spent the past months feeling so unsettled? So unsure. So off-balance.

Slowing her pace, she shifted her gaze back to Jackson and for the first time allowed herself to study him. He seemed leaner and a little more rugged now. The dark stubble that covered his firm, square jaw enhanced the look, as did the black T-shirt that stretched over his broad shoulders and the black jeans that clung to his narrow hips and long legs. Though worn in the same sleek style, his dark hair was shaggier, the thick ends lapping just above his collar.

His incendiary blue eyes had undergone the greatest change. They stared out from a face baked copper by the sun of who-knew-what countries, their unfamiliar hardness lending their owner a rougher and even more dangerous look than Claire remembered. A paper-thin gash, still in the process of healing, sliced through his left eyebrow.

She pictured him as he’d looked earlier, searching the shop with measured care, moving like a ghost up the stairs, his gun unwavering in his grip, his gaze skimming, shifting. Even though the shop was brimming with stock, she would wager he could describe everything he had seen as skillfully as he would faces in a lineup. Even minor details didn’t get past him.

As if sensing her thoughts, Jackson shifted his stance, met her gaze. His eyes held hers for a long moment, then dropped to the hand she held pressed against her ribs. A frown line formed between his dark brows.

A tightness settled in Claire’s chest. Was he measuring her the way she had him? Searching for physical changes in the woman who’d called it quits and left him after a passionate affair that had lasted only a handful of months?

“Claire?”

Halting beside the pedestal table, she shifted her gaze to her friend. “Yes?”

“We’re wrapping things up downstairs,” Liz said as she stepped farther into the apartment. Tall and leggy, she wore black slacks and a turquoise blazer that nipped her thin waist. As usual, her ginger-gold hair was plaited in a tight French braid.

Claire was aware of Jackson moving to stand a few feet away in front of the fireplace. Propping a shoulder against the mantel, he crossed his arms over his chest.

A whiff of the familiar spicy tang of his aftershave reached her. Claire set her jaw against the quick clutching in her belly. Her body was simply reacting to a known stimulus, she told herself. Nothing more.

Still, his scent had her mind scrolling backward in time. It had been summer when he’d first walked into Home Treasures. She’d just been a sales clerk when she looked up and saw a tall, intense man stride through the doorway. While he explained he needed a wedding gift for a co-worker, she had felt the sexual attraction sparking between them, running like a sizzling conduit beneath the surface of every word they exchanged. The way Jackson’s eyes had deepened, darkened, verified he felt it, too. They went out to dinner that night. And the next. Days later, Claire linked her fingers with his while they climbed the stairs to this very apartment. They’d cranked the air conditioning to arctic, lit a fire and made love for hours while flames danced on the logs.

And when the task force had disbanded and he’d asked her to go with him, she’d said yes. Because she’d been so crazy in love she couldn’t bear to think about living her life without Jackson Castle in it.

It had taken six months to learn that making life-altering decisions based on one’s hormones was for the young and foolish. She was older now. Wiser. More practical. Never again would she put aside her own needs so rashly.

Her throat dry, she switched her mental focus to what Liz was saying.

“…and we dusted for prints only on the displays where things weren’t in the same place you said they’d been yesterday evening when you closed the shop. I asked the lab guys to be careful with the fingerprint powder, but you still have a mess to clean up.”

Claire pictured the blood that had pooled from beneath poor Silas Smith’s head. She had more than just fingerprint powder to deal with. “I doubt I’ll be able to sleep tonight so cleaning the shop will give me something to do.”

Her gaze concerned, Liz squeezed Claire’s arm. “My partner and I will be back in the morning to interview the square’s other business owners. Maybe one of them caught a glimpse of someone hanging around outside your shop. In the meantime, call me if you think of anything else that might be important. Or if you discover anything missing from the building.”

“All right.” In reflex, Claire shifted her hand from the ache in her ribs to her throat. “Liz, do you have any idea at all who killed Silas?”

“Not yet. The alarm company says your system was deactivated using your code, so it’s possible the suspect entered the shop after Mr. Smith turned off the alarm when he came in to do the repairs you wanted done. That’s the most likely scenario.”

“Do you have an unlikely one?”

“It’s possible the suspect somehow obtained your code fraudulently, or had electronic equipment capable of cloning the code and disabling the system. Later, the victim walked in on him.” Liz checked her notepad. “You’re sure the only person other than yourself and Mr. Smith who has your alarm code is Charles?”

“Positive.” Charles McDougal was much more to Claire than just Home Treasures’ previous owner. When she was ten, she had come here to live with her aunt, and Charles and his late wife—who’d lived in the apartment across the hall—had opened their hearts to her.

Over the years, he had taught Claire all he knew about antiques. He’d helped send her to college, kept the apartment vacant for her when she’d run off with Jackson, and he’d welcomed her home when she’d returned with her heart broken.

Claire swallowed hard against that painful memory. “I always call Charles and let him know when I change my alarm code in case he drives through town when I’m not here.”

When Liz frowned, Claire added, “You know how concerned Charles is about my safety. There’s no way he’d give my code to anyone.”

“Not on purpose,” Liz agreed. “I still need to make sure he didn’t write down the latest code and leave it lying around where someone could see it. Do you know where he is now?”

Claire shook her head. The day the crusty widower had sold her the building and the shop’s contents, he’d fired up his RV and taken off, vowing to stop at every antique shop, estate sale and flea market in the country.

“He called about a week ago from southern California. You should be able to reach him on his cell,” Claire added and recited the number.

Liz slid her pad into a pocket. She looked at Jackson with the hard eyes of a cop, then shifted her gaze back to Claire.

“Special Agent Castle is here because he has a very different theory about the break-in and murder. Since I need to coordinate things with my partner and the lab guys, I’ll let him explain it to you.”

Instead of turning to go, Liz slid an arm around Claire’s shoulders and gave her a hug. “I figure finding old Silas dead is just one of the shocks you’ve had tonight,” she whispered.

Claire nodded. The other shock—Jackson’s pres-ence—was something to be discussed in detail later, girlfriend-to-girlfriend.

The cell phone clipped to Liz’s waistband rang. She answered the call, spoke a few words then hung up. “Everything’s done downstairs.”

Claire pulled her keys from the back pocket of her jeans. “I’ll walk you out and lock up.”

She led the way down the inside stairway, acutely aware of Jackson trailing behind her and Liz.

At the bottom of the stairs, the door to the small room she used as an office stood open. Wordlessly, Claire passed by her tidy desk and file cabinet, then stepped into the shop where the lights blazed. She turned down one of the narrow aisles bordered by cloth-covered tables and display cases loaded with candlesticks, crystal bowls and vases. When she passed by the spot where she’d found poor Silas, her gaze lowered to the hardwood floor. The sight of the pool of dried blood had her stomach clenching while the apple-and pine-scented air cloyed in her lungs.

“Claire?” The deep timbre of Jackson’s voice registered up and down her spine.

Pausing, she glanced across her shoulder. “Yes?”

“You still keep the cleaning supplies in the closet behind the main counter?”

She nodded. Did the man ever forget anything? “I don’t expect you to help me clean.”

“It’ll go faster with two of us.” He veered off toward the waist-high counter while she and Liz moved to the front door.

There, Liz turned, her eyes crimped with concern. “Look, I know what this guy once meant to you, but I’m a homicide cop and I don’t take anyone at face value.”

Claire felt her face pale. “You don’t suspect Jackson…?”

“Not now that I’ve grilled him and checked out his credentials with the State Department.” Liz flicked a look back at the closet behind the counter. “Considering the past you two share, it’s gotta be hard for you to have him here. But if his theory’s solid, I’m damn glad he is here.”

Claire opened her mouth to ask what that theory was just as Liz’s cell phone rang.

Muttering, Liz jerked it off her waistband and checked the display. “I’ve got to go. Call me if you need anything.” Phone pressed to one ear, Liz headed out into the night.

Claire closed the door behind her friend, then engaged the dead bolt. From behind her came the rattle of the mop bucket.

It took a moment, a carefully indrawn breath, a steady exhale, before she turned. Her gaze tracked Jackson as he rolled the bucket containing a mop around the counter toward the spot where Silas had died.

“So, you have a theory about the break-in and murder,” she began. “Is the reason you’re here anything to do with what happened to Silas?”

Jackson positioned the bucket near the bloodstain, then leaned the mop’s handle against the nearby whitewashed pine armoire. “It’s possible.” He glanced again at the floor and frowned. “Not probable, but possible.”

She took in the hard set of his jaw, his rigid shoulders. He hunted terrorists for a living. Was it possible Silas Smith’s murder was an act of terrorism? The question might seem unbelievable if Reunion Square wasn’t a short walk from the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. Like everyone else in the city, Claire had long ago abandoned the it-can’t-happen-here mindset.

For the first time she noticed the shadows of fatigue under Jackson’s eyes and the small, pronounced lines at the corners of his mouth.

“Where were you when you woke up this morning?” she asked.

From somewhere blocks away came the shriek of a siren. Jackson turned his head, his gaze sweeping across the mullioned window that spanned the entire front of the shop. When he remet Claire’s gaze, his eyes were intent, unnervingly watchful.

“I was in Spain.”

“Did you travel most of today specifically to get here? Not just to Oklahoma City, but here?”

“Yes.” He glanced at his watch. “I hopped a nonstop military transport. Taking the time change into consideration, I logged nearly eleven hours in the air.”

She moved from the door, skirting several tables and displays before pausing a few feet from him. Beneath the shop’s bright lights, the gash that slashed his left eyebrow looked even rawer. Claire didn’t let herself try to imagine how he’d been injured. Or if he’d been in mortal danger at the time. She’d spent too many hours alone in various foreign countries while he was away on assignment, waiting for him to call, fearing he hadn’t because he was lying dead in some place with a name she couldn’t even pronounce.

“Are you saying you flew all those hours to get here because you suspected someone wanted to kill my handyman? Some homegrown terrorist? Someone like that?”

Jackson stepped toward her, halting when only inches separated them. His gaze narrowed, seemed to penetrate her.

“Yes,” he said quietly, “I traveled today with the sole intention of getting here, to you, as soon as I could. But it wasn’t because I thought someone planned to slit your handyman’s throat.”

“Then why? Jackson, why are you here?”

“Because someone wants to kill you.”

Chapter 2

Jackson watched Claire’s face go pale and fear grow in her eyes. He gripped her upper arms. “It’s not going to happen. I won’t let it.”

Beneath his hands, she swayed like a sheet in the wind. “Let’s get you off your feet.”

He hooked a foot around the leg of a chair and dragged it away from a table loaded with china and heavy silver. With a gentle push, he nudged her into the chair.

Dammit, he hadn’t meant to tell her that way—after finding her handyman with his throat slit, the last thing she needed tonight was another shock. Someone wants to kill you. Smooth move, Castle.

When it came to his work, he was never at a loss. Didn’t allow himself to get distracted from his focus. But seeing Claire again had shaken him far more than he’d ever thought possible.

He ordered himself to snap back into control. Now. He couldn’t have her. Logically he knew that. Shouldn’t still want her. Didn’t want to want her. He bit back on frustration. Too much was at stake for him to let the emotional baggage he’d dragged around since she’d walked out get in the way. Right now, Claire Munroe was a job—that’s all she was. All she could be. Ryker had seen to that.

When she clutched the arms of the chair, Jackson crouched, putting them at eye-level. “Do you want some water? Something stronger?”

“I want an explanation.” She let out a long breath, but it didn’t steady her voice. “Who wants to kill me?”

He had found out less than twenty-four hours ago that she was in danger from a man he’d once considered his closest friend. He was still trying to come to grips with that. And everything else.

“Frank Ryker.”

“I don’t know him. Why would someone I don’t know…” Her forehead furrowed. “Ryker. Isn’t that your partner’s last name? The man you consider your mentor?”

“Frank Ryker’s my ex-partner, as of a little over a month ago.”

“A federal cop, your partner, wants to kill me?” There was dismay in her voice now and color was returning to her cheeks. The tight grip she had on the arms of the chair had turned her knuckles white.

“Ex-partner, yes.”

“Why?”

Because of me. His gut twisting, Jackson rose. After Claire had left him, he’d tried to put her out of his mind, and sometimes succeeded. But then he would come off an assignment and let go of the tight control necessary to survival on the job. It was at those times when he eased back his focus that thoughts of her closed in. They hovered around him like ghosts, whispering to him, brushing against him during the night until he thought he might go mad with wanting her.

Those tormenting thoughts had prompted his occasional casual mention of her to Ryker. Although Jackson would like to use the excuse that it was natural for personal feelings to spill out when two friends decompressed after a life-and-death assignment, he was realistic enough to admit he had never dealt with Claire walking away. Hadn’t wanted to. Still didn’t want to. Knowing she’d moved on, was planning to marry a man who could give her the life he never could, had been sufficient reason to stay away.

But Ryker had put Claire’s life on the line, which left him no choice but to face her. And the emotions he’d refused to deal with. Head-on.

He scrubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw. “It’d be best if I lay out what happened from the beginning.”

“Fine.” Claire rose sharply. “You talk, I’ll listen.”

He watched as she tugged open a door on the pine armoire. She wore a soft denim shirt tied at the waist and slim jeans that molded tightly to her hips and legs. He knew what it felt like to have those legs part for him, wrap around him.

Two years of missing her, of wanting her with him, hit him like a ton of bricks.

Get a grip. He fought to repress the hungry, possessive storm inside him while watching her retrieve a rag and a bottle of cleaning solvent. Knowing he would waste his breath, he bit back the urge to suggest she wait until she felt steadier to clean up the dusting of fingerprint powder the cops had left on numerous items. Whenever she got nervous or upset, Claire was on the move. The night she’d told him goodbye, her pacing had almost worn a path in the carpet of their Cairo hotel room.

He retrieved the mop out of the bucket he’d filled with water and pine-scented disinfectant, then went to work on the bloodstain.

“A little over a month ago,” he began, “terrorists kidnapped an American attaché in Singapore. We got intel he was being held in a warehouse, so Ryker and I set up surveillance until a team from our Mobile Security Division—the equivalent of SWAT—arrived. MSD went in first, then Ryker and myself. Or so I thought until I hit the doorway and realized he’d hung back. A second later, the warehouse exploded.”

“The gash over your eye.” Claire looked up from the brass candlestick she’d plucked off a shelf. “Is that how you got hurt?”

“Yeah, shrapnel clipped me at the same time the blast blew me out of the doorway.” Jackson put his back into the mop as dark anger brewed in his gut. “The attaché and all members of the MSD team died. Turned out the terrorists weren’t inside the warehouse—they detonated the blast by remote.”

“Ryker?”

“Didn’t hang around to check on his pals.”

“And you think, because he held back, he knew the warehouse was going to explode?”

“He and I have gone through a lot of doors together over the years. He’d never hesitated until Singapore. In the split second before the blast, I saw it in his eyes—he knew the place was about to go up.”

Claire set the candlestick she’d dusted aside, then went to work on a cobalt vase. “What happened after that?”

“I woke up in the ER, got my boss on the phone and told him I suspected Ryker had sold us out. He’s like every other DSS agent, has connections all over the world, so it was anyone’s guess where he’d go.”

Just thinking about what Ryker had done—what he intended to do—filled Jackson with a rage so strong he wanted to slam his fist through a wall.

“I remembered Ryker mentioned a place he used as an off-the-book safe house in Kuala Lumpur,” Jackson continued. “Getting from Singapore to Malaysia only takes a couple of hours, so the house was worth checking. Another MSD team got there just as dusk fell. When they burst in, a shadow dashed from around a corner, and they opened fire.”

Jackson’s insides bunched. If he’d known who the MSD team would find there, he wouldn’t have told his boss about the damn safe house, just gone there on his own and dealt with Ryker. But he’d had no way of knowing.

“Was Ryker in the house?”

“No, but his wife and daughter were.”

The rag in Claire’s hand went still against the deep-blue vase. “You wouldn’t take me into Malaysia because it was so dangerous for Americans. Especially women.”

“Still is. Which is why the MSD team had no expectation an agent would risk his family that way.”

The thick-planked floor now clean of blood, Jackson replaced the mop in the bucket. Next on his agenda was the building’s security. He’d already arranged with Liz Scott to have OCPD do hourly patrols, but that was just the beginning of what needed to be done.

“Why was Ryker’s family at the safe house?” Claire asked.

“Emily, his daughter, was ill.” Jackson moved to the shop’s expansive front window. It was mullioned with large diamond-shaped panes. The panes wouldn’t open, which was good, but someone armed with a glasscutter and pry bar could make a silent entry in seconds. Shatter sensors, he determined, before looking back at Claire.

“From paperwork at the safe house we found out Emily had contracted a fever that did major damage to her heart.”

He turned his attention to the shop’s front door. After studying the dead bolt, he sized up the alarm panel, then the door mat. He added additional security devices for all to the mental list he was compiling. “Her only hope of survival was a transplant.”

“Transplants are performed in every state. Why did Ryker risk taking his wife and sick daughter overseas?”

“Emily had a rare blood type which narrowed the chance of finding a heart through legal channels almost to zero. I figure Ryker thought his only hope of saving his child was to buy a heart on the black market. The paperwork steered us to a Malaysian surgeon known to have ties to al Qaeda. He wouldn’t answer questions, but the theory is the black-market heart and surgery would have cost more than a million dollars. Which explains why Ryker sold out.”

Jackson felt his anger growing, a vicious heat that would bubble in his blood if he allowed it to. “Later, we found out Ryker had been selling blank U.S. passports to a terrorist named Hassan Kaddur. After an expert forger gets through with the blanks, it’ll be almost impossible to tell a fake from the real thing. That compromises unknown numbers of Americans on their own turf.”

Claire placed the vase in a display cabinet near a collection of salt cellars, then turned. “None of that explains why Ryker wants to kill me.”

“No, it doesn’t.”

Jackson moved to the cabinet where she stood. He recognized the Chanel scent that pulsed off her in little waves and made his juices swim. Years of practice had taught him how to present a certain face and attitude to the world no matter how he was feeling. It was an ability he would put to good use as long as he stayed here.

“Last night I got a call from an informant in Hong Kong. Guy named Kim. He said that the night before he’d been at an outdoor market and spotted a man built like Ryker talking on a cell phone. His hair was black instead of blond and he wore thick, horn-rimmed glasses, so Kim didn’t think it was Ryker. But Kim’s always looking to buy and sell intel, so he eavesdropped on the call. When Kim heard the man’s voice, he was even more convinced the guy wasn’t Ryker.”

“But you think it was?”

“I know it was.”

“So, why aren’t you in Hong Kong instead of here?”

“Because Kim overheard the man say Claire and Oklahoma City. Ryker was talking about you.”

Watching her, Jackson saw her breathing turn fast and shallow. Knowing the blame for her fear lay on his shoulders tore him apart. It was all he could do not to pull her against him. Hold her. Comfort her.

“This is crazy,” she rasped, her fingers clenching the dust rag. “Why would Ryker come after me?”

“To get back at me. I’m the only person Ryker told about the safe house. So when the MSD team showed up there, he knew I’d survived the warehouse blast and sent SWAT to hit the house. In Ryker’s mind, I’m the reason his wife and daughter are dead. His coming after you is his way of leveling the playing field.”

“How?” Claire asked, staring up at him in confusion. “You and I haven’t seen each other in two years. We haven’t even talked. We’ve both moved on. Why would Ryker think he can get back at you through me?”

Jackson kept his gaze locked with hers. The huge flaw in Claire’s reasoning was her assumption they’d both moved on. Only she could claim that. He had given it his best shot, but it hadn’t worked. All he’d managed to do was stay away from her.

“When you spend hours on a stakeout, you have to talk about something. Ryker’s pet topic was his wife and Emily. When you and I were together, your name naturally came up. Ryker knows I haven’t been involved with anyone serious since you. He blames me for the death of his family and wants to even the score.”

“His family,” Claire repeated, her face taut with worry. “You lost your parents years ago, but what about Garrett? He’s your twin, Jackson. You should be wherever he is, making sure Ryker doesn’t get to him.”

In a wave, the still-raw grief Jackson had fought hard to hold at bay washed over him. “Garrett’s dead.”

Her face went white and stiff. “When? How?”

“A little more than two weeks ago. He was in a Barcelona restaurant when a bomb planted there in a backpack exploded.”

“Oh, God.” What Jackson had said was terrible enough, but hearing it recited in a flat, empty voice iced Claire’s blood. Whatever grief, whatever anger he felt was masked by a calm, unapproachable expression. But she knew he had loved his twin brother deeply, and the pain he felt must be brutal.

Pure reflex had her dropping the cleaning rag and stepping toward him. She felt Jackson’s pain as if it were her own. She settled her hand on his forearm and murmured, “I’m so sorry.” Beneath her palm she felt his heat, his hard-muscled strength. “I loved Garrett, too.”

“Yeah.” Instantly, he turned away, forcing her to drop her hand.

A dull throb settled in Claire’s belly. She had turned down his proposal and walked out on him. Why should she think he’d welcome her touch for any reason? After all, he hadn’t popped back into her life for old times’sake. He was there because she was in danger. She was his current assignment.

“Do you think Ryker was behind the bombing?” she asked.

“There’s no evidence to indicate that. Which doesn’t mean a damn thing.” He jabbed his fingers into the back pockets of his jeans. “If he was in on it and didn’t want me to find out, he’d make sure he didn’t leave a trail. All I know is that it’s the norm for whatever group is behind a bombing to claim responsibility. That hasn’t happened. But there’s a terrorist cell in Barcelona controlled by Hassan Kaddur. He might have had his extremists carry out the bombing to show Ryker his thanks for funneling all those blank U.S. passports his way.”

Claire picked up a brass microscope, set it back down. “So, with your family gone, you think Ryker has targeted me by default?”

“Something like that,” Jackson said carefully. He could still feel the warm press of her palm against his forearm. Knowing she shared his grief—and his love for his brother—he’d been seconds from dragging her into his arms and holding her. Just holding her until the suffocating pain inside him diminished.

But if he ever had her in his arms again he wasn’t sure he’d be able to let go. That complication, at least, he could avoid by keeping his hands off her.

Turning back to face her, he said, “The bottom line is that Ryker’s got you in his cross-hairs. That’s why, before I caught the plane out of Barcelona, I called Tom Iverson at the Homeland Security Office here. I briefed him on Ryker and asked Tom to check on you. He came to Reunion Square this morning. The woman who owns the shop next door told him you’d gone out of town to an auction, but she didn’t know where. It stood to reason Ryker wouldn’t be able to find you, either, before I arrived. When I ran into you on the sidewalk and you said your handyman had been murdered, my first thought was that Ryker had shown up.”

Claire’s gaze dropped to the damp blotch on the floor while a sick feeling crept into her belly. “So, you think it should have been my throat that got slit, not Silas Smith’s.”

Jackson knew she felt guilty enough without telling her she might be right. “I changed my mind about Ryker being the killer after you and I got in here and I saw that some of the stock had been disturbed. And how Smith’s throat had been cut.”

“Why does that matter?”

“Ryker wouldn’t have moved anything which might have tipped you that someone had broken in. He knows ten ways to kill without leaving blood you might spot. And he’d have hidden the handyman’s body. You’d have seen nothing down here that would have stopped you from going upstairs where Ryker would have waited for you. Nothing.”

“Could the killer have been someone he sent?” Claire asked.

“No, his wife and daughter’s deaths are personal. This is something he will deal with himself. I could be wrong, but I don’t think Smith’s murder has anything to do with Ryker.”

“If you’re right, who killed poor Silas?”

“While I’m here, I plan to try to find out.” After all, keeping busy was preferable to going slowly crazy, wanting what he could no longer have.

As he’d done several times during the evening, Jackson flicked his gaze to Claire’s left hand. Her ringless left hand. “I imagine this is going to complicate things for you, but I need to stay here until Ryker’s caught. Before our search of your building I’d have suggested I bunk in the apartment across from yours where Charles lived. But since it’s now a storeroom and crammed full of inventory for the shop, it looks like your couch is the only place available.”

When she lifted a hand to push back her hair, Jackson noted it wasn’t her usual casual gesture. It was a weary one. He heard that weariness in her voice when she said, “I want to tell you I don’t need you to stay here.”

“Claire—”

“I want to tell you that. Because your being here can’t help but make things awkward between us. We didn’t split up under the best of circumstances.”

“Think maybe it’s because only one of us wanted to part ways?” he asked neutrally.

“I couldn’t stay.” Her eyes remained steady on his, but her hands clenched tight. “I tried living in your world, Jackson, but it didn’t work. You know I tried. I couldn’t be what you wanted me to be.”

My wife. Even after two years, he was never quite free from the drag of hurt that came when he thought about the last evening they’d spent together. He’d proposed. She’d said goodbye. End of story.

“So, I want to tell you I don’t need you to stay here,” she repeated, her gaze returning to the floor. “But then I picture poor Silas with his slit throat. And I think about Garrett.…” Easing out a shaky breath, she remet his gaze. “I’m scared, Jackson. Terrified. I don’t want to be, but I am.”

“I’d wonder about you if you weren’t,” he said, and stopped himself before his hand lifted to stroke the dark fall of her hair. “I won’t let Ryker get to you. You have my word.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Her smile was weak and didn’t last. “So, I hope for your sake my couch doesn’t have lumps.”

“I bet it beats the straw mat I slept on recently in a shack in Sierra Leone,” he said.

Nodding, she retrieved the rag and began wiping fingerprint powder off a leather hatbox. “I’m having a hard time accepting that all of this has happened,” she said after a moment. “That I’m not going to wake up in the morning and find out it hasn’t been a horrible nightmare.”

Jackson wondered if she included his presence as part of that nightmare, but didn’t ask. “Wish I could tell you that’s all it is.”

That was a lie. As grave as the situation was, he’d been looking for an excuse to see her again. Just see her, as if that might quell the ache of missing her that went on and on. But he hadn’t made a move because he’d believed certain avenues were closed to him.

He took a step closer and breathed in a long, reckless drag of Chanel. “Claire, since you and I will be sharing space again for a time, there’s a question that comes to mind.”

“What?”

“I heard you were getting married.” He dropped his gaze to her left hand. “And had an engagement ring with a diamond the size of a gumdrop. Just curious why you’re not wearing it.”

With Jackson having moved so close, Claire had to tilt her head back to meet his gaze. When she did, his spicy male scent filled her lungs, rekindling memories best left in the past.

At the moment, he was her greatest threat.

“Who told you I’m getting married?”

“Charles.” Jackson raised a shoulder. “You remember what a soft spot I developed for the old pirate during all those times he hammered me at poker?”

“I remember.”

“So, we’ve kept in touch. He mentions you now and then.”

“Does he?” Claire kept her tone cool even as her temper built. Her surrogate grandfather had never once breathed a word about staying in contact with Jackson. And she would skin Charles McDougal alive for discussing her with the man with whom Charles knew she’d intentionally severed all ties.

Jackson crossed his arms over his chest. “I seem to recall Charles said your fiancé is a banker?”

“He is.” She tilted her head. “Are you asking because you need to consult with a financial advisor while you’re here? If so, I’m sure Brice will be happy to meet with you.”

Jackson’s mouth thinned. “My finances are fine. I’m just curious—if you’re engaged, why you aren’t wearing your ring?”

Damn you, Claire thought. Damn you for showing up when she’d spent weeks growing more and more uncertain that marrying Brice Harrison was the right thing for her to do. She’d never had to wonder about the origin of all her uncertainty, not with her system churning with so many unresolved feelings for the man for whom she’d naively tossed aside everything. The man who’d expected her to ignore her ingrained need to put down roots, to make a home, in order to wander the face of the earth forever with him. The man who hadn’t offered to make any adjustments or sacrifices for her.

And here he was, back in her life, poking and prodding.

Fine, she thought. All his sudden presence did was enforce her determination to overcome once and for all whatever feelings she still harbored for him. Because she knew from experience that the instant Ryker was captured, Jackson would feed his need for being on the front lines of danger by taking off for wherever on the globe the hottest trouble was brewing. Just like before.

Fueled by a mix of pride and jaw-locking anger, she tugged the heavy gold necklace from beneath her T-shirt.

“I am engaged.” When she dangled the chain between her thumb and finger, light shot off the four-carat diamond like the tail of a comet. “I slide my ring onto this necklace for safekeeping when I know I’ll be digging through boxes of antiques at an auction.”

She had no intention of telling Jackson that she had driven home from today’s auction totally unsure if she would ever slip the ring back on her finger. “Any more questions?”

He waited a beat, watching her with steady blue eyes that gave nothing away. “No,” he said at last. “That covers everything I need to know.”

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.