Harlequin Special Edition October 2015, Box Set 1 of 2

by Christine Rimmer

  As long as Jody didn’t let it slip to Quinn about refusing Ted’s order before Ted sent more flowers, Chloe figured it would work out all right—not that there was anything right about any of this.

  And actually, Chloe dreaded telling Quinn more than she did the inevitable appearance of the next floral masterpiece. Every time she told him about some move Ted had made on her, he got harder to convince that this was her problem to solve.

  She truly did fear that the time would come when she wouldn’t be able to hold Quinn back. He would go after Ted, do physical damage to Ted. And then what? If Quinn ended up in jail because of her...

  Well, she just didn’t know how she would bear that.

  So, for the time being, she was breaking her promise to him, lying about Ted by omission. The issue of Ted was a wedge between them, a wedge that created an emotional gap, a gap that widened incrementally as the days passed and the problem remained unresolved. Her love for Quinn got stronger and stronger as time went by. And she knew the bond Quinn felt with her was equally as powerful.

  But sometimes love and a soul-deep connection just weren’t enough, not when he needed to protect her and she wouldn’t let him do that. Not when he wanted to marry her and she kept putting him off.

  * * *

  She didn’t have to wait long for that second bouquet of flowers.

  It arrived the next day, Tuesday.

  Like the other arrangement two months before, the flowers were waiting on her doorstep. She found them at a little after eight in the evening, when she came home from dinner across the street. She hadn’t expected to be that upset when they came—after all, she knew they would be coming. But the sight hit her hard nonetheless.

  Her blood roaring in her ears and her knees gone to jelly, she sank to the front step next to the cobalt-blue vase filled with bloodred roses. The little card in the plastic holder had Tilly’s logo on it. But she could have guessed that without the card. The vase wasn’t anywhere near as nice as the one from Bloom that she’d smashed in the compactor. And roses were always beautiful. But the whole presentation just came off as ordinary.

  “Ordinary,” she heard herself mutter under her breath. “No offense to Tilly’s, but you’re slipping a little, aren’t you, Ted?” And then she laughed.

  It was a slightly manic-sounding laugh, not altogether a sane laugh. But somehow, it helped. The laugh made her pulse slow, soothed the roaring of her blood in her ears and strengthened the odd weakness in her knees. She was able to grab the blue vase and rise to her feet.

  Inside, she put the vase on the counter and read the card. You’re not marrying that guy. You know you’re not. My darling, we need to talk.

  Ted

  * * *

  “Look on the bright side,” she said to Quinn when he arrived an hour later and saw the roses in their blue vase right there on the counter where she had left them.

  “Bright side?” He looked at her as though she’d said something in a language he didn’t understand.

  “Ted signed his name. I called Tilly’s and they’ve agreed not to send me any more flowers from him. So next time he’ll have to pay to have them sent from Boulder.”

  Quinn took a long time reading the card. Finally, he said flatly, “There is no bright side. We both know that. Something’s got to be done about this guy.”

  This was not going well. She’d known that it wouldn’t. She really, really wished she hadn’t told him. But lies didn’t work; keeping the truth from him was no way to carry on a relationship.

  She made herself tell him the rest, “Also, you should know that Jody called me yesterday to tell me he tried to send flowers through her.”

  His eyes flashed dark fire. “And last night when I asked you what was wrong, you lied and said there was nothing.”

  “I...” There she went with the one-word responses again. She made herself give him a few whole sentences by way of explanation. “I knew he would go through Tilly’s next and that I was going to have to tell you soon. I didn’t see any reason we had to fight twice over this. So I decided to tell you about both the call from Jody and the flowers, when they came, together.”

  His expression was set as a slab of granite. “You lied.”

  She threw up both hands. “Fine. All right. I lied. And I’m sorry.”

  “Are we in this together?” he demanded.

  “Of course. Where are you leading me with that question?”

  “I’m leading to the fact that ‘together’ means when something happens, you tell me now. And by now I mean, if Jody calls you with information, you call me as soon as you get off the phone with her. You don’t store up the bad news to deliver in batches.”

  She really hated that he was right. “Yes. I get that. I won’t do that again.”

  “And who says we’re fighting?”

  She felt so...tired suddenly. Just tired to her bones. “Look at you. You’re furious at me.”

  “No. Not with you, angel. Never with you.” He held up the little white card in his big, rough, wonderful hand. “This. Him. I need to deal with him.”

  “No. No, you do not need to deal with Ted. And you will not deal with Ted.”

  He shook the card at her. “He knows about me, knows you’re with me.” His voice was the low, focused rumble of some powerful predator, crouched and gathering to strike.

  “Quinn, come on. That we’re engaged wouldn’t be all that difficult to find out.”

  “Not the point, Chloe. This card says I’m in this now. This card says—”

  “That card says nothing of the kind. You know it doesn’t.” She dared to approach him. He watched her come with a stillness so total it raised the goose bumps on her skin. The need to take action seemed to radiate right out of his pores. When she stood in front of him, she said, “Put down the card.”

  “Chloe.” Wary. Vigilant. And so very unwilling.

  “Put down the card and put your arms around me.”

  He didn’t. Not for several seconds. But then, finally, with a low oath, he dropped the card to the counter and hauled her close.

  She wrapped her arms around him, too, as tight as she could. His big heart pounded, hard and insistent, under her ear. She lifted her head and looked up into his eyes. “If you play his game, you weaken us. You know you do.”

  He scanned her face, as though seeking the right point of entry. “I got demands. I need you to agree to them.”

  “This doesn’t sound good.”

  “Hear me out.”

  She sighed. “Of course.”

  “Tomorrow, we take what little we’ve got in that file of yours and we go to the police station. They’re gonna tell us that no crime has been committed and there’s nothing they can do.”

  She got that. “But they’ll write it up and then if he does make trouble, there’s at least a record that we complained.”

  Quinn nodded. “And I don’t like to think of you alone here. You move in with me.”

  She stepped back from the shelter of his arms. “Not yet. Uh-uh. Look, I really don’t think he’s that dangerous.”

  “The guy’s a whack job, Chloe. You don’t know what he’s gonna do next.”

  She took a slow, calming breath. “As I was saying, if he did try anything, I’m not having that happen in the house where Annabelle lives.”

  “Annabelle.” Quinn said his daughter’s name thoughtfully.

  “You know I’m right, Quinn. We don’t want her traumatized by any of this. We just need to go on as we are for a little longer. That note says ‘We have to talk.’ I get the feeling he means soon.” She was actually starting to hope that it would be soon, whatever it was. She wanted that other shoe to finally drop. “I’ll be extra careful, I promise. I’ve got Mace and I know how to use it. Plus, you should see me in self-defen
se class. I’m outta control, I’m so bloodthirsty.”

  He grabbed her close again. “Don’t make jokes about it.”

  “Sorry. Not funny, I know. The stress is kind of getting to me.”

  * * *

  Chloe had Tai open the showroom for her the next morning, and Quinn took her to the Justice Creek Town Hall. They talked to Riley Grimes, a patrol officer who had been two years behind them at Justice Creek High. Riley went through Chloe’s TD file and said he’d write a brief report of their visit for possible future reference. He suggested that they might try for an order of protection, known in some states as a restraining order. But that would be iffy, as Chloe had reported no incidents of abuse during her marriage and the evidence she’d gathered so far didn’t indicate she was in any immediate danger.

  Quinn was all for calling his half brother James, the lawyer in the family, and seeing if James thought they had a chance of getting a protection order.

  Chloe vetoed that for now. “You heard what Riley said. Ted hasn’t come near me. He hasn’t broken into my house or even shown up in Justice Creek to have that ‘talk’ he mentioned. He hasn’t threatened me in any way.”

  “Every move he makes is a threat. He’s stalking you, Chloe. Aren’t you clear on that yet?”

  They were standing on the town hall steps. Chloe reached out and took his big, hard arm. “Can we talk about this in private, please—tonight, when we’re alone?”

  “Sure.” He muttered the word out of the side of his mouth. “Whatever you say.”

  He drove her back to her house to get her car. When she headed up the front walk rather than straight to the garage, he got out and followed her.

  “What now?” She stopped to face him on the front step.

  He had that look. Grim. Uncompromising. “I thought you were going to the showroom.”

  “I will. In a little while. I’ve got some samples I brought home last night I want to take back with me. And then I’m stopping at your house down the hill to touch base with Nell on the remodeling.”

  “Lock the door behind you when you go in, and reset the alarm while you’re in there—on second thought, I’ll just wait here until you’re ready to get in your car.”

  “Quinn.” She reached out and put her hand against his bleak-looking face. Tenderness flooded her. Oh, she did love him. And one of these days, she really needed to gather the courage to tell him so. “Please stop worrying and go to work. You can’t watch over me every hour of every day.”

  His eyes had a strange gleam to them, bright and dark, both at once. “I don’t like this.”

  She tried for humor. “I think you might have mentioned that once or twice already.”

  The corners of his mouth failed to twitch even the slightest bit. “I know more than one good man in personal security—”

  “No. I mean it. Don’t you even start talking bodyguards. You’re overreacting. I do not need a bodyguard.”

  He hooked a big arm around her and hauled her up close against him. As always, she reveled in the heat, the sheer power of him. “You watch yourself. Promise me. Stay aware.”

  “I will.”

  He swooped down and kissed her hard and quick. “We’re talking more about this tonight.”

  A resigned sigh escaped her. “Yes, I’m quite clear on that.”

  He kissed her once more, as swift and sweetly punishing as the time before, and then, finally, he let her go and returned to his car. She waited until he started up the engine and backed from the space beside the garage before letting herself in the house. After locking herself in and rearming the alarm, she ran downstairs to collect her samples and hurried right back up.

  The blinking red light on the answering machine caught her attention as she was about to go out the door. She almost left it for later. But it could be something important.

  Turned out it was a hang-up call. A swift ripple of unease slithered down her spine, followed by a burst of anger. Thank you so much, Ted. Now even a hang-up call freaks me out.

  She considered trying *69. But what for? Whoever was on the other end, she didn’t want to talk to them.

  Enough. She made herself a promise to banish her jerk of an ex-husband from her mind for the rest of the day.

  And she kept that promise.

  Until she got home from dinner at Quinn’s and found two more hang-up calls on her phone. When she went ahead and tried to call back, she learned that both calls were from blocked numbers. That thoroughly creeped her out. Though she had no proof of who had made the calls, she added them to her TD file and tried not to stew over them.

  Then Quinn showed up.

  Of course, he knew right away that something had happened. “What?” he said when he was barely in the door. “Just tell me.”

  So she told him about the hang up calls.

  His expression grew even bleaker. “You put it in the file?”

  “I did, yes. I noted the date and the times that the calls came in and that whoever made them did it from a blocked number. In case it somehow turns out to matter in some way.”

  “We need to talk about you trying for that order of protection.”

  She went over, dropped to the sofa and put her head in her hands. “Can we just...not? Please?” She looked up. He was standing over her, eyes stormy with equal parts anger and concern. She got up. “He’s running our lives, Quinn. We can’t let him do that.”

  He clasped her shoulders in his big hands and pressed his forehead to hers. “I’ve been thinking.”

  “Thinking about...?” She tipped her face back enough to look at him—and then she lifted enough to touch his lips with hers.

  He made that low, lovely growling sound in his throat and settled his mouth more firmly on hers. They shared a slow, delicious kiss. He gathered her in. She slid her hands up over his chest and linked them behind his neck.

  “Now, that’s what I’m talking about,” she said softly, when he finally lifted his head.

  “Vegas.” He bent and kissed the word onto her upturned mouth. And then, soft as a breath, back and forth, he brushed his lips against hers and whispered, “This weekend. We’ll fly to Vegas and get married.”

  “Married?” She jerked back so that their lips no longer touched. “Quinn, we’ve talked about that.”

  He scowled. “I know that tone of voice. Here come all the damn objections.”

  “I meant what I said before. I just need a little more time, that’s all.”

  “Uh-uh. You need to be my wife and live with me and Annabelle and Manny. I don’t want you living alone here. Not anymore.”

  “I’m perfectly safe. You’re here half the time and a lot of the time I’m at your house. And what about Annabelle? I don’t want to put her in danger, I really don’t.”

  “So you do admit you’re in danger.”

  Sometimes the man was too quick by half. “No, no, of course I’m not in danger.”

  “Listen to yourself, angel. You’re ‘perfectly safe,’ but you’re afraid that if you move in with us, you’ll put my little girl in danger. You’re all over the map about this.”

  “No, that’s not so. I really don’t think anything is going to happen. But if something did, I couldn’t stand it if Annabelle ended up in the middle of it.”

  He took her by the shoulders—carefully, but firmly, too. “A few minutes ago, you said that we couldn’t let that guy run our lives.”

  “And I meant it!”

  “Then stop.”

  She searched his face, not following. “Stop...?”

  “You’re letting him keep you from living your life. You’re putting everything on hold for him.”

  “No.”

  “Yeah, Chloe. Yeah, you are. How long you gonna do that to yourself, huh? How long you gonna do that to us
?”

  She stared up at him, her heart like a stone, so heavy in her chest. She knew he was right.

  And yet she just couldn’t do it. Not now. She could not say her love out loud. And she couldn’t agree to get married. Not right now. Not until she’d somehow dealt with the problem that was Ted.

  * * *

  Quinn didn’t know what to do about Chloe.

  She tied his hands at every turn. She wouldn’t let him make a move on her ex. She wouldn’t marry him and live with him in his house where he could better protect her. She wouldn’t let him hire someone to watch over her. She wouldn’t let his half brother James check into slapping good old Ted with an order of protection.

  She had dark circles under her ice-blue eyes and much of the time she seemed distant and distracted. He only had her full attention when he took her to bed.

  Something had to give.

  And it had damn well better give soon. She seemed so fragile to him lately and he feared some kind of...breakage. He feared the destruction of what they had together—no, worse. He feared the ruin of her tender heart, her strength, her spirit.

  That night, he held her as she slept and wondered what the hell to do.

  * * *

  When Chloe woke in the morning, Quinn was still there. Already dressed in the jeans and knit shirt he’d worn the night before, he sat in the bedside chair, just looking at her.

  She pushed up on an elbow and raked her sleep-tangled hair back off her forehead. “Shouldn’t you be having breakfast with Annabelle?”

  He rose. “I’m going now. I was just waiting for you to wake up.”

  She saw the shadows in his eyes and felt remorse drag at her—for giving him nothing but trouble lately, for being a source of constant concern. “I’m perfectly safe here. All the locks are sturdy and the alarm system is state-of-the-art. And I promise to keep the system armed when you’re not here and to stay alert whenever I’m outside on my own.”