Pregnant Protector. Anne Duquette Marie

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СКАЧАТЬ here instead of at K-9. You go where she says. And Cantello, no driving. Give yourself some time to get your feet back under you.”

      The meeting was over. Nick headed for the door, immediately using his cell to call the family in Mexico. There was no answer, nor did any answering machine pick up. He called again, with the same result.

      Sympathetic looks followed him as he headed for the office. Nick ignored them all. He wasn’t ready for sympathy. Sympathy never eased the pain of a death. He’d seen the families of too many victims to believe it did. Justice helped a little—sometimes. Nick’s heart ached anew for Julio’s widow and children. Even a marriage that included kids didn’t always make for happily ever after. Not if one parent was a cop.

      Nick knocked at the closed door of the spare office and stepped back as a woman with a big German shepherd at her side opened the door. He found himself meeting the eyes of a woman who didn’t hide her emotions. She might be a stranger who never knew Julio, but he knew that sympathetic look of pain couldn’t be faked. It hit him hard. He felt a powerful urge to reach out and pull her close.

      “Officer Nelson?” he said instead.

      She nodded, her eyes unblinking, her tanned face framed by head-hugging short blond curls. The simplicity of it suited her, Nick noticed objectively. He also noticed she wasn’t very tall, small even for a female cop. But he knew that brains often made up for brawn. With her dog, he suspected she had all the brawn she needed.

      “Detective Cantello.” She reached for his hand and held it tightly. “Sorry to meet under these circumstances.” Only after releasing his hand did she turn briskly to the door to close it behind him and gesture toward the chair.

      She ordered her dog to sit in German, the language the animals were traditionally trained to follow. Before 9-11, most police dogs were obtained in Germany, and though they weren’t now, law enforcement continued to use German commands. This prevented the dog from responding to a criminal’s English-language commands.

      Nick watched her dog sit strategically at the side of the desk where it could watch both partner and newcomer. Lara Nelson moved with strength and grace, and so did her dog, a large female, mostly tan, with black markings on the face, ears and legs.

      Lara introduced Nick to Sadie, then asked outright, “You have any problems with me, now’s the time to say so.”

      He appreciated her bluntness, and suddenly the words spilled out. “I don’t want a bodyguard. I only agreed to this to keep from getting a desk job during the case. I refuse to stay sidelined or holed up someplace, and I intend to find Julio’s killer with or without your help.” The words came out more harshly than he’d intended. “Or your company.” He defiantly stood.

      She didn’t. Her hand dropped from her dog’s head, and her soft, feminine look was replaced by a surprising toughness.

      “I’m in charge of your safety,” she said. “My partner and I are now your shield. If I have to use my training and my dog to make you follow my orders, I will. Sadie comes from my parents’ kennels. They train only the best dogs, and they gave me the best of the best. Would you like a demonstration of our ability to keep you in line?”

      She didn’t even move from her chair. “Sadie, Zur Wache!” Immediately the shepherd changed from adoring pet to dangerous guard dog. Nick realized Lara’s hostess act had nothing on her dedication to duty.

      “No need,” he said, annoyed yet respecting her stand. “I’ll take your word for it.”

      “Wise move. My mother was a K-9 handler. One of my older sisters works K-9 with the bomb squad. The other works K-9 Search-and-Rescue. Our dogs will do anything for us. If you deliberately work against me and anything happens to the public, to Sadie or to me as a result…” She left the words unfinished.

      “I won’t do anything to risk anyone else. You have my word.” There’s been enough death already to go around.

      “Then we understand each other.” With a single command, Sadie relaxed. Lara leaned forward on the desk, the hint of restrained power remaining in both woman and canine. “That being said, I am not in charge of your emotions, Detective. Nor am I your superior when it comes to law enforcement. As you are an officer of the law, I don’t think restricting your movements and hiding is needed at this time.”

      Nick’s head jerked up. “No safe house?”

      “No official safe house, but my house. Definitely safe,” she emphasized. “With the Valdez family in Mexico, we’ll need you to cover ground only they would know.”

      Nick found himself quite speechless for the second time that day. There was something in the way she held her head, a quiet dignity about her, that spoke volumes.

      “So I’ll be able to investigate Julio’s murder unhampered?” he managed to ask.

      “As long as you let me protect you. You’ll follow my orders for your safety. To do that, I remain at your side until this case is solved.” She brushed away a speck of dust from the desk and met his gaze straight on. “If your…activities interfere with that, then and only then will I feel the need to curtail your actions by any means necessary. That includes reporting to your superior and mine—that’s Captain Girard.” There was steel in the voice coming from that delicately boned face. “Until I get back to K-9.”

      “Got it,” he said, his voice grating like gravel. “Appreciate your understanding, Officer Nelson.”

      “Hey. He was your partner.” Her businesslike manner slipped more than a little as she smiled. “My car’s outside. Let’s roll. And please, call me Lara.”

      THE K-9 SQUAD CAR computer display and communication unit kept track of messages as Lara and Nick rode in silence. Sadie sat alertly in the back, Nick’s bag of clothes from the weekend on the floor beneath. Nick felt strange sitting next to her, instead of Julio, during the drive toward the pricey homes perched on the cliffs of the La Jolla shoreline. As the squad car approached her home, he took in everything with a trained observer’s eye: the white stucco front, the riot of flowers, the carefully manicured lawn. His gaze skipped over the expensive foreign cars to the frothing shoreline far below. As the Pacific sparkled and crashed green-blue in the sun, he thought of his own small apartment in an older blue-collar neighborhood of San Diego.

      Nick couldn’t help but be curious about Lara Nelson’s circumstances. Girard had said Lara worked in La Jolla; he didn’t say she lived there. Homes in La Jolla went for three million dollars and up. Only movie stars, hi-tech industrialists and old-money types lived on these cliffs. Space and the world-famous view were at a premium. Those looking for an opportunity to buy had to wait a long time for a property to go on the market.

      Nick breathed in the salt air as Lara parked the car on the pristine, oil-free driveway. He’d always appreciated beauty and begrudged no one his or her fair share. He wondered if Julio’s fatherless children would ever find their own place in the sun. Then, because a man in his kind of life accepted harsh realities, he shoved aside such thoughts and exited the car, stepping onto the fancy tiled sidewalk.

      As man, woman and dog entered the pink-tiled foyer, Nick slipped and stumbled slightly. Lara grabbed at his waist, alarmed.

      “You okay?”

      “Fine. Just slipped on the tile.”

      “Carrara marble. My dog and I slip on it, too.” Surprisingly, СКАЧАТЬ