Make Me Melt by Karen Foley Page A

shot in cold blood on his front doorstep. She wanted to do something useful, something that would help him. She didn’t want to sit in a hotel room, a virtual prisoner. And she definitely did not want Jason Cooper as her bodyguard.
    “Did the police find anything at the house that might give them a lead?”
    “Just the partial footprint in the flower bed. But there’s no guarantee that it belongs to the person who did this. Your father employs a lawn care service, so it could have been left by a worker.”
    Caroline pushed her plate away. “So exactly what’s your role in all of this? Are you only here to watch over me, or will you also help in the investigation? I mean, it would be pretty hard to just sit by and not have an active role, right?”
    “I do have an active role,” he said quietly. “My role is protecting you.”
    “But you’re a U.S. marshal. Don’t you usually give this kind of job to your deputies?” She leaned forward. “Why don’t you assign one of your men—Deputy Black, maybe—to stay with me? Then you can do whatever it is you do to find the sonofabitch who did this to my father.”
    She watched as he pushed his own plate aside and gave her a crooked smile. That slight tilting of his mouth fascinated her, and Caroline realized how seldom she’d seen Jason smile. She didn’t even know what his laughter sounded like. During her youth, when he had come over to the house to see her father, she couldn’t recall a single time when he’d been lighthearted or full of exuberance. She’d never given it much thought, because part of his appeal had been his dark intensity and the aura of danger that had clung to him.
    He was still broody and intense, but she hadn’t sensed any of the pent-up rage he’d once exhibited, except when he’d first seen her father at the hospital. But she understood that anger, because she felt it, too. Now she wondered if he’d managed to find happiness in the past twelve years. He’d certainly achieved an impressive level of success in his career.
    “Do you like your job?” she asked, intercepting whatever he might have said in response to her suggestion that he switch assignments with Deputy Black. “I mean, is it everything you’d hoped it would be?”
    He gave her a bemused look, and then his smile broadened. “Yeah, it is. In fact, it’s even better than I’d imagined.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    To Caroline’s astonishment, he actually seemed a little embarrassed. “Nah. You don’t want to hear about my job. I’ll have you bored to tears within minutes.”
    She doubted that very much. The one thing Jason had never made her feel was bored.
    Aroused? Frustrated and angry? Yes. But never bored.
    His smiled faded, and she saw his expression change to concern. “Hey. Are you sure you’re okay?”
    “I’m fine. It was just a shock to see so much blood....” Her voice trailed off, and she looked down at her hands, blinking back sudden tears. “I should have been here. I should never have moved so far away.”
    Reaching across the table, Jason caught her chin in his fingers and tipped her face up so that she was forced to look at him. “You have every right to live your own life, and your father didn’t want it any other way. He’s always been proud of you and what you’ve accomplished. You’re working for one of the best law firms in Virginia.”
    Caroline pulled away. “It’s mostly just divorce and child custody cases,” she demurred. “Nothing exciting.”
    She couldn’t say why, but she was reluctant to tell him about her work with Virginia’s Child Protective Services, or how most of her time was dedicated toward safeguarding the rights of abused and neglected children. She was afraid if she did tell him, he’d realize the impact he’d had on her life, and she didn’t want to give him that kind of power. He’d once called her spoiled and selfish, and she preferred to let him believe that. It would be easier to keep him at a