Cavanaugh's Bodyguard
Read Cavanaugh's Bodyguard Online
Authors: Marie Ferrarella
Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #Suspense, #Contemporary
She was a long-lost Cavanaugh...
Being a Cavanaugh had advantages for Detective Bridget Cavelli—the Cavanaughs practically ran the department. But this sudden identity crisis left Bridget off balance and vulnerable. Perhaps that explained the uncomfortable attraction she suddenly felt for her partner, consummate ladies’ man Josh Youngblood.
Then the Lady Killer struck again. With no time to deal with her chaotic emotions, Bridget had to catch the vicious serial killer before he claimed more victims. But when the smoldering lust beneath Josh and Bridget’s breezy banter ignited into irresistible passion, their feelings couldn’t be denied. She’d always been a cop first, but with Josh’s help, Bridget was discovering how to be a woman….
“Careful, your libido is showing.”
“And I was trying so hard to hide it.”
“What’s the matter, Josh, no new woman in your life?”
“Not in the usual sense, no.”
Bridget’s throat had gone very dry. “Then in what sense?”
He needed to leave before he did something stupid. And yet he wasn’t moving.
And then he was. But he was moving to close the tiny bit of space between them.
The only way she was going to save herself was through bravado, and she knew it.
“You’re in my space, Youngblood,” Bridget informed him hoarsely, trying to sound annoyed.
“What are you going to do about it?”
He half expected her to shove him back. The one thing he hadn’t expected was for Bridget to grab him and press her mouth urgently against his.
And just before she did, he could have sworn that she’d whispered, “Damn you!”
Dear Reader,
Welcome back to the newest branch of the Cavanaughs, the one belonging to Sean, Brian and Andrew’s long-lost brother. This time the story is about Sean’s oldest daughter, Bridget, who finds herself grappling with what she views as a brand-new identity. This while becoming aware of feelings for her partner of three years, Josh Youngblood, feelings she has been trying to ignore because, after all, the man’s relationships have the life expectancy of a fruit fly.
But Josh surprises her by being the one who is there for her while she’s trying to sort out how she feels about this new family connection that has suddenly cropped up in her life as well as the lives of her immediate family members. And all this is played out while Bridget and Josh desperately try to bring down The Lady Killer, a serial killer who surfaces every February to kill as many redheaded women between the ages of twenty and thirty as he can in that short month. Interested? Then please keep reading. I promise to try to entertain you as best as I can.
With all my heart I wish you someone to love who loves you back.
Until the next time,
Marie Ferrarella
Marie Ferrarella
Cavanaugh’s Bodyguard
Books by Marie Ferrarella
Harlequin Romantic Suspense
Private Justice #1664
**The Doctor’s Guardian #1675
*A Cavanaugh Christmas #1683
Special Agent’s Perfect Cover #1688
*Cavanaugh’s Bodyguard #1699
Silhouette Romantic Suspense
**A Doctor’s Secret #1503
**Secret Agent Affair #1511
*Protecting His Witness #1515
Colton’s Secret Service #1528
The Heiress’s 2-Week Affair #1556
*Cavanaugh Pride #1571
*Becoming a Cavanaugh #1575
The Agent’s Secret Baby #1580
*The Cavanaugh Code #1587
*In Bed with the Badge #1596
*Cavanaugh Judgment #1612
Colton by Marriage #1616
*Cavanaugh Reunion #1623
** In His Protective Custody #1644
Harlequin Special Edition
‡A Match for the Doctor #2117
‡What the Single Dad Wants… #2122
^The Baby Wore a Badge #2131
#Fortune’s Valentine Bride #2167
Silhouette Special Edition
†Diamond in the Rough #1910
†The Bride with No Name #1917
†Mistletoe and Miracles #1941
$Plain Jane and the Playboy #1946
†Travis’s Appeal #1958
Loving the Right Brother #1977
The 39-Year-Old Virgin #1983
†A Lawman for Christmas #2006
()Prescription for Romance #2017
‡Doctoring the Single Dad #2031
‡Fixed Up with Mr. Right? #2041
‡Finding Happily-Ever-After #2060
‡Unwrapping the Playboy #2084
=Fortune’s Just Desserts #2107
American Romance
Pocketful of Rainbows #145
@The Sheriff’s Christmas Surprise #1329
@Ramona and the Renegade #1338
@The Doctor’s Forever Family #1346
Montana Sheriff #1369
Holiday in a Stetson #1378:
“The Sheriff Who Found Christmas”
*Cavanaugh Justice
**The Doctors Pulaski
†Kate’s Boys
$The Fortunes of Texas: Return to Red Rock
()The Baby Chase
‡Matchmaking Mamas
=The Fortunes of Texas: Lost…and Found
@Forever, Texas
^Montana Mavericks: The Texans Are Coming!
#The Fortunes of Texas: Whirlwind Romance
Other titles by this author available in ebook format.
MARIE FERRARELLA
This
USA TODAY
bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author has written more than two hundred books for Harlequin Books and Silhouette Books, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website at www.marieferrarella.com.
To Charlie,
who turned the month of February
into something special
all those years ago.
Contents
Chapter 1
F
inally.
The thought flashed through Detective Bridget Cavelli’s mind at the same time that she glanced up to verify that the movement she’d detected out of the corner of her eye was her partner and no one else. She’d been waiting for her sexier-than-should-be-legally-allowed partner, Detective Joshua Youngblood, to walk into the squad room for the last half hour. This was precisely the amount of time she’d been going over the notes she had taken a year ago this month.
Her partner wasn’t late. He was on time. She was the one who was early, but that didn’t help to assuage her impatience. She needed to share this with him.
Now.
She struggled to rein in her impatience. It could have been worse. He could have been coming off a forty-eight-hour marathon date and running late rather than coming in right on time.
“He’s back,” Bridget announced to her partner, raising her voice in order to catch his attention.
Detective Joshua Youngblood said nothing in response as he continued walking to his desk. His green eyes were hidden behind exceptionally dark sunglasses. His measured, rhythmic gait brought him to the desk that had been assigned to him for the last three years.
After setting down the extra large container of ink-black coffee, Josh set himself down as well. His chair groaned. It needed oiling.
Once he was seated opposite her did he even acknowledge that he’d heard what Bridget had said by asking in a monotone voice, “Who’s back?”
Bridget, who’d been his partner for as long as he’d been at this desk, leaned back slightly in her chair as she studied his expressionless face. The fact that Josh was still partially hidden behind the sunglasses told her all she needed to know. It was Monday and more likely than not, Josh hadn’t amassed enough sleep over the weekend to keep a squirrel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed or even moderately functioning.
Temporarily forgetting the very cold chill that had gone zigzagging down her spine when the new acting lieutenant had told her the news earlier, Bridget asked her zombie-channeling partner a personal question, taking care not to show the slight spike of jealousy she suddenly experienced. “So, what’s this one’s name?”
For the time being, Josh left his sunglasses on. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
He was focused on removing the lid from the newly purchased, life-affirming black liquid. Josh absolutely
hated
tasting plastic when he drank his coffee and no matter how careful he tried to be, if he left the lid on, he could taste plastic with each sip.
This morning his hands felt like clumsy bear paws. This was what he got for going to bed ninety minutes before he was due in to work, he silently upbraided himself.
With a suppressed sigh, Bridget rose from her desk and made her way around to his. With a flick of her wrist, she made quick work of the coffee lid, tossing it into his waste paper basket. A thin plume of steam rose up from the inky sea.
“So, this one evaporated your brain as well as your energy?” she asked glibly, deliberately sounding chipper as she commented, “Busy little bee.”
“I was up with a sick friend,” Josh informed her after he had taken an incredibly long sip of his coffee. He could feel it winding through his system. Ever so slowly, he began to feel human again.
“I’ve never known you to make a woman sick, Josh. A little nauseous maybe, but not sick.” Leaning her hip against his desk, Bridget crossed her arms before her and shook her head as she pinned him with a penetrating look. “Don’t you think you should start acting your age, Youngblood? Partying and staying out all night all weekend is great when you’re in college or in your early twenties, but all that’s supposed to be out of your system by the time you start approaching thirty.”
Josh appeared not to be paying any attention to her. Then he surprised her by sighing. “If you’re going to lecture me—” he began.
She pretended to hang on his every word. “Yes?”
He took in a huge fortifying breath before warning her, “Don’t.”
A thousand little devils with tiny hammers pounded and danced around in his head. He was in no mood to listen to a lecture or any so-called words of wisdom his overly talkative partner might want to impart. From the first moment he’d seen her, he’d been of the opinion that she was exceptionally easy on the eyes, but definitely not always so easy on the ears.
“I’m just trying to look out for you, Partner,” Bridget told him, deliberately smiling brightly at him. “Because whatever you do reflects on me.” With that, she removed the black sunglasses from his face and gingerly placed them on his desk next to his computer. She did a quick assessment of his face. The last three days had left their mark. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him this exhausted, and that included the time they had pulled a double surveillance shift.
Bridget told herself that it shouldn’t bother her that he spent all his free time with women whose bust sizes were higher than their IQs—but it did.
Just sisterly concern, nothing more, she silently insisted.
“I suppose you don’t look so bad—for a hungover Peter Pan,” she commented.
“I’m not hungover,” Josh protested, although without much verve. “For your information, I had the flu this weekend and I’m trying to get over it.”