Unexpected Father

Jason eased the door shut and walked to her. He had a ten-second debate with himself before he moved even closer and sat beside her on the bed. Yes, there was plenty of bad blood between them, but he would have had to be a coldhearted jackass not to try to offer some comfort.

“You have more bad news?” she asked, her voice cracking on the last word.

She was trembling all over, and he reached out. He pushed aside any doubts he had about what he was doing and pulled her into his arms. Lilly stiffened at first. Not a little stiffening, either, but a posture change that affected practically every muscle in her body. Probably because she was shocked by his gesture. Or maybe even appalled. But by degrees, she soon settled against him, as if she belonged there.

Jason quickly dismissed that last thought. Lilly didn’t belong in his arms. She didn’t belong this close to him. This was an anomaly. An emotional blip created by the dangerous situation that had forced this temporary camaraderie between them.

Then he felt her warm breath brush against his neck. He took in her scent. The logic of emotional blips and anomalies flew right out the window.

Hell.

What was going on here?

The confusing yet tender episode lasted only a few seconds—thank God—because Lilly pulled back slightly and looked up at him. She squinted her eyes and appeared to be as thunderstruck as he felt.

Jason totally understood her dumbfounded state. Twenty-four hours earlier if someone had told him he’d be holding Lilly, and reacting to it in the most basic way a man could, he would have never believed it.

She swallowed hard and inched back even farther. The confusion in her eyes faded, and in its place came the uncomfortable realization of what had just happened.

Oh, yeah. They were on the same page.

Lilly cleared her throat, reached for the blanket and gave it an adjustment that it in no way needed. “You never did say—why were you here at the hospital tonight?”

Blind luck. But Jason kept that to himself. “I couldn’t sleep, so I decided to drop by to check on the guard,” he said, thankful for the conversation. It would hopefully take his mind off that basic male reaction he was still having. “When I saw Dr. Staten was still here, I went into his office to talk to him.”

She paused. “Well…thank you.”

Her thanks was genuine. Jason didn’t doubt that. But he also didn’t doubt that it hadn’t been an easy thing for her to say to him. Civility of any kind was tricky between two battle-scarred enemies.

“I’m sorry,” Lilly whispered, pulling away completely from him.

Jason immediately felt the loss of her body heat. A sensation that surprised and sickened him. Sheez. What the heck was wrong with him, anyway?

“What are you sorry for?” he managed to ask just to keep the discussion going.

“For borrowing your shoulder to cry on.” She dusted her fingers across his jacket as if to remove any evidence of herself.

“After the scare you had, you deserve a shoulder, and the crying.”

She stared at him. Paused. Stared at him some more. “You’re being nice to me.”

True, and he wasn’t exactly pleased that she’d pointed it out. “Blame it on the adrenaline and fatigue.” He groaned softly. “Don’t worry… I’ll be back to normal in no time.”

“Good,” she concluded. “Because it’s easier that way.”

Jason nodded, understanding. They had enough to deal with without bringing Greg’s death and all those unresolved issues to the table. Unfortunately, one of those issues now seemed to be this bizarre attraction, or whatever the heck it was, that he felt for her.

Lilly leaned back, rested her head against the stack of pillows. “I wish I’d at least gotten a glimpse of the person who tried to smother me. Maybe I would have recognized him so you could arrest him.”

Jason almost blew out a breath of relief at the change of subject. The right change. Too bad he hadn’t thought of it sooner. Which only showed how dangerous distractions could be. Instead of pondering the effect of his hormones, he should be questioning her and digging for any clues to help them find the perp.

“A visual isn’t the only way to recognize someone,” he reminded her. “Was there anything familiar about his scent or his clothes?”

She immediately shook her head. “No.”

Jason continued to press. “How about his voice? Did he say anything?”

“No to all of those. No scent. I wasn’t able to touch his clothes. And if he said anything, I didn’t hear it.” Lilly paused a moment. “I can’t even be sure it was a man. All I know is the person was a lot stronger than I am.” She flexed her eyebrows. “But then, I’m not exactly a menacing threat with my superheroine strength, am I now? It didn’t take much to subdue me.”

So they weren’t necessarily looking for a male, strong or otherwise. Just someone who had a reason to kill her. And Jason knew for a fact there were people who fit right into that category. “This has to be connected to your father. To his dirty business dealings.”

“I agree. He was involved in so much. Falsifying paperwork and bids so he’d get contracts for services that he then only partially provided…if at all. He scammed a lot of people with bogus agreements to do everything from audits to major construction.” Lilly grabbed a handful of the blanket and fisted it until her knuckles whitened. “He’s been dead for two and a half years. You’d think the fallout would be finished by now.”

It wouldn’t be finished until this SOB was caught. “We still have the same suspects. Names we’ve gone over hundreds of times.”

“And it could also be any one of the dozens of former business associates that my father scammed or involved in his illegal schemes. Once I’m back on my feet, I want to go through my office and my house—” Her eyes widened. “I still have an office and house, don’t I?”

He nodded. “Your attorney’s been taking care of that with money from your personal and business accounts. But it probably won’t do any good to visit your house and office. The police went through them and didn’t find anything.”

“Maybe they missed something.” She froze, and her gaze whipped back to his. “Oh, my God. Megan. What if this person tries to go—”

“There’s a cop at my house.” One he could trust not to fall asleep. He wasn’t about to risk Megan’s life.

Lilly’s breath was racing now and she placed her hand on her chest. “Thank you, again.”

Jason decided it was a good time to get to his feet and put some distance between them. Unlike Lilly’s other thanks, this one didn’t feel so warm and fuzzy. Nothing he did for Megan required gratitude. What he did for her was totally out of love, and it riled him that Lilly even felt that she had a right to thank him.

Yes, it was stupid. Petty, even. But every paternal instinct in his body screamed for him to latch on to Megan and not let Lilly anywhere near her. He would have to override his instincts, though.

His lieutenant hadn’t given him much of a choice about that.

“I’m making arrangements for you to be transferred to another hospital,” Jason advised her. “Logistically, this one just isn’t that easy to secure.”

“And then what?” she asked, her voice thin. “I’d planned to be discharged in a day or two.”

He’d already considered that, along with the lieutenant’s order. “Once the doctors release you, you’ll be placed in protective custody. My protective custody.”

“Oh.” Something flickered in her eyes and she stayed quiet a moment. “Let me guess—that wasn’t your idea?”

“My lieutenant’s,” he admitted.

Another Oh. “How in the world did he convince you to agree to that?”

“Quite easily. He reminded me that Megan might need protection, as well, and that I’d no doubt want to be the one to provide it.”

She examined him with her firm gaze. “This way, you kill two birds with one stone.”

The word “kill” turned his stomach. “I don’t like that analogy.” But to protect both Lilly and Megan and to minimize the disruptions to Megan’s life, the thing to do was for Lilly to move in with him.