Page 27

Unfortunately, she drifted off to sleep before she heard his reply.

Cranky-pants. Was that who he had become? A bitter man who couldn’t even smile at the beautiful sleeping woman on his sofa?

The problem was Monique was a beautiful woman. Normally her light floral scent radiated from her, filling the air with the image of a field of beautiful flowers.

His stomach had been tied in knots from the moment she’d entered the kitchen. In her jeans and light pink T-shirt, she’d looked positively lovely even with the bruise that darkened one side of her chin.

Just the sight of that bruise had ticked him off. What kind of person could beat on a petite woman like her? It had been obvious that she’d been in tremendous pain as she’d eaten breakfast and yet she still had shared her beautiful smiles.

Watching her sleep was a guilty pleasure. Her skin was poreless and her eyelashes were so long they almost dusted the top of her cheeks. With her features in repose, she looked tranquil and without pain.

His hands tightened into fists as he thought of the beating she’d taken. Even though he wasn’t a violent man, he’d love to have five minutes alone with her attacker.

Nobody would lay a finger on her now, he’d make damn sure of it. For as long as it took, he intended to be her shadow. She was marked for death by some unknown person, but Jacque would make sure no harm came to her.

This wouldn’t end like the last time he had vowed to protect someone. It couldn’t, because if it did, it would completely destroy him.

He picked up his latest crime novel from next to his chair and leaned back to read. He could hear her breathing. The faint rhythmic sound mingled with the familiar outdoor noise that drifted in through his back screen door. There was the occasional bird call coupled with the bushes rustling as small animals hurried on their way to forage for food. Occasionally the sound of a fish jumping could be heard from the nearby water. For Jacque these sounds soothed his soul.

A faint breeze drifted through the open kitchen window, making the room temperature quite pleasant. One of the first things he did in the mornings was open up all the windows in the shanty. At bedtime he would close all of them except the one in his bedroom.

Monique slept for a little over an hour. She released a small moan as her eyes fluttered open. The sound cut through him. He hated that she was in such pain.

Still, she slowly sat up and offered him a smile. “Did I snore?”

“No, but it wouldn’t have mattered if you had. I probably snore as well.”

“My sisters always teased me and said the minute I fell asleep I’d snore like a bullfrog, but I never knew if it was really true or not.”

“Did they tease you a lot when you were growing up?” he asked.

“Constantly, but to be perfectly honest we all teased each other.” She swung her legs around so she was sitting on the sofa and gazed at him curiously. “Do you have brothers or sisters, Jacque?”

“No, I’m an only child.”

“Where are your parents?”

“My father passed away five years ago from prostate cancer, and my mother passed seven years ago from a heart attack.” Thank God they had both been gone before the event that had destroyed Jacque’s life.

“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” she replied, her gaze soft and sympathetic.

“Thanks, but it was a long time ago.”

“Does it get easier?” She gazed at him intently. “Because right now for me the heartache of missing my mother hasn’t lessened at all. It lives inside me with such pain, and even after all these months it hasn’t gotten any better.”

“Time does help,” he replied.

“I still feel like I won’t even begin healing until her killer is caught. My life is at a standstill because I need to have the closure of him being thrown into jail.” She released a sigh. “I wanted to catch him so badly.”

“I don’t even want to talk about you trying to catch the killer anymore,” Jacque said.

“We won’t talk about it right now,” she agreed. “To be honest, right now, I couldn’t fight my way out of a wet paper bag.”

“Good to know. So if you misbehave, I could put a wet paper bag over your head and stop you in your tracks.”

Her eyebrows raised slightly. “Oh my gosh, Jacque, did you just make a joke?” She released a small laugh and then groaned and grabbed her ribs. “I was beginning to wonder if you had a sense of humor.”

“I only pull it out for special occasions,” he replied with an unfamiliar grin.