Page 43 of Midnight Secrets

Douglas’s head jerked back in astonishment. “Good God, fu—er…there’s no question of that. Joe’s just making sure you’re safe. I know I’d make sure no one can look in on my wife, make sure she’s safe. The same for Metal and Jacko.”

“Fuck yeah,” Jacko muttered. He didn’t have Douglas’s aversion to the f-bomb in front of a lady. “No one’s getting near Lauren. Told you that.”

Douglas’s gaze sharpened as his deep rough voice softened. He took one of her hands in his. His hands were large, callused. Not a businessman’s hands. “I understand you’re one of the few to survive the Washington Massacre, Isabel. That’s more violence than anyone should have to live through in a lifetime. All Joe wants—and now that we know you, all anyone wants—is to make sure you’re safe. And while I’m at it, I want to say how sorry I am about the loss of your family.”

Isabel blinked furiously to hide the sudden spurt of tears. “Thank you,” she whispered.

Joe’s big arm around her shoulders, Metal and Jacko watching her, Douglas holding her hand gently. They were all trying to say the same thing. Somehow, through Joe, Isabel had come under the protection of some remarkable men. Douglas made that clear. He was treating her as if she were a family member, not a casual acquaintance of one of his employees.

All four men were letting her know, as clearly as possible, that they were on her side.

No one had been on her side since the Massacre.

She was a hair away from breaking down and bawling.

“Oh!” Douglas let go of her hand and dug into his coat pocket. “I almost forgot these!” He held out two slender rectangles of paper to her.

Isabel’s eyes opened wide and her heart rate kicked up a notch in her chest. “Oh my gosh! These are tickets to the concert next week by Allegra! She’s one of my favorite singers.” She checked the seat numbers. “And front row seats! How’d you score these? I called and the show is all sold-out.”

Joe snickered.

Douglas smiled, his scar pulling. “Let’s say I have connections.” He pointed a long finger at Metal and Jacko. “Four tickets for you guys are in the office. I left them with Maddie.”

They nodded. Joe bent down to Isabel’s ear. “Allegra is Douglas’s wife.”

Isabel froze. Allegra was Douglas Kowalski’swife?She was a noted singer and harpist and the fact that she was beautiful hadn’t hurt her career at all. She had a fey, Celtic beauty and played the harp beautifully and had the voice of an angel.

She glanced up at Douglas’s face. Tough, ugly, scarred. Like his body.

Allegra’s husband.

He stood, smiling slightly, while she processed this. Clearly something he’d done many times before.

He nodded at her. “Ma’am. Gents.” This with a faint smile at Joe, Metal and Jacko. “See you all at the office.” He pointed at Joe who had a big grin on his face. “Not you, soldier. You’re coming in when bones tells you you can, and not a day sooner.”

And he turned around and walked back to his SUV.

Isabel clutched the tickets happily. Allegra in concert! Joe in her bed! New friends! Life was really looking up.

* * *

Kearns broke into a beat-up pickup.He was wearing gloves and anyway he had every intention of bringing the piece of shit right back to its owner. He’d never know it was gone. All Kearns wanted to do was drive around the block. This was his third drive-by in as many hours. He’d used a different vehicle and wore a different hat each time.

It should be okay. Though nothing else was okay.

There were two men helping Joe Harris make Isabel Delvaux’s house secure and they were doing a good job of it.

Kearns drove as slowly as he dared and on each drive-by he was alarmed at what he was seeing. Motion sensors, all around her house and Harris’s. Spotlights. Keypads at the door. Some kind of film on the windowpanes that made them opaque.

Fuck. How the hell was he supposed to know if she was even home?

And if Joe Harris was a former SEAL, chances were the other two guys were, too. Kearns remembered the Special Forces fucks who waltzed in and out of bases. They didn’t salute and they dressed as civilians and they carried whatever the fuck they wanted as firepower.

And they stuck together.

So now Kearns was dealing not with one isolated and weak chick he could jerk off to. He was dealing with a chick who was fucking surrounded by SEALs and whose house was now a fortress.

How the hell was he going to tell Blake that? Blake wanted weekly reports and Kearns could fake it but it was dangerous. There was no question now of sneaking into her backyard in the evening and watching her. He couldn’t do too many drive-bys because there were now four vidcams on the front of the house and at least one of them would cover the street.

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