by Woods, Karen
* * *
Josh was glad to see the life and mischief come back into her eyes. “Sometime, I’ll tell you all about my ‘sheltered’ life.”
“Do I have the proper security clearances?” she only half teased.
He smiled at her. “For now, you need to hear the detective out. And it’s not a good idea,” he added as he closed the blinds, “to be in front of an open window, even out here on the ranch.”
“No,” she agreed on a sigh. “It’s probably not. It’s highly unlikely someone could be out there with a scoped rifle, but it’s not outside of the realm of possibility.”
“You know the drill. For your safety, don’t take chances,” Josh advised. “You’re too important to risk.”
“At this point, I’m almost not certain it’s safe to breathe.”
Josh nodded. “There are circumstances it might well not be.”
“Oh, that’s reassuring!”
“It’s just reality.”
“I know.”
“Come on, Gee. Hear the detective the rest of the way out.”
“Have I ever told you how much I hate that blasted nickname Brad gave me?”
“I think it’s cute.”
“You would,” she dismissed.
Josh chuckled. Even now, with everything going on, he was happy just being with her.
* * *
“Okay, Detective,” Geri said as she took her place in front of Josh’s desk once more. “Tell me the rest of it.”
“Bill Albert has become our chief suspect.”
Geri felt herself grow faint. “Albert? How? He’s locked up.”
The detective shook his head. “He escaped.”
She drew a deep breath. “We need to alert the others.”
Detective Matthews nodded. “I’ve got a man working on it. We’re contacting the police in the cities where the others live in order to relay the message.”
Geri nodded. “What else do I need to know?”
“You should know Albert had plastic surgery as part of his therapy. Apparently, they thought it would help his self-esteem if those scars you caused him were minimized and his face was enhanced. I’ve got a call into the plastic surgeon who did the work to get the ‘after’ photographs. Hopefully, I’ll have those in the next day or two.”
“That man never needed a boost to his self-esteem,” Geri replied bitterly. “He was one of the most confident, self-assured, psychopaths I’ve ever had the misfortune to know. The only fault with his self-esteem was he had too much of it… He was planning this all along. But, he played the staff at the hospital and home as expertly as he played the staff in the juvenile system in Iowa.”
The detective agreed, “Looks that way. I’ve got people trying to match the partial fingerprints we lifted from the gifts with the copies of his prints from the files.”
Geri sighed and began to pace. “I don’t think even he would be that stupid. But, I’ve been wrong before. What else?”
“I got a fax. Here’s a copy of it”
Geri read the message.
Tell Gerianne Erikson that it will be over when I want it to be over. No one can stop me. And when I’m done, I’ll simply disappear, never to be found. You can’t catch me. You can’t stop me. It won’t be long now until she’s dead at my hands. I can hardly wait to have my hands wrapped around her throat, choking the breath out of her too pale, too skinny, body. She doesn’t deserve to live.
She looked at the fax number printed at the edge of the message. Then she looked at the detective. “That’s from one of Brad’s office fax machines.”
The detective nodded. “Apparently his office had been broken into on Friday night. On Saturday, we found an unexploded bomb there of the same type we think may have been used on your apartment building. Apparently, the detonator on this device was defective.”
“Brad knows this?”
“Bennet knows. We traced the fax number and got search warrants for both his home and office.”
“This fax came in when?” Geri demanded.
“Saturday morning early. After you left my office.”
“And you did the search when?” Josh asked.
“Saturday morning about nine-thirty. It took a while to get the search warrant. We arrived at his office just a few minutes ahead of him.”
“I’m assuming you found no evidence of explosives at Brad’s house?” Geri asked.
“It was totally clean,” the detective replied. “Bennet is not under suspicion.”
* * *
Josh watched Geri reach for her cellphone. Apparently, the answering machine picked up, for she said, “Bradford Edmund Bennet, answer the phone, right now! I know that you are there…Come on, Brad! Pick it up, now!…Yeah, hi, yourself, old man…Detective Matthews is here…Uh huh…So, you didn’t want to worry me? Yeah right…No, I’m not happy, but what else is new?…We need to talk…I’ll be here…See you then.”
She hung up the phone. “Brad’s on his way.”
“That’s good. I want to talk to him,” Josh replied.
* * *
“About what?” Geri challenged.
“Things,” Josh stated obliquely.
“What kind of things?” Geri demanded.
Josh smiled at her. “Anyone ever tell you that you were entirely too noisy for your own good, woman?”
“Frequently.”
“Then, it should be no surprise to you when I tell you that.”
“Josh! If this concerns me, then I have a right…oh, forget it…” she said in disgust. Geri turned her attention back to the detective, deciding if Josh wanted her to know, he’d tell her and if he didn’t want her to know, there wasn’t a force on earth that could convince him to do so.
Detective Matthews continued, “Your cousin’s home security is much better than at his office.”
Geri nodded. “I’ve been after him for years to improve the office security. The other people in the building weren’t willing to spend the money. Maybe now they will be.”
“I hope so,” the detective said. “It wasn’t bad before. But, with Albert on the loose, tightening up security measures wouldn’t be a bad idea for anyone.”
“Albert would be thirty-six, now. Men change a lot in appearance between twenty-two and thirty-six, even if they haven’t had plastic surgery,” Geri reflected. “I’m not sure I’d recognize him.”
The detective informed her, “That’s why I’m trying to get recent photographs of the man.”
“How recently was the surgery done?” Josh demanded.
“A year ago,” the detective answered. “The doctors determined he was no longer a threat to anyone and they wanted to give him a fresh start.”
“Shows you how much they know,” Geri remarked, her voice bitter, even to her own hearing.
“I can’t argue that,” the detective agreed. “He just walked away from the program. The program director didn’t want the black mark on his own record, so he marked the man as released, instead of escaped. And didn’t report the escape/release to the state agency in charge of his case.”
Geri shuddered. “What I want to know is how come it took this long for you to find this out. You had told me he was safely locked away.”
“I did some double checking, at Mr. Sutherland’s suggestion,” the detective answered. “The information I was originally given was incorrect.”
Geri turned to face Josh. “Doing some investigating on your own?”
Josh shrugged. “I look out for my people. You should know that by now.”
Geri nodded. “We’ll discuss this later.”
“Among other things, Geri,” Josh agreed. “Seems we have quite a bit of talking to do.”
“Seems so,” Geri said before she turned around to face the detective once more. “Is there anything else?”
“The news media will be given the full story on Monday. Right now, they are being put off with the explanation that the matter is still under investigation. Hopefully, that release
of the information will be complete with pictures of Albert,” the detective said.
“Good. The sooner his face gets out there, the sooner this all will be over with,” she agreed. “We need to make his face commonly known, so maybe someone will report a sighting and he can be caught before any more people are killed.”
“Well, that’s all I know, right now,” the detective said.
“Thanks for coming out,” she told him.
“Wish it were with better news.”
* * *
“That makes three of us,” Josh replied as he stood.
The bodyguards showed the detective to the door.
Josh closed the door to his office. Then he came to stand just in front of her. “Geri, how are you doing with this?”
“I’m okay,” she dismissed.
“No. I don’t believe that you are.”
“I’m so sick of all of this. I just want it over.”
“I know,” he said as he stroked her face. He wrapped his arms around her. “Sweetheart,” he said, his voice thick with need. Then, he kissed her. He hadn’t counted on the immediacy of her response. The caress deepened into a duel of passion, each of them feeding the desire of the other.
* * *
The wildness she felt both scared and thrilled her. But, she’d have time enough later to analyze this. She simply gave herself over to the sensation. She had dreamed about being in his arms for years, had dreamed about kissing him. But, the dreams, as intense as they had been, hadn’t even begun to approach the reality.
When the kiss finally ended, Josh held her firmly, her head against his shoulder. “You wanted that kiss as much as I did,” Josh said with a mixture of satisfaction and need in his voice.
“I’ve wanted to be in your arms since the first moment we met,” she confessed and then was immediately embarrassed she had spoken so openly to him about this. She had never intended him to learn that particular fact.
He looked at her, stunned at her words. “You’ve never given me any indication you’ve felt that way about me.”
“It wouldn’t have been right, Josh. You were married. That put you strictly off limits. Regardless of the cost, I always play by the rules.”
“I’ve been available for several months now, Geri.”
“No. You’ve been mourning for Amanda. I saw how badly her death hurt you. I’m not sure you’re ready, now, to move on. You’re still wearing her ring. I’m a fool for being here with you like this, no matter how much I want to be just where I am,” she said as she pulled herself from his arms. “I’m putting you in danger. That’s not a loving act.”
“Mandy wanted me to go on. It would have made her happy to know I have another woman in my life. You and I will be very happy together.”
“Is that your mind, your heart, or your rather impressive erection talking?”
He smiled. “Geri!”
“I’m not completely naïve.”
“You said you’ve wanted me ever since you’ve known me.”
“I probably shouldn’t have said that.”
“Is it true?”
“Do you think I lie?”
“You’ve never lied to me. You’ve let me make assumptions. You’ve kept things back from me. But, you’ve never lied to me.”
“Josh,” she interjected. “Do you tell everything about yourself to the people you work with?”
“You’ve always been more than just someone who’s worked for me. I’ve always been fond of you.”
“Fond? Is that all you feel for me?” she asked.
“I’m not sure what I feel. But it’s more than merely fond.”
She stepped back from him. She needed to put a little distance between them. Standing close to him was one way of guaranteeing that she couldn’t think. “When you make up your mind, Josh, let me know.”
He stepped toward her. “We both know that we could be in bed together, right now, enjoying one another.”
“Don’t tempt me.”
“Could I?”
“You know you could, and do,” she answered on a whisper.
His lips closed over hers once more as he pulled her fully into his arms. The surge of pleasure hit her midsection once more. This caress beguiled even as it demanded.
She found herself returning his demands and entreaties in equal measure. The small part of her mind that was still functioning told her that they would need to stop soon, or they wouldn’t stop at all. The wanting had become need and the need was rapidly growing out of control.
“Let’s go upstairs,” he urged her when the caress ended.
She shook her head negatively and stepped back from him. “No, Josh.”
“Are you afraid of me?”
“Hardly,” she dismissed.
He looked at her in concern for a long moment. “Geri, are you afraid of being intimate with me?”
“There are all kinds of intimacy,” she said, hoping to sidestep his question.
“You said that you have been celibate from choice and out of fear, Geri.”
“You would have to remember that.”
“Have you ever known me to forget anything?”
“No.”
“I understand how you would be afraid of being hurt.”
“I doubt that,” she muttered.
“So tell me,” Josh demanded.
Geri turned away from him. “Tell you…” she said with a dismissive shake of her head and a weary sigh. “I can’t tell you about it.”
“You can tell me anything. It isn’t going to change anything between us.”
“I don’t talk about this. Not to anyone. I’d rather leave it in the past where it belongs.”
“You haven’t left it. You carry it around with you.”
* * *
She turned to face him, anger in her eyes. That anger took him aback for a second. “Don’t psychoanalyze me, Josh! A) you aren’t qualified and B) I’ve had my fill of analysts, psychologists, counselors, and psychiatrists. My family put me through all kinds of talk therapy after Delgado, and then after Janice’s death, trying to remake me into the girl I was before all this happened. It can’t be done. Life leaves scars on all of us. The best we can do is to pick up and move on. Dwelling in the past only robs a person of the future.”
“I care about you. I want to help you.”
“Oh, yes, help the little frigid woman past her fear of sex,” she offered, angry bitterness in her voice. “No, thank you.”
“One thing you’re not, sweetheart, is frigid,” he countered, his voice strained with the effort of not laughing at her incredibly false description of herself. “Honey, if you were any hotter, you’d burst into flames in my arms.”
“You mean I don’t? I could have sworn I had.”
“If you think that was firey, just wait. We’re going to need flame proof sheets, woman. We’ll suit one another very well in bed. Just as we’ve always suited one another in business.”
“Is sleeping with me all you want?”
“We both know that sleeping is the last thing that we would be doing together,” Josh said as he stroked her face. “Baby, I doubt that we’ll be sleeping at all, both too aware of the other to be able to sleep at all until our bodies are thoroughly exhausted from loving one another. And then the hunger will stir again as soon as we awaken. That’s just the way it is between us.”
* * *
She nuzzled his hand, luxuriating in the feel of his caress.
“No. I won’t endanger you further. I won’t do it,” she said painfully as she turned and stepped away from him. “It would be selfish for me to do this when it would place you in danger.”
“It’s your call. But, do you really think that Albert’s going to see this arrangement and not believe we are sleeping together? I’d just as soon be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.”
“I told you this would be misconstrued,” she said, hearing the pain in her voice. “I’ll be gone by evening. Thanks for everything, Josh. I appreciate what y
ou’ve tried to do. But, it’s time to draw this idiot out. I won’t further endanger you in the process. You’ll have my resignation on your desk tomorrow morning, if I live that long.”
He put his hands on her shoulder and turned her around to face him. “You would really make yourself a bigger target just to take me out of danger, wouldn’t you?”
“Without a moment’s hesitation,” she told him. “Nothing is more important to me than your safety. I shouldn’t have let you talk me into coming here in the first place.”
“Gerianne!” he said as he pulled her into his arms and kissed her once more.
The caress was almost punishing in its force. But, she understood, and shared, the wildness. This was stupid, she told herself in one of her last coherent thoughts before the need became uncontrolled hunger.
“Come to bed with me, Geri,” Josh ordered. “Now. Be my woman. Share my life. Be my wife for the rest of our lives, starting today.”
Chapter Eight
“Did you just say what I think I heard?” she asked.
“Depends on what you think you heard,” he replied, wearing a grin. He touched her face. “Geri, are you going to make me get down on one knee and beg for your hand in marriage?”
She couldn’t contain the nervous giggle she felt bubbling up in her throat. Marriage, now? She felt alternately panicked at, and giddy with, the thought of being Josh’s wife. The situation was complex enough as it was. Adding another entanglement to her life could be dangerous. Yet, he was seriously asking her to be his wife. She loved him too much to hurt him, or to see him hurt. Yet, one way or the other he stood a large chance of being hurt either physically by Albert or emotionally by herself. On the other hand, both injuries were quite possible regardless of what she did now.
There had been no words of love from him. Maybe he would grow into loving her. Was she willing to take the risk? Whatever else Josh was, he wasn’t a cruel man. He’d never hurt her. She knew deep in her soul that if they lived long enough to have children, those babies would be loved and cherished by him. There were worse reasons to marry than a combination of friendship and desire. Friendship was a good basis; a better foundation than many marriages had possessed over history.