Harlequin Special Edition October 2015, Box Set 1 of 2 (16 page)

Chapter Thirteen

T
wo weeks passed. They were good weeks, overall.

Monday through Saturday, Chloe's days were filled with work. When she got home, she went to the log house and had dinner with Quinn and family. At night, Quinn came to her. And most mornings by the time she woke up, he was gone.

He didn't mention setting a wedding date again. But she knew it was on his mind. It was on
her
mind, too. She wanted to move forward with their lives together. But she couldn't, not yet. Not until...

She wasn't sure what. She just felt she was waiting. It was like that old saying about the other shoe dropping. She wasn't really sure what the first shoe had been, but it had already fallen. And now she was just waiting for the other one to drop.

On the first Monday in September, Jody called her at Your Way to tell her she'd just refused a second order from Ted. Chloe felt no surprise. None. In her mind, she pictured one of those classic Christian Louboutin black patent pumps, the dagger-heeled ones with the signature red-lacquered soles. She pictured that beautiful shoe dangling from an unknown hand.

Not dropped. Not yet.

But soon, yes. Very soon.

Jody said she would email her the proof that Bloom had refused an order from Ted at Chloe's request. “But aside from that, I just wanted to give you a heads-up,” she said.

“You're the best,” Chloe said. “Quinn has such amazing sisters.”

“Call me. Remember. If I can do anything...”

“You know I will.”

Chloe had her self-defense class that evening. Her trainer in his padded suit didn't stand a chance. She went absolutely postal on the guy, screaming and kicking, punching and gouging. The instructor had to shout at her to stop fighting and run. Later, he reminded the class that the point of the exercise was to incapacitate the attacker long enough to get away, not to keep pounding on him once he'd let you go.

She went home that evening and put another entry in her TD file. She didn't tell Quinn about Jody's call. He knew there was something bothering her, but she insisted it was nothing. And she wasn't nearly as upset as she'd been the night she found the email from Ted. Quinn let it go, but he was watchful and edgy the rest of the night.

Yes, she knew she should tell him. She'd
promised
to tell him if Ted tried to get in touch in any way. And she would tell him. She wasn't actually keeping anything from him, she reasoned—not for long, anyway. Ted would find another way to get the flowers to her. And it would be soon. And she would tell Quinn about Jody's call and the latest bouquet then. Two birds with one stone, you might say.

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-defense 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.