Authors: Jacquie Johnson
“Angela?” Chase nuzzled her neck and placed a wet kiss on the shell of her left ear. “You traced your dad’s steps, right? What else did he do the day he died?”
“He went to work in Boston, apparently left with Griffin, did what Griffin said, and then went to the jewelers, remember?” Angela appeared surprised by the question.
“That’s right,” Chase recalled. “You said he had your birthday present engraved?”
She nodded, as her right hand reached up and toyed with the gold heart around her neck.
“He ordered a pendant for my birthday. It’s a heart,” she replied, removing it from under her shirt. “I didn’t look at the engraving though,” she admitted as she fingered the warm pendant lovingly.
Chase nudged a section of her long curls over her shoulder as his big fingers struggled to open the clasp.
“Oh my God!”
Maddie jumped up. “Let me see the necklace!” She rushed over to Angela and dropped to her knees as she inspected the pendant. She smiled faintly as she pulled a chain out from under her red
v-neck
t-shirt. “Look, Angela! Mine’s the same.”
“Where?
How?”
Angela asked, as she examined the perfect replica of her present around
Maddie’s
neck.
“It arrived in the mail three days ago. My mail goes to the lawyer’s office, and he forwards it to me. Your dad sent it to me. He included a note. It said something about it bringing peace to my heart. I thought he was referring to…the incident…and all the changes I’ve made over the past year.” Maddie fluttered her hand as she stumbled over the reference to the attack by her husband.
“No,” Cat announced, walking toward her friends and kneeling next to Maddie. “He said, ‘May peace
be
with you, always in your heart.’”
“Holy shit!”
Griffin exclaimed. “Peace!
Pax
!”
“What!” Chase demanded, as he compared Angela and
Maddie’s
pendants.
“The - The name of the project,” Griffin stammered.
“Project
Pax
!
Pax
means peace in Latin.”
Chase rubbed his face with his hands, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. “So you think Angela and
Maddie’s
pendants have something to do with the project. Cat, how do you know what the note said?”
Cat unlatched the chain around her neck and dropped the pendant next to Maddie and Angela’s.
“Because I got one too.
It came the day before Griffin and I left for the cottage. It was why we left in the first place.” Cat paused. “I mean, Mac sends Griffin to me, dies, and I get a package from him. It just seemed odd. Then when I couldn’t reach Angela, I figured we would be safer here.”
“Shit!” Sean reached for Cat’s necklace and carefully examined it before moving on to
Maddie’s
. He glanced at Chase, his look conveying that the pendants sure looked identical to him. “Do you still have the boxes? Maybe the chips are hidden in the boxes?”
Angela stood quickly and fumbled for her purse, which she had left on the kitchen counter. “I put it in here,” she mumbled as she attempted to find the box. After a few minutes of digging, she dumped the contents on the counter in hopes of finding the box. Maddie and Cat scurried from the room, headed in different directions in order to retrieve their boxes.
Fifteen minutes later, the three women huddled on the floor next to the coffee table, their boxes in various states of disarray. They had taken the lining out of each package and removed the outer covering but hadn’t discovered any sign of the tiny computer chips.
“Damn!” Chase swore, as he inspected Angela’s box once again. For hours, the group tossed around ideas about where Mac could have hidden the chips, but they kept coming back to the pendants. Mac had sent necklaces to Maddie and Cat while knowing that Angela would receive hers around her birthday. Cat and
Maddie’s
notes referenced peace while Angela’s pendant was engraved “Be at peace, my angel.” Three chips, three necklaces and three references to peace. The pendants had to lead to the chips.
When tempers started to fray later that evening, the group scattered to the various corners of the cottage. Sean agreed to take first watch as Angela and Chase ascended the stairs to the bedroom Cat had been using. Cat moved into
Maddie’s
room with her while Griffin settled down in the small office turned bedroom behind the kitchen. Sean planned to sleep on the couch when Chase took over guard duty.
Being close to Angela all day without being alone had taken its toll on Chase who prayed the walls were thick enough to offer some privacy. As Angela led the way upstairs, he spread one hand along her back and rubbed gently, his desire to remain in constant contact with her growing over time. Angela turned and looked down at him over her shoulder, a seductive smile gracing her beautiful face.
“Like what you see?” she
teased,
her voice as soft as a caress.
“Absolutely.”
Grinning, he chased after her as she scurried up the remaining stairs and down the hall, her laughter trailing after her.
“You are so
gonna
get it, babe,” he chuckled as he closed the door.
His dark eyes blazed with fire as they caressed her body. She trembled ever so slightly as he edged closer. With tantalizing slowness, she lifted her t-shirt, revealing soft, pale skin and a lacy white bra. Keeping her eyes on his, she toyed with the front closure on her bra while offering him a sultry smile.
Chase released a low growl, his fists clenched to avoid touching her. Her eyes darkened to cobalt, her desire palpable. “Do you know what you’re asking for?” he demanded stalking toward her like a panther hunting its prey.
She reached for him, her expression conveying desire and love as she breathed, “Yes. Love me, Chase. Love me without restraint.”
His control snapped and he hauled her against his chest, his lips descending upon hers, demanding entrance. She met his demands with equal fervor, tangling her hands in his hair and using the thick locks to hold him to her. He kissed his way down her neck, leaving a pale mark where her neck and shoulder met. Angela tugged at Chase’s shirt, desperate to feel his skin against her own. Hands touched, lips tasted and tongues tangled as passion heated their blood.
Once Angela lay satiated and sleeping, Chase kissed the top of her head and ran his fingers through her riotously curly hair. Leaving her lying in bed all warm and rosy from their loving was one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. With regret, he rose from the soft bed and retrieved his clothes from the floor. As he untangled the sheets and velvety blanket, he couldn’t help but be amused by the bed’s state of disarray. Covering her naked body gently, he cast one last longing look in Angela’s direction before walking silently downstairs.
“Did you get any sleep at all?” Sean asked with a small smile. Chase’s hair stood on end and several of the buttons of his shirt appeared to be missing. “You might as well be wearing an ‘I got laid’ sign.”
“You just wish you were me,” Chase retorted smugly. “Been a long time hasn’t it, Dutch?”
“Screw you,” Sean rejoined but without any heat. Chase wasn’t surprised by the response. Sean had committed to Emily a long time ago. He just refused to admit it.
“No, thanks.
You don’t meet my requirements for sharing my bed.” Chase couldn’t help but tease his friend.
“Wasn’t too long ago that your only requirements were beauty and willingness.” Sean made the statement sound almost like a question.
Chase stared out the window, watching as the water glowed under the soft moonlight. Until Angela, women had been confined to the sexual pleasures category. Now, he wanted more than sex. “It’s different with her,” he finally admitted.
“When did you know?” Sean asked.
Chase glanced over his shoulder, surprised by the question. Instead of the contempt he had feared, he saw only genuine curiosity on Sean’s face. As Sean settled on the couch, Chase returned to staring vigilantly out the window. “It took me as long as it took you with Emily. The only difference is I’ve given up fighting what I feel for her. It might be a disaster. Hell, this might be the worst decision I’ve ever made, but I’m sure as hell going to do everything I can to keep her in my life.”
“I’m glad,” Sean acknowledged, closing his eyes and ignoring the reference to his non-relationship with Emily.
Well aware that the subject was closed, Chase slipped from the room and headed outside to check the perimeter. Surrounded by night’s peaceful sounds, Chase allowed himself to think about a future with Angela.
How will Zach feel about my relationship with her? Will he actively interfere? Will he consider limiting my out of country assignments so I can spend more time with her? Hell, for that matter, maybe he could reduce the number of undercover assignments I handle? I never thought I’d want a desk job, but I sure would be willing to try one if it meant I could go home to Angela.
Around three o’clock in the morning, Angela stirred and reached across the bed. Finding cool sheets instead of a hot, male body, she rolled over and buried her face in Chase’s pillow, inhaling his scent as she relived their earlier lovemaking. He’d been so passionate, so loving, and so instinctively male. She couldn’t hold back the wide smile and accompanying giggle as she reminisced about the way he had touched her. Gentle loving strokes led to passionate explorations. When he finally slid inside her eager body, he demanded that she open her eyes. Their eyes met and he growled “mine” before staking his claim in the most primal of ways.
Surrounded by evidence of their lovemaking, Angela’s worries and uncertainties faded away. She loved Chase and knew that he loved her too. With love and compromise, they could build a life together. It might not be a conventional one, but as long as she had Chase, it would be enough. Intuitively, she recognized Chase wouldn’t be able to share all parts of his life with her. Then again, her father obviously hadn’t shared everything with her either, and she still loved him. Life with Chase would be a risk, but she would gladly put up with not knowing things as long as he loved her, remained faithful and shared what he could.
Secrets.
She could only imagine the kind of secrets men like her father, Uncle Zach, and Chase were required to keep. Did such secrets eat away at them or did they set them aside and never think about them again? The mere word conjured up images of explosions, torture, death and destruction. As her mind wandered, picturing all kinds of fantastical secrets, an image of Mr. Jenkins, the jeweler, popped into her head. Puzzled, her brow wrinkled as she sorted through her conversations with him. What did the jeweler have to do with secrets?
Minutes later, she jolted upright in bed.
Secrets! He said Dad hid things in my jewelry!
Three necklaces, three chips.
The boxes don’t hold the key. The necklaces do!
Reaching across the bed, she flipped on the small lamp and frantically worked to unlatch the delicate clasp. Seconds turned to minutes as she struggled with trembling hands. Finally, she managed to remove the chain. Using the light from the lamp, she scrutinized the gold heart the size of a half-dollar. It glimmered in the low light, the inset diamonds sparkling as if they were winking at her.