I Will Fear No Evil (Psalm 23 Mysteries Book 10) (29 page)

“Looks like it was a good thing I was late to the party.”

Jeremiah turned and saw Liam standing there, dressed as a gangster complete with Tommy gun. He twisted the other way and saw Mark and Cindy running down the hill toward them. They arrived, breathless, a moment later.

“Evening folks, I’m Al Capone,” Liam said with a smirk.

“Is that gun real?” Mark asked, doing a bit of a double take.

“You know it is. Told you my grandfather was a collector.”

“You came as a gangster?”

“I always thought a good costume should be the opposite of who you are. Capone was a historical Italian mob boss. I’m a modern Irish cop. Doesn’t get much more opposite than that.”

“I’m bleeding here!” the man Jeremiah had stabbed said.

“Be grateful you’re just bleeding,” Mark said darkly as Cindy moved to check on Lizzie.

A car pulled into the parking lot and a minute later Trina got out, dressed like a witch. “Looks like I missed the party,” she said.

“Almost. You get to be here for the after party, though, and sometimes those are the best part,” Mark said.

Ultimately Trina still took Lizzie with her until they could be sure that they had gotten all the members of the coven, although it looked like with the capture of the last guy they had. Other officers came and carted the man Jeremiah had fought off to jail and Mark, Liam, Cindy and Jeremiah headed back to the party. Jeremiah and Cindy had actually ridden back up the hill on the horse and the way Cindy was looking at Jeremiah made Mark smile. It was the look of a woman in love.

Now that all the excitement was over Mark felt the need to collapse even more strongly. He headed for the ballroom. He wanted to tell Geanie and Joseph that he was heading home and thank them for everything. Inside he skirted the crowd as he looked for them, but he didn’t see them. Finally he stood still, debating how bad it would be to just take off and talk to them in a couple of days.

Behind him he heard several people start to wolf whistle. He wondered what woman was the object of so much overt admiration. The whistles grew to such a volume that he finally turned, curious as to what exactly was going on.

There, slinking toward him in the most low cut black dress he had ever seen was Traci. She was swaying her hips in a highly exaggerated way and walking right toward him. She had crimped her hair, put on siren red lipstick, and was wearing pearls. All those he noticed out of the corner of his eyes since he couldn’t take his eyes off the dress. Her new curves were there for all the world to see and as the crowd parted around her all the men were casting appreciative looks her way.

She stopped in front of him and before he could even blink she said in a sultry voice, “Hello, Dick. You can call me...Breathless.”

“Traci, I-”

She put a finger over his lips and made a shushing sound. “Dick, don’t you dare go and spoil my entrance. It seems to me what we need right now is a little more action and a lot less talk.”

He grabbed her hard and kissed her, molding her body to his. He could hear a few catcalls and whistles, but he just kept kissing her. When he finally let go both of them were breathless.

“Get a room!” he heard someone say humorously.

“I intend to,” Mark said. He grabbed her hand and pulled her through the crowd. They made it out of the ballroom and headed for the staircase.

“Dick, where are we going?” she asked, still using her vixen voice.

He turned to her and let his eyes sweep her body. “Morticia and Gomez have five thousand bedrooms in this house and we’re going to find one that’s vacant.”

“And then?” she asked, her breath catching a little bit.

He leaned in close and brushed his lips against her ear. “I hope you didn’t pay too much for the dress because I’m going to rip it off of you.”

He swept her up into his arms and carried her up the stairs, kissing her every step of the way.

.

Look for

THOU ART WITH ME

The next book in the Psalm 23 Mysteries series

Coming February 2015

Look for

THE BROTHERHOOD OF LIES

Book 2 in the Tex Ranvencroft Adventures

Coming Winter 2015

Look for

THE SUMMER OF RICE CANDY

Book 5 in the Sweet Seasons series

Coming Winter 2015

Debbie Viguié is the New York Times Bestselling author of more than three dozen novels including the
Wicked
series, the
Crusade
series and the
Wolf Springs Chronicles
series co-authored with Nancy Holder.  Debbie also writes thrillers including
The Psalm 23 Mysteries,
the
Kiss
trilogy, and the
Witch Hunt
trilogy.  When Debbie isn’t busy writing she enjoys spending time with her husband, Scott, visiting theme parks.  They live in Florida with their cat, Schrödinger.