by Mary Eason
Unfortunately, just his back that the store he’d chosen didn’t serve hot food. He settled for a sandwich that had probably been there for weeks and a tub of coffee that all but guaranteed he’d have to stop a dozen times or more.
Riley pulled the car around to the side of Jordan’s convenience store where he could keep an eye on her without being in her line of sight. He’d finished the sandwich and chips and started on the cookies when she emerged, climbed in the rental car, and never looked back.
Chapter Eleven
“Now, what be you looking for out there, Doctor Jayne?” Momma Lizbeth, the head nurse on call at the hospital suddenly appeared beside Jordan.
It never ceased to unnerve Jordan the way a woman as sturdy-built as Momma Lizbeth managed to be so stealthy.
And yet the woman had become her salvation over the past couple of weeks.
When Jordan arrived on the island, her only thought was to blend into the tropical scenery.
She’d barely been here a few days when she found herself back in a hospital. The last place Jordan ever expected to be.
The accident happened so quickly. The child darted out in front of an unsuspecting driver. Jordan didn’t think twice about acting on her medical training to save the boy’s life.
Hours later, still covered in blood Jordan realized she’d done the one thing that she couldn’t afford to do. She’d called unnecessary attention to herself.
Arriving on the small island of Longboat Key had caused enough speculation. Heroically saving a child brought her to the attention of Momma Lizbeth, the child’s grandmother. Momma Lizbeth asked dozens of questions which Jordan tried to answer as vaguely as possible. But the older woman wasn’t fooled. Her shrewd almond eyes scrutinized Jordan’s every move. Jordan knew if she stayed, she’d risk exposing herself.
She’d waited until she thought the boy’s grandmother was sufficiently distracted before fleeing the hospital.
“Just a minute, missy.” She’d made it to the open market place near the hospital when Momma Lizbeth caught up with her. Jordan tried to pretend she hadn’t heard the woman when the older woman caught her arm. “Please, wait.”
At the sympathy in her tone, Jordan forced herself to face the woman. “What do you want?”
“My grandchild owes you his life.”
Panic threatened to overcome Jordan. “No. I just got lucky.”
“What you did has nothing to do with luck. Where did you go to medical school?”
Jordan shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have to go.”
Before she could blend into the crowd of people milling around the market, Momma Lizbeth grabbed her arm. “I don’t care what you’re running from as long as you didn’t kill someone. The people here need help. The hospital is understaffed and under trained. I could use someone familiar with children’s care.”
Jordan stubbornly shook her head. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“I won’t ask questions. I promise. You’ve proved yourself as far as I’m concerned. And if you have to leave…suddenly then so be it.”
Jordan stepped back and the older woman released her. “Think about it. You can find me here any day of the week and most nights.”
In the end, it hadn’t taken much thought on her part. Medicine was her life. In spite of her misgivings, she’d showed up at the hospital the next day. Momma Lizbeth had been true to her word. She never asked a single question and kept the rest of staff from doing so as well.
“Doctor Jayne?” Jordan rousted herself. At times, the new name still threw her. She’d been Jordan Scott for thirty years. She’d only been Jayne Sinclair a little more than a handful of days.
Jordan turned to the woman she’d come to think of as a mother just as most of the staff at St. Frances. Coming up with an answer Momma Lizbeth would accept wasn’t so easy. The woman was too good at getting at the truth. It had taken her just over a day to find out Jordan was on the run.
But this was just a feeling after all. It could mean nothing. Just the byproduct of all that she’d been through recently.
She’d been staring out at yet another perfect sunset in paradise when she spotted a glimpse of someone amongst the crowd of people milling around the town square. He stood out because he was dressed in dark clothes, oversized sunglasses and a ball cap pulled down low over his eyes.
He was gone before she could be sure. Was it him? Or was the approaching darkness playing tricks with her mind?
How many times over the thousands of miles she’d covered since leaving New York had she thought about Riley and wondered what might have been.
“That’s a nice looking evening in the works out there.” Momma Lizbeth nodded toward the settling nightfall.
In spite of the warmth of the hospital, Jordan shivered. “Yes, it’s beautiful.” Suddenly the man appeared again and Jordan stepped quickly away from the window. Her heart racing against her chest. She was no longer sure. But if it were him, how had he found her and more importantly why. She knew from talking to Agent Thomas that Riley was no longer on her brother’s case.
“You know him?” Momma Lizbeth hadn’t missed the move.
After a moment, Jordan could speak without betraying her fears. “No. No, I don’t think so.”
“Are you sure?” Momma Lizbeth’s flashed her one of her award-winning smiles and winked.
What was he doing here? Panic swept through her like an electrical current, paralyzing both thought and emotion for a moment.
He disappeared from her sight once more. She was just letting her imagination get the better of her. Mariah had made sure no one would think to look for her here. He was probably just someone who’d wandered to the island by accident. A tourist. And yet she was almost certain he’d been deliberately watching the hospital.
“Jayne? Are you sure? Should I be calling Constable Martez?” Jordan took a deep breath, then forced herself to move away from the window hoping to ease some of Momma Lizbeth’s worry.
“No. It’s okay. I’ve never met him before.”
“Well maybe you should. I swear since you started working here you’ve put in more hours than anyone. You need to have some fun every once in a while. You got the beach, the ocean. The warm tropical nights. Tailor-made for lovin.” Momma Lizbeth nudged Jordan with her elbow to get her point across.
Jordan tried to smile. Romance. Certainly the nights on Longboat Key seemed perfect for it.
Jordan caught the shiver of fear before Momma Lizbeth spotted it and worried. Love and romance involved trust. Would she ever be able to trust another man again?
“Maybe you’re right. But for now, the only thing that sounds fun to me is falling into bed…alone,” She added when she spotted Momma Lizbeth’s knowing grin. I think I could sleep for a month. I’m going home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Um huh,” Momma Lizbeth grunted absently still watching the man outside. She heaved a body-wrenching sigh. “Um, um, um. If I were ten years younger.” Disgruntled, she shook her head then bustled down the corridor. The heavy weight of her footsteps echoed along the tile floor.
Jordan slipped out the emergency entrance to the back of the building facing the beach.
Please, don’t let it be him.
If Riley Donovan were here on Longboat Key, then it could only mean he’d followed her. And if he’d found her so easily. What would stop Caesar from doing the same?
The villa she’d rented from one of Momma Lizbeth’s sisters set right on the beach and actually resembled more of a small cottage then villa, but to the locals anything facing the beach was considered a villa.
Jordan unlocked the door quickly and hurried inside, driving home all three locks she’d had installed on her first day on the island.
In her bedroom, she retrieved the gun Mariah insisted she bring. Her friend had made sure the .38 wouldn’t be traceable. She prayed that when the time came, the thing wouldn’t jam or misfire
She’d probably never ge
t a second chance if Caesar found her.
Satisfied she’d done everything within her power to protect herself, Jordan changed into shorts and a faded tee shirt before double checking the locks on all the doors and windows. All that was left to do was wait.
When she’d first started searching for someone to install more secure locks on the villa, she’d soon discovered how odd this request turned out to be. The single island locksmith told her no one locked their doors. Even at night.
The only known criminal incident of note that he could remember in his sixty-some-odd years of living on the island was a dog napping a few years back. The poodle in question belonged to a couple going through a somewhat nasty divorce. The animal, along with the couple were later reunited.
She’d been willing to risk raising the old man’s suspicions. For someone on the run, having the illusion of being in control of your life was huge. In the time she’d been on Longboat Key, Jordan still didn’t feel safe enough not to sleep with all the lights on. She couldn’t envision a time when she’d be able to leave her door unlocked. Because she’d spend the rest of her life looking over her should and knowing that somewhere out there Caesar was doing everything within his power to find her.
***
She’d slipped his tail. Which meant Jordan knew he was following her.
He’d lost her once in the Keys. He didn’t plan on losing her again.
It hadn’t taken more than a couple of questions to find out where the new ‘blond lady’ lived, but up until ten minutes ago, Jordan Scott a.k.a. Jayne Sinclair didn’t have a clue her past had caught up with her.
Riley knew he had his work cut out for him. Convincing Jordan to hand over the key piece of evidence he’d been convinced she’d left New York with wouldn’t be easy.
One thing was for certain. No matter how much detail she’d put in to hiding her whereabouts, if he could find her so could Santiago.
His contact with United Airlines hadn’t shown any record of a Mariah Jennings traveling that day, but one Jordan Scott had flown first class into Moscow. From there the trail ended. Since that time, there had been no answer at any of Mariah Jennings’ numbers. He couldn’t find any record where she’d returned to New York. This didn’t sit well with Riley.
Especially when all indications were that Santiago had several cops as well as high ranking official on the take although neither Internal Affairs nor the FBI had been able to uncover their identities.
Time was up. Whether she cooperated willingly or not would be her decision.
Not a single light was on at the villa, but judging from her behavior he’d observed since arriving on the island, he knew this wasn’t her usual MO. Jordan normally slept with half the lights in the house on. She hadn’t trusted anyone with her past, including those she worked with at the hospital. Smart woman. Distrust was the only thing keeping her alive so far.
A thousand different arguments raced through his head as he stood on her front porch and knocked. The silence inside the house had him wondering if perhaps he’d waited too long.
Had she left or had Santiago beat him to the punch?
Riley positioned his shoulder against the door and pushed hard. He felt it give a little with his first initial contact. As he readied himself once more, someone stepped up behind him and shoved the barrel of a gun at the back of his head.
“Don’t move another muscle or I swear I’ll shoot.” Her voice still held that sexy husk he remembered from their past encounters, but the steely bravado behind the words didn’t resemble the woman he’d been following for days.
“Jordan, it’s me. Riley. Detective Donovan from homicide,” he added unnecessarily when she made no move to lower the gun. “Look, he’s my ID if you don’t believe me.” He started to retrieve the badge he’d tucked in the front of his jeans when he felt the barrel press harder against his skull.
“I said don’t move.” Riley froze in place with his hand still extended in midair.
With her free hand, Jordan reached in front of him toward the pocket he’d stuffed his ID inside. Her delving fingers forced further tension into his already overloaded body. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried push aside the growing hardness in his pants.
Keep a clear head, Donovan. Stay with the plan.
But damn, if she wasn’t making that next to impossible.
Once she’d extracted her hand with the badge and his ID he let himself relax a little in spite of the fact that the gun still dug into his skull.
The woman behind him breathed a labored sigh. “How did you find me?” The words seemed forced from her into the twilight.
“It wasn’t hard.”
“He knows where I’m at.” She wasn’t so much asking as confirming the truth. “Well you can tell him he has nothing to worry about unless I turn up dead.”
It took another minute for the truth behind those words to register. His brain ticked off facts as he assessed them. Although the gun was still shoved against his head, the uncertain way she held it gave away the fact that she wasn’t prepared to use it.
“Jordan, I’m not working for Caesar.” Give her time, Riley. No need to scare the woman any more than she was already. Especially when she had a gun. One false move on either of their parts and it wouldn’t matter if she planned to use the weapon or not.
Jordan’s throaty laugh was filled with derision. “Yeah. Right. You’re just here for the sun.” She didn’t believe him.
“I know you don’t trust me and that’s a good thing. You’re right. Santiago does have someone on the force. It’s just not me,” he added quietly.
Whether it was his honesty or just the fact that she wanted to believe him, Riley wasn’t so sure. It didn’t matter. Jordan lowered the gun and Riley blew out a relieved breath.
“You know, I don’t really care why you’re here. The fact that you found me only proves this place isn’t safe any longer. I’ll have to leave.”
She didn’t wait for him to answer. She headed around the back of the bungalow. Riley hesitated only a second before following her. He realized the reason he hadn’t heard her slipping up behind him was that she was barefoot.
He reached for the hand that held the gun. “Why don’t you give me that?” She didn’t. “At least put the safety on. I don’t want you accidentally shooting me or worse -- yourself.”
She turned to face him. Their eyes met. Locked. “Why did you follow me here? This is a little beyond your jurisdiction, Detective Donovan.”
He tugged at the gun once more. This time she didn’t fight him. Instead, she threw up her hands in frustration and opened the door. Riley followed her inside in time to see her disappear down a hallway. It took only a moment’s hesitation to go after her.
“Look Jordan…” Riley stepped into her bedroom and stopped. She’d taken a bag from the closet and had begun randomly throwing things into it. “What are you doing?”
“I’m leaving.”
“Now? Tonight?” he asked incredulously.
She barely spared him a glance on her way to the armoire placed against the wall closest to the door. From the rub marks on the floor, he guessed it’d been moved repeatedly.
She opened a drawer and grabbed an armful of clothes.
“Okay, I understand you’re scared. You have a right to be. He can and will find you, but I can help if you let me.”
Jordan dumped the clothes into a heap in the suitcase and then stopped to look at him as if he’d lost his mind.
“You can’t help me. And you’ll understand that as a cop, you’re the last person I care to trust with my life.”
He took a step closer and watched her counter with a step back until her back was against the wall. Their gazes battled in silence. Something unrelated to the danger she faced sizzled to life between them. The same awareness that had been there from the beginning. It followed him throughout all his actions so far.
A thousand different emotions played out through her expressive eyes. He stroked her cheek. H
er gaze lowered to the floor, robbing him of witnessing the desire he felt in her.
He anchored his free hand on the small of her back, and tugged her closer, making them fit together like two halves of a torn piece of paper. The concrete bulge between his powerful legs stabbed into her stomach and his thighs were hard against her softness. There was fire in his gaze. Electricity in his touch. Heat in his breath. He lowered his head letting his lips take slow possession of her. Moving gently against hers -- parting them by the friction allowing him to taste her. Just for that moment, the world around them ceased to exist. They were just two people standing on the edge of something neither had expected.
When he reluctantly lifted his head to look down into her eyes, the spell was broken.
Jordan shoved at his chest. Riley let her go and watched as she put several steps between them.
“Don’t,” she whispered into the tense space between them. “Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“I can help you.” He insisted. Even before he’d said the words she was denying them with a dismissive headshake.
“How? You can’t prove he killed Jeremy. You don’t even know who Caesar has working for him. It could be your lieutenant for all you know. The police chief. The DA. The FBI. How can you help me when you don’t even know who you’re fighting against?”
Riley decided the best way to answer her was to be honest. “No, you’re right. I don’t know any of those things.” He stepped closer and cupped her cheek. Her breath caught in her throat. She didn’t try to pull away, but he could feel the tension growing in her with each passing moment. “But I can help you. Together we can help each other. I just need a little time.”
“Time? I don’t have any time. Caesar could be here on the island right now. He could have tracked you.” Something occurred to her. “Did you tell anyone you were following me?”
He knew what she was really asking. Had he unknowingly given away her whereabouts? “Only my father. And he’s not telling anyone.”
“How do you know?”