Deadly Charade - By Virna Depaul Page 0,89
guarantee a happily ever after. But it certainly made striving for one a lot more fun, and Linda was enjoying her reunion with Tony and his family to the fullest.
Taking a deep sigh, Linda tightened her fingers around Tony’s. He was staring down at her, sharing his strength just as he always did. Just the way she gave him strength when he needed it.
After only a few more weeks of trying and with some help from Brian Heald, who had been more than ready to cut a deal, Tony and his team had successfully identified the major suppliers of Rapture in Sacramento. Now he was working as a regular patrol officer. According to him, he’d spent far too long hiding from who he was and he had no wish to go undercover ever again. Occasionally, he still had doubts about whether he was “good” enough to be a cop, but she reminded him everyday how silly his doubts were. Even if he’d never caught the Rapture suppliers, Tony’s goodness and determination left her with no doubt that he made the world a better and safer place.
He made her a better person, too.
“You can do this,” he said.
“I know. With you beside me, I can do almost anything.”
“Almost?” he teased. He wiggled his eyebrows up and down. “That sounds like a challenge.”
She snorted. “And you love a challenge.”
He liked to tease her about her wild side, and that occasionally resulted in them having sex in less than conventional places, but he was protective of her, too. It didn’t matter that she’d withdrawn her name from the judicial campaign; he took care that nothing they ever did together could come back to shame her. It was his mission in life that she never feel shame again, and though she knew it wasn’t something he could actually accomplish, she loved him all the more for trying.
He raised her hand to his lips and kissed it. “I love you more. Once an addict, always an addict.”
She smiled, glad they could joke about something that had once brought them so much pain and still very well could.
Nope, there were no guarantees, but trying was everything, and so long as Tony tried to be the man she knew him to be, so long as she tried to be the best she could be, they’d be able to overcome any challenge that came their way.
The past month had been hard on him, but it appeared that finally the worst was over. She took some comfort in the fact that, even though Justine had tried to kill her, Justine had also given Tony the information to save her life.
Since Heald’s arrest, Tony had visited Justine in the hospital twice, and in jail once. The last visit had been to say goodbye. He’d done what he could to help her, but that was over now. He insisted he couldn’t maintain a relationship with someone who’d acted to end Linda’s life.
Even so, Tony had made sure Justine received word that the Rapture supplier had been caught. Hopefully that would give her some measure of peace.
“So,” Linda said. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. Do you remember when I left you at the hospital with Justine that last time? When I asked you to meet me at my house?”
He nodded. “You said you wanted to show me something.”
“Things got a little crazy and I never had the chance to make what I wanted to show you.”
“You were going to make me something? What?”
She hesitated, suddenly feeling shy despite the fact they’d been living together for well over a month and she was absolutely secure in their love for one another. But Tony was the bravest person she knew. She could be brave, too. “Cookies,” she said. “I wanted to show you chocolate-chip cookies.”
His brows lifted in surprise. “Uh...cookies, huh? Well, that’s great.”
She nodded. “I was going to make them even though they wouldn’t be as good as yours. But I was...I was hoping you’d help me with that.”
He continued to look confused, but as he absorbed what she was saying, understanding flashed across his face. Instead of smiling as she’d been expecting him to, however, he swallowed hard and suddenly looked nervous himself. Hopeful, but nervous. “What are you saying, Linda?”
“I’m saying that I want you to help me make chocolate-chip cookies. But only after you tell me your secret ingredient.”
“Is that right?” he said cautiously. “Because I’ve always said there’s only one way I’ll tell you