by Holmes, Dee
“We’re gonna burn the sheets, babe, and you know it.”
Kathleen shuddered, too aware of the return of that clawing need deep within her. She’d never been so conscious of her sexuality, and with Booth, that had become something she both welcomed and feared.
Janet hung up the phone. “I called Sophie’s just to make sure the place was indeed still available. Lotti, Sophie’s secretary, said to come ahead. Oh, Booth, I almost forgot why I stopped by here in the first place. I had a call from Gladys. She’s upset with you, thinks you’re not doing right by Lisa and wants to talk to me.”
“Tell me you said no,” Booth said with a scowl.
“I told her to stop over on Tuesday afternoon. She’s lonely, and she adored Angie.”
“She’s a nutcase.” Booth stalked across the room and back again. “I don’t want her in your house, Mom. Kathleen and I ran into her, and she was weird and hostile. There’s nothing she can say to you that I want to hear.”
“But what excuse can I give her? I can’t just say don’t come over.”
“How ’bout saying I said she couldn’t come over.”
“It just seems so cruel and heartless,” Janet insisted, fretting. “She’s all alone, and you know how Angie took her under her wing.”
“Angie never learned how to say ‘Get lost.’”
Janet sighed. “I can’t argue with that. She was just too good to everyone.”
Kathleen began to feel uneasy. Compared to Angie she was a reckless intruder filled with dangerous secrets.
“Let me handle her, Mom.”
“If you’re sure. And promise me you won’t be nasty and overbearing.”
“I’ll be clear and to the point.”
Janet agreed, kissed Lisa, who had hauled in a dozen of her lids and was happily piling them one on top of another, and said to Kathleen, “Ready?”
“All set.”
Booth stopped her before she could get out the door. “She’ll be right with you, Mom.”
Janet went on down the stairs, and Booth slid his hands into Kathleen’s hair.
“You messed up my plans, babe.”
She leaned back against the wall, her forefinger sliding along his chest. “In the past hour, you seem to have taken over my life.”
“I want you.”
“It’s all going so fast, Booth. You’re not giving me time to think.”
“You could have said no to the carriage house.”
“I should have said no to you.”
“You won’t.” His hands slid down her arms, came back up to cup her breasts, his mouth opening over hers as if he’d been born to kiss her. “You won’t because you can’t.”
He was right. She wanted this. She wanted him and their plunge into a passion that promised breathtaking fulfillment.
“You’re too good at this, Booth.”
“Damn right.”
Then he kissed her again, deeper, his hand moving down her body to settle at the apex of her thighs. Kathleen felt as if she’d been blown in a thousand different directions, every one an exquisite point of new pleasure. She floated in a realm of desire she’d never even known she could experience. His mouth, his tongue, his taste were wild sensations, raw and primal and hot.
A tremendous clatter made them spring apart. The tower of lids that Lisa had been building had fallen and scattered. She started to cry; Booth sighed.
“Later, babe.” He released her, went over to the baby, reached down and swung her up into his arms. “Shh, it’s okay. We’ll build them again.” He knelt on the floor and showed her how to stack one on top of the other.
Kathleen, her breath choppy, her heart hammering, grabbed her handbag. Taking advantage of the distraction, she slipped out the door.
THE CARNAGE HOUSE rose from behind a profusion of tangled wisteria and huge bushes of pink hydrangeas. Its windows sparkled in the late-morning sun. Fashioned of brick, it was a square single-story with a shale roof that gave the structure substance and grandeur. Built at the end of the nineteenth century during the golden era of wealth and privilege, it had once housed horse-drawn carriages.
Still in place were the huge doors that slid on brass rails and were dressed with heavy brass hardware. The living quarters had been restored to blend with the original, but the doors now opened at the touch of a button to reveal a spacious room with hardwood floors.
Kathleen could already picture her piano against this backdrop of lush summer light and color. Other rooms opened off the larger one—two bedrooms, a modern kitchen with every convenience, including a stack washer and dryer, a bathroom with a tiled walk-in shower and plenty of light from a glass door that opened onto a private garden.
Kathleen was glassy-eyed by the time they returned to the immense living room.
“This is an incredible place.”
“It is.”
“I know you spoke of Sophie’s generosity, but honestly, Janet, as much as I’d love living here, I know I can’t afford it.”
“Will your piano fit?”
“Perfectly.”
“And Lisa would love the garden.”
Kathleen had no trouble envisioning the toddler picking flowers and walking in the grass. “Yes, she would.”
Janet eyed her the way one woman connects with another. “Booth has spoken of you a few times when he’s stopped by the house, and of course Mavis mentioned your late-night rescue of Lisa.”
“I’m just glad I heard her,” Kathleen said, curious about what Booth might have told his family. “I understand his father is in Alaska.”
Janet rolled her eyes. “It’s a male thing, or so Doug told me. He and three of his friends flew up there, rented a cabin where I’m sure no one will bathe or shave and they’ll spend the two weeks subsisting on unhealthy food and too much beer. They asked Booth to go, but he had a couple of investigations he didn’t want to leave. And the plans were made a month ago, when Booth was still trying to find a permanent sitter for Lisa.”
Kathleen’s admiration of Booth climbed. There was something endearing about a man who put his child before two weeks with the guys.
“I know this isn’t my business,” Janet said, “but I had the sense that you really didn’t want to move in with Booth for an extended time. Am I correct?”
Kathleen turned to watch the wedges of sunshine that glimmered through the trees. The question caught her off guard. “Booth can be very persuasive. But, no, I don’t want to simply live with him. I like to think that we’re friends—maybe more than that I find him fascinating and understanding, and I like his ‘Protect your own’ attitude.” She smiled. “And he’s very determined when he wants something.”
“Yes, he is that,” Janet murmured.
“I do adore Lisa, and I’ve loved taking care of her on occasion, but I don’t think it’s good for her to become too attached to me. Right now my life is complicated, and trying to plan isn’t always easy.”
Janet was staring at her oddly, and Kathleen leaned down to brush some grass off her sneaker. She was rambling and she knew it; she also knew that the burden she was carrying was becoming unbearable. She wanted to be free, to be totally truthful with Booth, with his mother—with all the kind people she’d met in Crosby. She needed to allow herself a life without fear of the consequences.
“Then perhaps the carriage house is a good place to be while you straighten out all those complications.”
Oh, God, if only it were as easy as finding a new place to live. She glanced up at the sky. “Crescendo blue”—a color her mother always said was the applause of nature. Her best, her most vibrant, a blue given to mortals to remember on the cloudiest of days.
Kathleen looked back at Janet. “It is a serene and beautiful place. But the rent—Janet, I’m afraid—”
Janet named a ridiculously low figure.
“That’s less than Gail is paying!”
“I told you that Sophie’s motive is altruistic, not financial.”
“I have to be honest, Janet. At the
moment, I’m working in a restaurant and not spending as much time on my music as I’d like. I feel as if I’m not really as serious as Sophie would expect.”
“Well, of course you’re not,” Janet replied. “You don’t have your piano. Once that’s here, you’ll be right back in the world of music.”
Kathleen felt her eyes fill. It was all so incredible, and looking around, she wondered how she could have been so blessed. It was like discovering a place that had previously only existed for other people. Running from a frame-up for Steve’s murder seemed like something from a time warp. Here, she felt safe—safer than ever before. At last she could send for her piano, which had been in storage since last winter, when Steve had lost his temper and smashed the music stand.
She’d waited until he’d gone to work to call the storage company to come and get it. Later, she realized that at some level she’d worried more about her piano than about herself. But her music was all she had that was entirely hers—a legacy from her mother—and she wasn’t going to let Steve destroy it.
When he asked what she had done with the piano, she said she’d given it away. For that, he’d called her stupid for not selling it, but she’d simply nodded. What he said didn’t matter, and how he’d felt about her was of little consequence. She’d already been making plans to leave him, file for divorce and start a new life in a new place. Then she’d have her beloved piano shipped to her. His unexpected death—the murder—and her flight to save herself had changed her plans and her life.
Now was the time for a new life. And this was the place. Because no one knew where the piano was stored, she felt safe in sending for it As they toured the grounds, Janet urged her to call that afternoon about having the piano delivered. Sophie would be home the following week and the instrument should be on the premises.
Later, back at her apartment, Kathleen called the storage company in Casper. Yes, they would ship it in the next few days. The storage and shipping were payable C.O.D. And when the clerk told her the cost, she was thankful she hadn’t spent the money she’d gotten from selling her car in Pennsylvania.
When she got off the phone, she nodded to Janet. “It will be here next week.”
“Wonderful.” Janet stood staring out the front window. “I wonder if I should mention this to Booth.”
Kathleen stood. “Mention what? The piano?”
“No, no. That car across the street.”
“What car?”
“The big fancy one. I saw it earlier in the week when I stopped by to see Booth, and now again today.”
Kathleen studied the car, trying to quell her rising panic. “It doesn’t look suspicious,” she said, unsure whom she was trying to convince.
“It looks out of place. This isn’t a fancy-car neighborhood.”
“Perhaps someone’s visiting a friend.”
“Perhaps.” Janet shrugged. “Nevertheless, it doesn’t hurt to have these things checked out. There are children playing here, and I know a lot of those awful drug dealers drive big fancy cars. Booth would want to know about anything that looks suspicious.”
Suspicious. Was it possible she’d been found? Or was she leaping to a huge paranoid conclusion?
Janet promised to call the following day with a time to get the keys for the carriage house and sign the lease.
After Janet left, Kathleen stood at the window for a long time. There was something about that car. Something...
She quickly left the apartment and walked down the steps, making her way toward the cream-colored car with tinted windows. She passed by it, turned and passed by it again. She glanced at the license plate, her heart praying it wouldn’t be a Wyoming tag.
It wasn’t, but it was just as bad. Georgia plates, and suddenly she knew why she was uneasy. The vehicle looked just like the one that belonged to the Southern woman who had admired Lisa while Kathleen had been waiting for Booth at the grocery store.
Kathleen folded her arms against her body, feeling icy and numb. She desperately wanted to believe it was a coincidence. But what if it wasn’t? If the woman was connected with the murder, or was an undercover cop sent to hunt her down, then what was she waiting for? Why hadn’t she made a move?
The questions knotted inside Kathleen. Just when she’d felt safe. Just when she’d begun to believe that maybe she could have her life back. Just when she’d wanted to be with Booth, it looked as if she had to run again.
She turned to go back to the apartment and crashed right into Booth.
CHAPTER TEN
HE GRIPPED HER SHOULDERS, steadying her. “What’s wrong? You’re pale and shaky.”
Think. Think. “Your mom saw the car and was worried that it didn’t belong around here,” she said, the words rushing out, sounding lame and forced.
“So you came out here to ask the bad guys what they were doing polluting the neighborhood?”
“She was worried.”
“I know. That’s why she told me. That’s why I came out to take a look.” She felt his gaze boring into her. “But why did you?”
“I was curious.”
“That was stupid.”
She jerked back. “Don’t call me stupid!”
For a second he looked puzzled by her reaction, then he drew her close again, his voice soft. “I didn’t call you stupid, Kathleen. I said what you did was stupid. If you believed there was a problem with the car, you should have come to me.”
But she wasn’t ready to yield to his judgment. There’d been too many years of Steve telling her what to do, how to think, when to act. It had set her teeth on edge, and she was astonished by how quickly the same kind of irritation had surfaced now. “Really. So you can be the cop to the rescue? The cop who gets all the bad guys and saves all the good guys?” Stop! she urged herself. Stop! But the words still came. “Did you bring your gun? Are you going to wave it around? Does that make you feel brave?”
He stared at her, his eyes flitting past her panic and assessing her hysteria. “Babe, I want you to take a deep breath and relax. I’m not going to shoot anyone. All I’m going to do is take down some general info and the plate number. I’ll have it run through NCIC. That’s the nationwide computer system for finding fugitives, hot cars, people with outstanding warrants against them. If there’s any illegal or criminal connection with the car, they’ll have it. It’ll probably come up clean. I’m just making sure.”
Kathleen’s breath was lodged in her throat. “I’m sorry.”
He stared at her as if trying see inside her. She braced herself for questions, but he released her, then reached into his pocket and took out a scrap of paper and a stubby pencil. He moved to the back of the car and jotted down the plate number, then moved to the driver’s side and recorded the vehicle identification number that was near the windshield.
Kathleen stood very still, feeling snared by her own carelessness and having no idea where she should escape to. Living at Gail’s had been so safe. She’d had a friend and ally who knew the circumstances, a place to live and a job. It had all been working out, all within her control, until Booth.
Now what? If she’d only maintained her distance. Her instincts had been telling her from the moment she’d learned he was a cop not to get involved. But no, she’d allowed herself to be charmed by him and by Lisa, to be seduced by her own inner longing for peace and comfort and love. More depressing was the realization that she would have to walk away, let him go and never see Lisa again. Kathleen hadn’t realized that until Booth and Lisa, her soul had been slowly starving to death.
She now faced an impossible choice. If the plate number belonged to some criminal connected with Steve’s murder, Booth would probe deeper. And once he started down that path, it wouldn’t take him long to put the pieces together. Once he learned that Steve’s wife was named Kathleen, and that she was a fugitive, it would be all over. On the other hand, if he ran it and nothing came up, it might only mean that the bad guys were too smart to possess or drive something that could so easily trip the
m up. Even the best-case scenario wouldn’t end this now. Booth wasn’t going to shrug and walk away. He would insist on knowing why she’d reacted, overreacted and God knows what else.
“Kathleen?” He was slipping the pencil and paper into his pocket.
Then again, if she could stall...
But how could she stop him from making a phone call? Eventually he would do what he intended. And if it turned out that the car and Steve’s killer were connected, she was cooked. She had only one alternative. Prepare to leave quickly and silently.
Booth cupped her chin and lifted her face. “What is going on in that head of yours?”
Confusion. Terror. Desire. She licked her lips. “I want to go to bed with you.”
She made herself stand firm. She wanted him, and she wanted him before he learned the truth and hated her. His astonishment at her admission made her smile, so rarely had she seen him rattled.
He narrowed his gaze. “A provocative answer to my question, that’s for sure.”
“That was the plan, wasn’t it? You didn’t forget?”
He didn’t look pleased. “No, babe, I didn’t forget.”
But he didn’t take her arm with any passionate urgency. He simply leaned against the car’s front fender and watched her, obviously waiting for her to make the next move.
Kathleen shivered. She wasn’t good at this. Seduction was foreign to her. She’d be humiliated if he laughed. Complicating things even more was a burst of shame for her behavior. It cheapened what they had and made her seem coarse and out of character. “I shouldn’t have said what I did.”
“It’s not what you say, Kathleen. It’s what you’re trying so hard not to say that makes me uneasy.”
“You’re imagining things.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why is it all right for you to make sexy suggestions, but it’s not okay for me?”
“Look, forget I said anything. Are we going inside or are we going to stand out here and fence all day?”
He took her arm and she pulled away, walking quickly to the apartment building and up the steps.
Booth caught up with her in the entrance.
