Chapter 12
Summer stared at Easton without making it obvious she was watching him. But she couldn’t stop. He was one of those born to be a guardian. She hadn’t met too many of them. Sure, the military was full of alpha males, but he seemed to take it one step further, doing a little bit more every time.
She never watched her blood sugar, or when she’d eaten, but he did. For the first time since she’d been attacked, she had guards around her but with him at her side. And, when he couldn’t stay next to her, he made sure somebody else was there with her. She didn’t quite understand what drove him. Was it just his protective nature? Or the fact that she was a small defenseless female? As if … Would he do the same for anybody? Any other woman? She hoped not.
She wanted to think he was fond of her. Although he certainly didn’t show it. Well, other than those two kisses, which he never acknowledged afterward. At the same time, she knew she had to leave, yet she didn’t want to. At least she didn’t want to leave him. Even now her heart ached for her driver who’d been an innocent victim in all this. She hadn’t wanted anyone to get hurt. She hadn’t thought something could happen here at a military base. Was Easton correct? Would this follow her home? That was the last thing she wanted.
“What are you staring at?”
“Your face,” she said. “I still want to take some photos.”
“No way in hell.”
“I’ll keep working on you,” she promised.
He lifted his head and glared at her. “It won’t make any difference.”
She propped her chin on her hands, continuing to stare at him. She just loved that square chin, the high cheekbones, the deep-set eyes—such a beautiful blue. They were like lasers. She gave him a happy smile. “You should be a cover model.” The look of shock on his face made her laugh out loud. “Okay, so not like a GQ model but an alpha-male-hero-of-the-world type of thing.” She straightened. “Hey, that’s not a bad idea. We need more heroes.”
He snorted. “You got the wrong guy. You need Levi’s company for that.”
She stared at him in confusion. “Levi’s company?”
“Never mind. Friends of mine, that’s all.”
“I’d be interested in meeting them.” She didn’t quite understand the twitch of his lips. She pressed further. “Are they working with you?”
He shook his head. “They all used to be military but now work for a private security company.”
“How interesting. I could do a fabulous photo shoot with them,” she said.
He shook his head.
She stared at him. “Does that mean they won’t do photos either?” She smiled. “Maybe they could use the promotion.”
He gave a harsh bark of laughter. “They don’t need the advertising. They are overworked now.”
“How come you don’t have a partner?” The words just flew from her mouth.
He raised his gaze to her again and said in a noncommittal tone, “What makes you think I don’t have one?”
She grinned. “You are taking way too good care of me. If you had a partner of your own, you’d always be thinking that she’d be upset with you.”
He glared at her. “I would not.”
“You would.”
“I would not because I wouldn’t have a partner unless she trusted me.”
She settled back and stared at him. “I’m really glad to hear that. Now that we know trust is important to you in a relationship, what else is important for you?”
He shook his head. “I’m not having this conversation.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m working.”
“Fine then.” Summer turned back to her screen, getting into her images, tossing the ugly and moving the good ones from folder to folder. “Still this is a conversation we should have.”
“Why? We don’t have a relationship.”
“No, but I’d be open to one.”
Silence filled her tent.
Inside she winced. That was so not her usual tactic. She was a lot subtler when she liked a guy. On the other hand, she didn’t think that would work with Easton. She raised her gaze to find him staring at her, a look in his eyes that she couldn’t even begin to understand. “Are you telling me that you’re not interested?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it.
She grinned impudently. “See? You can’t even say that. You don’t like admitting it.”
He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.
She chuckled. “You don’t like private relationship conversations either.”
“This isn’t the right time.”
“Absolutely.” She nodded. “It’s a little hard to talk about relationships on base.” She leaned forward. “Can you come with me?”
He shook his head.
“Ah, so you don’t want to spend any more time with me?”
He frowned. “That’s not what I said,” he protested.
“Are you just saying that not to hurt my feelings?”
He shook his head.
She hurt inside. It was her own fault. She had no business bringing this up. She barely knew him. She should let him off the hook but didn’t want to. She wanted to know if he was interested or if he was just pretending not to be. “I need to go home and forget about him.”
“What does going home and forgetting about me do?” he asked.
She winced. “I didn’t mean for you to hear that.”
“Too late.”
She glared at him. “Then forget you did.”
Humor glinted in his gaze as he leaned forward. “This is a much better turn of events.”
She glared at him. “Is not.”
“Is so.”
The two glared at each other until chuckles from the doorway had them both staring in the direction where Devlin stood, his arms over his chest, now openly laughing at them.
“What is your problem?” she demanded.
“No problem at all,” Devlin said cheerfully. “But it’s really nice to see this happening to someone else for a change.”
“That makes zero sense.” Easton glowered at his friend.
“Maybe it does, and maybe it doesn’t,” she said with a smile. At the same time, it was nice to see Easton was shaken up a little bit.
“You’re good for him,” Devlin said encouragingly.
“Except he doesn’t like me,” she said softly.
“I didn’t say that,” Easton snapped.
“But it feels like that,” she snapped back, turning to glare at him. “You just want me back in California.”
“I didn’t say that either,” he said, a haunted look in his eyes. “I just need you to be safe.”
*
Ugh. Easton glared at her, feeling like a coward.
Of course he wanted to see her when he got back to California. But things were moving a little too fast. He wasn’t sure he was ready. Hell, he knew he wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to get into the same scenario he’d been in before. Summer had no idea what it was like to be in a relationship with a military person. He got called out in the middle of the night, and sometimes it was days or weeks before he got home again. She wasn’t ready for that.
Bristol was a whole different case with Devlin. She was so embroiled in her work all the time that Devlin had to drag her back to reality. The two of them were doing fabulously. But Easton didn’t think it would be the same with Summer because she needed a keeper to make her eat before she passed out and to track and haul her equipment when she was on the job. Except she also got caught up with her work, and he would be pulling her back to reality, very much like Bristol and Devlin.
He frowned, not sure he liked that comparison. He was similar to Devlin in certain ways, but that voice inside said he was also very different.
Devlin chuckled. “Interesting times.”
He glared at his friend. “Mind your own business.”
“But it is my business,” Summer said with a big grin.
“Glad you find this funny,” Easton said. Then he growled, “Can’t say it’s all that funny from my side.”
Her face switched from humor to regret. She leaned across, taking his hand with both of hers. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I wouldn’t ever want to hurt or embarrass you.”
He stared at her, surprised to see her beautiful eyes shine like mercury. She was so generous in her honesty. She hadn’t meant to embarrass him; she’d been teasing him, but he had taken it the wrong way because he felt cornered. He really did want to see her again; he had to let her know that. He shook his head, not sure what to say. “This isn’t the time for such a discussion.”
“I’m leaving in less than two hours. It’s not like there’s any other time for that kind of discussion.”
He sighed.
Devlin laughed. “Keep pushing him. He had a bad experience. You have to help him get past that,” he said encouragingly.
Easton glared at Devlin, promising retribution.
Devlin shook his head. “Easton, it’s time something like this happened. It’s so very rare that you have to make the most of it when it does happen.”
“Not sure anything exactly is happening,” he snapped.
“Oh, it is. You just can’t see what we see.”
Summer turned to him. “What is it you see?”
Devlin gave her a gentle smile. “He’ll have to tell you that himself. But what we see is all good things in his future.”
“My future too?” she asked with a hopeful smile.
He chuckled. “All good things for both of you.”
Just then Ryder walked back in. Knowing he was off the hook, Easton settled back, but he couldn’t stop studying Summer beside him. He’d never met anyone so giving and open. She watched Ryder while Easton was busy watching her. She was just so damn different from anything he’d ever experienced; he wasn’t sure what to do with her.
“Easton?” Ryder called for his attention.
Easton glared at him. “What?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just talking to you for the last minute.”
Easton sighed. He could feel the heat rising in his neck. “Now that you’ve all had a joke at my expense, please get back to the business at hand,” he growled.
“She’s leaving for the airport in just over an hour. Three vehicles will travel as a convoy by the commander’s orders. He’s checking into the death of her attacker. On the surface, it appears to be a suicide. There were two guards. Possibly a third.”
“Why would there be three men?” Easton asked. “That’s overkill.”
“There appears to be some confusion as to how many were actually there as they shifted in and out.”
“So was there an opportunity for somebody to have killed him?”
“Or did one of the guards kill him?” Summer asked. “That makes the most sense.”
The men turned to look at her. “Why would that make more sense?” Devlin asked.
“There was no time. So it depends on whether he was in full view of everyone, or if they were standing outside. Because, if one slipped in, then killed him, he could have slipped back outside. Nobody would know the difference. Or,” she said, warming to her topic, “even better, two of them were involved. One to stand guard outside while the other does the job. Make it look like a suicide. They both could alibi each other.”
Devlin nodded. “You’re right. That would be the easiest and simplest method, but it’s rare that it works out that way.”
Easton stared at her. “You have a scary mind sometimes.”
“I see things a lot of people don’t see,” she said quietly. “It would be very interesting to question the guards, watch the reaction on their faces. People lie all the time, but, when I have a picture of it, I can always tell.”
“Do you have to have pictures?” Easton asked.
She shook her head. “No, I can read faces very well. I just prefer to see it through the camera lens.”
The men looked at each other, and Devlin asked Easton, “What are the chances she could speak to the guards?”
She stood up. “If it’s possible, let’s do it now.”
“We have to get clearance first,” Easton told her.
“So let’s get clearance.” She raced to the door. “Since I have to leave soon, the quicker, the better.”
It was all Easton could do to run behind her. “Do you even know where you’re going?”
She tossed a glance his way and laughed. “No, but I can count on you to correct me when I go off course.”
He swore under his breath and raced to catch up.
The men laughed out loud behind him. “It’s wonderful to see,” Ryder called out. “She’s a keeper, Easton.”
Devlin chuckled. “Isn’t that the truth.”
Easton knew exactly what they meant. No way would he engage in a discussion on keepers. If they thought she was perfect for him or she was good for him, they were so wrong. The last thing he needed was to spend his life looking after somebody.
Not happening. His wife couldn’t be like that, always wanting him to be her big protector. Protecting came naturally, that was true, but he wanted a partner to stand by his side. He didn’t want to have to turn around and wonder if she could stand on her own two feet because he had to be out of the country for a few days.
He glared at the fleeting figure in front of him. She had picked up speed. “Wait up,” he roared, power surging through his legs as he chased after her.
Her laughter sounded like that of a young child. It rippled toward him. He shook his head at her complete spontaneity and joy of living. Where was the bitterness, the subterfuge, the weariness or even the manipulation? He wasn’t used to this spirit who just raced through life, one minute completely engaged in her art, and the next minute beating the crap out of a man twice her size. And he still hadn’t reconciled that. He admitted quietly to himself how winning that fight meant she could handle herself. But …
He came around a tent to see she’d hit the brakes and stood in front of four men, one of them being his commander. He winced and pulled up right behind her, grabbed her hand and pulled her gently backward. “Sorry, sir.”
The commander looked at him, at her and then back at him with a glimmer of a smile in the depths of his eyes. “From what I see, you can’t do a whole lot to stop it.”
“You are so correct there,” he said with feeling.
She turned and looked at him, a beautiful sunny smile on her face. “See? I found him.” She pivoted back to the commander. “Would it be possible to speak to the men who were guarding my assailant?”
The commander frowned. “That is not a good idea.”
“But it is. You see, one of the things in my line of work is the study of people’s faces. I understand a lot about how facial expressions change with questions and answers when they are covering up something,” she carried on earnestly. “I don’t need the camera in front of me, but I do need to see their faces when I ask them a couple questions.”
The commander shook his head. “That would not be protocol.”
She stuck out her chin ever-so-slightly and narrowed her gaze. “Was attacking a photographer protocol?”
“But the guards didn’t attack you,” the commander said gently.
She brightened. “Oh, did you catch the sniper then?”
Easton sucked his breath back and squeezed her hand in warning.
The commander studied her quietly for a long moment and then allowed her a small smile. “No, we have not yet caught the sniper. If there was a sniper.”
“If?” She gasped. “You think I shot the driver?” Her shock was so real she almost wavered in place.
Easton gripped her shoulders as if to silently give her support.
“How could you say that?” she cried out.
The commander shook his head. “That’s not what I meant. What I’m saying is, we’re not sure the man who committed suicide wasn’t the sniper.”
“He couldn’t have been the sniper unless he was freed after attacking me.” She narrowed her gaze. “Did you let him go? Even after what he did?”
“He wasn’t let go. But he was left alone for some time. And, of course, we can’t prove he was the sniper. So most likely there is a second man,” the commander conceded.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “Considering I’m the one who was shot at on two different occasions plus physically attacked, I would very much like to speak with the three men guarding the suspect.”
The commander opened his mouth.
Summer rolled right over his next objection. “I do believe I have that right.”
He shook his head.
She ignored him. “I’m the one who has to live with the nightmares. I’m the one who needs to know if he said anything, did anything or in any way gave any indication as to why he did what he did.”
“I can assure you that we will get to the bottom of this.”
“But you cannot take away my nightmares. I need to see his body, and I would like to speak with the three men who were standing guard when my attacker died.”
The commander opened his mouth and then closed it, his gaze going to Easton.
Easton shrugged as if to say, What can I do? He glanced at the other men standing here, all with matching looks on their faces.
“Seeing the body is out of the question.”
“In that case, I’ll accept that if I can speak with the three guards instead.”
She had said it so smoothly that it was hard to believe it was on purpose. But, from that firm square jaw of hers, Easton had no doubt that somehow she had just outmaneuvered their commander into giving her the one concession she wanted, because the other one was too off the wall for him to allow.
The commander glared at her. And then turned to Easton.
Easton smiled. “Yes, welcome to my world, sir.”
The commander gave him a half eye roll and said, his gaze returning to Summer, “You can have five minutes with them. Easton stays with you.”
“Actually I’d like Devlin to be inside as well, and the other two can stay close by.”
“Are you afraid of my men?” the commander countered. “They were standing guard over the prisoner.”
She gave a shuttered look. “Yes, they were.” And she dropped it.
She turned and walked to the right. Instinctively Easton tapped her shoulder, motioning to the left. She gave him a sunny smile, nodded to the men and turned, walking away in the other direction.
Corey stepped up to walk beside her.
Easton turned to look at the commander and said, “Thank you, sir.”
“You watch her. She’s dangerous.”
But, from his commander’s tone, Easton could tell it wasn’t that the commander thought Summer was dangerous in terms of Easton’s life, but that, as a female, she was very good at getting her own way.
“I understand, sir.”
The commander laughed. “Oh, I don’t think you do. Not yet anyway. Devlin, keep an eye on them both.”
Devlin chuckled, patted Easton on his back and said, “We better get there before she starts questioning the men, and we don’t have a chance to even hear the answers.”
“Shit.”
The two of them ran, catching up with Summer, Corey and Ryder with her as they reached the guards. Devlin quickly explained why they were here.
The two guards on duty looked at her in surprise. “I’m sorry you were attacked,” said the first man, who identified himself as Paul.
“Thanks, Paul. How long were you looking after him?”
Paul shook his head. “A couple hours, that’s all.” He glanced down at his watch. “Since he attacked you, it’s been—what? Five hours?”
“And in all the time he was with you, did you ever leave him alone? Did he ever have a chance to be unsupervised?” she quickly rephrased.
Paul shook his head. “No, of course not.”
She smiled at him. “Thank you for making sure he couldn’t come after me.”
The man visibly relaxed. “No problem.”
“Could you show me where he was kept?”
There was surprise in Paul’s eyes, but he was willing to open the tent. “Sure. He stayed in here.”
She walked in and saw a simple barracks setup. “So he wasn’t in a jail or anything?”
“No, he was just confined to these quarters.”
She nodded. “Did he die in here?”
Paul nodded. “Yes, this is where we found him.”
She turned to look at him. “So how long was he alone?”
“He wasn’t alone at all. We were here the whole time.”
Easton got into the conversation. “You said this is where you found him. Meaning that you weren’t here at the time he tried to kill himself.”
Paul turned to his partner as if looking for help. “Sometimes we stepped outside for a bit of fresh air,” he said quietly. “We weren’t allowed to converse in front of the prisoner.”
She nodded as if to say she understood. “Did he have any visitors?”
Paul shook his head, but his cooperation was wearing thin. “No, it was just the two of us the whole time.”
She switched her gaze over to the second man who was smaller, wiry, with a swarthy complexion. But Easton didn’t like the look in his eyes. Obviously she didn’t either.
She nodded to him. “Were you ever alone with my assailant?”
He shook his head. “Neither of us were ever alone with him.”
The man spoke smoothly enough, but there was just that odd tone. Easton was suspicious. He knew she would say that he was the guilty one. But he had to have more than just a suspicion.
“Did either of you search the man’s pockets?” Summer asked.
Paul raised his eyebrows and said, “No, of course not. That would be unethical.”
The other man stayed quiet. Easton had been watching his face and saw the look that whispered across it with her question. Easton wouldn’t have thought to ask these men these questions. It was interesting to see their responses. And he realized just how correct she was. If she’d had a camera to capture these images, it would be so easy later to pinpoint what kind of reaction they had. Right now, he was going on gut instinct, and he knew both guards were lying.
It was also interesting to see her technique. A natural one at that. He’d done weeks to months of intensive interrogation training, but he didn’t have the same simplistic trickery skills she did.
“Please tell me what you did when you found him,” Summer asked Paul.
Paul shrugged. “I ran over to him and tried to help him. I thought he was choking, so I did the approved first-aid procedure for a choking victim, and then I realized, from checking his mouth, paper had been stuffed down his throat. I tried to pull it free, but it was way too deep. I couldn’t get a good grasp of it.”
“Oh, dear. That must have been terrible. He died right in front of you then.”
Paul nodded, a shadow crossing his eyes for a fleeting moment. The second man remained silent.
“Hello. What’s your name?”
The second man narrowed his gaze but answered readily enough. “Nick.” Then as if having said all he was going to he shifted his position to cross his arms over his chest to support his tough-guy image.
She smiled at him. “What did you do to help?”
He raised his eyes to her. “I was trying to help Paul here.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything. “How well did you know Harry Lemans?”
Both shook their heads. Nick answered, “We didn’t know him at all.”
Paul looked from her to the four men who had arrived with her and asked, “Are we under any kind of suspicion here?”
Devlin answered, “Is there any reason you should be concerned?”
The man shifted back slightly. “You need to call my commander.”
“Who is your commander?”
He named a person Easton didn’t know. He filed the name away for later. This guard was from the American military; Nick with the attitude was Canadian. Then that made sense as the prisoner had been American as well.
Summer turned to Paul. “When you searched his pockets, you didn’t happen to see my necklace, did you?
It was all Easton could do to hide his own stare of surprise. What necklace?
Paul didn’t manage to hide his. He started to say he hadn’t searched the pockets when she ran right over him and said, “I lost it when he attacked me. I was pretty sure he grabbed it from my neck, possibly accidentally,” she conceded, “and I just wanted to see if I could get it back.”
But Paul was edgier and on to her. “I said I didn’t search his pockets.”
She turned back to Nick. “Did you see my necklace?”
He shook his head. “No, I never saw him with it, and I never saw the contents of his pockets either. Maybe check with the commander.”
“I’ll do that, thanks.”
She turned to face Easton and Devlin and said, “We can go now.”
Easton stared at her in surprise. “If you’re ready? I know you really wanted to see his body.”
“I didn’t want to see his body,” she said quietly. “All I really wanted to know was if my necklace was in his pocket.”
“I’m sure somebody would’ve already searched his pockets,” Devlin said.
She smiled. “Maybe. But I’d also like to hear Paul’s explanation as to why my beads are tucked into his pant legs.”
All eyes turned to Paul’s boots. And sure enough a couple small beads were in the creases of his pant legs, tucked into his boots.
“My necklace was beaded,” she said. “So I already know you’re a liar,” she snapped at Paul. “The real question is, why you killed my assailant. Not that I’m upset he is dead, you understand. But I’m upset because we didn’t get any answers from him.”
Easton stared at Paul and saw the guilt on the man’s face. What the hell?
“It wasn’t me,” Paul protested. Then pinched his lips together to stop more words from flying out.
“If it wasn’t you, then there is another man involved…” Easton narrowed his gaze. “Which of you was the heavy breather in her tent – and which one of you assholes pissed off a snake?”
Paul stayed quiet, but Easton saw the almost imperceptible shake of his head before he could stop it. “Not you? Then we need to find the last asshole – and fast.”