Love at First Sight - By B. J. Daniels Page 0,58

the killer and Karen insisted.”

Denny chuckled. “Sure. Just don’t try to sell me any Arizona oceanfront property, all right.”

Jack knew Denny wouldn’t believe it, but he’d had to try. And if he was dead wrong and Denny had killed Liz? Well, Denny was in the hospital, laid up. He was no threat to Karen.

Not that Jack could believe Denny had killed Liz. Or that he would harm Karen. But Denny had lied to him about a woman a few years back. It was that lie, like a tiny crack in a dike, that worried at Jack.

“You talked to Vandermullen?” Denny sounded anxious.

He didn’t want to give his friend false hope. “There’s a chance your daughter is still alive.”

Denny let out a sound so filled with emotion that it tore at Jack’s heart. “I’ll tell you everything when I see you.”

The third call was to the only man Jack trusted to leave with Karen.

KAREN WOKE TO THE EMPTY BED, Jack’s side still warm, his imprint still visible in the mattress. She placed her hand on the spot where he’d been, remembering last night, relishing in it. Her body felt as if it glowed with an inner fire that Jack had ignited. It blazed still, warm and comforting even without him close by. She only wished she’d found herself in his arms this morning and they’d made love again, refueling that already-burning fire.

So where was her husband? She sat up, wondering if he was in the kitchen making breakfast. She sniffed. No bacon frying. No sound coming from that direction.

Slipping from the bed, she pulled on his robe and went to find him. Immediately she realized he wasn’t in the lodge. But through the front window, she could see him out by the rock wall with his cell phone pressed to his ear.

The danger he’d said she was in came back in a rush of secondhand memory. She knew just by the set of his broad shoulders that whatever he was doing had to do with the Liz Jones murder case. And her. Her husband wouldn’t be able to rest until the killer was caught. She’d seen the worry in his eyes, felt the restlessness in him and sensed him holding back. Was he afraid to love her too much for fear of losing her?

But at least for a while she had made him forget the murder. Forget everything but the two of them. It had been heaven. She smiled at the memory of the hours they’d spent making love. For her, it had felt like the very first time with him. And amazingly, Jack seemed just as surprised by the wonder of it.

She couldn’t believe how good they were together. How they had found each other and now had the kind of passion she’d only dreamed of. She’d known they had to have had a great sex life. She’d felt the chemistry between them and hadn’t been able to wait to make love with him.

Oh, how she wanted to take her husband back to bed this morning. She opened the front door and padded barefoot out onto the small porch. After all, they were on their honeymoon, weren’t they?

“Jack?” she called.

He turned and for an instant, she saw his love shining in those brown eyes, then he dropped that protective cover she’d seen before, mouthed a few words into the phone and pocketing the cell phone, walked toward her.

“I have some police business I need to take care of,” he said before she could invite him back to bed. She could feel the distance he was trying so hard to put between them. But she could also feel him weakening at just the sight of her. As if he ached to touch her. She started to reach for him, knowing once they were in each other’s arms—

But she didn’t. “I’ll get dressed and we can go,” she said quickly and started back toward the bedroom.

“No,” he said, making her spin back around to face him. “This is something I have to do alone.”

“On our honeymoon?” she asked, her voice cracking. It wasn’t that he was leaving her alone. It was the look in his eyes. The wall he was trying so hard to construct between them. Why? What was he so afraid of? It couldn’t be them, their marriage. Not after last night.

“I have to be at the last meeting today,” he said. “I have to find the killer, Karen.”

Before he finds you. He didn’t say the words, but she heard