Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

undressed. He hadn’t completely undressed Jo. She was still wearing her blouse, but that was all. I remember that. It was white, or it had started out that way. When I got to him, he had his gun pointed at her. He saw me and went pale. I threw myself at her, over her, but he’d hurried up and pulled the trigger, trying to kill her first. I guess he didn’t want to fight us both at the same time. He shot her in the chest.’
    She remembered his panic on the courthouse steps. He thought she’d been shot, had been on the verge of ripping her shirt off to get to her wounds before Grayson had made him understand that she was wearing Kevlar, that the blood on her white blouse hadn’t been her own.
    He’d been reliving that moment with Jo. Oh, Joseph . ‘I’m so sorry.’
    He held her tight, so tight she could barely breathe. ‘She was bleeding, a lot. And then he shot me. I barely felt it. I was . . . beyond pain. I surged up, grabbed him and took the gun.’
    The air seemed to seep from his lungs and he lay there, very still. And something changed. His arms still wrapped around her, but all the previous need was gone. She felt him pulling away from her, even though he never physically moved an inch.
    She remembered the commander’s conference room when she’d thought Ford was dead. She’d asked him if the men who’d taken his wife were alive and he’d said no. So coldly. She lifted her head, resting her forearms on his chest. His expression was shuttered. Wherever he’d gone, he didn’t want her there with him.
    Which was too damn bad.
    ‘What did you do to him?’ she asked, her voice low.
    He closed his eyes. ‘I’m tired. Let’s go to sleep.’
    ‘Pffft.’ The sound she made was one of derision. ‘I don’t think so, sugar.’
    His jaw tightened. ‘Please.’ His voice was even. Reasonable. ‘Go to sleep.’
    ‘Joseph, I’m not getting any younger, so I’ll be blunt. You said you wanted a relationship. And so do I. But I don’t do threesomes.’
    His eyes flew open, brows knitting. ‘Excuse me?’
    ‘Right now there are three people in this bed. You, me, and whoever the sonofabitch was that you killed that day. If you shut me out now ...’ She trailed off, knowing a threat would damage what they hadn’t even started to build.
    Which was exactly what Joseph would be doing with his silence.
    She kissed his mouth, felt him stiffen in surprise and realized he’d hoped to make her so angry that she’d roll over and go to sleep. He didn’t know her very well. Yet.
    ‘Joseph, I’ve told you my worst secrets. If you shut me out now, you’ll hold power over me, and I’ll have none over you. I lived that life for twelve years as Mrs Travis Elkhart. I am so not going down that road with you.’
    He met her eyes, then, and she saw misery. ‘How do you know I killed him?’
    ‘Because you told me the men who took your wife were no longer alive.’
    ‘I have a big mouth,’ he said grimly.
    She kissed that mouth, traced his lower lip with her fingertip. ‘What did you do?’
    His shoulders tensed. All of him tensed, the façade of calm he’d projected suddenly gone. ‘We fought. He was strong. But I was . . . wild. I broke his neck. Snapped it. Like a twig. I can still hear that sound to this day.’ He swallowed hard. ‘It still brings me satisfaction.’
    His eyes grew piercing and he seemed to hover over the statement, waiting.
    She cupped his tight jaw, felt the muscle twitch under her palm. ‘If he’d overpowered you, what would he have done?’
    ‘The same damn thing.’
    ‘Then there you go. Eat or be eaten. I, for one, am very glad you won. You survived.’
    He stilled once again. ‘I didn’t even care about survival at that moment, Daphne. I just wanted him dead.’
    He’d used her name for the first time since starting his story. He was back with her. Re-engaged. Relief shivered down her back. She considered her answer carefully, knowing it was an important one. And that he held his breath, waiting for it.
    ‘Joseph, if you’re waiting for me to condemn you for wanting him dead, you’ll be waiting a long time. If you’re waiting for me to be horrified that hearing that snap still brings you satisfaction, you’ll be waiting even longer. He hurt your wife in unspeakable ways. He killed her. For money. That he paid for his evil with his life . . . that’s justice.’
    His eyes flickered, his throat worked as he swallowed, but he said nothing.
    ‘The