My Deadly Valentine - By Valerie Hansen & Lynette Eason Page 0,23

room and kitchen. Don’t worry. Most of the surveillance will be concentrated on the outer perimeter of the property.”

“Meaning, if he gets by that, I’m on my own.”

“Not at all.” He’d been waiting for the right moment to go over the entire plan and couldn’t think of a better opportunity than this. “We’ll set up a code system you can use to let us know if there’s a problem.”

“How about a nice, loud scream? I can do that.”

Jace had to laugh. “I was thinking more of a word or two that would fit into normal conversation. If there’s no immediate threat, we’d rather capture the guy red-handed, so to speak.”

“Blood is red,” she said with a grimace. “Just make sure it isn’t mine, okay?”

He stepped closer and held out his arms, hoping she would accept the comfort of an innocent embrace. Not that it would be so innocent on his part, he admitted ruefully. The more time he spent with Rachel, the more emotionally involved he became, like it or not. And he wasn’t sure if he did like it. After all, she had made her position regarding police officers quite clear. Unless something happened to erase all the damage done by her father’s attitude of superiority, there was little chance she’d ever consider getting serious about marrying a cop.

That surprising thought brought him up short. Marry? Him? No way. He was just feeling connected due to his professional concern for a crime victim, that was all.

And then Rachel stepped into his embrace, wiping away every misgiving, every doubt. As Jace closed his arms around her and she slipped hers around his waist, she laid her head on his shoulder.

The closeness that had developed between them was not simple, nor was it harmless, he realized. Their relationship had deepened in a few short days until it was much more than that of victim and protector. He cared about this young woman far too much to be able to reason his feelings away or laugh them off.

For Jace, that was nearly as scary as it would have been for him to have become the focus of the stalker’s ire. He wished he could somehow step between Rachel and her nemesis and relieve her of that burden once and for all.

Sighing, he hugged her and prayed silently for the opportunity to do just that.

“My car is safely locked in the garage and I have the only remote control so I’ll be able to drive to and from work from now on,” Rachel told Jace.

“Good. Pastor Logan and I don’t want you to walk anymore, especially not until daylight savings time starts.”

“I know, I know. And I won’t after today.” Rachel prepared to close the shop. “As soon as I get home, I’ll phone you on your cell. You and Logan will be able to see everything. Right?”

“Right.”

“It’ll be okay.” She reached up and patted his cheek. “You’re the guys with the plan. Don’t you trust it?”

“Sure we do. I just…”

“You worry too much. We haven’t had a single bad thing happen around here in over a week. Not even accidentally. Maybe whoever was mad at me gave up after he trashed my clothes.” She didn’t believe that for a second. Unfortunately, she could tell from Jace’s expression that he didn’t, either.

“I promise I’ll take all the precautions we discussed,” Rachel said. “I have my Mace handy, too. Nobody is going to hurt me.”

“Just see that you don’t panic and use it on the wrong guys,” Jace told her. “I had the experience of being sprayed with it in training and it wasn’t fun.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t. Becky tells me it will stop a grown man in his tracks.”

“A normal man, yes. Anybody who’s on drugs or is otherwise deranged may be another story.”

“Point taken,” Rachel said, smiling. “Look, are you going to get out of the way and let me finally go home or not?”

To her chagrin he stepped aside without insisting on a parting hug. Such innocent expressions of affection were an integral part of Southern custom and Rachel hadn’t thought much of it until Jace had started emulating the locals. His hugs were definitely not as platonic as most. The mere thought of them made her blush.

She scooped up her purse and keys and headed for the door. “The back is locked, including the new dead bolt. Come on. Time to go.”

Although she knew she sounded unconcerned, it was all an act. Inside, she was trembling so badly her stomach