Judith had stayed across the room from him most of the time, but he could see her need to be held and comforted even if she didn’t know it. He couldn’t go to her with another man’s blood all over him and he was very grateful for the small shower stall someone had installed some years earlier. It didn’t work the best, with low water pressure and the water scalding hot one moment and then icy cold the next, but with a little time he learned the trick of it.
He looked in the mirror. Damn. He was tired and it showed in his face. For the first time he allowed elation to sweep through him. Petr Ivanov was dead. He could never be a threat to Lev again. Or to Stefan and his relationship with Judith. He only had one more complication to get rid of and his life was his own. He had to find the microchip and get it home to Russia where it belonged.
But first, before anything else, he had to hold his woman close and see for himself that she was all right. Barefoot, he walked out of the back room and right up to her, uncaring what any of them thought. He pulled her close to him, fitting her snugly against his body, his fingers gripping her hips to guide her into him. His arms slid around her back, his body protective, hard and very much in control.
Judith melted into him, sagging against him as if in relief. She turned her face up to his, dark gaze moving over him. He bent his head and took her mouth, his lips moving over hers, shaping hers, teeth tugging at her lower lip. His tongue swept inside, and he kissed her as if his very survival depended on her—and for him, it did.
He pulled back enough to rest his forehead against hers, his hand bunched at the nape of her hair. “I might have to wrap you in cotton and put you in a safe,” he whispered.
“I was thinking the same thing about you,” she said, her hands sliding to the back of his neck while she lifted her face for another kiss.
Stefan took his time, before he turned to the others, sliding his arm around Judith to keep her close. “Frank, I’m definitely interested in purchasing the gallery. Give me a little time to look at the books to make you a decent offer.”
Inez beamed at him. She shot a quick, pleased look at Frank. “Judith knows the inventory better than anyone else and what the real value is, but we’re both happy to help you in any way possible.”
“You’re planning on settling here permanently then,” Blythe said.
Stefan couldn’t tell whether she was pleased or not. Blythe was very reserved around him. “Very permanently,” he announced firmly. “I’ve asked Judith to marry me and she’s said yes.”
Judith’s hand tried to slip from his, but he held it tight. “You didn’t exactly ask me.”
“Do you need me to go down on my knees? Because, for you, I could manage it.”
Judith blushed. He’d been down on his knees in her kaleidoscope studio and there was no way to forget it. “No.” Her eyes went wide. “Thomas, I have to get back to my painting studio immediately. Otherwise all this artwork will be ruined.”
“The paintings are insured,” Inez said soothingly. “It’s such a terrible desecration of your work, Judith, but if you’re worried about Frank and me, that’s the one thing we made certain of—that we kept up the insurance.”
“I don’t understand,” Blythe said. “What happened?”
“Someone broke in and vandalized the gallery,” Frank explained. “They took all of Judith’s artwork out of the frames and off the stretcher bars.”
“I have to put them back on or the paint will be ruined,” Judith said.
“Are you really going to marry Mr. Vincent? Because if you are, I’m calling him Thomas,” Inez said.
“She’s going to marry me,” Stefan said. “She’s just being difficult because I haven’t found the perfect ring yet.” He carried Judith’s left hand to his mouth, his thumb pressing into the center over his mark on her.
“I don’t care about the ring,” Judith said. “It’s just that you’ve swept me off my feet so fast I haven’t had time to think.”
“Always the best way with a woman, right Frank?” Stefan looked for help.
Frank reached over and took Inez’s hand. “I’ll have to agree with that. It took me quite a few years to reach the point where I realized if I was going to get my chance with this woman, I was going to have to just take it.”
Inez blushed. “Silly man.” But she sounded pleased.
“I’ll get Judith home so she can work on these paintings,” Stefan said. His hand slid down her spine to rest on the curve of her hip a bit possessively.
“I don’t know how you’re going to get to your car without everyone mobbing you,” Blythe said. “Give me your car keys and I’ll bring it around for you.”
When he’d stripped off his clothes, he’d tossed his wallet and car keys on the desk. He kissed Judith’s hand and moved around the counter to the other side of the desk. His wallet was in plain sight, but the keys had fallen between a stack of papers and a book. He reached for them, his gaze running a quick scan of the desk. It didn’t seem right to him. He’d looked at the books with Judith a few nights earlier, but when they’d left, everything had been stacked neatly. None of the officers had come around behind the counter.
“Frank, did you or Inez touch anything on this desk today?”
Frank shook his head. “When we came in and saw the paintings, we checked all the inventory after we called Jonas, and the safe, but we didn’t have money here and there isn’t anything of value in the desk. I just glanced at it.”
“Someone’s gone through the papers since I was here the other night.”
“Are you certain?” Judith asked, coming up behind him. She wrapped an arm around his waist and peered over his shoulder.
“Yes.” He pushed her hand away when she reached for a paper. “Let me. After what happened earlier, I’m not taking any chances with you.”
Using the end of a pencil, he pushed the papers around, separating each one. In the middle of the pile of invoices was a single photograph. Judith and Stefan were locking the door of the art gallery, Stefan’s body only inches from Judith’s, looking every inch possessive.
Across the picture was a single line written with a black fine-point marker.
Who is he, Judith?
Stefan felt her shock. Her body stiffened, fingers curling hard into his shoulder, nails biting deep.
Oh God, Thomas, it’s him. I know it’s him.
Her voice trembled and stark images of her brother’s death pushed into his mind. At once the room filled with overwhelming sadness and sheer terror. Judith had gone pale, but Frank and Inez actually staggered, reaching out for chairs.
Easy angel. Take a breath.
Focusing and breathing through that sudden violent storm of emotion was difficult.
He palmed the photograph and casually turned, pulling her into his arms and sliding the picture into his pocket with practiced smoothness.
Jean-Claude’s in France. In prison. Who could have done this? He can’t be here—can he?
Judith pressed her face tighter against his shoulder.
It’s him. I know it is. I can feel him.
“What is it?” Frank asked, pressing a trembling hand over his heart.
Angel, I’m here. This man is nothing. He can’t hurt you or anyone else you love, not with me standing in his way.
Stefan had to find a way to calm her down before the art gallery filled with such dark horror that the elderly couple had heart attacks.
“I don’t think it’s anything, Frank,” he assured as he tightened his hold on Judith, his arms a steel cage, his body fiercely protective. “The vandal most likely leafed through things on the desk looking for something of value. He didn’t know artwork or he would have taken your most valuable pieces.”
He could feel Judith desperately trying to regain control. Jean-Claude was a monster from her past and he’d grown into such a demon over the last five years he wasn’t certain Judith could get a realistic perspective on him.
“Judith.” Blythe’s voice was pitched very calm, cutting through the thick sorrow and horror. “There’s nothing we can’t face together. We’re stronger than our pasts. All of us. Thomas is here with you and so is Levi. Whatever you’re afraid of, you aren’t alone this time.”
Stefan felt his warning radar rise. Blythe. The mystery woman. She was far more than she appeared. It took control and power to push through the surge of emotional energy Judith was throwing off. Her emotion had amplified even more as Frank and Inez reacted. He felt power coming at him in waves, battering him, like the sea, continually and without mercy pounding away at his emotions. He managed to stay above it all and at the same time, work to shield the others in the room, but Blythe, although clearly feeling Judith’s influence, remained unscathed by the surges of power.
“Maybe it was a kid,” Inez ventured, her hands shaking, obviously trying to appease Judith. “I know most of them and I can’t think of any who would want to hurt Frank or me, but maybe I’ve had to talk sternly to one or two when they’ve come into the grocery store during their lunch break. They don’t try to steal, I’ve never had that problem, but they are smoking pot and they reek.”
“Whoever it was,” Stefan said firmly, “he or she didn’t take anything of value and if I get Judith home, she can stretch these paintings before they’re ruined.” He held out the car keys to Blythe. “I would greatly appreciate it if you would bring Judith’s car around and then reassure her sisters that she’s fine, but needs to work.”
Blythe’s eyes met his over Judith’s shoulder. She slowly reached for the keys, as if she hadn’t quite made up her mind about him. “Thank you for saving Judith, Inez and Frank,” she said quietly as she took the keys. “All of them said if it wasn’t for you, that killer would have probably shot them all.”
“I don’t know about that, Blythe,” Stefan replied in the same calming, quiet voice. Already Judith was managing to pull her emotions back from the others. “But I can tell you nothing will harm Judith while I’m around.”
Blythe nodded. “That’s good to know. She’s very loved by all of us.”
“I can see that.” He wrapped his arms more firmly around Judith, the knots in his belly tightening.
There was no way he wanted to have a talk with her about Jean-Claude La Roux. It would be so difficult to explain that he’d not come to Sea Haven with the sole reason of warning his brother. The sin of omission was beginning to loom large and there was nothing left to him but the truth. He dropped his head over hers, his mind racing. He’d been cornered a million times in his career, life and death, kill or be killed. It was his way of life. But this . . . this was entirely different.
Losing Judith was unacceptable to him and he had a feeling this was one of those very important things about relationships he was only beginning to understand. She trusted him. She believed in him and she’d given him every chance for disclosure.
We’ll be fine, moi padshii angel. I clipped your wings and put them in my kaleidoscope. I’m not going anywhere because you’re mine.
He knew his murmur of reassurance was more for himself than for her.
Judith lifted her head and blinked up at him. His heart nearly shattered at that love in her eyes. The absolute trust.
I believe you, Thomas. Jean-Claude isn’t going to take any more of my life from me.
He nearly groaned in despair. He wanted that kind of trust, but now he knew he had to confess. How understanding would he be if the roles were reversed? He had a suspicious nature, never trusting anyone. How many times had it crossed his mind that she was involved in the theft of the microchip and that it had driven La Roux’s obsession with her? He’d even considered briefly that her guilt and shame for her brother’s death stemmed from the fact that she’d taken the microchip and La Roux had sent his men after her to get it back.
Stefan waited until Judith was safely buckled into the passenger seat and he was behind the wheel of her car. She’d given him a little frown when he’d handed her inside, putting the tote bag with his weapons within easy reach, but she hadn’t protested when he’d taken the driver’s side.
She pressed her lips together as they drove out of Sea Haven. The fog was still heavy and darkness was creeping in as well. “Thomas, if you want out, I’ll understand. My shady life seems to be catching up with me.”
He reached for her hand, tucked it close to his heart and shook his head. “Don’t be silly, Judith. I have no intentions of going anywhere.”
“He’s got to be out of prison. Or he sent someone to do his dirty work, but this
feels
like him. That ‘
Who is he, Judith?
’ is so like him. He always looked at me as if I was the beginning and end of the world for him.” She looked down at her hands and sighed. “Which is probably why I fell so hard for him. There’s such a lure in that you know . . .” She trailed off, her breath catching in her throat, her gaze jumping to his face.
He was so connected to her in his mind, he could follow her sudden reasoning and he nearly groaned aloud. He needed her like that, so close he could feel her breathe, his world, the entire world was this woman beside him. Without her, there was no reality. Stefan Prakenskii would remain forever a shadow, slide in and out of danger, taking lives like death itself and eventually he would cross a line he could never go back from.
“Like me. Like me, Judith. Just say it.” A touch of anger edged his voice because her sudden insight wasn’t going to make his confession any easier. If she could reason that out, she would know a man like him studied a mark and figured out how best to insert himself into his or her life to get what he wanted.
Judith nodded slowly. “You do make me feel that way, Thomas.”
“Because I feel as if you are my world. There will never be anyone else for me, Judith. I love you. I don’t know how it happened. Hell, I didn’t even know it could happen.” He turned down the road leading to the farm. “There’s more to this Jean-Claude mess than you know. I came here as Thomas Vincent for a reason.” He glanced at her, judging her reaction.
She frowned at him, her long lashes fanning her cheek. “I’m well aware of that.”
He waited while the gates opened automatically and drove on through, pausing just long enough to assure himself the gates had closed properly behind him. In his life, there had been so many times when he felt on the brink of a precipice, but nothing like this. His heart was actually pounding, and he knew he could feel sweat beading on his forehead.