Hot Secrets (16 page)

“Sonofabitch,” Royce cursed. “Don’t tell her that.
She’s scared enough. I should have guessed that. I mean, he got in
for the snake. He had full access.”

“
We finally have a potential motive, a way the senator might
fit into this,” Luke said. “Get images of Lauren undressing, or
doing any number of things, and then uses them to get something
from the senator.”

Royce’s jaw tensed. “Images of me with Lauren. I
handed this guy ammunition, if that is even what this is about. He
could be a sick bastard who’s obsessed with her, and he’s made
getting to her look like child’s play.”

“Which leads me to a manpower issue. Blake’s dealing
with the Rhode Island airport contract, so until he returns, I’m
limited to what I can do. I need to bring one of our guys in on
this. Kyle, Rick, and Daniel are free. Jesse is also free. Tommy
and Daniel are both booked. Kyle dealt with the snakes and he’s a
tech expert. He’s already involved.”

“Kyle,” he agreed. “I’ve known him for years. We
worked together at the agency. He’ll keep his mouth shut.”

“Give me Rick, too. He can chase some of the pieces
I’m putting together on the senator.”

“Do it,” Royce said. “We don’t have time to
spare.”

The door to the master bedroom, which sat just off
the main living room, and directly in front of Royce, squeaked
open. Lauren stepped into the room, and damn if his cock didn’t
twitch at the sight of her in his t-shirt and oversized sweats. The
darn things were rolled up at the knees and hanging on her, and
yet, he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her look sexier.

She walked to the opposite chair and settled her hands on
top. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

“No,” Luke said, smiling. “Nothing private in this
family.” The doorbell rang and Royce didn’t miss the subtle tension
that rolled through his brother, before Luke stood up. “It’s
probably Julie. I’ll let her in on my way out.”

Lauren rounded the chair and sat down. “She acts
just as odd when his name comes up.”

“You noticed that,” he said.

She nodded. “Oh, yeah.”

“Hello, hello,” Julie called, appearing with a box
in hand. “I left a suitcase by the door with clothes and other
important girl stuff.” She hurried forward and left the rather
large box on the coffee table, then gave Lauren a once over “But
then who needs clothes when you can wear Royce’s?” She laughed.
“You look like a kid wearing grown up clothes.” She sat down on the
couch and glanced at Royce. “You are a big ol’ boy aren’t you?
Better to kill snakes, I suppose.” She eyed Lauren. “Maybe you
should have him pay a visit to that angry dude Alice said visited
you today.”

“What angry ‘dude’?” Royce asked, his gaze colliding
with Lauren’s. “And why don’t I know about him?”

“I haven’t had time to tell you.”

“Ah, hmmm,” Julie said. “I was just trying to
lighten the mood. I didn’t mean to cause trouble. I”

“You have to make time, Lauren,” Royce growled.
“Someone could well be trying to kill you.”

“Don’t, Royce,” Lauren said tightly. “Not now.”

“Now,” he insisted.

She inhaled and let it out. “He’s the brother of the
woman I’m prosecuting for the poisoning. He got pretty nasty.
He”

“Name,” Royce said.

Her jaw tensed. “Jonathan Wilkins, and you’re acting
like a caveman.”

“
A caveman trying to keep you alive. This escalated to way
beyond a few phone calls today, Lauren. Did he threaten
you?”

“No. Not really. He was just very aggressive. Family
members get that way, Royce. I’m used to it.”

“
Did you
feel
threatened?” he asked.

She hesitated. “I was on edge.”

“Did you feel threatened?”

“Damn it, yes, but I told you. I was on edge. It
wasn’t long after we had our little,” she stopped herself
mid-sentence. “It was right after you dropped me at work.”

He pushed to his feet. “Make time to tell me these things,
Lauren. One mistake, one missed clue, could be critical. I’m going
to talk to Luke. Don’t open the door to anyone.” He glanced at
Julie. “Knock on Luke’s door before you leave. I don’t want you
walking to your car alone.” He headed for the door, not giving her
a chance to answer.

“Wow,” he heard Julie say softly, but not soft
enough. “He’s a big sexy, grizzly alpha of a man, isn’t he? I know
how the sexy is working out for you, but how’s the grizzly alpha
thing going?”

Royce didn’t allow himself to hear the answer, he
couldn’t risk the distraction, or his reaction. He pushed open the
door and locked it before pulling it shut, with one focus.
Protecting Lauren, so that when this was over, she could scream and
shout and kick him to the curb if she so wished. All that mattered
was keeping her safe and alive.

***

After spending a good hour that she should have been
working talking with Julie, Lauren dived into her work, ignoring
the rumble of her stomach and the throb of her arm. The Advil Julie
had brought her had worked all of half an hour, so she popped some
aspirin she found in Royce’s bathroom cabinet. She had to try and
get some work done before she took the more powerful pain
medication the doctor had given her.

She picked up the box of her work from the coffee table and
walked to the large oak desk that set just off the living area, and
by the kitchen door. She set it down at her feet and started
pulling out her files, remarkably comfortable in her sexy grizzly
alpha’s home. She smiled at Julie’s creative description, thankful
for a good friend who could make a smile possible at a time like
this. Lauren wasn’t sure who was more surprised, her or Julie, over
just how much Lauren liked her alpha male’s alpha side.

A loud sound filled the silence of the room and Lauren
jumped to her feet, her heart thundering in her ears, to scan the
room. The sound clamored again and her gaze riveted to the
fireplace opposite the couch, air rushing from her lungs. It was
the clock above the mantel chiming. Oh yeah, she was rattled all
right. She sank back to the leather chair beneath her and wished
Royce would return. Alone wasn’t all that appealing right now. She
unloaded her files onto the desk, deciding work would be the best
distraction, but pausing at the smaller letter sized flat box Alice
had told her about.

She sighed and snatched a letter opener to break the seal
down the middle. Though she knew what the reports were supposed to
say, she never took a verbal as final when headed into trial. She
flipped open the double-sided lid and stared at the contents, her
heart dropping to her stomach. A calendar page lay on top with
today’s date marked off.

“Don’t touch it,” she whispered to herself and stood
up, afraid something was going to explode or bite her or… she
took off running for the door. Once she was there, she fumbled with
the lock. “Damn, damn open!” It jerked towards her and she burst
into the hallway, her bare feet padding on the wooden floor, as she
started yelling, “Royce! Royce!”

The door down the hallway opened and Luke appeared,
rushing towards her, grabbing hold of her, and pulling a gun from
somewhere. “Talk to me, Lauren. What’s happening?”

“Lauren!” Royce shouted charging up the
stairwell.

Lauren tore herself away from Luke and threw herself at
Royce. He folded her into his big, powerful arms. “Package,” she
managed to get out. “There’s a package. It was delivered to my
office and Julie brought it and I opened it…”

“What’s inside?” he demanded quickly.

“A calendar page and I don’t know what else. I
didn’t touch it. What does this person want from me? Why won’t they
just leave me alone?”

“Where is it?” Luke asked from behind her.

Lauren turned in time to see Luke holster his gun at
his ankle, under his pants. “The desk. It’s open on the desk.”

He lifted his chin at Royce. “I’ll check it
out.”

“Be careful,” Lauren said. “Please be careful,
Luke.”

“Careful is my middle name.”

“He’ll be okay,” Royce said, pulling her against him. “And so
will you.”

Lauren melted into Royce, and for the first time in her life,
she felt more secure in a man’s arms than she did on her own.

Chapter Fourteen

Thirty minutes after the discovery of the box, Lauren stood in
Royce’s kitchen, staring at the twenty newspaper clippings from her
various trials, all spread out on the table.

“Is there anything in all of this that rings a bell?” Royce
asked. “There’s a message here. We need to try to understand what
it is.”

Lauren sank down into a chair and pressed her hands to the side
of her face. “Other than he’s been watching me for a long time and
wants me to know, no. Nothing else comes to mind. They’re random
trials over the course of years.”

“Are they all after the Sheridan trial?” Luke asked.

“Sheridan was one of my first cases,” she said. “So yes. These
are all after Sheridan. As you can see, I’ve put plenty of people
behind bars that probably hate me. Heck, if I get through this,
there could easily be another.”

“Which is why we aren’t going to the police,” Royce said. “They
won’t be much help and we don’t want to give anyone else the idea
of lashing out at you.”

“Maybe this was to confuse us,” Luke said. “To give us a lot of
suspects.”

“I’ve never questioned why I do what I do,” Lauren said. “Not
until now. Now… I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. How do I
live like this?” She laughed without humor. “This is the payment I
get for putting criminals behind bars? Stalked and threatened and
twisted in knots? What if I had kids or siblings or a husband? I’d
be terrified they’d be in danger. Maybe my father is right. Maybe
this is fool’s work.”

Royce squatted down beside her. “You’re one of the brave and
caring people who try to make a difference in this world. There is
nothing foolish about that.”

Luke cleared his throat. “I’ll leave you two alone.”

Lauren looked at him. “Thank you for everything you are doing,
Luke. I mean that. You don’t have to help me, but you are.”

He gave her a bow. “My pleasure. And for the record, I’m with
Royce. You’re brave. Stay that way. Don’t give into the monsters or
they’ll take over.”

“Oh, God. Julie. What if he targets Julie?”

“I already thought of that,” Luke said. “I have her being
watched.”

Lauren sighed. “Oh, thank you, Luke.”

He gave her a salute and headed out of the kitchen.

“I’m going to make you something to eat,” Royce said. “Then
you’re going to take a pain pill and sleep.”

“I’m too tired to be hungry.”

“You need to eat a little something.” He kissed the tip of her
nose. The phone on the wall rang and he smiled. “Some of us still
use our house phones.”

“I plan to rip mine out of the wall.” The phone kept ringing.
“Are you going to answer it?”

“I have a machine.” He pushed to his feet. ”And feeding you is
more important. I have sandwiches and not much else though, I’m
afraid.” The machine beeped. “Royce, call your mother. Why don’t
you ever answer your phone?” He backed up and grabbed the receiver,
before saying, “I told you I never answer this phone. You have to
call my cell.”

Lauren smiled weakly, feeling a punch in her gut, a bit of envy.
What she wouldn’t do to have her mother alive right now. She turned
back to the table, pulling one of the clippings forward, and
started reading before moving to the next.

Before she knew what was happening, Royce was sitting down next
to her and there were plates on the table. “I didn’t even know when
you got off the phone.”

“Or when I asked you if ham and Swiss was okay,” he
commented.

“I just kept reading and thinking I’d find something in one of
the clippings that would set off a light bulb.” She took a bite of
the sandwich and then reached for the soda Royce had apparently set
in front of her as well.

“And while you’re thinking about that, you aren’t thinking about
your current case.”

“So you think it’s about my current case?”

“In my experience, the obvious usually is the right choice. The
rest is a distraction.”

“So what do I do?”

“You go to sleep tonight and you wake up fresh and you win this
case. I’ll take you to work and I’ll have people watching you while
Luke and I dig into ending this once and for all. Luke was right,
Lauren. You can’t let this monster, or any for that matter, win.
You do your thing, sweetheart, and I’ll do mine. We’ll get our man
and you’ll get your conviction.”

Lauren felt her eyes prickle and tears well by her lashes.

“Wow,” Royce said, pulling her into his lap and thumbing away
her tears. “What just happened?”

“I don’t know. I’m tired. I’m not even a crier. You and your
family are so close, and so good to me.” She pressed her hand to
his cheek. “No one but my mother and Julie has ever told me to
fight for what I believe in and they’d fight with me. Never.”

“And never has a woman made me want to be there for her like you
do, Lauren.” He kissed her, tasted her tears and her fears, and her
passion, and admitted what he’d known from that first night with
her. He was falling in love.

He picked her up and she wrapped her legs around his waist,
burying her face in his neck as he carried her to his bedroom. His
bedroom. He laid her down on the bed and stripped her naked,
kissing her, touching her, taking his time to properly make love to
her. And when he finally entered her, when their eyes locked, he
knew that not only was he going to fight by her side, he was going
to fight to make her his woman.

Chapter Fifteen

The next morning, Royce pulled to the curb in front of Lauren’s
building, making sure she was safely at work before he set off into
action. Sitting outside Lauren’s building while she worked wasn’t
going to end this for her.