She clung to the warmth of his hand for the moment it took her to rise, her fingers curling around his palm. Then she slowly let go. Was he really concerned, or was it all an act? Did he know exactly who had been standing here last night?
Holt moved deeper into the woods, and she couldn’t contain her shudder. It was daylight. A dim green light filtered down to where she stood, but the terror she’d felt the night before came rushing back. She didn’t want to take another step.
He looked at her. “Do you want to come with me or do you need to get back to the clinic?”
It would be so easy to tell him she had a client coming, to turn and run to the safety of her clinic. Swallowing hard, she shook her head. “I have a few more minutes. I’ll come with you.”
He waited for her to catch up with him, pretending not to notice how long it took her to walk through the trees. When he reached for her hand, she didn’t resist. Her fear of the woods was stronger than her reservations about Holt, and the connection steadied her, reassuring her that she wasn’t alone in the forest. His warm hand pulsed with life and strength, and she clung to him as the trees pressed closer.
She didn’t let go as they walked along. He stopped occasionally to examine something on the ground, and every time he slowed down she tightened her grip on his hand. The wind moved restlessly through the pines, whispering her name, calling for her. If she let go of Holt she wouldn’t be able to resist it.
If he thought she was acting strangely he didn’t say anything. But every once in a while he smoothed his thumb across the palm of her hand, a slow, reassuring gesture. She would have thought it was unconscious on his part, except that when his wrist touched hers she felt his pulse leaping in his vein.
Finally he stopped and faced her. “Let’s go back.” He spoke abruptly, his eyes shuttered.
“What’s the matter?” she breathed, her heart jumping in her chest. “Did you see something?”
He smoothed his thumb across her palm one more time and looked around, his lips tightening. “Nothing but these faint tracks heading deeper into the woods.” He stood tensed and still for a moment, watching and listening. Almost, she thought, as if he could sense the same evil she felt.
He turned to her. “You’ve got a client coming. Why don’t I take you back and continue by myself?”
Suspicion slithered into her mind like a snake, dark and ugly. “Why don’t you want me to go with you?”
His eyes softened as he looked at her. “It’s not a matter of wanting or not wanting. You told me you had a client coming soon, and I figured you needed to get back.” He paused, his grip on her hand tightening. “And I know you’re not comfortable in the woods.”
His eyes were too knowing, and she tried to pull her hand away from his. “Since I’ve been holding on to you like a leech for the past fifteen minutes, I suppose that’s a reasonable assumption. But like I told you earlier, I’m just not used to being surrounded by this many trees.”
Moving his hands to her shoulders, he held her lightly in front of him. “It’s more than that, Tory, and I know it. What’s going on?”
She could feel the strength in his hands, knew he could tighten his hold and hurt her, but she knew he wouldn’t. He watched her steadily with his silver eyes, and she read in them nothing but concern for her. The wind curled around her, but she barely felt it. His eyes held her mesmerized.
“I don’t know what’s going on, Holt,” she heard herself saying. Fear shivered through her, but she realized it wasn’t fear of Holt. Maybe that fear had simply been overwhelmed by her fear of the trees, but for now she didn’t care. “The trees scare me.”
His hands kneaded her shoulders, comforting and reassuring. “The woods make a lot of people uncomfortable, especially people who come from the city. I know you used to live here, but you’ve been gone a long time. Have you lived in Chicago the whole time?”
She nodded, lost in the sensation his hands were evoking on her skin. “Except for the time I was in vet school.”
“Give it a while, Tory. You’ll get used to them.”
She shook her head but didn’t back away from him. She couldn’t bear to move away. “It’s more than that. Something’s trying to pull me into these woods, something that scares me. Something evil.”
His hands tightened on her shoulders then dropped away. “What do you mean?” he asked in a low, urgent voice. His silver eyes turned to hard steel.
“I don’t know what I mean.” She bit her lip and looked at him, wishing she hadn’t said anything. And wondering what she’d been thinking of. For all she knew, Holt was the evil she felt in these woods. “It’s just my overactive imagination, I guess.” She shrugged. “You’re right, I should get back. My client will probably be waiting for me.”
He stood watching her for a long moment as she avoided looking at him. Finally he said, “I won’t let anything happen to you, Tory.”
Her gaze flew to his. He wasn’t laughing at her. There was no mockery in his eyes, no patronizing smile on his face. All she could see was concern, and something else hidden beneath that concern. Something hot and potent that both warmed her and frightened her. Something she didn’t want to think about, much less acknowledge.
“What could happen to me out here?” Her words tripped over each other. “There’s nothing here’ except trees, and they can’t hurt me.” To emphasize her words she reached out and spread her palm against the trunk of the closest pine. The rough bark felt cool and spiky under her fingers, and utterly lifeless. It wasn’t a vessel of evil. It was only a tree.
He reached for her hand again. His fingers brushed hers, sending a tingle of warmth up her arm. She hesitated, and when he stepped closer she felt her arm bump against something cold and hard. When she looked down, she saw that it was his gun.
Instinctive fear washed over her, erasing any thought of the trees. Pulling her hand away from him, she began to walk in the direction of her clinic. She could feel him right behind her.
“Tory, wait.”
Looking over her shoulder, she slowed down. But she didn’t stop.
“What’s wrong?”
She shook her head and kept walking. “Nothing. I just don’t want to be late for my client.”
He grabbed her hand and pulled her around to face him. “Something just happened, and I want to know what it is.” His gaze bored into hers. “And don’t give me that bull about being late.”
Slowly she straightened and tugged her hand away from his. She fought to keep her eyes on his. “I remembered I have to get back to my clinic, that’s all. I have a business to run, and I can’t keep my patients waiting. Is that so hard to understand?”
He stared at her, then smiled. The look in his eyes made her uneasy, and she took a step away from him.
“I think I’m beginning to understand very well,” he murmured, moving closer to her. “It’s very convenient, isn’t it, Tory? Having your business, being able to hide behind its shield.” He was very close now, and the heat from his body warmed her in the cool woods. “I know all about that kind of hiding. Believe me, it doesn’t work. I know.” His eyes shuttered, but not before she saw the desolation. “Tell me what you’re hiding from.”
“I’m not hiding from anything.” Her heart pounded, and the beat roared in her ears as he moved closer still. His belt buckle almost brushed her abdomen as he reached up and caught her shoulders.
“Prove it, Tory.”
Then his mouth was on hers. She stiffened and tried to pull away as blind panic surged through her veins. But his hands gentled on her shoulders and slowly smoothed down her arms, and unexpected arousal twined with the fear.
His mouth wasn’t hard and demanding, as she’d expected. Instead, he nibbled lightly on her lower lip then touched her delicately with his tongue. The pressure of his teeth followed by the delicious wetness stirred something inside her.
She relaxed and softened as the fear seeped away, replaced by a heavy, languorous throbbing deep in her bel
ly. When Holt pulled her closer she didn’t resist. The muscles of his thigh were hard against hers, and she felt him trembling.
Slowly he moved his hands from her shoulders and slid them around her, drawing her against him. His fingers smoothed down her back, and she shivered. Her fear retreated to a far corner of her mind as she fisted her hands on his shirtsleeves.
His body tensed and his arms tightened around her. The light, almost teasing kiss deepened, until she found herself opening her mouth to him. His tongue swirled into her, tasting hot and male and dark. He thrust his hips against her, and she felt the unmistakable evidence of his desire for her.
A wave of heat crashed over her, engulfing her in fire. It raged deep in her abdomen, sending out rivers of flame along all her nerves. She forgot about the woods, forgot about her clients, forgot everything but the feel and taste of Holt. He groaned into her mouth and crushed her closer, and she went willingly.
Gradually she loosened her hands from their grip on his arms and lifted them to his neck. Making a low, guttural sound, he trailed his lips down her cheek and along her neck. Shivering, she wrapped her arms more tightly around him and tried to pull him closer.
Something sharp and cold pressed into her chest. It stabbed into her breast when she moved, right above her heart. When she tried to shift away from it, something caught in the pocket of her shirt.
“Hold on,” Holt whispered. “Let me get you untangled.”
Cautiously she opened her eyes and looked at her chest. It was his badge that had stabbed into her and caught in her clothes. As she looked at the dull glint of metal between them cold reason washed over her, replacing the passion that had fired her blood.
What was she thinking of? Her arms dropped away from his neck and she backed up, out of his reach. Holt was watching her, but she couldn’t seem to look anywhere but at his badge. How could she have forgotten? The sight of his badge and gun made her feel slightly sick as she remembered her surrender to him.
“I have to go,” she whispered. She ran blindly through the forest. If the trees whispered to her, she didn’t hear them. All she heard was the pounding of her own heart, echoed in Holt’s footsteps right behind her.
She burst into the empty parking lot in front of her clinic, panting. Her hair had fallen out of the careless ponytail she’d pulled it into that morning, and her face felt flushed. She didn’t care. She had to get into her clinic.
Before she could open the door Holt was there. He stood in front of it, blocking her way.
“I want to know what happened back there.”
“I should think it was fairly obvious. We kissed. No big deal.”
She could feel his eyes studying her, but she wouldn’t meet his gaze. After what seemed like a long time, he murmured, “It was a big deal, Tory, and I think you know it.” He paused, then said softly, “Why did you pull away from me?”
Shrugging, she forced herself to look at him. There was no anger in his eyes, no accusation. He watched her steadily. Her gaze slid away as she said, “I didn’t realize how late it was. I had to get back.”
He reached out for her and she took a step backward. He stared at his hands for a long time before balling them into fists and shoving them into his pockets. Then, leaning against the door frame, he lifted his gaze to her.
“I’ll find out, you know,” he said in a quiet voice. “Sooner or later, I’ll find out what’s wrong.”
“Why does there have to be something wrong?” She lifted her chin and clasped her hands behind her back to hide their trembling. “Or does your ego find it impossible to believe I’m just not interested?”
One side of his mouth quirked up in a brief smile. “I might have bought that line ten minutes ago. But now you’ll have to do better.”
“I’m not interested in getting involved with anyone,” she said, a desperate edge to her voice. “I have to concentrate on my practice.”
He pushed himself away from the door to stand up straight. “You can’t define yourself in only one way, Tory,” he said. “If you do, you’re setting yourself up for devastating disappointment.” The raw pain that looked out at her from his eyes seared her soul, then he lowered his eyelids. When he opened them again his eyes were blank. “You’re more than a vet, you’re a woman, too. And I could taste the need in that woman, back there in the woods.”
“I’m perfectly capable of deciding how to define myself, Holt. Just like I’m capable of deciding what I need in my life. And right now, what I need is to be left alone to practice veterinary medicine.” She told herself her voice trembled because she was angry. It had nothing to do with Holt’s almost frightening perception.
The noise of a car engine made both of them look toward the highway. A car was turning into Tory’s driveway, and she closed her eyes with relief. As she tried to step around him to go into the clinic, he put one hand on her arm to stop her.
“I want to get to know you better, Tory. Tell me what I have to do.”
A flame burned steadily deep in his eyes, and she swallowed hard. She couldn’t seem to tear her gaze away from his. Then he moved forward. She wasn’t sure what he intended, but the movement made the sunlight glint off his badge, and she quickly stepped away from him.
She stared for a long time at the dull gleam of metal on his chest. Then, looking at him, she said, “Take off the badge.”
She stepped around him, opened the door of the clinic, went in and shut it quietly behind her.
Holt stood staring at the door until he heard someone behind him. An older woman with fluffy white hair clutching a small, fluffy white dog walked slowly toward the door of Tory’s clinic. When she saw him, she smiled.
“Hello, Chief Adams. I didn’t know you had a pet.”
Holt scrambled to remember the woman’s name. “I don’t, Mrs....”
“Maude Kendall, Chief.” The woman’s smile widened. “I expect it’s hard to remember everyone in town.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Kendall. No, I don’t have a pet.” The remembered pain was small compared to the other, but still there. “It wouldn’t be fair to an animal with the hours I keep.”
Just like it hadn’t been fair to his wife. The thought stabbed into him, bringing with it the familiar twist of guilt. Guilt that was just as sharp and painful as it had been two years ago.
Mrs. Kendall hadn’t seemed to notice. “Things are different in Eagle Ridge than they are in Detroit, Chief Adams.” She gave him a sweet smile. “Once you settle in, I’m sure you’ll have time for all sorts of things.”
He held the door open for her and watched her walk to the front desk. He knew Tory was there, even though he couldn’t see her. Letting the door close he walked to his vehicle.
You’ll have time for all sorts of things. As he drove slowly toward town, Holt thought about Mrs. Kendall’s comment. He didn’t want to have time. He’d thought that coming to Eagle Ridge would be his salvation, but he’d found instead that the slower pace of life was his torment. Even working twelve-hour shifts left him too much time to remember. And the two murders that had happened since he’d arrived only fed his guilt.
The only person he wanted more time with was Tory Falcon, and she’d made it plain she wasn’t interested. Unless he took off his badge.
Frowning, he stared out the windshield and thought about her words. She’d told him to do the one thing she’d known he couldn’t do. Was it only to let him know she was uninterested, or was there another reason?
He drove past the police station without stopping. Pulling into the parking lot of his small apartment building a few minutes later, he checked to make sure that the radio hanging from his belt was turned on. Then he swung out of the Blazer and hurried into his apartment.
There were only a couple of places his address book could be in the almost empty apartment. Looking around at the few pieces of furniture he’d brought with him, he decided to try the desk first.
A few minutes later he looked at the book in his hand with grim triumph. Pagin
g through it slowly, he finally found the name he was looking for.
He dialed the phone number, ignoring the voice inside him that whispered what he was doing was an invasion of Tory’s privacy. He was concerned about her, and if something had happened to her in Chicago he wanted to know about it.
“Sixth district, White speaking.” The impersonal, hurried voice on the other end of the phone told him he’d reached a police station in Chicago.
“Is Detective Kelly there?” Holt asked.
“Hold on, I’ll check.”
Holt listened to the silence on the phone line for what seemed like forever until it clicked and another voice said, “Kelly here.”
“John? This is Holt Adams, from Detroit homicide. We met at a conference a few years ago.”
Holt could hear the other man thinking, trying to place him. Suddenly he said, his voice filling with warmth, “Adams! How’re you doing?”
“I’m okay, Kelly. How about you?”
“Can’t complain. What can I do for you?”
Holt took a deep breath. “I’m not in Detroit anymore. I’m the police chief in a small town in northern Michigan. I’ve got a woman who just moved here from Chicago and I need some information on her.”
“What’s her name?”
Holt gave him all the information he wanted, then talked with the other man for a few more minutes. Finally Kelly said, “I’ll give you a call as soon as I have anything, but it could be a few days. We’re up to our ears in alligators right now.”
“Whenever you can get back to me is fine.” After giving Kelly his phone number, he hung up the phone and stood staring out the window at the woods that ringed his apartment.
Tory was frightened of the trees. And unless his instincts were wrong, there were some other things Tory was frightened of, too. Telling himself again that his phone call to John Kelly was justified, he walked out of his apartment and drove to the police station.
Tory watched with relief as her last client walked out of the clinic late that afternoon. She waited for a few moments then went over and locked the door before checking to make sure that the back door was locked, also.
The Dark Side Of The Moon Page 6
