Guarding Kelsey ((Books We Love Romantic Suspense)) (24 page)

Because that only left the people she loved as suspects.
The ones she trusted.
The ones with the power to inflict more hurt on her.
And by investigating her family, he was now in a position to hurt her as well.
Sometimes he really hated his job.

Chapter
Eleven

One hour after arriving home the following morning, Kelsey was bored to tears.
She debated about waking Wolf, who was out cold on the sofa, but he had stayed awake all night while she had slept.

When had solitude become such a burden?
She used to love being by herself.
Only she’d come to realize this past week that she hadn’t been reveling in her seclusion, she'd been hiding in it.
Being with Wolf had driven home the point.

She made herself a cup of tea to soothe her nerves and took it to the dining room.
She glared at the
manila
envelope on the table.
The damned thing had doused Wolf’s interest faster than a cold shower and reminded her that she avoided thinking about the case at all.
She felt safe with Wolf.
Maybe too safe.
Or, perhaps she had become complacent about what other people would do for her.
Her uncle took care of the business.
Her accountant took care of her bills.
Wolf took care of the worrying.
No wonder he believed she would never be happy in his working class world.

In a fit of pique, she pushed the envelope away from her and sent the thing sailing off the far end of the highly polished table.
The contents of the file scattered across the floor.
Nice going, she chided herself, as she walked around the table to pick up the mess.
She hadn’t intended
to
read the papers, but her eye was naturally drawn to the Carlyle name that headed most of the reports.

At first she didn’t think much about the papers, until she realized how much material had been collected.
Why was there so much detailed information on her family?
Credit statements, bank statements, tax records and employment records.
This was more than normal background material on a potential witness.

Wolf was obviously investigating her family!
She couldn’t believe it.
A shot of anger shimmered down her spine, causing her to tremble.
Her stomach cramped into a tight knot.
She knew she was foolish
where
men were concerned, but she didn’t think she was still blind.

In her head, she knew he was just doing his job.
Her heart had been harboring the mistaken delusion that she had been more than a job to him.
Last night she had
believed his questions about her family sprung from a genuine interest in her life.
If he had told her up-front, she wouldn’t have been so open, so foolish.
A violent ache ripped at her heart.
He had claimed that his performance wasn’t
professional police work at
its
best
?
He was so damn good, she had never seen it coming.
Pain ricocheted through her. She straightened the papers and pushed them back in the envelope.

“What are you doing?”
Wolf’s deep voice from behind gave her a fright.

She turned slowly towards him, the papers clutched tightly in her hands.
“I could ask the same of you.”

His eyes narrowed.
“You shouldn’t be reading that.”

“Why not?
It’s about me.”

He came around the table and took the file from her. “It’s not what it looks like.”

The masculine scent of him played with her senses.
She shook off the erotic feelings.
“It looks like you’re investigating my family,” she said.

“In a case like yours, everyone is suspect.”

“Everyone isn’t in this folder.
Only my family is.”

As he tried to take hold of her arm, she backed away.
He stepped closer.
“You’re not looking at this rationally.”

“Oh, please spare me the hysterical female sermon.
I’ve known these people all my life. They might not be perfect but there isn’t one who is capable of killing.”
If anything, the fear of a cold, cramped prison cell, after their pampered lives, would keep them from doing anything illegal.
And why should they, when emotional manipulation got them anything they wanted from her?

“Anyone is capable in the right circumstances.”

“You forget one thing.
There is no motive here, Detective.”

“Money is a big motivator.”
He folded
his
arms across his wide chest.
Powerful muscles tested the stitches of his worn flannel shirt.
She dragged her eyes away from his body and concentrated on his face.
Not a trace of guilt or apology changed his righteous expression.

“The only two people who would benefit from my death are my grandparents.
And they are on a Hawaiian cruise.”

He tried again to reach for her, but she pushed his ha
nd away.
“You said your cousin
resent
s
you because you inherited everything.”

“You’re taking something out of c
ontext and using it against him
.”

“Your uncle loses his main source of income if you go through with selling the business,” Wolf pointed out.

“And he gets
a percentage of the sale price, so he’d
stand
to make a large profit.”

“According to your father’s lawyer, no such written agreement exists.
Daniel Carlyle is an employee of yours, nothing more.”

Maybe not
on paper, but reports didn’t account for feelings.
“My uncle was a lifeline for me after
my
father died.
He took care of the business, came to visit me, worried over my research work.”
He might not have been as emotionally supportive as she had craved, but he was there for her, every day.

“He’s not your only family member with motive.”

“
Did you forget you just signed
 
a new will?
”

She couldn’t listen.
Wouldn’t listen.
Her family could not be behind the threats.
She wouldn’t allow him to make her doubt the only people she had left in her life.
Especially since it was clear, she wasn’t going to have him.

“You’re dead wrong, Wolf.
And I am so sure, that I don’t think you need to stay here anymore.”

“What?”

If she let him stay, she would be giving credence to his theory. Her heart clenched in sorrow.
Once he left, she would never see him again.
Blinking against the tears that threatened to fall, she steeled her nerves.
She had only been postponing the inevitable anyway.

“Go find some other way to spend your vacation.”

“Don’t be crazy.”

“Face it.
There hasn’t been another threat since the
hit man
was found.
Your captain ruled the case closed.
Maybe he’s right.”

“And if he’s not?”
Barely controlled anger resonated in his voice.
As if he had the right to be mad!
He was the one keeping secrets.

“According to you, that leaves my family.
Well, I’m sure they’re not involved.
So I don’t need to take up anymore of the New York City police department’s time.
Find a real case to solve.”

“I’m not leaving you alone.”

“I don’t think you understand.
I wasn’t asking you.
I was telling you.
I want you to leave.”
There, she’d said it.
The sooner he left, the sooner she could take back the heart she had foolishly given to him.
She was nothing more than a case to him.
A number at the top of a file that would be stored away in an old grey cabinet. She swallowed past the lump in her throat and blinked tears from her eyes.
She would not let him see her cry.

* * *

*

Wolf sucked in a large gulp of air and forced himself to remain calm.
This was exactly why he hadn’t voiced his suspicions sooner.
No matter what she said, she wasn’t thinking clearly.
Her emotions were too involved for her to be objective.
If he left now, he would be leaving the door wide open for the guilty culprit to walk in and finish what he started.
Hurting her couldn’t be avoided.
He would rather she be alive to hate him then take her love to her grave.

“I’m not going.”

She cocked her eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“I will not leave you unprotected.
If you insist I go, then I’ll park myself outside the door in the hall.
And no matter where you go, I’ll be right behind you, watching your back.”

“It’s your time wasted.”
She shrugged as if she didn’t care, but he saw the shimmering moisture pooling in her eyes.
He felt like a first class heel.
“You’ll get bored and leave soon enough.”

“It isn’t going to happen.”

Wolf gathered that Kelsey didn’t believe him. He would have to make her believe.
She had a right to be ticked off at him for not telling her the truth, but not enough rationality to see beyond his actions to possible dangers.

He left because she insisted but he sat right outside her condo as promised.
Every half hour or so, she peeked out into the hall.
He would smile and wave.
She would slam the door.

Morning eventually gave way to afternoon.
He never imagined how excruciatingly slow time could pass. He knew every tile on the ceiling, every detail in the wallpaper.
His butt was killing him from sitting on the cold floor.
He paced the corridor for exercise before his muscles atrophied.
Late in the afternoon, Kelsey stepped into the hall, dressed in wool slacks, a sweater and her winter coat.
She obviously planned to go out and, short of physically restraining her, he wasn’t going to stop her.
Although he wasn’t dressed for walking the windy November streets, he followed as she made a quick trip to the corner pharmacy.
She didn’t speak to
him;
he didn’t try to talk to her.
The hurt that sparked fire in her eyes, said it all. She didn’t trust him and that hurt.
He saw her safely inside the door she closed
in
his face and took up his position again.