Christmas Confidential: Holiday Protector

by Marilyn Pappano

  “Where is he now? And why’d he want you to find me?”

  “He sent me that email when the Russians got wind you were still alive. He knew it would only be a matter of time before they found you, and he thought I could do a better job of protecting you and Gay than either the Keanes or you alone could do.

  “And he was right,” Gage muttered as his mouth turned down in a frown. “Despite what you thought. You needed my help to beat the mob.”

  Blinking back the rising panic she began to feel, she asked again, “Where is my father, Gage? Why isn’t he here?”

  He pursed his lips as though he couldn’t—wouldn’t—say the words. Finally he whispered, “Dimitri tortured him to find you, and your father didn’t live through the punishment he received. I wish I could’ve thanked him. But...”

  Her tears flowed freely. “Oh, my God. He...he...”

  Gage cuddled her next to his chest and let her sob against him. “I know. I know.” He spoke softly in her ear. “This news couldn’t be more terrible. He was a hero for contacting me. But he wanted you to have an opportunity for a different kind of life. The kind of life you once had with me. Don’t ever forget that.”

  “I won’t.” She fought against collapsing in her grief. She needed to keep going. Gay depended on her. And maybe...

  “About what you were saying earlier. You think we could...um...start over? Have you given any thought to—?”

  Gage kissed away her words, the most tender, most loving kiss he’d ever given her. “I haven’t thought of anything else since the moment you were shot. The Russians are out of the picture. Their boss man is dead and your fiancé will be in jail for his whole miserable life. You say the word and nothing will stand between us. Not ever again.”

  At that moment the door opened and she could barely believe her eyes. Gay came skipping into the room with Elana’s mother trailing silently behind her. Elana smiled at her mother, who tentatively smiled back. That’s when she knew everything would be all right between them—eventually.

  Gay, the too-smart kid, looked up at her own mother’s bandaged head, then glanced toward her father, who was already holding her mom in his arms. And even a tiny little girl could’ve seen that all was right in her world, too.

  She came to stand beside the bed next to Gage. “Up, Daddy. I want to see Mommy.”

  Elana gulped back surprise. “She’s already calling you Daddy?”

  Gage laughed as he lifted Gay up to the bed. “Don’t try telling her any different. She’s a tad determined.”

  “Stubborn, you mean.”

  But by then, the little girl who suddenly looked so much like her father was leaning against her mother’s side and looking up at her with big tears in her eyes. “Mommy got hurt.”

  Gage gathered them both into his arms. “Don’t worry, baby. We won’t let Mommy get hurt again. We’re a family now, and nothing can ever hurt us again as long as we’re together.”

  Speechless and contented, Elana couldn’t believe her luck. She’d been given a second chance.

  And this time, she promised her dearest father in heaven, this time no more lies. She vowed to make it work with her Chance—now and forever.

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt of The Cop's Missing Child by Karen Whiddon

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  Chapter 1

  The bright sun felt warm on his skin. If he’d been here for no reason other than a desire to enjoy the weather, Mac Riordan would have stopped and turned his face up to let the bright rays try to heat blood that these days always seemed chilled. Instead, he glanced around while keeping his quarry in sight, taking in the lush greenness of the park crowded with citizens enjoying the early spring air.

  He couldn’t believe the hunter’s rush he felt at this planned-for encounter. Finally, after all this time, he’d meet the woman who had, inadvertently or not, stolen everything he had left to live for.

  He’d planned this carefully, just happened to take a stroll along the tree-lined, paved walking path when the very woman he’d come to town to find strode past him on her daily walk—Emily Gilley. He’d been watching her for a week, after all, and figured an accidental meeting in the park would be a great way to meet her.

  True, if he wanted this to appear unintentional, keeping up with her confident pace without looking as though he was stalking her might prove difficult, though not impossible.

  He doubted she’d find him suspicious. From what he’d heard about the east Texas town of Anniversary, everyone was friendly and trusting and looked out for each other. If this was true, then Emily Gilley would have no reason to worry about a friendly stranger.

  He allowed himself the slightest of grim smiles. If only she knew.

  So far, he’d been careful. After all, he’d only been in town for three weeks. It was just long enough to establish his brand-new trucking business and to put out a few feelers about her, the woman he’d spent several years trying to locate: Emily Gilley, twenty-nine-year-old widow of one of the most notorious drug dealers on the Eastern Seaboard. She’d changed her name, taking back her mother’s maiden name Gilley, and altered both the cut and the color of her hair, all to help her disappear. But for someone with the far-flung resources to which he had access, finding her had been a matter of time and a tenacious effort. He was fortunate to still have a lot of the tools from his law enforcement days at his disposal.

  Her long, blond locks were now dark, short and spiky. Instead of designer fashions, she wore clothing that looked off the rack at a big bin department store. She’d gone from a glamorous life in Manhattan to this: a tiny lakefront community ninety miles east of Dallas.

  As he hurried around a bend at the end of the trail, trying not to appear in too much of a rush, he nearly ran into her. She’d stopped at the weathered wooden bench that marked the entrance to the paved parking lot of Sue’s Catfish Hut, which was crowded with lunchtime patrons.

  She was stopped and turned to face him, apparently willing to wait for him to catch up.

  This was going even better than he’d hoped, he thought with some satisfaction. And then he got a look at her annoyed expression.

  Hands on her hips, she glared at him, her brown eyes full of anger mixed with only the barest hint of fear. “What do you want? Stop following me! If you’re trying to creep me out, you’re succeeding admirably.”

  He dipped his chin, sending her an abashed smile he hoped she’d find reassuring. “My apologies. I had no idea this was a private trail.”

  Instead of growing flustered, she shook her head, sending her shaggy spiked hair rippling. “It’s not. But I walk here every day on my lunch break, and I know almost everyone in town. Every time I look up, you’re right behind me. You never pass me or fall back. And while this is the first time I’ve seen you here, you have to understand how such behavior can make a woman feel threatened.”

  “Threatened? Interesting choice of words.” He crossed his arms. “I’m new here, and I mean you no harm. I wasn’t aware being a newco
mer and taking a walk were crimes.”

  Narrowing her eyes, she studied him, apparently not buying his too-easy, confident patter. In his experience, overly suspicious or outright paranoid people usually had something to hide. But then again, she had a point. He was a stranger who was following her, and her former husband had been a drug dealer. No doubt, looking over her shoulder had been deeply ingrained in her psyche. She’d be foolish not to worry. And one thing he’d learned about Emily Gilley, formerly Cavell, was that she was anything but stupid.

  Finally, she took a deep breath, exhaling it slowly.

  “Look,” she said, her tone reasonable this time rather than furious, “you’ve been following me way too closely. What matters is that you’ve made me very uncomfortable.” Swallowing hard, she studied him, her caramel gaze unflinching. “And even though this is a small town, one can’t be too careful.”

  It was especially true for a woman like her, with so many secrets to hide.

  He nodded, feigning chagrin. “Again, I apologize. If I’d known I was frightening you, I would have dropped back or—” he grimaced ruefully “—I would have tried to pass you.”

  Rather than accept his apology, she straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “You said you’re new in town, right?”

  “Yes.” Relieved and slightly surprised that getting to know her was going to be this simple, he gave her a practiced, easy smile, holding out his hand. “Mac Riordan.”

  Instead of a handshake, she simply continued to stare him down. Only when he’d dropped his hand and frowned did she speak again in a cool, measured tone. “Welcome to Anniversary, Mac Riordan. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but in the future, please leave me alone.”

  Tamping down shock, he feigned confusion instead. “Ma’am, I—”

  Backing up slightly, she tilted her head and peered up at him. “Let me ask you something. Are you the one who mailed me the note? It was postmarked Dallas. Is that where you’re from?”

  “Note?” He eyed her warily. Had someone tipped her off about his arrival? “What note? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “You didn’t send me an anonymous note? Cut out letters on white paper?”

  Was this a joke? Then, as he realized what she’d said, his former cop instincts made him ask, “Is someone sending you threatening notes?”

  Again he got the sharp, brown-glass stare, as if she thought if she tried hard enough she could read his mind. Since he’d been looked at all kinds of ways by all sorts of people in his previous life in law enforcement, he let her. Silence was often the best interrogation method of all.

  “You didn’t answer my question. Are you from Dallas?”

  “No,” he fired back. “Albany, New York. Now tell me about this note.”

  “That’s none of your business,” she said calmly, her spine so rigid he thought it might snap. Then, apparently considering he might in fact be harmless, she swallowed, still eyeing him warily.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rude. I’ve got to go.” She mouthed the words, sounding anything but. Without another word, she marched off, her spiky dark hair ruffling in the breeze.

  Watching her slender, lithe body as she went, he couldn’t help but respect that she knew enough to be wary. Because if their situations had been reversed, he’d have done exactly the same. People on the run from former lives couldn’t afford to befriend curious strangers.

  This was exactly the reason he had to make sure he gained her trust—no matter what it took.

  * * *

  Even as she hurried away, Emily Gilley felt the tall, dark-haired stranger’s gaze boring into her back. She felt flushed and hot, though not entirely from her brisk walk. Instead, she worried about the man with the striking cobalt eyes. At first glance, the tinge of gray in his hair had made him look older by at least a decade. But up close, his rugged face appeared to be only a few years older than she. Mid-thirties, perhaps, a handsome, muscular man who moved with easy grace. Any other woman would have been intrigued by his blatant masculinity, his self-confident virility.

  Not she...she knew better. Sex on the hoof didn’t last past the morning, and men like him were nothing but trouble. After all, she’d been married to one once.

  This man singled her out. Why? She couldn’t help but wonder if this attempt to appear older was deliberate, an effort to camouflage who he really was—or what he was.

  He was a threat. She couldn’t believe his sudden appearance the same day after getting her first threat since moving here was a mere coincidence. How could it be?

  The unsigned note that had appeared in her mailbox that morning had been similar to the ones she used to get back in New York. Letters cut and pasted from a magazine, the three sentences read exactly like the ones she’d received before. Her stalker—and Ryan’s, for the note always mentioned her five-year-old son by name—had somehow found her here, in an innocuous small Texas town.

  This meant it was time to move on.

  She considered, suddenly exhausted by it all, she could run again. Or she could stay—and fight.

  Because quite frankly, she liked living here in Anniversary, Texas. She’d made friends, and while her receptionist job at Tearmann’s Animal Clinic wasn’t glamorous, she loved the sheer ordinariness of it. All in all, she’d made a cozy home for herself and her son here.

  Damned if she would give that up without a battle. She’d paid enough for crimes she hadn’t even committed. Never mind that she’d been completely clueless about her husband’s nefarious activities. A lot of people thought she should still be held equally responsible, especially now that Carlos was dead.

  Without any idea why, she’d always assumed the threatening notes had come from one of Carlos’s mistresses. She knew of two, and there’d probably been more. Any one of them could have viewed his death as a breach of promise and his wife as the rival who got everything—especially since Emily had always suspected one of those women had been the one to birth her son and give him up for adoption, no doubt at Carlos’s urging. She could only hope he hadn’t forced the issue, which would mean there was another woman out there mourning the loss of her son.

  Even though Emily could definitely sympathize if that was the case, she was Ryan’s mother now, and she’d made a good home for him here. The only thing she wanted to do was pretend her former life had never happened. All she’d brought with her from that life was her son. He was all that mattered.

  Hurrying from the walking trail and across the parking lot to Sue’s Catfish Hut, she refused to look over her shoulder at the man. She sensed him still standing where she’d left him, watching her. She could feel his gaze burning into her back.

  “Afternoon, Letty.” Lifting her hand in a friendly wave to the elderly cashier, Emily slid inside the empty booth. She spent quite a few of her sixty-minute lunches exactly the same way—a brisk walk around the park and then a bite to eat at Sue’s with her friend Jayne Cooper.

  “Hey, lady.” Jayne plopped into the seat opposite her. Jayne’s normally frizzy blond hair had been tied back in a ponytail. She worked in the police station down the street, one of three dispatchers. “Who was that man you were talking to in the park? He looks like that new guy who moved here from up north somewhere. I can’t remember his name.”

  Surprised, Emily tensed and then forced herself to relax. Good grief, she was tired of being suspicious of everything and everyone. She’d honestly believed she’d gotten over that, until the stalker’s note timed with the appearance of the strange man had brought all her old fears back to life.

  “He said his name is Mac Riordan. He said he’s new in town.”

  “That’s right, he is.” Snapping her fingers, Jayne nodded. “Everyone in the sheriff’s office has been talking about him. Apparently, he and Renee Beauchamp go way back. He moved here a couple o
f weeks ago and opened a trucking company. He bought the Stamflin place out on FM 3356.”

  Emily simply nodded. “So he’s legit then?”

  Now Jayne studied her closely. “As opposed to what? Some crazed serial killer? You are the biggest worrywart I know.”

  Somehow, Emily managed to effect a careless shrug. “That comes from living in Manhattan. You can’t be too careful there.”

  As Jayne was about to speak—no doubt to launch into her favorite topic, the bliss of bucolic existence in Anniversary—their friend Tina appeared with two tall glasses of iced tea. “Here you go, ladies. Are you both having the usual today?”

  “Yes,” Emily and Jayne answered in unison.

  “Good.” Grinning widely, Tina winked. “I already put in the order ticket. Lord, help me if you ever decide to walk on the wild side and try something else.”

  Just then, the front door opened, and the noisy dining room went abruptly quiet for a moment before the noise level resumed. Emily’s heart sank. Mac Riordan’s large frame filled the doorway and he scanned the room.

  When his gaze connected with hers, Emily tensed, resisting the urge to duck under the table. Just because the man decided to have his lunch at the same place didn’t make him her stalker. Right?

  “Oooh, my,” Jayne breathed. “Emily, honey, why didn’t you mention that he is absolutely gorgeous?”

  “You saw him in the park.”

  “From a distance, Em. Only from a distance.”

  “Emily? You know him?” Tina asked sharply.

  When Emily shook her head, Tina narrowed her heavily made-up eyes. “You’re blushing,” she pointed out. “Why is that?”

  Blushing? It was true that her face felt warm, but Emily never blushed. “I just met him a few minutes ago in the park, that’s all,” she said, aware she sounded as if she was trying too hard to be casual.