I drooped with relief. Knowing Charlie was close made me feel infinitely better. I pushed to my feet and took Sheba inside. Crouched down by the rear sliding door, the officer studied the broken glass. Blood splattered the wall and the breakfast bar.
Blood.
I sat down hard in the closest chair and ran my hands over Sheba again to make sure she wasn’t hurt. With her black fur, it was hard to see any injury, but her fur wasn’t wet or sticky.
“I think your dog got him pretty good.” Daniels glanced up at Sheba approvingly. “He cut a small circle in the glass first and disarmed the sensor on the door so he could open it. When she attacked, I’m guessing he fell back against the glass and broke more of the panel since it’d been weakened by his cut. That set off the glass break.” He pointed up at a small round device in the corner of the ceiling that I hadn’t noticed. “I’ll get a crew out here to take some blood samples and lift any fingerprints that he might have left, but this guy was a pro. An everyday sort of burglar wouldn’t bother trying to bypass the alarm system.”
He slowly stood, watching me as he came to sit at the table with me. Maybe I was pale, though I felt okay. I wasn’t shaking. So why was he staring at me so carefully? Like I was a frightened rabbit caught in a snare.
“Ma’am, is there anyone who wants to hurt you?”
I couldn’t help the twitch of my lips. Ma’am. God, he made me sound so old. I sobered quickly, though, because I definitely knew someone who might want to hurt me. Charlie had warned me not to let Tasker get his hands on me, because he might try to use me to get Charlie to work for them again. But did I dare give that much information, considering I had no idea what that old job might entail? Let alone his threat. I’ll kill anyone who hurts you.
If he ended up hurting Tasker to keep him away... The last thing I’d want was for my stupid testimony to get him thrown in jail.
“I know it’s a delicate question, but I can see the bruise on your chest.”
I looked down at my chest. Charlie’s too-big shirt had gaped enough to show a partial bite mark high on my breast. Self-conscious, I tugged the shirt up and folded my jacket shut. I’d loved showing my online friends his handiwork, but not people who wouldn’t understand. “I’m fine.”
“But ma’am, those are pretty bad. Some of the worst I’ve ever seen. I can take you into town where you’ll be safe and you can tell me what’s going on before he gets back. Who’s hurting you?”
“It’s consensual.”
The young cop’s brows worked, his eyes flickering back down to where the bruise hid as if he couldn’t help but stare. “You mean you want to be hurt?”
Maybe he thought I was bullshitting him to keep my boyfriend from getting arrested. Or maybe he just didn’t have a clue. We were in the Bible Belt after all. Not too many people around here knew much about alternative lifestyles. At least openly.
A few months ago, this line of questioning probably would have devastated me. Days, ago, even. It had devastated me, at least when I’d first moved home from St. Paul. But I was a new person, now. I was stronger. And with Charlie, I was freer than I’d ever been in my entire life. He accepted me, fully and without reservation. That’s all I needed.
“Yes. I want to be hurt. I like it, okay? My boyfriend’s not doing anything I didn’t ask him to do. He certainly wouldn’t break into his own house when he knows he trained his dog to attack anyone who threatened me. This was an attack. An invasion. He’d never try to hurt me like that.”
“Of course, of course.” Daniels still looked confused and he couldn’t keep his wandering gaze from my chest. Any other man I would have accused of staring at my rack, but his brow was furrowed. “So this is your boyfriend’s house, and he hurts you, but not like that, whatever that means. Are you living here with him? What’s his name?”
“Charles MacNiall.”
Charlie’s even voice drew my attention immediately as he walked toward the table where we sat. He’d opened the front door so quietly I didn’t know he’d come in. Sheba wagged her tail furiously but didn’t leave my side. I jumped up and threw myself into his arms. He clutched me hard against him. “I got here as soon as I could. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” I burrowed my face deeper against him, trying to get his scent. I wanted contact with him. Skin to skin. The sooner the better.
Wrapping his arm around me, he walked me back to the table and sat in the chair I’d vacated. Without hesitation, I curled up in his lap, googly eyed cop be damned.
“Now that I’m here, do you care to ask a vulnerable woman, who’s alone and scared, those same personal, inappropriate questions?”
The deputy stuttered. “I’m only trying to do my job. Someone attacked her. She’s got bruises. I needed to know.”
“She gave you her answer. Next question.”
Tugging on his collar, he looked through his notes. “Is there anyone else who might want to hurt either of you?”
“Tell him about the Suburban,” Charlie ordered softly.
“I’ve seen a man twice in a gold Suburban, once on the road just west of here on Christmas Eve, and yesterday in Springfield. He lied about being Charlie’s neighbor and scared me.”
“Scared you how?”
“He grabbed my arm like he meant to get me into his car, even if he had to drag me. He told me to tell Charlie about him.”
“Any idea who this man is, Mr. MacNiall?”
“I’ve not seen the man myself, but by her description, I think he goes by Tasker. I have no idea if that’s his real name or not.”
“So this is someone you know.”
“Knew,” Charlie corrected. “Nearly five years ago. I met him once or twice and didn’t care much for the way he did his job. I ended up leaving the company and starting my own side business as a result. I’m guessing they want me to come back to work for them.”
“What’s the name of this company?”
I couldn’t help but tense, worried about the direction this line of questioning was going. I had a feeling that Charlie wouldn’t like anyone digging into this part of his past, not if a man like Tasker was part of it. I probably wouldn’t like what I heard, either, truth be told. I didn’t want to hear anything that might tarnish what we had. Things were different now. I didn’t care—
But he answered easily, stroking my arm. “Blake Enterprises. They specialize in getting around alarm systems, which makes me think this probably was him. I put this system in myself, so if he can show me up in some way, make me look bad, maybe I won’t be taking any more of their business.”
“Guess he wasn’t expecting a big dog, huh.” Daniels laughed and started to stand up. “Well, I think that’s all I need for now. A team is on their way to take some blood samples. That way you can get that door boarded up for the night. Heard there was a storm coming in. We might get up to six inches of snow. Can you believe it? Ma’am, if you see that gold Suburban again, give us a call.”
“Her name is Miss Killian.” Charlie’s voice was still pleasant, but there was a dark undercurrent threading through his words.
“Of course, Miss Killian. If you think of anything else, give us a call.”
I bit my lip, trying not to show my unease. Tasker knew damned well Charlie had a big dog. So why would he try to break into the house? Who else could it have been, though?
Charlie stood and eased me to my feet so we could walk the deputy out. He ducked into his car but didn’t leave immediately, his radio crackling. He called up to us. “The forensics team’s about five minutes out. Then we’ll be out of your hair. I’ll wait until they’re done before leaving.”
After shutting the front door, Charlie looked over at me and frowned. “Come on, kitten. To bed with you.”
He picked me up and I nuzzled his throat, wrapping my arms around his neck. “Sounds good to me.”
He laughed but it wasn’t his normal light-hearted teasing. “He never checked to make sure you weren’t going into shock.”
“I’m fine,” I protested, but he set me down on the bed anyway and tugged off my boots.
“Your feet are icy. Your hands are cold. You’re starting to shiver. Trust me, you need to get warm and stay calm. I’ll take care of you now.”
“I know.”
He frowned, rubbing my feet harder. “Idiots. Only one car and a lone deputy green enough he probably crapped his pants when he saw the blood. If he needed to draw his weapon, he’d probably shoot himself in the foot. You’d be dead before he could help you, and he’d be too busy staring at your breasts to notice the threat right under his nose.”
His voice became harsher with each word, his hands hard enough that my body was only all too eager to get some other ideas of what he could hurt. It was ironic in a way. Here he was trying to take care of me, but I found myself soothing the rising beast in him. He needed to take care of me so badly that I was afraid he’d do something he’d regret later.
I curled around him so I could wrap my arms around his waist, my head on his thigh. “Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked gruffly. “I’ve failed you. You could have been seriously hurt tonight before I could get to you.”
“Hardly. You gave me the best protection possible to fill in during your absence. Thank you for getting the registration I needed so she could go with me anywhere.”
He stroked my hair. “Sheba would die to protect you. But next time, he’ll have a gun. He’ll shoot her before she can take him out, and then you’re on your own.”
My arms convulsed around him, tears filling my eyes. “I won’t let that happen.”
His hands slipped under my armpits, drawing me up face-to-face with him. His eyes glittered like bottomless pits and his voice rasped. “Oh yes, you will. You’ll let the bastard shoot her dead before you put yourself in harm’s way. That’s her job. That’s my job. No one hurts you.”
I shook my head, crying. It killed me to deny him anything, but I refused to allow someone else to be hurt or killed to protect myself. Especially someone I loved.
He shook me hard enough my teeth snapped together. “Promise me, Ranay. Promise me!”
“No. I won’t. I won’t stand by and let someone hurt her just to save myself. I won’t!”
Boots tromped on the front porch, warning that the other team had arrived. Breathing hard, he crushed me to him, his lips against my forehead. “We’ll talk about this later. For now, stay in here and get warm. I’ll get rid of them as quickly as possible.”
They knocked on the front door and he ground out a curse. “Sheba.” She immediately jumped up on the bed beside me. He rubbed her head and stood. “Guard.” Then he looked at me, so grim and hard that I ducked my head. “I’ll see to you when they’re gone.”
“Yes, Master.”
My heart pounded. I wanted to strip off my clothes and prepare for whatever punishment he planned because I refused to give my word as he’d ordered, but not if we had people in the house. They might find something and need me to answer questions again. The last thing I wanted to do was get him in trouble by coming out to a police interview stark naked. Although imagining the look on the young deputy’s face made me laugh.
I crawled under the blankets. Maybe I was fighting a little bit of shock, because I still wasn’t warm. Sheba did her usual circle pacing until she was satisfied and plopped down almost on top of me. I didn’t mind. I used her flank as a pillow and wrapped my arms around her. “No one’s going to hurt you, Sheba. No matter what he says.”
She licked my cheek and I buried my face in her fur. Somewhere out there, a man was running around with a bad dog bite. But I had a horrible feeling that it wasn’t the man in the gold Suburban at all.
Chapter Nineteen
I must have drifted to sleep. Something thudded in the distance. I tried to open my eyes, but it was like swimming through quicksand. My body wouldn’t respond, even though I was awake. At least, I think I’m awake.
“So where were you tonight, Mr. MacNiall?”
Thud thud thud. That was the deputy again. I thought he was done with questioning.
“I was flying home from St. Paul. If you check Ranay’s phone, you’ll see that I texted her around 8 p.m. that I was on my way to the airport. Once I landed in Springfield, I saw her text that the alarm had gone off and I shut it off.”
“So you don’t have a monitoring company.”
“No. This is a DIY system I put in myself.”
“Oh, that’s right. You said you were doing this kind of work on the side. What’s your main job?”
Thud, thud. “I’m with Doctors Without Borders. I’m not a doctor, but I provide support for the team as needed.”
“So you’re gone a lot. Out of the country, even.”
“Quite often, yes. That’s why security on the house is so important to me.”
Thud, thud, thud. What were they doing? It sounded like a coffin getting nailed shut. I strained to lift my head to see, but a thousand pounds of bricks lay on top of me. At least my arm was starting to tingle.
“Why were you in St. Paul?”
Thud. “St. Paul wasn’t my original destination.” Thud. “I started in New York. Had a meeting there two days ago with the team about our next trip. On a whim, I decided to fly through St. Paul and try to catch up with an old friend, but I missed him. He was out of town for the holiday.”
Thud. My head was going to explode with all that pounding. Why was it so hard to breathe? I couldn’t seem to inflate my lungs all the way.
“I forgot to ask earlier—do you have a video feed that might have captured anything?”
“The cameras are outside, and only start capturing video once the alarm’s triggered. We can check, but I’m guessing all we got was the back of the guy’s head as he ran away. The panel’s in the bedroom. Hold on a second.” The door creaked open and Charlie called softly, “Ranay?”
I tried to answer, but all I could do was wiggle my fingers. Had someone drugged me? I’d never felt like this before. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I could feel it, but I couldn’t make my body move.
“She must have fallen asleep. Here’s the panel. Let me pull up the video feed for you and I’ll check her.”
The panel beeped several times and then the bed dipped. Charlie’s fingers smoothed across my face. “Sheba, you big lazy slug. Move over and give her some room.”
The massive weight crawled off my chest and I took a deep breath. I wanted to scream, to tell him how scared I was that I couldn’t wake up, but the deputy was still here. Somehow he sensed my fear, because he scooped me up into his arms. His heart beat against my cheek, his hands so gentle and strong. “It’s all right. Just wait it out.”
“Anything wrong?” the deputy asked.
“I think she has sleep paralysis. Relax, kitten. I’ve got you. Give your body time to catch up with your mind.”
“You’re right—not much to go on,” the deputy said. “But when you get the chance, can you send us the feed? I’ll leave you my card with an email address on it. I doubt it’ll lead to anything but you never know.”
“Sure, I’d be glad to. Thanks for helping me with the plywood. We’d freeze to death before we could get a repairman out here to fix the glass, with it being a holiday and all.”
“No problem. If you think of anything else, just call. I’ll see myself out, Mr. MacNiall.”
The front door shut. Charlie rocked me, his heart so strong and steady beneath my cheek. His body heat soaked into me and muscle by muscle, I relaxed against him.
“There you go. Stop fighting to wake up. Your body needs rest—that’s why you can’t wake up all the way. It was probably all that pounding that woke you.”
He lay me down and spooned behind me, his body a shield against the outside world. With Sheba against my stomach, I was sandwiched between two blazing hot furnaces. No chill could penetrate me here. No danger.
“That’s my girl,” he whispered against my ear, his fingers stroking up and down my arm.
“Go back to sleep. Rest. I’m here. Nothing’s going to get through me tonight. If you wake up and I’m not here, don’t be afraid. I’m going to check the property and see if anyone’s around, but Sheba’s here. I’ll be back in a flash if anything shows up again, okay?”
I managed to make a soft humming sound this time. He didn’t leave, not yet, his heat against my back. Between one breath and another, I slid into the void of heavy sleep.
Chapter Twenty
I didn’t feel him leave, but I did stir when he came back to bed. His hair was damp and I smelled his shampoo, a botanical that made me think of jungles. I pillowed my head on his chest and drifted back to sleep.
When I woke again, it was hours later. The sun was up and the room was bright. He must have forgotten to shut the blinds. I twisted my hand up so I could see my watch. Nearly eleven in the morning. I must have been out of it.
The part of me that made me submissive thought I should stay in bed until the master rose. He might want me and it was my duty to be present and ready. I don’t think I’d ever woken up before him. After all the stress last night, I’d love to simply lie in his arms and listen to him breathe.
But I’d love it more if I could finally surprise him with a cheesecake, and it’d take at least an hour to bake.
Watching his face, I sat up and carefully moved to the opposite side of the bed. He didn’t budge. His breathing was deep and heavy. Weird. He wore a T-shirt. Had he ever worn anything to bed before? He must have been too tired to strip out of his clothes last night.
He still hadn’t moved after my shower as I slipped through the room. I took a minute to twist the stick on the blinds to darken the room. Maybe he’d sleep until I could get the cake baked and stashed away so it’d be a real surprise. Sheba jumped down soundlessly and followed me into the main living area.
The broken sliding glass door was nailed shut with plywood and all the glass and blood was cleaned up. Geez, no wonder he was so tired. That must have taken forever. I took Sheba out the front door. The slap of frigid air stole my breath. Off to the north, the sky was heavy and gray. I guess that storm was rolling in today. Good thing I’d already gone to the grocery store for a few days’ worth of basics. Plus he kept a pretty nice pantry stocked. Maybe I’d finally get my wish to be snowed in with him a few days. We’d lounge in front of the fireplace and sip wine and make love while snow piled up outside.
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