Defending the Duchess (6 page)

The kitchen was a disappointment, as well. Every breakable dish lay in shards. The contents of her refrigerator and freezer were strewn about, rotting in rancid puddles. At least her pots and pans had proven durable against the onslaught, though the glass globes of her light fixture were cracked and dangling
by the wires.

“Why?” She started to shake as she turned to face Linus. “Why would someone cause so much damage? If they were looking for something, why did they have to break everything?”

“They’re just trying to scare you.”

“Why? It’s like they hate me. Why would someone hate me so much?” She looked at him for a long time, not really expecting an answer. Instead, she found the warmth
in his brown eyes comforting, and almost without realizing it, her gaze fell to his strong shoulders. She knew how comforting it would feel to lean on those shoulders again.

And she felt so helpless.

“Do you need to step out?” Linus asked after a moment.

She shook her head, buttressing her resolve to keep her emotional distance from Linus. “I need to look at everything. I’m supposed
to determine if anything is missing.” She couldn’t imagine how she’d do that, not when there was so much destruction to sort through first, and the shock to recover from before she would likely recall any small objects that weren’t accounted for.

Probably the perpetrator had planned it that way—to overwhelm her with the destruction and necessary cleanup, so that she wouldn’t know what he’d
come for until it was too late.

Rather than let that fear paralyze her, Julia took a determined step down the short hallway to the pair of small bedrooms at the rear of the house. The guest bedroom, which doubled as her home office, was relatively stark in its furnishings. The mattress had been turned on its side and punctured, and the bedding was trampled, but otherwise looked undamaged.

Julia took a steadying breath. Maybe the intruder had grown tired by the time he reached the bedrooms. Maybe her bedroom wouldn’t be so bad.

She stepped across the hall and flicked on the light, then gasped.

The destruction was worse here than anywhere else. The bedding had been shredded and tossed aside. Her bed was starkly bare, as if to purposely draw attention to the damage.
Julia whimpered when she saw it, and stumbled backward to take hold of the doorway so she wouldn’t pass out.

Her pillows were riddled with bullet holes.

SIX

L
inus stepped toward Julia as her knees wavered beneath her. He’d thought for some time that she looked like she needed a hug, but he didn’t feel it was his place to give it, not with the attraction he already felt toward her.

But he couldn’t let her fall to the floor. There were too many sharp pieces of her broken belongings littered about. She’d be injured.

He put
one arm around her shoulders to support her, and was surprised when she turned to meet him and pressed her face against his shirt.

For an instant he thought he should back away. Maybe she hadn’t realized he was moving toward her as she moved toward him.

But she gripped his shirtsleeves and shivered as she fought her reaction to all they’d discovered.

“You’ve seen it all now,” he
murmured as he wrapped his arms around her, propping her upright, wishing there was something he could do to make her feel better. She’d already made it clear that she didn’t want to lean on him, and yet, her grip on his arms now seemed to be the only thing keeping her on her feet. “Let’s step out for a bit, process what we’ve seen and then come back and look for what might be missing.”

Julia trembled against him. At first he wasn’t even sure she’d heard what he’d said, but after a few sniffles, she squeaked, “Good plan.”

But she didn’t move right away. Linus didn’t want to rush her, though he felt she’d recover more quickly if he could get her out of the house. “Is there a place nearby we can go?”

“A coffee shop a few blocks from here. They shouldn’t be very busy at
this hour.”

Linus agreed. It was midafternoon, so they could likely find a quiet corner to themselves. Maybe with a warm drink in her hands and a soothing atmosphere instead of the destruction all around them, Julia could collect herself. Her parents had offered to help clean up the house with them later. It would provide them with an opportunity to note whether anything was missing, though
judging from the chaos inside the house, it would take a long time to determine whether things were gone, or simply broken and strewn about.

They darted back to Julia’s car, which they’d picked up from the airport’s long-term parking. Julia hesitated by the driver’s-side door. “I don’t know if I can drive right now. Can you—?”

“Sure thing.” He took the keys from her. He kept an international
driving permit bundled with his passport for trips beyond Lydia’s borders so that he’d always be prepared to drive when the need arose.

Julia pointed the way to the coffee shop, and soon they were ensconced in an isolated corner booth with clear view of the door. Linus planted himself in the middle of the semicircular bench seat where he could see anyone who entered the shop. Whoever had
attacked Julia on the beach had likely followed her from the palace to the shore, then run along the bluffs or, more likely, driven ahead along Seaview Drive and waited for an opportune moment.

Anyone could be watching them. Linus hoped they’d see he was ready.

Julia scooted into the booth right next to him.

He instinctively moved away from her in order to maintain space between
them, but Julia put her hand on his arm. “Don’t you want to be able to see the door?”

“Yes, but I don’t want to crowd you.”

“It’s okay.” She gave his arm a slight squeeze before letting go and lifting her cappuccino toward her lips. “Your presence is soothing.” She lowered her eyes to the surface of her drink as she blew gently on the hot liquid before taking a tentative sip.

It
wasn’t until she’d swallowed and raised her eyes again that he realized he’d been staring at her lovely mouth for several long seconds.

Their eyes met. She knew he’d been looking at her. She had to know. And yet, she didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she held his gaze for a long moment, and he wavered between reaching for her or looking away.

He should look away, talk about something, anything
to help him pretend that he didn’t want her in his arms again, to camouflage the feelings that he struggled to hide.

He couldn’t kiss her. That much was certain. If he got involved with the duchess while she was under his guard, he’d be brought up for review the instant Jason learned of it. His juvenile record would be out in the open, and then what? He could lose his job, lose Julia’s respect...he’d
lose everything.

Linus realized with shame that he’d slowly begun to lean closer to Julia. She’d started to lean in toward him.

In a moment of insight, Linus realized precisely what he needed to do. If he confessed to Julia about his criminal record, she might lose a little respect for him, but it would also nip in the bud any feelings she might have for him. He wouldn’t have to worry
about kissing her in a moment of weakness, because she surely wouldn’t want a man with a criminal record kissing her. After all, she was a lawyer. She fought to keep the criminals off the streets.

The moment he thought of it, Linus realized it was the right thing to do. Since Julia was adamant about not worrying the queen, Linus knew she’d keep his secret. Working up the courage to speak
the words, however, would require a little more willpower.

And timing.

He cleared his throat and sipped his own beverage before glancing at the door. There was a bell above that would jingle if anyone came in. He had yet to hear any jingling. Now might be his best shot, while they were free of interruptions, when he had the bells on the door to give him a split-second warning if anyone
entered the coffee shop.

“I’m going to call my folks.” Julia sounded suddenly self-conscious as she pulled out her phone before he could speak. She called and updated her parents on what she’d found, then made plans to meet them back at the house later to go through things.

While she launched into what promised to be a long conversation, Linus sipped his drink and prayed silently about
what to do next. Item one on his list was to not kiss the duchess. Preferably to not even touch her, if he could avoid it.

No, there were plenty far more pressing things he ought to be thinking about. Until Julia was safe, he’d be at her side. After all, as Jason had stressed to him earlier, Linus was the only guard who’d seen Julia’s attacker. He’d fought with him, observed things, maybe
even learned enough about the man from fighting him to recognize him again if he had the chance, in spite of the darkness and his mask. Linus needed to be Julia’s guard until they caught her attacker.

If he wanted to escape from the temptation she presented, he needed to solve this case.

But what should they focus on next? He didn’t see much point in discussing the mess at the house.
Not now. That would only traumatize Julia further, and they could discuss it at length when they met her parents there later.

He pulled out his phone and checked his emails, grateful to see that Oliver had passed his notes on Fletcher Pendleton on to Simon, and the guard had dug up a little information. By the time he’d finished reading, Julia had ended her call with her parents.

“We’re
meeting them at the house at four?” He stated the time he’d heard her note, two hours away.

“Yes. My mom has a meeting until shortly before then. She and my dad are going to round up some cleaning supplies for us.”

To Linus’s relief, Julia spoke calmly.

He hated to bring up anything that might distress her, but he needed to go over the facts Simon had forwarded him about his research
on Fletcher Pendleton and Seattle Electronics.

After another sip of her cappuccino, Julia smiled at him calmly. “What about you? I saw you checking your messages. Learn anything?”

“The guards have forwarded me everything they’ve managed to dig up on Pendleton.”

“Oh?” She clearly wanted to sound casual, but fear rippled through that lone syllable.

“There’s not much out there,
other than the articles about the case with Seattle Electronics, but those don’t tell us anything more than what we already knew. Pendleton keeps a low profile. No social networking profiles, no court records. He wasn’t listed among the arrivals at the Lydian airport on any flights since you arrived in the country, but that’s inconclusive.”

“He could have flown to a neighboring country and
rented a car to drive the rest of the way. Or he could have traveled under another name.”

“But he wasn’t on our flight out of Lydia, and the next flight to the U.S. is still in the air. So if we want to test my theory, we need to act quickly.”

“What’s your theory?” A note of hope entered Julia’s voice.

“Let’s call him. Say you’ve given his request some thought.”

Julia’s eyes
widened. “That would be the quickest way to find out if he’s in Seattle. Do you think I should actually meet with him?”

“We’ll see. Certainly not alone. I’m not going to put you at risk, but if Pendleton is our man, we need to find out where he’s been and where he is now, who he’s working with and what he’s after. We can try to learn as much as we can over the phone, like what the text he
sent you is supposed to mean. If he wants to meet, let’s pick a spot ahead of time. Tell him you’ll have a friend with you. We can approach slowly from a distance, and if you don’t feel safe, we can leave.”

Julia nodded slowly. “We should be able to tell if he was the man who attacked me. He should have bruises. You saw his eyes.”

“I think I could recognize his eyes—at least to some
degree. And we have the shoe print from the beach. Size twelve. I’m an eleven-and-a-half, so that’s slightly bigger than my foot.” He watched her face carefully as he asked, “Do you feel comfortable doing this? I don’t want to ask you to do any—”

“I want to do it.” She cut him off with authority in her voice. “I want to catch this guy and end this. I went to Lydia to support my sister, and
until this situation is laid to rest, she’s only going to worry that much more. Besides—” she gave him a soft smile “—you said yourself, he wasn’t on our plane. I’d have recognized him. And the next flight is in the air. We need to act quickly if we don’t want to lose the advantage of knowing whether he may have been in Lydia. Now, let’s pick that location if he still wants to meet.”

Since
Linus didn’t know Seattle, he let Julia propose a spot—plenty far from the airport so Pendleton couldn’t hop off a flight and pop over to meet with them. She picked a public park only a few blocks from the address she had listed for him, so he was sure to know the place. Then she pulled out her phone with trembling hands.

Her fingers hovered motionless above the phone. “What was that prayer
you prayed earlier?”

“Lord, protect her and save her.” He recited the heartfelt words from memory.

“Can you keep praying while I place the call?” The tiniest edge of fear entered her voice.

“I’d be glad to.”

While Linus prayed the words silently, he listened with half an ear to Julia’s side of the call. To his relief, she spoke with an even voice, and he heard her make plans
to meet later that evening at the park they’d selected.

When she asked the engineer about the text, Linus felt proud that she managed to keep her voice steady.

“A package?” Julia repeated. “You sent it to Lydia? I’ll ask, but I haven’t seen anything. What kind of package?”

Linus couldn’t hear the answer. The conversation ended shortly thereafter. Julia let out a shaking breath and
met his eyes as she put away her phone. “He wants to meet at eight.”

Linus had heard as much. “The next connecting flight from Lydia is scheduled to arrive in Seattle at six fifteen.”

“If he’s on that flight, he could make it.” The wavering note in her voice revealed uncertainty and disappointment. “He said he was busy until then. I suppose he could have answered his phone on the plane
if they’re over land by now, and near a tower.”

“I suppose.” Linus let out a long breath. He knew phones weren’t supposed to be in use during flights, but if Pendleton was behind the attacks, Linus couldn’t expect the man to follow rules about phone use. Or he could have hopped an earlier flight or skipped the border and flown back to Seattle from Albania or Greece. They couldn’t rule out
whether Fletcher Pendleton had personally attacked Julia in Lydia.

Not yet, anyway.

“What did he tell you about the package?”

Julia made a bewildered face. “He said he sent something to me in Lydia. I asked him what kind of package, but he told me he’d explain when we meet tonight.”

“A package.” Linus nodded. “Right.” He still wasn’t convinced Fletcher wasn’t referring to the
attack on the beach, but they’d have a chance to grill the man soon enough.

They still had almost two hours before they’d arranged to meet Julia’s parents at her house. He didn’t see any point in returning to the site until then—especially not given Julia’s current distress. But he had another place he wanted to see.

Julia drained the last of her cappuccino. “What should we do now?”

“I’d like to see your office.”

She offered him a tiny smile. “You want to check the broken leaves on my violet plant for clues?”

He smiled back, pleased she was making an effort to retain her sense of humor, though he sensed it strained her to do so. “And the drawer on your file cabinet. I know you already looked, but I want to see those files.”

“Sounds like as good a plan as
any. Let’s go.” She scooted out of the booth.

Linus followed, still praying silently—that God would protect Julia, and that God would give him wisdom. He didn’t know too much about legal documents, but he felt certain there had to be a connection between the break-in at Julia’s office and her attacker’s request for a file. And maybe, while they were at it, he could find a way to break the
news to her that he wasn’t the man she thought him to be. His grandfather had always said honesty was the best policy. And if it helped him keep his distance from the lovely duchess, all the better.

* * *

Julia let Linus drive again as she pointed out the way to her office. She felt far too distracted to be anything but a hazard on the road. Her thoughts and emotions were in upheaval,
especially after speaking to Fletcher Pendleton on the phone.