“Or you could stay with me,” Cruz interrupted. He leaned close to her, their legs touching now, his hands resting on her shoulders. “Even though my apartment is the size of a postage stamp.”
When she didn’t pull back, he tipped his head to one side. His breath was warm and sweet on her face, his mouth inches from hers. She understood he was waiting for a signal from her. A yes.
His lips grazed hers and he pulled back, looking into gray eyes, usually calm and clear, now stormy and filled with an emotion Cruz hadn’t seen before, but recognized as passion. “My place is small,” he added inanely, “but no one would ever suspect you were living there.”
Frankie wrapped her arms around his waist, smoothed her hands up his broad back, and tilted her head, pulled him closer. “Or – or maybe we could find a place together. You could protect me there.”
He laughed softly. “Or you could protect me.”
Their breaths mingled and became a whirlwind she lost herself in. This was crazy – too soon, too impetuous – all things, as a doctor and a scientist, she wasn’t.
He kissed her, tentatively at first, and then with greater pressure. His tongue traced the seam of her lips and she opened for him. The whirlwind grew into a hurricane of emotions, her head swam with feeling, raw and gripping, and she stood on tiptoes to place her hands on either side of his face.
She felt as if she were home at last.
Epilogue
“Reverse the orders,” Anson Stark said, his sallow face as hard as marble. “They don’t know enough to hurt us.”
“Both of them – Jones and Hansen?”
“Yes.”
Griff looked skeptically at the Professor’s carved profile. “You sure? I know you don’t like leaving loose ends.”
Stark smiled slyly, the first time Griff had ever seen that particular expression on his boss’s face. “Ah, but I’ve left no loose ends, my friend. None at all.”
Griff frowned, looked puzzled and not at all sure of what was going on. As the Professor had always known, the brute was good for muscle, but little else.
He clarified for his slow-witted lieutenant.
“Dr. Frankie Jones is like her father. She knows when to fold her cards. She won’t bother us anymore.”
Griff nodded, turned to leave, but Stark’s voice halted him.
“And, Griff, be sure our next physician understands the, ah, terms of his employment. I don’t want a repeat of the Dr. Jones fiasco.”
After Griff left, Stark was returned to his SHU cell and lay down on his bunk, contemplating the concrete ceiling.
Yes, indeed, Dr. Frankie Jones was very much like her father.
Roger Milano returned to Folsom Prison where he recovered in the hospital ward there. He wouldn’t die. He experienced only mild relief at the prognosis. Actually, he didn’t much care one way or the other. The only thing that concerned him was the future of his daughter.
He’d bet his life Anson Stark was behind this – all of it.
But he wouldn’t bet Frankie’s life.
After another week in the clinic, Roger was transferred to a cell, not his former one, but a new one where he had a different cellmate, an old-timer named Douglas Houser. The other inmates called him Doogie, for obvious reasons.
The man was older than Roger by several decades, and had spent most of his life in jail or prison. One look at the man’s tired, faded eyes, and Roger knew the man was there both as informant and bodyguard. Although what good the short, wiry fellow would be for protection Roger doubted.
On the third day with his new cellmate, Roger received a message inside a library book which he hadn’t ordered. The inmate librarian handed the book through the bars, lowered his voice, and murmured, “Page 187.” He moved on without another word.
Police code for homicide was 187.
When Roger opened the book to the designated page, a brief, handwritten note read, “‘Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it.”
Shakespeare, of course, the play Hamlet.
The bloody bastard always did like his Shakespeare, and the warning was clear to Frank. Whatever Roger knew would have to remain locked in his memory.
His silence was the price for Frankie’s safety.
Watch for the exciting sequel to “Without Malice”
Coming July 2015
“Without Fear”
Follow Jo Robertson on her website at http://jorobertson.com
Other Books by Jo Robertson The Watcher
The Avenger
The Traitor
Frail Blood
Weak Flesh
The Hitman Series
Storm of Crimson, a Young Adult Novel
“The Perfect Gift,” a Christmas Novella
“Willing Seduction”
An Historical Novella, w/a Temple Rivers
“Improper Seduction”
An Historical Novella, w/a Temple Rivers
Turn the Tables
A Kathleen Turner Series Novella
by Tiffany Snow
Also by Tiffany Snow
The Tangled Ivy Trilogy In His Shadow
Shadow of a Doubt
The Risky Business Series Power Play
Playing Dirty
Play to Win
The Kathleen Turner Series No Turning Back
Turn to Me
Turning Point
Out of Turn
Point of No Return
Companion Novels
Blane’s Turn
Kade’s Turn
Blank Slate