A Stranger Is Watching

by Linda Randall Wisdom

  “You feed the lady any of that pizza?” His gaze lingered on the box that was almost empty.

  One of the men, who had been introduced to Riley as Jim Case, shifted uneasily under the hard look Riley now directed his way.

  “She hasn’t eaten all that much,” he muttered. “She says she’s not hungry, and we haven’t wanted to push anything on her. She’s still feeling pretty raw from the attack.”

  Riley looked around at the furnishings that were the usual issue for any safe house. He didn’t see any sign of a third agent.

  “Where’s the female marshal?” he rapped out. “There’s supposed to be one here for her.”

  “She’ll show up in an hour or so,” Stan, the other marshal, replied. “Ms. Carson stays to herself in the master bedroom.” He grinned. “Easy duty for us. She’s easy to look at, and she’s quiet. Wish my wife was like that.”

  “What the hell do you guys think you’re doing?” Riley exploded. “Do you realize just who you’re looking after? Before she was put into the Program, this lady was-well on her way to becoming one of the leading artists of our time. If she hadn’t been at the wrong place at the wrong time, she would have been world famous by now.” He bore down on the man.

  “Hey, buddy.” Dave laid a restraining hand on his arm. “Their idea of art is something their kids do in kindergarten.”

  Riley stepped back, but the fear on the other man’s face said he knew if it hadn’t been for Dave, he would have been picking himself up off the floor.

  Riley shook off Dave’s restraining hand, threw a look filled with disgust at the other men and headed for the rear of the house. It wasn’t hard to guess that the only room with a closed door was the one housing Jenna Welles.

  “Her name’s Faith Carson now,” Dave called after him.

  Riley’s hand lingered on the doorknob, but he found he couldn’t turn it. He lifted his other hand and softly rapped his knuckles against the door.

  “Miss Carson, may I come in?” He wasn’t surprised there was no answer. He turned the knob and pushed the door inward.

  The woman lay curled up on the bed with her back to him. The drapes were drawn so all she had to look at was a dark blue and green floral print. She didn’t turn, although she had to have heard the door opening.

  “Hey there, Smitty.”

  Her head snapped up and around when she heard the husky voice she hadn’t heard for years. Jenna had forgotten the nickname Riley had bestowed on her once when they’d stopped at a little out-of-the-way bed-and-breakfast and she had laughingly checked them in as Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

  She had forced herself to forget who she’d been. As it was, she lived with a constant reminder of the life she’d once lived and would never be able to return to. The familiar voice brought tears to her eyes as she stared at the man she’d been so deeply in love with, who had abandoned her when she’d needed him most.

  “Why are you here?” she whispered, not moving from her fetal position.

  Riley closed the door behind him as he stepped into the room. He walked around the bed and sat down on the edge, his hip bumping against her knees. He took her hands in his and found them ice-cold. The splints on her fingers were a reminder of her trauma, along with the deepening bruises on her face. She was dressed in badly wrinkled shorts and a T-shirt that showed spots of dried blood. There was no doubt she had come home from the hospital in these clothes.

  He felt the anger boiling up inside him until he thought he might erupt. Those bastards! Why hadn’t they taken those clothes away from her and given her fresh clothing? Hadn’t they checked her to see if she was in pain?

  “You told the cops you surprised a burglar, didn’t you?” he said quietly, touching her hands lightly. It was as if the past few years hadn’t happened and he’d only been gone a few moments.

  She shrugged. “It was easier to make them believe that than tell them the truth. I knew your office wouldn’t want them to know the truth.” Her words were slightly garbled because of her lower lip. He hazarded a guess that she probably had some cuts inside her mouth, too. “Why are you here? Dave said you didn’t work for them anymore.”

  “I couldn’t let one of my cases fall into someone else’s hands, could I?” he said lightly. But there was no answering smile. Only a shadowy pain in her eyes. He thought of a fragile doll with a backbone of steel. Except he didn’t see any of that steel in her now.

  She slowly drew her hands back and placed them gingerly on the bedspread.

  “It was nice of you to visit.” She spoke in the same quiet voice he remembered, but now it had no hint of a Southern accent.

  “This isn’t a visit, Jenna. I’m here to protect you.”

  “My name is Faith now.”

  He shook his head. “Sorry, to me you’ll always be Jenna, no matter what name they gave you.”

  Jenna Welles, now Faith Carson, studied Riley. His face was a deep bronze. His hair hung to his shoulders, and there was a harshness in his voice she didn’t remember from before. There wasn’t anything familiar in his style of clothing. At first she felt as if she was looking at a total stranger.

  Then she stared into his jungle cat eyes. A deep brown with glittering flakes of gold that almost seemed to glow in the dark. The eyes she remembered. They always glowed a deep gold when he made love to her. She noted the lines carved in his rough-hewn face that hadn’t been there before. She could sense the anger simmering deep within him. Yet he had always been unbearably gentle with her.

  She had thought of Riley all the time the faceless man had terrorized her with his soft-spoken promises of pain just before he carried them out. She’d hugged memories of his strength as pain seemed to radiate all through her body with each blow directed at her, each light slice of the knife across her skin bringing on even more agony. At first she had prided herself on not begging him to stop, in not screaming. Then the pain took over, and her screams were ceaseless. She was still screaming, unaware her attacker had escaped, when the police arrived and tried to help her.

  While she lay in the hospital’s Emergency Room, she’d clung to the hope that Riley would arrive and make things better. She kept asking the other marshals to contact Riley. She needed him. Except it was Dave Gaines who had arrived. That was when she shut down. She mentally and emotionally had withdrawn from the world around her, because it was the only way she felt safe. She’d allowed the marshals to take her from the hospital to this house. She hadn’t even bothered to ask to return to her house for her things. By then she just didn’t care what happened to her.

  “When was the last time you slept?” Riley asked her.

  She hadn’t expected that question. She’d expected him to immediately ask her about the man who had attacked her, what he’d said and anything else she might remember. The others had asked all those questions and more, but she wasn’t able to help them very much.

  She lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “Not long ago.” She knew she looked like hell. She didn’t want to tell him that she didn’t want to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw her attacker. Unthinkingly, she shuddered.

  Riley stood up. With ease, he gathered her up in his arms and reached down to pull back the covers. He carefully laid her back down and placed the covers over her. She didn’t take her eyes off him as he walked over to the adjoining bathroom. He opened the door a few inches and flipped on the light. He walked back to the bed and sat down on the other side with his back braced against the headboard.

  “Sleep, Smitty.” His voice flowed over her like warm water.

  She didn’t consider doing anything else. She obediently closed her eyes, and with the knowledge Riley was watching over her, she fell into the first deep sleep she had had in days.

  Chapter 2

  Jenna’s sleep brought terror. If she slept, she dreamed. And when she dreamed, her attacker returned to haunt her. He whispered vile things in her ear, he smiled as he caused pain in every part of her body. And his eyes. Pale blue shot with silver, t
hey were cold as ice as they watched her writhe in agony under his professionally placed blows meant to cause excruciating pain. She whimpered and tried to move away from his tight grip. When he didn’t relent, she lashed out with her fists. She didn’t know why she tried to fight back since he only hurt her more. She wanted to scream, but her lips couldn’t make any sound. She could feel the cries rising in her throat, but they couldn’t go any farther.

  “Jenna. Jenna.” Someone was shaking her. Not hard enough to hurt. Just firmly enough to bring her away from her sleep-filled terror. “You’re dreaming. Open your eyes, Smitty.”

  “Please, don’t hurt me!” she gasped at the same time her eyes popped open. An evil man wearing a ski mask wasn’t laughing at her. She stared at Riley, whose eyes were dark with concern. A narrow stream of light shone across his face. Her raspy breath sounded loud in the silence as she gulped in much-needed air.

  She flinched when Riley reached up to brush her hair from her face. She didn’t miss his pained expression at her recoil.

  He got off the bed and went into the bathroom. Jenna pulled her legs up until she could rest her chin on her drawn-up knees. She kept her eyes on the light shining from the bathroom. Light meant safety.

  A moment later, he came out carrying a damp washcloth. He sat on the bed and began wiping her face. The cool cloth felt good against her hot skin.

  “He came back,” she whispered.

  “He will for a while.”

  Jenna was grateful he didn’t try to assure her it was only a dream. She didn’t want to hear him tell her she was safe now, if it was a lie. One thing she could count on was Riley never lying to her. If anyone did the lying in their relationship it had been her. She’d lied when she left him; she had still loved him.

  “You know you’ll have to move out of the state.”

  She nodded. “They already told me that. It doesn’t matter. I don’t have anything to keep me here, anyway.” She tugged the covers up over her shoulders as she lay down with her back to him.

  Riley looked at the slender body under the covers. There had been a time when he wouldn’t have hesitated in crawling under those covers with her. He would have gathered her into his arms and promised her that nothing bad would happen anymore. He would protect her from the entire world if he had to.

  That time was no longer, since she had effectively cut him out of her life. He got off the bed and settled back in his chair. He couldn’t stop her nightmares from haunting her, but he could be there to hold her when they did arrive.

  Jenna felt groggy when she woke up. The light coming through the blinds told her it was late morning. Her senses told her she was alone in the room. She sat up in bed and rubbed the remaining sleep from her eyes.

  Even after taking a shower and dressing, she still felt out of sorts. The rumble of men’s voices compelled her to move toward the door where she opened it a scant inch.

  “You can’t talk to me that way, Cooper.”

  “I don’t give a damn if I hurt your feelings, Chalmers.” Riley’s voice was low pitched and throbbing with fury. “You mishandled this case from the beginning. Then yon bring in two insensitive idiots who don’t seem to notice if their charge has eaten or not. They don’t even bother to find out if she needs anything. Even a speck of comfort. And where’s the female agent?”

  “Women agents have always been here for her.”

  “Really? Where? They’re sure not here now.”

  Jenna winced at the cutting sound of Riley’s voice. Obviously the other man didn’t understand that Riley didn’t suffer fools lightly nor accept excuses. She opened the door a little wider.

  The other man was wearing a dark suit and had the look of a man aware of his power. Riley was still wearing the wrinkled chinos and cotton shirt he’d arrived in. There was no doubt at that moment Riley was the one in charge.

  “Excuse me, gentlemen, but is there a chance of getting some breakfast?” she asked in a soft voice.

  Riley spun around first. The other man stepped forward with his hand outstretched.

  “Miss Carson, I’m U.S. Marshal Chalmers. I’ve been assigned to your case.”

  She smothered a smile as she shook his hand. She wondered what he’d think if she told him she felt as if she was shaking the hand of a dead fish. The faint twist of Riley’s lips told her he’d already echoed her thoughts.

  “I thought Marshal Cooper would be taking care of me,” she said softly.

  Chalmers sent Riley a quelling look before turning back to Jenna.

  “Mister Cooper is no longer a part of this situation. It appears he wanted to make sure you were safe. But by showing up, he has only further endangered your life. One of my men will be assisting you in your new relocation, and we will have your new life set up within forty-eight hours. Since you’ve been through this before, I’m sure you won’t have any problem adjusting.”

  Jenna decided she didn’t like the smooth-talking man. It was apparent he spent his time behind a desk and not on the streets. She glanced at Riley to see his reaction to this announcement. The dark flare in his eyes and the stiff set of his jaw told her he wasn’t happy with what he was hearing. She latched on to that thought like a drowning woman.

  “I can’t trust your men any longer, Marshal Chalmers,” she said softly. “I won’t go with anyone but Riley.”

  Chalmers’s smile froze. “If you wish to remain safe in the Witness Relocation Program you have no choice but to do whatever we deem necessary to keep you alive. Riley has too many enemies who could easily recognize him, now that he’s out of hiding, and attack you both.”

  Her eyes didn’t leave his. “Riley will keep me alive. I trust him. I don’t know you.” That she didn’t trust him was unspoken but the words were still there.

  The slick smile turned ugly for a second before he remembered himself. “Miss Carson, I can’t guarantee your safety if you go with Cooper.”

  “Doesn’t seem you’ve been doing too much so far,” Riley said lazily. “Don’t worry, Chalmers. You’re off the hook. I already got authorization to take Miss Carson out of here while your men do their job in tracking down Grieco.” He stuck his hands in his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels. “Unless you need some help with that, too.”

  Dave, who had been standing in the background, muttered something under his breath. He walked over and took her arm.

  “How about eggs, bacon and French toast?”

  Her eyes widened at the idea of so much food.

  “That way the adults can discuss your fate without you having to hear all the bad words,” he said in a low voice as he escorted her toward the kitchen.

  Riley’s gaze spit bullets as he turned back to Chalmers.

  “Are you always this stupid, or is this just for my benefit?”

  “Look here, you son of a—”

  The expression on Riley’s face stopped the man cold.

  “Miss Carson is under the U.S. Marshal’s protection, and so far I haven’t seen that kind of protection,” Riley said in a low, deadly voice. “The lady has been found out, almost beaten to death and needs some reassurance she’ll be alive to see tomorrow. I haven’t seen any of that coming from you. I’m going to make some arrangements, and then she and I are out of here.”

  Chalmers stared at him for a moment before he stalked out of the house.

  “Friendly sort,” Riley muttered, turning around and following his nose. The aroma of coffee and bacon was more than enough to entice him.

  He walked into the kitchen and saw Jenna sitting at the kitchen table with a plate filled with French toast in front of her. Another plate covered with scrambled eggs and rashers of bacon was nearby.

  “I can’t possibly eat all of this,” she told Dave as he set a pot of coffee on a hot pad.

  “I have an idea you’ll have some help.” He sent a glance in Riley’s direction.

  Both sets of eyes watched Riley cross the kitchen to the telephone. He snagged himself a coffee cup and fille
d it as he punched in a number.

  “Hey there, darlin’,” he murmured. “Yeah, it’s me. Think you can help me out today?” His chuckle was pure sin. “You wish. Naw, I need a complete makeover for someone, and I know if anyone can perform miracles, it’s you. I’ll make it worth your while.” He waited as he sipped his coffee. “An hour? Good. I’ll send someone to pick you up. Bring everything you might need for an overhaul. Great. Thanks.” He hung up and leaned against the counter as he finished his coffee. “Glad to see you kept your culinary skills, Gaines.”

  He walked over, grabbed a chair and spun it around so he could rest his arms on the chair back. He stared at Jenna for several moments.

  “If you think I’m going to share my breakfast you have another think coming.” She defiantly picked up a piece of bacon and bit down on it with a satisfying crunch.

  Riley winced. “Someone’s coming over in an hour to help turn you into someone else.” He glanced up at Dave. “Think you can pick up Sassy for me?”

  “Sassy?” Jenna repeated the name. “This should prove interesting.” She turned to Riley. “Do you mind? I haven’t eaten all that much in the past few days and I’d like to enjoy this meal. From the way you’re talking about taking over my life, I may not get the chance to eat a decent meal for some time.”

  Riley held up his hands in a gesture of surrender and backed off. Secretly he was glad to see she was willing to bite him back. It would be easier to keep her going if she was angry. He had started planning their trip from the moment he’d gotten up, and it wasn’t going to be easy.

  “Then I suggest you eat as much as possible.” He refilled his coffee cup on the way out.

  Jenna’s appetite suddenly deserted her.

  “Knowing Riley, it might be a good idea to eat hearty,” Dave suggested.

  She shrugged. “It isn’t easy when my stomach is still doing flip-flops.”

  Dave didn’t need explanations. “He felt pretty raw when you left.”