Double Jeopardy (Entangled Select)

by Linda Wisdom

  She drove the streets blindly, unaware of her destination. Uncaring. She was too engrossed in the words searing her brain. Ever since Sophie had talked about Josh and Lauren going away for the weekend, speculation ran high. And people just loved to discuss it. Josh wasn’t known for going away for the weekend with any of his former women. Why her? Was there more going on than anyone assumed? Was Lauren going to be the one to tempt the forever-single Josh Brandon to the altar?

  “No! No, no, no!” She pounded the steering wheel with her fist, so furious she was unaware her car swerved over to the other lane until a car honked. She quickly regained control, whipped her head around, gave him the finger, and sped on. By the time she came to her senses, she realized she was just turning onto Josh’s street. Her lips parted in a smile.

  “It’s fate,” she whispered, looking from right to left as she drove slowly down the street until she reached his house. “Fate I intend to take full advantage of. The time has come for him to find out the truth. He needs to know that Celia will only destroy him if he stays with her. Unless I can destroy her first.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  It wasn’t until they’d returned to the bungalow much later that night that Josh felt a trace of awkwardness coupled with a little tension in Lauren’s demeanor.

  “Lauren, nothing has to happen between us just because we came up here,” he said, once they entered the tiny living room. “After all, we’ve slept together before and nothing happened then. Damn.”

  She smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood without ruining it.

  “I know, Josh, and I thank you for that. I guess the full impact finally just hit me. And while I think we both might want more, the idea of just cuddling sounds very nice right about now.” She looked over her shoulder. “I’m going to take a quick shower first, if you don’t mind.”

  “Go for it.”

  Josh took his shower next, finding out that a steamy bathroom scented with Lauren’s body wash was pretty taxing to the willpower. When he came out, he found Lauren in bed with a book propped against her drawn-up knees. He was surprised to find her wearing a pair of reading glasses.

  “Medical textbook?”

  She shook her head. “One of those murder mysteries that has a clever killer only one stubborn cop can find because, in certain ways, he’s as crazy as the killer. It’s pretty good. Want to read it after I’m finished?”

  “No thanks, I think I’ll stick to science fiction.” The dimly lit atmosphere was definitely lending itself to the mood. “Want some more wine?”

  “I shouldn’t, but since I’m not driving anywhere, I’ll go for it.”

  Josh poured the wine and brought the two glasses back into the bedroom. Lauren put the book away and accepted the glass.

  “To better times.” He tapped his glass against hers.

  “I’ll drink to that.” Lauren took a couple of sips and set the glass on the table. “Josh, we’ve gone through more in a short period of time than many people go through their entire lives.”

  He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. “Meaning?”

  “Meaning once this is over and we’re back to living normal lives, we could very well feel differently about each other,” she said softly.

  “You said that once before, and I told you it was bullshit. I’m saying it again.”

  She leaned forward, bracing her elbows on her knees. “It’s happened before, and it’s perfectly natural. It’s a situation that forces us into intimacy.”

  He sat on the end of the bed, resting his back against the bedpost. “I figured we’d be talking about this after things were settled.”

  She traced the quilt’s pattern with her fingertip. “You’ve had relationships that are pretty open-ended. I’m not sure that’s what I want. I may have had a lousy marriage, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to drift through one affair after another.”

  He leaned down to put his glass on the floor, then crawled across the length of the bed until he reached her. He traced the line of her cheekbone with his thumb. “Good, because I don’t intend for that to happen,” he whispered, just before he kissed her. As before, the heat flared up between them.

  “Josh,” she whispered, linking her arms around his neck. “Why don’t we just forget everything I said, and you come to bed and ravish me the way heroes do in novels.”

  “You know, Doc, you have some great ideas.” He allowed his weight to propel them backward. Within seconds, Lauren’s silk short gown flew through the air with Josh’s briefs close behind.

  Lauren was still warm and sweet-smelling from her shower, her skin lightly scented with the lotion she’d used afterward. Josh’s skin still damp from his own, his hair-rough chest abrasive against her softer skin.

  They’d kept their hunger for each other locked up for so long they weren’t able to hold back.

  Josh silently urged Lauren to take the initiative. He pulled her over on top of him, settling her in the cradle of his thighs.

  It was clear Lauren trusted Josh implicitly. She displayed no fear, no flashbacks to her rape, as she freely touched him.

  “What do you like?” she whispered, running her tongue along his collarbone.

  He wasn’t sure he could breathe, much less talk. “Everything you’re doing.”

  “This?” She brushed her fingertips against his erection. “Or this?”

  Josh decided it was better to show rather than to tell. He reversed positions and soon had Lauren writhing under him.

  “This might give you an idea.” The moment he thrust into her moist warmth he knew he was well and truly lost.

  And the explosion that followed much too quickly for both of them was just as breathtaking as expected.

  When Josh finally lay back with Lauren curled up in his arms, he felt completely drained.

  “Either we had an earthquake up here, or we created one of our own.”

  “I think we created one of our own.” She yawned as she lay in a boneless sprawl over him. “Why, are you complaining?”

  “Are you kidding? I’m just wondering if it can happen again.”

  “Oh, I think so. Just as soon as you get your energy back.” She nuzzled his ear.

  “Then I guess we’re about to find out, because my energy is coming back.”

  “And Sophie thinks you’re too old!” she laughed.

  …

  Lauren and Josh had no trouble forgetting the real world when they spent the next day exploring Solvang. Lauren pulled him through several fudge shops, fed him Aebleskivers, Danish puffed pancakes, and bought him a rainbow-colored crystal castle.

  “Our refuge,” she told him. “In this place, no harm will come to us.”

  His dark eyes studied her face. “A doctor who’s whimsical. I like the idea, Doc.”

  But the weekend passed too quickly in their minds. They again had dinner with Chloe and Dave, but this time nothing was said of the real reason Lauren and Josh were there. Then they retired to their bungalow, where they wanted to recapture the magic of the night before. Afterward, they went outside to make use of the hot tub, sans bathing suits.

  “This is just what I needed,” he sighed, resting his head against the rim of the tub.

  “We needed,” she corrected from the other side, splashing a bit of water at him. She reached up and grabbed a loose strand of hair that fell from the clips she used to pull it up in a loose topknot.

  He opened one eye. “Don’t do that.”

  “I want to talk.”

  He closed the eye, looking completely peaceful. “So talk.”

  She stood up and moved over to the other side until she could sit next to him, her hip bumping against his. She ran her fingers through his hair, brushing the over-long strands back from his face. “I want you to agree to something.”

  That got his attention. He opened his eyes and sat up straight. “Setting terms again, Lauren?”

  “I don’t want you to think of it that way. You’ve said things that indicat
ed you’re ready to settle down. And you seem to think I’m the one.”

  “I didn’t realize it was a crime.”

  “It’s not, but I still feel the situation is the catalyst. What I’d like is for us to give ourselves six months when this is over and see if what we feel for each other is real, or just part of the problem.”

  Josh stared at her for so long she started to fidget. “Part of the problem? That’s an odd way of putting it. You see, I never thought of the two of us as a problem, Lauren. All I knew was that the first time I saw you at that retirement party, I felt knocked for a loop. And I never felt that way the first time I saw a woman. Sure, I’ve had my share of relationships, but that was because I never found what I was looking for. I thought I was doomed to be alone because that’s what I felt a lot of the time. I’d go back to my house and that’s all it was; a house. Yet I go in yours, and I feel life in there. The colors you used, the way it seems like a real home, even though your hours can be just as crazy as mine at times.” He reached out, cupping the back of her head with his hand. “I was starting to run scared, Lauren. I thought I was doomed to have an unseen woman as a phantom lover. That she wouldn’t allow the woman I’d want to truly love to enter my life. But you somehow got through, and if I sound corny or like something out of a bad movie, I’m sorry. If you put me in front of a jury, I’ll knock your socks off with my oration. Speaking from the soul is a hell of a lot harder, but I’m willing to give it a try if you’re willing to put up with me. You feel you have to set terms, and I’ll put up with them, to a point. Can we consider some of my terms, too?”

  “Such as?” she whispered, sounding a bit fearful.

  “I want us to live together and be a real couple. Come on, Lauren. It’s the best way for you to find out if I’m the kind of guy you want to have around all the time.”

  She considered his proposition. “Six months.”

  Josh grinned and held out his hand. “Deal.”

  Lauren looked down at his hand and shook her head. “Counselor, you never learn, do you? You seal a business deal with a handshake. Our kind of deal requires a lot more than a handshake.” She climbed onto his lap, fitting onto him perfectly. She rubbed her nose against his, then kissed him. “Now, isn’t this much better?”

  “Okay, but don’t think this means you’ll get your way all the time.”

  The next morning, they were both unusually quiet as they ate breakfast with Chloe and Dave, then loaded the car with their suitcases.

  “Next time, we’ll leave the women behind and take a couple of horses up into the hills, where I don’t have to listen to that old broad tell me what to do,” Dave confided in Josh.

  “If you want to sleep in that bed with me tonight, old man, you’ll be careful what you say,” Chloe warned with little heat and lots of affection. She turned to give Lauren a good-bye hug and whispered in her ear, “You fight back, sweetheart. Don’t let her win.”

  “I don’t intend to.”

  Even the drive back was quiet. It seemed the closer they got to the Riverside County line, the more subdued they felt.

  “Do you think we’ll find anything when we get back?” Lauren finally had to break the charged silence. She knew she didn’t have to elaborate.

  His hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I’m hoping we won’t. But then, I keep hoping she’ll suddenly disappear from our lives.”

  She lightly rubbed his shoulder for comfort and kept her hand there. “Then we’ll hope she’s gotten angry enough this weekend to come out in the open.”

  Except even Lauren couldn’t keep up any pretense when Josh pulled into her driveway.

  “It looks so quiet on the outside,” she murmured, as she got out of the car. “And deceptive.”

  Lauren allowed Josh to enter first. He glanced through all the rooms and found nothing out of place.

  “It looks good,” he pronounced.

  She still followed him as he headed for the front door. “Call me when you get home.”

  “I will.” He kissed her several times as if putting off leaving. “How about I check out my house and come back over with a pizza?”

  “No anchovies.”

  “Not a one,” he vowed.

  “Josh.” She paused a beat. “If you want to move in next weekend, I’m willing to help carry boxes.”

  His grim features lightened considerably at her words. “Okay, we’ll make plans this week.”

  Lauren didn’t close the door until Josh’s car left her sight. She walked through the house again, unwilling to believe someone hadn’t been here. In her bedroom she found the perfume bottles undisturbed, her bathroom looking the same. She decided to unpack first and put her cosmetics away, then her clothing. It wasn’t until she opened her closet that she realized her fears weren’t imaginary. How she hadn’t noticed the distinctive odor was beyond her. She covered her mouth.

  “Oh my God!” she choked, stumbling backward.

  She stared at every piece of blood-covered clothing in her closet. When she spun around, she noticed the bedspread was askew. When she pulled it back she found a rose set in the middle of the pillow. A white rose, with two drops of blood marring one of the pristine petals, was the next obscene message.

  “This time, you really have gone too far,” she whispered, resisting the urge to grab up the rose and crush the petals. “Now it’s time for you to realize you’re not going to win if I have anything to do with it.”

  Lauren rummaged through her nightstand drawer, pulled out her gun, and promptly loaded it. Once it was loaded and comfortably in her hand, she called Kevin.

  “It sounds like she didn’t waste any time,” he muttered.

  “The blood might be able to give us a clue,” she told him. “But I’d bet my reputation she used animal blood, unless she’s either a vampire or works in a blood bank.”

  “At least we can finally cut down the list. Good ole Heather has been boffing her boss for the past two months. He had the hotel receipts and the desk clerk remembered her cleavage and the way the guy couldn’t keep his hands off her. And the ex is out here on the sly, helping Daddy buy a new company or something. I’ll call the crime scene guys and be right over.”

  It wasn’t until she hung up and looked at the clock that she realized Josh should have called her by then. A bitter cold washed over her.

  “No,” she breathed, grabbing the phone and punching out the numbers. She drummed her fingers against the table until she heard the call picked up. “Josh?”

  “Lauren, look, we’ve said it all in the car, okay?” he spoke with the forced patience of a man who had little of it left to give. “This weekend proved we’re not in sync. Let’s just leave it that way.”

  The cold in her veins intensified. She spoke carefully as she felt her way through the verbal minefield. “I know we did, but I hoped you’d be willing to talk more. I don’t think we said it all.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. There’s no way we’ll be able to not see each other. We’re both adults, and I’m sure we can handle it. Your cop ex would know about these things, wouldn’t he? Good-bye, Lauren. And please don’t call me again.”

  …

  Josh pushed the phone away and slowly turned to the woman who had been unashamedly eavesdropping on the conversation. “Now do you believe me that we broke up?”

  “It’s for the best, darling,” she cooed in his ear, as she draped her arms around his neck, her spicy scent suffocating him. “You’ll see. We’ll be so happy together.” She smiled as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

  No matter how badly he wanted to put his hands around her neck and tighten them, he didn’t. Not when she held that gun so close to his chest.

  The moment he walked in the front door and found her sitting on his couch, he knew this was the showdown.

  “Hello, darling, you’ve been so curious about my identity that I decided to surprise you,” she greeted him cheerfully. “Now that you have that slut out of your system, may
be you’ll realize I’m the only woman you need.”

  Josh couldn’t say one word to dispute her claim. The manic gleam in her eye and the way she held the handgun told him she was past listening. Even more than that, he felt sorrow over her being a woman he’d once admired so much.

  “We broke up,” he told her, as he sat on the chair next to the couch. There was no way he wanted to be any closer to her. “The weekend proved what a superficial woman Lauren is.”

  She laughed. “Oh, darling, I could have told you long ago how false Celia was, but you wouldn’t have believed me. Just as long as you’ve come back to me. That’s all that counts.” She continued smiling. “We’re going to be so happy together.”

  …

  Lauren remained very still as she heard the click of the disconnected call. It wasn’t until a moment later she realized that she heard a softly distinct second click right after Josh had hung up. That was why he’d spoken so harshly. Someone had listened in on the call.

  She started to grab for the phone again, then hesitated. What if this had pushed the woman over the edge? What if the sight of police at Josh’s house had upset her so much she’d resorted to violence?

  “Take deep breaths, Lauren,” she ordered herself. “And think.”

  She quickly topped her jeans with a bulky pullover sweater that covered her gun when she stuck it in her waistband. Her hands shook so much as she pulled her hair back in a tight braid, it took several tries, but she kept focusing on what was ahead.

  “I’ve run enough. I’m not running from this,” she murmured, as she climbed in her car. While she backed out, Kevin’s car and the crime scene van showed up.

  “I have to run an errand,” she told him.

  “Wait a minute!” He grabbed hold of the door handle.

  She shook her head. “I’ll be back soon.”

  Kevin wasn’t convinced. “What’s up, Lauren? You’re as white as a ghost.”