Tangled Hearts

by Barbara McMahon

  Brianna woke the next morning after a restless night’s sleep. It wasn’t only the break-in that had kept her awake; it was seeing Jake again. She dressed warmly in dark wool slacks and a bright blue sweater, then brushed her long hair until it crackled with static electricity. Toast was all she wanted for breakfast. And coffee. She didn’t feel much like eating.

  As she sipped her second cup, she wandered back to her living room and stood almost where she had last night. She could picture Jake there, prowling around, looking for clues to assist in apprehending the person who had broken into her place. Curiously, she wondered what he’d thought of her home. Had he connected it to her at all in any personal way? Or was it just another crime scene to him?

  And who was Diane? How serious were they? Would he stop seeing Diane as suddenly as he had stopped seeing her, or was he more involved this time?

  Shaking her head impatiently, Brianna finished her coffee and briskly began to make plans to contact her insurance company, replace her computer and clean her house from top to bottom to get rid of all the fingerprint powder. She’d put Jake Morgan behind her two years ago. Seeing him briefly last night wasn’t going to miraculously change anything.

  The house shone when Brianna finished and she was pleasantly tired. Surely tonight she’d sleep.

  Tomorrow she’d have to begin her lesson plans. After destroying her computer hard drive, the vandals had then absconded with her backup floppies. As the newest assistant professor of mathematics at the community college in town, she prided herself on being prepared. She had mapped out her courses during the past summer and had thought herself on top of things. Now she was back to square one. Or square two anyway. Some of her preliminary notes were in her office at the college. Tomorrow she’d go pick them up. At least she had a starting point.

  She had told the police what was on her computer. Would they start looking at students? Who else would care about lesson plans and grades for college classes?

  The knock on the door was unexpected. Nervous, she used the peephole for the first time. Recognition was instant.

  “Jake?” She opened the door, startled to see him again. After two years of silence, twice in two days?

  “Hi, Brie. Can I come in?”

  “Sure.” She stepped back, her eyes fastened on him. There was no way she could stop the spontaneous curl of heat that seeing him ignited, but she could control her reactions around him. Pasting a polite smile on her face, she took a deep breath and held it, trying desperately to look as remote and detached as he did.

  “Everything’s back to normal, I see,” he said, standing near the sofa. He dominated the room, his very presence seeming to fill it with excitement and masculine power.

  Brianna nodded, afraid to step too close lest she be scorched by his heat.

  “Anything missing?”

  She shrugged. “They broke the computer and stole my diskettes. Other than that, nothing. And it’s such a pain. I had all my lesson plans on the computer. I have to start over and classes begin again next week.”

  “Tough break. But it could have been worse. Does Don suspect it was kids looking for exams or grades or something?”

  She shook her head, wishing she could step away. His eyes were dark, seeking. She hoped he didn’t see more than she wanted him to see. “I don’t keep exams grades here. I’ve already turned in the grades from last semester. I don’t keep anything important from work here, just lesson plans. The college's computer security is high, so of course I use that.”

  He shrugged, his eyes never leaving hers. “Students don’t necessarily know that.”

  “Maybe at the beginning of each school year I should announce that to all my classes,” she said lightly, suddenly wishing she could bring a hint of amusement to those assessing eyes, a hint of softness to the hard glare that never deviated an inch.

  Instead, he merely nodded. “Might be a good idea.”

  She shook her head and relaxed as much as her racing heart would allow. “Do you want come coffee?”

  He hesitated a long moment, as if weighing the pros and cons before finally nodding slightly.

  “I’ll get it. You could take off your coat if you’re staying awhile.” She hurried to the kitchen, feeling as fluttery as a freshman dating a senior. What was the matter with her? He was an old friend.

  Friend?

  Well, more than that, but if she didn’t want to set herself up for future heartache, she’d better remember he hadn’t wanted it that way and had ended it. Nothing had changed since the last time she'd seen him.

  So why was he here?

  Jake shrugged out of his heavy coat and tossed it across the back of her sofa. Prowling around the room, he loosened his tie as a further concession to comfort. He’d had a twelve-hour shift and was tired. But he wanted to make sure she was all right before he headed for home.

  He paused by her desk and studied the wrecked laptop. Whoever had damaged it had wanted to make sure it would never work again. The screen had been bashed in. The base looked as if it had been hacked, the keys ripped off. Was there a particular reason, or was it just wanton vandalism? Had the guy been interrupted after damaging the computer? Why wasn't there more damage throughout the house?

  Slowly he turned, his glance taking in the rest of the room. It was warm and welcoming. As Brie had been the entire time they dated, warm and welcoming—always happy to see him.

  Moving on, he stopped by her bookshelves, smiling at all the mystery titles.

  She’d always been a mystery buff. Once, a long time ago, he’d wondered if that was why she'd liked dating a cop. He hadn’t thought about that in a long time.

  He spotted a group of photos. Her brother, Josh, he recognized instantly, his expression tightening as his gaze moved to the next photo. The man looked a bit like Brianna in a rugged way. He must be her brother, Jase. Was the petite woman with him his new wife? The faded picture to one side had to be her parents, the couple who had died when she’d been a little girl.

  “So why did you come, Jake?” Brianna asked as she stepped into the room and deposited the tray of coffee carefully on the table in front of the sofa.

  “I wanted to make sure you were all right,” he said, turning and crossing the room to sit on the chair near the table.

  “You could have checked with Officer Winston. Isn’t he the one in charge? He could have told you I’m fine.” She handed him a cup, sweetened and black. She remembered how he liked it.

  “There’s fine and there’s fine. I wanted to make sure,” he repeated, watching her over the rim of the cup as he took a sip. It was hot, but not as hot as she made him feel. Coming here had been a mistake.

  “Actually, I’m more angry than anything right now. I’m incensed that someone had the nerve to break into my home. Furious that they touched my things, destroyed my work. And irate that I don’t have a clue as to who did it so I could hold them accountable,” she said, flaring up.

  “Better anger than depression or fear,” he said. She was pretty when she was mad, her eyes like blue flames, her cheeks rosy and flushed.

  “Fear? Oh, about staying here, you mean?”

  He nodded.

  “I guess.” She sighed heavily, calming slightly. “I'm not going to let some crook run me out of my home. There’s nothing to do but go on.”

  As she had when he stopped calling.

  She’d tried to call him a couple of times. But when she’d been given the runaround at his office, she’d known not to call again. Gripping her hands tightly around her mug, she sipped her coffee.

  She ached to know what he had been doing these past two years, longed to know if he had missed her at all. But she refused to ask a single question lest she never be able to stop.

  Jake stood abruptly. “Thanks for the coffee. I’m glad you’re doing okay after all.” He grabbed his coat when she stood.

  “Thanks for stopping by.” She tilted her chin again, as she had the night before. She refused to break down and beg
him to stay. He had made his decision two years ago. Why, she still didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. He was no longer hers. He never had been.

  Despite her best attempts, however, when she opened the door, her hand brushed against him involuntarily. Her fingers skimmed his sleeve, feeling the rock-hard muscles bunch tightly. She closed her eyes briefly at the shock of sensation that flooded through her.

  “Take care, Brie,” he said huskily as he passed by and out into the cold night. No kiss, no hug, no words of future meetings. Simply take care. Yet it was more than she had received last time.

  Drifting off to sleep later, Brianna was vaguely pleased to acknowledge she’d not given any indication to Jake of how much his leaving had devastated her. She ignored the loneliness in the big bed that she had once thought to share with a hot, passionate male. She was over him. Or she would be one day soon. Very soon! She had lesson plans to worry about now, not some tall, rugged cop.

  Brianna bought a new laptop first thing the next morning. She had another week before classes began and she needed to work flat out to make sure she was ready for the first day. Her job as associate professor in the mathematics department had been hard won. She worked hard to make sure she performed so well that there would never be any question that the decision had been the best the college had made. She had her eye on a full professorship before she reached thirty.

  After purchasing the computer, Brianna headed for the campus. Fall classes had ended before the Christmas break, but there were always students wandering the campus, some working on a thesis or long-term projects, taking advantage of the Christmas break to take advantage of the enrichment part of campus. Others were just hanging around for any action they could find.

  Brianna smiled as she made her way to her office. Only a few years ago, she’d been an undergraduate at a different college. How she’d loved it. So much that Jase had once accused her of wanting to become a professional student. That wasn't her goal. She liked the synergy of college students. She’d made the switch from student to instructor then assistant professor with little difficulty. And she still loved the discussions and arguments that could arise as young brains forged forward with new ideas and fascinating conjectures.

  The office building echoed eerily when she entered. The usual professors, instructors and endless groups of students were missing because of the holidays. Even the administrative staff was gone until next week. Her footsteps echoed in the oddly silent building.

  She hurried up the stairs to the small cubicle she called her home away from home. It had a narrow window that gave a brief glimpse of the campus. Scarcely large enough for her desk, bookshelves, large chalkboard and a couple of chairs, it still represented the first step up the ladder toward a full professorship. And she was lucky enough to have it all to herself.

  Brianna opened the door and stopped dead.

  Chapter Two

  “I’m trying to reach Detective Jake Morgan,” Brianna said yet again. This was the third voice to come on the phone. How hard was it to get through if someone had an emergency?

  Or was he deliberately avoiding her? Was he worried she’d call him on the slightest pretext to try to insinuate herself back into his life—

  “Yeah, this is Morgan.” His distinctive Western drawl was more welcome than she anticipated.

  “Jake, it’s Brianna. I’m sorry to bother you at work and all, even though it is police business. Well, it’s really probably more for Officer Winston, but I don’t think his area extends over here and the campus police did say they’d handle it and contact the city police, so I—”

  “Brianna!”

  “Yes?” She took a deep breath, holding on to her nerves with a will of iron.

  “Take a deep breath and slowly tell me why you’re calling. Slowly.” The order came through loud and clear.

  Brianna took another deep breath. “I did. I thought I did. Jake, my office was ransacked like my house.”

  “I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he said, severing the connection.

  Slowly, Brianna placed the receiver carefully back on her phone. She tried a shaky smile for the elderly security guard standing beside her desk. “He’s coming over,” she said.

  “Campus police won’t like it, miss. They said they’d handle it,” the man said morosely.

  “Yes, well, Detective Morgan is a personal friend.”

  And she was beginning to feel she needed one. It was cold in her office. The window had been cracked open. Scattered files and folders, torn papers and ripped books added to the chill. She stood and headed for the door.

  “I’ll wait outside for my friend,” she said, not waiting for agreement, giving in to a need to escape.

  She sat on the marble bench in front of the building, willing the rays of the bright winter sun to warm her. Cool, crisp air swirled slowly around, cold enough to keep the snow from melting, to keep the sun from offering any solace beyond an illusion of warmth. Still, she felt better sitting outside than in her office.

  Who would do such a thing? The security guard had checked the other offices on the floor. None had been disturbed. It was only hers. She knew the drill from last night. Wait for the police to check it out, then ascertain if anything was missing. Then clean up everything.

  Instead of working on lesson plans for the first few days, she'd spend the day putting things away and salvaging what she could.

  She hoped she could find her notes for the spring classes and that her grading sheets and student files weren’t impossibly scrambled. But for the moment she just wanted to sit in the sun and forget the scenes of destruction that had met her ever since her return from Christmas vacation.

  Jake careened around the corner in front of the student union. He drew to a halt before the Ross Building, against the flow of traffic, his light flashing. Climbing from the car, he left the lights on, immediately headed for her, as out of place on the college campus as a fox in a hen house. His tall frame moved easily through the scattered groups of undergraduates with a controlled motion that reminded Brianna of a wolf on the prowl. King of the wolf pack, dominant, arrogant, confident and deadly, he made the strutting college boys look like pups.

  Yet he remained totally oblivious to it, his eyes already on her. All his attention focused on her.

  Willing her heart rate to slow, Brianna sprang up from the bench and waited impatiently for him to reach her. She couldn’t take her eyes away from his dark gleam. For one heartbeat she felt safe. Jake would find out what was going on and make things come right. She knew it.

  Then the shivers of awareness began, raking through her as he drew nearer and nearer until she could reach out and touch him. She didn’t have to.

  He reached for her first, drawing her up firmly against his hard chest, holding her in his arms while she breathed out a shaky sigh of relief, resting her forehead against his shoulder.

  “Oh, Jake. I know it isn’t your case and I probably should have called Officer Winston, but I wanted you. I didn’t know what else to do.”

  “You’re shaking.” His arms tightened even more until she could feel the steel in him along the length of her, feel the imprint of masculine strength surround her.

  “It’s the last time I take a trip, I can tell you,” she said, trying for some humor. Truth to tell, she felt just the tiniest bit scared.

  “Where’s your office?” He released her, held her shoulders while he ducked his head to stare down into her blue eyes. “Do the campus police have any ideas when it happened?” he asked, ever the cop.

  “They don’t know. Some time since school let out before Christmas. It’s this way.”

  She felt momentarily bereft when his hands dropped from her shoulders, but one arm came around her and while she longed to leaned against him to savor his strength, she pulled away. Drawing on her own determination and courage, she led the way inside and to her office.

  The elderly security man stood on duty, leaning against the hallway wall. Except for the door to Br
ianna’s office, all the others on the floor were closed.

  “This is Detective Morgan. He wants to see my office,” Brianna said as they drew abreast of the open door.

  “Now, miss, there’s no need. The campus police have been and gone. They have the case in hand,” the older man protested.

  Jake smiled easily, offering his hand to the guard. “I’m not planning to run interference, just checking it out for Miss Hart. I won’t touch a thing.”

  “I’m sure that won’t matter. The place has been dusted, pictures taken. She can clean it up now if she wants. I’m just waiting around until she’s ready to leave. The lock on the door's busted so I don't want her to be alone.”

  “Nice of you. I can take over if you have other things to do,” Jake offered.

  After a sharp look at Jake and a quick glance at Brianna, the older man nodded. “You’d probably do her a whole lot more good than me if there was a problem.” He nodded and saluted Brianna with two fingers before heading down the hall.

  Jake swung back to her, the smile gone, his expression pure business. “Let’s see.”

  She stood aside as he prowled her office. Since the campus police had already dusted for fingerprints, he had no hesitation in picking things up and examining them.

  “Anything missing?”

  She shrugged. “Not at first glance. But it will take days to get this mess cleaned up and put back into order. Much longer than it took at home if they’ve scrambled the papers.”

  “Any other office hit?”

  “No. The campus police checked when they were here.”

  He leaned back against her desk and stared around the small room for a long moment, then snapped his gaze toward her.

  “All right, let’s have it, Brie. What do you have that someone wants?”

  “Nothing!”

  “A break-in at home and one at your office in the same week. That stretches coincidence a bit too far. You must have something someone wants pretty badly.”