All a Man Can Do

by Virginia Kantra

  Glumly she picked another cherry from the wreckage on her plate.

  The wall phone rang. She damned the way her heart jumped and then raced with possibility. It could be Mark, she told herself as she lifted the receiver. It could be her mother. It could be—

  "Tess? Are you there?" a deep, irritated voice demanded.

  She swallowed. "Jarek?"

  "How soon can you get over here? I need you."

  Her palm was clammy on the receiver. It was everything she wanted. It was everything she feared. She felt like the governess in one of those castle-on-the-cliffs sort of books, with blushes and palpitations and a brooding hero making a shameless offer she could not refuse…

  "This is sort of sudden," she said. Oh, boy. Now she even sounded like the governess.

  "I know. I'm sorry. If there were anyone else—"

  Tess straightened. The brooding master of the castle had his lines all wrong. "Excuse me?"

  "I got a call," Jarek said. "I have to go in. I'd phone my parents, but…well, they're almost seventy and over an hour away. I tried reaching Aleksy, but he's out on a case. I can't leave Allie alone, and I don't want her waking up and finding a stranger in the house."

  So that was what he wanted. Her heart contracted. Her voice flattened. "You want me to come over and baby-sit your daughter."

  "Yes. Please," he added as an afterthought.

  "Well…" She regrouped. Grow up, DeLucca. Get a grip. "Sure. I'll, uh—" She looked at the clock over the stove. It was almost midnight. "I'll be right over."

  "Thanks, Tess." The warmth and relief in Jarek's voice stirred feelings she was trying hard to ignore. "You're a doll."

  She hung up the phone and looked around her silent apartment. She was an idiot.

  The cat meowed plaintively when Tess went to the door. She checked to make sure it had food and water and then picked up her purse. "Don't wait up," she told it. "I don't know when I'll be back."

  On the short drive to Jarek's house, Tess had time to think.

  What kind of case would pull Jarek away from his daughter in the middle of the night on her first weekend in their new home? Something out of the ordinary.

  Her stomach hollowed. Something bad.

  And when Tess pulled to the curb and saw every front light blazing and Jarek watching at the door, her worst suspicions were confirmed.

  She got out of the car. "What kind of a call?"

  He looked weary, she saw as she approached the porch. She hardened her heart against the lines of strain that bracketed his mouth, the weight of responsibility that braced his shoulders.

  She understood responsibility. She didn't need to take on any more.

  "Tess, I don't have time for this now," he said.

  She believed him. "You'll tell me about it when you get back?"

  A grudging smile lightened his dark face. "Do I have a choice?"

  She walked through the door he held open for her. "Not really."

  Standing in the hall, he handed her a key to the house and the number of his cell phone. "Thanks for coming."

  She tucked the key in her purse and the number in her pocket. "You're welcome. Just tell me you didn't ask me here to keep me away from your precious crime scene."

  His gaze searched her face, as if he weren't sure whether or not she was joking. And then he smiled again, crookedly, and her heart eased. "I might have. If I'd thought of it."

  She glanced toward the stairs. "Allie asleep?"

  He nodded. "I put her to bed over an hour ago. I don't know when I'll be back. Sorry. I—"

  Tess put her fingers against his mouth. "It's okay. If I get sleepy, I'll make myself comfortable on the couch."

  "Suit yourself." He took her hand and pressed his lips against her palm. "But I'd rather you were in my bed."

  He pressed his elbow to the gun clipped to his belt and patted the shield in his inner jacket pocket, the way another man would check for his wallet and keys. Observing his slight scowl, his remote gray eyes, Tess reflected he had already gone from her in his mind. A chill chased up the back of her arms.

  He would be all right, she reassured herself. Whatever bad thing had happened out there, Jarek wasn't going into danger. Although the sight of the gun on his hip constricted her chest.

  "Lock up behind me," he instructed tersely.

  He was gone.

  Leaving Tess with a ten-year-old girl with ragged nails and her father's shrewd gray eyes.

  Not a problem, Tess thought, securing the door. Heck, she'd raised bad boy Mark DeLucca practically single-handed. How much trouble could one little girl be?

  "So are you, like, my dad's girlfriend or something?"

  Tess's hand bobbled as she poured the milk. It sloshed from the cereal bowl over the counter. She considered trying to explain her relationship with Jarek to his ten-year-old daughter over cereal and sliced banana.

  I don't know what to call it. You stop by occasionally and I let you grope me.

  Tess winced. No. Absolutely not, she thought.

  "Yes," she said. "I guess you could say I was his girlfriend."

  Allie inspected her like a new zoo exhibit. "I never met a girlfriend before."

  Oh, boy, Tess thought, both pleased and flattered that Jarek didn't make a practice of bringing women home. So she was special.

  Or just really, really convenient. He certainly hadn't introduced her to anyone as his girlfriend.

  "I'm just glad to be here with you," she mumbled.

  She mopped up the spill on the counter, wishing she could set herself to rights as easily. Sleeping on the couch had done nothing for her equilibrium or her hair.

  "Are you going to stay long?" Allie persisted.

  Tess didn't want Allie to think she was moving in on her and her father. But she didn't want her to feel abandoned, either.

  "Only as long as you need me. I have to get home and feed my cat."

  Something shifted in the girl's expression. "You have a cat? I always wanted a cat."

  Tess opened her mouth to say, You can have mine. What came out was, "Maybe you should come and visit. I need help choosing a name."

  "Your cat doesn't have a name?"

  Tess felt inadequate. Again. "She hasn't been my cat very long," she said.

  She poured herself another cup of coffee—she had a feeling she was going to need it—and resumed her seat at the counter. She felt out of her depth here. Maybe breakfast would help?

  She eyed the contents of Allie's cereal bowl without much hope. Floating twigs and raisins. "Is that any good?"

  Allie sighed. She had a good line in sighs, expressive without crossing the border into outright-rude-that-could-get-you-punished. "Not really."

  Tess nodded. "Then—it's none of my business, but— why are you eating it?"

  Allie dug up another spoonful. "Because my father buys it for me. He thinks it's healthy, and he's trying to take care of me. I don't want to disappoint him."

  Tess gave both of them points—Jarek for trying and Allie for caring. "But then he'll buy you more."

  Allie let the healthy twigs drip back into the bowl. "I know."

  She sounded so mournful that Tess grinned. "What do you really want for breakfast?"

  Allie put her head to one side. "Belgian waffles?"

  "Do I look like Betty Crocker to you?"

  "Who?"

  Tess sighed. "How about cinnamon toast?"

  Allie nodded.

  Tess got up and opened the bread box. Of course Jarek had bread. His kitchen was completely, if sparsely, stocked with everything. She put two slices in the toaster and hunted up sugar and cinnamon. After watching her for a minute, Jarek's daughter slid off her stool and silently handed her the butter from the fridge.

  "Thanks."

  Tess spread the toast with butter, sprinkled it thickly with sugar and cinnamon and set two plates on the counter.

  Allie took a bite. "Do you have kids?" she asked through a mouthful of toast.

  "No,"
Tess said. "I have a brother."

  "I wanted a brother," Allie said. "But now I think I'd rather have a sister." She looked speculatively at Tess, as if she expected her to produce a sibling the same way she'd provided Allie with breakfast.

  Tess was flattered. Terrified. What was with these Denkos?

  "Eat your toast," she said.

  Allie ate her toast. She ate her toast so quickly, in fact, that Tess moved the slice from her own plate to Allie's and got up to put two more pieces of bread in the toaster.

  At eight o'clock the phone rang. After a moment's hesitation, Tess answered it.

  "Hello?"

  "Tess?" Jarek said crisply. "Did I wake you?"

  "No." She smiled at Allie, who stopped chewing to listen. "We're having breakfast."

  Jarek swore. "I wanted to be there before she woke up."

  Tess fought a pinch of disappointment. She could use a little credit here. "Don't worry about it. She's better company when she's awake, anyway."

  Jarek didn't laugh. "Yeah. Look, I'm wrapping up now. And I reached Aleksy. He'll be there any minute."

  Oh, no. The last thing Tess needed was the Boy Scout's critique of her parenting skills. "Why? I mean, if you're almost finished—"

  "I don't want to take advantage."

  She relaxed. At least Jarek wasn't saying that he didn't trust her with his daughter. "So, we'll trade," she teased. "My time for your story."

  "We'll have to talk about it."

  "Hey, you promised me—"

  "Tess." His voice was flat. Impatient. "Something's come up. We need to talk."

  Misgiving seeped through her. "Okay," she said slowly. "We'll talk."

  "You'll wait for me?"

  "If your brother's coming—"

  "It's Sunday. I told him to take Allie to church. Will you wait for me?"

  If Jarek had used police bully tactics, Tess could have said no. But under his curt tone, she heard something else, some tiredness or trouble that made her say, "I'll wait."

  She hung up the receiver, wondering sickly if she'd just made another big mistake. She was responding to someone who needed her, the way she always responded, hoping to be rewarded with approval.

  With love.

  Her brother's voice mocked her. You are such a sucker.

  Allie spoke behind her. "He's gonna be late, right?"

  Tess felt a tear of sympathy, for the girl and for her father. "He's sorry," she offered.

  Allie stuck the edge of her thumbnail in her mouth. "He's always sorry."

  "Your uncle's coming."

  "Well, that's something. I like my uncle. He calls me honey in Polish. Which is kind of a crock, but I like it."

  Tess cleared their dishes to the dishwasher. "You're very pretty."

  "Not really. Uncle Alex goes for real babes. Like you."

  Tess laughed. "I'm not in babe mode this morning."

  Allie eyed her critically. "Yeah, but even with your hair sticking up, you dress nice. And your fingernails are, like, wow."

  "Thanks. I think."

  "I bite mine." Allie held up her ragged hands for inspection. And then, before Tess could make the mistake of offering sympathy, she added, "My grandmother Peterson doesn't like long nails anyway."

  Peterson? Her mother's mother, Tess guessed. No way was Tess getting involved in this. She had no business pit-ting herself against the ghost of Allie's late mother. But some uncertainty in Allie's eyes tugged at her.

  Jarek's frustrated voice jeered in her memory. What are you? The voice of experience?

  Yes, Tess thought. That's exactly what I am.

  "You want to know a secret?"

  Allie leaned forward. Ten-year-old girls loved secrets.

  "I used to bite mine, too," Tess confided.

  Allie slumped against the back of her stool. "No way. Yours are, like, perfect."

  "That's because I give myself manicures. And I only started the manicure thing to stop myself from chewing my nails."

  Allie studied Tess's nails. "Do you think that would work for me?"

  Tess shrugged to hide her enthusiasm for the idea. "I don't know. If you didn't want to mess up your polish, it might help. Do you want to give it a try?"

  Allie nodded cautiously.

  What a pair we are, Tess thought. Don't let anyone know what you want, and it won't hurt so much when you don't get it. "Okay," she said.

  She dumped out the contents of her purse: notebook, pencils, hairbrush, gum, three shades of lipstick and her keys on a little mace key chain. Pens rolled, coins bounced.

  "Wow," Allie said.

  Tess swooped on a nail file and the bottle of polish she used sometimes to stop runs. "Here we go."

  The girl eyed the pale color skeptically. "It's not as pretty as yours."

  Tess thought of Jarek's likely reaction if he came home from a case and found his ten-year-old daughter with blood-red nails.

  "It's a start," she said. "We have to start somewhere."

  Tess was restuffing her purse when the doorbell chimed.

  Allie hopped down from her perch. "That's Uncle Alex."

  She ran into the hall. Tess heard the front door open, and a deep male voice say, "Hi, kochanie."

  As Tess walked in, Aleksy Denko was just straightening from a hug. His sharp brown gaze skewered her. "You still here?"

  She was spared answering by Allie, who waggled her fingers at her uncle. "Tess did my nails. And she gave me some polish, so I can do them myself."

  "Nice," he said, without looking. "Run get your jacket. We're late for mass."

  His niece bolted upstairs.

  Tess leaned against the bannister and crossed her arms over her breasts. "And hello to you, too," she said dryly.

  "Sorry," Aleksy said. "Thanks for taking care of the kid."

  He didn't look sorry. Or grateful. He looked hard and cold and pissed off.

  "You know," Tess drawled. "If you're not nice to me, I'm going to start remembering all the reasons why I don't like cops."

  He aimed a smile like a knife. "I guess you've got grounds."

  Her earlier misgiving returned in force. "Like what?"

  He shook his head. "Never mind."

  This wasn't getting them anywhere. She lifted one shoulder. "I'll tell you my reasons if you tell me yours."

  He gave her a dismissive look. "Save it for my brother. Or better yet, stay away from him."

  She welcomed the flare of anger. It burned away her hurt, distracted her from her fear. "What is it with you? I'm doing him a favor."

  Jarek's brother looked briefly embarrassed. But he said, doggedly, "You're not what he needs."

  He was right.

  He wasn't saying anything Tess hadn't told herself. But hearing it from Aleksy touched a truth she wasn't willing to face. She wanted to be the woman Jarek needed.

  "How do you know what he needs? He's a grown man."

  "He's a cop," Aleksy said.

  "That's his job. Jarek is more than that."

  "Yeah, he's also a decent guy trying to make a stable home for his little girl. Someone like you doesn't belong in the picture."

  "Someone like me?" she repeated dangerously. "You have no idea what I'm like."

  "Sure, I do." He came closer, a hint of sexual threat in his stance she doubted he was even conscious of. "I know the type. Baby, I am the type. We don't do the domestic shtick."

  Temper and panic drove her chin up. "You're wrong. You and I have nothing in common."

  He backed off. Shrugged. "Maybe not. At least I'm not going to screw him up in his job."

  All her earlier misgivings crashed in on her. He knew something. He was getting at something. Jarek's voice returned to haunt her. Something's come up. We need to talk.

  "What's happened? What are you talking about?"

  Aleksy glanced up the stairs. "I've said enough."

  Oh, no. She wasn't letting him get away with that concerned uncle crap after doing a drive-by on her emotions. "I think you've said t
oo much."

  He didn't deny it. But as Allie skipped down the stairs with her jacket, just before Aleksy turned away, he leaned close again and said, softly, "You hurt him, and you'll deal with me. And I'm not as nice as my brother."

  Well, Tess thought as the door closed behind them.

  But she could handle not-so-nice, in-your-face, full-of-himself Aleksy. What she couldn't deal with were her own growing feelings for his brother.

  He wanted to come home.

  The realization hit Jarek as he pulled into his driveway and looked up at his modest white house.

  Time was, he came off shift jazzed and impatient with his body's demands for food and sleep, with the routine that kept him from the case. But right now, with fatigue dragging at his steps and frustration dogging his soul, he wanted nothing more than to check out of the job for the next two, ten, fifteen hours.

  He wanted what he supposed other guys his age took for granted. Wife. Kids. Home. Peace.

  He swung open the car door. Going up the walk, he let himself picture it, imagined greeting his little girl with a kiss and a smile before he took his dark-haired wife upstairs to their room and let go. Shut out the world and lost it all in the welcoming warmth of her body.

  Only his kid was gone with his brother because Jarek was late. Again.

  And the dark-haired woman waiting for him wasn't his wife. Tess had no reason to welcome him home. Had no reason to welcome him, period.

  Especially not after what had happened in the long hours since he'd left her.

  Jarek massaged the back of his neck with one hand. What was he doing with this woman? What was he doing to her? He was a man who liked answers. He'd spent his whole adult life figuring out who and what and where and why, drawing orderly solutions out of the chaos of crime scenes.

  Tess was a big black question mark in the middle of his new life.

  And he wanted her there anyway.

  Squaring his shoulders, he trudged up the front steps. The door opened before he could insert his key. She stood in the doorway. She didn't fit the image of what he thought he wanted, what he thought Allie needed. And yet she was so damn beautiful, with her tumbled hair and worried face, that his chest actually ached at the sight of her.

  "I heard the car," she said.