Harlequin Intrigue March 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Page 3

  “I think the burn marks in my dress will do that for me.” She kept her head down and a tight grip on her heels, but she was right. They wouldn’t be able to hide the fact they were covered in ash and blood for long. The faster they left the area, the better.

  “You’re doing fine.” He checked back over his shoulder mere feet from the corner of the courthouse, focused on the familiar car parked four spaces down. Madison’s. Twenty more feet and they’d be in range of his SUV. “Just keep—”

  The second explosion hurled a fireball and blast wave straight into the sky between buildings. Jonah pulled her into him, covering her with his own body as much as he could as glass and small chunks of cement rained down on top of them. Fire engulfed the parked vehicle they’d passed mere seconds before, the same car he’d recognized a split second before it’d gone up in flames. Dust and debris clouded the air. Another round of panic echoed around them as he straightened, Madison’s gaze fixed on the same vehicle. Hot air burned down his throat and into his lungs. “I see you drove to work today.”

  * * *

  “THEY PUT A bomb in my car.” Madison was barely able to say the words. Who would do this to her? Who would target her? Who would try to kill her? The soft vibration of tires against asphalt did nothing to calm the chaos churning through her. She held on to her heels a bit tighter than necessary as Jonah drove them over the Morrison Bridge. Deep blue water spread out on either side of them, beautiful and entrancing, but she couldn’t focus on that right now. Couldn’t focus on anything other than the fact if he hadn’t taken her into protective custody, she would’ve gotten in that car to drive to her office. She would’ve died trying to prove Rosalind Eyler was behind the attack in the courthouse. “If they’d planned on the first device to kill me, why set another one in my car?”

  “Backup plan,” he said. “Must’ve been tracking you—visually or electronically—and figured out you’d survived the first explosion. They had the second one waiting for you, to finish the job. Only they hadn’t counted on me taking you to my vehicle instead.”

  None of this made any sense. She was a deputy district attorney. She couldn’t deny the cases she’d prosecuted had made enemies over the years, but the line was ten times longer for her boss. Although, trying the Rip City Bomber case as she’d nearly died from a bomb in the same courtroom as Rosalind Eyler was too much of a coincidence to ignore. The only question still out of reach was motive. If she found the motive behind the attack, she could narrow down the suspect, whether that was Rosalind herself, someone close to the bomber, possibly a family member of one of the victims. Once she had a motive, she could secure her future. For her and her baby.

  “Thank you for getting me out of the building. There were a lot of other people that needed help, but you made sure I made it to the ambulance.” But it hadn’t been about her. Not really. She slipped her hand over her growing baby bump. You might think your job is so important to you that you would risk our baby’s life, but I’m not willing to take that chance. Jonah’s accusation twisted the knife in her heart deeper. Because when she’d found out she was pregnant from their one night together, she’d instantly thought of her career. Of how a baby would change the plans she’d set for herself over the next five, ten, twenty years. How this small, precious life she’d become accustomed to over the past few months would derail her chances of being elected to district attorney down the line. She hadn’t thought of the impact her decision would have on the child they’d created together, hadn’t even thought of Jonah or what he might want. “You were wrong before. I do care about this baby. You have no idea how much. I would never put its life at risk for the chance to get ahead in my job.”

  Those hypnotic blue eyes she’d fallen prey to over the years remained fixed out the windshield. He hadn’t told her where he planned to take her, hadn’t spoken much at all unless it’d been about the scene they’d left behind, and the air between them grew thick. His grip slid down the steering wheel as they crossed to the other side of the bridge. “You’re right. I don’t know how much you care. You’ve been keeping me at arm’s length ever since I told you I wanted to be involved, that I intended for us to parent this baby together.”

  The knot of guilt that’d formed the moment she’d said those words all those months ago spread like a wildfire. She’d done this to them. She’d taken their friendship—one built on years of him escorting her to and from the courthouse, playful banter and mutual attraction—to the next level, then turned her back on him the instant she’d seen those two blue lines on the pregnancy test. Not only had she severed the connection between them as lovers, but she’d destroyed their relationship as friends, and he deserved better. He deserved to know why. “It’s not about you, Jonah. It’s... It’s about not being forced to rely on someone other than myself. Not being trapped in a situation neither of us can escape from.”

  “And you believe because we’ll be raising this baby together that you’ll be bound to me for the rest of our lives?” He directed the SUV onto the 26, taking them east toward Mount Hood. Snowcaps hid the sharp curve of the peak she’d become familiar with since relocating to Portland five years ago, straight out of Berkeley Law, but that still gave a deep sense of wonder and order she craved. “It took two people to make that baby, Madison. Stands to reason it’d take two people to raise it.”

  Madison. Not Maddi. That one simple change managed to disrupt the emotional calm she’d been trying to hold on to since Jonah had placed himself between the bomb in the courtroom and her. The logical part of her brain said he’d only been protecting his offspring that happened to be inside her body. But the other part of her, the part that missed what they’d had together before she’d learned of the pregnancy, was working hard to convince her he still cared about her. That he’d gone out of his way to make sure she walked out of that courtroom alive. Not because of the baby but because he missed what they’d had, too. “Twenty-three percent of all kids in the country are raised in single-parent homes. Statistically, they might not have the same advantages as a two-parent home, but I make enough money to support us, especially if I’m elected to DA when my boss steps down in a few months. The Rip City Bomber is a career-changing case guaranteed to position me as a front-runner for his job.”

  “I know what your job entails. I’m the one who escorted you to and from the courthouse every day until you asked for another marshal to take over my assignment. Early mornings, late nights, mountains of takeout and long hours.” The city bled to countryside the farther he took them out of the city. “Do you think it’s going to get any better when you’re the district attorney? Are you even going to be able to take time off to recover from the birth?”

  “I’ve already hired someone to help me when the baby comes.” She stared out the passenger side window. It wouldn’t get easier. If anything, the long hours and exhaustion would get worse, and she’d still have an infant to care for when she came home. Her child would have to be with a caretaker throughout the day, but the alternative wasn’t an option. Not after she’d witnessed what her mother had been through all those years. “I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but it’s still my decision to make.”

  His exhale filled the silence between them. “You’re right, and I’ll respect that decision as much as I don’t see the reasoning behind it, but you need to know you don’t have to do this alone.”

  Yes, she did.

  “My father was abusive. He drank. He got addicted to drugs, and when he’d come off his high, he’d take it out on my mother.” Madison stared out the window. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken the opportunity to get out of the city. Tall, green pines and light-faced rock streamed past the window, but she couldn’t focus on the beauty of any of it. “He could barely hold down a job, but he was adamant she wasn’t allowed to work. He needed to know where she was, who she was talking to and what she was doing at all times, leaving us with barely enough to get by or have foo
d on the table. And that’s the way he wanted it.”

  “You never talked about your family when I asked,” he said.

  “I’m not ashamed of the way I grew up. I’m the woman I am because of what I went through. It took a lot of self-awareness and healing for me to realize it, but I’m proud of the fact I worked harder than anyone else in my class. I made sure I had the opportunity to get out of there the moment I graduated high school by keeping my grade point average the highest of all my classmates, applying for scholarships, working as many jobs as I could. I put everything into getting into law school because I didn’t want to be trapped in that life. With him. Like she was.”

  “Your mother.” His voice dropped low, unleashing a flood of renewed illusions that taking her into protective custody was something more than protecting his child.

  “He controlled every aspect of her life. He made the rules. He made sure she couldn’t leave no matter how bad it got. She tried. Some of my clearest memories are her waking me up in the middle of the night, my bags already packed. We’d spend a night here, a night there, at some crummy hotel in the city thanks to a few bucks one of her friends had thrown our way, but the money always ran out. And she’d go back to him.” Madison forced herself to take a deep breath. She had to detach from the pain and move forward more analytically. She’d made a mistake in letting herself imagine there could be more between her and Jonah, and now they’d slipped into an intimacy neither of them could recover from. “I never planned on this pregnancy, Jonah, but the thought of being tied to the father of my child scares me. I don’t want to end up like my mother. I don’t want to be helpless and controlled. I don’t want to give anyone the opportunity to have that power over me. Raising this baby on my own is the only way I can see to make sure that never happens.”

  The tendons along his neck bunched, revealing the power and strength beneath the thin layer of his T-shirt, as he slowed the SUV. Shadows engulfed them on either side as they took the next unpaved road deeper into the wilderness but within minutes vanished. A large, majestic cabin sat off to the left of a wide clearing surrounded by the tallest trees she’d ever seen. Beautiful landscaping of shrubbery hugged up against the deck and well-maintained grounds. Countless windows and a skylight reflected warm spring sun, inviting and golden. Sharp angles and beautiful wood blended perfectly with the surrounding forest, and an instant feeling of peace washed through her. It was beautiful. The SUV slowed to a stop, and she reached for the door handle.

  “I’m sorry all that happened to you growing up, Maddi. I can’t imagine how scared you must’ve been living in that house, but I’m not your father.” Jonah shouldered out of the SUV, hand on the door. “The only thing I care about is the safety and happiness of you and that baby. I just wish you’d give me the chance to prove it.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.

  Taking Madison into protective custody should’ve been easy. She’d been in danger, and he had the skills to get her out of it. Simple as that. Whatever’d happened between them wasn’t supposed to get in the way of their current arrangement, but as she’d revealed the past she’d been keeping to herself all these years, his protective instincts had taken control. He wasn’t her father. He’d never go out of his way to control her or their child, never intimidate her, hurt her or trap her in an unbearable situation. Having her walk away from what’d he’d considered the most intense and fulfilling friendship of his life had ripped him apart, but she didn’t want the past to repeat itself. Didn’t want their child caught in the middle of a toxic environment if things between them hadn’t worked out, and he had to respect her decision.

  Jonah unloaded his supply bag from the back of the SUV, then paused before hiking up the small incline toward the front door of the cabin, his shoulder on fire. But he couldn’t accept never seeing his child once he or she was born. Never having the opportunity to hold the life they’d created together, to be there for their first word, first step, first day of school. To sing their baby to sleep or watch them drift off in his arms. He’d missed out on a lot of that when his son, Noah, had been born. He’d been stationed overseas with the FBI, and when he’d returned home, it’d been too late. “This way.”

  “If I would’ve known this place existed the night we slept together, I would’ve insisted we come here instead of going back to my house.” Heels still clutched in one hand, Madison studied the tall rise of the front of the cabin with floor-to-ceiling windows reflecting fading sunlight back into her face. Dried ash and blood clung to flawless warm-colored skin, the rips in her pantyhose revealing scrapes and a longer laceration across her shin, but right then, she was still one of the most enthralling women he’d ever met. “It’s beautiful. Quiet.”

  A laugh escaped up his throat. “Comes with an indoor hot tub, too.”

  “Get out of my way. My feet are killing me.” She marched past him, one hand beneath her growing belly, the other swinging her heels for momentum up the incline. Lean muscle flexed along the backs of her legs as she took the stairs up to the front door. Pushing inside, she slowed slightly beyond the entrance. “I should’ve agreed to protective custody sooner.”

  “It’s mine.” The air-conditioning cooled the stinging skin along his neck as he closed the door behind them. After setting his duffel bag on the bench that made up part of the mudroom, he armed the alarm panel just inside the door. Amazement smoothed the hard set of her mouth, and he couldn’t help but memorize the effect. “I bought it before the Bureau assigned me to Afghanistan. Doesn’t get much use nowadays since I’ve relocated closer to the city, but you’ll be safe here. Top-of-the-line security system installed by the premier security company in the country, remote location and no connection to you, the DA’s office or the marshals service. Whoever’s targeted you won’t be able to find you here.”

  “May I...?” She motioned into the main living space.

  “Be my guest.” He followed in her path as she took in the twenty-foot ceilings, the wood-burning stove he’d gated off to keep small fingers from getting burned. Watched as she ran her fingers over individual books stacked on the shelf off to their left. A light-colored wood made up the grand staircase leading up to the bedrooms over a kitchen built with the same stain on the cabinets and island. Skylights cast pink rays across the prosecutor’s face, highlighted the darkness of her hair. He could still see this place as the family home he’d meant it to be when he’d purchased it, but knowing now what he did about Madison’s past, he wasn’t sure that’d ever be a possibility. “There are four empty bedrooms upstairs for you to choose from, but the main is the only one that has an en suite bathroom. You should have everything you need in there if you want to clean up.”

  She turned to face him, running her palms down her hips. “I don’t have any fresh clothes.”

  “I keep some shirts and sweats in the closet in case I leave directly from work to come up here. You’re welcome to help yourself to anything you need while I put together something for us to eat.” He headed for the pantry, making a mental list of the provisions he had on hand. “I don’t have dill pickle chips, but I can have another deputy pick up some bags and pack you a few items from your house—”

  “Jonah, what are you doing?” Soft footsteps reached his ears a split second before long, delicate fingers wrapped around his arm. She dropped her heels at her feet and turned him toward her. “How long were you going to stand there and bleed until you said something?”

  “In case you didn’t notice, I had more important things to worry about at the time.” In truth, he’d planned on taking a look at the wound in the smaller bathroom while she cleaned up in the main. No need to stress her or the baby out more than she already was, but it was obvious he wasn’t going to be able to hide it from her any longer. He let her move him toward the large circular dining table where he’d imagined hosting family dinners and holidays and took a seat. The pain in
his shoulder reignited with white fire around the wound. The shrapnel had penetrated past clothing and skin, but not enough time had passed to put him in danger of going into shock.

  “For as much as you lecture me about not raising this baby alone, you sure don’t apply the same concern to yourself.” Her hand slipped from his arm, and he felt the distance in a gut-wrenching kind of way. “Where’s your first aid kit?”

  “Under the sink.” He motioned his chin toward the kitchen island.

  She didn’t wait for permission, turning her back on him to disappear behind the cabinet, but even that moment of not having her in his sight line raised heated awareness of her. Within seconds, the caramel-colored eyes he’d envisioned their baby to inherit settled on him as she approached with the white-and-red kit in her hand. “Take off the shirt.”

  The request hit him square in the chest. “Don’t have to sound so disappointed about it. I seem to remember there was a time you couldn’t wait for me to get my shirt off.”

  A small laugh bubbled past her lips, and the world threatened to slip right out from under him. He’d missed that laugh. Missed her, if he was being perfectly honest with himself. Jonah peeled his shirt over his head, careful of the small piece of metal that’d torn through the muscle in his shoulder. The days he’d been assigned to escort her to and from the courthouse were some of the memories that stuck in his mind the longest. He’d been at her side not only as part of his protection detail, but also because he’d genuinely gotten comfortable there. He’d looked forward to hearing her talk about her day, wanted every detail she could reveal about the cases she was working on and strived to learn more about her. Time had no meaning when they’d been in the car together, and if he’d realized one morning she’d request another marshal to take over his detail, he would’ve gone out of his way to memorize every detail of those long hours he’d taken for granted.