To Love and Protect (Must Love Diamonds 4)

Shelby kept busy dragging pins from her hair until the remainder of her curls pooled at her shoulders. She stuffed the pile of pins in her coat pocket and then sat silently, staring out the windshield.

When he was sure they weren’t being followed, Dev shot a glance across the dim cab. “You doing okay?”

Her head jerked with a nod, but then she switched to a negative shake. He firmed his grip on the steering wheel to keep from reaching for the clenched fingers in her lap.

“I don’t understand how someone got in when everything was locked.” Her brow furrowed in the dim light from the dash. “Did they get a key somehow? Or know my code? Is it someone I know?”

The fear in her voice made him want to throttle the bastard. “Does anyone have your code? Or

a key?”

“Other than my parents, no.”

“Boyfriend?”

“No. I don’t have a boyfriend.”

Even though he’d figured she didn’t since she hadn’t brought a date to the wedding, the confirmation twinged an emotion he refused to acknowledge.

“What about a recent breakup? Or a bad one in the past?”

She merely shook her head through each question. He wanted to clarify, no breakups, or just no bad ones? But that would be a dumb question, wouldn’t it? Of course she’d dated and had relationships. Beauty aside, she was sweet and fun and smart enough to make every conversation interesting. Or at least she had been at sixteen, which is what had made her offer back then so damn dangerous.

And maybe she was still all those things now. She’d been absolutely right a few weeks ago when she accused him of not knowing anything about her after the past nine years. Problem was, much as he hated to admit he wanted to know, he recognized the danger of getting too close to her was just as high now as it had been way back when.

His number one priority had to be protecting her from the sonofabitch turning her life upside down.

“We’ll figure it out,” he assured her while checking the mirrors to make the left turn onto his road. At nearly two a.m., there wasn’t another car in sight and hadn’t been for the past couple of miles. “The cops can talk to the super, and they’ll look at video surveillance from the security gates to see who came and went after you left for the wedding. And, you know your dad will have his PI on this in a heartbeat.”

“Yeah. Not that he’s found anything yet.”

He didn’t reply to her subdued statement as he pulled into his driveway and parked outside the garage. He’d turned the space into a workshop when remodeling, but needed to build a detached shop in the spring before he could switch it back. Before his discharge, he’d never been home long enough to need inside parking for more than a couple of weeks.

He reached for his cane, though he hated to use it after Shelby had asked point-blank about his injury. Unfortunately, the fresh snow on his driveway made it a necessity after the long day.

As he rounded the back of his truck on her side, he lifted her bag from the back before continuing to the passenger door. She already had it open and was stepping off the running board when he reached her. Her feet slipped on the snow as she closed the door, and he snaked an arm out to catch her from going down.

Shelby grabbed his suit coat lapel, a surprised gasp parting her lips when her body slammed against his. Dev leaned hard on his cane to keep his balance as he held her tight against his side. When he straightened to steady her on her feet, she glanced up in the dim light cast from his front porch lamp.

His breath seized in his lungs, heart thudding hard against his ribs. Deep down in his gut, he knew he was screwed. Focusing on priority number one was going to be damn near impossible when all he wanted to do in this moment was lower his mouth to hers and beg her to let him change his answer to her offer nine years ago.

Chapter 10

Pushing away from Dev took willpower Shelby struggled to employ—especially when she dropped her gaze to his lips. The urge to rise up on her tiptoes and press her mouth to his battled her common sense. Her slippers would never lift her high enough. And if she slid again on the slick soles, she’d end up planting her lips on his chin or something equally humiliating.

Which is why you are not going to kiss him.

“You good?” he asked in a gruff voice.

“Yeah, thanks.” She finally managed to put some space between them and looked at her feet with a self-conscious grin. “I didn’t even think about my slippers until after we’d left my apartment. I should’ve changed them.”

“I have hardwood floors. I’m sure you’ll be glad you have them.”

He abruptly continued toward his front door, and she followed with a wry twist of her lips. Leave it to Dev to put all the distance between them she needed.

Turning her attention to the small, plain ranch house, she asked, “Is this yours, or do you rent?”

“I bought it about eight years ago.” He unlocked the door and held it open for her, then flipped on the lights. “I didn’t want to always have to stay at my parents’ house when I came home on leave. Plus, I figured it was an investment. The neighborhood was just starting to grow, and I pretty much gutted the place and redid everything whenever I could get back for a week or two.”