He was hard against her belly and shaking and she loved it. “I’m here to see you, Jack. With just a little nudge from the mad stalker.”

“When you called me last night, I’ll tell you, Mary Lisa, I wanted to fly down there, tuck you into my duffel bag, and take you to Australia. Scared me spitless.”

“I was pretty near the edge myself there for a while. But now”-she paused, kissed his mouth again, hugged him tightly-“but now I’m with you and the world is right for at least awhile. Did I manage to surprise you?”

“Nah, you just gave me the excuse to leap on you and kiss you stupid.”

She grinned, touched her fingertips to his face, studying him, seeing the bone-deep weariness, the frustration, and joy, the joy he felt because she was here. She glowed, couldn’t help it. She sobered quickly. “I know you’re up to your ears in this mess. I won’t be a bother, it’s just that I missed you and, yeah, I was afraid down there-”

“Having you here is what I needed. It’s true things aren’t settled here yet, and I don’t know when I’ll get things cleaned up. It’s all a matter of finding enough proof.” He paused, looked into her vibrant blue eyes, and said, “I’m quite sure it was Milo’s wife, Olivia Hildebrand.”

“Oh dear. This is going to hit my mom pretty hard. You know she and my mother are close friends.”

He frowned down at her. “Yes, of course. Your mom hasn’t missed a chance to bust my chops about harassing Olivia. But tell me what’s going on with you.”

“Well, Lou Lou and Elizabeth came up here with me, and we’re all staying at the Goddard Bay Inn-no way would I have them at my mother’s mercy at the house. They groused and complained when I dropped them off, but I told them I wanted to surprise you-alone. They got the picture. You don’t mind, do you, Jack? That I didn’t tell you I was coming up here?”

“Doesn’t matter now.” He started to kiss her again.

“Jack, wait, I’ve got things to tell you.”

“I know, but not now, Mary Lisa. Not now. There’s a time for words but now’s the time for this.” He cupped her in his hands and pulled her hard against him. It was amazing, almost as amazing as when he lay on his back on the beach, with her on top of him. “I want to take you back to the beach again.”

“That was”-she gulped, kissing his cheek, his chin, his mouth-“an experience I want again, real soon.”

There was a knock on his office door, but he was grinning like a madman, and paid it no attention.

“Chief.”

Chief?

It was Mary Lisa who pulled away, only about two inches, and turned back to see one of his deputies standing in the doorway, face crimson, looking so miserable Mary Lisa would have laughed if she wasn’t thinking so much about pushing Jack back onto his desktop. She sucked in a deep breath and whispered, “Jack.”

“Go away, Ames.”

“I’m very sorry, Chief, but Mr. Beverly is here wanting to see Mary Lisa. He’s, ah, fact is, Chief, he’s right here, as in right behind me.”

“What?”

“I called Dad,” Mary Lisa said, “got his voice mail. I told him I was coming to see you, and I’d go over to his office later. I guess he had another idea.”

She turned to see her father behind the deputy, staring at her and Jack. “So,” George Beverly said, “I hope I’m not interrupting you, Jack.”

You sure as hell are. But those were not words to be spoken aloud. Jack touched his forehead for a moment to Mary Lisa’s, kissed the tip of her nose, and raised his head to look at the man he was now seeing for the first time as his future father-in-law. Whoa, wait a minute, that wasn’t possible, was it? He stared blankly at George Beverly, relieved he was focused on his daughter.

“Hi, sweetheart.” He gently shoved the deputy out of Jack’s office and closed the door.

She didn’t want to leave Jack, really didn’t, but this was her father and she loved him. She pulled out of Jack’s arms and turned to grin at him. “Hi, Dad. I suppose I surprised Jack as much as you.”

“It looks to me like he got over the surprise part real fast.”

Mary Lisa nodded, looking all sorts of pleased with herself. “Yes, amazing, isn’t he?”

George Beverly struck a pose, fingers stroking his chin. “I seem to recall that Chief Wolf wasn’t at all amazing two weeks ago. I hadn’t realized that you were interested in each other. Indeed, there seemed to be a goodly amount of dislike on both your parts.”

She thought about that, and slowly shook her head. “Mr. Macho and his jail cell-ancient history, Dad. Isn’t life strange?”

Her father hugged her close. “I gave up long ago trying to figure out what life is,” he said, “I just try to live it.” She breathed in his familiar scent, rested her head on his shoulder for a moment.

She heard him say, “You look dead tired, Jack.”

“Not now, sir. Your daughter could rejuvenate a dead plant.”

Jack felt like he could run a marathon at that moment, that or have about six hours of sex with Mary Lisa, enough to last him for a little while. He remembered how he felt at the beach again, relived that endless moment when she’d climaxed and nearly rocketed him right over the edge, and tried not to shudder in his Italian boots in front of her father.

Mary Lisa looked at Jack, and the look in their eyes told George Beverly everything he needed to know, and a lot he didn’t want to know about. “You should rest, anyway, Jack,” he said. “Okay, sweetheart, you need to tell me everything that’s going on down south.”

“Detective Vasquez is still on it, Dad. The studio insisted I take off for a while, and the truth is, I really needed to get away. I thought about spending every day with Chico at his dojo and realized I needed to come up here to see Jack and you.”

Her father waved away her words as he looked from her to Jack standing behind her. “Definitely in that order, I see.”

She took Jack’s hand. “Well, there’s no denying this guy’s mojo. And he’s got all this stuff he’s got to deal with and I thought he could use my help up here.”

“No way,” Jack said.

“Well, I guess we’ll see-”

“There could be a jail cell with your name on it if you give me any grief, Mary Lisa.”

“Would I get a blanket this time?”

Her father, eyebrow arched, said, “I’m glad you’re home and safe, Mary Lisa. Can I take you along to the house?”

“Well, the thing is, Dad, both Elizabeth and Lou Lou are with me. I stashed them at the Goddard Bay Inn, told them I had to see Jack. They wanted to come but I begged them to order the blueberry pancakes from room service instead. It worked since Lou Lou’s a sucker for pancakes.”

“Why don’t all of you come stay at the house? Kelly moved back to her apartment two days ago.”

“I don’t think Mom would like three women invading her space. Not enough bathrooms, you know? Why don’t we all come for dinner this evening?”

He nodded slowly. “Yes, I can see why you’d say that. Truth is, your mother is more than a little strung out, what with all that’s happened to Olivia. When Olivia isn’t at our house, Kathleen is at her house. It’ll be a pleasure to see Elizabeth and Lou Lou again, Mary Lisa. They’re both fine women, and good friends. You know anything more about Milo’s murder, Jack?”

Jack shook his head. “I really can’t discuss it, sir, I’m sorry.”

“When was the last time you had any sleep?”

“I look that bad?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Jack thought about it, slowly shook his head. He took Mary Lisa’s hand. He hadn’t thought about it before, but he saw she wore only one ring, a ruby set up high amid some small diamonds. It looked like an antique.

Mary Lisa hugged her father again. “I’ll be okay, Dad. We can hope Detective Vasquez turns up something while I’m out of town.”

George nodded, smiled at Jack. “You come to dinner as well, all right, Jack?”