Duty To Protect. Beth Cornelison

at the door, a smile lit her face. Then, as if inspiration had just struck, she turned to her mother and waved a hand toward him. “I…have Riley just down the hall. If there’s trouble, I can call him. Right, Riley?”

      Was it wrong that he found the smoke-induced huskiness of her voice sexy as hell? Probably. But when he got around 3C, she scrambled his thoughts and turned everything topsy-turvy for him.

      Riley shoved his hands in the back pockets of his jeans and sucked in a deep breath to tamp down his runaway libido. He’d learned yesterday how easily Ginny could pick up on his moods and read his thoughts. He had to do a better job of staying in control of his reactions when he was around her.

      “Riley?” Ginny prompted when he didn’t answer her after several seconds.

      “Um…sure. Whatever you need.” He wasn’t certain what sort of conversation he’d interrupted, but he could answer Ginny’s question easily enough. He’d do anything humanly possible to make sure she was safe.

      His answer put a smug, case-closed grin on Ginny’s face. Mrs. West seemed somewhat mollified, if not entirely convinced. “I just don’t think you should be alone until that man is caught. If you won’t let me stay with you, what about Megan?”

      “I don’t need a babysitter, Mom.”

      “I know that. But after what happened last night…” Hannah’s hand fluttered to her lips as she paused, inhaling sharply. “I’m just scared he might try to hurt you again.”

      Riley jerked his eyebrows together, frowning. “Whoa. Back up. What happened last night?”

      Hannah and Ginny spoke at the same time.

      “Nothing.”

      “That man—”

      Ginny cut a sharp silencing glance at her mother, but Hannah persisted. “The man who drove his car into Ginny’s office…the husband of her client…he showed up here last night. He tried to kill Ginny!”

      Riley tensed, a punch of horror slamming into his gut. Icy chills prickled his skin. “He came here?” After he’d left. He’d left Ginny alone and—

      “Mom…”

      “Yes,” Hannah declared. “And if the night duty nurse hadn’t come in when she did—”

      “Mom! I’m fine. The police are looking for him. The officer said they’ve got an APB out for him, and they promised to keep a watch on my apartment complex. A private guard is overkill.”

      Riley wiped his suddenly sweaty palms on his jeans. “Who is this guy, and why is he trying to hurt you?”

      God, he hoped Ginny didn’t hear the anxiety he heard in his own voice.

      “His name is Walt Compton. His wife came to our office because he’d been abusing her and had threatened to kill her.”

      Riley clenched his teeth. A domestic dispute. He’d been called to the scene of enough domestic disputes to know how volatile those situations could be.

      “We’ve given his wife and kids refuge at the women’s shelter. She’d told him I was her counselor, so Walt came after me to find out where she was. He blames me for convincing her to leave the brutality of their marriage.”

      Riley balled his hands into fists, wishing he could ram his knuckles down Walt Compton’s throat. The guy was scum. Being a wife beater was bad enough. But this guy had threatened Ginny, and that made it feel personal to Riley. He didn’t stop to analyze why he felt so protective of his neighbor. Not while her sky-blue eyes were watching him as closely as they were now.

      “I have to say…” He paused and cleared his throat. “I’m with your mom on this. The cops should post someone in the lobby of our apartment building. And until he’s found, you should have someone stay with you.”

      Ginny’s eyes widened, betrayal and disbelief flashing across her face. “Not you, too!”

      Riley sighed. “If this guy is half as unstable as I think—and the fact that he drove his car through the wall of your office suggests he is—you shouldn’t be alone. He’s dangerous.”

      Ginny pressed her hands together in her lap and schooled her features. In a calm, let’s-be-reasonable voice, she said, “This is a work issue. It’s my job to handle it. I’ve alerted the authorities, and they are doing everything they can to find him. They offered to post a guard outside our building, and I turned them down.”

      Ginny’s mother huffed in disbelief. “Why?”

      “I’d much rather they use their resources protecting Annie and the other ladies at the women’s shel—” Ginny gasped, winced, then shook her head. “Whoops. Well, now you know her name. Not that you couldn’t figure it out if you’d wanted to, thanks to the paper reporting her husband’s name.” She rubbed her forehead. “Anyway…the police can monitor the apartments well enough from the parking lot or street. I’m sure the police will have Walt in custody shortly.”

      “And if they don’t?” Hannah asked, tipping her head.

      Ginny sighed and sent Riley a you-were-supposed-to-be-on-my-side scowl.

      “Mom, I—”

      Buffer.

      “What if,” he interrupted, “I volunteered to stay with you.”

      Hannah arched an eyebrow in disapproval.

      “On the couch,” he added quickly, to appease her.

      Again Ginny and her mother spoke over each other.

      “You don’t have to—”

      “On the couch,” Hannah reiterated, then turned from Riley to address her daughter. “I like that idea. It’s a good compromise.”

      “That’s no compromise. I’m being railroaded! I never agreed to having anyone—”

      Hannah headed for the door and touched Riley’s arm as she left. “Talk to her. I’ll go see what’s keeping the doctor with those discharge papers.”

      Ginny waved a hand toward the door where her mother had breezed out. “Do you see why I need a buffer? She’d run my life completely if I let her.”

      Riley gave her a lopsided grin. “She means well.”

      “And you!” Ginny aimed a finger at him, her expression in what-were-you-thinking mode. “You were supposed to be helping me, not taking her side!”

      He raised both hands in surrender. “In my defense, I did manage to get her to back off the idea of camping out at your place. That would kinda have put a damper on my plans for a quiet dinner for two tonight.”

      Ginny cocked her head and curled her lips in the sultry smile that always made his blood flash hot. “Dinner for two? Intriguing. Do tell.”

      He ran a hand over his short-cropped hair. “Well, Ming Wa delivers, if you like Chinese. I could bring wine, and we could finally get a chance to get to know each other. You know, talk or watch a movie…whatever.”

      “And then you would camp out on my couch.” Ginny lifted one eyebrow in a way that mirrored her mother.

      He stepped over to the wheelchair and crouched, putting himself at eye level with her. Close enough to smell the hint of baby powder he’d come to recognize as her scent. Only 3C could make baby powder a turn-on for him.

      “Yeah. I kinda promised your mother. And I do think you need someone staying with you. At least for a while.”

      At least until he was sure she was safe. He refused to repeat his mistakes with Erin. His gut cramped, remembering.

      Ginny rolled her eyes.

      “But…I don’t have to stay on the couch alone.” He gave her a devilish grin and waggled