“I believe you, but Carranza may not.” He stepped toward her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. “They’ve searched all of Anthony’s personal be longings and turned up nothing. It’s only logical thai Carranza would have you checked out next.”
“Of course.” Acid burned in her empty stomach, and she swallowed to keep it from rising into her throat. “This Carranza person knew Anthony was married?”
“It wasn’t a secret that Anthony was married. Carranza could learn that information easily enough. Since Anthony was having an affair, word spread that you were just a pampered wife and that you and Anthony pretty much lived your own private lives.”
The bitterness finally escaped her in the form of broken laughter. It hurt, dammit, to think what a farce her marriage to Anthony had always been. To realize that Josh’s words held so much truth.
She moved away, and he let her go. Realizing just how wobbly her legs were, she slid into a chair next to the table. Letting out a deep breath, she looked to Josh for guidance. “Now what am I supposed to do?”
“Right now, our undercover officers are reportedly having you checked out.” Leaning his hip against the railing, he crossed his arms over his wide chest, looking every inch the tough, uncompromising detective he was. “As soon as they find some kind of evidence that you know something about the Ivanov necklace or its whereabouts, they’re to let Carranza know.”
“I told you,” she said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know anything about that necklace!”
Her snappish tone didn’t faze him. “I know you don’t, but the department has a strategy in mind, and it would be to our advantage to find the necklace. And we need your full cooperation to make the setup work.”
She gave him a tight, angry smile. “Do I have a choice in the matter?”
“Not since you’ve become Carranza’s main target. Lieutenant Reynolds and I agree that you need aroundthe-clock protection, but we can’t risk planting a bunch of men around the house, or being obvious in our sur- veillance.”
The ominous scenario his words projected caused a shiver of apprehension to skip down her spine. “The house has a security system.” Remembering that she hadn’t been using it when she’d opened the door to Josh last night, she added, “I’ll make sure I have the alarm on whenever I’m home.”
“That won’t protect you once you leave the house And we don’t know where, when, or how Carranza will approach you.”
Her skin crawled at the thought of this stranger, on any of his men, stalking her for something she didn’t even have. “So what are you suggesting?”
He settled into the chair next to hers and braced his forearms on his knees. Guarded was the only term thai could describe his expression. “Word is being sprea that Anthony’s widow has a live-in lover.”
She gaped in disbelief. “What?” This ridiculous plar was going too far!
“Paige,” he said, his patient tone cajoling her to be reasonable. “It’s the only believable way for me to stay here and protect you until we bust Carranza.”
Her mind registered the word me, as in Josh. Shod gave way to incredulity. “You’re posing as my lover?”
“Yes.” There was nothing in his serious expression to indicate that posing as her lover would be anything more than a job to him. A way to protect her, as he’d stated, despite that they had been lovers. “The under cover officers on this case have already filtered information about me to Carranza, which includes a false last name of Bennett, which you need to remember Right now, I’m unemployed and living with you.”
Her mind reeled with all the information he was loading onto her, and she fought to deny it. “This is crazy!”
“It’ll only be for a few weeks. A month, tops.” He reached for her hand and tucked it between both of his, making her realize how cold and clammy her palm was next to his warm, dry one. “I’ll do whatever it takes to protect you. So you can expect that I’ll be by your side whenever possible.”
“Even at work?” Surely he wasn’t going to shadow her steps every hour of the day?
“Your life will resume as normal-”
“You call this normal?” she asked, unable to tamp down the horrible hysteria clawing its way to the surface. “Go to hell, Josh!” Standing, she jerked her hand out of his grasp and started for the deck stairs leading to the beach.
He was lithe and agile, moving out of his own chair and blocking her path before she could bolt. “I call this saving your life,” he said, his tone low and ruthless enough to make her realize there would be no escaping him, or this awful situation, until it was officially over. “We’ll be planting an undercover officer at your boutique, so you’ll be protected while you’re working. You’ll never be alone, Paige, even when you think you are. There will always be someone watching over you, and for the most part, that will be me.”
Her chin lifted defiantly. “And what if I tell you I don’t want any part of this operation? That I refuse to cooperate?”
Something harsh and dangerous glittered in his eyes. “Then you could end up just like Anthony.”
If there had been anything in her stomach at the moment, she was certain it would have ended up on Josh’s loafers. Her entire body flashed hot, then cold. Little black dots danced in front of her eyes, and her vision began to blur. She knew she was going to faint, and she also knew there was nothing she could do about it.
Her knees buckled, and she heard a distant curse, then felt two hands wrap around her arms and guide her back until her knees hit something solid and she collapsed into a chair. A large hand cupped her neck and pushed her head down until it was between her knees.
“Breathe, Paige,” he commanded.
She did, drawing much-needed oxygen into her lungs until the wave of dizziness and nausea passed. When she finally felt stable again, she lifted her head and found Josh kneeling in front of her.
Swallowing to ease the dryness in her throat, she managed a smile. “I did say no sugarcoating, didn’t I?”
He laughed, the sound rough. “Yeah, you did.” With a tenderness that made her heart catch, he smoothed her hair away from her face, then dragged his thumb along her cheek. “Sweetheart, I’m sorry Anthony left you in this mess. But it’s too late to back out now, not with Carranza determined to find that necklace. It’s essential to the case, and your own life, that the department has your full cooperation. That I have your full cooperation. You understand that, don’t you?”
She understood that she’d be living with Josh for weeks and doing her best to avoid him and the memories of their one night together. She understood that her husband had been a criminal, even while he’d sworn to uphold the law. She understood that she’d have no life of her own until all this ended.
She hated every bit of it, but she understood.
“You have my full cooperation,” she said in a whisper, and knew she’d live by that pledge. Because if she didn’t, if she backed out and refused to participate in their grand scheme, she’d not only put her own life in jeopardy, but she’d risk Josh’s life, and the lives of a dozen other men as well. Good, honorable men.
Now that she’d guaranteed her assistance, she wanted it over as quickly as possible. “So, what do we do now?”
He breathed an audible sigh of relief. “Now we find the Ivanov necklace.”
THEY AGREED to start their search in the office, then work their way toward the front of the house. While Paige rummaged through drawers and closets for any shred of evidence, Josh checked the more inconspicuous spots in the rooms, odd places where Anthony could have rigged a false drawer, or used furniture as a prop to conceal the million-dollar necklace.