Guarded (14 page)

As if she’d read his mind, she said, “I think some of us, human, canine, feline or other, know when our time is coming. My first mother did, but she fought it every step of the way. My second mom and dad had no idea. Just one wrong skid on the ice, and they were gone. No chance to wonder or worry.”

A car horn blared. Dev glanced up to see the light switch from yellow to red. He’d been so caught up in Shelley’s words that he’d sat right through a green light.

Shelley used the opportunity to make a joke. “So tell me, Officer, would you issue a ticket for something like this?”

The light turned green again and Dev joked, “My jurisdiction, but not my department.”

*   *   *

S
HEL
LEY WAS GAWKING.
There was simply no other way to describe her behavior. Her jaw was slack and her eyes were so wide they watered. Still, she couldn’t help herself.

She sat in the car staring up at the palatial house Dev had dubbed
the cottage
. The house had to be four thousand square feet. It sat right on the beach in the highly prized section of Tidewater named Ocean Front.

The house’s white siding seemed to glow against the cerulean sky behind it. The grass was vivid green and perfectly trimmed. Not even a dandelion dared to impugn the front lawn. Purple, red, pink, white, and yellow pansies lined the cement walkway like hundreds of little guardians with their faces pointed to the sky. The neat rows of flowers led all the way to the sedate gray front door. It stood solid, flanked by matching arched picture windows. There were no curtains on them, yet she couldn’t see inside.

“This is a cottage?” Shelley asked when Dev opened her car door.

Dev rubbed a thumb along the corner of his lip, then shrugged. “It’s the name the house came with when I bought it from old man Mansbach last year.”

He’d started to open the door to the back seat but paused. “I did say I had a cottage. I assumed you’d use one of my guest rooms. If you’d rather stay at a hotel, I can rent you a room at the Cavalier—”

“No, I don’t mind staying with you,” she cut him off, then flushed at her own words. “I-I mean, the guest room would be great. But you said rooms, how many guest rooms do you have?”

“Three.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “My cousins Ryan and Ian stayed here for a while to save money when they first opened their business. But now they’ve got a place across town. Be grateful, Ian’s a slob.”

Dev grinned, reaching to grab her suitcase from the floor, at which point Lucy’s cage shook. He hopped back as if the cage might launch at him, or she might chew through the bars or do something equally terrifying, like bursting into song with a top hat and cane like the frog from the old cartoons.

“Sorry, let me get Lucy.” Shelley sidled past him and caught a whiff of his Irish Spring soap scent. Her skin tingled at the near contact. She tried to cover her hormonal reaction by saying, “She’s really very loving.”

“Loving? Her?” His eyebrows rose and he glanced nervously into the back seat. “Tell you what, Shells, I’ll carry your suitcase inside. You carry the man-eater.”

“She’s not a man-eater.” Shelley laughed, collecting Lucy’s cage.

“My crotchless jeans beg to differ. She tried to bite off a part of my anatomy I’m rather fond of.”

She couldn’t help it. She knew she shouldn’t have done it, but . . .

Shelley’s gaze zeroed in on Dev’s groin, which definitely wasn’t crotchless. Dang it.

“You know if I did that to your breasts, you’d slap me.”

Don’t be so sure.

Clutching Lucy’s cage tighter to her body, Shelley hoped her flaming cheeks were sexy rather than silly and said in her best femme fatale voice, “It’s not like you can see anything through this cage, anyway. So look at the girls all you want.”

Dev’s eyes widened and sure enough, his gaze dropped below her chin then zipped back up again. His cheeks darkened.

Score one for me
.

Emboldened, Shelley headed to the front door, calling out, “Come on, Dev. I want the grand tour.”

*   *   *

D
EV’S HEART AND
cock were going to explode before the day ended. Sweet Shelley Morgan was openly flirting with him. And, oh holy God, he hoped she was serious. Because it was too cruel to consider the alternative.

He unlocked the door and led her inside. She sucked in a breath and swept her gaze through his house. The slate foyer opened to a long hallway that ended in sliding glass doors overlooking the Atlantic. He hadn’t changed it much since he bought the place. The house was still decorated in East Coast shoreline decor with chair-rail-high beadboard walls painted Nantucket white butting up to the blue walls. He couldn’t even claim the Stickley furnishings. They’d been left by the former owner.

The one thing Dev had changed was the kitchen. All the appliances were high-end, matching brushed steel. The linoleum countertops had been replaced with dark blue granite. The cottage fit him. It was a man’s house. While there was no leather furniture, everything was sturdy but classy. Definitely not filled with the lacy curtains and shabby-chic stuff his mother used in her home.

“Oh my,” Shelley said, taking two tentative steps down the hall. She stopped next to the cherrywood staircase leading up to the second floor. Her eyes sparkled. The morning sunlight filtering down the hallway caught the red in her hair, giving her an ethereal glow. Like a goddess come to earth. “This place is absolutely incredible.”

No, she was the incredible one. It was a house. But he couldn’t quite stifle the pride filling his chest at her approval. “Come on, I’ll show you around upstairs. Wait till you see the view from your room.” The next to his with the adjoining balcony.

Shelley’s eyes lit up and she nodded. “Lead the way.”

At the top of the stairs was another picture window. Shelley
ooh
ed when she glanced through it. “I see a pod of porpoises swimming offshore.”

The sunlight glinting on the water was occasionally dulled by small, blunt dorsal fins cutting through the surface. Then the heads of the porpoises would pop up for air before diving down again, continuing their morning swim. “Yeah, I usually see them playing early in the morning when I go for my run on the beach. This place is so private, we can see them all year long, even during high tourist season.”

Shelley hefted Lucy’s cage higher, either to show the animal the view or because the plastic traveler was getting too heavy to hold. Figuring it was the latter, Dev opened the door to his right and set her suitcase just inside.

“This is your room. Why don’t you bring Lucy in here?” Dev frowned into the darkened room. “Sorry, the maid closed the curtains for some reason.” Dev hurried to draw back the heavy black-out curtains.

“You have a maid?” Shelley asked, then gasped as sunlight poured into the room, highlighting the peach-painted and white beadboard walls. Her mouth gaping, she glanced around. The guest room was laid out similar to his, all Mission-style furniture like downstairs. A queen-size bed faced the wall opposite the door; a dresser and mirror were placed on the opposite wall from the window. And there was a door leading to a walk-in closet between the bed and that wall. But this room had his mother’s feminine touch. She’d told him when she came to visit, she wanted a room that didn’t feel like an antique version of a bachelor pad. Dried roses, lattice, and baby’s breath filled a carnival-glass vase on the dresser. The duvet on the bed had been tatted by his great-great-grandmother.

Shelly ran a hand lightly over the bedspread. “Whoa, this is amazing.”

Choosing to avoid the maid topic as long as possible, Dev slipped Lucy’s cage from Shelley’s hands and set it on the ground. “Your bathroom can be accessed through your walk-in closet. Step inside and there’s a door to your right. The previous owners added it decades ago. The bath is shared with Ryan’s room on the other side. But, like I said, he doesn’t stay here often.”

“Is it okay if I let Lucy out? She’s not used to being pent up for this long.”

“So long as she keeps her teeth off my body, sure.”

Shelley, her eyebrows lifted, slipped past him to squat before Lucy’s cage. The scent of vanilla and sugar lingered, making his heart race. She whispered to her pet, but Dev heard her anyway. “Don’t chew anything, please. Or I’ll have to keep you in here until we go home.” Shelley straightened, then wrapped Lucy around the back of her neck like a live fur stole. “How often does the maid come? I don’t want to freak her out with Lucy.”

“The maid won’t be here again till next week. So don’t worry.”

Shelley grinned, a glint of mischief in her eyes. “Too busy solving cases, or still as lazy as you were in college?”

“Ha. Very ha.” Dev tried not to smile, but one glimpse of the twinkle in her eyes, and he couldn’t help himself. “This is why I didn’t want to mention the maid. I knew you’d start in on me. I hired her when Ian still lived here. Back then, she was here every week. Now she comes once a month. Some weeks on the force, I work seven days straight. The last thing I have the energy to do when I get home is wash windows.”

There, he managed not to sound like some hapless bachelor incapable of cleaning his own house.

“Oh, so you’re still lazy.” She laughed at the scowl on his face, then raised her hands in mock surrender. “Just kidding. If I lived in a place this big, I’d definitely hire a maid. And she’d come way more often than once a month. Although, if I had a house like this one with a view like yours, I might never leave it. So I probably wouldn’t need a maid. I’d find excuses to spend all day here. I can’t get over the view.”

He watched, silent, unsure what to say. The thought of her living here didn’t set off internal panic bells that normally sounded when a woman eyed his home. He rather liked the idea.

Too soon. Don’t rush.

Shelley pulled her laptop out of her suitcase, set it on the dresser, and fired it up.

“I know you said with the sheriff involved you can’t do much, but I feel much better knowing you’re looking into the mystery personally.” When he didn’t answer her, she laughed and patted him on the arm. “Come on, Monk. I was only kidding about the maid. I thought we were on a schedule. I’ve got a lot to show you, so let’s get started.”

Dev didn’t know why he grinned. “Did you just call me Monk?”

“Yeah. I haven’t thought of your nickname in years.” She laughed. “Don’t people call you that anymore?”

“God, no.” If Seth heard her call him Monk, it would be hours, possibly even minutes, before every cop in the station jumped on the Monk wagon. He had a hard enough time with everyone at the station calling him
kid.

Dev really needed a cup of coffee before he started on these files. “Hey, Shells? I’m hungry. Why don’t we move this downstairs to the kitchen. Bedrooms are meant for more intimate entertainment.” He’d spouted his cousin Ian’s favorite phrase, then felt his cheeks go hot.

Her reaction was instantaneous. She glanced at the bed and blushed. Right, he was in the bedroom with her. Mentioning intimate entertainment that, okay, yes . . . he’d
really
like to have with her. The room went stifling.

“Oh. No, no. When I said intimate entertainment, I didn’t mean to imply that you and I should . . . God! Let’s just go to the kitchen.”

Shelley, who’d been smiling, albeit nervously, began to frown. Her cheeks reddened, and she whistled. “Wow, when I get my signals wrong, I really get them wrong. Why don’t you go downstairs? I need a minute to, you know, salvage my pride.”

She handed him her laptop. It buzzed softly in his hands.

The very hands that itched to toss it to the floor and bury themselves in Shelley’s hair as he kissed her like he had last night. He’d have done it too, except at that moment Lucy lifted her head and bared her teeth in silent warning.

So he took the laptop and headed toward the door. Just before pulling it closed, he glanced back. Shelley rubbed her cheeks with her hands as if trying to scrub away the splotches of red there. She looked so damned adorable. And vulnerable. Before he could think better of it, he said, “When I said I didn’t mean to imply that we should, it didn’t mean I don’t want you. I do. Willing and eager. So you didn’t entirely misinterpret the signals.”

And shut the door behind him.

*   *   *

T
HE DOOR CLOSED
with a snick and Shelley blinked. Her heart raced like a cat overdosing on catnip.

You didn’t entirely misinterpret the signals.
She shivered, recalling his words.

Lucy, who’d been on her shoulder, shifted. Her tiny claws dug through Shelley’s long-sleeve blouse. Unlooping the ferret from around her neck, Shelley said, “You, my friend, need to stay up here. I’ll give you food and water. But I need a little time to think.”

Settling Lucy back into her crate, Shelley filled the food dish and refilled the water bottle. All the while, thinking. Dev had come to Elkridge to help her out. And to tell her about Jules. In a day or two, Shelley would be back in Elkridge and Dev wouldn’t. Every bit of help he’d give her on the case would happen here. And if she wanted to explore their apparent mutual attraction, it would happen here too.

Shelley caught her reflection in the mirror. The headache was mostly gone, but there were still the telltale smudges beneath her eyes. She couldn’t do anything about those, but she could fix her hair. She fluffed her curls with her fingers, and put any thoughts of Dev’s signals out of her mind.

She had a mystery to solve and tigers to find. She ignored the niggling doubt that was whispering she might never be able to locate the missing ones. She had to find them. She had to. She needed Dev to help her piece together the seemingly incongruent clues of what was happening to the missing animals.

The rest she’d worry about later.

Shelley grabbed the thumb drive out of her overnight bag, squared her shoulders, and opened the door. She found Dev on the first floor deck, speaking quietly into a cell phone. Not wanting to disturb him, she headed to the kitchen. He’d left her computer on the counter that doubled as a bar. She plugged the flash drive into the laptop and searched for the zoo files. And blinked in confusion.