chapter Three
Noelle flew down the front steps and hit his chest. J.D. staggered back, wrapping his arms around her soft body.
She arched her back, drove her heel against the tip of his boot and raised her hands as if to claw his face.
“Whoa, whoa.” He crushed her against his frame with one arm and cinched both of her wrists with his other hand. “What’s wrong? It’s me—the guy who fixed your car.”
Her fingers relaxed, but she continued to struggle against him. “Let me go!”
“Are you sure?” With her flailing limbs and rigid muscles, she wouldn’t be able to stand on her own two feet.
“Let me go!” This time her voice had a distinct growl around the edges.
He released her, and, as he’d predicted, she stumbled to the ground. Her eyes, iridescent in the glare of the truck’s headlights, glowed at him as if they belonged to some fierce creature of the night.
Stepping in front of the truck to block the blinding lights, he stuck out his hand. “Are you okay? Why did you attack me?”
She eyed him over her bent knees, the heels of her hands digging into the ground behind her. “I didn’t attack you. What are you doing here?”
“Just wanted to make sure you made it home okay.” That had a false ring to it, since Noelle had stopped at the ranch down the road on her way home. He kept his hand extended in case she changed her mind.
“I did, but...” She cranked her head over her shoulder and looked at the house, the open door behind the screen door, a soft light filtering through the mesh.
J.D.’s pulse picked up speed. Noelle hadn’t been running at him but rather away from something in the house. He hooked a hand beneath her arm and nudged her. “What’s wrong?”
She allowed him to pull her to her feet. Still gazing at the house, she brushed the dirt from her jeans. “I—I think someone broke into my house.”
Damn. Had Zendaris’s men followed her already? They must be confident she knew something about the plans or had them in her possession. Zendaris grew bolder by the week.
“You think?”
“I put things in a certain order.” She folded her arms across her chest and hunched her shoulders. “Someone changed that order. I could tell someone had been in there.”
“Do you know for a fact that someone is gone?” He put his hands on his hips, his fingers resting on the weapon secured in his gun bag.
Her eyes widened. “No. I noticed the items out of order and took off.”
“Smart thing to do.” But then, she’d had practice at that sort of thing. He unzipped his gun bag and withdrew his weapon. “I’m going to check it out.”
“Do you know how to use that thing?” She pointed to the gun clutched in his hand.
You have no idea, darlin’. “I’ve had a little practice. Do you want to wait on the porch or come inside with me?”
“I’ll come with you.”
He opened the screen door and the bottom hinge fell off the doorjamb.
Noelle, who’d been close behind him, jumped, bumping against his back. “I must’ve caused that when I flung open the door.”
“We’ll deal with that later.” He rested the bottom corner of the screen door on the porch, an idea forming in his head about a way to get close to Noelle without arousing her suspicion—because she had a lot of suspicions.
He stepped over the threshold, his gun leading the way, and surveyed the front room. He saw no glaring evidence of a break-in. Noelle must be more skittish than an unbroken pony.
“How do you know someone was here?” He lowered his weapon. No need to get trigger-happy.
“The smell hit me first.” She took a deep breath, her nostrils flaring. “Men’s cologne. I—I recognize the scent, but I haven’t had anyone over wearing that. I haven’t had anyone over at all.”
J.D. sniffed the air, but the only smell filling his nostrils was the freshness of Noelle—light, floral—definitely not a guy’s scent. “If you say so.”
Her startling blue eyes glared at him. “There are other things.” She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “Do you see those magazines? I had them stacked a certain way. Someone moved them.”
He knew from his surveillance of her D.C. apartment that she was religiously neat, but he found it hard to believe she’d remember which way she’d stacked her magazines. “Do you have a pet? A cat?”
“No.” She narrowed her eyes, resembling the cat she didn’t have. “And even if I did, I don’t think the cat could knock that sweatshirt off the closet door handle and then hang it up a different way.”
He raised his eyebrows. Was she really that meticulous or had she been setting a trap? Someone this organized would never be able to put up with his habits—not that Noelle Dupree had to put up with anything from him.
“Anything else?” He swung his gun in front of him again. The lady seemed to know what she was talking about, and any hopes he’d had that she’d overreacted and Zendaris really wasn’t on her tail just grew dimmer.
“I didn’t stay to find out.” She waved her arms in front of her, encompassing the room. “I thought we came in here to surprise the intruder.”
“I doubt we’d be surprising him now, but let’s take a look.”
She guided him through the house, where she pointed out other discrepancies between the placement of certain items now and how she’d left them.
Zendaris’s thugs had tried to conceal their intrusion this time, unlike their break-in of her apartment in D.C. Why? Probably didn’t want to spook her and send her running to some other location. Wanted to take her by surprise this time.
In the bathroom, Noelle flung open the medicine cabinet and gasped.
“What’s wrong? Something missing?”
“A bottle of prescription medication.” She tapped one glass shelf. “It was right here.”
Was it a cover? Had Zendaris’s people taken some drugs just in case Noelle noticed the break-in?
“That could be your explanation right there. Are you sure you had the bottle there?”
“Positive.”
He believed her. All the bottles in the medicine cabinet were lined up, labels outward.
When they returned to the living room, she perched on a stool at the counter that separated the kitchen from the living room, and he sat on the arm of an overstuffed chair.
“At least they didn’t stick around. I don’t get it....” She pursed her lips and dropped her gaze to her hands folded on the counter.
“You don’t get what?” Would she open up to him about the break-in in D.C.? It would go a long way to proving to his superiors in Prospero that she knew nothing about her roommate’s secret life.
She shook her head. “Buck Ridge used to be such a safe community. My friend was just telling me about the jump in crime since the ski resort took off.”
“The price you pay for prosperity.” He shrugged. Noelle Dupree didn’t open up to just anybody. He’d have to become somebody.
Her long black ponytail swung over her shoulder as she tilted her head at him. “How did you know where I lived?”
“Despite the popularity of the ski resort, Buck Ridge is still a small town. Someone noticed us in the parking lot and told me your name and that you had a ranch out this way. When I saw the name of the ranch from the road, I pulled in to see how you...the truck was doing.”
“Really?” She gripped the edge of the tiled island. “That’s kind of scary when you think about it.”
“That’s a small town for you. It was the same where I grew up.” He waited for the questions, but they never materialized on her lips. She didn’t want to dig too deeply into his life in case he required the same from her.
She hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. “I forgot I still have groceries in the car.”
“And your headlights are still on. You don’t need a dead battery on top of everything else.” He reached around her and swept the keys to the truck from the counter and dangled them in front of her. “You turn your lights off, and I’ll get the groceries for you.”
“Deal.” She snatched the keys from his hand. “You have the advantage over me, you know.”
“Huh?” Had he blown his cover already?
“You know my name, but I don’t know yours.”
“J.D.” He left it at that. Two could play at that game.
He carried in all the groceries and parked on a stool while Noelle put away the items. He studied her face, tight with worry.
“Do you have any idea who could’ve broken into your place? Any local druggies? How’s the teenage population around here? Is there much of a problem with narcotics?”
She lined up some cans on a shelf in the pantry and turned them all so the labels faced outward, just like the bottles in the medicine cabinet. “I have no idea.”
He expelled a long breath, his chest and his hopes deflating. She had no intention of confiding in him. “Do you want to call the cops?”
Her blue eyes darkened as they darted around the room. “I suppose I should.”
“If these are druggies, I’m sure the local cops would want to know. Maybe they’ve hit other people. Maybe there’s a pattern and the cops already have some suspects.”
“Are you a cop?”
“No.” He tugged on his longish hair. “Do I look like a cop?”
“No, but you sound like one.”
He said with a shrug, “Just common sense.”
She called the local sheriff while J.D. checked the outside of the house with a flashlight. If Zendaris’s guys had broken in, they wouldn’t leave any evidence behind, but a thief looking for a quick fix just might. But would a junkie have left the house in such good order?
He trailed the beam from his flashlight along the window ledges and ground surrounding the house. He couldn’t see much in the dark. He’d have to look around tomorrow. He definitely planned to be here tomorrow. And the next day. And the next.
The sheriff’s squad car pulled through the broken gates of Noelle’s ranch. J.D. added those gates to his growing list of items that needed fixing.
The sheriff stepped out of his car and aimed his flashlight at J.D. “You the fellow with Noelle Dupree?”
Noelle had left the front door open and now edged onto the porch, folding her jacket around her body. “Hey, Sheriff Greavy. This is J.D. He came by just after I discovered the break-in.”
He and the sheriff shook hands, and J.D. followed him up the porch.
Sheriff Greavy stepped into the living room and tipped his cowboy hat from his head. “Did you discover anything missing besides the medication, Noelle?”
“My mom left this place pretty sparse, Sheriff. She even took the TV with her to Aunt Kathy’s”
“What about your personal belongings? Jewelry? Computer? Camera?”
“I don’t have any of that stuff here. I had my laptop with me in the truck.” She looked around the room. “And it’s still there.”
Greavy flipped open a notebook and felt in his pocket for a pen. He found one and opened it against his chin. “You told Marlene that some prescription medication was stolen, but you didn’t tell her what kind. What was it?”
Noelle knotted her hands across her waist, while a rosy flush crept into her cheeks. “It was a generic brand of Valium.”
After what she’d been through the past month, hell, the past two years, she didn’t have any reason to be embarrassed about using a tranquilizer for stress or anxiety.
The sheriff scribbled a few notes and shoved the notebook back in his pocket. “You doing okay, Noelle? We all heard about—” he shot a glance at J.D. “—your troubles.”
Sheriff Greavy didn’t have to tiptoe around him. Prospero had already done a full background on Noelle Dupree and knew all about the murder of her husband two years ago.
But Noelle didn’t know that, and, judging by the way the color in her cheeks flared up even more, she had no intention of telling him anything about her past.
“I’m fine, Sheriff.” She untangled her fingers and shoved her hands in her pockets. “I don’t even take that medication. I just have it for insurance.”
Sheriff Greavy held up his calloused hands. “No need to explain anything to me, Noelle. Hell, it’s better than hitting the bottle when times get tough.”
The sheriff asked her a few more questions, dusted the door for fingerprints and then clapped his hat back on his head. “This doesn’t surprise me a bit. We’ve had plenty of break-ins with people stealing TVs, cameras, computers and prescription meds. I don’t think it’s an organized ring, but at least your burglar was neater than most.”
“Yeah, at least he didn’t trash the place.” She bit her lip, her eyes clouding over.
Must be thinking about that other break-in.
“I have to ask you something, Noelle.” Sheriff Greavy paused at the front door, grasping the doorjamb with a gloved hand. “You heard from Teddy?”
“No.” Her face had closed up tighter than a bear trap.
“Well, I heard he’s back in town.” The sheriff jerked his chin toward the room. “You don’t think...?”
“No.”
“Just askin’. You take care and get a good, solid lock on this door.” He touched a finger to the rim of his hat. “J.D.”
Noelle didn’t have to worry about keeping her brother a secret from him either. Prospero knew all about him, too.
Noelle stood beside him on the porch, watching Sheriff Greavy pull away. Her body vibrated like a taut string that hadn’t been plucked in years. If anything, the sheriff’s visit had made her more tense.
Seemed as if nothing but land mines filled her past, one incident after another that had to be avoided at all costs.
And she was facing the biggest land mine of all and didn’t even know it.
She puffed out a breath, and it hung suspended for a moment in the cold night air. “That wasn’t much help.”
“I don’t know.” He stood sideways across the threshold and waved her into the house. As she brushed past him, her ponytail tickled his arm. “Sheriff Greavy has a record of the break-in. That’s a good thing.”
Pivoting, she faced him, crossing her arms. “Thanks for your help tonight. I mean, for the truck and sticking around after the break-in.”
“No problem. Call the garage about getting that truck fixed, and...” Was it too soon to offer his services? Her stance, back ramrod straight and arms folded, screamed get the hell out. Probably not the best time.
“And take care. Like Greavy suggested, get a dead bolt on that door.”
“Will do.”
J.D. ambled toward the door, and she uprooted herself to make sure he made it outside. They said their goodbyes, and she didn’t even wait for him to reach his truck before shutting the door.
He slid into his truck and cranked on the heater. Rubbing his hands together and blowing on them, he watched the lights go off in the house until just the yellow glow from the front windows remained.
He backed up and then swung wide to face the dilapidated gates. He pulled onto the deserted road. With his arm draped across the backseat, he backed up until he had a clear view of the entrance to Noelle’s ranch.
If Zendaris’s men had broken into Noelle’s house with her gone, what was stopping them from breaking in with her home? When would looking through her stuff cease to satisfy them? When would they make a move on her?
J.D. slumped in his seat and tipped his hat over his eyes, eyes that saw everything.
He turned the key in the ignition and fiddled with the static radio stations until a woman’s dulcet tones flooded the truck. Ah, a radio therapist dispensing advice to the lovelorn.
Not that he needed any advice. You had to have a love life to need advice. His fiancée had left him for being too married to his job, and she must’ve been right because he barely missed her absence.
Jack Coburn had warned them that working for Prospero and having a personal life could be mutually exclusive. Although Jack had managed—he and Lola had an adopted son and Lola was expecting a daughter.
J.D.’s Prospero Team Three buddy, Cade Stark, was currently living below the radar in Europe with his wife and son after Nico Zendaris had threatened their lives.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and yawned. Nobody said this life was gonna be easy.
The side mirror glinted, and J.D. sat up to scan the road from his rearview mirror, cracking open his window. A single headlight pierced the darkness. As it drew closer, the sound of a motorcycle engine whined in the night.
He narrowed his eyes, every muscle tense. The bike slowed at the dip in the road right before the entrance to Noelle’s ranch. When he came up the rise, the rider pulled the bike to the side of the road and cut the engine.
J.D.’s pulse quickened. The motorcycle rider hadn’t noticed his truck, nestled up against the bushes across the road from the ranch. Of if he had, he didn’t give J.D. a second look.
With his helmet still on his head, the rider hopped off the bike, grabbed the handlebars and pushed the silent motorcycle through Noelle’s broken gates.
J.D. didn’t know what this guy planned to do at Noelle’s place, but his job compelled him to find out and put a stop to it.
His job and the insane attraction he felt for the attractive, reserved widow.