Bishop's Angel

Bishop’s Angel

By

Tory Richards

Copyright © 2013 Tory
Richards

All Rights
Reserved.

Published by Tory
Richards

Smashwords
Edition

Smashwords Edition,
License Notes
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Tory Richards:
http://www.toryrichards.com

Email: [email protected]

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters,
places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual
persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or
locales, is entirely coincidental.

Bishop’s Angel

COPYRIGHT © 2013 by Tory Richards

All rights reserved. No part of this book may
be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written
permission from the author except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in critical articles or reviews.

Cover Art by Ramona Lockwood

Edited by Alisha Corsi

Angel was sleeping deeply when a sound
penetrated the most delicious of dreams. Brushing it off as Barnie
getting into something he shouldn’t be, she rolled over, punched
her pillow, and willed herself back to sleep. She was halfway there
when another noise snagged her attention again, too loud and
distinctive to be the troublesome cat. She yanked back the covers
and sat up.
What was that?

“Darn it!” she swore under her breath. She
focused her gaze on the alarm clock on the nightstand.
Two
o’clock!
She’d stayed up late watching Syfy and had only
crawled into bed an hour ago. Barnie appeared at the foot of the
bed and began to rub the side of his face against her big toe. At
the same time she heard another noise from downstairs, and with
growing fear Angel realized that someone else was in the house with
her.

She was supposed to be alone!

Alex and Diana were on a two-week-long
cruise in Europe, and she was watching the house and cat-sitting
for them. She swung about and put her feet on the floor. The action
caused Barnie to jump off the bed.

Meow!

He began weaving in and around her bare
legs, arching his back for attention, totally oblivious to her
sudden concerns. Angel rose to her feet, wondering what she should
do. She remembered reading an article once, that had recommended
sleeping with your car keys close by so that if someone broke into
your house you could set your car alarm off, and possibly scare the
intruders away. Now she wished she had taken the advice more
seriously.

Her next thought was that her cell was in
her purse, downstairs. Lord, how could she have been so careless?
Knowing there was no land-line, she would have to make her way down
there and get her cell if she wanted to phone the police. Another,
louder sound coming from the direction of the kitchen decided it
for her. She had to try.

Meow!

“Not now, Barnie!” she whispered sharply,
gently shooing the twenty-pound feline away with her foot. Angel
slowly made her way to the bedroom door, and listened at the
threshold. Whoever was downstairs must have thought they were
alone, they weren’t even trying to be quiet. That was good, because
as long as they made noise she would know where they were as she
made her way to her purse.

She closed the door, shutting Barnie inside
her bedroom, and walked to the top of the stairs. All the lights
were off, but the outside security lights were on and shining
through the sheer curtains on the windows, giving off just enough
light so that she could see the layout of the room below and that
no one was there.

The noise the intruder was making was
definitely coming from the area of the kitchen. Angel was almost
certain she heard the slam of the fridge door, and then the
distinctive sound of someone opening a can.
Are they actually
helping themselves to a beer?
She’d brought a six-pack with
her, along with a few other staples to get her through the week.
Diana and Alex had left her food, but there were some things she
couldn’t live without.

Taking a breath for courage, Angel rushed
down the carpeted steps in her bare feet. She stopped at the bottom
and listened before turning the corner. Her jaw dropped in surprise
when she noticed the kitchen light had been turned on.
Talk
about a brazen burglar!
She glanced toward the living room,
remembering that her purse was on the floor at the far end of the
sofa. In order to get to it she would have to pass the kitchen
doorway.

Crap!
She darted as close to the
doorway as she could, and then dropped down to her haunches. The
unique sound of the toaster popping up made her gasp. She quickly
covered her mouth, and held her breath. The smell of toast reached
her nostrils.
I can’t believe they’ve actually made something to
eat!
Who did that when they broke into a house? As they moved
around the kitchen she made her way to the edge of the
doorjamb.

Curiosity caused her to try and peek around
the edge of the doorjamb and into the kitchen but she lost her
nerve at the last second, jerking back out of sight. She could hear
them moving around, opening cupboards, and the fridge again. They
even turned on the faucet in the sink once. While she heard the
water running, Angel decided it was time to make her move. She took
a breath and scooted as fast as she could past the doorway. Once
she reached the other side she stopped to exhale, not surprised to
find her heart beating rapidly.

A couple seconds later she reached her
pursue. She quickly dug around blindly inside, finding her cell at
the bottom. Thank God it lit up when she dialed. Another moment
later the 911 operator answered the phone.

“My name is Angel Smyth. Please send
someone,” Angel said in a rushed tone. “Someone has broken into the
house, and I’m all alone.” She was trying to listen to both the
operator and what was going on in the kitchen at the same time.

“You’re calling from 1299 Briar Patch
Way?”

“Yes!”

“Where are you in the house, ma’am?” Her
tone was calm and almost robotic.

“I’m downstairs in the living room.” Angel
was growing impatient with the dispatcher’s lack of urgency. “Are
you sending someone?”

“The police are on the way, ma’am. Where is
the intruder now?” the operator asked.

Angel listened for a moment. “He’s still in
the kitchen.”

“Is the intruder male?”

“No, no!” Angel said, and then quickly
lowered her voice when she realized she’d spoken too loud. “I don’t
know if it’s a woman or a man.” She’d been too afraid to look when
she had the chance. Movement coming from the kitchen told her the
intruder was still there, but for how long? She was crouched at the
end of the couch, too afraid to turn around, frightened that at any
moment she would be discovered. “Please hurry!”

“They’re on their way. Stay calm and—”

“I think he’s in the room with me!” Angel’s
eyes rounded with fear when she sensed someone moving up behind
her.

“Ma’am stay on—”

Angel knew the intruder was behind her now.
She stood up, whipped around and slammed her phone into the side of
his head with a piercing scream. All she could make out was a tall,
dark outline.

“What the fuck—” a male voice boomed.

Angel let out another scream and slammed her
hands against a massive chest, shoving him away from her as hard as
she could. Her only thought was making it back upstairs to the
safety of her room until the police arrived, but the second her
palms landed on the man’s rock-hard chest she knew she was in
trouble. He stumbled back but she had a feeling it was due more to
her catching him by surprise than the force of her push.

She scooted around him but suddenly his
hands were on her, and for a moment they struggled against each
other. Angel was hyped up on adrenaline and a strong sense of
survival, and she used her nails and teeth on the naked arms and
powerful hands trying to subdue her. It gained her enough freedom
to make it to the stairs but halfway up she found her ankle being
grabbed, she fell, and then she was pinned beneath a heavy
weight.

“No!” she cried out, struggling wildly
against him. But she was no match for his superior strength and the
honed muscles she felt beneath her hands. In no time his hands had
wrapped around her wrists, and she was pinned against the
stairs.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded, his
face too close to hers.

“Who the hell are
you
?” Angel
demanded right back, twisting beneath him. It was then she felt
cool air in places that she shouldn’t, reminding her that all she
had on was a thin night-shirt and a pair of bikini panties. Judging
by the super hard pecks she felt pressed against her breasts, her
shirt had come undone, too. An insane thought crossed her mind,
why wasn’t he wearing a shirt?
She wiggled wildly,
unintentionally scraping her nipples across his flesh.

“Stop before you get hurt!” he warned. In an
effort to subdue her he pressed his body against hers.

“Then get off me!” Angel hissed, arching her
body in an effort to dislodge him. His muscled thighs and powerful
legs flexed against hers, easily holding hers still.

“Not until you tell me who you are,” he
grated in a rough voice.

His warm breath slapped her in the face. “I
live here,” Angel said without hesitation, glaring up into his
shadowed face. She was aware there was no way he could see her
because it was too dark.

“The hell you do.”

How did he know that?
“The police are
on their way so I suggest you let me up and get out of here.” Her
energy was beginning to wane. He was too strong and big, and the
longer they remained like that, the more she began to feel
uncomfortable with their intimate proximity.

“Good. Then we can get to the bottom of
this.”

That wasn’t the kind of response an intruder
would make if he were caught in someone else’s house. Maybe he was
delusional or something. Angel decided to switch tactics. “These
stairs are hurting me,” she said weakly.

Things grew still between them and she
sensed his silent contemplation, as if he were wondering if he
should believe her. She whimpered a little for good measure.

“Okay, I’m going to let you up, but don’t
try anything stupid,” he warned.

The second he released her and lifted off
her body, Angel got to her feet and dashed the rest of the way up
the stairs.

“Son of a bitch!” he cursed behind her.

Angel slammed and locked her bedroom door in
his face. She didn’t know what she hoped to accomplish, except to
get away from him until the police arrived. What was taking them so
long? She ran to one of the windows and opened it. Maybe she could
push out a screen and—

Without warning her bedroom door was kicked
in. She screamed and made a beeline for her connecting
bathroom.

“Oh, no, you don’t.”

A muscular arm wrapped around Angel’s waist
and she was lifted off her feet. “Let me go!” She wiggled and
kicked, very much aware that her butt was against a very intimate
part of his body. Burning heat replaced the fear flowing through
her blood because his cock wasn’t as flaccid as it should have
been.

“Look,” he slammed her down onto the bed and
for the second time she found herself pinned beneath his superior
strength. “Before this goes any further I think we need to
talk.”

“You can talk to the police,” she panted,
twisting beneath him.

“I intend to,” he said without hesitation.
There was a confidence in his tone that surprised her.

Without warning he reached up and turned on
the reading light at the head of the bed.
How did he know that
was there?
Meeting eyes the color of blue topaz, everything in
Angel froze, including her breath.
Oh God, I know those
eyes!
She didn’t know the man personally, but she knew of him
from the pictures on the fireplace mantle downstairs. He was
Diana’s older brother, and Navy SEAL Bishop Strong. Suddenly
everything made perfect sense.