Free Bodyguard/Husband by Mallory Kane Page B

note toward him.
    “‘Dearest,’” he read softly, as if to himself. “‘You deserve more than I can ever give. Oh which were best, to roam or rest? The land’s lap or the water’s breast. Do not grieve. I am always nearby. Remember, my dearest love, the best is yet to be.’”
    Holly felt a chill run up her spine as Jack read the words.
    “‘The best is yet to be,’” he repeated, then wrote something on his notepad.
    “Do you recognize it?” Holly asked.
    “Browning.”
    “Of course.” Her pulse sped up. “I thought it sounded familiar.”
    His hair slid over his forehead as he nodded. He pushed his fingers through it absently. “‘Grow old along with me, the best is yet to be.’ Is there any significance to you, either in the words or in the fact that it’s Browning?”

    “No.” She shook her head and got up. “I’m going to turn on this air conditioner, if it will even work.”
    She pressed the power button on the ancient window unit and sat back down as it lumbered to life, coughing out a mildewy smell. Holly raised her face to the cool, musty air. “I barely remember Browning from high school English. I thought he was kind of depressing and sappy.”
    Jack held up the second note. “How did you find this one?”
    Holly sighed and closed her eyes for an instant. “I didn’t. Danny did. He was investigating Ralph’s disappearance and he found the note in with the wedding gifts I was returning. That was back in November.”
    “And Ralph had been missing how long?”
    “Since early October.”
    “Less than two months before the wedding.”
    His flat tone spoke volumes, as usual.
    “You think Ralph is dead, don’t you. Do you think he was killed so…so I wouldn’t marry him?” Holly had admitted that possibility to herself, but she’d never said it out loud.
    Jack nodded, hating to quash her thread of hope. “We’re pretty sure he’s dead.”
    “But what about Danny? What was the point in killing him?”
    That was the question that had plagued him. “You didn’t put Danny’s name on your list either. Were you and he seeing each other?”
    “No! I mean, we were friends. He was investigating Ralph’s disappearance and he helped me a lot.” Holly paused.
    Jack saw her eyes shining with unshed tears. Had she been in love with Danny? A vision of Holly andDanny together flashed through his brain. He clamped his jaw.
    God knew anybody who met Danny loved him. He and Danny had been best friends since grade school in Memphis. Danny was the reason Jack was here.
    He pulled his thoughts back to the young woman across the table from him. She had the frightened, bewildered air about her that he’d seen in the faces of too many stalking victims. But underlying her fear was that core of strength that surprised and impressed him. Although he could tell she was stretched thin, she was clinging with all her might to control her life.
    She wasn’t going to allow the stalker to win, not if she could help it. That certainty emanated from her like a fever. He admired her for that, even while he acknowledged that her determination was going to make his job a lot harder. He’d already found out that their relationship was destined to be a battle of wills.
    When he realized he was staring at her, he looked away, pulling the third note toward him. This one was the most intriguing of all.
    “‘Poor sweet Holly,’” he read. “‘Ah but a day and the world’s changed. You miss your friend and he misses you. He held this rose of love, the wasp inside and all. Fear not my dearest love. When you are ready I will be here.’”
    Jack’s deep voice spoke those awful words that echoed in Holly’s dreams, that made her know this nightmare was real.
    “Where was this one?”
    Her gaze slid past him as she remembered. “It was with a stack of mail.”
    “In the mailbox? So it had an envelope?”

    “Yes. No.” She frowned. “I’m not sure.” She paused. “No. It wasn’t in an