Love's Protector: A Maverick's Shield Novel (22 page)

“I want you inside me.”

She pulled off his pajama bottoms as he lifted her shirt over her head and both items were tossed onto the floor beside them. He lifted her slightly placing her back on the arm of the sofa putting one leg on the back of it and wrapping the other one around his waist. The fullness of his cock when he slid inside of her felt so good, so hard and so deep that she climaxed instantly. She was certain he’d felt her instant reaction to him when he moaned in her ear and began to stroke her harder and faster.

“Amour…I’m going to come…baby I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok…just let go.”

And just like that, he did. She could tell by his moan and the one tiny tear that ran down his cheek that all of his pain was slowly releasing along with his climax. She knew at that very moment, even though it would probably still take a little time, he would be okay.

He collapsed on top of her breathing deeply in her ear. “Don’t leave me Amour.”

She wiped his tear away and held him in her arms.
“Never.”

The red silk spaghetti strapped halter dress and silver strappy stilettos she picked up at one of the many lavish and way over-priced boutiques in Beverly Hills, looked a little odd on her as she stared at herself in the mirror. Odd because she’d never worn anything
like this before…well maybe once, but it certainly wasn’t this expensive. But she figured what the hell; it was the mayor’s event so she might as well splurge a little. Once she’d picked up the dress and shoes, she’d decided to make it a day of pampering at a trendy spa and hair salon. The beautician she’d gone to was very chatty and while she was giving Amour something called a
Brazilian blow out
, she gossiped about everything from her next door neighbors, to every celebrity in town. Boy was she glad to get the hell out of there.

“Amour?”
Jason called out as he knocked at the bedroom door.

“Come in!”

When Jason opened the door and stepped inside, his eyes widened as he looked at her.  “Wow!” She smiled. He was definitely impressed. “You look gorgeous!”

She looked him over. “Thanks, you look great yourself in your tux.”

“Thanks. Are you ready to go?”

“Yes, let’s get out of here.”

The mayor’s mansion was located in the swanky neighborhood of Hancock Park. This was definitely a part of town that she would expect the mayor of Los Angeles to live in. As she and Jason walked up the long white staircase that led to the large entryway to the front of the house, she noticed the two huge palm trees that sat on either side of them. The house was painted a cream color with a classic yet slightly modern design to it. It was one of the most beautiful homes she’d ever seen. Once they’d reached the entryway that consisted of large double doors, they were greeted by a young woman and asked for their invitation to the event. Jason slid a white envelope out the inside pocket of his jacket and handed it to the woman.

She slid them out of the envelope and studied them for a few seconds before reaching behind her slightly and knocking on one of the large doors. “Alright Mr. and Mrs. Kincaid, enjoy the party,” she said with a smile.

The two of them thanked her simultaneously before seeing the door swung open and the sound of adult contemporary music and chatter filled their ears. A very large and very muscular man stepped aside to let them in and closed the door behind them.

“Mr. and Mrs.?” Amour said curiously.

“Jax had to tell them we were married.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t question it, I just went with it.”

Not that it wouldn’t be nice to be married to Jason; she just didn’t understand why they had to lie. She paused for a moment and looked around. “This house is quite spectacular.” 

“Yeah, it’s nice.”

She could tell Jason was not all that impressed. She was sure he’d been there and done that with places like this. “Where’s Jax?”

“I’m not sure; I’m going to call him right now.”

As she waited for Jason to make the call, she noticed a very large painting of what must’ve been the mayor and his family. They were a good looking bunch and just the kind of people that she would imagine living in a place like this, not that she wouldn’t that is. “Did he pick up?” she asked Jason.

Jason placed his cell back in his pocket. “Yeah, he’s out back by the pool let’s go.”

The backyard of the house was just as impressive as the front of it right down to the landscaping, palm trees and the huge “S” shaped swimming pool surrounded by a spacious and gorgeous hand carved earth toned galaxy stoned patio. “Wow! Maybe I need to get into politics if they live like this.”

“Trust me, you don’t. The world of politics is no place for a decent person to be.”

She laughed softly while Jason grabbed her arm and guided her across the patio once he’d spotted Jax having a conversation with Cheryl. Once Jax had noticed the two of them, he smiled and introduced them to his ex.

“Have you seen Harrington?” Jason whispered to Jax.

“Yeah, he’s here with his wife and kid but you won’t be able to chat with him for a while because it’s almost time for the charity auction to begin. He’s gonna make a speech and introduce the mayor and all that crap.”

“Okay, so I guess we might as well hang out and enjoy the party until then.”

Jason grabbed him and Amour a couple of glasses of champagne when the waitress walked by and the four of them mingled, drank more champagne and took a guided tour around the rest of the house to pass the time. Since the event started at five o’clock, the charity auction was held on the huge lawn in the backyard of the mansion. There were small round tables with white tablecloths with place cards sitting in the middle of them and two medium sized wooden stages with a live band on one of the them and a podium and microphone on the other. The four of them took their assigned seats when the announcement was made that the auction was going to start.

After eating a full course meal complete with appetizers, the best chocolate dipped strawberries she’d ever tasted, even more champagne and three long boring hours of watching a bunch of even more boring rich people spend a lot of money on weird items, the auction was finally over and Pierce Harrington stepped to the podium. He was an older man, probably around seventy but he looked surprisingly good for someone his age. He was definitely the man in all the photos, just with a much older face. He was soon accompanied by his wife Beatrice and daughter Caroline and the two of them spoke about some hospital they worked at that Amour had never heard of so she tuned most of their speech out.

Caroline looked like she must have been in her mid to late forties and although she looked great as well, Beatrice was clearly around the senator’s age. Caroline had her father’s facial features but her hair was long and blonde while her father’s was grey. Her mother’s on the other hand was short and silver with streaks of…
red
? She’s a redhead. Was she the mysterious redhead that Mrs. Pruitt saw that day? She would definitely have a motive to kill her mother. She tapped Jason on the shoulder as the three of them walked off the stage. “Did you notice the hair color of Senator Harrington’s wife?”

“Yes I did and I find it very interesting. She’s definitely on my list of suspects which happens to be getting longer by the day.”

“Do you think she’s capable of doing something like that? I mean, the woman is all of five feet and she can’t be more than one-hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet.”

He looked up at her. “Anyone is capable of anything given the right motivation Amour. Don’t let looks deceive you.”

She guessed he was right, but she was so warm and sweet when she was on stage. She supposed Mrs. Harrington had to be that way for the event and her husband
was
having an affair back then. Being a woman herself, she could understand how that would possibly motivate her to do the unthinkable even though it was a bit extreme. “I suppose.”

“Come on, let’s go find Jax and see what our strategy should be.”

After about twenty minutes of mingling, the three of them saw Senator Harrington enter the main house with his family. Jason and Jax thought it would be a good idea to tail the senator to see exactly where he was headed. They didn’t want him to leave before they had a chance to question him. Not that it was going to be easy; he had two large body guards and was constantly surrounded by reporters and fans.

“Do you think we’ll be able to talk to him?” she turned to Jax and asked.

“I’m sure, we just have to find the right time. It’s not gonna be simple but we can make it happen.”

Jason tilted his head towards a small doorway across the large room they were in. “It looks like his wife and daughter are going inside of there. I think it’s one of the restrooms.”

“Well the senator will be alone for a while then.” Jax said. “When they parted from him, half of the crowd did as well so we should have a small opportunity now.”

“Jason, I actually need to go to the restroom myself. Can you go with me?” She didn’t really need to go, but she figured that would be a great opportunity to possibly speak with the wife or daughter.

“Okay but try to be as quick as you can, I don’t want to let Harrington slip through our fingers.”

“I will.” The two of them walked towards the small door that the two women had entered. When Amour opened it, she found out that Jason was indeed correct. The small door led to a huge bathroom complete with a dressing and vanity area. When she stepped in, she stopped at one of the large mirrors on the wall to quickly give herself the once over and to make sure none of the steak she’d had for dinner was caught in her teeth. After about five minutes, Caroline stepped out of the vanity area and Beatrice stepped out of the commode area shortly after.

Amour slid her tiny compact out of her purse and began to dab the sponge onto her face. It took her a while to think of something to say to them to start up a conversation, but she finally did. “That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing Mrs. Harrington.”

Beatrice looked at Amour in the mirror and smiled. “Thank you my dear.”

“Are you enjoying the party?” Caroline asked her.

“Yes I am thank you.” She needed to think of something else to say, pronto. “So what is it like being a senator’s wife and daughter?” She knew that was a pretty lame question to ask, but it was all she could come up with.

Caroline answered first.
“Exhausting.” She chuckled. “Don’t get me wrong, it has its perks but it can be a bit nerve racking.”

Amour laughed softly for a few seconds before realizing that Beatrice was staring at her through the mirror again. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

Beatrice frowned and said. “You look very familiar. Do we know each other?”

Amour knew exactly what was
familiar
about her. She wondered if Beatrice would ever put the puzzle together. She did look almost identical to Carly. “No, I doubt it.”

“Alright, but I would’ve bet money that I knew you from
somewhere
.”

“Mother you don’t know her!” Caroline exclaimed. “Now let’s go. We have press to deal with.”

Caroline all but dragged her mother out of the bathroom. That was very strange. She clearly didn’t want Beatrice to ask Amour anymore questions. She did notice that Caroline was eyeing her through the mirror just as her mother was so maybe she knows something about her Beatrice that she doesn’t want accidently slipped out.

* * *

“Look at him smiling.” Jason said as he looked in Pierce Harrington’s direction. I can tell he’s a douche bag just by looking at him.”

Jax laughed. “Ya think? He’s a politician, of course he is.” He then glanced in the direction of the bathroom door. “Why do women take so damn long in the bathroom? What the hell is she doing in there?”

“There’s no telling. I’m sure she’ll be out soon because I saw the senator’s wife and daughter come out of there a few minutes ago.”

“Good.”

Jason’s cell rang in his pocket so he slid it out and held it up to his ear. “Hello?” He could tell someone was there but he couldn’t hear them so he stepped into the small hallway that housed the bathroom. “This is Jason Kincaid.”

“Hello Mr. Kincaid, this is Officer Lewis with the Santa Monica Police Department. I’m calling you to let you know that we have further reviewed the footage from the Ocean View suites incident that you and Miss Graciette were involved in and you were cleared of any wrong doing in the case of the shooting.”

“I know that.”

“Yes of course sir. I also called you to let you know that ballistics came back on the bullet that was inside of the deceased maid in your room and it has concluded that the bullet found wasn’t a match for your gun. You will no longer be a suspect in that incident as well.”

Of course Jason already knew all of this, but it was nice to hear the words and have the proof to back it up. “Thank you Officer.”

“You’re welcome. You have a good night Mr. Kincaid.”

Good. Now that
that
was over, he could finally put that whole incident behind him and focus on the task at hand. What the hell was Amour doing in there? What is it with women in the ladies room? He was about five seconds from going in there to get her when his cell rang again.
Shit! Who the hell is this now?
“Hello?”

“Hello, may I speak to Jason Kincaid?” the soft female voice spoke on the other end.

“This is Jason.”

“Hi, this is Rachel Monroe. My mother told me that you wanted to talk to me about Mrs. Graciette.”

Rachel Monroe…Crap!
He’d forgotten all about her. “Yes! Thank you for calling me.”

“No problem. I’m not too sure how I can help you though. I was only ten years old then.”

“I know, but anything you can remember about that day will be very helpful to me.”

She remained silent for a few seconds before speaking. “Well what I do remember is Mrs. Graciette yelling at someone in her house.”