Christmas Under Fire. Michelle Karl

in her throat as the edge of a white hoodie appeared through the crack of the open door.

      Aaron hadn’t been wearing a hoodie; he’d been dressed in his dark-colored RCMP uniform, and had told her he’d be on shift until late that night.

      The person who’d opened the door wasn’t Aaron.

      She threw her weight forward, slamming her shoulder into the door. It caught the intruder off guard and sent him flying back with a shout. She didn’t recognize the voice. The instant the door closed, she twisted the lock into place.

      Then she bolted for the back door.

      She heard what sounded like heavy footsteps approaching the back door from the outside, but she turned the lock first, then took off to find the windows.

      She shivered, her body growing cold with a mixture of fear and anger, despite the heavy sweater and several layers of T-shirts she wore underneath it to stay warm. She checked all the window latches in the front hall, then proceeded to the kitchen, the bathroom and the bedroom. That left only one other area to check. She had no idea if the person was still outside, or if they’d taken off once they’d discovered the house was no longer an easy target—or a place to squat, which she supposed might also be the reason they’d come through the front door. But after the events of earlier that day at the airport, she refused to take any chances.

      She crouched, moving toward the front living room with as much stealth as she could muster. Her heart beat a loud rhythm in her ears, making it difficult to listen for footfalls outside. Finally, she managed to find the courage to check each window lock. None of them appeared to have been compromised. She tried to take mental stock of the house—she’d checked all the other windows and exits. Hadn’t she? She didn’t know the rental property at all. It was entirely possible that in her haste to lock the front and back doors and the main windows, she’d—

      A door creaked. It sounded as though it came from a far hallway, on the other side of the kitchen.

      Yes, she thought, her entire body trembling. I definitely missed one.

      Aaron climbed out of the unmarked patrol car he’d signed out for the evening and sauntered up the driveway toward Cally’s cottage. He’d found her purse as soon as he’d opened the door of Leo’s car. It had been wedged between the front seat and the center console, easily missed after all that had happened and in the excitement of finally reaching the cabin.

      He tried hard not to imagine Cally’s smile when he presented her purse—nor the way her entrancing brown eyes would light up with relief and happiness. It wasn’t his place to think of her like that, or to think of her at all outside the boundaries of his obligations. She was his assignment, nothing else.

       But still...

      Movement flashed at the edge of his vision. He paused, listening. Was he seeing things? It might have been a skunk or a low-flying bat.

      And then he heard a shout from inside the house, and he didn’t waste another moment.

      He bolted toward the noise, past the front door and around to the side patio. The patio door stood wide open, and sounds of a struggle came from inside. Aaron plunged into the house, following the clamor. Only a few lights were on, but there was no missing the figure cloaked in white outside one of the bedroom doors. The ski-masked intruder was slamming his shoulder against the door in an effort to get inside, while Cally shouted at him from within the room.

      Aaron dove at the man, tackling him at the waist. They fell against the hardwood floor, the impact jarring Aaron’s knees and lower back. He tried to grab for the man’s arms, intending to pin them back, but the angle at which they’d both fallen left the intruder’s legs and feet too close to Aaron’s face.

      The goon slammed his heel into Aaron’s jaw. Pain ratcheted through Aaron’s entire head, momentarily blinding him. A second hit clipped the side of his forehead, and he felt the man slip from his grasp. He tried to regain focus as the assailant scrambled across the floor, shoved past him and Cally—who’d exited the bedroom and was trying to take a swing at the intruder with a side table lamp—and rushed back out into the cover of night.

      Aaron rose, took two steps and stumbled.

      “Aaron!” Cally bounded over and caught him by the shoulders before he toppled over. “Should I call an ambulance?”

      “No, no.” He tried to wave her off. The sparks in his vision were starting to clear, but he needed to call Leo right away and tell his brother which direction he planned to search for the home invader. “I need...I need to call...”

      “You’re not calling anyone. I’ll do it.”

      Aaron pressed his back against the wall and slid to the floor. “Thirty seconds and I’ll be on my feet again. That guy’s kick packed a wallop. I wasn’t expecting that.”

      Cally exhaled sharply. “I wasn’t expecting someone to break into the house after all those promises everyone made to me about how safe this area is. I’d like to say there’s a first time for everything, but I’ve had quite enough of that today, thank you.”

      How was everything going so wrong, so fast? He took several deep breaths, then pushed into the wall to stand again. His head still spun but he felt well enough to go out to the patrol car and call for backup. “Wait right here while I call this in. Lock the door when I step outside, and don’t open it again until I knock. I’ll go to the front door so you can look outside and see that I’m there.”

      He heard the click of the patio door’s lock behind him as he left the house. It took only a few moments to call in the incident, and Aaron was still shaking his head in disbelief as Cally let him back indoors.

      “I don’t know what to say. Usually this area is incredibly safe. Our biggest issue for the past decade has been drug use and illegal weapons, save one incident earlier this year that had nothing to do with our town. It was an outside company’s interference, and—you know what, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re a guest in Fort Mason and we’ve done nothing but let you down at every turn, and you haven’t even been here a full day. Are you all right? Did the intruder harm you in any way?”

      His cheeks warmed at the look she gave him, a mixture of gratitude and skepticism. And here he thought he was too old to be embarrassed, but the events of the day so far made him, the town and by extension the entire province, look bad.

      That potential transfer just keeps getting more and more unlikely... If she complained and the reasoning was found valid, he was certain there’d be an investigation into his ability to run the detachment, not to mention a possible demotion. It also didn’t help that he felt a certain personal responsibility to ensure that she not only had a good stay, but an excellent one. It would make him happy to see her happy.

      Because it was his job. No other reason.

      She was attractive, yes, but she was also a perfect stranger.

      Still, his heart hitched a little when a crooked half smile appeared on her face. Why was she looking at him like that?

      “Your shoulder,” she said, pointing to his arm. “You’ve got something hooked over your shoulder.”

      It took longer than it should have for her words to register, thanks to the hit to his head—no other reason, he continued to rationalize—but when he patted his shoulder, he remembered.

      “Yes! That’s why I was on my way over here so quickly.” He pulled the strap of her purse over his head. “It was in my brother’s car, between the front seats. Good thing I found it easily, or else I wouldn’t have arrived as quickly as I did.”

      She took the purse and disappeared into the kitchen for a moment. Aaron checked and double-checked all the locks while he waited for her return. When she rejoined him, he couldn’t help but note the weariness in her expression.

      “Thank you,” she said. “I guess it was silly of me to think I could escape drama, regardless of where I go.