Read Guardian for Free Online Page B

lakeside and home. And what do ya know? Now she had
his
address.
    Ten minutes later, she charged along the shoreline, and as the house in question came into view, she saw David in the distance. Tall, lean, and too damn sexy, he stood on the balcony talking with a super-skinny woman wearing Lycra workout clothes.
    The kick of jealousy made her mad.
    Then she remembered that he lived with his sister.
    The rush of relief made Sophie madder.
    She struggled to remember the woman’s name. It had been so long since she’d attended neighborhood functions at the clubhouse. Grief and work had almost consumed her whole.
    Finally, her mind latched on to a name from a Christmas party nearly two years ago. Madison Palmiere. Madison’s husband was a bigwig at one of the major airplane manufacturing companies.
    No reason she should have guessed Madison was related to David, since they had different last names. Too bad she hadn’t thought to make the connection earlier. She wasn’t surprised so much as frustrated. Beyond theprofessional realm, his presence now invaded the haven of her home. She’d worked hard for peace after Lowell’s death.
    His
death
?
    The word sounded too benign.
Death
didn’t come close to describing Lowell’s stupid, careless stunt. Sophie didn’t want to hate the husband she’d loved, but the contradictory emotions spiraled inside her all the same. No man with a wife and child should fly under bridges for thrills. Stubborn and reckless, he’d done it again in spite of his promise and had died, leaving her to face everything alone.
    She thought she’d forgiven him for throwing away his life, theirs together. In the hollow silence of endless nights, she’d learned to accept fate’s arbitrary twists.
    Until one too-sexy-for-his-own-good flyboy had opened the floodgates.
    Her sandals slapped against the muddy bank with drumming force, the water lapping at her feet. Trying to hold back the flood of anger proved futile. She wanted to crank the clock back to a time before that moment in the courtroom when some unnamed quality about David Berg had challenged her awake.
    Numb was better.
    Sophie glared at David and closed the last few feet separating them.
    *    *    *
    “Nanny?” David gulped.
    Madison nodded. “The lady’s a real dynamo for someone in her midseventies, but…Is something wrong?”
    David shook his head. “The Man upstairs has a wicked sense of humor today.”
    Divine proof stomped into sight with a vengeance. Arms pumping, a determined Sophie stormed down the shoreline, closing in on Madison’s house. She’d obviously recovered from any ill effects from the bump on her head.
    Sophie neared the dock, slowing to a more sedate pace. She plastered a polite grimace of a smile on her face. David wondered why even a counterfeit symbol of happiness from her stirred him. He loped down the stairs, his sister’s slower pace echoing softly behind him.
    Damn, but Sophie looked hot in jean shorts and a well-worn T-shirt that looked as soft as her skin. He realized he’d never seen her in anything other than her uniform before now. She looked…more approachable.
    David stuffed his hands safely away in his pockets.
    “Hello, Madison.” Sophie’s smile faltered as she stopped a couple of feet away from him. “David.”
    “Hey, Sophie…” Madison gestured between them, her bracelets jingling. “Hey, wait. David, this is the Major Campbell you’ve been…uh…talking about from the case?”
    Sophie lifted one eyebrow. “Talking about?”
    David stayed diplomatically silent, because yeah, he’d griped about what a pain in the “briefs” she’d been more than once.
    Madison laughed softly, too damn knowingly. “I didn’t realize you two knew each other.”
    Simultaneously, David and Sophie agreed. For once.
    “Just base business.”
    “Only through work.”
    Madison quirked a delicately arched eyebrow. “Okay.”
    His thoughts shot back to that moment at the courthouse when