by Desiree Holt
“So you’re, what, going to hang her out to dry?” Gretchen snapped.
“Look.” He shifted his gaze from one to the other. “I’ll file the reports, but I can’t even guess at the number of gray sedans in this city. You didn’t see the man’s face. And, again, he could have just been planning to ask you a question.”
“Oh, please.” Gretchen snorted. “That is so lame. If he wanted to ask her a question, he could have come up and rung the bell. We’re not stupid. He had to be waiting down the street for her. It’s probably the same car that’s been following her, that your guys told her was her imagination working overtime.”
“I wish we could give you round-the-clock protection,” Garber said, “but we don’t have the manpower.”
Garber repeated he’d file a report and told her she needed to be extra vigilant just in case. When they left, Gretchen slammed the door behind them with extra force.
“I hope I never need them in a real emergency.” Disgust filled her.
Maddie sat in one corner of the couch, still clutching the now empty mug.
“What am I going to do? If I’m making something out of nothing, I’m going to feel like a fool. But if—”
“This is not nothing. That man looked like he was about to grab you. And it’s no coincidence a gray car has been following you and a gray car blocked the end of my driveway. You need protection and someone who can get to the bottom of this. If the cops can’t help, we’ll get someone who can.”
“Someone who?” Maddie tried to quell her feelings of anxiety. She made a decent living as a schoolteacher but she certainly didn’t have the kind of money that would allow her to hire someone.
“Leave it to me. I’m calling my cousin.” Gretchen grabbed her cell from the table. “He’ll fix us right up.”
“Gretch, it’s ten o’clock at night,” Maddie protested. “You can’t call anyone now. Which cousin are you calling? And why would he even want to be involved with this?”
“It’s my Delta Force cousin,” she said. “I think you met him once or twice.”
“He’ll never remember me. And why would he want to help me, anyway?” The knots in her stomach drew tighter. “I’m not his problem.”
“I told you, he’s Delta,” she repeated. “They have a rigid code of honor. Let me handle this. Here. I’ll even put it on speaker phone so you can hear everything.”
She sat beside Maddie, punched in numbers, and held the phone in the palm of her hand so they could both hear.
“Hey, Gretchie.” The male voice was deep and relaxed, even this late at night. “What’s up?”
She chuckled. “I told you if you called me that again, I’d tell all the guys on your team what I called you.”
“Okay, okay.” The laugh rumbled across the connection. “So, what’s up?”
“First, let me introduce you. Ghost, this is my friend Maddie Winslow. Maddie, meet my cousin, Keane “Ghost” Bryson. The star of Delta Force.”
“Better not let my commanding officer hear that,” Ghost told her. “He thinks he’s the star. How are your folks?”
“Doing good. Real good. In fact, I think my mom and yours are taking a weekend shopping trip to New York.”
“Watch out, Big Apple,” Ghost joked. “So, what can I do for you? Isn’t it a little late for you to be making phone calls?”
“Maybe. Maybe not. But this is in the nature of an emergency.”
“Okay.” Ghost’s voice was serious, all signs of humor gone. “I take it this has something to do with your friend.”
“It does.” As briefly as she could, she explained the situation. “The cops are no help. I’m not sure they even believe something’s going on. But, Ghost? She needs protection and she needs someone to look into this. You said I could call you any time I had a problem….”
“Yes, I did. Right now, though, I can’t leave Fort Hood. We’re in the planning stages of a mission.”
“Oh.” Her voice dropped.
“Gretchen,” Maddie whispered, “it’s okay. You didn’t need to bother him.”
But Gretchen made a shooing motion with her hand. “Well, I thought I’d give it a shot—”
“Hold on,” he interrupted. “I said I couldn’t do this, but I’ve got someone who I think fits the bill.”
“Really?” A smile lit up her face. “Who would that be?”
“Levi St. John. Hawkeye. It so happens he lives in Tampa and he’s home now on medical leave, going nuts.”
“Ohmigod, Ghost. Do you think he’d do it?” Then her voice dropped. “Oh, wait. Medical leave?”
“Just a torn muscle in his shoulder. And, according to him, it’s practically good as new. It won’t be a problem at all. Let me give him a call.”
“This minute?” Gretchen raised her eyebrows. “At this time of night?”
“This is the time you called me,” he reminded her. “Must be important, right?”
“Yes.” She blew out a breath. “Yes, yes, yes.”
“Okay, then. Keep the doors locked. Don’t open them for anyone or anything. I’ll get back to you.”
“Gretchen,” Maddie protested when the call ended, “this is too much of an imposition. I can’t let you or him or whoever do this.”
“You heard Ghost. His friend Hawkeye is doing nothing more than hanging around going nuts.” She sat next to Maddie and took her hands in her own. “Look. These guys don’t do downtime well. They’re trained for action, and when they don’t have any, they go nuts.”
“Gretch, I’m sure the last thing he wants is to babysit me. And exactly what does that mean, anyway?”
Her friend grinned. “I guess we’ll find out. Meanwhile, how about some more tea?”
Maddie blew out a breath. “Can we finish the ice cream instead?”
*****
Under other circumstances Levi “Hawkeye” St. John might not have been so glad to get the phone call from his friend Ghost. Babysitting some friend of his cousin’s wasn’t his idea of a fun gig. And a schoolteacher? He could only imagine how exciting this woman would be. But Hawkeye was sick-ass tired of sitting around waiting for the doc to clear him to return to action. The friends he still had here in Tampa had nothing to do with Delta and so had no idea of what he did or how he lived. They were all good guys, but they were beginning to bore him, which made him feel bad, which then irritated him. And the women he’d been spending time with were beginning to bore him, too, and what was that all about?
His shoulder was 99 percent and, to him, that was good enough. He’d take care of this little task for Ghost and then go pound on the doc to release him for duty.
He’d been about to watch Chuck Norris’s movie, Delta Force, for the twentieth time so he could once again pick out all the flaws when the phone rang and Ghost gave him a reprieve. Now he was headed to someone’s house at ten o’clock at night to do a favor he hoped wouldn’t come back to bite him in the ass.
There wasn’t much traffic at this time of night, especially in the residential sections, and Gretchen LeBeau’s house wasn’t far from his, so, in little less than twenty minutes, he was pulling into her driveway. He took a moment to check his personal weapon, a Glock 9mm like the one he carried on missions, locked and loaded. When he got out of the car, he tucked it at the base of his spine.
He was glad to see all the outside lights were on. No way to get close to the house without being seen. When he got to the front steps, he pulled out his phone and dialed the number Ghost had given him.
“Hello?”
He cleared his throat. “Ghost sent me.”
He felt stupid, as if he was playing some kind of game. Couldn’t Ghost have given him something a little more sophisticated?
“And your name?”
“Levi St. John. Hawkeye.”
In a moment, he heard the locks being disengaged and then the door opened. “I’m Gretchen. Come in. And thank you for coming so late. I—we—appreciate it.” She stepped aside to let him into the house.
“Sure.” He punched the End Call button.
She was what he’d call a nice-looking girl, with shiny brown hair cut chin-length, a figure with all the appropriate curves, and warm brown eyes that didn’t look quite so warm at the moment. Not his cup of tea, thank god. Ghost would fry his balls if he made any moves on his cousin.
“I don’t know what my cousin told you,” she began, “but it’s really my friend Maddie who’s having the trouble.”
Hawkeye shifted his gaze to the woman sitting on the couch in the great room and every cell in his body stood up and saluted. Uh-oh and holy shit! Masses of auburn hair tumbled to her shoulders, framing a heart-shaped face that, at the moment, was paler than a ghost. Thick lashes framed eyes of deep gray, an unusual combination with her hair color. When she stood up to shake his hand, he had to drag his gaze away from her luscious body. The skirt and short-sleeved sweater did little to disguise her mouthwatering figure with its full hips and plump breasts.
What he wanted was more than shaking her hand. He was struck with an overwhelming desire to haul her up against his body, thrust his tongue into her mouth, and taste every delicious inch of it while he slid his hands beneath her sweater and palmed her gorgeous breasts.
Hawkeye had to grit his teeth to keep from sporting an instant boner.
Fuck!
He had more discipline than this. Didn’t he? He was supposed to be here helping a woman in danger, not wishing he could strip her naked and take her to bed. And wouldn’t Ghost just roast his balls if he did that.
“Thank you so much for coming out like this.”
Blink!
The soft voice jarred him back to reality, and he realized Gretchen’s friend was standing there with her hand out, saying something to him in a soft voice like a soothing caress.
“Uh, sure. No problem.” When he took her hand, her palm was like a slide of satin against his.
Get your shit together.
“Why don’t we all sit down, and you can fill me in on the situation.” He’d almost asked for a sitrep before reminding himself this was a civilian situation.
“Let’s go into the kitchen,” Gretchen suggested. “I can fix coffee for all of us.”
“Sounds like a great idea.” He waited for them to precede him. “After you, ladies.”
He watched Maddie carefully as she accepted the coffee from Gretchen and blew a puff of air on the surface to cool it a little. He spotted a slight tremor in her hands, and even the heat of the liquid didn’t put much color back in her face. Other than that, he was pleased at the way she pulled herself together. Even if this had all been blown out of proportion, most women he knew would be flying off the ceiling and crying buckets.
There was something familiar about her, too. Something he couldn’t quite place. Something—
Then it snapped into place in his mind.
“The kid who had a gun in school. You’re the teacher who talked him down off the ledge.”
She glanced at him, and the first traces of color stained her cheeks. “I hate being a celebrity.”
He snorted. “Don’t we all. But that was a brave thing you did. That kid and his parents should be more than grateful to you.”
“They are. I wish people would stop bringing it up.”
“They’ll be talking about it for a long time,” Gretchen reminded her. “Get used to it, babe.”
“Okay.” Hawkeye could see discussing the situation was making Maddie uncomfortable. “Let’s take a look at the current situation. Tell me when the incidents began and how many there have been. And be sure to give me every detail, no matter how innocuous you may think it is.”
It took a while to get it all out on the table. It was obvious Maddie was disturbed by everything and hadn’t a clue as to what brought it on. She was also frightened, and no doubt with good reason.
“Question,” he said. “If they were so careful, what made you think there was a break-in at your house and call the cops?”
“They asked the same thing. They didn’t think taking the picture of my parents was such a big deal. Even kept trying to convince me I’d misplaced it.”
“But you hadn’t.”
“No.” She shook her head. “We don’t really have any relatives, so that picture is very important to me. And….”
“And?” he prompted.
“And little things seemed out of place. A drawer not quite closed. Files on my desk moved. Not much, but enough I felt uneasy about it. I know the police thought I was nuts, but I had the distinct feeling someone had been in my house.”
“In my line of work,” Hawkeye said, “I’ve learned to trust those feelings. Sometimes they’re all you have. Okay, then. The gray car.”
She gave him chapter and verse on that, all the times she’d spotted it, the days she’d sworn it followed her home only to speed up and drive away because there was someone at her house.
“And then, of course, what happened tonight,” she told him.
“The cops tried to tell her she might have misinterpreted. Maybe he was coming up the driveway to talk to her.” Gretchen made a rude sound. “Yeah, right.”
“Not if he blocked you in that way. Tell me about your daily routine.”
He didn’t take notes. He didn’t need to. He’d had plenty of practice etching things onto his brain. Although, sitting next to Maddie Winslow, with erotic electricity popping in the air around them, made it more difficult than usual. If only he could thread his hands through that silken hair, string kisses along the slender column of her neck. Bend her over the couch and—
Shit! He had to get his head out of his pants. Or hers, more to the point. He was doing a favor for Ghost, who would cut off his balls and grind them up for sawdust if he so much as laid a finger on this woman.
Great. Just great.
“So what do you think?” Gretchen asked, when they’d finished with the questions and answers. “Are we making mountains out of molehills?”
He shook his head. “Not at all. But I can’t help being curious as to what set all this in motion.”
Maddie frowned. “Could it be what happened at school? Did it set something off? Although, I can’t imagine what.”
“I’ll pull up all the stories on my laptop, all the video footage, and see if there’s anything that sticks out. We’ll start there.”
“But I’m so boring,” she protested. “I teach school. I’m an only child. My parents live in Texas. We moved there when I was two years old.”
“No family outside of them?” Hawkeye frowned. “Not even aunts or uncles or grandparents?”
Maddie shook her head. “I was told both my parents were only children and both sets of grandparents had passed away. My father’s an accountant, and my mother works at the library. Could there by anything more unexciting?”
“I’ve learned never to discount anything. Here’s the deal. For whatever reason, someone wants you. Bad. My job is to focus on two things—keeping you safe and finding out what these people are after. To do that, Maddie, I’m going to have to dig into your background, even though you say there’s nothing there. I have to touch all bases.”
She flapped a hand at him. “Dig away, but I know you won’t find anything.” She pushed away from the table and carried her mug to the sink. “Meanwhile, I should get out of here and let Gretchen get to bed.”
“I’m fine,” Gretchen protested.
“And the correct statement,” Hawkeye said, “is we need to get out of here. From now on, we’re joined at the hip.”
She stared at him with those sexy gray eyes that made his body send unwanted messages through his system.
“We are? What do you mean?”
“Tonight, I’ll be sleeping on your couch. In the morning, pack a suitcase with everything you’ll need for a couple of weeks. I’m taking you to my house.”
“What?” She shook her head. “No, that’s—”
“Not negotiable. I gave Ghost my word, and Deltas never break their
word.”
“B-but…I have to go to work. I have afterschool activities I supervise. I have—”
“To stay safe.” He blew out a breath. “Look. I’m willing to bet you don’t even have an alarm system at your place. Mine is state of the art, plus I’m fully armed at all times. If whoever this is escalates, you can’t be out there like a sitting duck. Ghost would castrate me if I let anything happen to you.”
“Ouch!” Gretchen shivered.
“Yeah.” He gave a rueful smile. “Ouch indeed.” He stood up and reached for Maddie’s hand. “Please trust me here. Your safety is the first thing to consider.”
She stared into his eyes for so long he began to get itchy. Finally, she nodded.
“Okay. I want to be safe, and you’re the expert.” She turned to Gretchen. “Please thank Ghost for me.”
“You can thank him yourself.” He pressed a speed dial on his cell. “Ghost? She’s here with me.”
He wondered what Maddie thought when he kept his hand on hers the entire time they talked. And when they said good night to Gretchen.
“My car.” She stopped as they were about to bypass it.”
They couldn’t leave it here. They needed to move it. Park it at her house. Move around in his car. That was safest. When he told her, she only balked a little.
”I’ll be right on your bumper all the way to your house.” He grinned. “So don’t run any red lights.”
At last, it seemed he had coaxed a grin out of her.
“Wouldn’t think of it.” She bit her lower lip. “Thanks again, Hawkeye.”
“No sweat. We’ll get to the bottom of this and keep you safe.”
But who was going to keep her safe from him?
Chapter Three
Maddie gripped the steering wheel as she drove through the silent residential streets, every molecule in her body alert for the damn gray car. It was hard not to constantly be looking in her rear view and side mirrors. She had to keep reassuring herself Hawkeye was practically kissing her bumper with his and no one would be able to do…whatever with him on her tail. She had never considered herself a nervous person. Even when she’d been talking Jason off the ledge in the classroom, she had managed to put everything aside and concentrate on the task at hand. But that was a known quantity while this was not.