Reason To Believe by Roxanne St. Claire

Scheff’s laptop under his arm. “And don’t even think about moving for half an hour, because I’ll be right outside your office, waiting to shoot holes in both your hands so you’ll never send another e-mail as long as you live. If you live,” he added.
    Arianna pushed the door open, checked the hall, and ran with Chase. As soon as they were outside, all she wanted to do was throw herself on him and kiss him until she couldn’t breathe anymore.
    No doubt about it. She was madly in love.
    But first, she had to get home and make sure that ring was safe.

Chapter Six
    “C OME ON , A RIANNA ,” Chase urged as they zipped down the on-ramp, only to come to a dead stop on the freeway. “Who do you know who would pay big money to see you fail?”
    “I have no idea. None.” She slapped the dashboard. “Look at this traffic! I have to get that ring before someone else does!”
    “Think,” he said calmly. “I’ll handle the traffic. You start going through those enemies you said you had. Who could get to Scheff?”
    She whipped toward him, closing her hand over his arm. “You were unbelievable in there. You annihilated him, but didn’t really hurt him. God, you were awesome!”
    He almost laughed at the unexpected compliment. “Thanks.”
    “I have to say, that was…very hot.”
    He did laugh at that. “Hot? What happened to my safe golden aura?”
    She made a soft, sexy sound. “It turned…dangerous and crimson. Very sexy.”
    “I was just doing my job. Yours is to think.”
    “I am,” she assured him, rubbing her temples. “You know, Chase, whoever it is, I bet it’s the same person who’s sending me the black-and-white image on the cliff.”
    He silently agreed.
    His phone beeped to the tune of “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds.” “Maybe she has some information.” He put the phone on speaker and held Arianna’s hand. “Talk to us, Luce.”
    “In the last ten years, there have been sixteen incidents of fatalities on Mulholland between Coldwater and Laurel Canyon. One Jaguar, driven by a woman named Katherine Childress, in 2003. It was ruled an accident.”
    Arianna released his hand and rubbed her arms as if she was freezing. “Katherine Childress? I’ve never heard of her.”
    “A police file is being e-mailed in the next half hour,” Lucy said. “Will you be able to pick it up, or do you want me to call and read you my copy?”
    “If we’re not back at Arianna’s in half an hour, I’ll call you.” He zipped through a hole in the traffic and floored the Porsche into a rare stretch of open freeway, receiving another squeeze of gratitude from his passenger.
    They made it back in under thirty minutes, and Arianna practically threw herself out of the car before he had it in park.
    “Wait!” he ordered, reaching over to grab her arm and stop her. “Let me go in first.”
    Everything seemed normal. The gate was locked, the alarm was set even though he hadn’t been able to get the alarm company to change her code yet, and the door was still double-locked. He opened it and literally held her back from tearing through the little house to get her ring.
    He pulled his weapon and held her a step behind him. As he passed his laptop on the counter he tapped a key to get his e-mail going, then continued down the hall, checking the bathroom, then opening the door to the little bedroom.
    Everything was as they’d left it, the closet door open, showing him it was empty, the bed disheveled from their lovemaking, Arianna’s underwear and a T-shirt were scattered on the tile floor.
    Unable to wait one more second, she barreled past him, leaped on to the bed, and threw herself at the nightstand.
    “It’s gone, ” she groaned, dropping her head in agony on the pillow. “Oh, my God, it’s gone.”
    “Are you sure? Maybe it fell on the floor, or on the bed.”
    “It’s gone,” she repeated. “Some things, I really do just know.”
     
    Arianna made him leave the room, her pain was too intense.