Sweet Seduction Shield (8 page)

"They are well
trained, excellent at what they do, good people," he further
explained. "Ben's local, Abi's from down South. They're good
friends and like I said earlier, I trust them implicitly with your
safety." He glanced in the rear view mirror to check on Daisy, who
with a flick of my gaze over my shoulder, I could see was staring
out of her window intently. Pierce lowered his voice, "They'd lay
down their lives, if need be."

I wasn't sure
how to feel about that. These people would be strangers, why would
they protect us at the risk of their lives? Why would Pierce think
this would make me feel better?

"I don't want
anyone to get hurt," I said, just as quietly back.

"Marie," he
said, reaching over to wrap a large palm around my hand. I did jerk
at that. Habit. In the closed confines of the car, it was harder to
pretend the move wasn't necessary. He tightened his grip, denying
my escape. His eyes on my face, not on the road in front of us.

I forced myself to lift my head, from where I'd been staring
dumbly down at our joined hands, and looked at him. I'm sure there
was a message in his eyes, in the intense look he was giving me,
but right then I couldn't decipher it. I was too on edge, too wound
up. About to break down from the sheer terror of it all. The
situation. The danger.
Him
.

"It's going to be OK," he said gently. "You've done the right
thing. The
only
thing you
could
have done. Now all you have to do is
let us help you."

I nodded. What
else could I do? The ball had been set in motion, I just had to
watch where it rolled to.

The house
Pierce brought us to was a large looking 1950's weatherboard
bungalow, which had been extended significantly at some stage. A
double garage sat detached on the rear of the section, a concrete
drive leading to it down the side of the house. The garden in the
front had been culled recently. Whatever had existed beforehand had
been pulled out and not yet replaced. Empty parcels of dirt
represented former patches of someone's hard work, and looked
decidedly forlorn in their current state. But the picket fence
along the front of the property had been newly painted a deep
green, to match the newly painted deep green trim under the
windows.

It was clear
this was a project in progress.

Pierce drove
his vehicle into the driveway and coasted it down the side of the
house. Loud music could be heard thumping behind closed windows.
Someone was yelling, and receiving a shout in reply.

Then the back
of the section opened up and I suddenly knew where Ben and Abi had
been focusing their renovation and gardening skills. The garden was
complete, with a large expanse of green grass, trimmed
immaculately. The fenced area bordered by colourful Azaleas and
flax bushes, Bougainvillea and tall stemmed, blue and white
Agapanthus. A large flowering Cherry Tree sat pride of place in the
centre, big enough to sport a wooden swing seat.

Behind the house itself was an enormous wooden deck, still
unblemished by New Zealand's harsh sun. Deck chairs and loungers
spread out in a circle on one end, and the largest barbecue I'd
ever laid eyes on, complete with outdoor fridge and a sink, sat at
the other. A man, with Māori features, stood at the open back door,
his arm casually hanging over the shoulder of a petite platinum
blonde woman to his side. Both were smiling, but I noticed the
woman, Abi it must have been, was shuffling nervously on her feet.
The man, Ben obviously, pulled her close and laid a reassuring kiss
in amongst her hair, then murmured something to in her ear. She
nodded, sucked in a deep breath, and turned her attention back on
us as we climbed out of the car.

An interesting
reaction to us, that's for sure. But then, how would I feel
inviting strangers into my - clearly newly purchased - house,
knowing they brought McLaren type trouble? She had a right to worry
and I wouldn't deny her it.

Pierce made
sure we were both out of the vehicle before he greeted the
pair.

"Ben, my man," he said, shaking the guy's hand, then he
murmured a softly spoken, "Abi, sweetheart," as he kissed the woman
on her cheek.

Ben quickly
pulled her out of Pierce's clutches and back into the protection of
his arm. It was such a proprietary move, but completely lost on
Pierce. Or he was just used to it from the bigger man, and paid it
little attention.

"This is Marie
Cox and her beautiful daughter, Daisy," Pierce announced, and then
did the strangest thing. He stepped up to my side and wrapped his
arm around my shoulder. In a mimic of Ben and Abi.

A move that
wasn't ignored by the Ben. His eyebrows rose, as his shrewd gaze
slipped over our forms and to Pierce's face.

"Is that so?"
he drawled, and received an elbow in the stomach from Abi.

"Hi," she
said, stepping forward and offering her hand for me to shake, "I'm
Abi, and the Neanderthal back there is Ben."

"Red," Ben
growled in warning. She flashed him a smile, he immediately smiled
back. Clearly without thinking, because when he caught himself
doing it he scowled instead.

"And you're
Princess Daisy," Abi announced crouching down. "Gen told me you
drew the most amazing picture of a penguin. Is that true?" the
woman asked, as though it was a mystery she'd dearly love to
solve.

In that
instant I knew we'd done the right thing. Coming here. Trusting
Pierce. Ben would be a formidable force to come against, to get to
us. And Abi was a natural with kids.

"I can do one
for you, too," Daisy announced, taking an eager step towards
Abi.

Abi beamed
back at her, and stretched out her hand for Daisy to take. Without
even the slightest hesitation Daisy slipped her hand into the
woman's.

"You got
crayons?" Daisy asked, as Abi's eyes flicked up to check on me.

"Sweetheart,"
she murmured, "we've got paint." She said it like it was a prize,
and to a five year old it probably was. To the daughter of an
obsessively clean mother, it certainly was. "And what's more, Ben
and I have a wall in our house that needs an artist's touch."

"Penguins,
Red. Really?" Ben asked, from back on the deck.

"Penguins,
Ben," she replied. "And lots of 'em."

Daisy squealed
with delight and followed Abi into the house.

"You stayin'
for a beer?" Ben asked Pierce, as we both came up onto the deck. I
hadn't realised it was that late in the day, but we had spent
several hours at Sweet Seduction.

"Yeah, sure,"
Pierce replied with a shrug. "But I've got to check on a few things
back at the office first and I need half an hour alone with Marie
before then."

He hadn't said
that in any lewd or suggestive way, but for some reason I felt a
blush sweep up my cheeks. Ben's eyes quickly flicked to my face
briefly before he turned and walked through the door leading the
way into the house.

Pierce stopped
me before I crossed the threshold with a gentle touch on my arm. He
didn't hold on, his hand dropped to his side immediately.

And I missed
it.

I frowned in
confusion at my reaction to this man. He took a small step back.
Minute really, but clearly because he'd seen my response to his
touch.

"Sorry," he
murmured. Shook his head, then ran a hand over his goatee. "Um, are
you all right? With all of this, I mean." He waved a hand at Ben
and Abi's house. He also sounded unlike himself. Not that I'd known
him long, but the apology for touching me and his stumbling
questions afterwards were not the Detective Pierce that I'd seen so
far.

"I guess," I
said slowly. "Just nervous, about everything." I hoped that
explained my reaction to him just now. Part of me didn't want him
to feel like he'd done anything wrong.

Part of me was
hoping he'd reach out and touch me again.

"Good," he
said with a nod of his head.

"Good," I
replied, unsure of what else to say.

He smiled
then, it broke the tension building, and with a sweep of his hand
towards the entrance, he announced, "Ladies first."

I had to smile
at that too. I hardly felt like a lady in days old clothes, scrapes
on my knees and bruises all over my body. I wondered if my hair was
a mess too. I reached up a hand and flattened the chin length
strands down, tucking a wayward piece behind my ear.

"You look
great," Pierce murmured in my ear from behind.

"Pardon?" I
asked, certain I'd misheard him. He cleared his throat.

"Do you, er,
want to check on Daisy and then we can get that statement of yours
sorted." Way to change the topic there, Detective. Very smooth.

I turned back
to look at him, a smirk playing on my lips which I seemed unable to
hide. He raised an eyebrow at me, a small smattering of pink in his
cheeks. I was momentarily stunned immobile. The big bad goatee
wearing detective blushes.

"Marie?" he
asked, after what was an embarrassingly long time filled with
silence. "Daisy?"

"Ah, yeah,
Daisy," I said, turning on my heel and cursing my idiocy right
then.

I found Daisy
and Abi in an empty room, after Ben gave directions on how to find
them. It was obviously going to be a guest room, but the wallpaper
had been stripped and the plasterboard left unfinished. Obviously
not much progress had been made yet. The floor was covered from
corner to corner in a dust sheet, taped down at the edges to avoid
any loose drops of paint. And there was paint here. A dozen opened
test pots of various colours, with small brushes leaning on the
side of each one.

Abi was
stirring the last opened tin, while an old borrowed t-shirt covered
Daisy was chattering away about King Penguins and the Antarctic and
her plans to migrate there. A genuine, not indulgent, smile graced
the woman's lips as her head tipped up when I walked in.

"Mummy, look
at this!" Daisy exclaimed. "Abi says I can paint it all!"

I arched a
brow at that. "Are you sure?" I asked Abi.

"Absolutely.
Ben and I have had so many arguments about what colour to paint
this room, that I think we need a third opinion now."

"You know
she'll use every single colour you've got," I pointed out.

"That's the
idea," Abi said happily. "Then when I suggest boring old 'biscuit'
or stuck-in-the-mud 'merino', Ben will think I'm a genius."

"Ah," I said
on a laugh. "Good move."

I suddenly
realised she'd stopped stirring and was looking at me, head cocked
to the side, face pinched.

"What?" I
asked, immediately checking over my shoulder to make sure no one
else was there. Searching for the real reason why she looked
pained.

Abi shook her
head and smiled again, the moment gone.

"Is Ryan
staying for dinner?" she asked instead.

It sounded
strange hearing Pierce called by his first name. I'd come to think
of him as only Pierce, or the Detective.

"I guess so,
he said he'd stay for a beer when Ben asked."

"Ah, Ben and
his beers on the deck. Do you know he used to live in a garage flat
when I first met him," she offered, a seemingly personal bit of
information. "None of the windows were low enough to look outside.
Now we have a deck and a garden and all this space and he wants
everyone to share it." She sounded so proud of him, like this was
an enormous accomplishment.

What had these
two been through to bring them here?

"How long have
you lived in this place?" I asked.

"Two months.
He couldn't wait to find a home for us to both live in, he made an
offer on the first house he viewed."

I smiled at
the roll of her eyes.

"Did you want
to live here?" I couldn't help asking.

"I would have
lived with him in the garage flat if he'd asked," she said
softly.

I blinked my
eyes a few times to wash the sting of tears away. Why her story
affected me so much, I couldn't say. But there appeared to be a
depth of love between the two of them that I could only dream
about. The sort of love that gets you through the hurdles life
throws at you, gets you over the mountains you sometimes have to
climb. Makes it possible to survive anything.

Makes you
place the other person first, above all else. Above money and
lifestyle. Above greed.

"Are you OK,
Marie?" Abi asked softly, from right in front of my face.

"Just
remembering," I said, the first thing to enter my head, thankfully
wiping the images away.

"Does that
happen a lot?" she asked carefully.

I sucked in a
deep breath, feeling like I was on uneven ground. But she seemed so
caring, so familiar, so nice. I found myself answering, without an
ounce of my customary shield of confidence at all.

"Lately,
yeah."

"Because of
McLaren?" She almost spat the drug lord's name out.

"You know
him?" I asked, flicking a gaze towards Daisy who was busy outlining
her penguin mural on the other side of the room and humming to
herself.

"You could say
that," she offered, and then I saw something flash across her face.
Something real and visceral. Something I recognised in myself.
Something that sucked all the air out of the room and made me take
a stumbling step back.

"You...
you've," I stammered. Swallowed thickly, then felt a heat brace my
spine and across my shoulders, as Pierce's hands came up to grip my
upper arms and still my backwards escape.

"Shhh," he
said in my ear soothingly, hot breath across my cheek. "Tell her
Abi," he instructed quietly, so as not to garner Daisy's
attention.

"Marie," Abi
said heavily, as though the weight of the world was on her
shoulders. "I spent the past five years of my life running from
that..." she glanced over to the other side of the room at a still
oblivious Daisy, but thought better of the description she was
about to use, and instead finished with a ground out, "man."