by Loree Lough
“So, thanks for saving my life,” she said again. And fluttering her long, thick lashes, she added in Scarlett O’Hara fashion, “You’re mah hee-roe!”
Hero?
The word echoed, thudded like a hammer in his head, because he was anything but a hero, and he knew it. Luke knew it, and so did Wade and Travis. And Buddy—the man who’d asked Kasey to marry him—he knew it best of all!
“Well,” Adam said, taking another step back, “guess I’ll let you get a little shut-eye. Quite a day you’ve had, what with getting mired in the mud, lost in the woods…” His voice trailed off…meeting up with your father’s killer, he finished silently. “If you need anything, anything at all, just make yourself at home, okay?”
She nodded. “Okay, and—”
Unable to listen to another word of gratitude, he held up a hand; what he’d done for her to date wasn’t half what he owed her. He turned quickly and headed for the bedroom, amazed at how difficult it was to walk away, to put even these few yards of hardwood floor between them.
“G’night. And thanks again, for everything.”
“You’re welcome,” he muttered, closing the door.
Adam rubbed his jaw. He should’ve stoked the fire. Should’ve double-checked the door and window locks. Should’ve made sure she had everything she needed. Should’ve kept your hands to yourself!
The memory of Kasey—so tiny in his arms, so strong and yet strangely vulnerable—sparked in his mind. Adam rubbed his eyes, but the vision seemed tattooed on the insides of his eyelids. “What you don’t know can’t hurt you,” he whispered. The old adage made perfect sense, suddenly, because he’d given in to a weak moment, and more than likely, he’d be sorry in the morning.
In truth, he was sorry now.
Moments ago, he’d held perfection in his arms.
And he’d never again be able to settle for less.
The quiet pop and crackle of logs burning in the grate and the steady thrum of rain on the roof lulled Kasey into a near-sleep state. Drowsily, she glanced around the cabin’s living room, where everything, from the deep green plaid valances above the dark wood-trimmed windows to Adam’s well-worn brown recliner, reflected the flames’ buttery glow. It was a tastefully designed space that made her feel safe and secure. Had he hired a professional to create the cozy atmosphere, or had he chosen the furnishings himself?
No, more than likely, the woman in his life had helped Adam make the decisions. And surely there was a woman, right? Not a wife—he came and went too freely to be a married man, as evidenced by his ‘get away from it all’ weekends—but maybe a fiancée, or at the very least, a girlfriend….
The picture of him holding another woman the way he’d just held her started an ache inside her, and considering the suddenness of their relationship—
There it was again…the R word. You’re behaving like a silly schoolgirl in the throes of your first crush!
Well, that made sense, sort of. After all, she’d been stranded in the middle of nowhere, during a wild thunderstorm. She’d been afraid, cold and wet, and hungry, and he’d come to her rescue, even before he saved her from falling into the fire. Maybe what she was feeling wasn’t the beginnings of love, but gratitude.
Their embrace, their kisses, sizzled in her memory. Hugging the pillow to her, Kasey sighed dreamily. If that was gratitude, she could live a lifetime feeling grateful!
She rolled onto her side, one arm crooked beneath her head. Eyes closed, she inhaled the manly mix of pine needles and bath soap clinging to Adam’s sweatshirt sleeve. It was a scent she’d recognize anywhere, especially after he’d held her so very close, and—
Buddy’s dark-eyed, smiling face flashed in her mind, blotting out the beautiful memory. She couldn’t say how it had happened, exactly, but somehow Buddy had gotten the mistaken impression that he and Kasey were a couple. “Meet my soon-to-be fiancée,” he’d say when introducing her to visiting dignitaries. “One day soon, you’ll dance at our wedding!” he’d tell politicians and lobbyists. “What do you think of my beautiful wife-to-be?” he’d ask businessmen who came from all over the world to seal one of Buddy’s many “deals.”
Kasey would have to guess that in the two years since he’d started announcing to the world that she was his “intended,” Buddy had kissed her dozens, maybe even hundreds, of times. Kisses had concluded quiet dinners, had been stolen in dimly lit movie theaters and while dancing at one of the many galas he was so frequently invited to.
But not once had Buddy’s kisses stirred anything in Kasey’s heart. The fact that Adam’s had made her feel like a cheating wife. And how ridiculous was that!
On her back now, she pressed the fingertips of her right hand to her mouth, remembering the way her pulse had accelerated in response to Adam’s kiss. In all honesty, the knee-wobbling, heart-hammering reaction started long before his lips connected with hers; a mere glance from those chocolate-brown eyes was all it had taken to make her realize this was what the songwriters meant when they referred to “love.”
She had no business feeling this way about Adam, not after all Buddy had done for her family. And Adam had no business waking these feelings in her, because a man as handsome and wonderful as that simply had to be involved with a woman, and—
Kasey rolled over again and faced the sofa’s back cushions. Tomorrow, she’d figure out a way to get out of this place, away from the man who owned it. Like it or not, she’d get back to living the life that had been laid out for her.
Like it or not?
Too many people depended on her. Her mother, Aleesha, her customers—even Buddy, in his strangely distant way. She buried her face in her hands and shook her head, wishing she hadn’t worked quite so hard to earn her Do-the-Right-Thing-Kasey nickname.
“Didn’t realize scrambled eggs could be so…so…”
“Fluffy?” Kasey finished for him the next morning, as they sat down to breakfast.
“Yeah. Fluffy.” The sissy word would never have occurred to him, yet for some reason it described her egg dish perfectly. Adam couldn’t help but be impressed. He’d scrambled eggs, possibly hundreds of times. His mother had made them when he was a boy, as had several ladyfriends, hoping to impress him enough to give up his bachelor status. So why did these taste so special?
“Glad the power is on again,” she was saying as she filled two small glasses with orange juice. “What time will your friend be back?”
Adam looked at the clock above the stove. Fifteen minutes to eight. “Shouldn’t be long. He said eight, and Wade’s a fairly punctual guy.”
Kasey held the milk carton above his coffee mug. “Say when….”
“Thanks, but I drink mine straight.”
She tilted her head. “No kidding? So do I.”
As she put the milk back into the refrigerator, Adam wondered how many other things they had in common. So far, he counted grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, hot chocolate. Neither of them enjoyed board or card games. And she sure liked kissing as much as he did! Seemed a sorry shame to let a woman like this get away—
Wade burst through the door, then stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Kasey at the stove. Adam could almost read his partner’s mind: The woman looked familiar, but he didn’t know why. He’d seen the photo Adam carried with him, plenty of times, but so far Wade hadn’t put two and two together.
“There’s plenty to eat, pal,” Adam invited, gesturing to an empty chair.
A wary half smile on his face, Wade took a seat as Kasey rose and walked directly to the cabinet where Adam kept the plates. She slid one in front of Wade and laid a butter knife and fork on a neatly folded paper napkin beside it.
“Juice?” she asked, fingers wrapped around the refrigerator handle.
Wade nodded dumbly, and as Kasey filled his glass, he met Adam’s eyes. She’s pretty comfortable in your kitchen, said the look on Wade’s face. Shut up was the message Adam sent back.
“So, who’s your pretty friend?” Wade
asked, grabbing a slice of toast. He narrowed his eyes and, using his butter knife as a pointer, added, “Hey…she’s wearing the sweatsuit you won in that marathon last month.”
Kasey’s cheeks glowed and she ran a hand through her curls. “I, um, I was picking flowers,” she told Wade, “j-just down the road, when the storm hit last evening. My car got stuck in the mud, and—”
“You don’t owe this palooka any explanations,” Adam interrupted, shooting Wade another heated “zip it” look. Then he said, “Kasey Delaney, meet Wade Parks, my partner.”
“And pal,” Wade stuck in, grinning around a mouthful of breakfast. “Y’know, these are some of the best scramblers I’ve ever had the pleasure of—”
“Stow it, pal. I’m not buying it, and neither is—”
Suddenly, Wade’s smile faded. Eyes wide, he swallowed, hard. “Wait…” He took a sip of his juice. “Kasey, what did you say your last name was?”
“She didn’t. I did,” Adam pointed out, aiming a look at Wade that said, Careful….
“Delaney,” Kasey said, wiping her right hand on a dish towel before extending it toward Wade. “Pleased to meet you.”
The stunned expression on Wade’s face prevented him from shaking her hand. Suddenly, he was overcome by a coughing fit. After a few moments of sputtering and gasping, though red-faced and watery-eyed, he managed to catch his breath.
“Whoa,” he croaked. “Sorry, guys. Hope I didn’t spoil your appetites.”
Nice save, Adam thought, relieved. But “Fat chance!” is what he actually said.
“So,” Kasey said, “how long have the two of you been partners?”
Wade, still clearing his throat, signaled that Adam should answer the question.
Anything to keep you quiet, Adam thought. “Eight years,” he said.
“But I’ve known this old dog since we were pups,” Wade added, stuffing another forkful of eggs into his mouth.
Kasey sighed. “Would’ve been nice if there had been a couple of good cardiologists in Ellicott City a few years back. Maybe my dad could have survived his heart—”
A whole new coughing fit rendered Wade speechless.
Kasey’s large eyes narrowed as she gave Wade a look that, from Adam’s point of view, seemed a blend of suspicion and mistrust. Could she know that fifteen years ago, the men now sharing breakfast with her had been partially responsible for her father’s death?
Adam took a deep breath and said to Wade, “So, did you get your woman all moved into her new place?”
“Yeah,” he rasped. “Marcy’s all set. Told me to invite you to supper. But let’s not get too hung up on that ‘woman’ thing, shall we? We’re friends.”
Adam harumphed. Wade had more “friends” than he had fingers and toes. “Supper? I thought you said she can’t operate a can opener.”
“She can’t.” Wade grinned. “She’s a real whiz at orderin’ pizza, though.” He cleared his throat. “Supper is a bribe. She was kinda hopin’ you’d help me get her stereo, TV and VCR hooked up.” He looked at Kasey. “I’m terrible at that stuff. My own VCR still blinks twelve o’clock, and it’s three years old!”
Kasey laughed. “So does mine.”
“Well, then,” Wade said, “maybe after we get Marcy’s equipment up and running, me and Einstein here can stop by your place and fix your clock.”
Adam wished there had been a flyswatter nearby, because he would have used it to smack Wade alongside the head. The coughing spasms were evidence enough that his friend knew who Kasey was. What could he be thinking, suggesting a thing like that!
Wade must have read the heated expression on Adam’s face, because he quickly threw in, “Well, I guess that’s a pretty stupid idea, considering it’ll take a while to finish at Marcy’s.” He punctuated his statement with a burst of nervous laughter, then changed the subject. “The road’s all but washed out just around the bend to your place, Adam. All I can say is, I’m thankful for four-wheel drive.”
Kasey groaned.
Which made Wade say, “What?”
“I don’t have four-wheel drive. In fact, I don’t have two-wheel drive.”
He looked from her worried face to Adam’s. “Huh?”
“She drives a car so small you could carry it in your pocket,” Adam explained, “and it’s stuck in the mud.”
Wade waved the problem away. “We’ll get you unstuck and have you on your way in no time. Right, partner?”
Getting Kasey on her way didn’t seem nearly as important as getting Wade on his way, before he spilled the beans. “Sure. Why not?”
Grinning, Kasey got to her feet. “‘Here’s your hat, there’s the door, so what’s your hurry?”’ She began stacking plates. “Never let it be said Kasey Delaney doesn’t recognize when she’s worn out her welcome!”
Despite Kasey’s wide smile, Adam couldn’t tell if she was kidding. Maybe she’d gotten good at pretending to feel what others expected her to feel, same as he had. True, he wanted to be rid of her, fast as possible, but only because he couldn’t bear to have her know about his past. If his and Wade’s conversation had hurt her feelings….
He grabbed her hand without a thought as to how it might look to Wade, or to Kasey, for that matter. “You could never wear out your welcome,” he blurted.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Wade’s eyebrows rise. But it didn’t matter, because Kasey had tilted her head, smiling so warmly that she could have melted the ice in the freezer without opening the door.
“What a nice thing to say, Adam.”
She tilted her head the other way, and gave his hand a squeeze before turning to load the dishwasher. “Were you guys serious—about helping me get unstuck, I mean?”
“’Course we were,” the men said in unison.
Without facing them, Kasey said, “Then, when you’re finished at Marcy’s, the three of you can come to my place. I’ll fix you all a nice dinner, to thank Adam for taking me in last night, to thank both of you for getting my car out of the mud.”
Adam opened his mouth, intending to say, Thanks, but no thanks, when Wade spouted, “Hey, that sounds great! What time should we be there?”
Hanging his head, Adam heaved a sigh. Well, just this once. But after tonight—and after he had a moment alone with Wade—that’d be it.
No more Kasey Delaney in his life—at least not up close and personal….
Kasey’s mother had left an hour earlier to help her Ladies’ Auxiliary friends prepare for the upcoming silent auction. And moments ago, Aleesha had climbed into the Resurrection van, headed for a Halloween costume party in the basement of the church.
Kasey had spent the better half of the morning cleaning the house, part of the afternoon shopping for groceries, and the past few hours preparing the meal she’d serve Wade, Marcy and Adam. The table had been set since three, and she’d been dressed and ready since four. Hopefully, the threesome would arrive at five, the scheduled time, because the lasagna would be ready to come out of the oven by then. She wanted to have everything cleaned up before the trick-or-treaters began to—
As if on cue, the doorbell chimed. Drying her hands on a blue-and-yellow plaid dish towel, she hurried to the door. One last peek in the mirror. Yes, her lipstick was fine, and no, her hair hadn’t slipped out of the loose braid. Taking a deep breath, she felt reasonably ready to let them in. Smiling, she threw open the door—
—and froze when the first face she saw belonged to a tall, willowy blonde.
“Hiya,” the woman said, pushing past Kasey. “So nice of you to include me, last minute and all.” She gave her wad of pink gum a final pop, then giggled.
“Kasey,” Wade said, sliding an arm around the petite brunette beside him, “this is Marcy. Marcy, Kasey Delaney.”
“Nice to meet you.” Kasey stepped aside. “Please, won’t you all come in?”
“It’s gettin’ dark early these days,” said the blonde. “You get many trick-or-treaters in this neighborhood? I imagine you do…all t
hese little tiny houses so close together. I’ll just bet there are five kids in every one of ’em.” The gum went snap, and she giggled again.
“This is Carole,” Marcy said, once Kasey closed the front door. “We’ve been friends since junior high and—”
“What’s that…that smell?” Carole wrinkled her nose.
Kasey held her breath. She usually didn’t wear perfume, but had decided that for tonight she’d spritz on a bit of her mother’s Ambrosia.
“What smell?” Wade asked. “All my schnoz detects is something good to eat.”
Carole shook her head and grimaced. Holding her stomach, she said, “Eww…I hope it’s not something Italian.” One hand over her stomach, she added, “I can’t do spicy food, y’know.”
Kasey was doing her best not to meet Adam’s eyes, because it was fairly obvious that Carole had come as his date. The notion hurt more than she cared to admit, considering she’d only met him yesterday. Still, it seemed an insensitive, inconsiderate thing to do—bringing an uninvited guest. But then, to be fair, she hadn’t told him he couldn’t bring his…woman.
Well, that’ll learn ya, she thought, straightening her back. “Let’s go into the family room,” she suggested, forcing a bright smile, “and I’ll get us all some iced tea to sip while we’re waiting for the—”
Carole waved a red-taloned hand in the air. “Oh, no. No can do,” she sputtered around the wad of gum. “Caffeine makes my li’l heart go pitter-pat, pitter-pat.” Winking at Adam, she sidled closer to him. “I’m savin’ that for—” she batted her eyelashes suggestively “—later.”
Kasey searched Adam’s face, hoping for a sign there had been some mistake, that this loud, aggressive woman was not his date. Because she would never have guessed Carole to be his…type. Unfortunately, his lopsided grin told her nothing.
