Cavanaugh's Bodyguard

  She was a long-lost Cavanaugh...

  Being a Cavanaugh had advantages for Detective Bridget Cavelli—the Cavanaughs practically ran the department. But this sudden identity crisis left Bridget off balance and vulnerable. Perhaps that explained the uncomfortable attraction she suddenly felt for her partner, consummate ladies’ man Josh Youngblood.

  Then the Lady Killer struck again. With no time to deal with her chaotic emotions, Bridget had to catch the vicious serial killer before he claimed more victims. But when the smoldering lust beneath Josh and Bridget’s breezy banter ignited into irresistible passion, their feelings couldn’t be denied. She’d always been a cop first, but with Josh’s help, Bridget was discovering how to be a woman….

  “Careful, your libido is showing.”

  “And I was trying so hard to hide it.”

  “What’s the matter, Josh, no new woman in your life?”

  “Not in the usual sense, no.”

  Bridget’s throat had gone very dry. “Then in what sense?”

  He needed to leave before he did something stupid. And yet he wasn’t moving.

  And then he was. But he was moving to close the tiny bit of space between them.

  The only way she was going to save herself was through bravado, and she knew it.

  “You’re in my space, Youngblood,” Bridget informed him hoarsely, trying to sound annoyed.

  “What are you going to do about it?”

  He half expected her to shove him back. The one thing he hadn’t expected was for Bridget to grab him and press her mouth urgently against his.

  And just before she did, he could have sworn that she’d whispered, “Damn you!”

  Dear Reader,

  Welcome back to the newest branch of the Cavanaughs, the one belonging to Sean, Brian and Andrew’s long-lost brother. This time the story is about Sean’s oldest daughter, Bridget, who finds herself grappling with what she views as a brand-new identity. This while becoming aware of feelings for her partner of three years, Josh Youngblood, feelings she has been trying to ignore because, after all, the man’s relationships have the life expectancy of a fruit fly.

  But Josh surprises her by being the one who is there for her while she’s trying to sort out how she feels about this new family connection that has suddenly cropped up in her life as well as the lives of her immediate family members. And all this is played out while Bridget and Josh desperately try to bring down The Lady Killer, a serial killer who surfaces every February to kill as many redheaded women between the ages of twenty and thirty as he can in that short month. Interested? Then please keep reading. I promise to try to entertain you as best as I can.

  With all my heart I wish you someone to love who loves you back.

  Until the next time,

  Marie Ferrarella

  Marie Ferrarella

  Cavanaugh’s Bodyguard

  Books by Marie Ferrarella

  Harlequin Romantic Suspense

  Private Justice #1664

  **The Doctor’s Guardian #1675

  *A Cavanaugh Christmas #1683

  Special Agent’s Perfect Cover #1688

  *Cavanaugh’s Bodyguard #1699

  Silhouette Romantic Suspense

  **A Doctor’s Secret #1503

  **Secret Agent Affair #1511

  *Protecting His Witness #1515

  Colton’s Secret Service #1528

  The Heiress’s 2-Week Affair #1556

  *Cavanaugh Pride #1571

  *Becoming a Cavanaugh #1575

  The Agent’s Secret Baby #1580

  *The Cavanaugh Code #1587

  *In Bed with the Badge #1596

  *Cavanaugh Judgment #1612

  Colton by Marriage #1616

  *Cavanaugh Reunion #1623

  ** In His Protective Custody #1644

  Harlequin Special Edition

  ‡A Match for the Doctor #2117

  ‡What the Single Dad Wants… #2122

  ^The Baby Wore a Badge #2131

  #Fortune’s Valentine Bride #2167

  Silhouette Special Edition

  †Diamond in the Rough #1910

  †The Bride with No Name #1917

  †Mistletoe and Miracles #1941

  $Plain Jane and the Playboy #1946

  †Travis’s Appeal #1958

  Loving the Right Brother #1977

  The 39-Year-Old Virgin #1983

  †A Lawman for Christmas #2006

  ()Prescription for Romance #2017

  ‡Doctoring the Single Dad #2031

  ‡Fixed Up with Mr. Right? #2041

  ‡Finding Happily-Ever-After #2060

  ‡Unwrapping the Playboy #2084

  =Fortune’s Just Desserts #2107

  American Romance

  Pocketful of Rainbows #145

  @The Sheriff’s Christmas Surprise #1329

  @Ramona and the Renegade #1338

  @The Doctor’s Forever Family #1346

  Montana Sheriff #1369

  Holiday in a Stetson #1378: “The Sheriff Who Found Christmas”

  *Cavanaugh Justice

  **The Doctors Pulaski

  †Kate’s Boys

  $The Fortunes of Texas: Return to Red Rock

  ()The Baby Chase

  ‡Matchmaking Mamas

  =The Fortunes of Texas: Lost…and Found

  @Forever, Texas

  ^Montana Mavericks: The Texans Are Coming!

  #The Fortunes of Texas: Whirlwind Romance

  Other titles by this author available in ebook format.

  MARIE FERRARELLA

  This USA TODAY bestselling and RITA® Award-winning author has written more than two hundred books for Harlequin Books and Silhouette Books, some under the name Marie Nicole. Her romances are beloved by fans worldwide. Visit her website at www.marieferrarella.com.

  To Charlie,

  who turned the month of February

  into something special

  all those years ago.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 1

  Finally.

  The thought flashed through Detective Bridget Cavelli’s mind at the same time that she glanced up to verify that the movement she’d detected out of the corner of her eye was her partner and no one else. She’d been waiting for her sexier-than-should-be-legally-allowed partner, Detective Joshua Youngblood, to walk into the squad room for the last half hour. This was precisely the amount of time she’d been going over the notes she had taken a year ago this month.

  Her partner wasn’t late. He was on time. She was the one who was early, but that didn’t help to assuage her impatience. She needed to share this with him.

  Now.

  She struggled to rein in her impatience. It could have been worse. He could have been coming off a forty-eight-hour marathon date and running late rather than coming in right on time.

  “He’s back,” Bridget announced to her partner, raising her voice in order to catch his attention.

  Detective Joshua Youngblood said nothing in response as he continued walking to his desk. His green eyes were hidden behind exceptionally dark sunglasses. His measured, rhythmic gait brought him to the desk that had been assigned to him for the last three years.

  After setting down the extra large container of ink-black coffee, Josh set himself down as well. His chair groaned. It
needed oiling.

  Once he was seated opposite her did he even acknowledge that he’d heard what Bridget had said by asking in a monotone voice, “Who’s back?”

  Bridget, who’d been his partner for as long as he’d been at this desk, leaned back slightly in her chair as she studied his expressionless face. The fact that Josh was still partially hidden behind the sunglasses told her all she needed to know. It was Monday and more likely than not, Josh hadn’t amassed enough sleep over the weekend to keep a squirrel bright-eyed and bushy-tailed or even moderately functioning.

  Temporarily forgetting the very cold chill that had gone zigzagging down her spine when the new acting lieutenant had told her the news earlier, Bridget asked her zombie-channeling partner a personal question, taking care not to show the slight spike of jealousy she suddenly experienced. “So, what’s this one’s name?”

  For the time being, Josh left his sunglasses on. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  He was focused on removing the lid from the newly purchased, life-affirming black liquid. Josh absolutely hated tasting plastic when he drank his coffee and no matter how careful he tried to be, if he left the lid on, he could taste plastic with each sip.

  This morning his hands felt like clumsy bear paws. This was what he got for going to bed ninety minutes before he was due in to work, he silently upbraided himself.

  With a suppressed sigh, Bridget rose from her desk and made her way around to his. With a flick of her wrist, she made quick work of the coffee lid, tossing it into his waste paper basket. A thin plume of steam rose up from the inky sea.

  “So, this one evaporated your brain as well as your energy?” she asked glibly, deliberately sounding chipper as she commented, “Busy little bee.”

  “I was up with a sick friend,” Josh informed her after he had taken an incredibly long sip of his coffee. He could feel it winding through his system. Ever so slowly, he began to feel human again.

  “I’ve never known you to make a woman sick, Josh. A little nauseous maybe, but not sick.” Leaning her hip against his desk, Bridget crossed her arms before her and shook her head as she pinned him with a penetrating look. “Don’t you think you should start acting your age, Youngblood? Partying and staying out all night all weekend is great when you’re in college or in your early twenties, but all that’s supposed to be out of your system by the time you start approaching thirty.”

  Josh appeared not to be paying any attention to her. Then he surprised her by sighing. “If you’re going to lecture me—” he began.

  She pretended to hang on his every word. “Yes?”

  He took in a huge fortifying breath before warning her, “Don’t.”

  A thousand little devils with tiny hammers pounded and danced around in his head. He was in no mood to listen to a lecture or any so-called words of wisdom his overly talkative partner might want to impart. From the first moment he’d seen her, he’d been of the opinion that she was exceptionally easy on the eyes, but definitely not always so easy on the ears.

  “I’m just trying to look out for you, Partner,” Bridget told him, deliberately smiling brightly at him. “Because whatever you do reflects on me.” With that, she removed the black sunglasses from his face and gingerly placed them on his desk next to his computer. She did a quick assessment of his face. The last three days had left their mark. She couldn’t remember ever seeing him this exhausted, and that included the time they had pulled a double surveillance shift.

  Bridget told herself that it shouldn’t bother her that he spent all his free time with women whose bust sizes were higher than their IQs—but it did.

  Just sisterly concern, nothing more, she silently insisted.

  “I suppose you don’t look so bad—for a hungover Peter Pan,” she commented.

  “I’m not hungover,” Josh protested, although without much verve. “For your information, I had the flu this weekend and I’m trying to get over it.”

  She raised a skeptical eyebrow. That hadn’t taken long. She’d caught him in a lie already. “I thought you said you were up with a sick friend.”

  Josh never hesitated or wavered. “Where do you think I got the flu?”

  He sounded almost indignant, but she wasn’t buying it, not for a second. She knew him too well. Joshua Youngblood, second-generation cop and handsomer than sin, was a consummate ladies’ man from the word go. The verb was also his rule of thumb whenever things began to look even remotely serious. The second a woman stopped viewing him less as a good time and more as husband material, Josh was gone. To his credit, he made no secret of it, made no promises that took in a month from now, much less “forever.”

  “You know,” Bridget said glibly, “you might think about becoming a writer. I hear a lot of cops with a gift for fantasy start spinning stories on paper in their free time. Who knows? You might find your name on the binding of a book someday.”

  A third big gulp came precariously close to draining his container despite its large size. Josh set the cup down and did his best to focus his attention on Bridget. The woman was smart as well as a damn good detective. There was no one who he would rather have watching his back than her, but at times he could easily strangle her as well.

  Like now.

  All he wanted was to have his coffee in peace and then slowly ease into his day. Hopefully accomplishing both with a minimum of noise and pain until he could focus not just his mind but his eyes.

  Didn’t look as if that would happen. What he needed to do since he couldn’t strangle her—at least not in a building full of cops—was deflect Bridget’s attention away from him.

  “You said something about someone being back,” he reminded her. The coffee, strong enough to be used as a substitute for asphalt in a pinch, was beginning to finally work its magic. All he needed was another half hour or so before last night, Ivy Potter and the now empty bottle of Southern Comfort were all securely behind him.

  “Yes, I did.”

  He sighed. Obviously she was going to make him work for this. “Okay, who’s back?” he repeated.

  “Who do you think?” Bridget crossed back to her desk and, for the moment, sat down. Or rather, she perched on the edge of her chair, too much tension dancing through her body for her to sit down properly.

  “If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking, would I?” Josh retorted with more than a trace of irritability in his voice.

  As he spoke, he began to go through his drawers, opening one after another and rifling through them. He was searching for a bottle of desperately needed aspirin. If he didn’t find it soon, he was damn near certain that the top of his head would come off.

  Instead of answering him, Bridget asked, “What month is it?”

  Frustrated, Josh raised his eyes to hers for a moment. “More tough questions?” he quipped. When she didn’t say anything, he sighed, clearly exasperated as he continued with his up to this point fruitless search.

  Damn it, there’d been a huge bottle of aspirin here just the other day. It couldn’t have just disappeared. Where is it? he silently demanded.

  “February,” Josh bit off. “What does that have to do with—” And then he stopped and raised his eyes to hers again. The answer came crashing back to him. He fervently hoped he was wrong. Very fervently. “February,” he repeated.

  “February,” Bridget echoed grimly with a nod of her head.

  On her feet again, she went back to his desk. Moving him out of the way, she opened the bottom drawer, which was deeper than the rest, and, reaching in, she pushed aside several folders. Extracting the white and green bottle she knew he was looking for, she placed it on Josh’s blotter in front of him without a word. She didn’t need to talk. Her meaning was clear. Even though he was a great detective, there were times when the man had trouble finding his face when he was looking into the mirror.

  What went unsaid, and she would have gone to her grave denying it, was that the trait was somewhat endearing to her.

  Grabbing the bottle
the second she’d produced it for him, Josh twisted off the top, shook out two rectangular pills and popped them into his mouth. He downed them with the last few drops of coffee lingering on the bottom of the giant container. Now all he could do was wait for the aspirin to take effect.

  With a deep breath, he leaned back in his chair and fixed his partner with an incredulous look. “I was really hoping he was dead.”

  Bridget nodded. “Weren’t we all,” she readily agreed.

  “You sure it was him?” Josh asked grimly. Before her eyes, he seemed to transform from the exceptionally handsome playboy who thought a long-term relationship meant one that lasted from one weekend to the next, into the razor-sharp investigator with keen instincts she both enjoyed and looked forward to working with.

  Bridget answered him by reciting the details she’d just read of the latest victim’s description. “Pretty redhead in her early twenties. Her hands were neatly folded just above her abdomen and she had a big, gaping hole in her chest where her heart used to be. Yeah, I’m sure.”

  She sighed, shaking her head as she picked up the folder the lieutenant had given her and brought it over to Josh for his examination. After his last spree, the serial killer, whimsically dubbed the Lady Killer by a label-hungry media, had disappeared for almost a year and they had all nursed the hope that this time it was because he was dead and not because he seemed to have a quirk about the month when Cupid was celebrated.

  “You know, I’m really beginning to hate Februaries,” she told him.

  Preoccupied with scanning the report submitted by the initial officer on the scene, Josh read that the policeman had found the body laid out in an alley behind a popular night club. Belatedly, Bridget’s words registered in his head.

  He glanced up and spared her an amused, knowing look. “I bet you were the little girl in elementary school who always got the most valentines dropped off at her desk on Valentine’s Day.” Bridget was the kind of woman the label “hot” had been coined for and there were times that he had to stop and remind himself that she was his partner and that he couldn’t cross the lines that he ordinarily stepped over without a second thought. There would be consequences and he liked working with her too much to risk them.