Guarding Kelsey ((Books We Love Romantic Suspense)) (32 page)

“It will be an honor to be reprimanded with you partner.”
Martinez moved the vase from the
windowsill
to the bed tray.
“By the way, did you know that one red rose means
I love you
?”

“Some more of your useless trivia, or was there a point?”

“That was the point,” he said on his way out the door.

Wolf stretched the cramping from his arms.
Alone at last.
Unfortunately, his thoughts wouldn’t leave him in peace the way his colleagues had.
He couldn’t shake the look on Kelsey’s face when she left today.
So beautiful, so brave, yet so lonely.
If she had broken down in tears or begged for his love, he would have had the opportunity to explain why he wasn’t the man for her.
She asked for nothing and gave her love unconditionally.
And damn, if that didn’t make him love her even more.

Chapter
Fourteen

A cold November breeze blew through the Hudson Valley.
The trees had lost most of their foliage, leaving the landscape as grey as Kelsey’s mood.
The last few weeks had been a nightmare.
A constant barrage of interviews and questioning had filled many of early days, but the nights had been lonely and long.
Her aunt and her
cousin
wouldn’t speak to her.
Although the silence hurt, she understood. In their minds, she was
the
bad guy and they were the victims.

She had learned from the investigators that her uncle had been siphoning off rental income for properties that were supposedly empty, by delaying leases for two to three months.
Her father might never have caught on if he hadn’t been hit with a bill for repairs on a property that wasn’t suppose
d
to be occupied for another two months.
She didn’t care about the money and she wouldn’t have pressed charges against Daniel for embezzlement if he had owned up to his other crimes at his arraignment instead of trying to plead entrapment.
Her father was dead, and she couldn’t let that one go.

The constant reliving for investigator
s
and lawyers left her feeling as if she had lost her father all over again.
Only now the pain was twice as deep.
Her naive faith in family bonds had nearly cost Wolf his life.
With a bullet marked for her.
Until the moment the gun had discharged, Kelsey still hadn’t wanted to believe her uncle would hurt her.

Pulling her coat around her, she crossed the lawn and stood on the porch.
The wind whipped leaves into the air.
Winter was coming.
Thanksgiving was just around the corner, and Christmas would soon follow.
She had gone back to her class, but she couldn’t bring herself to return to the condo.
Instead she took a hotel room mid-week and returned to her
farmhouse
over the long weekend.
But even here, she couldn’t find the peace she sought.

She had stopped by Wolf’s
house
several days after he was released from the hospital, something she swore she wouldn’t do.
She had wanted to see for herself that he was all right.
He wasn’t home and she figured it was just as well.
She didn’t know what to say to him.
Sorry you spent your vacation getting shot on my account.
In the end, she cho
se the cowardly root and call
ed his partner to ask about him

Her saving gra
c
e had been her brother, Michael, who spent his weekends with her.
He was so excited to have anyone who paid attention to him that he was her devoted companion.
Knowing he needed her kept her sane.
For a suburban kid, he adapted to the rural life like a fish to water.
She watched him as he jumped from the top step of the barn and sprinted across the front lawn to the house without a care for what his shoes landed in.

“This place is so cool, Kelsey.
Do you think I could keep a horse in that barn?”

“Do you think you could keep a grade point average of 3.O?”

“If I can have the horse, I can,” he bargained.

“Then we’ll discuss it in the spring.”

“I can’t wait to move here.”

“After the holidays, Michael.”
He would have moved in today, with nothing more than the clothes on his back and been perfectly happy. “I have to finish this semester and I haven’t gotten written permission from your father yet.”

“Oh, he’ll give it.
He doesn’t want me any more than Mother.”

She rubbed her hand over his
newly spiked
haircut.
“She wants you, Michael.
I actually had to talk her into this.
But with her getting married again, well, we both know she tends to get wrapped up in her husbands.”

He cast her a dubious glance, but he smiled for the first time when talking about Elisabeth.
Time was a great healer.
For all of them, she needed to believe.

“And your boyfriend.
It won’t mess things up for you with him, will it?”

“Which of my many suitors are you referring to,” she joked.

“The cop, Kelsey.
And don’t pretend like you don’t know what I mean.”

“He’s not my
.
.”

“Whatever.
The man is carrying a major blow torch for you and one day he’s gonna realize what a doofus he is and show up here.
I don’t want to screw it up for you when that happens.”

“You figured all that out from one meeting with him?”

“He nearly blew my head off because he thought I was gonna hurt you.
If he isn’t hooked, I don’t know what he is.”

She’d spent her nights praying for Wolf to have just such a revelation, but lately, she’d given up.
He didn’t want emotional commitments in his life.
He cared for her about as much as he was capable of caring for anyone.
She wasn’t sure if she would be willing to settle for less than all of his love but she respected the fact that he wouldn’t let her try.
He wanted her to have the best.
He didn’t believe that could be him.

* * *

Wolf parked the car across the street from the
farmhouse
and removed the box that was strapped in the back seat.
A flaming red sun hung low in the western sky. Kelsey had found peace in this place.
He knew he would too.

He didn’t know how he made it th
r
ough the last few weeks.
Being shot had been easy.
Dealing with his life, had not.
He’d been temporarily removed from active duty, which had left him with too much time think.
No matter how many times he told himself that Kelsey was better off without him, he couldn’t let her go.
But he had to work through some issues first.
His visit to Marc’s family had been a start.
Wolf would miss his friend until the day he died, but he couldn’t move forward until he stopped looking back with guilt.
He needed to move on.
Marc would have wanted him to.

Now that he was ready, he hoped he wasn’t too late. Although he had wanted to call Kelsey many times, what he needed to say couldn’t be done over the phone.
As he crossed the road, he heard music coming from the barn.
He headed in that direction.

Inside, Kelsey was painting a wooden gate. From the look of things, she had more white paint on her
True Religion
jeans than the gate.
She wasn’t a country girl yet, but she sure wasn’t afraid to try.
Her strength and resiliency were inspiring.

She didn’t notice him enter above the raw voice of Mick Jagger and the Stones on the radio. Apparently, she still couldn’t
get no satisfaction
but he hoped to change that.
He crouched down in a shadowed corner and took the lid off the large box.
A ball of white fur jumped out and shook all over.
The husky/ malamute mix was as close to a real wolf as he could find without breaking the animal control laws.
The playful puppy tried to work his way into Wolf's lap.
He turned the mutt in Kelsey’s direction.
Once she was in his sight, he scampered across the barn.

The dog took a flying leap onto her foot. She dropped her
paintbrush
and let out a small gasp of fright.

“Where did you come from?” She bent down and scooped up the puppy. “You are just too cute.”

He yelped and wagged his tail enthusiastically.

She scratched the fur behind his ear and he snuggled against her chest.
Wolf was jealous.

“You like that, huh boy?”

What male in his right mind wouldn’t want to be in the dog’s place, Wolf thought.
If she would let him, that’s exactly where he planned to spend his nights.

“You must belong to someone.
What’s your name, sweet thing?”
She reached for the collar around the puppy’s neck and turned the dangling identification tag to the light. “Amadeus?
Owner, Kelsey Winston.
What’s going on
.
.
?”

She spun around, freezing when her gaze locked on Wolf.
Her eyes widened.
She cradled the puppy closer, as if she feared she might drop him.

“Hello, Kelsey.”
He wasn’t sure what kind of reception to expect but he had expected
some
kind of reaction.
She appeared to be in shock.

“What are you doing here?” she finally asked.

He crossed the distance between them in three long strides. “Delivering Amadeus.”

She glanced at the puppy squirming in her arms.
“Is he a wolf?”

“No, but close enough that I hoped he would make you think of me.
You did say you wanted a dog, didn’t you?” The animal shelter had warned him about taking a pet as a gift without the recipient’s knowledge but he figured, if Kelsey wouldn’t take them in, he would keep the pup.

“Why would you want me to think about you?
I got the feeling you wanted me to get over you.”

She wasn’t going to make this easy on him.
And why should she?
She never wanted to leave him.
“I’ve missed you.”

Her eyebrow arched in disbelief. “Is that why you didn’t call in the past three weeks?”