Free Guardian by Catherine Mann Page B

here?”
    Sophie silenced David with a slight shake of her head, then wished she hadn’t turned to him again. He looked too good in khaki shorts and a polo shirt, bared long arms and legs attesting to whipcord strength. Dark hair sprinkled along his skin.
    Bristle over strength, like the man.
    She remembered well the comfort those strong arms could offer. That didn’t mean he wanted to be her on-call bodyguard.
    “Mom?” Brice stepped between Sophie and David, turning sideways, putting more distance between the couple.
    “Oh.” Sophie slid her gaze back to her son. “We had a prowler outside. He’s gone now.” Cupping Brice’s shoulder, she gave him a reassuring squeeze. “Just to be safe, I called David, uh, Major Berg to help me look around until I can fill out a police report. Would you mind knocking on Nanny’s door so I can talk to her?”
    David waited until her son left the room before hepinned Sophie with a determined stare. “Maybe you should pack a few things and stay somewhere else.”
    Sophie bridled at his take-charge attitude. Asking for help didn’t signify an abdication of her own responsibilities, damn it.
    She added another step to the space between them. “I think that’s a little premature. I should hear what the police have to say first.”
    A siren wailed lowly in the distance.
    David scrubbed a hand across his jaw. “And there they are. About damn time.”
    “Then you can leave now. I’ve got this.” Sophie could still feel the heat of his touch on her shoulder from when he’d comforted her in her office. A deeper ache settled in her stomach, tingling lower still, making her want his hands on her again—without the barrier of clothes.
    “Or I can wait for you to finish up.” His stubborn jaw jutted.
    And no matter how much she wanted to argue with him, she had to think smart and use the resources available to her. She had to know if someone had targeted her house in particular. If so, had that person been staking out her place the whole time? Had someone been watching her in order to slip in during the only time this evening when she’d been away from the house?
    She hugged herself tighter against the chill seeping all the way to her bones and tried not to think about the warmth of David’s touch.

F IVE

    Stifling a yawn, David watched the patrol car pull out of Sophie’s driveway. It was pushing three in the morning and he had to work in a few hours. But he wasn’t leaving until he had her buttoned up tight in her house.
    What a night.
    Prints had been lifted, casts made of the footprints. Nothing more could be done for now. Sophie didn’t see any reason to leave the house, and David couldn’t come up with a concrete reason to make her change her mind.
    He stretched his arms over his head and worked the kink out of his neck. At least he didn’t have to field angry calls from Leslie about a late-nighter at the base. Their marriage had collapsed under the pressure of his job—no great surprise since military service members checked in with one of the highest divorce rates in the country. The Berg union was merely one more sad statistic.
    As downright pissed as he got with Leslie, he knew the breakup had hurt her as well. He never should havemarried anyone, and she’d been so young. Too young. She’d been overwhelmed by the stress of being a military wife with a kid and another on the way.
    But how could he regret something that had resulted in Haley Rose? And as much as it hurt like hell not to see Hunter, David wouldn’t trade the time they’d had as a family for anything.
    The divorce had been messy, no question. But once he’d accepted Leslie wasn’t coming home and only wanted enough money to start over, he’d written the check without a wince. Leslie’s decision that he would be the better parent for Haley Rose had filled him with an almost nauseating relief over not losing his daughter, followed by a crushing grief that Hunter wouldn’t be a part of his