A Profiler's Case for Seduction - By Carla Cassidy Page 0,48
wife was as smooth as he’d like us to believe.”
“What’s our next move?”
“I’d like to contact Nick Jeffries and see if one of his men can put a tail on Peterson for the next couple of days. I’m not convinced he wasn’t the perp at Dora’s window last night. His alibi seemed a little shady.” Mark frowned thoughtfully as he got into the passenger side of the car.
“If we separate the two crimes, as most of the team has already done, then potentially we have our murderer, Troy Young, behind bars now and we have Andrew Peterson with motive and opportunity to teach Melinda a lesson by kidnapping her and busting her up a bit,” Mark said.
“Feels good to me. So, why don’t you sound happy?”
“I don’t know,” Mark admitted.
“Personally, I’m smelling the end of things here in Vengeance.” Richard shot him a quick, knowing glance. “Maybe that’s why Mark isn’t a happy camper? Because he likes a certain somebody here in Vengeance and isn’t quite ready to tell her goodbye?”
Dora. Thoughts of her exploded in Mark’s head. Maybe she was the reason he was trying to make the case more difficult than it was, buying him more time here in Vengeance, time he could spend with her.
“This is the first time I’ve allowed personal feelings to get twisted up with my investigation,” Mark admitted.
“Then she must be a special woman,” Richard returned.
A special woman. Dora was that and more, but she’d told him both in actions and with words that she didn’t want a real, in-depth relationship at this point in her life.
Even knowing that, he had a swift desire to see her. Joseph had let him know she’d weathered the night all right and had gone to class this morning, despite the fact he’d already told himself it was time to start distancing himself from her. He was being pulled in too deep and didn’t want to get hurt, but he knew before the night was over he’d seek her out.
She might be a special woman and Richard had said that Mark was a special man, but at the moment he simply felt like a fool. He was unwilling to give up seeing a woman who had told him she had no place for him in her life.
He’d go back to Dallas and continue to be special...and alone.
Chapter 10
As evening fell Dora found herself restlessly pacing from the kitchen to the living room and back again. Would Mark stop by to see her tonight or wouldn’t he? Would the stalker from the night before once again show up to terrorize her?
Agent Larry Albright had called her earlier to let her know that they’d made arrangements with campus security to keep an eye out for her and had also arranged for hourly drive-bys throughout the night by the Vengeance Police Department.
She should be safe, but that didn’t stop the edginess that kept her from completely relaxing, the tension that rode her shoulders like a wild cowboy she couldn’t throw off.
By the time eight o’clock came and went she considered changing out of her jeans and sweater and into her nightgown. Before she could put the action to her thoughts, a soft knock sounded on her door and she peeked out the window to see Mark standing on her porch.
The tension fluttered out of her, replaced by a simmering excitement. She opened the door and he gave her the sexy grin that moved her, that thrilled her.
As he stepped inside she closed the door and immediately moved to stand against his body. She closed her eyes the instant his arms wrapped around her. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you tonight,” she said, her face nuzzled into the crook of his neck.
“It’s been a busy day,” he replied.
“Coffee?” she asked. “I already made it.”
“I’m good right here,” he said, not releasing her from his embrace. “But, coffee is probably a better idea for us.” He dropped his arms from around her and stepped back, his eyes midnight-blue. “I want to play by your rules, Dora, but when you let me hold you, it’s hard to remember the rules.”
“Maybe I’ve been reconsidering my rules,” she said, her voice surprisingly breathy to her own ears.
His eyes flared a bit but he remained in place and stuffed his hands in the pockets of the dark windbreaker with the bright yellow FBI letters on the back and front. “Several of the men searched Troy Young’s outbuildings today and found a pair of shoes that appear