Countdown to Danger. Jill Elizabeth Nelson

blinked up at him. “You never told me that.”

      “I didn’t want to distract you.”

      “What did you find out?”

      “None of the family members had a history of violence, no prison records, nothing. I wouldn’t expect any of them to be rocket scientists, but Wendy was the only problem family member. As you already know, they were distant cousins.”

      “If only I’d paid closer attention to her when I did triage that night, but her vitals were stable, and she looked the same way she’d looked the three times I’d seen her before during that same week. How could I have known she was in trouble on that particular night? She’d refused the CT scan and left against medical advice.”

      “Which cleared you.” He waited until she looked up and met his gaze. “You’re second-guessing yourself again. You did everything right, and the court decision bore that out.”

      She closed her eyes. “I know.” She looked back up at him. “But what you’re saying is that anyone could be behind this...this perverse joke.” She jabbed her fingers at the Christmas-colored note. “Everyone in the 417 area code knew about Lawson’s death and the inheritance.”

      “Everyone but me, apparently. It’s almost as if this little macabre greeting card came from someone using public records as a fulcrum. The demand is for money, not revenge.”

      “But so was the lawsuit.” Lynley caught her breath. “Mom. She could be in danger.” She rushed back to the phone beside the sofa. “I need to get her back here.”

      John pulled out his cell and spoke Gerard Vance’s name. In seconds he was talking to the only other man in Jolly Mill with good police experience—Vance was a former cop from Corpus Christi, Texas, who’d given up his career to use family money and help the homeless. Another set of eyes on this situation would be helpful right now, and Kirstie was at the rehab center today.

      The former cop’s deep voice greeted him in the middle of the first ring. “Hey, Chief. You change your mind about helping in the kitchen today?”

      “Sorry. As a matter of fact, I need to see you. Now, please. I’m at Kirstie’s with Lynley. Could you bring her down with you?”

      “Hey, this sounds serious. What’s up?”

      “Her daughter’s life has just been threatened.”

      “Lynley!”

      “Bring protection.”

      “Let me hunt down Kirstie and I’ll get her there.”

      John disconnected and nodded to Lynley. “I’m here, and I won’t let anything happen to you.”

TWO

      Though Lynley knew John meant every word, she still wished she could return to a few moments ago, when she felt safe in his arms. She resisted the urge to move closer to him. After her disaster of a marriage, she vowed to never again place herself in such a vulnerable position. When she made that vow, however, she hadn’t counted on befriending a man like John, who had all the characteristics her ex-husband had lacked.

      “And what of you?” she asked.

      His eyebrows raised in surprise. “What about me?”

      “While you’re placing yourself in harm’s way to protect me, who’s going to protect you?” When they’d first begun seeing each other on a friendly basis, she’d promised herself that she would break off the friendship if it threatened to turn into something more. Of course, when she first felt the threat looming in her heart, she’d struggled to convince herself she could certainly control her own emotions, and that breaking off their friendship would be a mistake.

      She’d lied to herself, of course. Right now she could no more control her feelings toward John than she could scout out the person who threatened her life. The thought of John incurring injury in his duty to protect her was like a kick in the gut.

      She should have read the signs months ago—about the time she found herself driving here to Mom’s when she had more than one day off at a time. Her apartment in Springfield had become oppressive lately. Lonely. She studied John’s face and realized it had become more precious to her every time she saw him—which was every time she came home.

      John, too, appeared to look forward to her days off.

      He tapped her on the arm. “This town is a safe place to be. You can stop worrying.”

      “Yes, but—”

      “Have you seen Gerard or his lovely wife on the shooting range recently?”

      John’s mention of her best friend from childhood was intended to distract her, and it worked to a point. She grinned. “You know, I’m not bad, myself. Megan’s been working with me on my aim. But neither Gerard, Megan nor I are paid to place ourselves in harm’s way. You are.”

      His light green eyes seemed to dance with humor, though she suspected it was a little forced. He leaned a couple of inches into her personal space. “Why, Lynley Marshall, I do believe you’re actually worried about my safety.”

      She couldn’t help it, the man’s voice, his scent, even his body language made her want him closer. And that made her uncomfortable, and she felt it settle into her expression.

      He backed off, and she couldn’t miss a twitch of his lips, a creasing beside his eyes, as if he could read her and was suppressing yet another teasing retort. Why did he confuse her so?

      “Forgive me,” he said, his voice suddenly gentle. “I’m being a typical man. We like to beat our chests and rumble like apes, but some of us truly appreciate the caring tenderness of a woman concerned for our safety.”

      To her surprise, it seemed that his eyes said, “Especially this woman.” But of course, she’d been intentionally alone for so long she wasn’t in the habit of reading a man’s mind.

      Did he realize how fear completely controlled her? She feared for the friendship that had begun between them so easily. Somewhere the lines blurred, and the energy between them caught fire like a barn ablaze, and that fire threatened the safety of their comfortable friendship. Even if that weren’t the case, however, she would still fear for his safety, especially considering the surprising dangers that had erupted in Jolly Mill these past years.

      “You’re not a typical man, John,” she said softly. “Not at all.”

      And then it was her turn to suppress a smile when he blinked, lips parted. Though he didn’t move away from her, something about him withdrew ever so subtly.

      That had been their unspoken dance lately. Move forward, step back, keep time with music they couldn’t actually hear, but that controlled them much more than either of them would have liked.

      She knew about John’s obvious unwillingness to reconnect after the great loss he’d experienced when his wife died. His cousin Emma had told Lynley all about it. A man like him didn’t recover from a true love like that as quickly as people expected him to. It only drew her to him more profoundly.

      But she needed John now, and she needed this dance of romance to not get in the way. They both needed their wits about them.

      John touched the tip of her nose with his finger and grinned into her eyes with such warmth and acceptance, she felt reassured.

      “I know how to protect myself, Lynley. A fella doesn’t last long as a policeman if he can’t do that.”

      Breathing as deeply and deliberately as she could, she nodded. She felt like a needy woman who couldn’t function without a man, and that was one thing she’d fought against since she walked in on her father and one of his many lady friends when she was a young teen. That day she’d vowed that this was the one path of her mother’s that she didn’t want to follow.

      And