Myles’s fingers drummed ceaselessly on the steering wheel of the truck. No particular rhythm, he just needed some sound to fill the emptiness.
Suddenly he spied Teddy and his partner exiting the house and crossing the street. The big man nodded at Myles, signaling that the bugs had been planted.
A glance at the dashboard and the clock read 12:43 p.m. Kenzie should be leaving now. Any minute. The phone repair guys had just left. She should be free to head toward their meeting.
The front door opened, and his heart leapt. But it was Kenzie’s grandmother going to her sedan and pulling it onto the street—leaving Kenzie and Mac alone in the house.
Kenzie was alone with Mac.
Mac would not be crazy enough to hurt Kenzie in his own home. Would he?
12:44 p.m. Still no sign of Kenzie.
His thumbs joined the percussion section on his steering wheel to the rhythm of his high school’s fight song. Strange that it should pop into his mind now, but he felt the same way he always had before a big game. Breathing slow. Heart beating steadily quicker and quicker.
He scratched his right thigh. The doctor at the twenty-four-hour urgent care had told him that the mountain lion wound was mending at a good rate, and the fact that it itched constantly was a sign that it was healing. The chances of it reopening were very low, and there was no infection. Although he would likely always have a scar, it would diminish with time. All in all, the doctor praised the care that it had received.
Myles conveniently failed to mention that he had managed to rip it open several times since the original attack. Instead, he focused on remembering the way that Kenzie had cared for him, even when she thought him a felon who intended to kill her. She was something else, so tender and spunky. His Sweet and Spicy Kenzie.
12:46 p.m.
Still no sign of her.
If she didn’t leave right away, she’d never make it to the coffeehouse in time to meet him at one, like they arranged. What could be holding her up?
He opened the door of the truck to check in with the van fifty yards down the street, but quickly slammed it shut when another car pulled into the driveway. Not Mrs. Thorn’s car. This one a sleek, black Lincoln Town Car. When it stopped, a driver got out and stepped to the back door, opening it. Out stepped JB Ryker. The man who had tried to have Kenzie taken out of the picture. JB looked around the street quickly, then walked to the front door, letting himself in without knocking.
The silence in the cab of his truck was deafening. He would have given anything to hear what the bug was picking up in Mac’s office. But where was Kenzie in the house? Was she okay, or being detained against her will?
The unknown was killing Myles, so after another minute he hopped out of the cab of the truck and strolled toward Teddy and John’s van, trying not to attract attention from the neighbors. At least he’d be able to hear some of what was happening in the house from there. But before he made it halfway to them, the van’s horn honked in three rapid beeps. Teddy and John leaped from the van and darted toward him. He instantly spun and raced for the front door of the house.
There could be only one reason for their actions. They had the information they needed to prosecute Mac and JB Ryker. And someone was in trouble inside that house.
The only person at risk was Kenzie.
Running on complete instinct, Myles hurdled the hedge and reached the front door moments before his fellow special agents. No time to pick the lock, he lifted his left leg and kicked right below the door handle. His foot smarted, and his old knee injury screamed. The door barely budged.
One more attempt and then he was going to have to pull his gun. Lucky for the door, it splintered away from the frame the second time his boot struck it.
Someone yelped down the hallway, and he raced in that direction, John and Teddy right behind him. Myles pulled his weapon from his shoulder holster and held it in front of him with locked elbows.
At every turn he feared seeing Kenzie lying on the floor, injured or worse. His mind shut down from fear, and he acted only on training, sweeping into every room and checking for occupants.
It seemed an eternity before Myles plowed into a room that looked like a study with an enormous desk and bookshelves full of leather-bound volumes. JB, Kenzie and her grandfather stood in the middle of the room. JB’s outraged expression and dangerously waving weapon described the situation perfectly.
“Do you know who I am?” JB demanded.
Kenzie winced as the pistol in JB’s hand grazed her chin, and Myles noticed for the first time that Mac seemed stunned by the entire situation.
Hands steady around the butt of his weapon, Myles took a deep breath. “Let her go.”
“Get out of here! This has nothing to do with you!” JB’s anger filled every corner of the room like a deluge. He was too distracted to take a close look at the man holding the weapon, and Myles was thankful that JB didn’t seem to recognize him from their two brief encounters inside the prison.
Kenzie’s eyes, wide with fear, jumped from Myles to Teddy to John. “Please—please help me,” she begged, at the same time taking a step away from JB.
Teddy took the opportunity to pull out his badge and make introductions. “I’m Special Agent Theodore Dawson. These are Special Agents Myles Borden and John Timmins. Sir, please put the gun down and step away from the lady.”
For a split second Myles thought that JB would refuse, would put up a fight, but he never had a chance. With the same agility she had shown when she kicked Myles in the cabin, Kenzie lifted her foot and kicked it backward into Ryker’s kneecap. The older man screamed in pain and dropped his hold on her arm. Teddy easily swiped the gun from Ryker’s hand as he rolled on the floor, holding his leg.
The rage on Ryker’s face slowly dissipated as the truth of the situation hit him. His eyes squinted as he looked up at Kenzie and the three FBI special agents.
Kenzie had lunged forward, crawling to the wall, and she pulled her knees to her chin. A small white dog nuzzled her side.
Teddy took a breath and said something that Myles guessed he had never thought he would have to say in his lifetime. “Governor Thorn, Superintendent Ryker, you’re both under arrest for embezzling government funds and for conspiracy to commit murder.”
Mac’s head shook side to side, and he tried to explain. “I never meant for it to go this far. Kenzie, you have to believe me.” He looked into Kenzie’s face, but her expression was rigid, frozen in fear, eyes eclipsing the rest of her features.
Lowering his weapon, Myles pulled her to her feet and away from the scene where Teddy handcuffed Mac and Ryker while John read them their Miranda Rights.
Myles fought every internal instinct to pull her into his arms and comfort her. He had already ruined his professional reputation with her, taking advantage of her while they were on their own in Evergreen. But now he kept at least a foot between them as she stared unblinkingly at the scene in the middle of the room. He doubted his touch would be of any comfort after the way they parted at the bus station. His embrace now would only serve to rub in the truth of her grandfather’s betrayal.
When Muriel Thorn arrived back at the house, her husband was just being led to the police car that had been called as backup. Knowing enough to give the women their privacy, Myles exited the house as Kenzie fell into her grandmother’s waiting arms.
Kenzie clung to Nana’s arm in shock as they walked down the driveway past the elaborate SUV that now Kenzie realized surely had been purchased with money from the prison budget. They followed Mac as one of the FBI agents led him toward the black-and-white police car blocking the end of the driveway. Another police car, holding JB, and several other sedans, likely unmarked police vehicles, filled the street.
Kenzie sighed in relief that none of the neighbors poked their heads out of front doors or peeked obviously between blinds. Watching Mac with his head hung low and wrists cuffed behind his back was hard enough without an audience. This kind of humiliation would ruin Nana’s reputation and could leave her without a single friend. How could Mac possibly do that to her? To both of them?
A uniformed police officer opened the back door of the black-and-white, while the special agent leading him placed his hand on top of Mac’s head. Mac took the moment to glance over his shoulder, looking from Nana to Kenzie, meeting each of their gazes.
“I’m sorry,” he said. He neither shouted nor whispered, but his voice easily carried the twenty feet between them. “I’ve made some terrible mistakes.”
“I have, too,” Nana whispered.
The special agent said, “Sir, you still have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of a law.”
Never taking his gaze off of Nana, Mac replied, “I’m aware of that, but some things need to be said. Muriel, please forgive me. I’ve been so blind. I never—I never meant for Kenzie to get involved in this. You both are the most important things in my life. But I’m nothing if I’m not the governor. I’m not worthy of you without this position. I needed the money for the campaign. Suarez was doing too well. I needed the money! Can’t you understand that? I never thought that Joe would take it so far, putting Kenzie in danger. I was just trying to protect her, getting her out of the prison.”
Nana shuddered, and Kenzie pulled her a little closer to her side, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. As the agent helped Mac into the backseat, Nana whispered, “I never cared about the governorship.” She spoke so softly that Mac had no chance of hearing it, but Kenzie heard it clearly.
Pulling her grandmother into a tight embrace, Kenzie let two teardrops slip down her cheeks. “Nana, I’m sorry.”
Nana held on to the back of Kenzie’s shirt with all the strength in her frail hands, clutching the fabric into fist-shaped wrinkles. “No, I’m sorry, dear.”
“This isn’t your fault.”
“I should have done more.”
“What do you mean?”
Nana’s shoulders shook as she cried silently. “I knew, just knew that there was something wrong. I was worried about you working at the prison, and then I overheard Mac on the phone several months ago. I couldn’t sit back and do nothing, so I called my friend Nate Andersen.”
The name sounded familiar to Kenzie, but she couldn’t place where she had heard it before. As though reading her thoughts, Nana continued, “Nate is the special agent in charge of the Portland office of the FBI. He and I met at a law enforcement fund-raiser several years ago. He was very kind to me, so when I thought you were in serious danger, I called him to make sure that you’d be protected.”
“You asked the FBI to watch out for me? You’re the reason that Myles kidnapped me?”
Nana shrugged slightly, her eyes sad. “I’m sorry, honey. I should have done more. I just didn’t know who else to go to.”
Kenzie could hardly believe her ears. “But why didn’t you tell me?”
“Well, I didn’t know how extreme Nate would be, putting one of his men undercover. And of course I had no idea that you’d be kidnapped. What possible reason could it serve to worry you? What if it all had nothing to do with you? You would have been frightened for no reason.” Kenzie blanched at her reasoning, almost laughing out loud. Nana patted her hand. “Now, now. Everything has worked out, hasn’t it? God’s brought us through this mess in one piece.”
Kenzie looked down the driveway as the police cars carrying Mac and JB pulled into the street. It all seemed unreal—like a dream, only with real consequences that would likely see her grandfather locked in prison.
Tears filled her eyes and she reached for her grandmother. “Thank you for what you did.”
Nana nodded into Kenzie’s shoulder, and the two women held onto each other as though they might never let go. Kenzie could only hold on tight and wait for the emotions to calm. She needed to be strong, but the truth was that she craved the feel of strong, protective arms cradling her to an immovable chest. Arms that comforted in the face of the truth.
She had been betrayed for money and the governor’s race.
Looking over Nana’s shoulder, Kenzie searched the faces of the FBI agents and police officers milling around the driveway. Myles was nowhere to be found. No shaggy brown hair or piercing blue eyes.
Likely never again.
Kenzie slid into the pew beside her grandmother, the same pew they had shared at First Grace for nearly twenty years. It was more than a week after Mac’s arrest, and the memories of that horrific day still made her ache to her very core. She bowed her head, with no words to pray, and just sat silently, hoping for a peace that passed all understanding. At length, her grandmother squeezed her hand gently, and Kenzie looked into the kind old face.
“Sweetie, you must stop beating yourself up over this. Your grandfather made his own decisions. As much as we’d like to, we can’t control the actions of the ones we love.”
Kenzie swallowed deeply, guilt flooding through her. But not guilt for Mac’s actions. Guilt that she was only concerned with her own broken heart.
Myles had stood right next to her that day in Mac’s study and barely touched her. He never held her. Never comforted her. Apparently never cared for her. And she was left with a broken heart, for she had been forced to admit that Myles had never lied. Not about Mac or his motives. The money, the power, the election, he’d risked her for all of it.
The truth about Mac stung. But the truth about Myles broke her.
God, mend my broken heart. If I never see Myles again, let me know that I’m okay with You alone. But if You wouldn’t mind, I’d really like to see him again. Please.
And then, as if he appeared because she prayed for him to, Myles strode down the far aisle of the sanctuary. He slipped into the row behind them, sitting in the farthest seat away from her.
When he looked up and met her eyes with his blue gaze, her breath vanished and she whipped her head around to stare at the large cross hanging in the front of the vast room.
When Pastor Peter began his sermon, Kenzie could barely hear the words he spoke for the rushing in her ears. The sound of butterfly wings. The butterflies that swarmed her stomach as she felt Myles’s gaze lock onto her neck.
Legs bouncing and heart racing, she barely made it through the entire service, and she quickly excused herself as soon as the final benediction song began. Rushing down the center aisle to the main foyer, Kenzie asked herself if she was trying to catch or avoid Myles Borden.
It didn’t matter. He stood waiting for her, tugging her from the trickle of people exiting the service. The dark blue shirt and gray dress pants he wore were a far cry from the jeans and T-shirt she had grown accustomed to. They were even further from the orange jumpsuit he wore when she first met him. And his hair had recently been cut, trimmed neatly at the back of his neck and off his ears, spiked up slightly in the front.
He blinked once and her eyes settled on his. The blue there was the same. If everything else about him changed, she would always recognize his eyes.
“Can we talk for a moment?”
She managed a nod only, as her voice refused to respond to her mental commands. But suddenly Nana appeared at her side, clinging to her elbow. Had they been introduced? She could not recall much from the day of Mac’s arrest, so she opted to be polite.
“Nana, this is Special Agent Myles Borden. Agent Borden—” Myles’s eyebrow arched, most likely in question to her formal introduction “—this is my grandmother, Muriel Thorn.”
With a poise that had been ingrained since childhood, Nana held out her hand and shook Myles’s. “A pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is mine.” Myles bowed his head slightly. “Nate speaks very highly of you.”
“You, as well.” Nana’s smile was genuine and her demeanor almost back to normal. “Thank you for what you did for my Kenzie.”
Myles never took his eyes off Kenzie as he responded to Nana. “God put me in the right place to protect her. I’ll always be glad that God chose to use me in that way.”
Kenzie struggled with that thought for a moment. While once she would have trusted that Mac would bring her safely through anything, she couldn’t count on him anymore. He’d disappointed her, but God hadn’t. He had been there all along, protecting and providing for her through Myles.
And now bringing him back into her life, if even just for a short time.
Turning her attention to Myles, Nana asked, “To what do we owe this visit?”
“I have a bit of news on the case.” He glanced around at the small crowds gathering in the entryway. Apparently deciding it was safe to continue in a lowered voice, he said, “FBI agents in Vancouver found Larry Whitestall in a run-down motel yesterday. He sang like a bird about the entire plot, how JB Ryker bribed him to assist in getting rid of you. How they tried to coerce Cory Johns into kidnapping you before they approached me. He even had communication with Mac—”
His voice broke off at Nana’s visible twitch, and he quickly altered his word choice. “Larry is going to testify about everything in exchange for a reduced sentence. He told agents that Ryker told him that Mac didn’t know anything about killing Kenzie. Apparently, Mac’s plan was to have Kenzie kidnapped and scare her enough to never want to return to the prison. He assumed that no one else would be snooping around the budgets for a while. But Ryker decided that Kenzie was too much of a risk, and he ordered Larry to take her out of the picture completely.”
Somehow, the news didn’t shock Kenzie. Perhaps Mac was almost entirely focused on his position as governor, but he wasn’t a sinister man. He could not act like he loved her as much as he had over the years and then sacrifice her so easily. He had wanted to protect her, to keep her out of his underhanded dealings. In a way, even when he plotted her kidnapping, he was still trying to protect her.
But he certainly wasn’t the perfect man she had always thought him to be. From the pedestal on which she had placed him as a child and never taken him down, he had disappointed her.
“Will there be any need for Nana or me to testify?” The idea made Kenzie shudder.
Myles shook his head. “It’s unlikely. Between the prison budget you provided, the recordings from Mac’s office and Larry’s testimony, the state has plenty of evidence. I doubt that Mac or Ryker will contest the charges. More than likely, they’ll both make plea bargains to reduce sentences at the arraignment in a couple weeks. And with Larry’s testimony, the charges of conspiracy to murder against Mac may be dropped.”
Nana let out a breath she had obviously been holding. And Kenzie realized she did the same.
“Thank you,” Nana said. “Myles, it was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for everything.” She squeezed Kenzie’s arm. “If you’ll both excuse me, I need to have a word with the pastor.”
Kenzie watched Nana walk away, her back straight, head held high. Her silver hair bounced lightly with each step. The dark blue coat she wore hugged her shoulders and waist, giving her the pulled-together look of a governor’s wife, even if her husband no longer held the office.
Myles’s gaze followed hers, watching Nana strike up a conversation with a man and woman standing next to the pastor. “How’s she doing?” His voice filled with genuine concern, he met Kenzie’s gaze directly.
“Surprisingly well.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“Well, she’s really been very understanding toward Mac, but she hasn’t made allowances for his bad choices and actions. I think she still loves him. How could she not? They’ve been married for over forty-five years.”
“I suppose.”
“But I think she feels like she needs to take care of me, which is understandable, I guess.” She shrugged one shoulder, her thoughts suddenly sidetracked by the conservative appeal of Myles’s new hair cut. Oh, he did look quite handsome. He always did though, even in orange.
“Kenzie?”
“Yes? Oh! Yes, Nana really is doing well, considering it all. I think it’s a load off her mind that she won’t be asked to testify against him.”
“How about you? How are you doing?”
Kenzie looked down at her black dress shoes, digging her right toe into the industrial carpet. “Fine, I guess.”
This entire situation was so surreal. How could she be having such a calm, collected conversation with this man, when all she really wanted to do was throw her arms around his neck and have him hold her forever?
But the guilt over her own words to Myles kept her from acting on that desire. She had said terrible things to him when he told her the truth. It should not have surprised her that he did not comfort her on the day of Mac’s arrest. Likely, he wanted this conversation to be over as soon as possible.
He nodded. “What will you do?”
“Well—”
“Kenzie! I’m so glad to see you here!” Myles jumped back a step at the boisterous greeting from Angela Purdue, one of Kenzie’s oldest friends at the church. “I was just thinking about you.” Angela’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I read about your return and then Mac’s arrest in the newspaper. I’m so sorry about everything. Tell me what’s going on.”
Angela’s cold hands clung to Kenzie’s, sucking all of the warmth from the room. A shiver ran down Kenzie’s spine as she tried to formulate the appropriate response. How did one explain the betrayal of her grandfather because of his own greed, but that she still harbored love for him? How could she clarify that the man standing beside her was both her kidnapper and the man she quite possibly loved?
And like the hero that he always was, Myles stepped forward, put his arm around Kenzie’s shoulders and pulled her to his side. “Would you excuse us please?” No explanation, no excuses. He just steered her to a private corner as Angela’s face became a mask of confusion.
And then they were alone again. When he dropped his arm from her shoulders, she felt lost at sea. “Myles.” She looked at her feet then up to his chin. “Myles, I hate—”
Myles held up his hands to stop her, his stomach falling to his feet. “Save it. I know you hate me. And I’m not assuming that we’re going to pick up where we left off. But just hear me out. Please.”
“No! It’s not that! It’s just…I don’t hate you. I hate how I treated you. How I acted when you were only being honest with me. I just—I just wasn’t ready to hear it. To know the truth.”
His jaw dropped open two inches. He closed it and then tried to form words, but no sound emitted from his mouth.
Kenzie reached out to put her hand on his forearm, but stopped about five inches short. His hand sprang out to meet hers, and he held it gently there, hanging between them like the words that he wanted to say.
“Kenzie, I’m sorry,” he finally managed to spit out.
“For what?” Her inquisitiveness was genuine as she cocked her head to the side and looked into his face with huge gray eyes.
He stabbed his fingers through his hair, always surprised by its much shorter, more office-appropriate length. “I don’t know. Everything. For the prison. For the cabin. For losing your trust.”
“You never lost my trust.” Innocence shone from somewhere deep within her face.
“Not even when I—When I kissed you?”
“Which time?” She laughed.
He laughed, too. She had a good point. He finally dropped his hand to his side, pulling hers with it, effectively tugging her a step closer.
And then she stepped right up to his chest, whispering words only for him. “Myles Borden, you have nothing—absolutely nothing—to apologize for. You protected me from myself, even when I didn’t know that I needed it. You told me the worst possible truth—that Mac loved his position, his power, more than he loved me. I just wasn’t ready to hear it.” Her hand reached for his cheek and cupped it gently, then slid back to rub the fuzzy hair at the back of his neck, sending a shiver down his spine. “For all my life I’ve counted on Mac to protect me, to keep me safe. I was afraid to trust what you said, because if it was true, then my safe little world would crumble.
“I was afraid of letting Mac disappoint me. Somehow, I thought that if I refused to believe you, Mac could never let me down. I was wrong.”
He could tell she was fighting the urge to look down. Her eyelids flickered, but she maintained eye contact. “I’m sure that someday you’ll disappoint me and let me down, like Mac did—well, I hope not exactly like Mac did—but I don’t expect perfection from you. I don’t need or expect human perfection. It’s not possible. But God still got me through this whole ordeal. And He’ll get us through whatever lies ahead.”
He put his free hand over hers on his neck, holding it in place, relishing the cool feel of her fingers. Having her that close was perfect, like a dream he never knew he’d been longing for. “Ms. Mackenzie Thorn, what am I going to do with you? You were just supposed to be another assignment, another wild adventure. I’ve been all about my job for a long time, sure that it was where God had me. But you somehow weaseled your way into my heart.” He couldn’t control his smile as her eyes started to light up. “I thrived on the excitement that belonging to the FBI offered, but somewhere between that mountain lion attack and watching you being held at gunpoint, I fell for you. And somehow, I think that you might just offer more excitement than any job ever could.”
“Does that mean that I’m going to be around for a while?” Her innocent smile didn’t fool him for a second. He knew Spicy Kenzie was just below the surface, assuring him that a transfer to a desk job within the Bureau wouldn’t leave him void of thrills.
“I think you’ve earned another kiss or two.” He chuckled. “I’ll have to keep you around long enough to pay up.”
She laughed out loud. “Funny. I was thinking that you’d earned a few of your own.”
And even though they were standing in the church foyer with members of the congregation milling around them, Myles could do nothing to stop his head as it dipped to press his lips to hers. The others disappeared as he held her close and breathed in her lemon-lime scent. He sent up a prayer of thanksgiving for the amazing woman in his arms.
When voices and conversations around them intruded on their intimate moment, Myles pulled back, just slightly.
“I guess this means that I’ll have to ask for a transfer to Salem.”
“That seems silly.” She laughed.
Doubts bombarded him. What if she did not want to pursue their relationship? Was she just toying with him? Did she think this was the end of what they shared?
Kenzie smiled at the hard look that spread across his features. She flipped a curl of red hair over her shoulder and pressed the hand that he had been holding to the soft cotton covering his chest. “Nana and I are moving to Portland. She needs a fresh start. I do, too. Besides, I’ve been offered a teaching position at the juvenile detention center there. Maybe if I can help the boys at a younger age, they won’t end up in the state prison—like you.” She winked at him, enjoying the look of humor reflected in his own eyes.
“I’d go back there to protect you in a heartbeat.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah,” he breathed as he pressed his lips to hers again.
“Well, there are two down for me. How many more have I earned? I’d hate to use them all up.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, those two were free. You’ll know when I’m paying up.” And deep in her heart she knew that she would have a lifetime to collect on that debt.