Task Force Bride (7 page)

* * *

P
IKE
WATCHED
S
PENCER
Montgomery and Kate Kilpatrick pull out of the parking lot at Fairy Tale Bridal to merge with the beginnings of rush-hour traffic, leaving him standing on the sidewalk out front. He looked down at the alert dog sitting beside him. “I guess we’re really going through with this, Hans.”

Hans tilted his long black muzzle up into Pike’s hand, promising his silent support. Whatever his master had to do, they would do it together. Even if it meant taking on a role neither of them had trained for—pretending Hope Lockhart was their happily-ever-after.

Pike looked up and down the street, wondering if any of the people walking to their cars, heading into shops, peeking out of office windows or warming up with a coffee amongst the autumnal reds and golds of the young trees that decorated the rooftop garden of the cafe on the corner had any suspicion of the trap KCPD was laying for the Rose Red Rapist. Was one of them their man, watching him even now and evaluating his appearance at Fairy Tale Bridal? He was the neighborhood cop, right? Would their unsub buy that he and Hope were an item? Would he believe that all those brief encounters with her these past twelve months had led to a marriage proposal and that the extra security on the premises had to do with love and not catching a criminal? There was only one way to find out.

“Fuss.”
At the German command to heel, Hans jumped to his feet and fell into step beside Pike as he turned back into the parking lot. “Let’s do it.”

After holding the door for a group of young women who were all chattering at once about the best color for a bridesmaid dress, Pike led Hans into the vestibule of Hope’s shop. He paused a minute to inspect the splintered wood around the lock he’d busted to get up to Hope’s apartment late Saturday night. The door swung open with barely a push, making him glad she still had the outside entrance and her apartment door upstairs she could lock for security. But he also made a mental note to pick up some wood from the lumberyard to reinforce the lock until he could get the antique door replaced and a new dead bolt installed.

Inhaling a fortifying breath and reminding himself how important this assignment was to KCPD and all of Kansas City, Pike pushed open the door to Hope’s shop.

“...Ms. Carter, er, Mrs. Lonergan now, let me off an hour early to come fix your door.” A short, wiry man wearing a green uniform shirt and jeans was talking with Hope across the counter at the center of the shop. Pike recognized him as an employee from the florist’s shop across the street. The two businesses often handled events together, but this didn’t look like a work-related discussion to him. “She worries about you, you know.”

The bell ringing above his head announced Pike’s arrival, but it was Hans’s loping gate beside him that diverted Hope’s attention from the conversation and made her cheeks go pale. She might as well get used to having them both around. She’d agreed to this charade, and that included the German shepherd as part of her bodyguard contingency. He sure hoped Dr. Kilpatrick was right, and that helping Hope deal with her fear of dogs was the best way to earn her trust.

Pike pulled off his KCPD cap and stuffed it into his hip pocket as the dark-haired man clicked his tongue against his teeth to startle Hope’s attention back to him. “As I was saying, I’ve got tools and some wood across the street at Mrs. Lonergan’s shop. You know I can be pretty handy. Bet I have it all repaired before you close.”

“Thank you, Leon.” Was that a smile for the other man? When she hadn’t even said
hi
to him? How were they ever going to pull this off?

Leon leaned a little closer over the tall edge of the counter. “If I come back tomorrow for another couple of hours, I’ll have it looking as good as new. I promise.”

Hope fiddled with the belt of the navy blue dress that covered her from neck to knee and sidled to the far end of the counter as Pike and Hans approached. “You’re too good to me, Leon. How much do you think it will cost? You still haven’t given me a bill for that windowpane you replaced a couple of weeks ago.”

“I won’t take your money, Hope.”

“Technically, you work for Robin, not me. At least let me pay for the materials.”

“No, ma’am.” The man slid an annoyed glance toward Pike and Hans, dismissing them as an ill-timed official visit, no doubt, before circling around the end of the counter to block Hope’s escape—moving from friendly acquaintance to personal-space invader. “But maybe you’ll let me take you to dinner tonight?”

“I thought you had dinner with your mother on Mondays,” was Hope’s gentle reply.

The guy’s fingers tiptoed across the counter toward her hand. “I’ll make it up to her. She’s subbing in a bridge game tonight, anyway. I’m a free man.”

Really? Was this guy hittin’ on her? Had Pike completely misread her unattached status? Whatever it was, Pike had to nip the potential relationship in the bud. He walked up behind Hope, crossing behind the cash register and computer as though he had the right to do so. “She’s got plans. Right, hon?”

Hope flinched at his touch when he flattened his hand at the small of her back. Or maybe it was the dog standing so close that made her visibly shiver. Either way, she wasn’t helping establish any kind of cover. “Hans, sit.” While the dog plopped down on his haunches, Pike extended a hand around Hope to introduce himself. “I’m Pike Taylor.”

“I know you, Officer. Leon Hundley.” The twentysomething man shook Pike’s hand, but looked as befuddled by his presence in the shop as Hope did. He thumbed over his shoulder at the big display windows that faced the front sidewalk. “I work at Robin’s Nest Floral across the street. I help Miss Lockhart out with odd jobs whenever I can. I’m trying to make some extra cash to restore my car.”

And to hit on Hope. Was she even aware that Hundley had been flirting? Or was that innocence the way she shut down any man who showed an interest in her? That didn’t bode well for the success of this engagement masquerade.

Pike settled his palm at the nip of Hope’s waist and let his fingers fan over the ample swell of her hip, silently warning her not to bolt while he made some neighborly conversation with a local. “What kind of car do you have?”

Good. Leon noticed Pike’s subtle claim, and retreated to a more impersonal distance. “A ’72 Camaro.”

“Sweet. Is the chassis in good shape?”

“Yeah. I painted it blue. Look, Hope and I were having a conversation. Did you need her for something?”

“No. Just dropped in to say hi.”

Although he made an effort to reclaim Hope’s attention, Leon seemed a little less inclined to hang around the shop and chat than he’d been a moment ago. He pointed toward Hans. “Is he an attack dog?”

“He’s a police officer. He doesn’t get mean or tough unless I do.” Pike released Hope and turned, thumping his chest and inviting Hans to rise on his hind legs and prop his paws on him. Ignoring his stinging conscience at the gasp behind him, Pike rubbed the dog’s leanly muscular flanks, sending out a shower of tan and black fur. “Do you want to pet him?”

“Maybe another time.” The ploy worked. Even though Hans thought he was playing, it made an impressive show and drove the point home to Leon that the two of them weren’t going anywhere. While he pulled out his cell phone, Leon backed toward the exit. “I’d better let Mother know I can drive her to bridge tonight, after all. Then I’ll get started on that door. I’ll let you know how much the new lock costs.”

Did Hope notice that Leon had decided to charge her, after all, since she was no longer available for whatever he’d had in mind? And was she really going to stop talking now that he and Hans were here?

“Thanks, man,” Pike offered as the wiry handyman headed out the door. “I’d planned to do it myself. But if you need the cash...”

“Right. I’m on it.”

The bell over the door chimed before Pike put Hans in a sit position and turned to apologize to Hope. “Don’t worry, I’ll clean up where he shed.”

But she’d already put half the length of the store between them and was gathering up a rainbow of fabric samples from the seating area in front of a trio of mirrors.

“Hans,
platz.
” Burying his frustration on a gruff sigh, Pike told the dog to lie down and strode across the shop to join her. He picked up a box from the end of one couch and had it ready for her when she turned around with an armful of filmy material.

Hope hesitated for a moment, her gaze darting back to the counter, then up to him before dropping the samples into the box. “So, how do we do this?”

He wasn’t sure if she was talking about baiting a trap for a rapist or masquerading as the woman Pike Taylor loved. “I don’t know. I think we just have to be seen together. Make it look like we’re a couple so no one questions me being here. And don’t let the handyman across the street flirt with you.”

“I wasn’t letting...” She grabbed the box from his hands and carried it into the dressing rooms. “Leon was flirting?”

How could a woman who must be in her early thirties be so sweetly clueless? “He wants something from you.”

“Money for his car. A friendly diversion, maybe. His mother has a chronic illness. She makes a lot of demands on his time, and the medical bills don’t leave anything extra for fun things—like his car. I try to help out when I can.”

“Well, you need to stop providing
fun
for Mr. Hard Luck out there.” Pike propped his hands at his belt when she reappeared, carrying three bridesmaid dresses. “The press leak will go out tomorrow morning. In the meantime, Hans and I will keep our eyes and ears open for any sign of our unsub. You do understand what we’re asking of you, right? It won’t be a cakewalk.”

“You met my father. I’ve been victimized before, Officer Taylor.” She hung the dresses up on a nearby wall before facing him again. “I refuse to be a victim again. I’m tired of losing people I know. I’m tired of living in fear.”

“That’s the first thing that has to change.”

Her cheeks warmed with a hint of temper. “I know I don’t come across as a very forceful personality, but I do have convictions—”

“I meant calling me Officer Taylor instead of Pike or Edison or Eddie or whatever you decide on.”

“Oh.” The blush faded. “Like when you called me
hon
in front of Leon.” So she had been paying attention and hadn’t gone into a frozen version of her last panic attack. With a nervous adjustment to her glasses, Hope went back to the counter, walking a wide berth around Hans even though he had laid his head down to rest and didn’t seem to care. “I’m just Hope. The only nickname I ever had was ‘Sis,’ and you could hardly call me that.”

“That’s right. You said you had a brother.”

She nodded and picked up a computer pad. She brushed her finger across the screen and pulled up a calendar. “Harry. Henry Lockhart Jr.—named after our father. But he doesn’t claim that name. He’s just Harry. He’s a sergeant in the Marine Corps—an MP at a base overseas.”

Pike joined her behind the counter, subtly positioning himself between her and the dog. “Then let’s just agree that it’s Hope and Pike for now.”

“All right.”

“Besides your dad, is there any other family I should know about?”

“He’s not family. Not to either of us.” She uttered the statement like a pledge, then set the computer pad back on the counter and tilted her face up to his. “And no, it’s just me here in Missouri. Detective Montgomery said that would help make this—us—more convincing. No one should question it.”

The bell jingled above the door again. Hope smiled and nodded as a mother and daughter came in. The younger woman hurried toward a princessy wedding dress in the front window and the mom followed. “Excuse me, I have an appointment.”

“And we need to make our rounds. Hans.
Steh.
”

Hans jumped to his feet and Hope dived back a step, gripping the counter behind her. “You talk to him in German?”

Pike nixed the idea of telling her that leaping up onto the counter wouldn’t stop Hans from getting to her if the dog wanted to. “He’s bilingual. He answers to English when he’s relaxed like this. But yeah, his work commands are in German. I’ll teach you a few words sometime.”

“Why?”

“Hans goes wherever I go, Hope. So that means you’re stuck with both of us. I want him to mind you as well as me. He’ll be our first line of defense if our perp comes after you.” He dropped his voice to a whisper the two customers couldn’t overhear. “Still want to go through with this?”

She answered with a jerky nod. “If I can help catch that predator, I want to.”

Hope’s skittish reaction had garnered the mother’s and daughter’s attention. Pike offered them a reassuring nod before glancing over to see Leon Hundley watching them, too, from the vestibule where he was measuring the broken door. Finally, he turned to the pale woman with the prim dress and too-tight bun. “I’ll be back before you close. I’ll have an overnight bag with me, and Hans’s kennel. We’ll talk more then. Lay down a few ground rules.”

Pike pulled out his cap and started to leave. But with the customers and Leon watching, he knew he couldn’t just walk away.
Might as well go for it.

In two long strides, he came back. He palmed the nape of Hope’s neck, catching his fingers beneath the bun, loosing a few of those decadent curls before tilting her face up to kiss her. Their lips were touching, but she wasn’t kissing him back, and he supposed the hand she braced against his chest might look as if she was holding on to him. But she wasn’t.

He raised his head, watched her pupils dilate behind her glasses and reminded her they were a team on this undercover op. “You might want to make this look good,” he whispered.

When her hand slowly climbed up the placket of his shirt, Pike dipped his head and kissed her again. This time, her fingers curled into his collar, tugging on his shirt and the turtleneck he wore underneath, catching on the edge of his flak vest and pulling him closer as she stretched up on tiptoe. Her soft mouth parted beneath his, but did little more than submit to the force of him pressing against her.