Kate Collins - Sleeping with Anemone

Great. Now I was a task.

“Also,” Reilly continued, “don’t leave the shop or your apartment to run errands unless someone is with you.”

“We’ll see to that on our end,” Grace said. I smiled my thanks, but there was no way we could manage the shop with two of us gone at the same time.

“And last”-Reilly glanced at Marco, then cleared his throat-“you need to keep a low profile. That means stopping your campaign against Uniworld.”

“No!” I put down the cup, sloshing tea. “That’s what they want me to do!”

“Abby, whoever is behind this kidnapping attempt isn’t fooling around,” Reilly argued. “Confinement is a class-A felony, punishable by thirty years in prison.”

“You know very well who’s behind it. Nils Raand. Go tell him about the thirty years in prison, because Marco’s little pep talk obviously didn’t do the trick.” I glanced at my hero and rubbed his arm. “Sorry.”

“No, you’re right,” Marco said. “I didn’t give Raand enough credit for his cunning. That’s my fault, but I sure as hell won’t make the same mistake twice.” He gazed earnestly into my eyes, making me go all gooey inside. “Look, baby, I know you’re upset and scared, but you don’t have to worry. I won’t let anything happen to you. I’m here for you.”

Aw. How could I argue with that? I laid my head on his shoulder, nestling in the crook of his neck. Besides, if Marco was going to play bodyguard, I really wouldn’t have to give up my campaign.

As Grace brought a pot of tea to the table, Reilly slipped his notebook in his pocket and stood up. “I’ll pay another call on Raand first thing in the morning.”

“Hellooooo,” Jillian called, coming into the parlor. “I was the victim, remember? Don’t I get any tea?”

“I’ll take you home in my car,” Marco said as we got ready to lock up the shop. “I’m going to leave the Prius at your place. In case of an emergency, I don’t want you to be without transportation. Rafe will bring me back here to get your car.”

“Then are you going to keep the Vette at your apartment?”

“Unless you object.”

“Oh no. That’s very thoughtful of you.” Always looking out for my safety-another of those pluses that made him so great.

He kissed me on the forehead, so I refrained from reminding him to be really, really careful with my car. Of course he’d be careful. If I couldn’t trust the man I was thinking about becoming engaged to, I shouldn’t think about becoming engaged to him.

“So… you won’t let Rafe drive it, will you?”

He chuckled.

Was that a no?

Marco insisted on walking me up to the second floor of my apartment building, and waited while I opened the door, to be sure Nikki was home. “Nikki?” I called.

“I’m in the living room,” she called back.

“All clear,” I said to Marco.

He gave me a long, hot good-night kiss that made me wish he weren’t leaving. “I’ll be here at seven forty-five in the morning,” he promised.

Awesome. My very own limo service. I locked the door behind him and removed my coat and hat, calling to Nikki, “You’ll never believe what happened today.”

“Hold on,” she called. “I have to pause the movie. We’re watching Titanic.”

I stepped into the living room and found Nikki and Morgan sitting on the sofa, wrapped in a comforter.

“Come join us.” Nikki held out a bowl. “Greg made cheese popcorn.”

“One of my many hidden talents,” he said.

Nikki ruffled his hair. “You’re so cute. You remind me of Leo DiCaprio.”

If only Morgan would float out to sea.

Deputy Prosecutor Greg Morgan had the blue eyes, perfect teeth, and golden brown hair of a choirboy, looks that had opened many doors for him, some into bedrooms, but the most important one straight into the prosecutor’s office. Everyone at the courthouse adored him. Indeed, it was almost impossible not to like him-unless you’d had a huge crush on him in high school and he’d totally ignored you until you came home from college with breasts.

I tolerated him because of Nikki and because his position on the prosecutor’s staff gave him access to information that was helpful in solving murder cases, when I was able to pry it out of him, not that he could ever admit to helping me and still keep his job.

“Tell us what happened,” Nikki prompted.

“Jillian was kidnapped,” I said, “but the kidnappers meant to get me.”

Nikki gasped. Morgan sat forward. “Is Jillian okay?” Nikki asked.

“Shaken, mostly,” I said.

Morgan began firing questions at me. “Were there any witnesses? Were statements taken? Who are the officers involved? Any suspects?”

“Slow down, Greg. I’ll tell you what happened.” I dipped my hand in the popcorn bowl and perched on the side chair to tell the whole story, except halfway through, my stomach got queasy, so I pushed the bowl aside.

When I finished, Nikki said, “Listen to Reilly, Abby. You absolutely have to call PAR to tell them to find someone else to fight Uniworld. You can’t risk your life for those cows.”

“Come on, Nikki. Not you, too.”

“Seriously, Abby,” Morgan said. “Pull back and let the police do their job. I’ll do everything I can to see that those jerks are brought to justice, whoever they are. We can’t have this sort of thing happening in our town. And forget about going after Uniworld. This issue with their milk has to be resolved in a court of law. And just so you know, they’ve hired local lawyers to represent them, and they have unlimited funds at their disposal.”

That was news to me. “Who?”

“Chinn, Knowles, and Brown,” Morgan said.

“Wait a minute. Peter Chinn is the assistant city attorney. That’s a conflict of interest.”

“You’d think so,” Morgan said, “but it happens all the time. When that much money is involved, there are no conflicts. It’s all about influence, Abby.”

“Then why were other towns able to stop Uniworld?” I asked.

“My guess is that Uniworld was unprepared for attacks by interest groups. They probably thought they’d kept information about their hormone supplementation quiet, not realizing the information got out anyway. But that made Uniworld’s legal team shrewder. As a result, anyone who tries to stop them now is in a no-win situation.”

“Maybe you can help our cause, Greg,” Nikki suggested, entwining her arm with his.

He gazed at her fondly. “I wish I could, but I’m a law enforcement officer, and it’s not a criminal matter. I don’t have any expertise in civil law. The kidnapping, well, that’s a different story. Bringing these kidnappers to justice is what I do. And a word to the wise, Abby. If you keep fighting Uniworld, you can bet they’ll turn up the heat until you have no choice but to give up or risk losing everything. Are you willing to make that sacrifice for those cows?”

I sank into the chair in a fit of gloom. There had to be some way to fight back.

I was not in the best of moods the next morning as I slid into the passenger side of my car. Although I had the sexiest escort in town, I missed driving my Vette. I missed the feel of the steering wheel in my hands, the surge of its mighty engine under my feet. I also missed feeling safe in my own hometown. It made me all the more irate about Uniworld’s seemingly unlimited power and influence.

As I buckled myself in, my cell phone rang. At the same time, Marco’s began to chirp. He flipped his phone open and glanced at the screen. “It’s Reilly.”

My screen had Grace’s name on it. I glanced at Marco. “This isn’t good.”

“Abby, dear, there’s been a break-in,” Grace said. “I wanted to prepare you before you saw the police car out front. They’ve just now arrived, so I must go.”