Complete Mia Kazmaroff Romantic Suspense Series, 1-4

by Kiernan-Lewis, Susan

  It was unimaginable. Impossible to believe. Just a few hours earlier they had all eaten chicken potpie and José had smiled and she had told him they’d help him…promised him they’d find his sister…

  “I’m sorry? Are you family?”

  The man walked into the room, a file in his hand. He was wearing green scrubs and although he was smiling at her, he looked tired, as if he’d been up all night. He probably had.

  Jack struggled to remove the oxygen mask and the man stepped up and put a hand on him.

  “Be best if you could leave it on, sir,” he said. “The doctor is still determining how much smoke inhalation damage you sustained.”

  So he wasn’t a doctor, Mia thought. Her eyes went to the man’s badge hanging from a cord around his neck. Ben Bryant, RN.

  “I’m his partner,” she said, moving to stand on the other side of Jack’s bed.

  Jack pulled the mask off. “Mia, grab my stuff, will you?” He looked around the room as if searching for a carryon or personal possessions.

  “You don’t have any stuff, Jack,” Mia said. Is he confused? Is that one of the symptoms of smoke inhalation?

  “We’d like you to stay a little longer,” Ben said.

  “No, thanks,” Jack said, draping the oxygen mask over the railing of the exam table and swinging his legs over the side. “You got your car, Mia? Did Jess come, too?”

  “Jack, maybe you should slow down,” Mia said.

  “He’s had a shock,” Ben said, picking up the oxygen mask. He looked as if he were trying to decide what to do with it and finally began to wind up the cord. Clearly, he wasn’t going to get Jack to put it back on.

  “We all have,” Mia said. “I still can’t believe it happened. We were all there together just a few hours earlier.”

  Ben nodded as if intently listening and Mia couldn’t help but think he probably had a lot of other things he could be doing. Like sleeping.

  “Where is he?” Jack asked as he stood up. He was wearing a pair of Dave’s old sweatpants and a Tech sweatshirt that Mia had brought. She noticed he put a hand on the table to steady himself.

  “Where’s José?”

  “It’s my understanding, it -- he wasn’t brought to Grady,” Ben said. He looked at Mia and held her eyes. In them, she felt compassion but also a silent request to help him keep Jack from leaving.

  Wow. Was he always this good at communicating with people he just met?

  She put a hand on Jack’s arm. “Let’s slow down, Jack,” she said. “We can’t do anything for José right now and you need to rest. Where’s Daisy?” Maybe distracting him would help.

  Jack sighed and leaned a hip on the table. He rubbed his face with a hand still grimy from smoke.

  “One of the neighbors said she’d take her until I got back.”

  Mia nodded. “We’ll pick her up on the way home.”

  Jack looked at the nurse. “Where are the investigators?” He craned his neck to peer past the curtain pulled snugly around his examination table. “Do they have any leads yet?”

  Jess poked her head through the curtain, a paper cup of coffee in each hand.

  “How’s he doing?” she asked.

  Jack grabbed at the curtain to move it out of his way. “Come on, I’m ready to go. I’m fine.” He turned to Ben. “I’m fine.”

  Ben looked at Mia. “We can’t force him to stay,” he said. “I think there’s a prescription for a cortisone inhaler waiting for him at check out, just in—”

  “Great,” Jack said, plucking one of the coffees from Jess’s hand and steering her in front of him with the other, “let’s get it and go. Where did you park, Mia?”

  But he and Jess were gone before Mia could answer. She turned to Ben. “Sorry about that,” she said. “If he has any problems, I’ll see to it he sees a doctor.”

  “That’d be wise. He’s lucky to have you as a friend. He seems pretty impulsive.”

  Mia shook her head. “And he’s not at all. He’s just upset.”

  “Pretty terrible thing to have happened. To lose your house and a friend all in one night.”

  “José wasn’t really a friend,” Mia said. “But if you knew Jack, well, he’ll feel responsible for what happened.”

  “Are the two of you…together?”

  Mia was on her way out of the curtained enclosure when he asked. She stopped and did a slow turn. He was busy straightening up the room but she could tell he was embarrassed for having asked her.

  “No,” she said, realizing when she said it that she felt drawn to Ben. He was tall with broad shoulders and blond. He had a kind face and the longest lashes... “Just friends.”

  “You’ll probably think this is a crazy thing to ask in the middle of your tragedy and all but maybe we should stay in touch. You know, to keep an eye on your friend’s condition.”

  He looked up from wadding the drape in a ball in his hands and Mia felt a sizzling connection dart between them.

  Was this just the worst, most insensitive timing ever? For her to be checking out the cute ER nurse the night after poor José died?

  “I think that’s probably a very prudent, responsible idea,” she said.

  *****

  Jack knew he was driving too fast but he couldn’t help himself. The morning fog was dissipating rapidly, revealing the bones of what was clearly one of the worst days of his life.

  He had a good idea of what to expect when he turned off Peachtree Road. It was true he hadn’t been able to see much in the dark when the fire trucks and the EMTs came. His world had been encapsulated by a thick shroud of smoke and a moonless night.

  But he knew what to expect.

  Mia put a hand on his shoulder but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the road in front of him. Just two more blocks now…

  “Jack, you’re scaring me,” she said. “Slow down.”

  “Sorry.” But he didn’t change speeds.

  Jess sat in the back seat and she disengaged from her seatbelt and leaned forward to put her hand on his shoulder, too.

  “I know what you two are doing,” he said, clenching his teeth. “I’m fine.”

  “You’re not fine, Jack,” Mia said, squeezing his shoulder. “Physically, maybe.”

  He could see it from the end of the street when he turned the corner. The tupelo tree that anchored the front porch was gone. He realized it had been the first thing he saw when he came home each night. He took his foot off the accelerator and slowed the car until it stopped in front of his house.

  Where his house used to be.

  The area was roped off with yellow tape and wooden barriers. And where before there had been a natty, World War Two era ranch, now there was a blackened crater of charred wood and earth.

  The firefighters had managed to save part of the deck, probably intending to contain the blaze. Jack sat in the driver’s seat, staring at the carnage. His car sat parked in the driveway, a blackened hulk from where the fire had spread to it. He could see trees on the far side of Peachtree Creek which before had only been visible from his deck. Now even his neighbors across the street had a creek-side view.

  Thanks to the convenient removal of his house.

  “Oh, Jack,” Jess gasped from the back seat. “Oh my goodness.”

  Mia turned to look at him, her eyes filled with tears. He knew what she was thinking. The house was nothing. Less than nothing.

  José.

  “What in the world happened?” Mia asked.

  He couldn’t look at her or tear his gaze from his destroyed home. The shame and feeling of responsibility seemed to seep from his pores. Seeing it again in daylight…knowing that this was where José died—Jack turned his head away from the sight.

  While I scrambled to safety.

  “Have you heard back from the police?” Jess asked from the backseat. “Do they know what started it yet?”

  Jack grabbed the steering wheel and closed his eyes.

  That poor, helpless kid.

  *****
<
br />   Maria sat in the back of the van with twelve other women. Most of them were her age, one was in her forties. The fear was thick in the air, and as real as something you could hold in your hands. No one spoke but their eyes told long and terrible stories.

  It was now four days since she and José had been captured. Four days since they left home with promises to send money back. José was so strong, so confident. When she knew he was leaving, she begged him to take her with him. She was smart. She could type. She knew how to cook. These were skills that would bring in money in America.

  Now she sat in the back of a van and wondered what her life would be. She wondered where José was and if she would ever see him again. When the van stopped, she watched the other women clutch at each other in fear. They didn’t know where they were going. They didn’t know what would happen when they got there.

  It is a contagious thing, fear, Maria thought as her heart began to pound as they waited. She could almost see it jumping from person to person until it landed on her and wrapped its tentacles around her throat—squeezing until she could not breathe.

  When the back doors of the van slid open, light broke into the back, but not much. She could see it was raining and was greenish-gray outside. She remembered days like that back in her village. Days she didn’t want to get out of bed.

  “Maria?”

  It wasn’t the word or the voice so much as the other women turning their heads to look at her that roused Maria from her thoughts.

  “Si?” she said, her fear expanding into her breast until she thought she might asphyxiate.

  “Come sit up front, darling,’” the voice said.

  She peered out through the opening to see the kind man from last night. The one who gave her food and spoke softly to her. He stood outside now with a rain jacket and a cup of something hot and steaming. She went to him and he took her hand and draped the jacket on her.

  “Do you like hot chocolate?” he asked.

  She looked into his face. And saw only care and love.

  ******

  “I think I met someone.” Mia pulled the stirrups down from Shiloh’s saddle and slipped her hand between him and the girth.

  Ned patted the neck of his Palomino mare. “I’m listening, girlfriend,” he said easily, a grin breaking across his handsome features. Ned was new to the barn, having brought his horse in from a boarding facility in Dawsonville just the month before. Mia hadn’t gotten all the particulars from him on why he’d made the move but she had a pretty good idea.

  “He’s the nurse who took care of Jack when he was brought into the ER.”

  “Dishy?”

  “Supremely so. I think he liked me, too.”

  “Why is it I feel like I’m back in high school? Are you going to tell me no phone numbers were exchanged? You got my hopes up there for a minute.”

  Mia laughed and led Shiloh over to the mounting block. “Yes, I gave him my number. He hasn’t called yet.”

  Ned swung up into the saddle on his mare and began adjusting the stirrup lengths to fit his long legs. “What’s it been? Six whole hours?”

  “Something like that. He looked exhausted when I met him. Like he was on the tail end of a night shift. Which, as it happens, he was.”

  “Does this mean you’re giving up on Jack? Let’s hit the west pasture today. The barn manager said there was flooding on the banks of the river. Dixie here hates water.”

  “Sure, that sounds good.” Mia stepped up onto the mounting block and hopped onto Shiloh’s back. He moved away as soon as she was in the saddle.

  “You need to make him stop that,” Ned said, wagging his crop in her direction.

  “I know. It’s a bad habit.”

  “One of these days you’re gonna need to get on him fast and he’s going to be half way down the gateway without you.”

  “I have yet to have an emergency mount-up out here,” she said dryly, trotting over to where Ned waited for her. “And to answer your question, Jack has made no movements in my direction. Not since before we found Dave’s killer.”

  “You think there’s a connection?”

  “No, I just use that as a timeline.”

  “Oh, darling girl, you aren’t thinking of making the poor man jealous, are you? Because, believe me, that almost never goes well.”

  “Not at all. I like Ben a lot.”

  “I knew a Ben once,” Ned said with a sigh as the two rode side by side to the pasture entrance.

  “Do I want to know?”

  “No, my darling. Trust me, you don’t.

  Mia laughed. When her mother suggested she forget what was going on with José and Maria for just an afternoon and go to the barn to relax, Mia thought there was no way she could unwind from everything that was going on. But fifteen minutes in the company of her horse and a new friend and she was already laughing.

  The power of distraction, she thought.

  “Have you given any more thought to my offer?”

  Mia felt some of the pleasure of the afternoon pinch away. “No, Ned,” she said. “I can honestly say I haven’t. Why do you want two horses anyway?”

  “I told you. I’d like to bring a friend out now and then. I need a gentle soul to put him on. Most of my friends don’t ride. Correction. None of my friends ride.”

  Mia leaned down and gave Shiloh’s neck a solid pat. “I could never sell him,” she said. “I feel like we’ve been through too much together. It’d be like selling my left leg or something.”

  “But you’re still leasing him out?”

  “Half-leasing him,” she said frowning. The board at the barn was costly. The pasture board—where she kept Shiloh—was less than half that and still too expensive for Mia without a job. “You know you can borrow him any time.”

  “I know,” he said, sighing. “I guess I’m just hung up on ownership.”

  “Well, I’m flattered but I can’t imagine what could ever make me change my mind.”

  “That’s fine. I’ll leave it until next time.”

  The two crested the main hill that gave them a vantage point of nearly the entire farm. Below them was the pond where most of the pastured horses were gathered around. Beyond that to the east, Mia could just make out the tree line that fringed the banks of the Chattahoochee. She looked to the north. As far as she knew this area was private pasture and fallow fields. There were no subdivisions for at least ten miles past it. It was the area where José had come from.

  Had fled from.

  Ned kicked his legs out of his stirrups and let them hang on either side of his horse. “It’s beautiful,” he said.

  “Was it as nice at your last barn?”

  He gave her a sideways look and then returned his gaze to the vista before him. “To answer your unspoken question, there were a lot of major macho equestrians there.”

  “It’s unusual to have many male riders at a barn.”

  “True, but this barn was attached to the Atlanta Polo Club.”

  “Oh, so horse riders but not necessarily horse lovers.”

  “Exactly. Let’s just say I didn’t fit in. When I was in Colorado, I used to compete in the Equestrian Iron Man. Ever heard of it?”

  Mia shook her head.

  “Most of the tools at my last barn wouldn’t even be able to qualify, let alone compete in it,” Ned said with disgust.

  “What does the Iron Man entail?”

  Ned shrugged. “The usual. Cross country, then archery and finally ending up in the water.”

  “And all of it on horseback?”

  “Just like in days of old. Those a-holes at my last barn couldn’t pull a bow string with both legs planted on the ground, let alone on a horse at full gallop.”

  “Wow. I’m impressed.”

  “At least somebody is. Don’t listen to me. I’m just whining. The truth is I’m glad to be at Shakerag and I should’ve left my other barn long ago.”

  “You’re not whining. And I’m glad as hell you came to Shakerag.”

>   He turned and gave her a grateful smile. They sat in silence surveying the view beneath them.

  “Ned? You ever hear of human trafficking?”

  “Sounds sexy.”

  “Well, it isn’t. In fact, I understand it’s mostly enforced labor.”

  “You’re right. Much less sexy. You think that’s what the Mexican boy was running from?”

  “That’s what Jack thinks.”

  “I still can’t believe the kid died and Jack’s house burned to the ground. Is the house a total goner?”

  “Looks like it.” Mia didn’t want to remember the look on Jack’s face this morning when they drove back to his neighborhood to pick up Daisy.

  The look on his face when he saw the blackened crater that used to be his home.

  And where José had died.

  “Where’s he going to live now?”

  “I’m not really sure.”

  “You have room, right?”

  Mia gave Ned a sideways look. “I see what you’re doing, Ned,” she said.

  “What am I doing?”

  “Well, it’s a good point. He probably should stay with me until he can sort out another living arrangement.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket.

  “I can’t believe you ride with that thing. What’s the point of coming out here if you insist on staying technologically tethered?”

  “I’ll take it under advisement,” she said, punching in Jack’s number. He picked up on the first ring.

  “Hey,” he said. “You on your way back yet? We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

  “You still at my mom’s?”

  “Maxwell is here to give me a lift.”

  “Tell him to take you to my place.”

  “You sure?”

  “Of course. Hit K-Mart first for a toothbrush and PJs.”

  “Thanks, Mia. I mean it.”

  “No problem,” she said, feeling an unbidden rush of emotion close up her throat. “That’s what partners are for,” she said hoarsely. “See you later.” She disconnected.

  “You and your mushy talk,” Ned said. “I was getting hot just listening to it.”

  “Shut up.”

  “How long you two going to dance around this thing between you?”