Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #1 (58 page)

Lexie sank into an empty seat a few feet from the door. Shaun followed and sat next to her as she placed her bags on the floor. She opened her travel bag and pulled out a red manila folder, tensing at his nearness as she placed it on her lap. Lexie stared straight ahead at the small coffee table by their feet.

“I'll talk to security for you,” he said, despite her refusal to acknowledge him. “Trust me on this one. Let it go.”

Lexie tapped an unpainted fingernail on the folder. “Trust you? That's rich.” Her tone turned bitter. “Don't think I didn't notice your lack of urgency in pursuing the bad guy. Now there's someone aboard who might pose a danger to other passengers on the ship, and it sounds as if you're trying to threaten me to keep me from telling someone else about the incident, so, no. I'm not going to trust you just because you asked me to. Among other reasons.”

It was a shot straight to the gut. What had he done to become the bad guy? “My apologies. You're absolutely right. It's been a while and I suppose trust is something to be earned after all these years.” He paused and considered his next words carefully. If her assailant meant to seriously harm her, she could place herself in danger again if she wasn't careful. “I'd hoped that stopping an attempt on your life, whatever the reason, would be worthy enough to gain trust.”

Telling her why she needed to trust him would make this so much easier, but Shaun needed to protect his mission. He'd boarded the ferry on an anonymous tip to CIA headquarters that suggested there might be ties in Argentia to the human trafficking ring the CIA had been trying to bust for the past three years. Shaun was so close to cutting off the head of the snake, he could taste it. He'd bring the Wolf and his organization down, no matter the cost.

Shaun blinked as memory took shape. Nicola and Alexandra, disembarking from the YouthBuilders' bus in a dusty town in Botswana.
Hi, I'm Alexandra,
the brunette had said,
and this is my sister, Nicola. We came with the Canadian group. Where are you from?

“Sorry,” Lexie said, cutting through the strangely vivid memories. She looked startled by his honest appeal. “It's just that until fifteen minutes ago, I thought I had a straightforward job to do. Now I'm not so sure.”

Now they were getting somewhere. “Maybe I can help.” Lexie made no effort to hide the surprise on her face. “No, really. Tell me, what's the work you're doing, exactly?” He inclined his head toward the red folder. Her fingers flicked across its edge in impatience as she contemplated his offer of help.

Silence stretched like a rubber band until her gaze grew hard and distant, and she shook her head. “I can't. Client confidentiality. I...I've probably said too much already.”

This made him pause. He'd have to tread with care and draw her out by reassuring her that she could trust him. Telling her everything would blow his cover, but maybe he could offer up a partial truth in hope she'd reciprocate with an exchange of information. If that attack had been deliberate, he needed to know.

“I promise you, I'm not involved. Not the way you're thinking, anyway. It's complicated, so trust me when I say you need to stay out of this. Let me handle it.”

She rolled her eyes, making no effort to hide her frustration. Her limbs were locked tight against her small body, as though he had a contagious disease. The hostility astounded him, especially considering he'd saved her from a potentially life-threatening situation. “It's been a long time, Lexie. How've you been? What have you been up to?”

“You ask a lot of questions, Carver,” she snapped. “You a cop? Got a badge to show me?”

Shaun rubbed his jaw. He needed to stop her from using his name. “It's Lane. Shaun Lane.”

She arched a delicate eyebrow. “Is it now? I have a good memory for these kinds of things.”

He swallowed hard. He'd faced down terrorists and real-life villains without so much as a flinch. Why did Lexie's observations bring a lump to his throat? “We all make changes. I got your name wrong, didn't I?”

“A shorter version of a long first name is a little different than an entirely new last name.”

He needed to move this along before she started asking questions he couldn't answer. “Look, I work for...the government, and let's leave it at that. What about you? I'm getting a PI vibe, but I suspect that's not right, either.”

A hint of a wry smile touched her lips. “No. I'm the vice president and a support counselor for a volunteer missing-persons organization.”

Her shoulders dropped, and Shaun couldn't help but notice the purple bruise forming across her throat. “Hey, are you actually okay? That looks painful.”

Lexie lifted pale fingers to the bruise, wincing at the touch. A small silver name bracelet slid from her wrist to her forearm. Shaun could just make out the engraving as the setting sunlight glinted off the name plate. Nikki.

“I'll be fine. I'm alive, and that's what matters.”

Silence returned for a moment as Shaun churned over what to say next that wouldn't shut her down further. Lexie seemed to come to a decision when he didn't press her for more information. “The organization is named Lead Me Home National. We search for missing persons in Canada that law enforcement like the local police or even Interpol have given up on, or who aren't considered ‘missing' for whatever reason. Or the family might fear going to the police, maybe because they or the family member entered the country illegally, that kind of thing. I'm searching for a girl named Maria who disappeared a few months ago.”

Shaun's heart sank. “You aid and abet illegal immigrants?”

Lexie lifted the folder and slammed it down on her lap, fire blazing in her eyes. “No. It's a matter of human rights. Of everyone's right to have someone looking out for them, even when everyone else has given up, even when...”

Her voice trailed off, hitching on her words. The fierceness in her eyes had been replaced by a red-rimmed sadness, which she was trying unsuccessfully to blink away. Shaun laid his hand on her shoulder and mentally kicked himself. Everyone dealt with trauma differently, and clearly the events of the past hour had brought something painful to the forefront.

“Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you.” He scanned the room, desperate for a way to prevent her tears from flowing. He'd been the cause of too many tears in the distant and recent past, thanks to this job. Learning how to balance relationships and job requirements was a steeper learning curve than he'd ever expected. In a way, it had been easier before he'd realized how much he longed to share his life in a deep, committed relationship with someone who understood his drive to help and protect others.

Shaun's gaze landed on the coffee bar in the center of the room, where baristas handed out drinks and pastries to the waiting customers. He turned his attention back to Lexie, who was staring at his hand where it rested on her shoulder.

“Uh, I...” Shaun pulled his hand away and stood. “Can I get you a coffee? You look like you could use the caffeine.”

Pink rose in her cheeks. “One cream, please.”

At the coffee bar, Shaun kept his attention split between his place in line and Lexie. His stomach churned with frustration, and he found he couldn't keep his eyes off her. She'd be much safer if she stayed put and allowed him to do the searching for her attacker. It'd be foolish to encourage an unarmed woman to take on an opponent who'd just proven himself physically stronger than she.

Besides, he had his own search to conduct, and the people
he'd
come to search for were far more dangerous than a random man in a ski mask. Still, the coincidence made him pause. Here was a woman also searching for a missing person, and she'd been the victim of an attack. Could there be a connection?

Whether there was or not, a civilian nosing around for any reason might get herself hurt—she'd
already
gotten herself hurt. It could be worse, next time. Lexie's interference might also compromise his plans and destroy three years of painstaking intel and recon, putting the lives of those in the ring's clutches in further danger.

And while he understood God would forgive him if he messed this one up, he knew he would never, ever, forgive himself.

Copyright © 2015 by Faith Boughan

Dear Reader

I hope you enjoyed Melanie and Jace's story. It was a joy to write their journey to overcome past hurts and prejudices and learn to trust enough to give love a chance. Even though LaMar Pond is a fictional place, it came alive for me as I wrote about Melanie and Jace.

Scripture tells us that everything has a season. I had always dreamed of being a writer. I put my dream aside to focus on raising my family. When my youngest started school, I began thinking seriously about writing again. I knew I needed to write inspirational stories. I had an idea about an innocent woman who went to jail and the cop who arrested her working together. It bounced around in my mind for months. When the editors for Love Inspired Suspense announced the Killer Voices Pitch contest, I decided to trust God and take a leap of faith. I will always remember the feeling when editor Elizabeth Mazer picked me to be on her team. When she called me to say she wanted my book, it was the realization of the dream God had put on my heart so many years before.

I have many stories in my mind that I am eager to write, but Jace and Mel will always hold a special place in my heart.

If you want to know more about what I'm working on now, you can find me at
www.authordanarlynn.wordpress.com
. I can also be found on
Facebook
and Twitter (
@DanaRLynn
).

Blessings,

Dana R. Lynn

ISBN-13: 9781460380048

Presumed Guilty

Copyright © 2015 by Dana Roae

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical,
now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

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. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Intellectual Property Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com