Quiet, p.1
Quiet, page 1
Table of Contents
Quiet (Book III) | The Beckett Series | By | Mary Martinez | Other books by Mary Martinez
The Beckett Series
Novella eBooks
Quiet | The Beckett Series Book III | Copyright @ 2013 Mary Martinez | www.marymartinez.com
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Epilogue
Sneak Peak
About the Author
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Quiet (Book III)
The Beckett Series
By
Mary Martinez
Other books by Mary Martinez
Watching Jenny
Romance and Misconceptions
Classic Murder: Mr. Romance
Chick Magnet
Three Brides and a Dress
Four Sisters
The Beckett Series
Disappear Book I
Innocent Book II
Illusion – Utopia the Beginning Book IV
Profit – Utopia the Conclusion Book V
Abandoned Book VI
Novella eBooks
Charmed and Beguiled
Honky Tonk
Meet Me In Fantasyland
Quiet
The Beckett Series Book III
Copyright @ 2013 Mary Martinez
www.marymartinez.com
This book is a work of fiction. While references may be made to actual places or events, the Names, characters, incidents, and locations within are from the author’s imagination and are not a resemblance to actual living or dead persons, businesses, or events. Any similarity is coincidental.
Published by Canyonland Press
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Released in the United States of America
Cover artists: LDM Designs
DEDICATION
As always a huge thanks to my family and friends for all of their
love and support.
A special thanks to Anthony Maxwell, U.S. Probation & Pretrial Services Officer, District of Utah, for his invaluable help on my research
for The Beckett Series.
A big thank you to my good friend Kris Porter, Jury Administrator, for the valuable courtroom help for The Beckett Series.
Thank you, Toni and Kelsey for traipsing all of New York and
Brooklyn with me.
To Ron, my wonderful husband, for humoring me and exploring New York and documenting with pictures my characters’ neighborhoods.
Thank you, Kim Finnegan, Marie Higgins, and Junie Anderson for the help all of you have given me throughout the Becketts!
I couldn’t have done it without you.
Chapter One
Christine Beckett sipped her Pinot Noir as she scanned the backyard. Autumn, her favorite time of year. Crisp air, crisp leaves, even the people were crisp. Everyone she loved had gathered at her parent’s home to await her brother’s big announcement.
Then her eyes landed on him, why on earth had he been invited?
Detective David Solomon wasn’t family. Well, neither was her brother’s Captain, Abe Rothschild. But Detective Solomon wasn’t part of Tyler’s department.
Sure, he’d helped her family when her sister had been kidnapped. Okay, so now the family thought of him as a first class hero, but he still made her uncomfortable and not in a creepy kind of way.
Creepy she could have handled.
“May I have your attention.” Tyler Beckett, her older sibling drew everyone’s interest with his announcement. “It’s time for us to put you out of your misery.”
Tyler’s wife, Keira, snuggled her tall lanky frame next to him. Tyler’s arm draped over her shoulders. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how much the two loved each other.
Christine didn’t need that. Love. Too complicated for her. Look how it had almost killed Tyler and Jessica, her younger sister.
Nope, not happening to her. She had her family and career, all she needed.
Her brother winked at his wife and gave her a playful shove to step forward. Maybe the announcement was about her sister-in-law. After all, she’d followed her husband into the agency.
“I’ll let Keira give you the news.”
Collectively the family stopped all conversation and faced the beaming couple.
Christine held back a smile. Her family. This is what she loved, the closeness, the support. You’d think they were announcing the next president.
One word described it. Family.
“Ty and I are going to have a baby.”
Baby? Good God. Christine’s legs turned to jelly, her butt smacked hard onto the folding chair next to the table. She gulped in air and held it.
Vaguely she heard a loud gasp. Most likely her Mother. Martha Beckett had been preparing for grandchildren since the day Tyler had been born.
Christine had always been secretly glad not to be the oldest of the six Beckett children. It was a huge responsibility. And now...
She was going to be an aunt.
Her Ma and Dad were most likely in seventh heaven. Oh, and her brother a Dad? That made her smile. Happiness for her brother and sister-in-law waved over her and then it really hit...
She was going to be an aunt.
Would she have to hold the baby? Could she wait until it was at least three or something? Terror raced through her body at the thought. If she dropped the baby, Tyler would never forgive her. Not that she wasn’t glad for them.
But...
Christine could hold her own in any court in Manhattan.
Hold a baby?
“Are you all right?” A deep sexy tone sent a totally different kind of shiver down her spine.
That voice could make her forget she didn’t need a man in her life. Detective David Solomon flipped the chair next to her to straddle the back.
His narrowed gaze pinned her with its intensity. He didn’t seem the type of man who laughed a lot, and, for a moment of insanity, she wanted to change that.
No, she didn’t.
“What do you want?”
His eyes no longer slits, his brow raised. “Nothing. Not a damn thing.”
The chair wobbled when he abruptly stood. His mouth firmed as he paused.
Christine waited.
If he had been going to say more, he must have thought better of it. In the next second, she was watching his long legs stride away from her as if she had the plague.
Why did he have that effect on her? He brought out the nastiest Christine.
The scared Christine.
She wouldn’t admit that to anyone.
Deep down, she knew he could hurt her in ways no one else could.
Taking in a deep breath, she spotted Keira and Tyler by the table laden with food and drink. Everyone gathered around, cheers and good wishes filtered the air.
She did wish them all the best, as long as they didn’t expect her to baby-sit. She’d probably break it or something. Sucking air into her lungs, then exhaling slowly, now it was her turn to do some back slapping.
*****
What in hell had he been thinking? That woman didn’t have a human bone in her body. How could she be a part of the Beckett family? Maybe they’d found her on a d
A baby so ill-tempered the mother had to leave her.
That had to be it.
It was a nice theory but he couldn’t hold on to it. Christine Beckett resembled her family enough he could never mistake her roots. Except in height, she could be a twin to her younger sister, Jessica.
Christine’s temperament was an entirely different story.
He’d been around the Becketts enough to know that her attitude was reserved for him. Though usually she wasn’t rude. Barely civil, but not rude. He’d obviously caught her in a bad moment.
She’d looked so vulnerable. Which explained he’d apparently lost his better judgment.
He was such a sucker for vulnerable. He needed to remember that’s how he ended up being a single dad.
It was better for both of them if he kept his distance. Probably time to give his best to the happy parents-to-be and be on his way
Great, Christine seemed to have the same idea. With head bent, determination written all over her face, she bee lined toward the happy couple.
His steps slowed, he’d let her have a moment.
Then he’d step in, utter his congratulations and excuse himself.
Good plan.
“Tyler I had no idea you two wanted to have a baby,” Christine stated the moment she entered the family circle.
David cringed at her tone that indicated she thought they were nuts. A crimson hue filtered up from the neckline of her blouse to the tips of her ears. He knew she hadn’t meant it the way it had sounded.
And as most families, they all seemed to take her bluntness in stride, most likely knowing the news had shocked her.
“Neither did we.” Tyler slung an arm around Christine. The two were almost the same height. They looked more like buddies than brother and sister.
Christine laughed. The sound rattled over him, his toes curled as if she’d just kissed him senseless. How in the hell could she do that to him?
Christine stepped out of Tyler’s embrace. “Ty, Keira I really am happy for you. I know Ma is beside herself. I hope you are planning on building a new addition on to your apartment to hold all the baby things.”
Christine glanced over her shoulder, as if looking to see if the coast was clear, then back at her brother and his wife.
David heated all over. Her look was full of naivety. Mischievous, sexy, with just a hint of spice all rolled into one. Totally different than anything he’d ever experienced. She could be very deadly if she ever used that on a man.
“I’d bet a hundred dollars Ma’s already knitted, or crocheted, a full baby outfit.”
“It’s called a layette, dear.” Mrs. Beckett walked out the back door in time to hear Christine’s bet. “I’m not ashamed of the fact that I have several ready for my grandchildren.”
The woman walked to her daughter-in-law, stood on tiptoes, and pulled Keira’s face to hers. A kiss on each cheek resounded around the backyard. “Thank you,” Mrs. Beckett said, “It’s about damn time one of these hellions is making me a grannie.”
“Martha such language,” the head of the Beckett clan, Fred, admonished. “You know they say that babies can hear in the womb.”
David decided this would be a good time to make his exit. He stepped forward, the movement brought attention from all.
“Tyler and Keira, you will make great parents. Your child will be one lucky kid. Congratulations.” He held out his hand for Tyler.
Keira grabbed his hand first and pulled him into an embrace. “David. Thank you so much.” She stepped back, to let her husband shake his hand. “I’m glad you could come.”
“Wouldn’t miss it.” David had first met Keira on a case. She came to the Big Apple for excitement and hadn’t been in the city long before she’d found herself neck deep in trouble. Tyler had saved her pretty ass and the rest, as they say, is history.
David shook Tyler’s hand and clapped him on the shoulder. “Nice job.”
“Thanks,” Tyler said. “I may be calling you in the middle of the night for tips on crying babies, you wouldn’t mind?”
David chuckled. “Anytime. Except I draw the line on baby advice after ten p.m.”
Now smile at Christine and get the hell out of here.
“David dear, you live in Manhattan don’t you?” Martha asked. For some reason she called everyone ‘dear’. And that person didn’t necessarily need to be her offspring.
“Yes.” Wary. That gleam couldn’t be good. What could she have up her sleeve?
“Christine,” Martha then turned to her prickly daughter. “You said all of those boxes wouldn’t fit into your car, right? I’ll bet David wouldn’t mind loading some in his.” On the last word Martha swung her gaze to him.
Oh yeah, there was an old-fashioned match-making gleam there. “You wouldn’t would you, David?”
He could hardly say ‘no’ after all of their hospitality over the few years he’d known the family. His only consolation was the fact Christine looked ready to explode. Temper made her cheeks flush and her eyes darken to a rich color of chipotle pepper.
Nope she wasn’t pleased.
That was all the encouragement he needed.
“I don’t mind at all Mrs. Beckett.”
The older woman gave him a playful slap. “Martha.”
He grinned. What else could he do, she was incorrigible. “Martha, then.”
“Ma, the man probably has plans.” Then Christine turned to him, lowered brows looking like a bull ready to charge. “Really Detective there’s no reason for you to bother. I can make another trip.”
“Nonsense, Chris,” Martha said. “Why make another trip if he’s going that way tonight.”
Oh yes, Martha had a definite something up her sleeve.
Too bad she’d picked the wrong two people.
“Christine, your Mother is right,” David said, trying not to let on that he enjoyed her discomfort. “There is no need for you to come back to Brooklyn when I have an SUV parked right out front.”
*****
Christine tried to reign in her temper. If only she could do a quick turn to lose him. That would be pointless as they were still in Brooklyn. And besides, he had her things. How had her mother manipulated him into helping? What? Did she think since she had two children paired up she had to dabble in Christine’s love life?
And why had the Detective looked so happy to accommodate? He didn’t like her any better than she liked him.
She’d better pay attention. She wasn’t used to the route to her new townhouse yet. How humiliating to have to explain to Detective Dangerous why she’d lost her way.
They’d barely cleared the Brooklyn Bridge into lower Manhattan, her destination, upper west side. Even on a Sunday the traffic in the evenings could become congested, especially through the theater district if she took Broadway. Mind made up she headed toward West Street onto Henry Hudson Parkway. She could take west 77th from there.
Breathing easier now she had a plan, she returned to brooding about the very disturbing detective driving the SUV behind her.
Another plan...
He can dump the boxes just inside the door and get the hell out of her space. So what that the boxes were all labeled to go to specific rooms. Wasn’t she a big girl? It wouldn’t be a problem to move them after he was gone.
And she was safe from whatever wizardry that he cast over her every time she came in contact with him.
Scrunching her face in thought, she let her eyes stray to the rearview mirror, yup still there. Why was she thinking of sorcery? She’d never seen a paranormal movie in her life.
Everything she did was all about law or agents. Give her action either in the courtroom or the streets, and she was a happy camper.
David Solomon was like a narcotic. He was bad for her, but she still craved him. Her foot slipped off the gas. A screech and a horn blast brought her out of her shock.
Craved him? No way. Two years of seeing him here and there did not mean they were friends or that they knew anything about each other.
Moving her toe onto the gas, she continued along her new street to the place she’d call home. Easing over to the curb, she climbed out of the car. Keying the button for the trunk, it popped open at the same time his door swung open.
He gave her a disgruntled look, probably because he’d almost rear-ended her. Couldn’t be helped. Her mind had been playing bizarre tricks on her.
