Protecting Her Son. Joan Kilby

knock sounded at the door. Great. All she needed was some nosy neighbor thinking she was beating her kid.

      She left Jamie pounding his fists on the floor while she answered the door. “This isn’t a good t—” Riley stood there wearing a pair of faded jeans and a black polo shirt. “What are you doing here?”

      Riley began to speak but Jamie’s howls were too loud to ignore. He peered past her, into the house. “Is something wrong?”

      “Did you come by for a reason? Because I’m pretty busy. As you can hear.”

      Suddenly Jamie stopped howling. His footsteps thudded behind her. “Is that Dad?” Seeing Riley he stopped short, suddenly going shy. His anxious gaze tore at Paula’s heart. “Is he…?”

      “No, sweetheart.” Her cheeks burning, she said to Riley, “You should go.”

      Instead, Riley crouched, eye level with Jamie. “I’m Riley, your mum’s partner at the police station. What’s your name?”

      Jamie pressed back into Paula’s legs. Her arms went around his shoulders. His small chest jerked as he hiccupped.

      “My sister Katie is your teacher at school.” Riley spoke with the studied casualness of a cop talking down an out-of-control offender. Any other time Paula would have admired his technique.

      Jamie sniffled. “Ms. Henning?”

      “That’s right. What’s your name?”

      “Jamie,” he mumbled.

      “Nice to meet you.” Riley held his hand.

      Jamie hesitated then placed his small hand in Riley’s to be given a hearty man-shake. Wiping his eyes with his sleeve, he stood a little taller. “Do you have a gun? Mum won’t let me hold hers.”

      Oh, no, not the gun conversation. Jamie asked at least once a week to see her gun despite her constantly telling him it wasn’t a toy. At least he seemed to have forgotten the car—for the moment. “Not now, Jamie.”

      “When I’m not on duty my gun is locked up,” Riley said. “Your mum’s right. No one but a police officer is allowed to touch our weapons. One day I might show you my gun.”

      “Cool,” Jamie said shyly.

      “It’s time for Jamie to get ready for bed.” Paula rubbed his arms. “Go on, mate. Into your pajamas.”

      “Aw, do I have to?”

      “I’ll read you the dinosaur story tonight.”

      Jamie went, dragging his heels and glancing over his shoulder at Riley. Paula watched him with a tiny frown. With her father dead and her only brother living in Sydney, Jamie didn’t have many male role models in his life.

      “So,” she said, turning back to Riley. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

      “I was passing on my way home from the shooting range and thought I’d see how you were doing after the hazing.” He shoved his hands in his back pockets, making his shirt stretch across his chest, hinting at some serious pecs. “You seemed to take it hard.”

      “I didn’t take it hard.” Paula lifted her gaze—and her chin—a fraction. “I simply wasn’t expecting it.”

      “Okay.” He studied her, relaxed but assessing, then seemed to decide to take her words at face value. “Nice kid, Jamie. Something upset him before I came?”

      “It’s really none of your business.” Riley’s earlier words sank in. If he was at the shooting range he would have his gun in his car. When it counted he’d backed her up. A small thing, but she liked him for it.

      “I appreciate you not bringing out your gun. Jamie can make a pistol out of a slice of bread but I don’t want him anywhere near a real weapon.” She sighed. “Plus, you made him forget what he was crying about.”

      “I guess he was disappointed at not seeing his father.” Riley tilted his head, his eyes narrowing. “Doesn’t he know what his dad looks like?”

      “His father is not in our lives.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “That’s all I’m going to say. I don’t mix work and home.”

      “No worries.” Riley held up his hands, palms out. “Just curious.”

      “‘Curiosity killed the cat.’” The phrase she threw at Jamie when he got into stuff she didn’t want him exploring popped out.

      “Satisfaction brought it back.” Riley’s sudden, sexy grin made her think of a tomcat, whiskers dipped in cream, sensual, sleek and satisfied.

      Sensual? Yessiree. With the porch light gleaming on his dark hair, his broad shoulders and long-limbed athletic stance, there was no getting around the fact that Riley was hot. And tonight he’d shown he was sensitive to her wishes regarding her son. But he was her partner, out of bounds on every level. She was trying to get her career on track, not become sidelined by another inappropriate attraction.

      “I need to go to Jamie. He’s waiting for me to read a story.”

      Riley nodded, and backed through the door. “See you tomorrow.”

      Paula resisted watching his butt move in snug jeans as he walked to his black sports car. Instead she closed the door firmly.

      Before she went to Jamie she removed the toy from the high shelf and carried it out to the carport. She started to lift the lid on the rubbish bin then changed her mind and put it in the trunk of her car to take to the thrift shop tomorrow. No reason some other little boy couldn’t benefit from Nick’s largesse.

      After she read Jamie a bedtime story she stayed in his room until long after he fell asleep, watching over him. A glimmer of moonlight through the curtains shone on his mussed hair and bunched pajama top. She might not be enough for him anymore but he was everything to her.

      Please, don’t let anything happen to my boy. Don’t let anyone hurt him or try to take him away from me.

      * * *

      FROM THE SQUAD CAR’S passenger’s seat Riley watched Paula covertly through his dark glasses. They were parked on the side of the highway again, in the shade of the ti tree. Without the air-conditioning the heat of the day was almost unbearable, even with the windows rolled all the way down.

      Paula was preoccupied, staring intently out the window in silence, a slight frown marring her near-flawless complexion. Was she thinking about her ex, Jamie’s father? What was the story there—love of her life or rat bastard?

      Last night in her foyer, for a moment, a spark had jumped between him and Paula. It must have been seeing her in a clinging blouse and short skirt instead of her uniform that had him noticing her breasts, her legs and pretty much everything in between. Their little verbal exchange toward the end had been out of character. Not professional, almost flirting.

      She’d realized it, too, and backed off so quickly she’d practically left skid marks. And if she hadn’t, he would have. He liked how she was strong as a cop and as a mother, but they worked together—a no-go zone as far as he was concerned. And it didn’t take a genius to work out that she had issues with her ex. He didn’t want to get in the middle of that.

      The radio crackled.

      “Code twelve on Nepean Highway at Wooralla Drive.” Patty’s Irish accent became more pronounced the more urgent the situation. “Repeat, code twelve, Nepean at Wooralla. Fire and ambulance dispatched to the scene. Car sixteen, do you read me?”

      Paula started the engine and hit the switch for the flashing red and blue lights. Siren blaring she forced her way into the stream of traffic.

      “Copy that, Dispatch,” Riley said into the radio. “Estimated time to scene, five minutes.” He glanced at Paula. “Correction. Officer Drummond at the wheel. Make that two minutes.”

      “Right outside the primary school,”