wasn’t the one who tried grabbing me at the hospital, then,” she said. “That man was healthy and strong.” It gave her some relief that Mark hadn’t been trying to hurt her. “He couldn’t have been behind any of those other attempts on our lives.”
“No,” Blaine agreed. “It must’ve been whoever he was working with.”
There had been five of them. So four other men were still out there, apparently still determined to kill her and Special Agent Blaine Campbell.
* * *
BLAINE HUSTLED HER quickly out of his sister’s house. It was less for his family’s safety and more for hers. He wanted to protect her. He also wanted to comfort her because he had seen the fear on her face when she’d realized that she was still in danger.
“We’ll be safe here,” he said, as he locked the motel room door behind them. He could have driven her back to Chicago. But night had already fallen, and she was obviously exhausted. She trembled with it and maybe with cold. He turned up the thermostat as she shivered.
“I thought you weren’t going to protect me anymore,” she said. “Didn’t your boss tell you that you shouldn’t?”
He nodded. “And he’s right.”
“You said that last night...”
Before he had made love to her. What the hell had he been thinking to take advantage of her that way?
“I’m sorry,” he said. “About last night...”
“You didn’t start the fire,” she said.
“But I should have been awake. I should have been alert,” he said. “My boss was right. You will be safer with someone else protecting you.”
“I feel safe with you,” she said, and she turned back to him and stared up at him with those chocolaty brown eyes.
There was such an overall glow about her. Maybe it was the pregnancy. But he suspected it was just her—just Maggie’s warm personality. She had even won over Buster and that was never easy to do.
“Maggie, I have to focus on the case,” he said. He hoped she would understand that he couldn’t let her distract him any longer. “I have to dig deeper into Mark’s life and find all of his associates.”
“I can help you,” she said.
“You know his friends?”
She shook her head. “He was older than me and Andy, so I don’t know who he hung out with.” She nibbled her lower lip. “I guess I can’t help you.”
“You need to focus on yourself and your baby,” he said. “Stay healthy. Stay well.”
She touched her belly with trembling hands. “Yes...”
“I will find them all,” Blaine promised. “I’ll stop them.” He just hoped he could stop them before they tried to kill her again. They obviously cared little for human life since they had let one of their own die instead of getting him help. To save themselves...
So, even dead, Mark could lead him to the others. That must have been the reason they hadn’t sought out medical attention or wanted his body found.
“Thank you,” she said.
“I haven’t done anything yet,” he said.
“You’ve saved my life,” she reminded him. “Many times. Thank you for that.”
He shrugged off her gratitude. “I was just doing my job.” But it was so much more than that, and they both knew it.
“And thank you for last night,” she said, “for making me feel desirable. Wanted...”
He wanted her again. But he kept his hands at his sides. He wouldn’t reach for her again.
But she reached for him. Sliding her arms around him, she pressed her voluptuous body close to his. And the tenuous hold he’d had on his control snapped. He couldn’t resist her sweetness, her passion.
She rose up on tiptoe and pressed her lips to his, sliding them across his mouth—arousing his desire. He kissed her back.
She eased away from him but only to ease her hands between them and undo the buttons of his shirt. He helped her take off his holster. And his jeans...
She gasped, as she so often did, as she stared at his nakedness. “You are the most beautiful man.”
Maggie’s words filled him with heat and pride.
She touched him, her fingers caressing his skin. “You were hurt last night.”
He had some scrapes, a couple of first-degree burns. “It’s nothing.”
She shuddered. “When that roof caved in, I thought you were gone. And then when we heard that radio call...”
“About the castle tea?” he teased.
But she didn’t laugh. In fact, her eyes glistened with tears. “I was so scared.”
He drew her against him and held her close. “I hate that you were scared.”
But he was scared, too. He was scared that he’d irrevocably fallen for her.
“Make me forget my fears,” she challenged him. “Make me forget about everything but you. Make love to me...”
He couldn’t refuse her wishes. He helped her off with her clothes and then helped her into bed. Joining her, he kissed and stroked every inch of her silky skin. And with every kiss and every caress, she gasped or moaned and squirmed beneath him. Then she caressed him back, running her soft hands over his back and his hips and lower. She encircled him with those hands. He nearly lost his mind, but he fought for control. He wanted to give her pleasure.
So he made love to her with his mouth. She cried out. But this was a cry he loved to hear from her—a cry of pleasure as she found release. Then, carefully, he joined their bodies. He tried to move slowly and gently.
But she arched and thrust up her hips. And her inner muscles clenched around him, tugging him deeper inside until he didn’t know where she ended and he began. They were one. And as one, they reached ecstasy—shouting each other’s name.
He held her close as they both panted for breath. He held her and waited—for the next attempt on their lives. He didn’t know if it would be another fire or more shooting. He didn’t know what it would be; he just knew that it would happen. As if on some level he had known that he would fall for Maggie Jenkins.
She had taken his heart. Now he just had to hold on to his life...
Maybe it had been only days. But it felt like weeks since Maggie had last seen Blaine. She knew he was busy working the case. He had explained that he had to hand off her protection to someone else so that he could focus.
