Free Intimate Knowledge by Elizabeth Lapthorne Page B

actually called Vincent Daniels. That was what Preston’s text was about and why I called him back just now. I’m hoping some of Vincent’s known associates might turn out to be the other guy.”
    Jennifer digested this as she pulled up onto the edge of the small clearing. She switched off the engine and they sat in silence for a moment. Staring out of the windscreen and not seeing a thing, she decided if Saul or his colleagues could find her attackers, maybe even do something about them, then that would be perfect. Even having a name for Ginger made her feel scared still, but more in control.
    “Thank you.” She turned to face Saul. “If Preston or someone can find Vincent, then you’re right. We can question him. Find out whatever the hell we’ve got into. Do you think…” She hesitated a moment, not wanting to burden Saul further but unable to stop herself now she’d started. “Do you think we can keep him off the streets? So he can’t hurt anyone?”
    Saul clenched his jaw. Jennifer huffed out a breath, something resembling a very weak laugh. Of course. She shouldn’t have needed to ask. His gaze stayed with her, comforting her before he even opened his mouth to say a word.
    “He won’t ever hurt you, babe. No matter what. That’s a promise.”
    She reached out and took his hand. Chemistry sizzled from the intimate contact.
    “Thank you,” she said again, softer this time, wishing she had more than just words.
    Saul grinned, a sexy, wicked thing which lightened his features and made her heart stammer against her breasts. He opened the door with a jerky motion, squeezed her fingers again then climbed out.
    The camp site, she recalled. The box. Right.
    Blinking, she shook her head to try to clear her brain as she got out of the car. Saul stood to the side, his hands thrust deeply into his pockets. Jennifer glanced around and enjoyed the crisp air.
    Déjà vu.
    She turned a slow circle around the small clearing, mentally picking out how she’d set up her campsite the previous week.
    “That’s where I had my fire going.” She pointed to a darkened circle. Even though she had carefully turned the ashes over multiple times in the dirt—pedantically making certain no stray embers could reignite after she’d left—the small area was clearly visible.
    Saul knelt to the ground, his long fingers prying at a small hole in the earth.
    “Tent pegs?” He chuckled. Now he’d drawn her attention to it, the half dozen small crevices leapt out at her. “Please don’t tell me you’re still using that ancient contraption from your childhood.”
    “Dad bought me that tent for my fifteenth birthday,” she replied automatically, the argument an old one for them. “If I recall you snogged the hell out of Betsy Chandler in it during the summer break at the end of sixth form when the rest of us were off on a hike. I’d expect you to have even more sentimental attachment to it than I do.”
    Saul had looked up at her as she’d finished her comment, his grin wide and wicked.
    “I’ll buy you a new tent and snog the hell out of you in it, then. I fully intend to make a lifetime’s worth of new memories with you, babe. Never doubt that.”
    She laughed and returned her attention to surveying the immediate vicinity.
    Not for a moment did she doubt she and Saul were already stepping down the path of merging their lives together properly. Every minute she spent with him felt precious, fresh and new. If he had been anyone else the speed with which they had come together, joined together would have worried her. But he knew almost everything about her—and she him. This felt so natural, so right already it was impossible to imagine reverting back to mere friends.
    Each grin, every exchange they had, cemented what she knew for fact now. She loved him. And he loved her.
    Nothing else mattered.
    As she finished turning another slow circle she jolted when she realised Saul had come to stand only a few paces behind