Harlequin Romantic Suspense July 2021 Box Set

by Carla Cassidy

  “I’d rather you not talk to anybody, but there’s only one person I’d beg to have you skip. I’ll tell you anything you want to know. I’ll even open up my private counseling files about him to you, or have my counselor do so at my request. I’ll tell Lila to tell you everything she knows and thinks about my relationship with him. As long as you don’t bring me up to him.”

  He sat forward. Noting everything at once, the changed tone in her voice—not whiny. Not dramatic. Just stark fear. The way her hands were clasped together, as though all they had were each other and were afraid to let go. The sharp points in her eyebrows. A trembling at the corners of her mouth.

  For the first time since he’d met her, Greg felt completely and truly protective of Jasmine Taylor.

  This was not good.

  CHAPTER 10

  She’d sworn she wouldn’t do this. Part of her agreement with Desmond Williamson had been that she would not speak poorly of him in public. His job was everything to him. If she exposed him for what he was, there wasn’t going to be any stopping him. He’d wait his time. He’d know exactly how to stay under the radar. And when he saw a chance, he’d kill her.

  Not all abusers were killers. But there was no doubt in her mind that police sergeant Desmond Williamson would kill her if he thought she’d betrayed him. What would he have left to lose?

  If Greg went to talk to him about her, she was as good as dead then, too. Because Desmond would believe that she’d talked. Heidi knew all of that.

  Her counselor knew. The lawyers knew. Lila and Josh knew. Period.

  Heidi had known exactly what she was doing when she’d told Greg Johnson about Jasmine’s exes. She was pulling Jasmine back into the life.

  Because she was jealous that Jasmine and Josh had made it out. That they were living healthy, productive existences. That they had her daughter.

  Jasmine understood.

  She just had no idea how to fight her. How to win this one.

  She had to trust Greg to keep whatever she told him to himself. It couldn’t come out in court. In either of Heidi’s cases. She’d deny it if it did. She’d have to. She would not testify.

  If there was one thing Jasmine lived by with all of her being, it was keeping her agreements with her abusers. Those agreements bought her freedom on a psychological level with them. The only way to really win.

  Her decision not to ever involve herself in another committed relationship guaranteed her future freedom.

  No more.

  No more tries. No more failures. No more abusers.

  She’d told Greg she’d tell him the complete truth. Give him whatever information he needed. She’d been referring to Josh. To everything she knew about him. And Heidi. And about her own current life—which was no threat to Bella.

  But it could be if Desmond came back in the picture.

  She’d just told him she’d tell him about her relationships as long as he stayed away. And so there he sat, waiting. Expectant.

  And she couldn’t get words to come up from her throat and out of her mouth.

  Was there a way to buy time? To make this go nowhere until Josh’s hearing on Thursday? If the judge dismissed the charges, then the rest would die right along with it. She just had to buy herself a couple of days. Would a faked stroke work?

  She gave herself a mental shake. It would work if she wanted to show herself as a lying nutcase. She’d already been duplicitous with him once. She wasn’t going down that road again.

  But could she trust him?

  Did she dare trust him?

  Making that decision meant she had to trust her own judgment where he was concerned, and she couldn’t do that.

  She felt like she could. She wanted to.

  But he was a cop. Someone with power. She was attracted to him, which was the kiss of death where her trust in her judgment was concerned.

  He dropped his foot from his knee to the floor. Sat forward.

  “I’ve been in three relationships,” she said too quickly. His finger tapped a slow beat against the leather of the couch. Information he already had. In triplicate.

  “The exit agreements...they give me the assurance that there will be no contact from any of the three of them unless I seek it out myself, as long as I don’t speak ill of them. I can’t break that legal agreement without putting myself in danger. ...”

  “You’re protected by law when it has to do with a criminal case.”

  “My relationships have no bearing whatsoever on Josh’s case.” A prosecutor could argue the point. Might win, depending on the judge. She couldn’t take that chance because...

  “It’s not the law I’m afraid of,” she told him. “A lot of abusers aren’t, either. I know you’ve worked on the High-Risk Team. You must know the statistics. You’re a cop. You have to know that restraining orders are largely ineffective when it comes to keeping abusers away from their victims.”

  She had his attention. And he had hers, suddenly, too, sitting there in his jeans looking so strong. Intent. Like he could make things happen.

  She should trust him. To keep her information confidential. And to protect her, too. What if he was the good guy life was finally going to send her and she cut off her nose to spite her face?

  No. She was scared. Falling back into patterns her psyche couldn’t afford to consider.

  “It’s getting late,” he said, sitting forward. “If you have a name to give me, and a reason why I shouldn’t talk to him or her, I’m listening. Otherwise I need to get going. I’ve got a long day tomorrow, and my morning starts early.”

  She wanted to know about that, too. The start of his day.

  “Do you have a wife at home?” she asked. Should have already asked. Had no good reason to ask. He wasn’t wearing a ring. And whether or not he was, wasn’t her business.

  “I live alone.”

  Wow. Good. That he’d given her what she needed. She didn’t need it.

  “You ever been married?”

  “No.”

  He was a nice guy. Humoring her with answers to questions she had no right to ask. As though he knew she was stalling—and was letting her.

  His lack of marital ties was not good news to her. No matter how much it felt like it was.

  “If I talk to you about him, and he finds out, he’ll kill me.” The words dropped out simply. No fanfare. No emotion. There they were. Hanging between them.

  “If you’d like to speak with my counselor, or Lila, they’ll confirm what I just told you. That’s why Lila called me immediately after you’d called her. To give me a heads-up that you were talking to people I knew.”

  “Why would he kill you? Because I’m asking him if he knew you or had anything to tell me about you that could give me insight into your relationship with your brother?”

  “Because if you bring me up to him, he’s not going to believe that’s all you want to know. He’s going to assume that I told you about him. A detective tracking him down to ask him questions about me would be the trigger. The only thing that keeps me safe is the fact that he loves his job more than anything else—including his own life. A great quality in light of what he does. But if he thinks he’s going to lose that job—and he probably would, if he was ever charged and found guilty of abuse—there won’t be any stopping him. He’ll blame me, and I won’t walk another safe step on this earth.”

  There was no panic now. No fear, even, in that moment. Just her cold, stark truth.

  * * *

  Greg wasn’t going to fall prey to the drama. As soon as she’d said she would be killed, he took a step back. Way back.

  As far back as he could go and still remain seated on her love seat in her home with her just feet away shining conviction out of her every pore.

  The truth lay someplace between them. He didn’t want to leave without it.

  The wo
man wasn’t falling apart. Wasn’t shaking or panicking. She wasn’t begging him.

  She wasn’t Liv.

  Still didn’t mean he could help her.

  “What does he do for a living?”

  “He’s a sergeant with the Los Angeles police. He’s got an exemplary record. Has won medals. Saved a lot of lives. He’s the first responder who charges in even when bullets are flying. And if you think I’m exaggerating, I can show you an article or two to prove the authenticity of my statements.”

  He sat back. He wanted to disbelieve her.

  He didn’t.

  Could it be that this cop had noticed tendencies in her and got himself out? That he knew things that would help Heidi’s case? And that Jasmine was trying to keep him from finding that information?

  The theory was valid enough to be considered. He gave it half a minute. Lila knew about this relationship. And Jasmine was still working for her.

  The director had warned Jasmine immediately upon Greg’s phone call. The timing of Jasmine’s call to him was proof of that.

  Could he pursue the Heidi theory anyway? And risk putting Jasmine Taylor’s life in danger?

  “Tell me more about your relationship with him,” he said. And then added, “Without giving me his name. Let’s call him Mike. My choice so nothing can be read into it or inferred from it. He’s Mike for our purposes. Tell me what you can without giving me any more clues to his identity.”

  Her head tilted. She studied him as though she was able to read inside his mind. He wanted to take her hand, pull her over to the couch with him and take her in his arms. To make it possible for her to tell her story while being held.

  That was so unlike Greg that a wave of discomfort shot through his system. And landed. He was tired, but...what the hell was wrong with him?

  “We dated for...a while. Long enough that people recognized us as a monogamous couple. Serious enough to include our families in our lives.” She paused, seeming to be looking at him, but Greg was certain her sight had turned inward. He wanted to tell her she could stop. And didn’t.

  “At first, I loved it when he showed signs of possessiveness. I loved having someone to belong to. Someone who wanted to belong to me. With me. And when he had an opinion on everything I did, I saw it as him taking an interest. Until his opinion clashed with mine and he expected me to see that his was the right way. I did, at first. Doubting myself...”

  She blinked, seemed to see Greg sitting there. Really see him. Recognize him. And to realize what she was doing. The clarity in her eyes, the unease swarming in her space...she was exposing herself to him, and he wasn’t going to turn his gaze away. She didn’t, either.

  He noted.

  “I’d met a woman, Wynne Anderson—” She broke off abruptly, rather than just fading, leaving him with the distinct impression that she had more to say there. He’d come back to it.

  “Mike didn’t like her. Thought she had too much influence over me. I agreed with her opinions, some of which he strongly opposed, and she became a problem between us.”

  “Wynne Anderson? The state representative?”

  “She is now. She was a city councilwoman when I knew her. The youngest woman ever to have that honor,” she added. “She was speaking at a Lemonade Stand fund-raising dinner and sat at my table.”

  “Didn’t she just get married? To that female golfer, what was her name?”

  “Andrea Long, and yes.”

  While her gaze didn’t drop, Jasmine was definitely less bold in her delivery than she’d been earlier in the evening. Hands clasped, she rolled her thumbs around and around each other—kind of like he’d seen his great-grandmother do when he used to visit her at the home.

  “So you know them. Andrea and Wynne?” He was kind of impressed. Name-dropping wasn’t big on his list of impressionable items, but still...pretty much everyone in California knew about Wynne. Her party had her pegged for Washington and didn’t seem to mind spending the bucks to let everyone who breathed California air know about it.

  “Yes. I know Wynne. I’ve met Andrea, but just briefly.” She nodded. Seemed content to sit there without resuming the point of the conversation.

  He thought about letting it go. He could find the cop she was talking about easily enough. Or not. If William didn’t need more information on the Taylor siblings...

  Jasmine had asked him to get the truth. Something he already required of himself. To see real justice done, not just the law’s version of it.

  “And Mike didn’t like her?” he prompted.

  She shook her head. Straightened her shoulders. Feminine, slim shoulders that seemed to carry a lot of weight.

  And carry it well.

  “Mike made his feelings obvious almost from the start. He didn’t agree with her politics, and if I did, she was brainwashing me. He made it clear he didn’t want her around and didn’t want me hanging with her or her crowd. When he told me he’d handcuff me to the kitchen table if that’s what it took to keep me safe from her, I thought he was exaggerating. Then I woke up one morning with one wrist handcuffed to the bed rail, and I knew. Lying there, chafing my wrist as I tried like hell to get free, I admitted what I’d known for a while. My relationship with Mike wasn’t healthy.

  “That morning I’d been going to meet Wynne and a couple of other women for coffee before I had to be at the Stand to teach. Mike came back from a run shortly after I’d missed any chance of making it to see them. He acted completely surprised and immediately contrite when he saw me chained to the bed. He said he’d put the cuffs on me as a joke. Had thought I’d wake up before he left and call out to him, and then when I hadn’t, he’d forgotten. He took them off immediately. Kissed my wrist. Insisted on putting cream on it. Checked it over. Apologized again and again. That night he brought a diamond bracelet home to me—only I’d already moved my personal stuff and myself out. He did some police work. Found me. Brought me the bracelet and other gifts. Until I threatened to get a restraining order.”

  He could figure the rest. She’d made her deal with the man—she wouldn’t report him, they’d pretend he’d locked her to the bed as a joke, he’d keep their residence and his job, and she’d have her freedom without contact. Lucky for her he’d cared more about his job than he had about her.

  Greg knew without being told that the handcuffs weren’t the only time Mike had abused Jasmine. They’d just been her breaking point. Not going after the bastard was going to be tough. He’d be lifting weights before bed, for sure.

  “You were in three relationships,” he said aloud. “What about the other two?”

  “I’ll give you their names if you need me to, but I’d like to speak to them first.”

  He might need them. In the future. Depending. But not at that point. “I’d appreciate that.” So she was on speaking terms with her other exes, apparently. Having made deals with them, not reporting any wayward behavior, giving up her home each time...

  “You talk to the other two, then?” Why was he pushing this?

  “One of them. The second one. Mike was the first, and absolutely not. Ever. And if he comes near me, I will call the police. The third...under our legal agreement, he cannot contact me or speak of me, but I am able to contact him.”

  He believed her. Everything she was saying, she’d know he could corroborate or not, if he forced the issue. He had her over a barrel with Josh’s hearing on Thursday. She’d do whatever she had to do to help her brother.

  He’d found out what he needed to know for now. Heidi’s new motion wasn’t going to adversely affect William’s case against Josh Taylor. And there didn’t appear to be anything in Jasmine’s life that was going to help William’s case against her brother—not that Greg was going to find easily.

  He had what he needed.

  And he still wanted more.

  He asked her if she planned to be in court o
n Thursday. It was just an arraignment hearing—a chance for the judge to hear information from Josh’s attorney and rule on the motion to dismiss—and then, if he chose to proceed, to set court dates. There was no major reason for her to be there. There’d be no testimony at that point. But she said she’d already arranged to take off work—while leaving Bella in daycare at the Stand. Said she wouldn’t leave her brother to stand alone.

  Greg, who’d never had a sibling, had an odd sense of missing out on something. Bed, that’s what he was missing. He needed some sleep before dinner with Liv.

  Telling Jasmine he’d see her in court, he left. And stood outside until he’d heard her dead bolt slide securely into place behind him.

  CHAPTER 11

  The case wasn’t dismissed. Jasmine had trouble sitting still and calm as she heard her brother’s motion denied. His lawyer had prepared them. They’d been assigned a female judge, Beatrice Grand. She tended to side with victims in abuse cases. And legally, if there was any doubt at all in the judge’s mind regarding Josh’s innocence, she had to hear the case. It didn’t mean he was guilty. Or that they’d lose the case if it went to trial. It only meant that the judge found sufficient evidence against Josh to proceed. Josh, through his lawyer, Ryder, entered a not-guilty plea, and a settlement conference was scheduled to take place in two weeks.

  The one unexpected piece of news... Heidi had opted not to go through with a permanent restraining order against Josh. She told the judge that while she wanted him to pay for what he did to her, she didn’t fear that he’d come after her, and she wasn’t out to ruin his life.

  Another ploy on her part to get the court’s sympathy? To show her as the more reasonable, wanting-to-get-along ex-spouse?

  Whatever the reason, it was better for Josh, overall.

  Still, Jasmine knew Josh had to be crumbling inside as he stood with his attorney before the bench. He nodded when asked if suggested court dates were okay with him. Judge Grand told him that she was going to recommend that he maintain visitation rights, but that his visits remain supervised, and Josh thanked her.