Veiled Intentions (14 page)

Merrick returned and handed Joe a piece of paper as well, but when Katelyn glanced at the number, she realized it wasn't the same one Kent had given them. Maybe one of them would pan out.

“Now, if you'll excuse us,” Kent said, taking Merrick's arm. “Addison and I have some things to discuss in private. Good luck with your wedding plans.”

Joe and Katelyn started for the door, but he stopped as soon as the two men disappeared into the hall.

“You think Kent drives a black BMW?” Katelyn whispered over the music.

“We'll know soon enough.”

He glanced at the corridor on the other side of the room, and she knew what he was thinking. On the pretense of going to the ladies' room, she'd used that corridor to circle around the back of the building so she could get to Merrick's office.

“I can pretend to go to the bathroom,” Katelyn suggested. “I might be able to hear what they're discussing.”

Joe obviously thought about it but then shook his head. “It's too risky.”

“Not if you wander over toward that hall so you could keep an eye on Merrick's office. That way, you
can alert me if they come out. And if they're suspicious, you can just say you're waiting for me to get out of the ladies' room. In the meantime, you can call Fiona and check on vehicles registered to Dr. Kent.”

“It's still risky.”

“So is waiting for the sniper to strike again. I'm betting those two know something.”

“Yeah.” And he repeated it before he angled his eyes in her direction. “Tell me you can take care of yourself.”

Katelyn smiled. Not from joy, exactly. But from the weirdness of the moment. She'd succeeded in winning him over to her impromptu plan, but it didn't exactly leave her feeling victorious. “I'll be careful. You do the same. I'll keep my communicator on in case you need me.”

Katelyn gave him one last look, one that she hoped calmed his concerns. But there was nothing calm about what she was feeling.

She drew her weapon, shielding it against her leg and started down the corridor past offices on both sides, the restrooms and then into the back bend of the U-shaped network of hallways. Thankfully, there weren't any employees or clients lingering around.

But had someone turned up the music? The sensual sound of the sax no longer seemed so sensual. It just seemed loud. Overpowering, actually. Or maybe it was because the beat now matched the heartbeat drumming in her ears.

“Everything okay?” Katelyn whispered into her communicator.

“They haven't come out,” Joe let her know.

She paused at the final section of the hall that was only about ten yards from Merrick's office and took a quick look around the corner. She caught a glimpse of Joe at the end of the hall before she ducked back.

“Great,” she mumbled under her breath.

Even with the music, she should have heard shouting or even a normal conversation between Merrick and Kent. Kent had certainly done some shouting the last time he was there. It was Murphy's Law that he wouldn't cooperate in the volume department today. That meant she needed to get closer.

It wasn't an actual sound that alerted her, but something did. Something that sent her spinning to the side.

Everything happened fast.

Too fast for her to go on the offensive. The man came out from one of the rooms and rammed his body against hers, slamming her against the wall. Her injured arm hit first, and the pain was immediate and searing. Katelyn saw stars.

Another body slam. He threw the full force of his weight right into her. The impact knocked the breath out of her, and while she was fighting to pull air into her lungs, Katelyn got a good look at her attacker's face.

It was Bruce Donovan.

He clamped his hand around the front of her throat. But not to try to choke her, she soon learned. He ripped the communicator from beneath her collar.

“I knew there was something wrong about you,” he snarled. “Who the hell are you?”

Katelyn knew she had to act fast. Joe was no doubt already on his way, and she didn't want him walking in on this, especially since he'd have to go past Merrick and Kent first. This was not the time for a gun battle.

Ignoring the pain in her arm and lungs, Katelyn brought up her leg, and using as much force as she could marshal, she kneed Donovan in the groin. He howled in pain and immediately released the grip he had on her.

She didn't stop there.

Katelyn grabbed his forearm and slung him forward so that he was the one against the wall. Face-first. A quick pat down, and she discovered he wasn't armed.

“Kate?” she heard Joe call out.

But that wasn't all she heard. She heard footsteps coming from the other direction, as well. They were all converging toward her.

She kept her forearm pressed against Donovan's back and snatched up her gun. That couple of moments must have given him his second wind because he tried to come at her again. He whirled around, his fist ready to bash her right in the face.

“Kate!” Joe yelled.

She was vaguely aware of Joe rounding the corner. But just vaguely. Thankfully, he didn't dive in and pull a knight-in-shining-armor maneuver. He stayed back and let her do her job.

Katelyn ducked.

Donovan's attempted jab breezed past her head, and in the same motion, she delivered a snap kick to his stomach. She didn't give him a chance to get a second wind. Recoiling, she pivoted and landed another kicking blow to the back of his legs. Donovan went down to the floor, hard, gasping for breath.

It took everything inside her not to slam him right back against that wall and read him his rights. But that wasn't a smart thing to do. There was still a chance that Joe and she could keep their cover intact. If not, then they were in trouble because they were in the same building with three of their four murder suspects.

Doing some light gasping of her own, Katelyn glanced around to get her bearings. Joe was on one side, his weapon drawn. On the other side were Dr. Kent and Merrick. They stood there in stunned silence.

“Are you okay?” Joe asked. The muscles in his jaw had turned to iron. He looked ready to rip Donovan limb from limb.

Katelyn nodded. “He tried to assault me. He wasn't successful.” And after delivering that news to Joe, she made certain she added a stern look that hopefully would convince him to stay in cover. “Guess all that self-defense training finally came in handy.”

“She's got a gun,” Donovan managed to say. He struggled to get to his feet. Staggered. And dropped back to his knees.

Katelyn angled her body so she could deliver another snap kick if necessary. “Good thing too, huh? A woman never knows when she'll need a gun.”

Merrick came closer. “What's going on here?” Maybe the adrenaline was clouding her senses, but Katelyn couldn't tell if he was concerned for her, or for Donovan.

“I think she's the sniper,” Donovan snarled.

Oh, great.

It was either fast thinking on his part to save his butt, or else he genuinely believed that. If it was the latter, it would explain why he'd come after her in the first place. But Katelyn wasn't about to stake her life on anything that Donovan said. Even if he wasn't the sniper, the man was slime.

“She's wearing some kind of wire.” Donovan leaned into the wall so he could stand. Not easily. However, he eventually got to his feet.

“This?” Katelyn made a point of showing both Merrick and Kent her communicator when she picked it up from the floor. “It's not a wire. It's a walkie-talkie, a way for Joe and me to stay in touch when we can't be together. Call me overly devoted, but I like being able to talk with the man I love 24/7.”

Joe gave a confirming nod, and turned back his collar so they could see his communicator, as well.

There were several tense seconds, several uncomfortable glances between Kent and Merrick before Merrick finally moved and took Bruce's arm. “Let's discuss this in my office.”

“Wait,” Donovan said, holding his ground. He
fired a nasty glare at her. “If she's not the sniper, then what the hell was she doing sneaking around back here?”

“I was looking for the bathroom,” Katelyn quickly provided. No glare for her. She made sure she looked upset, which wasn't that difficult considering what had just gone down. Her heart was still racing from the fight.

More tense moments. Joe walked closer to stand right by her side. Maybe for comfort. Or maybe he just wanted to be in a better position to fire if it came down to that.

“I'm sorry this happened, Kate,” Merrick finally said. “I hope you'll accept my apology.” And he didn't just say it, either. He
appeared
to be sorry. Of course, that sincerity could have been for all the wrong reasons. “Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to talk with Bruce in private. I trust the two of you can see yourselves out.”

Yes, they could do that, but it meant turning their backs on at least one potential killer. Still, leaving was about the only way to maintain their cover. Joe obviously felt the same. He didn't reholster his gun, nor did he take her arm—a move that would have hampered her ability to return fire. However, he did gesture with his head for them to get moving.

Katelyn complied. But she glanced over her shoulder. And neither of them stopped glancing until they were out of the building and in the car.

Joe started the engine and drove away. He made it a full block before he slid his arm around her and
pulled her to him. The muscles in his body were still rock-hard, and that jaw told her that he was far from winning the battle with adrenaline.

“Thanks for not jumping in fists first back there when you saw me with Donovan.”

It seemed as if several times he changed his mind about what to say. “You didn't appear to need me to jump in.”

Oh, that cost him. The words were right. So was the sentiment. However, he'd not said it easily. “I didn't, but Garrett forgets that sometimes.”

“I can see why.” That was all he said for the next couple of seconds. “Just don't expect me to forget it again if Donovan comes near you.”

Katelyn O'Malley slept the same way she did everything else in life—thoroughly.

At first, she'd balked at his idea of resting while they waited for Fiona to return his call, but once Joe had coaxed her into lying down on the sofa, she'd fallen asleep within minutes. He even managed to take a nap in the adjacent chair. Since they'd gotten virtually no sleep the night before, it was a necessity. He wanted to be as alert as possible for the meeting with Fiona.

And for anything else they might face today.

A lot of things had gone wrong at Perfect Match, and that was an understatement. It could have been much worse. When Donovan came after Katelyn, she'd fought him off, subdued him—all without blowing her cover.

That pissed Joe off.

Katelyn can take care of herself,
Brayden had told him. It was true. She could. That didn't mean, how
ever, that she couldn't be hurt. It sure as heck didn't mean she was invincible.

Rather than identify herself to Donovan as a police officer, read the scum his rights and/or take him down the hard way, she'd risked everything. Part of him, the cop part, greatly admired her devotion to duty. But the rest of him just wanted to grab her by the shoulders, give her a hard shake and yell at her for taking chances like that with her life.

Not that yelling would do any good, but at least then she'd know…

…what?

Joe stopped and brooded over that for a moment.

And he decided it wouldn't be a good idea to finish that thought.

He stood, brushed a loose strand of hair from her face and forced his attention away from her mouth—which somehow managed to look both innocent and sensual at the same time. He went into the bathroom so he could call headquarters.

He reached Detective Davidson who in turn transferred his call to Garrett, who'd apparently been doing the trace on the vehicle that'd followed them. Not exactly a duty in Garrett's job description. Well, not unless the case had strayed over into Special Investigations.

“Please tell me you volunteered for this extra work, Sergeant O'Malley,” Joe commented.

“What can I say? I'm a glutton for cyber searches,” he said sarcastically, but the sarcastic tone
quickly faded. “Davidson's working on the wedding details so I figured I'd pitch in and do my part.”

In this case, his part was over and above. “Thanks.”

“Let's just say you owe me and leave it at that.” He didn't give Joe a chance to ask him to elaborate. “Okay, here goes. There are hundreds of black BMWs registered to owners who live in the area. Guess that's not a surprise. So I did some cross-referencing with your suspects and got lucky. One of them has a late model black BMW.”

“Bruce Donovan,” Joe provided.

“You got it. I guess that's not a surprise either?”

“Not really. He came after Katelyn while we were visiting Merrick.”

There was a short pause. “Define
came after Katelyn.
”

Joe hoped this sounded better aloud, but he wasn't counting on it. “Donovan claimed he thought she was the sniper so he tried to
apprehend
her.”

Another pause, a long one, and Joe didn't need to see the man's expression to know that Garrett was not happy with this latest development. “She wasn't hurt?”

“No.” But the images of her pulverizing Donovan didn't do much to ease that tight fist around his heart. If she hadn't ducked, if she'd been just an inch or two out of position to deliver those snap kicks, if the man had been a fraction faster, then…

There it was again.

Those running commentaries in his head that he
really didn't want to finish. But these wouldn't back off. The truth was, even if all those other things had happened, she would have no doubt found a way to kick Donovan's butt. Katelyn wouldn't have given up.

That last part didn't exactly make him feel better, either.

“She handled Donovan on her own?” Garrett asked.

“Yeah.” Joe braced himself for Garrett's lecture that would no doubt contain a lot of profanity and a thorough dressing down for not protecting his sister.

A lecture that didn't come.

“She wouldn't have
appreciated
the help anyway,” Garrett grumbled.

“That was my guess, too.”

Now there was some profanity, but it wasn't aimed at Joe. “It doesn't make it any easier to watch.”

Joe settled for a “No.”

The conversation might have lacked quantity, but at the end of the next pause, Joe felt as if he'd reached some sort of truce with Katelyn's brother. It was a truce he hadn't even realized he wanted until it happened.

“So the next step is to speak to Fiona Shipley?” Garrett asked, getting them back into a comfort zone they both understood—the job.

“I'm waiting for her to return my call now.” He checked his watch. That wait was now on its third hour. “I got her cell number from Dr. Kent and left her a message.”

“Kent, huh? That's an interesting source for that particular bit of info.”

Yes, Joe thought so, as well. “Sometimes, Garrett, I wonder if all four of them aren't in on it. Like some conspiracy to cover up something that got botched either at Perfect Match or Kent's office. They just keep coiling and winding around each other like a nest of vipers.”

If he thought for one minute it would stop the sniper, Joe would haul all of them in and lock them up for as long as possible. Without physical evidence to connect them to the crimes, however, that lockup wouldn't last long. They'd lawyer up and be out before the ink dried on the paperwork.

There was a tap at the door, and he opened it to find Katelyn standing there. “Hello, Garrett,” she said, leaning closer to the phone. “Thin walls,” she added when Joe just looked at her.

“Thanks for the BMW info,” he told Garrett. “I'll let you know how it goes with Fiona.”

“
If
it goes,” Katelyn corrected when he hung up.

“It'll go.” But Joe was beginning to doubt it himself. If she didn't call soon, they'd have to look for her. Fiona was the one player in all of this that they hadn't had a real chance to question. Joe had absolutely no proof, but the feeling in his gut told him that she had information that could help them get a handle on this case.

Or else she was the killer.

But either way, he needed to talk to her. With the wedding only a day away, that talk had to come soon.

Joe watched as Katelyn peeled off her jacket, and in the process he felt his body rev up for all sorts of carnal possibilities. A glimpse of her lacy bra egged those possibilities on even more. But they came to a quick crash and burn when she reached for the first aid kit.

“Another
scratch?
” he asked. Joe tried to keep emotion out of his voice, but the battle was lost before he opened his mouth.

Katelyn shook her head. “Same one.”

She quickly tossed the old bandage in the trash. It wasn't so fast that Joe didn't see the fresh blood.

“That fight with Donovan,” he mumbled.

Hell.

“It's no big deal.” She wiped the wound with antiseptic, hissed out a breath at the inevitable sting and put on a fresh bandage. “I just didn't want to get any blood on the wedding dress when I try it on to make sure it fits.”

He was glad Garrett wasn't around to hear that one. Heck, he didn't even want to hear it, so he focused on the second part of her oh-so-casual comment that wasn't anywhere in the realm of being casual. “What wedding dress?”

She turned and went into the bedroom. “It was in that box Brayden gave you.”

And now it was on the bed. The corner of the large rectangular box was lifted slightly, and Joe caught a glimpse of ivory silk.

“Look the other way,” she instructed. “I'm about to strip down to my underwear.”

His body revved up again. “Modest?” Hard to believe, especially since they had a go at each other in the bathroom the night before.

“No. Considering you've already seen me naked, modesty would be pointless. I just don't want you looking for any bruises that Donovan might have left on me.”

Another immediate halt on the revving. With lots of effort, he could ignore the blood comment but not that one. “Damn it, Katelyn, did he hurt you?”

“No, but he likely bruised me when he slammed me against the wall.” She discarded her top on the bed and unzipped her skirt. “Don't worry, I'm positive his bumps and bruises outnumber mine, and I seriously doubt he'll be able to sit for a while.”

That didn't help one bit. “This isn't a contest. Or a joking matter.”

Huffing, she sat down on the edge of the bed and pulled the dress from the box. But her attention wasn't on the heap of silk, lace and seed pearls. Her eyes lifted to connect with his. “Don't you think I know that? Care to guess what was going through my mind while I was ramming my knee into Donovan's reproductive organs? I was thinking, no,
worrying
about you. I was afraid if you came in with guns blazing and fists flying, you'd get hurt.”

“Guns blazing and fists flying?” Joe was on the verge of telling her that those things would have never happened.
Never.
But it was too uncomfortably close to a lie. The truth was he'd considered blazing
guns, flying fists and any other extreme force when he saw Donovan swing that punch at Katelyn.

“Great,” she mumbled. “Brayden didn't pick this out. This is my mother's dress.”

It took Joe a moment to pound down the anger he was still feeling over those possible bruises, but from the groan that Katelyn made, it was obvious they had another problem to deal with first.

“It's a message,” she went on. “Like the one in that scene from
The Godfather
when they sent the fish wrapped up in the newspaper.”

Joe shook his head, sure he'd missed something. “I don't make the connection.”

“It's my mother's way of saying ‘I know you won't do anything that'll result in bullet holes or bloodstains on this wedding dress since it's practically a family heirloom.” Katelyn gave a heavy sigh. “She's worried about me.”'

“Well, that makes two of us.”

Except he knew it wasn't limited to such a small number. There was Brayden, Garrett and probably a whole multitude of other O'Malleys. Joe would have loved to say that their concern wasn't warranted. But it was. In less than twenty-four hours, the undercover assignment would take them in the direction of the church—and the sniper.

He was still in knots about that when he felt her fingertip skim over his stomach. His bare stomach. “Your button's undone,” she said, remedying that for him. Well, she remedied it after another brush of her fingertip.

“You're trying to distract me from those possible bruises,” he let her know.

“Yes, I am.” She smiled, undid the button again and planted a kiss on his stomach. “Is it working?”

He fought to hang on to the anger a little longer, but it slipped away. “Like a charm.” And because the distraction felt so damn good, he slid his finger over the lacy edge of her bra. White lace. Against her cream-colored skin. Talk about erotic. Of course, it was highly possible it was erotic simply because it was Katelyn's bra, Katelyn's breast. “What can I say—I'm easy.”

“You're a lot of things, Sergeant Joseph Luis Rico, but easy isn't one of them. In fact, I'd say you're the hardest thing in my life right now. And no, there are no raunchy hidden meanings in that.”

Joe smiled anyway and pushed the thoughts of bruises and snipers aside when she grabbed a handful of his shirt and hauled him onto the bed with her. He landed on top of her, but like the previous night, she quickly did something about that. Katelyn shifted, rolling them both over the soft mattress, and when she'd finished the rolling she was on top, straddling him.

“Control issues?” he asked.

But her mouth was already swooping down on his. Fast. A hungry kiss that left no doubt that she wasn't after conversation. It was next to impossible to argue with that, even though he should be arguing. Instead, he was just thankful he'd picked up some condoms
when he'd filled up the car with gas at the nearby convenience store.

Joe reached up, opened the front closure on her bra and had the satisfaction of her breasts spilling out into his hands. She was small. Firm.

Perfect.

He cupped one, then the other and ran his thumbs over her nipples. It was obvious she enjoyed it from the way her mouth opened, and the soft sound of pleasure she made.

Katelyn didn't take the time to savor that pleasure, however. She pulled off her skirt, dragging it up and over her head and flinging it aside. No pause. No hesitation. She went after his belt and zipper. And Joe surprised her, and himself, by catching on to her wrist to stop her.

“Control issues?” he repeated. “Claustrophobia? Is that why you like to be on top?”

She gave him an
all right, here goes
huff. “The missionary stuff is just a little scary for me, okay? It's that whole being passive part.”

“Passive?” Sex with Katelyn was anything but passive.

Another flustered huff. And a hesitation. “It just doesn't feel right. Or fair. It's almost no work being on the bottom, but yet I'd still get all the…benefits.”

Interesting. She carried her belief in the bedroom that she had to work twice as hard and twice as long to get what she wanted.

As her cue that the conversation was over, she leaned down and went after his neck with a kiss. She
didn't stop there. Katelyn slid her hand over the front of his pants, a move that had Joe going from seriously aroused to rock-hard. “But if it's something you want—”

Joe ended that with a kiss of his own. “The only thing I want is you, Katelyn.”

That slowed her down. She lifted her head, and her gaze met his. In the depth of those green eyes, there was concern that he was sure was mirrored in his. Concern they might have actually discussed.