by Debra Webb
Lacon moved into a firing stance facing the double doors and held his breath to calm the blood roaring in his ears. A man in black rushed into the room, his weapon drawn. He spotted his boss and as if he’d sensed Lacon’s presence he whirled toward him.
“You could leave now,” Lacon offered, “and live.”
“But then I’d miss the fun of watching your brains splatter on the wall.”
The door behind which Issy had disappeared suddenly opened. The other man glanced in that direction. Lacon took the shot.
The man dropped.
But there was at least one more in the corridor.
Lacon braced for his arrival.
The sound of footsteps disappearing in the opposite direction made him smile. The other guy was retreating.
“Chicago PD! Drop your weapon!”
The proclamation echoed from somewhere downstairs.
The cavalry was here.
Issy stepped from her hiding place and looked from him to the man on the floor. “Did I hear the police?”
Lacon nodded. “Thanks.” When her gaze met his in question, he went on. “You probably saved my life when you opened that door.”
She shrugged. “I could hear what was happening and I didn’t know what else to do to distract him.”
More footfalls thundered up the stairs. Lacon placed his weapon in his waistband and held his hands up.
SWAT poured into the room. By the time they had determined that Lacon and Issy were the good guys, Michaels, Nader and Watts were walking through the door.
It was over. He glanced at Issy as she answered Nader’s questions.
And they were both still alive.
Chapter Fourteen
Hampden Court, Saturday, July 14, 6:55 p.m.
The doorbell chimed its tune through the house.
Marissa’s nerves jangled. She checked her reflection in the full-length mirror once more. She had pinned her wild curls up in a makeshift French twist with a few spiral wisps clinging to her temple and her neck. Good as it gets, she decided. Now for a little mascara, a touch of peppermint-flavored, shiny lip gloss and she was ready.
She drew in a deep breath for courage. The black dress hit four inches above her knees, not too modest yet not overly brazen. Sleeveless, scooped neck but not too revealing. The fit of the soft fabric made her feel sexy. The dress hugged her curves, adding a distinct sense of femininity without going overboard.
Then there were the shoes. Decent three-inch heels in a classic open-toed pump.
The chime came again, making her pulse flutter.
No more dawdling.
Taking her time, mostly to ensure she didn’t break her neck in the heels, she descended the stairs. She spent so much time in comfortable work shoes, strutting around in heels was not one of her better skills.
When she reached the door, she paused. Had she forgotten a dab of perfume? She thought for a moment before distinctly recalling picking up the cut-glass bottle.
“No need to be nervous, Issy,” she murmured as she wrapped her fingers around the knob and gave it a twist. She smiled. “Hi.”
There were a host of other things she’d intended to say, like “come in” and “nice to see you” and “oh what lovely flowers.” The rest of the words deserted her as her hungry gaze drank in the gorgeous man standing at her door.
Lacon Traynor wore jeans, as usual, plus a cotton button-up in a soft blue that emphasized his tanned skin. And those well-loved cowboy boots. She noted the white daisies, purple roses and bright yellow sunflowers in his hand on her tour back up to his handsome face. His sandy blond hair was combed as if it was Sunday morning and he was ready to go to church. His golden eyes were watching her admire him, and she didn’t mind at all. She did admire him, in so many ways.
“Hey.” He smiled and her heart melted.
“Come in.” She drew the door open wider, held on for fear her knees would give out on her. She’d never met a man who could so easily make her swoon. In fact, she was fairly certain she’d never swooned before meeting Lacon Traynor.
He stepped inside and she closed the door. He offered her the flowers. “There’s a flower stand in my neighborhood that swears all their flowers come fresh from a farm outside the city. I hope you like them.”
She accepted the bouquet. “They’re beautiful. Have a seat while I put these in water.”
She took a couple of steps backward. “I’ll only be a minute.”
In the kitchen she rummaged under the sink for a pitcher, then placed it in the sink and filled it with water. Her hands shook as she loosened the ribbon around the arrangement. There was no need to be nervous. She knew this man. They had shared their bodies, laughed and cried and narrowly escaped death during a four-day period. Even in that short time, they had made memories that would forever be inscribed on the surface of her heart.
Wherever their fledgling relationship went from here, she couldn’t be certain, but she had never in her life wanted to explore the possibilities with anyone more than she did with Lacon.
He walked up beside her, picked up a rose from the bundle and tucked it into the vase with the rest. “I made dinner reservations at your favorite restaurant.”
Marissa picked up the vase. “You did?”
“Eva said Boka is your favorite.”
She smiled. “Wow. I’m impressed you went to so much trouble.”
He took the vase from her. Lifted his eyebrows in question.
“The table.” She gestured to the dining room.
“No trouble.” He placed the vase with its gorgeous arrangement on the table. “I wanted to take you someplace special.”
They had talked about this. Or she had, rather. She’d spent her adult life immersed in school and then in her career. Eighty-hour weeks at work, the rest of her time spent at home sleeping or blindly walking through life with a man she never really knew. She had no idea if William had had a hobby, much less what restaurant was his favorite. They were always too busy. Their marriage had been nothing more than a mutually advantageous living arrangement with the occasional fringe benefit of handy sex. The latter had become as rare as a blue moon the final months they were together.
She never wanted that sort of relationship again. This go-around, she wanted complete intimacy. She wanted to share her entire life with her partner. She wanted to know him inside and out, and she wanted him to know her the same way. No secrets. No lies. Utter honesty and the sharing of all things, good, bad and otherwise.
No one was perfect, not her, not Lacon, and she wanted their relationship to embrace those imperfections.
If he wanted the same.
After all, four days was not even a week, which was why they had agreed to stay apart for two weeks. They had needed distance and time to know if this was real. Except they only made it just shy of twelve days.
The longest eleven plus days of her life.
He reached out, traced the line of her jaw. “I’ve missed you.”
She smiled, his words sending desire singing through her veins. “I missed you, too.”
His fingers slid down her arm, tugged her closer. “Is this where we start?”
“Do you still want to move forward?”
His arms went around her waist, pulled her snug against his body. “I have spent the past eleven days, ten hours and forty—” he checked his phone “—forty-four minutes thinking about nothing but you. I’ve relived every moment we spent together at least a hundred times. I go to sleep needing you and wake up still wanting you. My life before walking into this house and seeing you for the first time feels like someone else’s. This is my life now...you are my life now.”
When she stared, speechless, at him, he smiled. “Does that answer your question?”
He dipped his head, placed a tender kiss on her lips. “I want to take y
ou all the places you dream of going. I want to make pretty babies with you.” He nuzzled the sensitive skin under her ear. “I love you, Issy. I want to be the one who grows old with you.”
She cupped his face in her hands and looked into his eyes. “I think maybe you should cancel that dinner reservation.”
He followed her up the stairs as he made the call. She kicked her shoes off at the door to her room and waited, trembling with anticipation, while he unzipped her dress. He kissed each vertebra as he revealed it. By the time the dress slid down her body, she was burning up for him. He turned her around and surveyed the lacy black bra and skimpy panties in the same racy black lace.
“Oh man, I don’t know how much of this I can take without losing it.”
She laughed, the happiness filling her chest and erupting from her, making her heart glad. Together they released the buttons of his shirt, peeled it from his muscular body. She smoothed her palms over those gorgeous ridges and planes. He walked backward, his lips locked with hers until they reached the bed. She pushed him into a sitting position and reached for a boot.
The boots and socks landed near her shoes. He lay back and allowed her to dispense with his jeans, as well. She slid the well-fitting denim over his hips and down his muscular legs. Then she reached for the briefs, tugging them away from his thick, fully aroused penis.
Twelve days she had waited to have him inside her again. She straddled his body. He used his magic fingers to push aside the flimsy strap of silk between her thighs and to guide himself into her.
Her eyes closed as she slid fully down onto him. He growled with need. His hands slipped beneath the lacy cups and squeezed her breasts. She wanted to tell him how very much she had missed him...how desperately she had wanted to call him each and every damned night.
He watched her coming undone, and for a moment she paused and leaned down close enough to taste his lips. “I love you, Lacon Traynor. I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else. We will make pretty babies.”
Feeling his body tremble beneath her, she sat up and ground herself into him, the urgency forcing her to start that frantic rhythm once more. She rode him faster and faster as the sweet throb of orgasm started deep inside, claiming her all too soon. Before she could catch her breath, he had rolled her onto her back and started the whole mind-blowing journey over again.
She didn’t care if they ever left the house again. She had everything she wanted right here.
Chapter Fifteen
The Colby Agency, Monday, July 16, 9:30 a.m.
Victoria Colby-Camp sat behind her desk and smiled at Lucas as they waited for Jamie, their beloved granddaughter, to arrive.
“I worry that she’s only nineteen,” Victoria confessed. “Are we getting ahead of ourselves here?”
Lucas, her cherished husband, propped his hands on his cane and considered the question for a moment. “We both know that Jamie is not like the average nineteen-year-old.”
Victoria couldn’t argue that observation. “I’ve spoken with Jim and Tasha, and they believe it’s an excellent step.”
Lucas shrugged. “Well, they are her parents. If they’re comfortable, we should be as well, I suppose.”
Lucas leaned back in his chair, setting his cane to the side. “Perhaps we should begin with a trial period. Three to six months, whichever you believe is best. We can revisit our concerns at that time. If all is well, then we’ll continue. If not, we can always put someone else in charge of the program.”
Victoria took a breath. “All right. When she arrives, we’ll brief her and see how she feels about our suggestions.”
Lucas nodded. “Agreed.” He stroked his chin a moment. “Did I hear Ian say Eva and Todd Christian were getting married the end of this month?”
“They are,” Victoria confirmed. “Bella and Devon are making plans for early next year. They’re planning a beautiful wedding in Aspen. Eva and Todd prefer a small wedding and a long honeymoon.”
Lucas frowned. “Why am I always the last one to know?”
Victoria laughed. “You are certainly not the last one to know, Lucas. You’ve just been preoccupied with other things.”
He grunted. “I suppose Traynor and Dr. Frasier will be next.”
Victoria nodded. “I have no doubt. Love, as you know, comes in its own time.”
“That I do.” His gray eyes twinkled with mischief. “Ours certainly took quite the journey.”
“It did indeed.”
A soft rap on the door preceded Jamie’s entrance. Victoria’s heart leaped as her granddaughter entered the room. Like her father, she had the blond hair and blue eyes of a Colby. She was tall and thin, but strong and incredibly intelligent. Victoria could not be more proud of her.
“Good morning, little girl,” Lucas teased. He’d always called Jamie little girl.
Jamie leaned down and gave him a peck on the cheek. “Morning, Grandfather.” She rounded Victoria’s desk and gave her a kiss on the cheek, as well. “You look beautiful as always, Grandmother.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. Shall we begin?”
“I can’t wait.” Jamie settled into the chair next to Lucas. The blue suit she wore set off her beautiful eyes.
“As you’re aware,” Victoria began, “we’ve been working with Missing, the international network focused solely on finding missing persons.”
“Yes.”
It was impossible not to see the excitement in her eyes.
“The Colby Agency is very excited to be a part of the plan to broaden and deepen the search for those who’ve gone missing, especially the most vulnerable. Since many of the most vulnerable are children and young adults, we have decided it’s imperative that someone who can better fit into that world should oversee this new outreach program.”
Jamie nodded. “A reasonable conclusion.”
“The program will be small in the beginning. Since the work will be completely pro bono, we need to be quite selective in the cases we choose.”
“If our program is successful,” Jamie offered, “I’m certain we’ll be able to extend the scope of it with funds from generous donors.”
There was another of Jamie’s uncanny skills. Fund-raising. The girl had a flair for the work. By the time she was in high school, she was already working for half a dozen local charities.
“For now, we’ll take it one step at a time,” Lucas cautioned. “This is hard, emotionally charged work. Your grandmother and I want to be absolutely certain that you comprehend the challenge before you.”
“This is what I want to do,” Jamie assured him. “I can think of no more fulfilling work than to reunite the lost with their loved ones.”
“There isn’t always a happy ending,” Victoria cautioned. “Oftentimes, finding those who are lost means finding remains or merely finding the truth and nothing else.”
Jamie squared her shoulders and lifted her chin in defiance of their warnings. “I understand and I’m ready to face those challenges.”
“It’s a fine cause, Jamie,” Victoria said, finding it difficult to keep her voice steady. This was a very emotional subject for her. “You’ve made it clear that you feel deeply about this program. Does what happened to your father have anything to do with those feelings?”
Though Jamie had only heard the stories, she understood what a nightmare that time had been. Her father, Jim, had been stolen from Victoria when he was only seven years old and he remained missing, presumed dead, for more than two decades. Victoria felt certain she would never know all the horrors he had suffered. His journey back to Victoria had not been easy for either of them, but they had survived. Now he had a wonderful wife and two beautiful children, Jamie and her younger brother, Luke. Jim worked alongside Victoria at this agency—the agency she and his father, James Colby, had built. Even now, thinking of those awful years had tears burning her eyes.
“Done.” Victoria smiled. “You may begin organizing your team right away.”
Jamie hugged them both.
It was a good decision. Victoria’s heart was full with the realization that her son and her granddaughter would carry on the work that meant so very much to her.
A new generation of Colbys. Time to celebrate.
* * * * *
Look for more new Colbys coming soon from Debra Webb and Harlequin Intrigue.
To read the story of the return of Victoria’s son,
look for STRIKING DISTANCE,
only from Debra Webb and Harlequin Books.
Keep reading for an excerpt from SAVED BY THE SHERIFF by Cindi Myers.
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