Operation Hero's Watch

“And you?” Jace asked.

“I’ll be around. Never far.”

“I only have one guest room, but there’s a foldout couch in—”

She stopped as Rafe shook his head. “I need to be outside. Able to move.”

“But at night—” Cassie began to protest.

“At night most of all.”

Jace was hit with a sudden certainty that under cover of night, this man could be one of the deadliest predators that walked.

“It’s November. It’s cold at night,” Cassie protested.

Rafe smiled at her. “I’ll survive.”

“And it won’t be the first time, will it?” Jace asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nor likely the last,” Rafe said, meeting his gaze. Then, in the tone of someone used to thinking in such ways, he said, “He’ll be checking you out, assessing.”

Jace nodded. “How should I play it? Tough or wimp?”

Rafe grinned, and Jace felt oddly as if he’d won some sort of award. “In between, I think. Let him wonder. Who you are, and how capable you are.” He gave Cassie a glance that looked apologetic. “We can’t be absolutely certain he doesn’t at least know your brother, so I don’t think that pretense would work.”

“Bodyguard?” Jace asked.

“That implies training and will make him more cautious,” Rafe said. He glanced from him to Cassie. “Boyfriend, I think, if you can pull it off.”

Jace groaned inwardly. Then he nearly frowned, because he didn’t understand why he’d reacted on such a gut level to what was a logical solution.

“But if he’s been watching me, won’t he know I don’t have one?” Cassie asked, apparently unruffled by the idea.

“You’re sure it’s only been three weeks?” Rafe asked.

“I think so. But like I said, I might not have realized it right away.”

“I’m guessing you picked up on it pretty quickly. Say, maybe three days of seeing him repeatedly at the most. So we’ll go with three weeks.”

“Which means?” Jace asked.

“He wasn’t around when we got here today. He could be watching from a distance, but if he is, he won’t be sure what’s going on. For all he knows, I just picked your boyfriend up at the airport after a trip somewhere that started just about when he started watching you.”

“So we’re having a joyous reunion,” Jace said. He kept his voice carefully even, but he heard a tiny sound from Cassie, as if she’d only just realized what this was going to involve. “Together every minute because I’ve been gone.”

“Something like that, yes,” Rafe agreed.

“I don’t know...” Cassie began before Jace turned to her.

“You can do it, Cassie.” He managed a wry grin. “Just look at me like you did when you were sixteen.”

He saw her stiffen, draw herself up. Ah, there was the Cassie he remembered, quiet but strong.

“Oh, I wasn’t worried about that.” Her tone was as light as her posture was determined. “I can make cow eyes at you just like I used to. I was more worried about you, pretending to look at me like that.”

“I’ll manage.”

And he would. All too easily.

He was just going to have to be careful it didn’t become real.

* * *

Cassidy was feeling a little like a spoiled child. She’d been scared, had wanted help, had called for help and now that it was here, she was unhappy about it.

I just never expected he would move in, and we’d have to pretend to be...lovers.

The very thought made her shiver and reminded her too sharply of the days and nights when she had pined after Jace with all the longing of an infatuated teenage heart. And that moment when he’d said he bought flowers for his mom, and she’d felt a jab of cheer that he hadn’t mentioned a girlfriend.

She distracted herself by studying the cell phone Rafe had given her, a twin to the one he’d given Jace, after she’d explained why she’d been afraid to use hers.

“He may not be savvy enough to hack your phone, but it can’t hurt. But we need communications,” he’d said and gone out to his car and opened the trunk. When he came back, he’d had the two phones. “They’re Foxworth,” he’d explained as he showed them how they worked. “And as unhackable as a phone can be. They also function as a direct connection, so if anything happens I need to know, or if you’re in trouble, you’ve got one-button contact.”

Somehow this man saying it made it seem more real than even that night when the shadow outside her bedroom window had so terrified her.

They’d then spent another hour going over things she never would have even thought might be connected. The business, finances, other relatives, even any lingering threads from her parents’ deaths.

“I’ve got some things to check,” Rafe finally said. He looked at Jace. “You’ve got first watch. Stay with her, keep that phone handy and don’t hesitate to use it. I’ll call you when I take over, then you can get some rest.”

“What about you?” Cassidy asked.

“Don’t worry about me,” Rafe said and headed for the back door she’d shown him earlier. Cassidy wondered who did worry about him. “I’m going to check around outside first. Cutter, with me.”

The dog spun on his hind legs and was at Rafe’s side in a single leap. Gone was the quiet, gentle, soothing animal she’d seen so far; this was a working dog now, and the difference was startling. Dog and man made an impressive team, and yet again the word that occurred to her was intimidating.

And then they were gone, so quietly she wasn’t certain at first that they hadn’t just stayed on the back deck.

“Wow,” she said, a little taken aback. “You really called in the cavalry.”

“Ex, maybe,” Jace agreed. “But I told you, he found me. Well, the dog did.”

She smiled at that. “Not sure what I think of that dog. He’s almost spooky, the way he seems to sense things.”

“Rafe says he still surprises them all the time. At home he patrols the neighborhood twice a day, and last month he stole the cell phone of a neighbor so she’d come after him, because she had a problem Foxworth could help her with.”

Cassidy blinked. “And just how did he know that?”

“No idea.”