Free Guardian by Catherine Mann

around the letter opener.
    That small gesture shoved his objectivity into the lake. He reminded himself that she’d said on the phone she’d seen the intruder run away and no one was hurt. But she was still obviously rattled. Understandably so. David wanted to pull her into his arms. The thought of anyone touching her, hurting her…
    He needed to punch a wall.
    Another more daunting thought stopped him. Had she been forced to protect herself before the intruder ran off? He glanced at the letter opener. No blood. Thank God.
    “Are you sure you’re okay?” He kept his tone calm, steady, nothing short of a miracle given his grinding frustration.
    “I’m fine.” She blinked faster. “We should step inside so we don’t let all the air-conditioning out.”
    “Uh, wouldn’t want to run up your electric bill,” David said wryly. “Sophie.”
    She spun to face him. “What?”
    “Do you mind?” He closed his fingers around her hand clutching the letter opener, not because he cared about the weapon but because he needed an excuse to touchher. Her icy fingers warmed in his grasp. If only he could dispel the chill of whatever had made her stand in front of him shaking.
    “Oh, I forgot about it.” She stared at their hands joined over the weapon. “Silly, huh, when there’s nobody here?”
    “Not at all.” Even the most hardened combat vets lost it sometimes. “Let’s sit.”
    He placed the letter opener on the secretary by the door, then grasped her hand again. When she didn’t tug free, he squeezed her fingers gently. She seemed content to accept comfort, even if she didn’t acknowledge it. Like when he’d held her shoulder in the office.
    David led her into the formal living room and settled beside her on the sofa, giving him a moment to pull his focus back where it belonged. His hand relaxed around the grip of the gun, and he placed it within reach on the coffee table. “You didn’t give me much to go on with the quick phone conversation, other than he’d left and you’d called the police.”
    “Sorry about that. Honestly, I’m not sure why I called your sister looking for you.” She combed her fingers through her hair. “When I came back from my walk, I saw someone leaving the house.”
    David scratched his jaw, almost afraid to hope she’d come through unscathed. “You weren’t inside with the intruder?”
    “No.”
    He swallowed heavily, pressing two fingers to his eyebrows. On the phone she’d said they were okay, but there were a helluva lot of shades to
okay
.
    “Nanny and Brice even slept through it. I was out walking to unwind after…”
    Her deep brown eyes flared with the memory of thatmoment in the office when she’d lost it, when he’d touched her. Just a hand on her shoulder, for God’s sake.
    Yeah, he understood the need to walk off tension.
    “I needed some fresh air after work and I saw someone sneaking out of the house.” She looked down at her disheveled clothing and frowned. “You thought I was attacked? Oh, no! David, I’m fine, really. He didn’t hurt me, and he didn’t hurt my family. I wouldn’t have called you, but I thought I should have some kind of backup while I wait for the police in case they took a while to get here—which apparently they are.”
    Forget punching a wall or holding her. He needed space and a few seconds to clear his head and formulate more coherent thoughts about this break-in. Had she been purposefully targeted? Had the perpetrator been looking for something specific, because otherwise, why not steal something? Had this high-profile case made her a target, or could she have enemies of a more personal nature?
    David stretched away from her to the end table and turned on a lamp. The furniture polish gleamed in the lamplight. His nose twitched at the lemony smell.
    For the first time since he’d entered her house, David allowed himself a look around. The rest of the decor matched the lamp, classy and pricey. Two striped sofas faced each