Guns and the Girl Next Door

Being this close to her, he noticed the cuts on her face and smudge of mud on her cheek. Under all that dirt lurked a stunning woman. Big eyes and a sassy mouth. It was a killer combination that kicked his lust into high gear.

“I’m sorry about that.” She had the decency to wince.

“You’re sorry?”

“I can barely stand, my skull feels like it’s about to break open and I’m pretty sure I have someone else’s blood in my hair.”

“And?”

“Then there’s the part where someone is trying to kill me and I have no idea why. So I’m sorry if you find me unpleasant or ungrateful, but I just don’t have it in me at the moment to care.”

Spunk. He didn’t want to, but he liked it. “Fair enough.”

Guns and the Girl Next Door

HelenKay Dimon

www.millsandboon.co.uk

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Award-winning author HelenKay Dimon spent twelve years in the most unromantic career ever—divorce lawyer. After dedicating all that effort to helping people terminate relationships, she is thrilled to deal in happy endings and write romance novels for a living. Now her days are filled with gardening, writing, reading and spending time with her family in and around San Diego. HelenKay loves hearing from readers, so stop by her website at www.helenkaydimon.com and say hello.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

Holden Price —Undercover Recovery Project agent Holden doesn’t know what to think when a mystery woman drives her car right through his front door. But when gunmen come hunting, Holden sure knows what to do—protect her.

Mia Landers —She changed her job and her life and now someone wants Mia dead. Running for her life, she crashes into Holden. He’s solid and strong and could be the very reason everyone suddenly wants her dead.

Bram Walters —A wealthy and powerful congressman. He’s Mia’s boss…is he also behind a web of corruption that’s left several women dead?

Trevor Walters —Bram’s brother and a highly regarded businessman. On the surface he’s legitimate, but things aren’t always what they seem.

Rod Lehman —Holden’s missing boss. Rod took an off-the-books job looking into irregularities in the Witness Security Program and now he’s gone. Holden wants to believe Rod’s alive, but the evidence is pointing in another direction.

Ned Zimmer —Mia’s ex keeps showing up exactly where he shouldn’t be. Mia changed her life to get away from Ned, but he’s found her again and isn’t leaving.

Luke Hathaway —The interim head of the Recovery Project and Holden’s friend, Luke has vowed to keep his agents safe, even if that means protecting Luke from Mia.

Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter One

Ignoring the burning in her thighs and tears stinging her eyes, Mia Landers ran. Her arms pumped up and down, propelling her through the thick woods. She had to reach her car before he caught her.

Dead leaves crunched under her feet, drowning out the pounding heartbeat in her ears. When stray branches scratched against her face, she pushed them out of the way and concentrated on staying steady on the patches of dirt beneath her.

The path had been lost to time and the night was pure black, but she refused to give up. Not when she could hear him screaming her name in a crazed frenzy behind her.

She blocked that out. Slam the door, shove the key in and drive away as fast as possible. That was the plan. She just had to make it to the car alive first.

“Mia!”

His angry voice boomed around her, bouncing through the trees in this open area of Virginia…. Were they even in Virginia anymore? She had no idea.

The past hour played in her mind like a movie gone wrong. Her boss had said to drive and she did. Lost in spitting anger, he had rapid-fired commands at her and she followed them. They left the safety of her car, got out and walked.

Then he lost his mind.

Everything that came after moved in a blur. He had lunged, his face twisted and red with fury. She kicked and punched. The second he fell to his knees she took off. Problem was hitting him in the side of the head with her purse had only slowed him down.

Even now thudding steps rang out behind her, gaining and threatening, as his heavy breathing drew closer. She tried to pick up speed but the heels of her sensible pumps slid, throwing her off balance every time her foot struck the muddy ground. The only good news was that she wore a pantsuit that day. If she had picked out her usual pencil skirt that morning, she’d be dead.

The cold air burned as she forced it down her rough throat. Not that she could feel the chill on her skin. It didn’t matter that she’d taken off her blazer. Her body had gone numb. But she could see the car. It sat about a hundred feet away.

The death grip on her keys pressed indentations into her palms, but she refused to let go. She’d already lost her cell phone when she dropped her purse. Scrambling around in the dark for the keys was not an option.

Just when she thought she’d never be free of the claustrophobic woods, she broke into the clearing and sprinted across the grass to the parked car. Unable to stop her momentum, her midsection slammed into the side of the sedan with a loud thump. The air rushed out of her lungs on impact. She doubled over, gasping as she struggled for breath.

Then she saw him standing there. Staring. Blood clumped on the side of his head and eyes wild with rage. The rip in the shoulder of his black suit jacket and scratches on his cheek gave testimony to the battle she’d fought before struggling out of his grasp.

Her key chain jangled in her hand, breaking through her stupor. She fumbled as her heart galloped, glancing away from him only long enough to hit the button for the automatic locks to throw the door open.

Her whole body trembled as she fell into the seat and locked her body in. Blood raced through her veins as the sound of her heavy breathing filled the car.

Like a vicious demon, dark and evil, he descended on her, roaring as he came. The heels of his hands slammed against her window. “Get out!”

She flinched at the mix of pounding and yelling, fearing every minute that he would break through the glass and grab her.

“Mia!”

She didn’t wait. The key turned just as he struck his fists against the hood of the car. Banging crashed in around her. Ducking, she waited for the metal to cave in. When it held, she swallowed back the panic building in her throat.

Fingers wrapped around the steering wheel, back hunched over, she hit the gas. The engine revved and tires spun.

Still he wouldn’t let up. He beat his fists against the car. With the pedal pressed hard into the floor, the back end finally swung around and knocked right into him. His eyes grew huge just before he yelped. His fingernails screeched against her window as he went down.

She didn’t check to see if he got up again.

To gain traction she lifted her foot off the gas and forced her thigh to ease back down again. With control restored, she took a quick look around for the nearest exit through the trees. Her memory jumbled. She saw only a dirt area and surrounding woods.

Blinking, she tried to remember how she got in there. When she focused again, he stood right in front of her car.

Warped anger rolled off of him in waves. An arm hung loose at his side. His face screwed up in a mask of insane fury.

She ran the car right into him. Aimed for his stomach and gunned it.

His body disappeared under the front of her car. To avoid rolling over him, she backed up and then maneuvered the vehicle around in a circle. Dust kicked up around the shaking metal as her tires squealed. With a quick glance in her rearview window at his crumpled and unmoving form, she took off, refusing to feel a second’s guilt.

She drove without a destination, fueled by adrenaline and terror and little else. Blackness enveloped her from all sides. The area lacked street signs and lights. Nothing marked the way or pointed toward civilization.

Why did he bring her out here? She turned the question over in her mind. The possibilities raced by her.

To keep from crashing, she forced her brain back to the task at hand. She needed to concentrate on the escape and the Y in the dirt road in front of her. Nothing felt familiar. Anxiety bubbled up in her stomach. Biting her lower lip, she closed her eyes and chose the right branch at random.

About a half mile in, her car rattled and dipped as she drove over rocks and through divots. She didn’t remember the road being this rough. She didn’t remember anything except her heart pulsing hard enough to set off a knocking in her head.

The steering wheel shifted from side to side and she clenched her fists tighter in a futile attempt to keep control. On the verge of giving up hope, she made out the shadow of a building in the distance. Lights. If it was a hallucination, it was a welcome one.

Holding on tighter, she aimed for a driveway, anything to indicate life, a phone and the police—any order would do so long as she got help and found safety. Her shoulders relaxed and her breaths came more easily.

The clunk took her by surprise. The back end of her car went one way and the front another. The bleak night hid the pattern of the road. She didn’t know what she ran over, but it was something. Something big that had her back tires bouncing against the ground and the steering wheel slipping further out of her sure grasp.

The structure, a small house, came up fast. One minute it loomed in the distance. The next she was on top of it. Before she could hit the brakes she smashed through a wooden fence. And kept right on going.

She pumped the brakes. The car slowed but refused to stop. She hit the pedal and slid her fingers over the console in search of the emergency brake. But it was too late. She glanced up in time to see the cabin’s front door crash right into the hood.

Chapter Two

Holden Price leaned his head back against his couch and threw his baseball in the air for what felt like the hundredth time. Much more of this and his catching hand would go numb.

Being on paid leave was not his idea of a good time. More like torture.

Up until two months ago he’d worked undercover with the Recovery Project, an off-the-books government agency fronting as an antiques salvage operation. He found missing people for a living, those on the run who didn’t want to be found and those who were desperate for rescue.

One case gone wrong and pencil-pushing higher-ups disbanded the Project and subpoenaed his boss, Rod Lehman, to Capitol Hill for top-secret congressional subcommittee hearings. It all sounded like a load of bureaucratic crap to Holden.

He’d spent his twenties in the army and the first four years of his thirties at the Project. Without the routine of work the past few weeks dragged. He couldn’t remember ever being this bored.

The ball thumped against his palm before he whipped it into the air again. The seam turned end over end as it traveled halfway to his family-room ceiling. It ran out of oomph and began falling back down just as the lights on his outside alarm system flickered to life on the panel next to the door.

Shrill beeps filled the room and kept right on cycling. When tires squealed outside the large double window across from him, Holden lifted his head and saw the blinding headlights weaving and shifting straight up his lawn.

The sights and sounds refused to register in his brain. By design, his cabin sat in the middle of nowhere. He dealt with dangerous people and life-threatening situations. The unsettling mix had convinced him long ago to set up a sanctuary, a place of peace known only to a few friends who also happened to be gun-carrying colleagues.

And now someone was violating the safety zone he’d created, using more than three thousand pounds of automobile as a weapon to do it.

He scrambled off the cushion and grabbed for the gun in his side table. He hit the floor on his right shoulder just as the sedan smacked through his front door. The crashing boom rattled the cabin’s foundation.

The wood creaked and splintered. Studs crumbled. The lights dimmed as the exposed wires fell from the smashed ceiling panels and pushed the electricity nearly to the breaking point.

With dust flying and pieces of furniture scattered everywhere, Holden sat still, his back to what was left of the couch and his gun aimed at the bowed head in the front seat of the car. Long blond hair mixed with the broken windshield glass even as the white-knuckled grip continued its hold on the steering wheel.

His attacker was a she.

And possibly dead.

She also didn’t have an air bag, which he found odd. Not that any part of the past two minutes had been normal.

Slow and as quiet as a man of his size could manage, he jumped to his feet. The muzzle didn’t waver. Neither did his stare. If she moved, he’d be ready to shoot.

Glass crunched under his feet as he approached the front of the car. The house alarm blared, but Holden tuned it out. His focus centered on her. Whoever “her” was.

“Lift your head.” He issued the order in his best you’re a dead woman tone.

Nothing.

To keep from going deaf, he headed for the alarm. Shifting around the side of the car and keeping his body square with the mystery driver, he reached out to disarm the thing. He lifted his hand and felt nothing but the cool March night air.

Snow hadn’t fallen in Northern Virginia this week, but the crisp smell signaled what could be a final winter blast. Now that he lacked a front wall, that was going to be a problem.

Glancing down, he traced his foot through the debris littering what was once a shiny hardwood floor. No sign of the panel, but he did spy his keys. As he leaned down to grab the chain, the driver’s head popped up.

She screamed loud enough to make his ears shrivel.

The shriek echoed inside his brain, drowning out the annoying sound of the alarm. In two seconds, he hit the code on his key chain to stop the electronic screeching. At the same time, he leveled the gun at the woman’s forehead in an attempt to quiet her.

“Stop,” he ordered.

“Wh-what…?”

“Do not move.” When she tried to open her door, he lifted his foot and kicked it shut on her again. “Hey!”

“You’re not listening. Stay right there.”

Her hand shook as she pressed it to her forehead.

“What are you doing?”

“Setting the ground rules.”

The skin at corners of her eyes wrinkled. “What?”

“This is my house.”

She shook her head and then grabbed it. “I don’t understand,” she said in a voice rough with what sounded like pain.

He didn’t know what to believe. Hard to trust a woman who used his family room as a parking lot.

“Yeah, we’ll see about that,” he mumbled.

Her gaze shot to the gun and then back at his face. “Who are you?”

The look of wild-eyed panic had him thinking she might actually not know, but he wasn’t taking the chance. “We’re going to focus on my questions first. What are you doing here?”

“I…” Turning her head with a careful slowness that suggested an injury, she looked around the inside of the car. She glanced up and over the wheel as if noticing for the first time the damage around her. “Did I crash?”

The stuttering tone and dropped jaw were nice touches. Added to the sham.

Holden didn’t buy any of it. “Uh, yeah. That’s one way of putting it.”

“Where am I?”

“In the middle of my family room. Now, tell me your name.”

“Mia Landers.” She shifted her upper body and winced.

His elbows locked. “Stay right there.”

“I need to get up.”

“Are you hurt, Mia?”

She bit her lower lip. “I don’t know.”

Not exactly the answer he expected. “It’s a simple question. Yes or no?”

“Not really.”

He gave her two options and she picked a third. Interesting. “What does that mean?”

“I’m kind of numb.”

Shock. Assassin or bad driver, he still wasn’t sure but he did know she probably needed medical attention. “Open the door nice and slow.”

She stared down at her lap. “I can’t…”

From the glassy stare it looked as if his unwanted guest was losing it and fast. He stepped closer and followed her gaze to her legs. Minimal blood and room to move around under the dash, as far as he could tell. Just in case the stunned unblinking stare was a ruse, he didn’t let up.

“Let’s get out now.” He slipped his hand under the handle and opened the door for her. When she tried to get out without taking off her seat belt, he reached in and did the deed for her. “Here you go.”

Hands shaking, hair hanging in front of her eyes, she turned to the side and got one foot out of the car. On her first attempt to get up her knees buckled and her butt hit the leather seat hard.

Taking a long look, visually searching every part of her he could see for weapons, Holden gave in and tucked his gun in the small of his back. As gently as possible, he slid one arm between her back and the seat and tugged her out of the car, doing a subtle pat down in the process. A person couldn’t be too safe in a situation like this.

Her legs wobbled and every inch of her trembled, but she managed to stumble to her feet with him for support. “Oh, man.”

“You okay?” he asked when he had her on her feet, standing near what once was his front door.

“I think so. My head hurts but not too bad.” She wiped an unsteady hand through her hair. Her fingers snagged on leaves and a few pieces of cubed glass. “How did I get here?”

“I was wondering that same thing.” He guided her to his couch that was just about the only piece of nearby furniture to survive the crash, and only half of that was usable.

He also took a second to size up his opponent. Late twenties, five-seven or so, slim with an innocent round face that easily could be telling a lie or two.

She probably needed a glass of water and an ambulance, but he wasn’t ready to offer either yet. No one wandered around these dense woods at night. Beautiful blondes with bright green eyes rarely came out this way unless he invited them, and that didn’t happen all that frequently either. He used hotels in D.C. for that sort of thing, preferring to keep his private life at home very private.

“Tell me why you were out here,” he said.

“Where?”

“On my property.” Except for a historic estate about ten miles away, he was the only one out there.

Two miles of wooded land separated him from the main road. He used to think that was enough space. Now he wasn’t so sure.

“I was…” Her eyes grew huge as her mouth fell flat. “Oh, my God.”

“What?”

“I have to—”

She tried to stand up, but he anchored her next to him on the cushions. “Whoa.”

“You don’t understand.” Her gaze darted around the room. Her hands were in constant motion as if the energy inside her had sparked to life and wanted to get moving.

He soothed a hand over her shoulder. “Explain it to me.”

“I have to call the police.”

“Why?”

“The accident.”

The last thing he wanted was a squad of police cars swarming all over his property. If he had to, then yes, but he wanted to put it off until he understood exactly who Mia was and why she was in his house.

“Did you fall asleep at the wheel?”

“No.”

She sounded as if she had her full memory back now. “Was anyone in the car with you?”

She patted the pockets of her ripped and smudged pants. “It’s here somewhere.”

Watching her move, he still couldn’t tell what was happening. “What are you looking for?”

“My cell. I have to call the police and my office.”

“Mia, listen to me—”

“Now I remember. I dropped it.”

He put one of his hands over hers. “Doesn’t matter.”

She stopped shifting and babbling and stared up at him. “Wait, what did you say?”

He could barely follow her zigzagging conversation. “Tell me what happened out there.”

She swallowed hard enough for him to see her throat move. “I hit someone.”

That’s what he feared. He had not one but two victims running around his property. “So, there was a car accident?”

She toed the pile of what used to be his coffee table and now barely qualified as kindling. “Look around you.”

“I meant before you came sailing through the window.”

“Not exactly.”

“But you’re saying there’s a person out there who needs help.” He had some training, the usual military survival stuff but not much more. If the injuries were serious, he’d need help.

“No.” Her voice sounded far away, almost dreamy.

“Mia?”

“He’s dead.” Her eyes focused, looking clear for the first time. “I killed him.”

Holden had no idea who the “he” was or what was happening, but the lady seemed to need soothing and no one else was there to do it, so he tried. “I’m sure that’s not true.”

She stared him down. “I hope it is.”

Chapter Three

Mia sat there, looking into a pair of ice-blue eyes and wondering why the guy just happened to be holding a gun when she drove through his wall.

“You’re not making sense,” the mystery man said.

That probably had something to do with being terrified. If her body shook any harder, her brain might start rattling. It was bad enough her back teeth kept knocking together. She also had to deal with the pain above her eyes and bones that had turned to jelly.

First, she got attacked by her usually boring boss. That one still didn’t make sense. Now a guy with a scowl harsh enough to make her swallow her tongue in panic sat just inches away. With his coal-black hair and broad shoulders, he reminded her of some of the secret-service teams that walked through the Rayburn House Office Building where she worked.

This guy had an air of danger to him. The muscles straining under the sleeves of his black T-shirt should have scared her, but he didn’t give off that serial-killer vibe. Not that she knew how killers acted in these situations.

Right now, the only confirmed killer in the room was her. “He attacked me. Wouldn’t stop.”

“Who?”

The scene ran through her mind. Crazed eyes. Mumbled accusations. “He wanted me dead.”

“Let me try this again—who?” The mystery man moved his hand to her arm.