side.”
She gave him the look, the one that said, “Get real.” He couldn’t keep from smiling. “I’ll bet you want to be hard-edged and no-nonsense, the reporter who’ll stop at nothing to get a story. If that’s the case, you shouldn’t have asked Mrs. Morgensen for her recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies.”
Natalie looked away. “They’re good cookies. Besides, she’s so proud of them. She makes them for her family.”
“And you wanted to give her back a little of her dignity because someone has taken it away.”
“Is that so wrong?”
“No. It’s very right. It’s just…surprising. I thought you were all about the story.”
“I am.”
He shrugged. He didn’t doubt that she wanted to be a good reporter and that she would do a great deal to make sure that happened, but she wouldn’t hurt an old lady’s feelings. She wasn’t the type to go for the jugular. Not that it should make any difference to him. It didn’t. No matter how enticing she looked with those long lashes and those lush curves, he wasn’t going to allow himself to be interested. But it was nice to know that he was at least guarding a real person. He’d guarded plenty of the plastic types. No matter what, he did his best, but he would enjoy protecting this woman.
Just don’t let yourself enjoy it too much, he told himself. He wouldn’t. He had rules and they were rock solid.
As long as he remembered that, there should be no problems. His only job was to keep Natalie safe, and he intended to do that, and that alone. Anyone who got to her would have to take him down first—and that just wasn’t going to happen.
“I don’t belong here.” Jason Jamison said the words out loud. He must have said them at least fifty times today already, but he still liked hearing the sound of them. The words were true, anyway. He might have been calling himself Jason Wilkes lately, because it was convenient to do so, but in truth he was a Jamison, and the Jamisons came from fine stock. What’s more, his grandfather had been Kingston Fortune’s lost half brother, which meant Jason was also related to the Fortunes.
“And jail’s not for the likes of the Jamisons and Fortunes.” Besides, Melissa, the woman he had killed had had it coming to her, anyway, hadn’t she? She’d been willing to pretend she was his wife, but in the end she’d gotten greedy and had tried to mess in things that hadn’t concerned her. He’d thought she loved him; he’d spent tons of money on her and then she’d tried to work her own con and blackmail him in the bargain.
She’d laughed at him, and nobody laughed at Jason Jamison. No one messed with him. Soon enough, everyone would know that. Especially that little bitch that had blown the whistle on him. If it weren’t for her, he would still be living the good life.
Jason let out a long string of expletives.
“Yeah, McCabe and the high-and-mighty Ryan Fortune, they’re the ones who put me in here.”
And they would be the ones who had to pay.
Jason chuckled. A guard stopped by his cell.
“Something especially funny, Jamison? You remembering what it used to be like before you turned killer and ended up behind bars?”
“None of your damn business.”
“Ah, but we know it is, don’t we?” the guard asked.
Yeah, they did. Even prison guards had their uses. This one would be more useful still in the near future.
“You like your temporary home here? You better be grateful for the treatment you get. Because this ain’t nothin’ like it’s going to be. Once you stand trial and end up in maximum security, you might not meet guards as friendly as me.”
“And you might not meet prisoners who can do as much for you as I can.”
The guard shrugged. “You got a point. I definitely prefer guarding a man who at least has some money and a few rich connections. Makes this job more bearable.” The man raked his nose with his sleeve. Jason wanted to sneer, but instead he smiled.
“I can make the job more bearable if you like.”
The guard looked to the side, as if to see if anyone was listening. “What do you mean?”
So Jason told him. Yes, he definitely had a plan, but not everyone was going to like it.
The very thought made Jason smile. He was going to relish getting even.
But first he was going to relish getting free.
Three
“Lock every door, lock every window and stay away from them. Don’t let yourself be silhouetted in the light,” Vincent ordered Natalie as he prepared to leave her at her door.
She nodded. “And where will you be while I’m making myself invisible?” Even though she hadn’t meant to, Natalie asked the question out loud. The truth was she was dreadfully afraid that if she didn’t know exactly where Vincent was, she would be peeking out the window trying to spot him just like a star-struck teenage girl.
And then there was the other concern. She needed to get out of the house, and she needed to make sure that Vincent couldn’t follow her.
“I’ll be nearby,” he assured her.
“Don’t you have a family? A wife? Kids?”
“I don’t do the wife-and-kids stuff. It’s not for me.” His voice was hoarse. There was clearly a story behind that comment, one he obviously didn’t want to share.
“Okay, but don’t you ever go to bed?” She tried not to imagine him in a bed. She really did her best not to think about what he might wear or not wear…and what kind of woman he might sleep with.
“Sure, I sleep,” he assured her. “But I’ll never leave you unprotected. When I’m off-duty, I’ll put my best man on your case. Derek Seefer. If anything should happen, Derek knows what to do and he knows how to reach me.”
“Nothing will happen,” she said too quickly.
Vincent cocked his head, but he simply nodded. “Derek and I will see to it. Sleep well, Natalie.”
She looked up at him then, into those concerned dark gray eyes, and she wished she didn’t have to deceive him. She wished she could tell him what she had planned, but of course there was no way she could ever do that. If she did, he would follow her. Vincent certainly wasn’t the kind of man who would stay or go just because a woman told him to.
No, she would have to be sneaky. Too much was at stake here.
“I’ll be careful, Vincent,” she promised, even though she realized he couldn’t understand what she was talking about. “I promise. And thank you. I will sleep well.” Just as soon as she was back from her mission, she would sleep very well.
Vincent had encountered a lot of guilty looks in his days. He wondered if Natalie knew that she played with her hair when she was being evasive. Those pretty green
