The Defender's Duty

“Have you ever walked outside at night?”

“Sure. Who hasn’t?”

“Then you know how it feels to be at ease in the darkness. To feel like everything is just the way it should be.”

“I guess. I’ve never really thought much about it.”

“Imagine that you are outside, walking around, feeling like you have every other time. Next thing you know, your hair stands on end, your pulse starts racing and you realize you’re being watched. You can’t see the person, but you know he’s there. And you know that as soon as you run, he’s going to chase you down.”

She stiffened, and Jude knew he had gotten through to her.

“That’s what’s going on with me, Lacey. That’s how I know I’m in danger. I feel it.”

“I can understand that.” She sighed and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Then you’ll also understand that as long as I’m in danger, anyone who’s near me is in danger, too. That’s why you need to grab your suitcase and leave as soon as we get back to the house.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean ‘you don’t think so’?”

“I mean, I’ve never left a job before my contract was up.”

“There’s a first time for everything.”

“This won’t be it.”

“It will if you’re carried out of here in a body bag.”

“I don’t think that is going to happen. The way I see it, God gave me this job for a reason. Until He tells me something different, I plan to keep it.”

“God wouldn’t want you to put yourself in danger to help me out.”

“God expects us to do whatever job He gives us to the best of our abilities. That’s what I plan to do.”

“Sticking around is a bad idea.”

“I don’t think so.”

“But you can’t know.”

“Sure I can. I feel it. The same way you feel danger breathing down your neck.”

“Unfortunately for you, all the ‘feeling’ about it in the world isn’t going to keep you working for me. I told you before that I was going to fire you. I wasn’t kidding.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I’m working for your brother.”

“You’re working for Grayson for now. We’ll see what tomorrow brings.”

“Tomorrow is going to bring the sunrise. Just like it always does. As for anything else, I prefer to concentrate on today rather than worrying about what hasn’t happened yet.” She pulled out onto the road, her hands at precisely ten and two o’clock, her eyes trained on the road, tendrils of pale hair escaping her ponytail and sliding down her back. Delicate and pretty, Lacey wasn’t the kind of woman Jude had ever paid much attention to. He preferred tall, athletic women. The kind who wouldn’t hesitate to hike mountain trails or climb rock faces. The most strenuous thing he could imagine Lacey doing was sipping tea in a flower garden.

Despite that, or maybe because of it, he couldn’t seem to pull his attention away from her.

That wasn’t good.

Not when there were other, more important things he needed to focus on.

Like staying alive.

“There won’t be a tomorrow if the guy who’s after me decides two for one isn’t a bad deal and takes you out at the same time.”

“Why would he?”

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