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  “Without reservation.”

  Ric relaxed. “Thank you. That means a great deal more to me than you know.”

  “In fact,” Lucas added pointedly, “it could prove rather unhealthy for you should you ever break my niece’s heart.” With that said, Lucas walked out of the room.

  Ric closed his eyes and allowed the memories of holding Piper close, of kissing her, of making love to her, to fill his mind. Warmth spread through his body, easing the pain in his chest and shoulder.

  “Martinez.”

  He opened his eyes to find Piper hovering near the foot of his bed. He smiled, his fingers yearning to touch her already. “Querida.”

  She moved to his side. “I’m sorry you got shot again.” Her eyes were misty, and red-rimmed.

  He found her hand and covered it with his own. “It’s okay. It’s over now.”

  She moistened her lips and stared down at their joined hands. “And I want to apologize for getting so angry with you when Lucas told me who you really were. I should have listened to you.” She shrugged. “Given you a chance.”

  He squeezed her soft fingers. “I should have told you in the first place.”

  She looked at him then, tears trickling down her cheeks. “None of that mattered when I thought one or both of us was going to die. I realized what a fool I’d been to put anything before the feelings I had for you.”

  Ric let go a heavy breath. “It’s not going to be easy, Piper. We live in different worlds.”

  “We’re both flexible—we can adjust to the other’s needs.”

  “You don’t mind that I might have to take another case like yours and risk my life for someone else’s?”

  “Of course, I mind,” she said softly. “But that’s part of what makes you the man you are. And I wouldn’t want you to change.” She shrugged, the barest lifting of her shoulders. “I take plenty of risks myself. We’ll work it out somehow.”

  He pinned her with a still-skeptical look. “You don’t have a problem changing your last name to Martinez?”

  “I was thinking Piper Ryan-Martinez,” she offered with a watery smile.

  “And children,” Ric pressed. “How do you feel about children? I’m Catholic. We like big families.”

  Her smile grew wider. “I was thinking two, a few years down the road,” she qualified.

  “You’re sure about all this?”

  She leaned down and kissed his forehead gently, like the brushing of a butterfly’s wings. “I’m more sure about this than I’ve ever been of anything in my entire life. I love you, Ric.”

  He grasped her chin in his hand and looked deeply into her eyes. She’d called him Ric. “I love you, Piper,” he whispered, then touched his lips to hers in the briefest of kisses.

  “Should we take the big plunge right away or take things a bit more slowly?” she ventured hesitantly, drawing back to search his gaze once more.

  She still didn’t realize the depth of his commitment. “I plan to marry you, Piper Ryan, the day I get out of this hospital if not sooner. I don’t need any more time.”

  “That could be arranged, I think,” she mused.

  Ric frowned. “There’s just one thing.”

  Piper tensed. “What’s that?”

  “Where are we going to live?”

  A mischievous grin slid across those pouty lips. “Oh, I’m certain we’ll arrive at some sort of amicable agreement.”

  Ric pulled her mouth back down to his. “Good,” he said against her lips. “Because I’m never going to let you out of my sight for long.”

  Epilogue

  Victoria Colby stared at the case folders fanned across her desktop. Now was not a good time to be lending out one of her finest investigators. Was there ever a good time? Still, the Colby Agency had a long-standing reputation of assisting the local police in their time of need. Chicago PD was always happy to reciprocate. In this business it paid to maintain the right connections. With Ian still on leave with his and Nicole’s new baby girl, Victoria was left to make these decisions on her own. She lifted her gaze to the two members of her staff, Alex Preston and Zach Ashton, seated on the other side of her desk, waiting patiently for her to begin.

  “Okay, Alex,” Victoria said finally, “we’ll give them three days. With Martinez taking an extended vacation with his new wife and Ian still on leave, we’re bordering on overextending ourselves at the moment.”

  “I agree.” Alex flipped through the notes in her pad. “I think three days will be sufficient to work up a profile on the crime scene.”

  Trained at Quantico as a special agent for the FBI, Alex was an expert at reading crime scenes. It was more than her training, however, that made her a highly sought after expert in her field; she had a kind of sixth sense. Alex formed amazingly accurate impressions not only about the crime scene itself, but also about the perpetrator. She was good. Very good. The Colby Agency was lucky to have her.

  “All right, then,” Victoria affirmed. “Three days it is. And you tell Detective Cusack that he owes me his first-born child.”

  Alex smiled. “I think we’re up to his grandchildren now,” she teased. “And since his wife has just found out that she’s expecting, I’m sure he’s glad that we don’t really intend to collect.”

  Victoria felt a twinge of regret at her own childless state, but quickly suppressed it. She’d learned long ago not to dwell in the past. “Congratulate him for me. And as soon as you’re back in the office I want you to look into this Jasna Bukovak case.”

  “The pro bono with the missing sister?” Alex shuffled back a few pages in her notes. “Down in Tennessee, right?”

  “That’s the one.” A frown creased its way across Victoria’s forehead. “Something about that whole scenario really concerns me. I have a feeling it’s going to be more than a simple missing-persons case.”

  “I’ll keep you posted on what I find,” Alex assured her.

  Victoria turned to Zach, the agency’s most trusted legal adviser. He was one of the best attorneys in the country. “Did you get in touch with Judith at WWIN-TV?”

  “I did.” Zach inclined his head and zeroed in on Victoria with those killer baby blues and that lopsided smile. “She was thrilled at the prospect of stealing Piper Ryan away from WYBN. She wants both Piper and her cameraman, Jones. I told her they were a package deal.”

  A knowing smile curled Victoria’s lips. “I’m quite sure that Judith is very pleased to have a rising star like Piper added to her news staff, but I’m more than certain that any thrill she may have experienced was from the possibility of dinner with you.” Victoria arched an eyebrow in question. “Her place or yours?”

  Zach’s smile widened to one of his famous all-charm grins. “Hers.”

  “I’m sure,” Victoria added, “Martinez will appreciate your efforts at seeing that his new bride is employed nearby.”

  “Since I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Piper—” Zach stood and shoved his hands into the pockets of his slacks “—he won’t be the only one who’ll appreciate it.”

  Smiling and shaking her head at Zach’s exaggerated playboy rhetoric, Alex pushed to her feet. “If there’s nothing else, then I’ll see you in three days.”

  Victoria nodded, dismissing the two. She watched as Zach, ever the charming gentleman, opened the door for Alex. Instinct niggled at Victoria. The Bukovak girl’s story disturbed her. It had been a long time since she’d been this troubled by an impending case. American families hosted foreign exchange students all the time without incident. But not this time. This time something had gone wrong and a young girl was missing. Vanished into thin air.

  But, dead or alive, she had to be somewhere. Victoria could only pray that it was the latter.

  “Mrs. Colby.”

  She looked up; Mildred stood in the door. Victoria shook herself from the unpleasant thoughts. “Yes, Mildred.”

  “Lucas Camp is here to see you.”

  Startled, Victoria straightened. Her hands went instin
ctively to her tightly coifed chignon. “Thank you, Mildred. Send him in.”

  Victoria rose from her chair, but waited behind her desk, using it as a shield. She’d known Lucas for more than twenty years. They were friends…family, actually. But in the last couple of years, she’d felt drawn to him on a different level. She sighed. Maybe it was simply because James had been gone so very long now. She was lonely. As true as that fact was, she would not risk the friendship she and Lucas shared. Not for anything.

  Lucas strode into her office, leaning a bit more heavily than usual on his cane, but his smile was that of a fit, young man half his age. Neither the passage of time nor the sprinkling of gray at his temples had lessened his commanding presence. Lucas was as handsome and charming as ever.

  “I hope you don’t have plans for lunch today,” he announced, clearly pleased with himself for some reason that only he knew.

  She flared her hands and lifted her shoulders in the barest of shrugs. “You know I can always make room for you in my schedule, Lucas. What brings you to Chicago?”

  He paused in front of her desk and eased one lean hip onto its edge, then braced his hands on his cane. “It’s a twofold mission,” he offered, a twinkle of amusement in his gray eyes. “I’m recruiting and celebrating.”

  Suspicion narrowed Victoria’s gaze. “Don’t you even think about trying to recruit any of my investigators,” she warned.

  He chuckled softly, the sound doing strange things to her ability to breathe. “Don’t worry, Victoria. I know better.” He shook his head slowly. “And I have to say, you certainly come up with the best. That Martinez is something.”

  Victoria smiled at the admission she knew hadn’t come easily for Lucas. “Apparently your niece thinks so, as well.”

  Lucas shrugged. “I’ve forgiven her for that.”

  Victoria suddenly remembered the second part of his mission. “What are you celebrating?”

  He grinned. “By special order of the President, my little organization has just been given carte blanche for doing research and salvaging missions. We can now overrule anyone.”

  She raised a skeptical brow. “I’ll bet your old buddies at the CIA love that.”

  “Don’t you know it. My specialists are going to keep those other guys in line,” Lucas bragged proudly.

  Victoria skirted her desk and offered him her arm. “In that case, I say we start celebrating a little early.”

  He stood and gently tucked her arm in his. “There’s no one else I’d rather share this with than you, Victoria.”

  Warmth spread through her at the sincerity of his words. “Thank you, Lucas. That means a great deal to me.”

  And it did.

  ISBN: 978-1-4268-7166-5

  PERSONAL PROTECTOR

  Copyright © 2002 by Debra Webb

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