Mine to Entice

by Karen Anders

  Kate nodded.

  As soon as they closed the examining room door, Jericho called the D.A. on his cell phone. Matt would need to know what had happened tonight both with Ken Mitchell and the fire at the lab.

  Kate had looked so pale and Jericho wished he could get his hands around the neck of the person who had put her in danger.

  Lana, dressed in a San Diego Fire Department T-shirt came slamming through the ER doors. Running to the desk, she asked about Kate.

  “Kate Quinn. Where is she? I was told she was brought to this hospital.

  “Excuse me,” he said, “Remember me? I’m Jericho St. James.”

  Lana turned toward him and stared for a moment. Coming to some kind of conclusion, she reached out her hand. “Is Kate here?”

  “They have her in an examining room,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “They won’t tell me anything.”

  “Where?”

  “Number Two.”

  Lana brushed past him and headed toward the door. She grasped the knob and twisted it. Jericho followed her as Lana went into the room.

  Kate was sitting up and a doctor was looking into her eyes.

  “What are you people doing in here?”

  “Since we can’t get any information from anyone else, we decided to find out for ourselves.” Lana came over and grasped Kate’s hand. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Just a slight concussion, a really bad headache and a little smoke inhalation.”

  “I…we were very worried about you,” Lana said, indicating Jericho standing close to the door, eyeing her with his heart in his eyes.

  The doctor caught Kate’s attention and gave her instructions about what she had to do. Two days of bed rest, pain reliever for the headache and an ointment for the contusion.

  “Thank you.”

  He left the examining room and Jericho came forward. Lana moved around the table to make room for him. “Are you sure you’re all right?”

  “Yes,” she said, grabbing his hand and squeezing. “I’m fine, really.”

  Kate turned to Lana. “It was arson, someone set the fire.”

  “I know. I’ve already gathered evidence.”

  “What’s destroyed?”

  “The evidence locker with the LePlante stuff.”

  “All of it.”

  “Except the glass shards. They melted.”

  “What’s this about the LePlante evidence,” Matt Roth said as he stepped into the room.

  “It’s been destroyed,” Lana said.

  Kate watched as the D.A. walked toward her. Her eyes going to his feet as he stumbled into a stool. Those shoes. They looked familiar…. He reached her and grasped her hand. She looked down and that was when she saw them. The small wounds on either side of his hands. The shoes…the cuts on the hands. Oh God, it was Roth who had started the fire. Roth who had killed Mrs. LePlante.

  She closed her eyes, Jericho’s arms and hands reached out to comfort her. Her head was spinning, the terrible shock of realizing that the D.A., the man she’d worked for since she started in forensic science, was a murderer.

  She leaned into Jericho and buried her face in his jacket. To think she had admired the man. It made her sick to think he was capable of killing. And, oh, God, he must have been the one who’d stabbed Ken.

  “Sounds like all is lost in this case. We have one suspect who’s retarded, another in a hospital bed. Now all the evidence has been destroyed.”

  As she leaned against Jericho, she registered Roth’s words. She jerked up and met Roth’s eyes. “Not all the evidence,” she said firmly.

  Roth’s eyes narrowed and uncertainty flashed there. Good, let him squirm. “What are you saying?”

  “Lana just told me that the glass shards have melted. There will still be DNA evidence that I can extract from them. We still have hope.”

  “That’s good news,” he said, but not with conviction.

  “If I could get back to the lab….”

  “No, Kate. You heard the doctor. You have to rest.”

  “It wouldn’t take long to extract the evidence, Jericho. It’s important to preserve it.”

  “Jericho, let her go to the lab. If it’s that important,” Roth said, giving Kate a sidelong look that sent chills down her spine.

  “Report what you find to me. I’m happy to see you safe,” he said before he left.

  The minute that Roth left, Kate got off the table and went to the door to peer out. Jericho and Lana exchanged looks.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making sure he’s gone.”

  “Roth?”

  “Yes. He killed Mrs. LePlante.”

  Lana and Jericho looked at each other again. Jericho came over. “I think it’s time for you to get home, soak in a warm bath and get that bed rest the doctor prescribed.”

  “No, listen to me. When I got hit, a man walked by me. He had on these shiny shoes. I’m telling you it was Roth. He also had cuts on his hands from the glass shards. I know it was him. I have to get back to the lab.”

  “To analyze the evidence?”

  “There is no evidence to analyze. The fire destroyed all the biological evidence on those glass shards.”

  “But you told Roth that evidence could be extracted.”

  “I lied, Lana, so that he will come back to the lab to silence me. Then Sienna can take him into custody.”

  “THERE’S NO WAY you’re going to act as bait,” Sienna said.

  “It’s the only way,” Kate cried. “Wire me. Come on, we don’t have a whole lot of time. He might get suspicious. Do you want a murderer to escape?”

  Sienna looked at Jericho. “What do you think?”

  “I can’t believe that you’re even asking me when you’ve known Kate just as long as I have.”

  “Right.” Sienna went to the door. “Mike, would you get me a wire?”

  “The minute he confesses, I’m moving in,” Sienna said as she taped the wire around Kate’s waist and fastened the microphone to her shirt.

  “That’s fine with me.”

  Sienna, Jericho, and Lana hid in Kate’s office while Kate went to the undamaged part of the lab and pretended to extract the DNA evidence from the lump that had once been the shards of glass from Mrs. LePlante’s mirror.

  When she heard the scuff of a heel on the floor, she whirled around. “D.A. Roth, you scared me,” Kate said, hopefully loud enough for Sienna to hear.

  “My apologies,” he said softly, and pulled out a wicked-looking gun. “Give me the glass shards.”

  “Why would you want them and why pull a gun on me?”

  “I think you know, Ms. Quinn.”

  “Know what?”

  “That I was the one who strangled Marie LePlante.”

  “But why?”

  “She was going to ruin my bid for governor. She was going to break the news to the press that I was having an affair with her. I couldn’t let her do it. Carrie would have left me and my reputation would be in tatters. My damn platform was family values for Christ’s sake. Now give me the damn glass shards.”

  “It won’t do you any good.”

  “Why is that?”

  “There is no evidence for me to extract.”

  “What? You…”

  Sienna burst out of her office and said, “Freeze, Roth.”

  Roth whirled around, swearing viciously, but he had no choice but to relinquish the gun. As soon as he did, Jericho hauled back his fist and hit him flush in the face, knocking him to the ground.

  “That’s for Kate,” was all he said.

  KATE SAT on Jericho’s bed with a bucket of ice. She took Jericho’s hand and put it into the frosty cubes.

  “Damn that’s cold.”

  She looked up at him. “Thanks for punching out Roth, but there was no need.”

  “Yes, there was,” he growled.

  She was silent for a moment. “You’re a good man. You’ll make a good D.A., Jericho.”

  “This is
starting to sound like goodbye.”

  “You fulfilled your half of the bargain and we both agreed that fooling around with your employee while being a D.D.A. was pushing it, but fooling around with an employee when you’re the D.A. wouldn’t be a good idea.”

  He sighed. “That’s right I did, but, Kate…”

  She put her hands over his lips. “No. It’s the way it has to be. After this terrible scandal, the D.A.’s office will have to redeem itself. It would be bad for your reputation.”

  “You fulfilled your half of the bargain, too, Kate, so that means you get your souvenir.”

  He reached over to the nightstand and picked up the cuff links.

  “Jericho, no. They mean too much to you.”

  He took her hand, opened her fingers and placed them on her palm. Then he rolled her hand closed. “Take them, Kate. I really want you to have them. They have my initials on them, a good way to prove you slept with me.”

  She cupped his face. “And it was so very wonderful. You woke up the passionate woman in me. I feel that, finally, I can embrace that part of myself.”

  “Good, it was a pleasure, literally.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him tight. “I’ll never forget what we shared,” she said softly against his ear.

  “And I’ll never forget you, Kate.”

  She picked up her things, clutching the cuff links in her hand until they pressed hard against her flesh. “See you at work.”

  “Right.”

  She walked out of his room, out of his house, and out of his life.

  It wasn’t until she was safely ensconced in her apartment and seated at the piano, slowly playing chopsticks, that she let the tears fall.

  It was better this way. These intense emotions were chaotic and unpredictable, and way too overwhelming. She’d find a nice quiet man to settle down with, one who didn’t have sinfully dark chocolate eyes and hair, and a mouth that could kiss her into a coma.

  15

  KATE TUCKED the second cuff link into the buttonhole of the white Oxford shirt she wore. For a moment she looked down at the swirls of Jericho’s initials and let herself miss him. Reaching over, she shimmied into the tight black leather pants and pulled them up over a black lace thong, zipping the front. Grabbing a pair of strappy three-inch sandals, she slipped her feet into them and buckled the straps. She turned to look into the full-length mirror.

  Goodbye, Sister Kate.

  Her new, short and sophisticated hairstyle made her feel light and free. She’d shorn her hair and her old way of being. Her eyes were lined in a dark brown, a deep mocha color on her lids. She’d even swept a couple coats of mascara on her lashes. Color bloomed in her cheeks and, as the last step, she applied a dark red to her lips.

  Hello Daring Kate.

  She was ready for Enrique’s and the souvenir meeting of the Women Who Dare.

  Jericho had done what he promised. He’d awakened the hot, passionate woman she had trapped inside. The only problem was that the hot, passionate woman wanted Jericho. Only Jericho.

  And this daring woman was going to go get him.

  It had been ten days since the fire and arrest of D.A. Roth. His indictment a day later had been splashed across the headlines. Her name and her part in the arrest had been documented in the numerous articles and on the major news channels. She’d received six job offers: five from independent labs and one from the FBI. She decided to take the FBI job.

  It would expose her to many different cases.

  It would challenge her.

  It was a lot more money.

  And, if she was no longer Jericho’s co-worker…

  She smiled as she looked at the cuff links one more time. She loved him. She was miserable without him. Switching jobs was the logical choice. He would never have suggested that to her. That’s the kind of man he was, but with the offer of a lucrative job, there was no reason she shouldn’t take it. The FBI even offered to pay for her to get her Ph.D. in forensic science to sweeten the deal.

  The best part was that she’d be in a San Diego based lab and wouldn’t have to relocate.

  Kate grabbed her purse and her keys and went bouncing down the stairs feeling happy-go-lucky.

  “Hi, Miss Kate.”

  “Hi, Danny. How are you doing?”

  “I’m okay thanks to you. You’re a good friend.”

  “You are, too, Danny. I’ll see you Sunday morning, right?”

  “Right.” He smiled. “Cartoons.”

  Danny Hamilton had been released the same day Roth had been arrested. She’d found out that Jericho had seen to it personally. She knew he’d done it for her.

  Ken Mitchell had survived the stabbing, had fingered Roth and was more than willing to testify to both Marie LePlante’s murder and his own attempted murder. In return, he would have all charges dropped against him and he’d be required to seek counseling.

  Ken’s father didn’t pull his support as Kate feared, but told Jericho that he was impressed with a man who knew how to keep his own house in order and would continue to back him one hundred percent.

  But Jericho had declined his support. He didn’t want to accept money from the father of a man he’d dropped the charges for. It didn’t seem right to Jericho even if his campaign suffered. But once the news spread about Roth and the part Jericho had played in the arrest, money began to pour in.

  Kate pushed open the front door and stopped on the sidewalk just to look at the big present she’d given herself. The mechanic had told her that her clunker just wouldn’t make it. So, after her breakup with Jericho, she’d gone out and bought herself a cherry-red Mustang convertible.

  “Va-va-va-voom,” she said, and a laugh escaped her.

  The transformation was complete.

  She got into the car and gunned the engine just for the fun of it. Reaching over, she pushed in the CD and a rich voice started singing “Mustang Sally.” Kate put the car in gear and pulled out of the space singing at the top of her lungs.

  Even though she was running late, she drove straight to Jericho’s house. She rang the bell and knocked, but there was no answer. Damn, she must have missed him. The only thing to do was go to Enrique’s. She’d catch him tomorrow.

  She got back in her car, cranked the music and headed downtown.

  When she walked into the club, Sienna was seated at their usual table and so was Lana. A.J. Camacho and Sean O’Neill rounded out the party.

  Kate came walking up to the table and she received several whistles, many stares, and a few double takes. She laughed, shaking her hair back.

  “Whoa,” Sienna said. “Is that you, Kate?”

  Lana was speechless and Kate bent over and chucked her chin to get her friend to close her mouth. “That’s a first, Lana, you speechless.”

  “That’s a feat,” Sean said, and got an elbow in the ribs for his effort.

  Kate laughed and sat down.

  After ordering a Sex on the Beach, Kate was about to suggest revealing their souvenirs when all four of her friends’ eyes were suddenly riveted to the door.

  “What?”

  “Don’t look now, but I think someone’s coming over here and he’s looking right at you.”

  “Well, he can forget it,” she said, turning her head as she rose. “The only man I want is—” She came face to face with the man wearing a sinfully tight black silk T-shirt, skin-hugging jeans and a pair of cowboy boots. She butted right up to his chest. The air rushed out of her lungs as she breathed his name. “…Jericho.”

  His eyes traveled down her body and back up. “Kate, son of a…you look amazing. You cut your hair.” His fingers threaded through the soft locks and he smiled. “I like it.”

  She wrapped her arms around his neck. “I take it you didn’t come here to tell me how I looked.”

  “No.” He spied the keys on the table with the Mustang emblem. A grin spread across his face. “The red Mustang is yours?”

  “That’s right.”

&n
bsp; “I hope I can keep up with you.”

  “You can try, mister.” She waited a beat. “So, is that all you wanted, to see me and my new wheels?”

  “No. I’m withdrawing from the D.A. race.”

  “What? Jericho, you can’t.”

  “I can get my old job back at my uncle’s firm.”

  “Jericho, you hated that job.”

  “It’s less torturous than the alternative.”

  “Which is?”

  “Living without you. I simply can’t.”

  She kissed him right in front of everyone, deeply, passionately. When she broke free, she cupped his face. “You won’t have to quit. I am.”

  “Kate, no.”

  “Don’t worry. It’s a very good job. It’s with the FBI.”

  “In Washington?”

  “No. Here in their San Diego lab.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Positive, because, you see, I simply can’t live without you either. I love you, Jericho.”

  “I love you, Kate.”

  “Now that that’s settled, will you two sit down so that we can call this meeting to order?”

  Sienna picked up her drink and turned to A.J. “To A. J. Camacho who brought me out of the dark and into the light. Tough, tender and giving, I thank you for this trident pin that symbolizes the honor of the Navy SEALs. I’ll wear it proudly.” She clinked her glass with her friends and drank as her diamond glittered in the overhead lights.

  Lana picked up her drink and turned to Sean. “To Sean Ryan O’Neill, who taught me my heart’s desire. Adventurous, bold and caring, I thank you for this medal that was given to you for your valor. I’ll wear it proudly.” She tapped her glass with Sienna and Kate and they drank.

  Kate picked up her glass and turned to Jericho. “To Jericho St. James, who gave me his fire to ignite my own flame. Honest, relentless and generous, I thank you for these cuff links that show your steadfast sense of justice. I’ll wear them proudly.”

  Hours later after the camaraderie, the drinking and the dancing, Kate drove Jericho to her apartment in her red-hot Mustang, while A.J. volunteered to drive Jericho’s car back to his house for safekeeping.

  When Kate and Jericho got out of the car, they kissed on the sidewalk, in the lobby, climbing the stairs, and while she put her key in the lock. They kissed and took off articles of clothing as they made their way to Kate’s bedroom. Tumbling into Kate’s bed, she sank into Jericho and endeavored to show him how wild and daring she had become.