Safe Harbor (38 page)

Hannah, I always knew you were there for me and more importantly that you'd understand how I was feeling. Through all these years you've been the one to help lighten the load when I started feeling the pressure of being the seventh of seven. You'd tease me and make me laugh and remind me that we're all in this together… sisters forever. Did you know that your sweet smile has always been one of the brightest spots of my life? You're brave and courageous and one of the most giving people I've ever had the privilege to know. Maybe you've never realized
—
I'm sorry I've never told you before how much I've always looked up to you (in every way
—
all puns intended) and how much your mischievous ways bring me real joy and make me laugh out loud in a world that's sometimes pretty sad. You've always been there for us, being what we needed you to be, keeping the smile strong in our hearts. Now it's your turn. Please be brave and strong just for you this time. You deserve everything good and wonderful. I love you so much
.

Love,

your baby sis, Elle

Now Hannah was crying in earnest. "Elle, I love you, too. Thank you all. This was the sweetest, most thoughtful thing you could have done. I'll treasure these pages for the rest of my life." She hugged the scrapbook to her tightly.

"You're not finished," Jonas said. "I made you a page, too. This book is about things we love about you. Don't worry, I didn't put in any embarrassing pictures, because I didn't have any."

"You really made me a page?" She turned her face up to his, her heart lurching.

"Of course I did. I put a mixture of my favorite pictures up, there's one or two that really matter, but mostly there're ones with animals. I know you love dogs, even though you don't have one of your own."

"It wouldn't be fair. I'm never home long enough to spend time with a pet. Sarah's dogs love me, though."

She opened the scrapbook to Jonas's page. There was a small silence as she stared at the series of pictures of Hannah and Jeanette Harrington dressed in 1920 vintage clothes. She recalled that afternoon vividly. She'd been invited for tea and Hannah had found a closet filled with spectacular clothes. She looked at the pictures, trying to see through the tears in her eyes. She was so little with curls everywhere, wrapped in a too-long coat with a band and peacock feathers on her head. She was holding Mrs. Harrington's hand.

She blinked rapidly to clear the tears, focused on the masculine scrawl on the next page, and in spite of the lump in her throat, burst out laughing. "'Reasons Why Hannah Should Marry Jonas,'" she read the title out loud.

"I've listed them all." He pointed to the long column. "Joley made me put reasons why you shouldn't, and as you can see, there're very few and they're lame."

"Lame?" Joley echoed. She jabbed her finger at the first one. "That's reason enough. I'm next in line for the big fall and it's your duty to protect me by staying unmarried forever. And…" She glared at Jonas. "I put stars by the next one and three exclamation points."

Jonas peered over Hannah's shoulder. "She did that after I
was finished, the little sneak. I am
not
arrogant and bossy. I am charming."

Hannah choked and her sisters whooped with laughter. Joley and Elle fell over holding their stomachs. Libby tried to maintain her composure, but even she succumbed, laughing with her sisters.

"You've all lost your minds," he said with great dignity. "Not that I was ever certain you had minds in the first place." He grabbed another handful of cookies for comfort, and when Hannah doubled over laughing, he leaned down, swept her hair out of the way and attacked her neck in retaliation, leaving a very large red mark. Satisfied, he went into the kitchen looking for something more substantial to eat, leaving the women to sober up.

"JONAS! Jonas, come down here," Sarah called from just outside the door.

Jonas muttered an insulting protest loud enough for her to quit knocking. When he heard Sarah's footsteps fading down the hall, he rolled over, taking most of the covers with him, groaning as the sun hit his face through the French doors. "Baby, we're being summoned."

"You're being summoned, not me," Hannah said. "I'm still asleep." Not that she'd gotten any sleep with Jonas stroking little caresses down her spine all night.

Lying in bed beside Jonas without touching him had been a lesson in frustration. He'd certainly taken every opportunity to touch her, leaving her mood edgy and her body hypersensitive. She couldn't count how many times his hands had slid over her bottom. His pillow had somehow managed to be the exact height as her breasts, so he'd spent a great deal of time breathing warm air over her nipples, his mouth inches from her straining flesh.

In desperation, and to keep from begging, she'd turned over, keeping her back to him, and he'd immediately curled his body around hers, pressing his thick erection tightly against her butt while his hand tucked very naturally right beneath her breast. Just as she thought she might drift off, his hand would move, his knuckles skimming the underside of her breast, and a jolt of lightning would sizzle through her entire system and her muscles would clench. She had never felt so wound up, pulsing with heat and desire, in her life.

It was enough to make any woman crabby and Hannah was no saint. She lifted her head to look at him. "Go away and let me sleep." She hadn't slept for ten minutes. "You were supposed to be restful and hold the nightmares at bay."

His grin was slow and sexy. He leaned over and brushed kisses back and forth over her lips. "Then I did my job. You didn't have nightmares. Don't forget we're going to sneak out tonight. I've got to go to the office and do a little work. I'm running the tapes again of the crowd. Jackson's trying to find out if anyone's turned up missing."

"Just a regular day on the job. Find out who's trying to kill your girlfriend." She tasted the word and it felt strange.
Girlfriend
. She'd never been anyone's girlfriend. "Does that make you my boyfriend?" She laughed softly at his expression.

"I'm no boy, Hannah, I'm a
manly
man."

Her laughter bumped up a notch. "A
charming
manly man."

"Laugh away, baby." He rolled on top of her, capturing both wrists and slamming them to the mattress on either side of her head. "But I'm going to remember and take my retribution."

At his suddenly aggressive action, her heart beat triple time and her entire body sang. He had her so primed with his all-night touching that her blood was pounding in her veins and pooling low and wicked in her body. His legs nudged hers aside so that his hips fit between her thighs. He tugged at her earlobe with his teeth, licked the pulse beating in her neck and kissed the very bright strawberry mark he'd left there the night before.

She could almost see the electricity arcing between them. She certainly felt it. She stared up at his hot, seductive mouth and felt weak just looking at him. Incredibly, she could taste him and all he was doing was looking at her, his hungry gaze drifting possessively over her face. A rush of liquid heat pooled low and wicked in her body in response. When his sinful mouth settled on hers, she forgot all about body image and the reasons why she wasn't going to make love with Jonas Harrington.

She wrapped her arms around him, her lips melting under his, her hands finding his hair and dragging him closer. Flashes of fire whipped through her body, as his tongue stroked along hers with demand. Sexually, there was nothing hesitant about Jonas. He took what he wanted and he made certain she wanted it, too.

"Good morning," he murmured.

She swallowed hard, absorbing the dark lust in his voice. There was something intoxicating about the sound, rough and husky and seductive, that crawled down her spine, made her breasts ache and sent muscles, already slick and hot, clenching with need. She could barely breathe through the arousal, her inner thighs so sensitive that when he moved, she felt the walls of her most feminine core begin to pulse and ripple in response.

"Jonas, really, I'm sorry to bother you, but you have a phone call. Pick up," Sarah insisted.

He'd been so far gone he hadn't even heard the telephone ring. Still lying over her, he reached lazily for the phone. "Harrington."

"Duncan Gray, Jonas. This is a secure line. I wanted to keep you informed that Boris Tarasov tried to rescue his brother two nights ago. They knew where he was being held and when we were transferring him. In the gun battle, he was shot and is in critical condition."

"The traitor?"

"Not yet, but I'm narrowing it down."

"Thanks for the information, Duncan."

Hannah blinked up at him as he hung up the phone. "What was that all about?"

"An old case, nothing important." He trailed kisses down the side of her face to the corner of her mouth.

"Are you sure? Your worry lines are back."

"Are they? Not over that case. The perp's in custody and it has nothing to do with me anymore. I'm out of that line of work for good." And he was. For the first time he realized hearing Duncan Gray's voice hadn't made him feel guilty. Hadn't made him feel as if he needed to go out and rid the world of evil. He was a man with a woman he treasured, and being with her, making certain she was safe, his family was safe, was enough for him. He could be the sheriff and come home at night and be satisfied.

He grinned at Hannah. "I'm happy, baby, and you did that all by yourself."

Sarah thumped on the door again. "Jonas! Jackson's already here to pick you up. He says you've got some big meeting you're late for." She gave the door one more hard smack. "And I'm not coming back up here. I'm not your messenger."

Jonas sighed, brushed another kiss over Hannah's trembling lips, his teeth tugging at her intriguing lower lip. "Thanks, Sarah. I'll be right there." He pushed up into a sitting position, the muscles on his back rippling beneath his skin. "I'll be home this evening to pick you up, baby. I'll sneak you out of here and we'll have a good time. Don't think about things too much. Just rest. Libby said you need lots of rest."

Without warning he turned back to her, pushed up her tank top, exposing her soft stomach and the crisscrossing lines made by the knife, bent his head and pressed a kiss just below her belly button. His tongue felt like a velvet rasp as he traced one of the lines leading downward into the pajama bottoms riding low on her hips.

Hannah gasped, her stomach muscles bunching, and between her thighs, the damp heat sizzled and sparked, demanding satisfaction.

His smile was sheer confidence, his eyes intense with desire, his mouth touched with a dark lust. "I'll see you tonight, baby." There was seduction in his voice, a rough promise of excitement.

Hannah rolled over, taking the covers with her, hiding her head and trying to slow her breathing as his footsteps faded away. Jonas Harrington could stir up more passion in her in three seconds than any other man could take a night doing.

Hannah groaned and sat up, her body humming, her breasts too sensitive, and the ache between her legs growing stronger as she thought about him. So, okay. She might have to revise her thinking a little.