Logan's Bride by Elizabeth August Page B

and put her gun on the coffee table.
    As he rolled up in his blanket, Katrina frowned at him. His behavior made it clear he was angry with himself for having kissed her. Pride caused the hairs on the back of her neck to bristle and demanded that she say something. “Don’t worry, I won’t go shouting about that from the treetops.” It deserved to be shouted about from the top of a mountain, her inner voice admitted, grudgingly. Not certain who she was angrier at...him for rejecting her or herself for the way her heart was still pounding wildly...she turned her back to him and ordered herself to sleep.
    Boyd made no response. He could still taste her and he still wanted more. Keeping the women and yourself alive depends on you keeping a clear head, he growled mentally at himself. It also depended on him not forgetting that Katrina and her aunt could be playing a game with him as a pawn.

Chapter 6
    M idmorning the next day, Katrina stood at the front window. Her job was to stand guard inside the house while her aunt cut a deal with the federal attorney. From her vantage point she could see anyone approaching the porch. She could also see through the bedroom door to the window in there.
    Boyd and the two agents who had come with the attorney were patrolling the outside. She found herself searching for glimpses of him to reassure herself that he was all right. Don’t you have any pride? You know he’s ecstatic to be free of your company, she chided herself and forced her attention back to the porch and the interior of the cabin.
    Outside, Boyd finished a wide sweep of the woods surrounding the cabin.
    â€œQuiet?” Fred Carrelli, the senior agent who’d come with the attorney asked.
    â€œQuiet,” Boyd confirmed.
    Fred’s job was to watch for any movement on the road leading up to the house. With a pair of binoculars, he could see through the tree cover to the main road. “Nothing here, either.” Giving his eyes a rest, he pressed the talk button on his walkie-talkie. “Anything?” he asked into it.
    â€œNothing,” came the reply from his partner. Charlie Klause, the other agent who’d arrived with the attorney, was posted at the rear of the cabin.
    â€œGuess you’ll be glad to get those two off your hands,” Fred said, setting the walkie-talkie aside and again peering through the binoculars.
    The implication in the man’s voice placed Katrina in the same category as her aunt. Boyd experienced a nudge of irritation. In the next instant he was mocking himself. She and her aunt having an agenda of their own was one of the suspicions he’d been harboring since this began. Keeping his voice conversational, he said, “You think Officer Polenari is in on this with her aunt?”
    â€œMaybe. You know what they say about a leopard not being able to change its spots. Or, could be she’s in it with Garduchi. Her whole ‘leaving the family’ thing could have been staged. If that’s the case, then even the aunt wouldn’t know. Garduchi would keep a deep mole a secret, known only to himself.”
    â€œShe hates Garduchi. She blames him and her father for her mother’s death,” Boyd said in Katrina’s defense.
    Fred gave him a patronizing look. “Maybe she does and maybe she doesn’t. Could be she’s just a good actress. Her father was one of the best enforcers in the business. If she’s as good as he was, she could take out anyone without a blink of an eye and the death of a relative would mean nothing.”
    â€œIf she wanted to take her aunt out, she would have already tried.”
    Fred shrugged. “Could be she’s got a good reason for playing along for a while.”
    Boyd tried to picture Katrina as a cold-blooded killer. He couldn’t. But was that his gut instinct or was it coming from a lower region of his body? He didn’t like to think that he could be influenced by lust,