Christmas Guardian

“I want to know the same thing,” he countered. “What item did you leave with Shelly?”

She shook her head. “I can’t say.”

“You mean you won’t.”

“Can’t,” she insisted. She met his gaze. “What do you know about this?”

He stayed quiet a moment. “I figure if you take what I know and what you know, we’ll have a complete picture. So, you show me yours, and I’ll show you mine. You first.”

Kinley considered that and then considered the alternative. She couldn’t afford a stalemate. Nor could she afford the consequences of what would happen if she spilled all. So, she took it slowly. “I honestly don’t know who killed Shelly.”

“But you know who was after her and why,” he snapped.

“Maybe.” She groaned. “Look, I can’t think like this. Just back up.”

To her surprise, he did, and then made an impatient circular motion with his right index finger to signal her to keep talking.

Best to start at the beginning, she thought. That was the easy part. Too bad she didn’t know if she could trust him with the ending.

“Shelly’s death could be linked to what happened at the Bassfield Research Facility where I worked,” Kinley explained. “Secrets went missing. Illegal deals were made. The authorities have caught some people responsible, but since there might have been others involved in the illegal activity, they thought it best that I be placed in witness protection in another state.”

“Yet you’re here,” he pointed out. “Not in witness protection but at my company’s Christmas party.”

Kinley was certain she couldn’t keep the emotion or the heartbreak out of her expression. “Finding the item I left with Shelly is critical. It’s worth the risk of leaving witness protection.”

“And you think I know where this…‘item’ is?”

She closed her eyes a moment, shook her head. “I don’t know. But I made a list of all of Shelly’s friends, family members and enemies. I’ve made it through that entire list—”

He put her right back against the wall. It happened so fast that it robbed her of her breath. “You asked these people questions?”

That urgency and his stark concern didn’t help her breathing. “No. I didn’t want to raise any suspicions so I followed them the way I followed you. I watched them, looking for any signs that they might know something.”

His eyes turned even darker. “Because if someone got this item, they’d be able to draw you out of hiding. Why? What do they want?”

“Information about the last project I was working on.” It was a guess. But a good one, since she hadn’t been able to think of another reason. She hadn’t been privy to all top-secret data used in the project, however.

“You were working on antidotes for chemical weapons.” Again, it wasn’t a question.

She nodded, not surprised that he knew about the project that’d nearly gotten her killed and had cost her everything. “The formula for the primary antidote went missing. Someone may think I know where it is. I don’t,” she quickly added. “That’s the truth.”

“For a change.” He turned on his PDA again, scrolled through some pages and stopped on one. Not a picture. This one had some kind of code in it. “That’s your DNA. Day before yesterday, I had Cody collect your cup from the coffee shop, and I ran the test myself. No one but me has seen the results. Or compared it to anyone else’s.”

Oh, mercy.

Her breath shuttered, and there was no way to hold back the flood of emotion or what she had to say. She touched her fingers to her necklace and waited until Jordan’s attention went to the stone. “It’s a red ruby.”

She saw it. The recognition in his eyes. Just a split second. It was all she needed to continue.

“My son would be sixteen months old by now. Brown hair. Brown eyes.” Kinley swallowed hard. “You have him, don’t you? Shelly left him with you?”

Jordan calmly placed the PDA back into his jacket pocket. “Yes.” A muscle flickered in his jaw. “I have him. Your DNA matches his.”

A helpless sound left her mouth. She lost it. Her legs turned limp. Her breath vanished. And if it hadn’t been for Jordan catching her, she would have fallen to the floor. “Thank God.” And even though she knew she sounded hysterical, Kinley just kept repeating it.

“Don’t thank God just yet. The child was safe. Now he’s not. By coming here, you’ve placed him, you and me in grave danger.”

She fought to regain her breath so she could speak. “I never meant to do that, I swear.”

“The road to hell is paved with good intentions,” he mumbled. Then cursed. “We have to sanitize this situation and do some damage control.”

She shook her head. “How?”

But before he could answer, the doorknob turned. Kinley tried to brace herself for anyone and anything. It was almost second nature since she’d been living in fear for months.

“This is damage control,” Jordan whispered to her.

He shoved his left hand around the back of her neck, dragged her to him and kissed her.

Chapter Two (#u0e06bc5e-d605-5fee-ad15-25527abc542c)

While he kissed her, Jordan drew his gun and used their bodies to hide the Sig Sauer.

He wanted the gun ready in case the pretense didn’t work. And in case they were about to be met by someone who’d followed Kinley.

The door opened and from the corner of his eye, Jordan saw their visitors.

Cody and Burke.

Despite his instant relief at seeing nonenemy faces, Jordan didn’t break the kiss. In fact, he took it up a notch and made it look as if he was groping Kinley’s breasts when he reholstered his gun.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Cody drawled.

Only then did Jordan jerk away from her. He tried to look surprised, which wasn’t very difficult since that damage-control kiss had sent a coil of blazing heat through his entire body.

Hell.

Nothing like reacting like a red-blooded male instead of a security specialist in the middle of a potentially dangerous situation.

“Something wrong?” Jordan asked the men. Beside him, Kinley was breathing hard. Hopefully from the danger and not the blasted kiss.

Jordan made a mental note to figure a different form of damage control. Something that didn’t involve her mouth or her breasts.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Burke assured him. He smiled. Cody didn’t. He had a puzzled look on his face. “It’s just that some folks have to leave to go to other parties, and I want to make a toast to celebrate your new semiretired status.”

“Of course.” It couldn’t have come at a better time, because a toast and then an exit was the fastest way to get Kinley out of there.

Kinley smiled and fixed her lipstick. Her mouth was trembling a bit, and she looked as if she’d been popped with a stun gun. Again, he hoped that was from the fear. He took her by the arm, and they followed Burke and Cody.