Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

Jenna balled up a napkin and tossed it at his head. "So where did you get all this extra cash, Special Agent Man?"

He shrugged. "My wife was killed by a drunk driver. The insurance company was very interested in settling out of court. At any rate, I probably couldn't take off enough time to go to Hawaii."

"How long has it been since you had a vacation?"

His lips quirked up in a smile that wasn't really a smile. "We took the boys to the beach when Nicky was a baby."

Jenna frowned. "You haven't had a vacation in five years?"

"More like six."

Jenna stared up at the ceiling. "And you wonder why you're stressed." She looked back at him and decided. "One of our dates will be a vacation."

His eyes smiled. "It will?"

"Yes, it will. You remember me talking about my friend Mark?"

"Your karate master."

"Yes. He and his wife have a little beachhouse on the Outer Banks." She batted her eyelashes at him. "We'll go there when you've decided we're past the hand-holding and goodnight kiss stage."

His eyes changed in a heartbeat, going hot, his face taking on the look that made her want to devour him. "Maybe I already have."

She swallowed, feeling the sexual tension spike and with it the skin-tingling rush of heat that made her nipples tight and her panties wet. She touched her tongue to her lips, noting his eyes watching her every move and that turned her on even more. "What made you change your mind?"

He dipped his head, covered her mouth, and although gentle, his kiss held the promise of more.

More was good.

He pulled away and rested his forehead against hers, his brown eyes so close she could see the flecks of gold surrounding his dilated pupils. "You made my baby laugh," he said.

It was a good answer. It was such a good answer it sucked all the air from her lungs. "Has it been fifteen minutes?" Jenna asked, her voice rusty. "Because if it has, I say we ditch Detective Davies and go back to my place."

"It's been fifteen minutes," Steven said.

She quickly calculated how long it would take them to get back to her apartment. Too damn long. But once they arrived, there would finally be relief from this awful yearning. Finally.

But then, of course, came a knock on their booth. "Sorry I'm late," Detective Davies said. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything."

Steven squeezed his eyes shut. A muscle spasmed in his cheek. "Shit."

In dazed disbelief Jenna lifted her eyes to see Davies wearing a smile that made her wonder if he didn't know darn well he was "interrupting something" and wasn't enjoying the fact that he was.

Neil stretched his legs beneath the table Jenna had been sharing with Thatcher. It felt good to stretch his legs after all the hours in that damn soup can they had the nerve to call a rental car. It felt better to savor the few minutes alone with Jenna Marshall. For days she'd haunted his thoughts and dreams. For days he'd been spared the nightmares of the past four years. For three years he'd dreamed of ghosts and demons. For the past four days he'd dreamed of her. For four straight nights he'd had peace. He'd decided peace was something he'd fight to keep.

He'd decided she was someone he'd fight to keep. She'd have a choice, of course. So he'd have to ensure the lady had all the facts to make the right choice.

"So tell me a little about yourself, Jenna," he said as she glanced toward the front door where Thatcher had disappeared with his cell phone and the fax Neil had just received from Barrow in Seattle. He had to hand it to Thatcher. The man wasn't entirely inept. He'd taken one look at the fax and instantly understood the significance. Which was why Thatcher was in his car with his cell phone talking to ADA Liz Johnson at the moment.

"Not a whole lot to tell, Detective Davies," she said with a smile. A smile that said she wished him to perdition, Neil thought and made himself smile back. It didn't take a genius to recognize what he'd interrupted.

"Call me Neil. How's Casey?" he asked, and the light that came on in her eyes nearly took his breath away. She was a beautiful woman, but when her face lit up… she was unforgettable. And he damned Thatcher all over again.

"She's going to be fine,'" she said. "Thank you for asking."

"You're welcome. So I hear you're a teacher. What do you teach?"

"High school chemistry and general science." She looked over at the door again and Neil found himself becoming annoyed.

"He'll be back soon enough." he said irritably. "I take it your car was totaled in the wreck." And he watched her ex-pression become angry and sad at the same time.

"It was."

"Well, your insurance should replace it." Her eyes narrowed. "It was a 1960 Jaguar XK 150." Neil winced"Ouch."

She sighed. "It belonged to my fiance who passed away two years ago."

"I'm sorry."

She gave a rueful wince. "Me, too. I still have to tell his family that I wrecked his car."

"But you didn't wreck it. It was sabotage."

"I don't tink I'll mention the cut breaks," she said. "They worry about me enough as it is."

"My fiance's family. T'hey're rather overprotective."

"So what will you tell them?" he asked, praying Thatcher stayed out in his car another ten minutes. Ten more minutes with Jenna. "I don't think this is something you'll be able to hide with a few cosmetic touch-ups."

She smiled ruefully. "I don't know. Do you have any ideas?"

He pretended to consider it. "You could tell them the car was stolen."

She shook her head. "No, then they'd staple 'lost' posters to every tree in Raleigh and take out an ad on a milk carton."

Neil threw back Ms head and laughed. "Well, how about telling them you sold it to passing gypsies for three magic beans?"

She smiled at him engagingly. "No gypsies would be safe from the Clan Llewellyn."

Neil cocked a brow. "Llewellyn is their name? My grandmother on my mother's side was a Llewellyn. My family came over from Wales about sixty years ago."

"You should talk to Seth. My fiance's father, that is." She frowned. "My former fiance."

"I understand," Neil said.

Her lips smiled but her eyes still frowned as if frustrated by her verbal slip. And it didn't take a very observant man to notice the man's ring she worried on the thumb of her right hand. He was sure it had belonged to her dead fiance. When she was his, she'd put the ring away. She could keep it, just not on her finger.

"Anyway," she said, "Seth came over from Swansea when he was a boy." She leaned toward him and dropped her voice conspiratorially. "He'll carry on for hours about Wales to anyone foolish enough to step into his parlor. If he brings out the slide projector, run like hell."

Neil smiled back. "If I have time before I leave, I'd love to meet him. I have lots of questions about my grandparents' birthplace, which I don't think is far from Swansea. I-" He stopped when her facial expression froze and looked over to where she was staring.

Thatcher stood ten feet away, looking mad enough to chew nails.

Neil slid from the booth and approached him. "Plans in place?" he asked, but Thatcher didn't turn his way, just kept staring at Jenna with a furious look. Thatcher was jealous, an emotion Neil well understood.

"Liz says it's not enough," Thatcher gritted.

Neil frowned, glancing at Jenna from the corner of his eye. She was pale and he worried about the spot he'd put her in. But surely Thatcher wasn't a violent man, he thought, finding his protective instincts raised. Uneasily he turned his back on Jenna to stare at Thatcher. "What do you mean it's not enough? One of Parker's teachers signs an affidavit saying he threatened her with bodily harm if she didn't pass him out of her class? It's a direct link to the vandalism in Jenna's class. What more does your ADA want to bring Parker in for questioning?"