Harlequin Intrigue, Box Set 1 of 2 (28 page)

Hot breath panted against his face. A sandpapery tongue licked his neck.

Jake's eyes flew open. He stared into a pair of deep green eyes. But they weren't Faye's.

They belonged to a black panther.

He scrambled out of the tent, expecting to feel the panther's claws at any moment, raking down his back and slicing his skin open. He'd just cleared the tent entrance when the panther tackled him from behind, its heavy body knocking Jake to the ground.

He twisted around, aiming a punch at the panther's jaw. But his fist met nothing but air. The panther had jumped off him and bounded across the clearing. Jake scrambled to his knees to see where the animal went. His veins turned to ice when he saw Faye walking toward him from the trees. The panther was headed straight for her.

“Faye, look out!” Jake grabbed one of the small branches from the cold fire pit from last night and ran after the panther.

Faye's eyes widened with alarm.

Oh, God. He wasn't going to reach her in time.

“Faye!”

The panther jumped at her. Faye disappeared beneath a black ball of fur as she fell to the ground. Jake reached them and pulled back the branch like a bat, ready to let it fly.

“Don't hurt him!” Faye yelled, rolling with the panther out of Jake's reach.

Jake stopped with the branch up in the air, blinking down in shock. Faye was on her knees, her arms around the panther's neck, glaring at him as if he was the bad guy.

“He's harmless. Leave him alone,” she said.

He slowly lowered the branch, his heart slamming so hard he could feel each beat. “Harmless?” he choked. “He's a wild animal. He attacked me in the tent.”

She rolled her eyes. “He probably cuddled with you and licked you. He certainly couldn't have attacked you.” She pulled his mouth open. “See, no teeth. No claws, either, except on his hind legs. And I don't see any claw marks on you to justify you threatening to hit him.” She hugged the panther and stroked it as if it were a large house cat. “There, there, Sampson. It's okay. Don't be scared.”

Jake should have felt ridiculous standing there naked while Faye hugged a toothless, clawless panther as if it were a domestic house cat. But all he could think about was the sheer panic and overwhelming fear when he'd thought she was about to be mauled. Everything else had faded away. All that mattered was reaching her in time to save her.

He'd been willing to sacrifice his own body to protect her, instead of taking the extra few seconds to retrieve his gun from inside the tent, which would have been a hell of a lot smarter than grabbing a tree branch. But he hadn't wanted to risk those extra few seconds. He'd fully intended to wrap his arms around the wild cat and give it something else to chomp on if that would keep Faye from getting hurt and give her time to get a gun to protect herself.

“Jake? Jake are you okay?” She shoved the cat away from her and stood. She looked him up and down, as if searching for injuries. “What's wrong?”

He strode over to her and grabbed her shoulders. “What's
wrong
? What's wrong is that I thought you were about to be hurt, or killed. And I was too far away. My God, I couldn't reach you, I couldn't...” He closed his eyes briefly and swallowed. When he opened them again he looked at the panther, lying on its side, calmly licking its fur. “Next time one of your ‘pets' is skulking around, warn me,” he bit out.

He stalked back toward the tent to get dressed.

* * *

F
AYE
'
S
MOUTH
DROPPED
open as Jake strode away from her, his golden skin gleaming and rippling with muscles in the morning sunlight peeking through the trees overhead. His anger showed in every step, every jerky movement of his beautiful body until he disappeared into the tent.

It hadn't even occurred to her to tell him about Sampson. The cat often followed her on her jaunts through the woods. But he usually stayed closer to the store so he wouldn't miss a meal. She and Amy fed him ground-up meat every day out the back door. The cat tended to be shy around strangers, with good reason. Its past as an abused circus animal still made it skittish. She'd never expected him to show up with Jake here.

And she'd never expected Jake would get so upset, all because he thought she was going to get hurt. She couldn't help but smile. Her instincts about him had been right. He was a good man. After everything that had gone wrong in the past few years, finally everything was starting to go right. When she and Jake found Calvin, they'd tell him about the brother he never knew he had. And then they could all return to Mystic Glades together.

CHAPTER NINE

Getting over his earlier scare about the panther hurting Faye was proving to be more difficult than it should have been. Jake sat silently through their breakfast of beef jerky, granola bars and water. Faye kept giving him questioning looks, but he just couldn't say anything. He still wanted to shake her.

He'd never been so scared in his life. And that scared the hell out of him. He was losing his perspective, getting too attached. He couldn't deny that now. And that made this trip even more dangerous than it had started out to be.

After packing their gear, they headed out, searching in a grid pattern southwest of where they'd made camp. Nearly three hours later, they found what they'd been looking for—footprints. According to Faye, who was a much better tracker than Jake could ever hope to be, the prints were recent, made in the past day. It was unlikely anyone else would be in this area except for Gillette.

They headed through the trees, occasionally trekking across broad swaths of saw grass marshy areas. Jake kept his gun holstered close at hand, expecting to step on an alligator any minute. But Faye seemed to know exactly what she was doing. She knew the signs to look for, and their jaunt was largely uneventful.

As they neared the edge of another “tree island” and were about to step under the shade of a group of pine trees, Jake put his hand on Faye's shoulder. He'd had enough of the tension and uncomfortable silence between them. And it was time he set it to rights.

She turned with a question in her eyes.

He'd meant to apologize, but instead he framed her face in his hands and kissed her. It was a soft, gentle kiss, at first anyway. But it seemed that any time he touched her he couldn't control himself. He groaned low in his throat and deepened the kiss, crushing his lips to hers. And in spite of how surly he'd been all morning since the “panther incident,” she responded with just as much enthusiasm as she had last night.

When he realized he was thinking about pulling her down to the filthy ground and making love to her right there, he forced himself to end the kiss and step back.

“Wow,” she said. “What was that for?”

“For being an ass, I suppose. I'm sorry about getting so angry with you earlier. I just...when I saw—”

She pressed her finger against his lips. “Don't apologize. You were upset because you thought I was going to get hurt, and because I didn't tell you about Sampson. I understand, and you're right. I should have told you about him.” She stood on tiptoe and pulled his head down to hers so she could press a quick, soft kiss against his lips. “Thank you for caring. It's been a long time since anyone did.”

That soft admission sent another punch of guilt straight to his gut. “How did you end up with a pet panther?” he asked, desperate to change the subject.

She took his hand in hers and tugged him along into the trees as they continued to track Gillette. “There's a panther preserve not far from here. I did the touristy thing there and learned about Sampson, how he was rescued from a circus, how he'd been abused. I kind of fell in love with him. He was so sweet and it was so sad that he couldn't fend for himself against the other panthers. He had to be kept separate. I guess I visited so much he grew attached to me. Somehow he escaped and ended up here. I walked into my apartment and he'd climbed through the window and was sitting on my couch.”

Jake shook his head and held up a branch for her to walk underneath it. “That had to be scary.”

“More than you realize. I screamed and scared us both. He ran out the window. It wasn't until then that I realized which cat he was, and that he was harmless and just looking for company. I figured he was hungry, too, unable to catch and eat anything himself. So I went into town the next morning and bought a meat grinder and some raw meat in case he came back. A week later he did, and he's been coming back ever since. Amy or I usually feed him once a day, but sometimes we don't see him for several days.”

“It never occurred to you to call the panther preserve people and have them come pick him up?”

“Oh, sure it occurred to me. But I discarded that idea as soon as I thought of it. He was lonely there. I was lonely here. We made a great team.”

He shook his head, smiling. “I think I saw him that first night. He ran across the road in front of my car. That's what made me see Gillette's car back in the woods.”

“Huh. Strange.”

“Or fate.”

She glanced up at him, probably wondering whether he meant because he'd found the car, or her. Since he wasn't quite sure himself, he didn't say anything.

She stopped and pointed off to their right. “It's getting too dry here to show prints, but see those broken palmetto fronds? I think he ran through there. Those aren't easy to break, so he must have been in a hurry or might have even fallen down.”

“Maybe Sampson was chasing him.”

She laughed. “Maybe.”

Twenty minutes later the trail of broken twigs and bent branches ended at the beginning of a bog.

“He couldn't have crossed this without a canoe,” Faye said.

“Because it's so deep?”

“Because it's full of snakes and gators.” She turned around. “I don't see a return path.”

Jake immediately shoved her behind him and drew his gun. He pointed it up in the trees closest to him, squinting against the late-morning sun. “Gillette, we know you're hiding. I'm going to start shooting up into the trees if you don't come down in the next ten seconds.”

Faye put her hand on his forearm. “Threatening to shoot trees again?”

He shrugged. “It worked with you. Why not with him?”

She laughed. “You don't need the gun. He's not dangerous.”

Jake knew better. But at the insistent pressure of Faye's hand on his arm, he relented and lowered his gun to his side. He didn't holster it, though. There was only so far he was willing to go.

She nodded her thanks. “Calvin. It's okay. You can come down. Jake's a...friend. It's safe.”

Jake looked up at the trees, studying each branch. There, about fifteen feet up the tree closest to them, he saw Gillette. Wearing jeans and a black T-shirt, he blended in almost perfectly. Jake edged his pistol hand slightly back behind his thigh so it wasn't obvious he was holding a gun if Gillette hadn't seen it earlier.

“All right,” Gillette said. “I'm coming down.”

He wasn't much of a tree climber, or at least, he wasn't as good at getting down as he was going up. Faye ended up talking him through it, telling him where to place each foot. By the time he reached the bottom branch, just a good five-foot jump to the ground, he was shaking so much that pine needles were falling down around him.

Faye looked to Jake for help. He couldn't have planned it any better. He sighed as if helping Gillette was an inconvenience, instead of an opportunity. He holstered his pistol before reaching up and yanking Gillette's leg. The smaller man tumbled out of the tree with a frightened shout, landing on a pile of pine needles and rolling to a stop against the base of the tree.

Faye's gasp of outrage turned to an indignant shriek when Jake tugged Gillette's hands behind him and cuffed them together before hauling him upright.

“What are you doing?” Faye demanded.

“I thought you said he was a friend,” Gillette accused, aiming a glare at Jake.

“He is. He's a private investigator. Let him go, Jake.”

He shoved the handcuff key in his front jeans pocket. “Sorry, Faye. I truly am.” He patted Gillette down but didn't find any weapons. He forced him to sit on the forest floor. Jake put his foot on the chain between the cuffs so Gillette couldn't get up. Then he did one of the hardest things he'd ever had to do. He pulled out his pistol, and pointed it at Faye.

“Toss your gun, and your knife,” he ordered. “Over there in the bushes.”

Her face went pale. “Why? What are you going to do?”

He could have handled her anger. But the flash of fear in her eyes cut him deeply. “Stop looking at me like that. I'm not going to hurt you unless you draw your gun on me.”

Confusion creased her brow. “I don't understand. I thought you were going to help me find Calvin, to let him know about his brother.”

“I don't have a brother,” Calvin said. “What are you talking about?”

“You do. The man who hired Jake to find you is your brother. When you were put in foster care, you must have had a brother and never knew it. He's trying to find you now. Isn't that right, Jake?”

He fisted his left hand beside him. “That was a cover. To get you to lead me to Gillette. The gun, Faye. And the knife. Throw them into the trees.”

She aimed a wounded look at him before bending down and freeing the weapons. She tossed them into the grass. When she straightened, she wouldn't even look at him. Her face had gone hard, and was so pale it worried him.

“So much for my instincts that you were a good man,” she whispered brokenly.

He winced.

“Now what?” she asked, her voice sounding wooden. “I suppose you're going to kill us. It's a good plan. No one will find our bodies out here.”

Gillette jerked forward, trying to pull away. Jake shoved his shoulder and slammed him facedown onto the ground. He kneeled beside him with his knee in the middle of Gillette's back to keep him from moving.

“Enough,” Jake said. “I'm not here to hurt either of you. I'm a private investigator. I didn't lie about that. I'm under contract to the FBI to find you two so you can face charges in Tuscaloosa.”

Faye's brows drew down in confusion. “Charges? What charges?”

“We didn't run from any charges,” Gillette insisted.

“No, but you did run. The charges were filed
in absentia
. You're both wanted for murder.”

“Murder?” They both said the word at the same time and with the same degree of shock.

Either they had excellent acting skills, or they were truly surprised. A niggle of doubt swept through Jake, but he forced it away. They
had
run. Innocent people didn't run. Or use an alias, as Faye had done.

“Calvin Gillette, Faith Decker, you're both under citizen's arrest.”

Faye's eyes widened at the use of her legal name. Handcuffing her was what he should do next. And he'd brought along an extra pair for that purpose. But he couldn't bring himself to do it. Dex was right after all. Faye had gotten under his skin. He'd do his job, take her in, but
he
wouldn't be the one to cuff her. Hopefully he could get a signal out here. Because taking both of them back by himself, with only one of them cuffed, could get messy. He pulled out his phone to call Holder.

“Don't,” Faye said, a sense of urgency in her tone. “Please, Jake. For me. Wait. Hear us out. Something's terribly wrong here. Neither of us has killed anyone. I swear.”

He steeled himself against the pleading tone of her voice. “As many times as you've lied to me, swearing doesn't hold much weight.”

She flinched. “Fair enough. Looks like we've both been lying to each other, though. Was last night a lie, too?”

“Don't,” he said. “Don't go there. This has nothing to do with that and you know it.”

“Do I?” She looked away, but not before he saw the sparkle of unshed tears in her eyes.

Damn it.

He tried the phone. No service. Of course.

“We have a right to know who's trying to frame us,” her broken voice called out to him. She sounded so hurt, so lost, it was torture not to go to her and pull her into his arms.

“No one's trying to frame you. I'm working for Special Agent Quinn Fugate. He's been following your case out of the Birmingham, Alabama, field office. But the crime took place in Tuscaloosa. The victim was Vincent Genovese.”

“Genovese? Calvin and I
worked
for him. We didn't
kill
him.”

“Don't tell him anything,” Calvin warned.

“Remember the sister I told you about? My foster sister?” Faye asked. “I wasn't completely honest. It was a brother, not a sister. Calvin was the one I was talking about. He's the one I started a landscaping business with. That job I told you about, renovating gardens on a massive estate, that was Genovese's estate.”

“Shut up,” Calvin called out. “Don't make yourself a target, Faye.”

Jake pressed his knee harder against Gillette's back. Gillette grimaced but didn't say anything else.

“Tell me what happened, Faye,” Jake said.

“We'd heard rumors about Genovese, that he might be part of organized crime. But we didn't think there could be any harm in taking the job. And we really needed that job. We were fresh out of college, broke, with student loans coming due. It was just a few months of work, and it was on the up-and-up. We were just redoing the gardens. So we took the job. And it worked out great, at first. But when you're outside all the time, you start noticing patterns, the people who come and go. You hear conversations you aren't meant to hear, see things you aren't supposed to see.”

“Damn it, Faye. Shut
up
,” Calvin swore.

She ignored him and started across the clearing toward Jake. He tightened his hand around the pistol and watched her warily. He couldn't let her get close enough to flip him or pull some other kind of trick. No underestimating this time. But could he pull the trigger if he had to? He honestly didn't know.

“Genovese would have us come in the house sometimes, for meetings in his front study. We'd review architectural drawings, gain approval for the garden plans. He paid us in cash out of his wall safe. That made us both uneasy, but we took it.”

“Faye,” Gillette cried out.

Jake leaned down close to him. “Interrupt again and I'll gag you. Go on, Faye.”

She stopped and flicked a glance at Gillette. “My point is this. We knew Genovese, liked him, had no reason to hurt him. We were both working the day he was killed. Someone shot him while he was in the front study. But, Jake, you have to believe me. Calvin and I didn't pull the trigger. Someone saw the killer. There was an eyewitness.”