Love Inspired Suspense December 2013 Bundle: Christmas Cover-Up\Force of Nature\Yuletide Jeopardy\Wilderness Peril (78 page)

Katie stared at him, taken aback by his bluntness. Then a small kernel of anger formed in her belly. She curled her fingers into fists then had to make a concentrated effort to relax. It wasn't his fault she didn't want to talk to him. Not totally, anyway. “Yes, it's partly because of Neil. I didn't really expect Erica to give this case to you.” Erica James, the director of Finding the Lost, was one of Katie's closest friends. “She knows what happened with Neil and—and I just—” She broke off and swallowed hard. “Although I suppose it makes the most sense with your FBI connections.” She frowned. “I can drive.”

“That's all right, I don't mind. Where will you and Mariah stay until you get this cleaned up?”

“Good question.” Relieved not to talk about his brother just yet, Katie pulled her phone out and started to dial Mariah's number when she heard a car pull into the drive. She walked out onto the front porch to see her roommate climb from her vehicle.

Mariah spotted Jordan and waved. “Hey, you two, what's going on?” Jordan and Mariah had met once when Jordan had come by to pick up information regarding her sister's kidnapping.

“We had a break-in,” Katie said.

Mariah's pretty green eyes went wide. “A break-in? Are you all right?”

“Yes,” Katie assured her, then explained what had happened. “But it's pretty bad inside. I think we need to find another place to stay until a cleaning crew can come out here.” She paused. “Although your room looks fine. He didn't get that far.”

Jordan said, “He just raced out the French doors. But your stuff didn't look touched.”

Mariah bit her lip and tucked a stray hunk of chocolate-brown hair behind her ear. “You think he'll come back?”

“No, we caught him. But the kitchen and den area aren't livable right now. He slashed the cushions and—”

Mariah rushed past her and into the house. Her outraged cry made Katie grimace. Her roommate raced to Katie's bedroom, then the office and finally her own bedroom. Tears stood in her friend's eyes. “I don't want to stay here. And you can't. He slashed up your mattress.”

“I know.”

Mariah took a deep breath. “We'll stay with Grandma Jean. She has that big ol' house with plenty of room. She'd love it if we crashed there for a few days.”

Katie smiled as she thought of the spry eighty-year-old woman who still lived life to the fullest. “All right, you ask her. I've got to get down to the station and question our intruder.”

Mariah shuddered. “I can't believe someone would break into a cop's house.”

Katie shrugged. “I don't think he knew I was a cop.” She frowned. “I can't help thinking this isn't a random break-in.”

Mariah fished in her large shoulder bag and produced her phone. “I'll throw some things in a bag and call Grandma Jean and tell her we're coming.”

Katie looked at Jordan. “Guess I'll do the same, then we can go. I'll take my car and you can ride with me if you want. Mariah's grandmother only lives about a mile from here, so I can bring you back here to get your car before I go over there for the night.”

“That sounds good.”

Katie smiled then walked into her destroyed bedroom. The smile slipped away and anger swept over her, hot and swift even as she gave thanks that Mariah hadn't been here when the intruder broke in. She grabbed an overnight bag and threw some items in it, including work clothes for the next day. She then examined every inch of her bedroom even though she knew Wray hadn't taken anything. Her jewelry box lay open, but nothing was missing.

A shudder of revulsion went through her. She dealt with criminals every day. But she'd never had one in her house. Her bedroom. It made her skin crawl.

Katie spun toward the door, anxious to get out of the room, and ran into Mariah coming from her bedroom. Her friend said, “We're all set. Grandma Jean's excited to have company tonight.”

“I'll call someone to come clean this up, and we'll put better locks on the doors.” She paused. “And maybe an alarm system.”

“All right. I'll see you later tonight, then.”

Katie nodded and joined Jordan, who waited patiently in the den. “I'm ready.”

He followed her outside and stopped at her vehicle. She opened her door and looked at him. He placed a hand over hers. The heat of his palm seeped through the back of her hand, warming her. “What is it?” When he hesitated, she took a deep breath. His spicy cologne filled the air. Katie told herself she had to ignore the fact that she found him attractive and focus on doing what they needed to do so they could part company. “Jordan?”

He said, “I know my parents blame you for Neil's death, but I didn't realize—”

She tensed. “What?”

“You blame yourself for my brother's death, too, don't you?”

Copyright © 2013 by Lynette Eason

ISBN-13: 9781460323441

WILDERNESS PERIL

Copyright © 2013 by Elizabeth Goddard

All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada M3B 3K9.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

® and ™ are trademarks of the publisher. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and in other countries.

www.Harlequin.com