Guardian by Catherine Mann Page B

one Nanny left on for nights Sophie worked late.
    Throwing open the car door, she stepped out into the hot night air. She tossed her uniform jacket and shoes into the car—and what the hell—shimmied out of her panty hose as well.
    A short sprint later and she was wriggling her toes in the cool mud. One at a time, she yanked the pins from her hair and flung them into the water, watching each sink slowly out of sight. Wind-chime tunes carried along the breeze, dancing a tinkling path out into the dark. Nanny and Brice both slept inside the house, so she could walk as long as she wanted—as long as she
needed
. And she would need a damn long walk to sort through that moment in her office when David had touched her. Just a simple hold on her shoulder, but she’d wanted more.
    And she saw in his eyes that he knew it. Even worse, he wanted her, too.
    Sophie shook her hair free until strands whipped against her cheeks. Barefoot, she stumbled against a root jutting from the water, her blouse fluttering loose from her waistband. Wind blowing off the water drifted around her, slipping underneath. Each gust teased her skin with whisper-warm brushes like a lover’s kisses.
    Married at twenty, pregnant by twenty-two, she wasn’t innocent. She had been widowed. Gone to law school. Served her country. She’d even deployed to the Middle East. But now her life was focused completely on her son. She’d understood what she was giving up by choosing to remain alone after Lowell had died. No relationships, especially not when her son still wore that haunted lost look. She hadn’t questioned her decision to stay alone.
    Until tonight.
    David. An aviator like her father. Fearless like her husband.
    Even knowing this to be true didn’t stop her from wanting him. People didn’t always want what was right. Hadn’t she learned that lesson already?
    Flashes of those needy moments in her office taunted her. She’d been so proud of herself for maintaining professional distance…And then she’d let her emotions get the better of her, and she revealed too much when she’d slipped and called her client Brice. God, even she hadn’t fully realized until that moment how much Ricky’s case resonated with her because of her own son. As a lawyer, she was supposed to be in control of her words and still she’d blundered into such a massive Freudian slip.
    Then David had touched her. She hadn’t pulled away. Her body still pulsed with a need that almost washed away reason. Almost.
    He was an aviator like her father and a risk taker like her husband. The repeated knowledge became her mantra as Sophie trudged through the shallow water. Each recitation strengthened her determination to protect herself.
    Resolute, she turned back. She ignored her tear and let the wind claim it as it brushed her with the haunting music of wind chimes. Sophie focused on her home, a haven. Stepping from the water, she walked along the shore, each step settling her.
    Squinting, she caught a glimpse of her curtains fluttering. A light knifed through the darkness as someone slipped out of her front door. Fear snaked down her spine. The shadowy figure vaulted over her porch banister and tucked into the darkness.

F OUR

    Brice and Nanny were alone in the house.
    Sophie’s heart thudded in time with her feet as she raced across the muddy bank. All thoughts of being protected fled. No one would touch her family. She scanned the yard for signs of the intruder returning. Nothing but a black void where the night had absorbed him. Or her? Or maybe more than one?
    She yanked her purse from the car in case she needed to unlock a door. Had the intruder gone in through the window?
    Panting, Sophie reached the bottom of the stairs. She flung her arms forward, gripping the banister to pull herself up the steps faster until she reached the deck. Splinters stung her fingers.
    The front door was slightly ajar. So much for needing a key. She touched the cracked wood around the jimmied