A Marshal's Promise Read online

  “The principal insisted they would have plenty of security today. She also warned us about coddling Tessa, remember? That it would make her afraid to go to school.”

  He shoveled a spoonful of cereal into his mouth, scowling while he chewed and swallowed. “Coddling. Yes, I believe that was the term she used. But I don’t feel like trying to keep a child safe should be called ‘coddling.’ And I’m not sure I agree with her comparison to getting back on a bike after she falls off and skins her knee. But I’ve never had a child. So it’s your call.” He took another bite.

  Hadn’t they hashed this over yesterday? Second thoughts assailed her, but she pushed them to the back of her mind. “Gunner. The principal wants to make sure Tessa doesn’t scare herself into not going to school. School is considered a safe place. She wants her to feel protected there.”

  He continued munching on cereal, his rump resting against the kitchen counter. He swallowed, nodded. “Okay. We’ll take Tessa to school and make sure she gets in her classroom. We’ll go back to escort her to lunch. Then we’ll pick her up from her classroom right before school lets out.”

  “We?”

  His dark eyebrows hiked over the rim of the mug. “Well, yeah. I can’t protect you if you’re not with me.”

  She mashed a hand through her hair then rested a fist against her hip. “Gunner, I thought we agreed on this.”

  “We do agree on this, don’t we? You both need my protection. I can’t protect just Tessa and leave you wide open for—”

  “I trust you to see Tessa securely into her classroom while I stay here and work on this audit report. The sooner I get it done—”

  Gunner placed the cereal bowl on the counter, turned and grasped her upper arms with gentle hands. “Sweetheart. I know you want to get this report done. But not at the expense of your safety. I want you to come with me. At least for a few days, until we feel comfortable that this guy isn’t still following you.” His firm voice brooked no arguments from her. Not that she wanted to argue when he put it like that.

  What she really wanted to do was snake her arms around his neck and melt into his lingering kiss. Or, a repeat of the tender hug he’d given her a few minutes ago.

  Okay. She’d go with them today. Introduce Gunner to Tessa’s teacher. Make sure Ms. Turner understood the importance of paying attention to any strange men lurking about the property.

  Gunner spelled trouble. He could make her do things she didn’t want to do just by looking at her with those expressive eyes. She had to escape the small confines of this kitchen. “I need to go check on Tessa. Then we’ll take her to school.” But only today.

  ****

  Gunner felt sure this churning in the deep part of his stomach was no match for the first day Mina dropped Tessa off at school. “See you at lunch, sweetheart.”

  “This is way cool. Is it okay if Katie sits with us? What are you bringing to eat? How about chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce?” The questions spilled out of Tessa’s mouth non-stop. Her head zipped between him and Mina as if searching for answers.

  Gunner laughed. “Yes, sweetheart, Katie can sit with us. I’ll feel like a king dining with three beautiful ladies. And yes, we’ll bring chicken nuggets with honey mustard sauce. We’ll even get extra for Katie. Now, go get settled before your teacher gets upset.” Gunner caught Ms. Turner’s anxious glance at them as the teacher waited by the door. He ruffled Tessa’s hair. “Remember the rule? Have somebody with you at all times.”

  “Got it, Gunner. You two behave today.” Tessa tossed her head like a diva and sat down in her seat.

  Willow bent and kissed her daughter on the cheek. Tessa grimaced and rolled her eyes toward the ceiling. Gunner chuckled. Too old for public displays of affection, apparently.

  With a hand to her back, Gunner guided Mina toward the door, stopping to speak with Ms. Turner. He shook the teacher’s hand again. “She’s a live wire today. Probably excited to have her mom back.”

  Ms. Turner smiled at Mina. “I’m glad you brought her to school today. We’ll make sure nothing happens. She’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

  “I’m not worried. The principal said there would be extra security around today after what happened yesterday. And Gunner and I will be back at lunchtime and before school gets out.” Mina thanked the teacher, and they left the room.

  As they made their way to the parking lot, Gunner stole a sideways glance at her. Noticed the deep furrows in her forehead, the tight line of her lips. She said one thing, but her heart said something entirely different. She was worried.

  “Want to grab something at the drive-thru coffee shop the next block over? Then we can cruise by and check for ourselves that nobody’s staking out the place,” he offered.

  Relief lightened her face, and she graced him with one of her fabulous smiles. “Yeah. A cup of hot tea sounds great. Thanks.”

  Gunner whipped into the drive-thru line and ordered a medium coffee for him and a green tea for Mina. He paid for their drinks and headed back toward the school.

  Mina sighed and sent him a weak smile. “Thanks, Gunner, for humoring me. I guess I am a little worried.”

  “No problem. I’d be worried too.” If Tessa were actually his daughter, they wouldn’t have left her at school today. Mina wouldn’t have won the last word on that discussion.

  After a loop around the school, nothing appeared much different from ten minutes ago. He pulled into a parking spot near the office and let the engine idle while he studied the cars nearby. A black car parked at the curb outside the school zone snagged his attention. His gaze swiveled casually to glance at the side mirror.

  A person in the driver’s seat. But a newspaper covered the face.

  Gunner backed the car out of the spot and eased forward.

  Mina sipped from the cup. “Everything looks okay. Let’s go back to Regi’s apartment. I need to—”

  As he neared, the car peeled away from the curb, squealing tires and burning rubber.

  “Whoa! Where do you think that guy’s—”

  “Hang on, Mina.” Gunner mashed the accelerator to the floor and sped after the black car. “This could be our guy.”

  “Gunner!”

  Mina’s weak voice filtered through his heightened gotta-get-this-guy mentality. He stole a glance sideways while he maneuvered a turn, sliding sideways on the pavement. Two hands covered her face, wide eyes peering from between her fingers.

  What was he thinking? How could he have forgotten? He glanced at the speedometer. Fifty miles an hour. Too fast for a neighborhood with hundreds of houses, plenty of pre-school-age children playing, and moms with strollers. Too fast for someone so precious inside his own car.

  He lifted his foot from the accelerator but kept his gaze on the car gaining distance between them. “Mina, write this number down, please.”

  Her hands trembled as she fumbled with her purse and pulled out a pen. She picked up the cup she’d stashed in the cup holder and poised to write on it. “Go ahead.”

  He read the mixture of numbers and letters out loud. “Out-of-state tag. I didn’t catch which one.” He mashed the brake, the car far enough away now that he couldn’t read anything else.

  Mina finished writing the number on the paper cup and looked at him, tears threatening to spill down her cheeks. “Arizona.”

  The quiet stillness to her voice made him want to stop the car and pull her into his arms, but he didn’t think she would appreciate that right now. “Arizona? Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I recognized it. One of Tessa’s favorite road games. Guessing states on license plates before we can actually read them.”

  He drove back to the school parking lot and killed the motor. He lowered his head and said a quick prayer then reached for her small hand and covered it with his. “I’m sorry, Mina.”

  She swallowed and stared out the passenger window.

  “I’m sorry for resurrecting painful memories.”

  She nodded, stiff and statue-like. �
��It’s okay, Gunner.”

  “No, it’s not. I want you to feel safe and protected in my presence. Not frightened or anxious that your life is in danger.”

  She rolled her eyes, an unspoken message in the action.

  He had frightened her. “I care about you, sweetheart. I don’t want to be the painful reminder of your mother and brother’s accident. I don’t want you to look at me and see pain and grief. Or abandonment.” Oh, God. Hadn’t he already been responsible for all of the above, including abandonment? That’s probably what his break-up looked and felt like to Mina. He gripped the door handle, poised to slither out of the car. He was one major heel.

  “Gunner, you are nothing like the police officer who killed my mom and brother. I didn’t know all the details ten years ago. I didn’t want to know. But I know now.”

  He released his death grip on the door handle, and his body went rigid, the air trapped in his chest. He studied her face, searching for the truth. Had she forgiven him? Had she wiped the slate clean for the entire law enforcement population? That would be nothing short of miraculous. She’d harbored this grudge in her heart since she was fourteen, the day her mother and brother died at the hands of an overzealous police officer.

  “The guy was an adrenaline junkie. He shouldn’t have chased the kid.” Her words came out soft, healing.

  Gunner nodded and waited for her to continue. He needed to hear what she had on her heart, and she needed to get it off her chest.

  “You’re not a man who gets his thrills living on the edge. Or one who delights in wielding control or exercising power over people. Your job, your whole career, has been about protecting people. About keeping people safe.” She tugged a curl and turned her face toward the passenger window. “Somehow, the guy who killed my mother and brother, and scarred my family for life, lost sight of that. But you’re not that person, Gunner, and I would never blame you for their deaths.”

  Her healing words settled in his stomach like a mug of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night. Peace settled over him. God had a plan for him and Mina. He knew it. “No, I can’t say that I do this job for thrills, especially when I’ve been holed up in a safe house for days on end. I don’t like living on the edge any more than the next person. But I won’t stand by and let some crazy criminal do anything to hurt you or Tessa. You have my word on that.”

  “I know.” She faced forward but kept her head lowered, eyes squeezed shut.

  With one hand caressing the back of her neck, the other cradling her chin, he forced her head up, waiting until she opened her eyes.

  “Do you forgive me?” For driving too fast? For walking out on us ten years ago?

  He stroked her hair, letting it glide through his fingers, loving the silky texture and the playful curls. His pulse hammered in his ears while he waited for her answer.

  “Yes.”

  He ached to kiss her, but he wouldn’t. Not after he told her that she could set the pace. He didn’t want to rush her. Would she protest at a hug? He tugged her close and wrapped both arms around her, savoring her sweetness. Satisfied that her heart beat just as fast as his, he nestled his face against her hair and looked out the front window.

  A uniform exited the school office. “There’s the sheriff we spoke with this morning. I want to give him the tag number. Do you want to wait in the car?”

  “Yeah. If you don’t mind.” She pulled back, and he released her. Reluctantly.

  He grabbed the cup with the tag number and opened the door. “Be right back.”

  He caught up to the sheriff’s deputy, shook his hand, and reintroduced himself, keeping himself in line of vision with their rental car. And Mina. “We just spotted a black car hanging out here at the curb. Here’s the license tag number. Can you run it?”

  “Sure. You saw the car just now?”

  “Yeah, just a few minutes ago. We followed him a ways, but he was speeding through residential neighborhoods. Thought I’d come back and give you the info before anybody got hurt.”

  The deputy nodded and relayed the tag number into his radio. “I’ll take my patrol car around for a look and give you a call if we find anything.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  Gunner headed back to the car. Mina’s elbow rested against the windowsill, her head hanging in defeat. She looked scared and tired. She needed a break from this.

  He hopped into the car and cranked the engine. “Let’s get that report started. Maybe you can be done by Friday afternoon.”

  “What happens Friday?”

  “I thought we could pick up Tessa and her friend Katie from school, then grab some pizza and a video. Pop some popcorn. Hang out. Relax. Then catch a flight back to Raleigh on Saturday. All of us, including Regi. For Thanksgiving week.”

  Mina reached over and planted a big smacker on his cheek. He grinned like a teenager and headed back toward Regi’s place.

  He linked her fingers through his, lifted them to seal a kiss on her hand. Elation burst through him like fireworks on the Fourth of July. “Does this mean what I think it means? Will you welcome my kisses, Mina?”

  He watched the redness crawl up her neck and into her cheeks. She tried to tug her fingers free, but he held on and chuckled, liking the feel of her small hand in his entirely too much.

  13

  “It’s finished, Gunner.” Willow SAVED the files then pulled the flash drive from the laptop and began collecting the paperwork sprawled all over Regi’s dining table. “Now Regi can eat at her table again.”

  Gunner looked up from his tablet and grinned. “I don’t think you’ve heard Regi complain about not eating at the table. Or me, or Tessa.” He stood behind her chair and kneaded the muscles in her neck and back. “Maybe now you’ll be able to relax a little.”

  Willow swiveled her head to different positions, hoping his hands would work some magic on the kinks. “Ohhh, that feels wonderful. Thank you.” But a glance at her watch got her to her feet. Immediately she regretted leaving the warmth and comfort of his strong hands. “Do we have time to drop this off at my office before we head over to pick up Tessa after school?”

  “Sure. The sooner we get this—”

  Willow giggled and swatted him on the arm. “Okay, buddy. I get it. I know I’ve said that a hundred times this week.”

  “I think you’ve said it a gazillion times, but who’s counting? I’m just glad it’s done and you can put this audit behind you. Maybe land our guy Malcolm with some hard time. Teach him a lesson for trying to mess with my girls.”

  Is that how he looked at her and Tessa? As his girls? A warm feeling settled in her heart. All week his kindness toward her and Tessa had chipped away at the brick wall she’d built up around her heart against men in general, Gunner in particular. Even Regi had commented on it.

  But this was his job. Protecting people. He did it every day. Maybe his tenderness encompassed everyone he protected.

  “I’m glad my boss approved me working from home.” She rolled her eyes, forgetting for a second that this wasn’t actually her home. “Well, Regi’s place is like our second home.”

  “It was pretty good of him to allow you to take some time off while the cops try to catch this guy.”

  “Yeah. He’s not usually that easy-going. I think he felt bad about everything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He knows I don’t like to work out of town. Patti, the original CPA who was supposed to do this audit, caught the flu. I was just a fill-in. Usually he’s breathing down my neck to get the report issued.”

  “Ah. The old guilty conscience?”

  “Yeah. Looks that way.” She loaded the notebooks onto a rolling cart and slipped her computer case on top. After strapping everything tight, she asked, “Ready?”

  “Yeah. Let’s go.” He took the cart from her and wheeled it to the door, where he grabbed the suitcase she’d left there. “Did you tell Regi we’re staying at your condo tonight?”

  “Yes. She’s going to me
et us there. She’ll be late, so she said to be sure to tell you that she’ll take the couch.”

  Gunner flashed a lopsided grin, showing off the deep cleft in his chin. “Nah. I’ll feel more comfortable if I sleep downstairs on the couch. Maybe I can practice on those video games Tessa’s been ranting about.”

  “She’s very competitive. Don’t think she’ll spare you any mercy because you’ve never played.”

  “So I’ll practice while she’s sleeping. Can’t let a nine-year-old beat me every time. She’ll think she’s got me wrapped around her little finger.”

  “Like she doesn’t?” Willow scoffed.

  The man spoiled her daughter. He drove out of the way to fulfill Tessa’s special lunch requests. Every evening, they huddled, head to head, at the kitchen bar as he helped Tessa with homework. For nighttime snacks, he created the most wonderful hot fudge sundaes. At bedtime, he lounged against Tessa’s headboard, his arm curled around her daughter, while they read books. Then, he knelt next to the bed and prayed before he tucked her under the covers.

  Oh yeah. He was wrapped tight. Like a knot.

  He chuckled, then his smile faded, and his eyes grew serious. He cupped a free palm on her cheek, and all the resolve to keep him at arm’s length melted with his touch. “If I could have handpicked a daughter from the entire lot of kids in this world, I’d have picked Tessa. And not just because she belongs to you. Because she’s an extension of you. Part of who you are.”

  Her lungs stopped working. Her heart burst like the first day of spring, when the sun sparkled after days of gloomy skies, and the trees reached their arms to the sky, blossoms itching to explode.

  Her daughter might have Gunner wrapped, but the man totally and completely owned her heart.

  ****

  Willow rolled over on her side for the hundredth time since climbing into bed and glared at her bedside clock.

  Wide awake at one a.m. The stash of chocolate-covered peanuts called her name.

  Willow pulled off the covers and slipped from the bed, careful not to wake Tessa and Katie sprawled out on a heavy comforter on the floor. Smiling at the sight of two sets of feet hanging out uncovered, she reached down and adjusted the blanket, tucking it closer around their legs. They were both growing so tall. So fast.