Judd’s eyes rounded.He listened for the sounds of her even breathing. More than likely they weren’t coming any time soon. But he could wait her out. Once she was asleep, he’d crawl out, and she’d never know the difference.
7
Samantha rolled over and glanced at the clock. Running late. The aroma of freshly brewed coffee filtered into the room from the kitchen. Last night she’d set the timer on the pot.
Now to wake up Sleeping Beauty. She had to get him out of here before her neighbors found out he’d spent the night.
Crawling to the end of the bed, she hung over the edge and lifted the dust ruffle. From her upside-down vantage point, Judd looked good, even if she wasn’t speaking to him. Eyes closed, his dark head rested on his folded hands and his glasses were on the end of his nose. His full lips were almost smiling in sleep. She simply stared for moments before calling out to him.
“Rise and shine.”
“What?” Jerking up, Judd’s head collided with the bed board. “Ouch!”
He was awake now, obviously disoriented as he examined his surroundings. Cocking his head sideways, he stared at her without recognition. Then his eyes focused, and the dawning light of reality spread across his face. “Oh, crap,” he muttered.
She stifled a laugh.
Elbows first, he crawled out from under the bed. Samantha scrambled backwards to sit against the headboard, propping pillows behind her.
Just wait until she told Kathleen she’d found a man under her bed. But what was he doing under her bed? Checking on her date? Maybe her brothers had sent him. Not likely. She’d bailed early on her date last night, feigning a headache. Her heart wasn’t in the date. The fact was her heart wanted Judd.
Michael knew she was faking it, so maybe Judd wasn’t her brother’s emissary. That led her to wonder exactly why Judd in her apartment.
“Sleep well?” she asked, stretching out her legs and demurely straightening her fuzzy robe to cover herself.
Judd offered a noise of non-commitment.
“Oh, I remember. You’re not a morning person. How about some coffee?”
Yawning, he ran his hand through his hair and arched his back, stretching. “I know this looks bad. You want to know why I’m here, and I can explain.”
“I assumed it was my alluring appeal. Though I must admit, you are the first to try to seduce me from under the bed.”
He glared. “When did you find out I was under there?”
“About one a.m. you sneezed. I said, ‘bless you’. You said, ‘thank you’. I rolled over and was almost back to sleep when my brain kicked in, and I realized I’d just heard your voice under my bed.”
“As I said, I can explain.”
“Don’t you want coffee first?”
“No. Yes.” He rubbed his eyes like a kid and yawned again.
She supposed it wasn’t fair tempting him with coffee while he was trying to pull together a convincing lie.
“What was the answer on the coffee?” She spoke slowly and carefully. “Grunt once for yes.”
“Sure. Ah, Samantha, I’d really rather explain first.”
But it was too late for talk. She’d already scooted off the bed and out of the room. When Samantha returned with coffee, she placed the mug in his right hand. Then she took his left hand and placed it on the other side of the mug.
“Drink,” she ordered.
He did. All of it.
“I hope that was leaded.”
“Of course.”
“You know, you’re being awfully nice.” He pulled his glasses out of his pocket and slid them on.
“I see you got your glasses fixed.”
“Uh, yeah. New frames.” His eyes roamed from her bare feet to her pink robe.
Then he smiled.
The effect was a bit dangerous with his dark hair and shadow of a beard.
Judd raised a brow and slowly set down his mug. He reached for her, and she couldn’t find the strength to move away.
Samantha resolved to hate herself later. For now she gloried in the moment. After all, she had spent a lifetime wondering what the feel of the right man’s arms around her would be like.
This was right.
Perfect, in fact.
“I need to explain,” he drawled, his eyes never once leaving hers.
“You need to explain—now?”
“I would have thought you’d want to know,” he murmured. His gentle lips tasted the tender skin along her neck, his breath fanning the neckline of her robe.
She sighed, brushing his hair off his forehead. “I know I’m not going to like your answer.”
“I’ve been thinking,” he said, his eyes meeting hers.
“Is that a good idea?”
“Probably not.” He smiled, his mouth hovering over hers. His lips were warm and soft as they took hers.
Oh my, she could kiss him forever.
“I was wrong, Samantha. I want more.” His lips trailed tiny kisses down her jaw.“More?”
Had he drugged her? She could barely lift her hand to pull his head down to hers. More? He wanted more?
Obliging her with a searing kiss, he raised his head and grinned down at her. “Sweetheart, I wasn’t talking about the kiss, although that was nice. I want more from this relationship.” Suddenly, his head swiveled crisply toward the living room. “What was that sound?”
She turned and listened. Someone was... Good grief. Someone was knocking at her door at seven o’clock in the morning.
This morning. Of all mornings? Seriously? Because she had men under her bed all the time.
After smoothing her hair down, Samantha cinched her robe tighter and approached the door. She peeked out the peep hole on tiptoes.
Her godfather? What was he doing here? Samantha pulled open the door.A short stocky man in a tan, wool overcoat filled the doorway. His wiry, gray hair was clipped short. He looked Samantha and Judd up and down, his eyes speaking loudly as he assessed.
“Charlie!” Their voices echoed. Sam and Judd’s heads whipped around as they turned and looked at each other.
“You know Charlie?” Judd asked, his surprise mirroring hers.
“Well, yes. He’s my uncle. My godfather, in fact.”
“Your uncle? Your uncle?” Judd’s voice was getting louder by degrees. He ran his hands through his hair. “His name is Bogdonovich. I’ll bet my espresso machine that he doesn’t have a freckle’s worth of Irish in him.”
Charlie’s left eyebrow raised in indignation at Judd’s comment.
Samantha frowned and looped her arm through Charlie’s. “What are you getting so excited about? No, he’s not a blood relative, but he’s an uncle just the same. Right, Charlie?”
Charlie offered her a fond smile.
“Just how is it you know Uncle Charlie?” she demanded.
Judd looked long and hard at the man in the doorway. “Charlie is my boss.” The words were tight and short.
“Your boss?” She glanced back and forth between the men. Judd was tense, his jaw clenched. Charlie was just being himself, a man of few words and a great observer of life.
“You set me up,” Judd said, his eyes never leaving Charlie.
Charlie sighed. “Never jump to conclusions, son. By the way, you look rough.”
“You would too if you spent the night sleeping under Samantha’s bed.”
“Under?” Charlie’s lips twitched.
“Yeah. New surveillance technique.”
Charlie’s raspy laughter rang out.
What was wrong with this picture? Samantha looked at them again, anxiety niggling at her. What were they talking about? Her mind whispered a warning. Stop asking questions you really don’t want the answer to. Her McBride curiosity egged her on. “What exactly is it you do for my uncle, Judd?”
“Whatever he says.”
Charlie laughed again, moving past them and into the room.
“What’s going on?” Samantha asked cautiously.
Charlie checke
d his phone and then looked at Samantha. “I’d like a family meeting for this morning. Would you please get things rolling?”
“Sure, ah, Uncle Charlie, is everything okay?”
“Don’t worry, Sam,” he said giving her a loving pat on the back.
“Don’t worry? Oh yeah, this just gets better by the minute,” Judd mumbled.
She turned at his surly voice. “What is wrong with you?”
“Not a thing. I’m going to take a shower and down a couple gallons of caffeine.” He narrowed his eyes at his boss. “Coming?”
“Think I’ll stay and chat with my favorite niece.” He began to lower himself onto the couch.
“Nice try.” Judd pulled open the door and crooked his head toward the hall. “I’d like to have a few words with you first, if you don’t mind.”
Straightening, Charlie shrugged his shoulders and wiggled his shaggy brows at his niece before following Judd out the door.
Charlie’s observant glance swept the apartment, missing nothing. “This place is definitely you. All the comforts of a bus station.”
“Don’t even try to change the subject. You lied to me.”
“The fine art of omission. I would never lie to you, or to my favorite niece, for that matter.”
Judd moved to the kitchen. It was hard to be really mad at a guy he’d banked on for over ten years. Irritated? Yeah, he was usually irritated at Charlie for one thing or another. He could only hope to high heaven this wouldn’t be the first time his boss had let him down. “You want a latte?” he asked, tossing a handful of beans in the grinder.
“Joe. Just a cup of joe for me.”
“One cup of joe for the boss.” He tamped the grounds into the filter.
“Where do you sit around here?”
“Pull up a box.”
Charlie gave an amused nod. “Entertain much?”
“Never.”
“Not even Sam?”
“Yeah, your niece has been up here.”
“Easy to please, that girl. Where’d she sit?”
Judd stuck his head into the living room. “What’s with the questions? We both know I’m not going to get the Good Housekeeping seal.” He moved back into the kitchen. “So why didn’t you tell me you were her uncle?”
“Conflict of interest. Nothing’s changed. I trusted you. I needed answers fast.”
“Fast? Do you have any idea how impossible that’s been? Samantha is never alone. She has a network so thick the Mafia couldn’t infiltrate.” He pulled a container of milk from the refrigerator and sniffed it.
“I didn’t ask you to get close. I only asked you to bust the hacker.”
“What if that hacker is Samantha?”
“We both know she isn’t. Someone is using her system.”
“So if you knew that, then why didn’t you tell me? I’m going nuts trying to separate Samantha the-girl-next-door from Samantha the-international-spy.”
“No, you’re going nuts because you’ve fallen in love with Samantha the woman.”
Judd froze. His hand shook as it moved to open the steam valve. Realizing he was in love with Samantha was one thing. Everyone else realizing he was in love with her…that was another thing. He leaned over and examined his reflection in the espresso machine. Did he look like a man who’d gone off on the deep end?
“That’s what I like about you, Judd. You’re honest.”
“I didn’t say anything “
“Oh, you said it all.”
Judd took a deep breath and walked out of the kitchen with two steaming cups in his hands.
“I don’t need to tell you that the fact that we both think she’s innocent isn’t reason enough to keep her out of jail,” Charlie said as he reached for his cup.
“I downloaded all the data on her computer. Useless except one file I’m still trying to get into. I’m running a password hack program twenty-four seven.”
“We’re outta time. That contract goes through Monday.”
“You said first of the year,” Judd said. He let out a breath.
“Those decisions are way above my pay grade. What matters is we have about twenty-four hours to ensure this system is hacker free.”
“But it isn’t.” He handed Charlie a mug.
“Details. “ Charlie glanced at the liquid in the cup. “What is this?”
“The finest Kenyan Arabica money can buy.”
“I can see through this stuff.”
“Quit complaining and drink.” Judd sat on a box with his mug firmly in hand. “So now what do we do?”
“We enlist the family’s help.”
“Why didn’t you just do that to begin with?”
“I thought you could handle a quick intervention.”
“There is no such thing as a quick intervention if it involves the McBride family.”
“True, that. Miscalculation on my part. Doesn’t happen often.” Charlie nodded. “I’m still glad I sent you. You needed a vacation.”
“If you recall, I was all set to take a vacation.” Judd ran his fingers through his hair.
“Your idea of a vacation is marathon computer games and carry-out pizza. It can wait. And by the way, you seriously need a life.”
“So what’s going on here, Uncle Charlie?” Michael asked as he stood against the wall of Samantha’s apartment fidgeting.
Standing between Michael and Luke, Judd was getting claustrophobic as more McBrides filed into Samantha’s tiny apartment.
Luke elbowed Judd good-naturedly. “What do you think? Is this a meeting of the minds or what?”
Kathleen looked up from where she sat on the couch filing her nails. “Meeting of the minds? I have news for you. The men in this family have always been two beers short of a six pack.”
“Speak for yourself,” Michael responded, grabbing his sister and rubbing his knuckles on her scalp in an old-fashioned noogie.
“Let me go; you’re ruining my hair,” Kathleen cried.
“Michael!” his mother reprimanded.
Michael released Kathleen and resumed his place against the wall. He shot Judd a wink.
Sure, Judd mused, right now they treated him like he was one of the family. He prayed things wouldn’t change when they found out he’d been investigating them. Foolish prayers, he knew, since already things were chilling across the room.
He’d tried to catch Samantha’s eye several times without success. It was as though she knew things were about to change. He couldn’t begin to guess what she would think when Charlie told everyone why he was really here. That was enough make his mouth dry and his palms sweat. If he’d done his job right, he’d have proved her innocence long ago.
“Sam, this place is a parental nightmare,” Luke said.
“It is not,” Samantha snapped.
“Danny, put that down before you break it and make of mess of Aunt Sam’s mess.” Luke snatched a water globe out of his son’s hand.
“Aunt Sam lets me play with her globes,” Danny murmured quietly from his spot on the floor next to the coffee table.
“It’s okay, Luke. He’s allowed to touch anything he wants in my house,” Samantha returned.
“Charlie, we’re all here. The air supply seems to be dwindling. Better tell us what’s going on before we suffocate,” Michael interrupted. “
“Or kill each other,” Judd mumbled, watching his boss stand up and move to the center of the room next to the Christmas tree.
He’d removed his coat and was wearing a nondescript white shirt with a thin black clip-on tie. Charlie opened his mouth and closed it several times, and then finally jumped right in.
“Under my authorization, Judd flew up here over a month ago to research a small problem. This isn’t his usual line of work. He came to Colorado as a favor to me.”
“You work for Charlie?” Michael asked, leaning over.
Judd nodded.
Luke rolled his eyes. “Your first mistake.”
“Judd and I go way back,” Charlie cont
inued. “I recruited him straight out of college.”
“Moving right along...” Judd murmured.
Charlie gave him a look intended to point out his impertinence. “The project we are currently working on involves Samantha rather, ah, indirectly.”
“Me?” Samantha’s voice was a croak. While Judd could barely see her where she was seated behind the Christmas tree, he knew that if he wasn’t in big trouble now, he would be very soon.
“Someone has utilized her computer to access a top secret government facility.” Samantha gasped.
Charlie paused and looked around, then pulled a hard candy out of his pocket and began unwrapping the cellophane. “I sent Judd to investigate the matter. Through no fault of his own, he has been unsuccessful in finding the source of these security breaches.”
“You’ve been investigating Samantha?” Michael asked.
Judd gave his shoes his full attention.
“And you’re telling us that someone has been using Samantha’s computer for hacking?” Michael continued.
“Obviously the rumors about you are highly exaggerated, Michael. You’re very sharp.” Charlie winked at his nephew.
“Yeah, he’s got a real pointed head,” Kathleen said.
Samantha’s mother stood up. “You can’t be serious, Charlie.”
“Don’t I wish, Mary Margaret? This whole thing is one big headache. My techs have monitored everything, and Judd has examined all the data on Samantha’s hard drive. Our concern now is one file that he hasn’t been able to access.”
Samantha stood and stepped closer to Charlie. “What do you mean, ‘examined my computer?’” Then she stopped, and her head swiveled toward Judd. “Last night,” she breathed. “That’s what you were doing under my bed.”
He cringed and averted his eyes. No way was he telling her about his other attempts.
“Under your bed?”
Judd couldn’t be sure who said that. The commotion in the room grew as the questions and queries became louder.
Michael slapped him on the back. “You know, you’re pretty amazing. You look so controlled. Who’d have thought? Can you teach me that under the bed trick?”
Things were getting out of hand. Judd silently pleaded with Charlie.
The Christmas Angel (The McBride Series Book 1) Page 8