Inserting his finger into the thumb-hole, he lifted the metal lid, revealing exactly what he’d anticipated. He looked at Paige and grinned triumphantly. “It’s a built in safe.”

4

AFTER DISCOVERING the hidden safe, Josh immediately contacted his lieutenant, who sent out a pair of detectives to Paige’s house, along with a team of forensic specialists to open the safe and secure the contents.

Two hours later, the extent of Anthony’s corruption lay spread before them on the master-bedroom floor. The contents of the safe included over a hundred thousand dollars in cash, several kilos of cocaine, and other narcotic paraphernalia Josh highly suspected had been pilfered from various drug busts. Stashed in a canvas drawstring bag amongst the other evidence they’d seized, they found the stolen diamond-and-emerald necklace, directly implicating Anthony-and explaining how he’d been able to afford such a luxurious house, and a life-style that stretched beyond a cop’s salary.

The proof of Anthony’s illegal behavior burned in Josh’s gut like acid. Judging by Paige’s pale complexion and the shock etched on her features as she stared at the evidence, Josh knew she was just as appalled that she’d been so blindly deceived by the man she’d married.

She lifted her gaze, meeting his. The depths of her eyes were a dark, turbulent shade of green. “I had no idea, Josh,” she whispered, her voice filled with confusion, and a deeper level of betrayal he fully understood. “How could I have not known?”

She wanted answers he wasn’t comfortable expressing with half a dozen law-enforcement officials privy to their conversation. His view of the situation was pure speculation, and he had no desire to have his opinion thrown into the investigation.

Gently taking her arm, he guided her to the bedroom door and away from the men photographing the area and dusting the contents of the safe for fingerprints. “Why don’t you go wait in the living room while these guys do their job, and I’ll be there in a few minutes, okay?”

She stiffened at his order, but didn’t argue. After one last troubled glance at the evidence, she headed down the hall and disappeared from Josh’s sight. He shoved his fingers through his hair in frustration, torn between the desire to follow her and offer the emotional support she so obviously needed, and the duty his job required. He knew, though, that by aiding in the case work, he was helping Paige in a significant way-helping to save her life.

He came up beside Peterson, who was photographing the scene and each individual item confiscated from the safe. “I need a picture of the Ivanov necklace sent to Lieutenant Reynolds ASAP.”

The older man with short-cropped salt-and-pepper hair nodded at Josh. “He’ll have a complete set on his desk by tomorrow morning.”

“Great.” After escorting Paige to the Wild Rose in the morning, Josh planned to deliver the portrait he’d requested from Paige, along with a photograph of the necklace, so the artist they’d commissioned could get started on the painting.

Leaving the rest of the logging and reporting to the detectives working on the case, Josh went to find Paige. She wasn’t in the living room where he’d asked her to wait, which sparked a bit of annoyance that she’d blatantly ignored his request. Instead, he found her standing out on the beach a good hundred yards from the house, alone and vulnerable, making an excellent target for anyone who might be watching her.

Moving onto the deck, he slipped off his loafers and socks, and put them beside Paige’s leather flats next to the wide set of wooden stairs leading to an endless playground of white sand. He headed toward where she stood just a few feet beyond the reach of the teasing and retreating surf.

She tilted her face toward the breeze. The position afforded him a glimpse of her profile-finely etched features that lent her a classical beauty. That wholesome, natural loveliness, combined with her impossibly sweet and generous nature, drew him like no other woman ever had.

After last night, the need to make her completely his was fierce and instinctive, a deep, primitive desire that skittered on the edge of recklessness. For three years, despite the unspoken awareness between them, they’d respected the perimeters of her marriage vows, even if Anthony hadn’t. Josh was a man who strongly believed in commitment and the bonds of marriage, and would never have crossed those matrimonial boundaries.

Circumstances had changed. For both of them. Paige no longer belonged to a man who’d treated her as a possession, and there were no sacred vows or a friendship for Josh to betray.

Circumstances, as awful and devastating as they were, had brought them together, heightening emotions and desires they’d suppressed for too long. If Paige had her way, judging by the brief discussion they’d had that morning, he suspected she’d let last night become a distant memory. For him, forgetting wasn’t even a remote possibility, not after discovering the sweet, honeyed taste of her, the soft feel of her body pressed beneath his, the intimate sounds she made when he eased deep inside her…

Having her just for one night would never be enough. Even now, his body quickened with the recollection of how incredibly responsive she’d been to his touch, how hungry she’d been…how needy. He’d been just as greedy, if not more so, because he wanted more than just one night of pleasure-he wanted endless tomorrows, and a lifetime of giving her everything she’d been missing in her marriage to Anthony.

He had a job to do and would protect her with his life. But he wasn’t about to let her forget that he’d filled an emotional and physical void, wasn’t about to let her tuck the memory away and revert to simple friendship. He’d give her time to adjust to the change-she deserved at least that much-but in the meantime he refused to pretend that nothing had happened between them.

She didn’t hear him approach; he deliberately moved stealthily, determined to make her realize the kind of danger that would surround her. Moving up behind her, he grabbed her upper arm, wringing a startled gasp from her throat. She automatically jerked away and stumbled sideways, but his tenacious hold prevented her from landing on her bottom in the sand.

When she finally found her footing, she turned to face him. She didn’t appear grateful for his assistance, not when he was responsible for shaking her up. Instead, she glared, her eyes shooting bright green flames of anger.

“Dammit, Josh,” she hissed furiously, ineffectively tugging her arm from his grasp. “You could have warned me you were coming up behind me!”

He offered no leniency, nor did he let go of her. “Carranza or his men wouldn’t have given a warning.” His tone was as grim as the picture his words painted.

She hesitated for a moment, his meaning sinking past her indignant tirade. Then, she lifted her chin defiantly. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t sneak up on me that way.”

If he hadn’t been so intent on proving a point, he would have found her stubbornness amusing. But the situation was dire, her cooperation a necessity. “And I’d appreciate it if, in the future, you’d listen to my orders. I asked you to wait for me in the living room.”

She glanced back at the house, her mouth thinning in disdain. “If you don’t mind, I’d rather not be in the house right now.”

He understood her aversion to the corruption filling her home, but she still needed to take precautions. “Fine. Next time tell me and either I, or another undercover officer, will escort you outside.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, her expression reflecting her displeasure. “I resent this situation, Josh,” she snapped.

He sighed wearily, and gave her a halfhearted smile. “No more than I do.” Both of them had been betrayed by a man they’d trusted, and that knowledge cut deeply. More gently, he suggested, “Come on, let’s go for a walk.”

They strolled along the beach, near the water’s edge where the wet sand made the going easier. Their walk was calming, peaceful, and just what they needed to release the stress of the past few hours.

“I’m having a hard time understanding what compelled Anthony to steal all that stuff,” Paige commented, the first to break the companionable silence that had settled between them. “I feel so violated and deceived, in so many ways.”

The pain and disillusionment lacing her voice grabbed at him, made him furious at himself because he’d been just as blind to Anthony’s traitorous activities. “I think I know how you feel.”

“Do you?” Her sharp, angry question was a search for answers. “How could I have lived with Anthony for three years, and never have known that I was married to a criminal?”

He glanced at Paige, resisting the urge to reach out and smooth away the frown lines between her brows. Touching her was becoming an obsession, and that was dangerous to his concentration. “Because you accept people at face value.”

A mirthless little laugh caught in her throat and carried on the breeze. “Yeah, well, the joke’s on me, isn’t it?”

“On all of us, actually.” He pushed the tips of his fingers into the front pocket of his jeans, keeping his stride along the beach as casual as Paige’s. “Nobody wants to think that a cop might be on the wrong side of the law.”

“So why did he do it?” she asked softly.

The answer to that question wasn’t as simple as he would have liked. Glancing out at the ocean, he thought about all the possible replies that came to mind-the same ones he’d been mulling over for the past three months-and grasped the most logical explanation. “How much do you know of Anthony’s past?”

She thought for a moment, then shrugged. “I know he’s an only child and both his parents are dead. Other than that, Anthony refused to talk about his past. And after a while, I stopped asking.” She gave him an odd look tinged with a deeper layer of suspicion. “Why? What does his past have to do with all this?”