eyes were wide, searching his as he straightened the collar of his jacket and tugged it together at her neck before breaking contact entirely. He wouldn’t admit to a stab of jealousy that she was choosing this friend over a ride straight to the house in his truck. Thomas had no proprietary claim on this woman. And it was pretty inappropriate for him to be kissing a woman who worked for him. But his gut was telling him it was damn important that Conor Wildman understood Jane wasn’t alone here. She had someone looking out for her. Someone would have to answer to him if anything happened to her.
The message was for her as much as Wildman to understand.
“Call me if you need anything. A ride. Whatever. I’ll see you at home.”
* * *
THE UNHAPPY MAN watched Thomas Watson’s mouth flatten into a grim expression as the nurse and the suit walked away into the shadows of the parking lot. The Detective Lieutenant Yeah-I’m-a-Legend-in-My-Own-Mind didn’t move until the suit’s car pulled out of the parking lot and drove away into the night.
Well, now, wasn’t that sweet? Thomas had gone old school and marked his territory in front of that other man.
With a family full of well-trained cops who carried guns and were hypervigilant about their surroundings, he’d thought the Watson family’s most vulnerable weakness—the one they’d all do anything to protect—had been that white-haired has-been, Seamus. He’d known for years that family was the most important thing in Thomas Watson’s world, that hurting his family would be the surest, cruelest way to hurt him.
But now he was rethinking his plan. The aging father wasn’t the big guy’s only weakness anymore. As he’d begun to suspect over the past couple of months, Watson had developed feelings for the woman. After all these years, the loneliness must be getting to him. Did he want to get into Nurse Boyle’s pants? Did he fancy himself in love with her? She’d been living in Thomas’s house for six and a half months now. Maybe they were secretly screwing each other every night.
The man’s blood burned at the thought. His breath hitched, then came in shorter, deeper gasps as the familiar injustice that Thomas Watson had gone unpunished for far too long raged inside him. The thought of terrorizing Jane Boyle, killing her with his bare hands while Thomas watched—weak, helpless, in the same kind of pain he’d lived with for all these years—almost made him euphoric. That was the kind of pain he wanted to inflict on the man. He inhaled a deep breath, calming himself. Yes. There was another vulnerability he could prey upon to keep Thomas’s life in a state of upheaval. Keep him off guard. Keep him focused on Jane until he could...
Wait. From his vantage point in the shadows, the Unhappy Man’s gaze was drawn to someone else who’d been watching the interchange at the rear of the ambulance, someone who watched Thomas limp back to his truck and climb inside before darting off through the crowd and disappearing. Curious.
Almost all the Nosy Nellies standing outside the yellow tape were watching the police officers or the CSIs with their badges and guns and crime-scene kits inside the tape. That was the show they couldn’t resist. But that guy, nondescript with dark hair and his face hidden by sunglasses and the upturned collar of his denim jacket, had been watching the two men and woman and their standoff at the back of the ambulance. He’d watched that kiss.
The Unhappy Man smiled.
Looked like he wasn’t the only one who didn’t enjoy seeing Thomas Watson safe and happy.
Maybe he could use that to his advantage somehow. Or maybe he’d have to be careful not to let Blue Jean Boy interfere with his end game.
He started the engine of his own car and pulled out, waving to the uniformed officer directing traffic as he drove past. Two hours ago, the two hundred dollars he’d spent to hire that gangbanger to spray bullets at Thomas and the people he cared about had been worth it at ten times the price. But he now knew that he needed to fine-tune his approach to Thomas’s downfall. He needed to focus his attack on where it would hurt the most.
The detective lieutenant was worried about the safety of his family and that skinny, shapeless nurse he had the hots for.
The man squeezed his fists around the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. Mary Watson had been tall and willowy, with hair like sable fur and eyes as blue as the clear Irish sky after a rainstorm. Compared to a beauty like that, what could he possibly see in that beige woman who played down her looks and personality so much that she faded into the background?
Thomas had let Mary die. Watson had taken Mary from him and let her die. He wasn’t allowed to be happy with any other woman. He wasn’t allowed to be happy, period. But if Jane Beige Boyle made him happy, then he’d be only too happy to relieve him of that burden. An eye for an eye. One dead love for another.
His nostrils flared as he eased out a steadying breath and loosened his grip on the wheel. Patience and invisibility were his allies. The Watsons had no idea of the pain and rage he carried in his heart.
And they wouldn’t until the moment he destroyed them all.
“You think Watson suspects I’m your WITSEC handler?” Marshal Conor Wildman stepped around the corner of the kitchen peninsula in the house where she’d lived before accepting the job as Seamus Watson’s home-care nurse and moving into one of the upstairs bedrooms at the Watson house.
Jane took a seat on one of the stools furnished—just like the house itself—for her by the US Marshals Witness Security Program. “I think he thinks you’re my ex-boyfriend—and maybe not a very nice one.”
Conor grinned, unbuttoning his shirt collar and loosening his tie as he pulled coffee from the cabinet and started brewing a pot. Although the house off Thirty-Ninth Street was still listed under her Jane Boyle identity, Conor had probably spent more time here over the past few months, checking security or planning meetings with her. It was an easy cover to have to return to her own house to pick up clothing or supervise yard work or home repair, and then meet with the man whose job it was to maintain her identity and make sure she was safe. “Well, that would explain that goodbye peck on the cheek before we left the restaurant. The big guy’s jealous of you leaving the scene with another man.”
Thomas’s strong fingers sifting into her hair and the warm press of his lips against her chilled skin had felt like more than a peck on the cheek. It had felt like, if she’d turned her head a fraction, those firm, gentle lips would have been kissing her mouth instead. Jane’s breath caught in her chest as she remembered the heat that had suddenly suffused her at the older man’s touch. And now, for some inexplicable reason, she felt cheated that she hadn’t turned that fraction of an inch. “I don’t mean anything to him.”
Conor was still amused as he pulled two mugs from the dishwasher. “He’s very protective of you.”
“Thomas is protective of everybody. It’s in his blood. He’s been a cop for a long time. You said the Watson house was a good place for me to be because they’d be more alert to their surroundings than the average family.”
Nodding, Conor poured them each a mug of coffee, then went to the fridge to pull out a carton of half-and-half. “It’s helpful to have an extra set of eyes watching out for you. Even if the lieutenant doesn’t know he’s assisting with a WITSEC project.”
Jane added the half-and-half to her
