by Pat Warren
“Not really. But I’m going to check with Sloan.”
Rachel frowned as she stepped around a fallen branch in the middle of the path.
Jack’s fingers laced with hers as he helped her maneuver over the log. His hand was large, solid—much like the man himself was. Rachel knew she should take back her hand and keep touching to only the necessary minimum between them. She knew that when he touched her, she wanted more, which could lead to problems.
But she returned the pressure of his fingers, though she kept her eyes averted. Body signals could speak volumes and, for now, she’d let that be enough. She could enjoy him without thinking of the future. After all, she’d known Jack Henderson only a matter of days. The thing was, she didn’t want to include him in her musings because she knew as soon as this case was over for him, he’d leave. He might not walk away whistling, as Richard had, but the effect would be the same. She’d be alone again and hurting. If she didn’t allow herself to care beyond a working relationship and a simple friendship, she could protect her vulnerable heart.
That decision made, Rachel felt better. Until she nearly walked into a low-hanging tree branch because her mind was elsewhere, and Jack yanked her out of harm’s way and into his embrace.
Startled blue eyes looked into green ones, deep and fathomless. For a very long few seconds she studied how amber specks streaked through the green, how his gaze heated and became intense. Then she pulled free and turned. “Thank you,” she said, her voice husky enough to reveal her emotions in turmoil. But at least she’d had the strength to step away from the fire.
She’d taken a few steps down the incline when she realized Jack was not behind her. Turning around, she saw him still standing where she’d left him.
“Are you going to stay here all day?”
He shook his head, but from the look in his eyes, he was deep in thought. “I have to ask you something. Actually, I have an invitation to convey to you. Would you like to join me for dinner at Gina and Trent’s tonight?”
Immediately suspicious, Rachel studied his face and thought he looked sincere. “They specifically invited me, or did they invite you and you decided to drag me along?”
“Whoa, there. Man, are you distrustful. The truth is I talked with Gina on the phone last night and she invited both of us.” He dug his cell phone out of his jacket pocket. “Here, call and ask her if you don’t believe me.”
“Okay, so I’m a little paranoid…”
“A little?”
“What time?”
“Right about now. She wants to show us around their new house, the baby’s room she’s fixing up, that sort of thing. Do you want to go or not?” For reasons he didn’t want to think about, he wanted to see how she’d interact with his family. But he wasn’t about to beg.
Rachel didn’t answer until they were both in Jack’s car. She would have preferred going back to the Montgomery house and changing clothes, maybe freshening up before going out to dinner because she’d heard the Remmingtons entertained beautifully. But she decided she’d better go as she was since Jack was so impatient. “Sure. I like your sister.”
“So do I,” he said, pulling away from the curb.
“She and her husband seem very much in love.”
“If you believe in such things,” he muttered low in his throat.
She heard him and wasn’t surprised. Disappointed but not surprised. She was quiet the rest of the short distance, lost in her own jumbled thoughts.
“Here we are,” Jack said as he turned into the circular drive of a large ranch-style house.
Looking around, Rachel became aware of the familiar neighborhood. “My brother lives not far from here.”
Stepping out, Jack nodded. “Yeah, this is where the monied folk live.” His hand at the small of her back, he guided Rachel up three steps and rang the bell. Inside chimes could be heard echoing through the big house. A light snow had begun to fall.
In moments, the door opened and Trent stood there smiling a welcome. “Come on in. Glad you both could make it. Gina’s in the study, by the fire.”
Rachel noted the huge crystal chandelier shining down on the marble foyer, the winding staircase leading up, carpeted in pale blue, the heavy banister made of mellowed oak. There was an open look about the place with its high ceilings, archways leading into other rooms and long slender windows drawing in the outdoors.
“She started spotting this morning so, on doctor’s orders, Gina’s to stay put on the couch.” Wearing a paisley vest over a white shirt, with black pants, Trent beamed at them. “I’m cooking tonight.”
“He’s terrific on the barbecue,” Jack told Rachel. “I don’t know if he can make anything other than steaks.”
“Is there anything else worth eating?” asked Trent, a Texan through and through.
Laughing, they entered the study, which was decorated in stark contrast to the beautiful white, gold and blues that Rachel had glimpsed throughout the rest of the lower level. Here was a masculine room complete with huge fieldstone fireplace flanked by bookcases on both sides, a massive oak desk at the far end near a set of three arched windows, and two oversize couches that faced one another in front of the blazing fire. Gina was sitting on one with her feet up, an afghan over her legs.
She smiled a greeting as Jack walked over and kissed her cheek. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. The doctor’s just being cautious because of that scare we had a while back.” She took Rachel’s hand and gave it a squeeze. At her guest’s inquisitive look, she said, “I got thrown from a horse early in my pregnancy. But I’m fine. I’m so glad you could come.” Her red hair was dazzling in the firelight, her green eyes so like Jack’s, sparkling.
“Thank you for inviting me.” Rachel glanced around the room. “Your home is lovely.”
“I wanted to give you a tour, especially the baby’s room, but—”
“We’ll wait until next time.” Trent leaned down and patted her bulging stomach. “We have to take care of the heir apparent.” He smiled at her with so much love, warming Rachel. At least these two gave her hope that it was possible to find real love, even if it had so far passed her by.
“What’ll you two have to drink?” Trent asked, rubbing his hands together, ready to play host. “You name it, we’ve probably got it. Scotch for you, Jack?”
“Right, on the rocks with a splash.”
“Chardonnay, if you have it,” Rachel said. A glass of wine might help her relax after the unsettling few days she’d had.
While Trent got their drinks, Jack touched Rachel’s hand and indicated they should sit on the couch opposite Gina’s. As Trent placed the glasses on the coffee table between the two couches, Gina took a sip of her milk and made a face.
“After this baby’s born, I don’t intend to drink milk again for a year. Every time I turn around, Trent’s shoving a glass of milk in my hand.”
“You want a healthy baby?” he asked, his voice teasing as he sat at the far end of the couch and took her feet into his lap.
“Yes, of course, I do. But I’ve always disliked milk, haven’t I, Jack?”
Frowning as if it was difficult to remember, he shook his head. “I don’t recall that.”
“What? Why, you traitor, you!”
Jack laughed. “All right, so you don’t like milk. Mothers have to sacrifice, you know.”
“Uh-huh.” Gina eyed her husband’s drink. “What about fathers?”
“They have to watch over mothers so they do every thing the doctor tells them,” Trent said.
Rachel listened to the good-natured teasing between husband and wife along with the camaraderie between brother and sister, and found herself envying Gina. Why couldn’t Max be more of a loving brother like Jack was? Would he have been if she’d stayed in Montana? Anyone’s guess.
Trent got to his feet. “Ladies, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to stoke up the old barbecue. Jack, why don’t you come give me a hand? I’m sure these two can enterta
in themselves while we get dinner going.”
“Don’t forget the rolls, honey,” Gina called after Trent as Jack followed him out. She turned to Rachel and smiled. “How’s the investigation going?” She got nightly reports from Jack, but she wanted to hear Rachel’s viewpoint.
Rachel leaned back, feeling comfortable with this friendly woman. “Well, we’ve talked with a lot of people—men who knew Christina well. Nothing but dead ends there so far. Homer Gilmore, who found her car, claims he saw some sort of apparition that night. Not exactly a reliable source.” Saddened at the lack of information, Rachel shook her head. “I can’t say we’ve learned a lot.”
“Don’t give up, Rachel. You’ll find the answers, but these things take time. I worked on some cases six months, even more.”
Gina seemed so sincere, so genuinely interested that she put Rachel at ease enough to allow her to ask questions. “You really enjoyed investigative work, didn’t you?”
“I loved it. Besides, that’s how I met Trent.”
“Just how did you two meet?”
“Well, it’s kind of a long story. Jack sent me to Dallas on this complicated case. Garrett Kincaid’s son Larry had seven illegitimate sons and—”
“I’m familiar with the story,” Rachel interjected.
“Well, I was on the trail of one of them at the time—that was Trent. He was this big, macho oilman, but utterly charming. I have to tell you, Rachel, he set me on my ear. I went against all my best instincts in getting involved with him.”
Rachel got up and took Trent’s seat at the foot of Gina’s couch since she’d lowered her voice. “Why was that?”
“For one thing, because I knew his reputation with women. He was the love-’em-and-leave-’em type. You’ve probably known someone like that.”
“One or two,” Rachel answered dryly.
“Also, there was this rule Jack and I had in the company. Never get involved with anyone under surveillance or who is a part of the investigation. I knew Jack would hit the roof. I also knew if I gave in to my feelings for Trent, he’d still walk away the next day.”
This was beginning to sound all too familiar, Rachel thought. “So what did you do?”
“I gave in and went to bed with him.” Quickly, she went on to explain, needing Rachel to understand. “I was already in love with him, Rachel, and I simply couldn’t help myself. I knew he’d probably leave and I knew my brother would be furious, but I was so attracted that I had to do it. Did you ever feel like that?”
Avoiding the answer, Rachel asked her own question. “And what happened?”
“See, I hadn’t told Trent that I was investigating his family. So I turned the tables on him and, after we’d made love that night, I snuck out and went back to California. I guess that had never happened to him before. He was the one who always did the leaving. About a month later, Jack sent me here to Whitehorn, following a lead for another of Larry Kincaid’s sons. As luck would have it, Trent arrived and I ran into him. He seemed glad to see me and we began seeing each other again. Just when I thought we might actually wind up together, he found out about my investigation. He was furious.”
“I can imagine.” Rachel took the first sip of her neglected wine and found it cool and refreshing.
“Things weren’t going well, especially when I found out I was pregnant. I didn’t want Garrett to find out, or my brother, and certainly not Trent because I didn’t want him to feel I was blackmailing him into marriage. So I told no one.”
“That couldn’t have lasted long.”
“It didn’t. After a while, Trent learned I was pregnant and he said he wanted to take care of me and the baby, so he proposed. But I turned him down.” Noticing the surprise on Rachel’s face, she smiled. “Listen, would you want a man to marry you out of a sense of obligation? He’d never once said he loved me.”
“Oh, I see. You’re right. Then, something must have happened.”
“I walked away from him, but then I had the riding accident and almost lost the baby. Trent stayed with me until we were both out of danger. He convinced me that he loved me and the baby and that no one was forcing him to marry me.” Gina took a deep breath and reached for her milk. “That’s my story.”
“No one who saw the two of you together could mistake the fact that you’re very much in love. I admit, I’m envious.”
Gina’s green eyes narrowed as she studied the woman sipping her wine. “How are you getting along with Jack?”
“Fine,” she answered automatically.
“Really, or are you just saying that?” She waited until Rachel met her gaze. “I know he can be difficult.”
“We all can be, I guess. He’s good at what he does.” Including kissing, which he did better than anyone she’d ever known. “He’s funny and charming at times.” And his very touch could send her into orbit. “Of course, if you’re asking personally not professionally, we’ve only known one another less than a week.”
“Mmm-hmm. I fell for Trent in less than a day, but not everyone—”
“All right, ladies, time to eat,” Jack said, coming into the study. “The chef says we’re to go to the table. Gina, let me help you.”
Gina had been watching Rachel’s face when her brother walked in and she’d seen her eyes swing to him, noticing that subtle softening that spoke more about Rachel’s feelings than any words could have. Accepting Jack’s help, Gina walked with them to the kitchen, her busy mind making plans.
Five
Rachel didn’t feel the cold on the drive back to her father’s house nearly as much as she had on the ride over, despite the snow still coming down, the freezing temperatures and the blowing wind. Undoubtedly that was due in part to the fact that she’d had two glasses of wine over the evening, something she rarely did.
Mmm, but the chardonnay had gone down so smoothly and the steak—something else she didn’t eat often—had been thick, juicy, and done to perfection. The whole evening had been lovely with Gina and Trent acting as marvelous hosts and Jack in a fun mood telling stories about his early investigative cases. He’d managed to make himself the butt of several tales, though she doubted he actually had been.
They’d eaten and laughed and had a little more wine. Overall, Rachel couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed an evening so much. For those few hours she’d forgotten her problems, her worries over her sister’s child, even her semi-estrangement from her father and brother.
And her powerful attraction to the man beside her.
“Are you warm enough?” Jack asked, annoyed at the console between them, wishing for an older model car with a one-piece bench seat so he could coax Rachel closer and at least hold her hand. She’d been happy at the house, mellowed a bit by wine but certainly not drunk, joining in the conversation, holding her own even though she didn’t know any of them well. But now she looked pensive, almost sad.
“Yes, thanks, I’m fine.” Rachel was sure that Jack wasn’t aware he was the other reason she didn’t notice the cold. Just being with him warmed her, chasing away her earlier wariness. What was there about this man that had her relaxing to the point where she could hear the walls she’d erected come tumbling down, brick by brick?
Part of it was that he gave the impression of strength, of solid comfort, of someone who would be there for you. What woman didn’t want that? And tonight, watching him with his family, something had shifted for Rachel in her feelings for Jack. She’d discovered his secret, the one he used to guard his heart much the same way she’d needed the walls she’d built to keep herself from being hurt again.
The secret was that inside Jack, so deep inside he’d probably never acknowledged it himself, he was a family man. Oh, he’d deny it if she were foolish enough to give voice to her discovery. But she’d seen with her own eyes and knew she was right.
No way could he have faked the tenderness he felt for Gina. It was there every time he helped her do some small chore, easing her pregnancy. It was there in the way he looked a
t her, smiled in her direction, or touched her hand affectionately. And it was most evident when he spoke of her baby.
He also liked and admired Trent. Rachel could see that Jack had taken to Trent like the brother he’d never had. They were on the same wavelength, laughed at the same jokes together and shared a deep love for Gina, each in a different way.
Rachel had spotted something else about Jack that she was fairly certain he’d not acknowledged, and that was his yearning for a home and family much like Gina and Trent had. She’d seen the way he’d sat back at the dinner table, gazing first at his sister and her husband sharing a private moment, then glancing around the room, the house, unaware that his expression was one of longing.
And small wonder after the way he’d been raised, a father who’d left him before he’d entered puberty and a mother who’d been totally overwhelmed by the desertion and had to rely on her very young son to hold the family together. Jack could protest till the cows came home; she’d seen the truth in his eyes. He wanted what his sister had, a loving mate, a solid home, a child on the way.
In other words, he wanted what she wanted.
But wild horses wouldn’t get him to admit it, much less act on it.
Rachel suppressed a sigh as she thought about Gina’s story which paralleled her own situation: a man who liked the freedom of his single life and a woman who’d fallen for him fast and fiercely. But Gina was beautiful and clever and confident, whereas Rachel had been all but left at the altar once already. That would make anyone a little gun-shy. She felt then and now that she didn’t offer enough for a man to abandon his lifestyle to begin a family with her.
Perhaps she should just enjoy the now and not dwell so much on the future, or the past.
As Jack turned onto Sunnyslope, Rachel saw that her father’s vehicle wasn’t in the drive. Naturally not, since it was only nine and Ellis usually drifted in around midnight.
Jack stopped the Lincoln in front of the house, slipped it into park and turned to Rachel, a question in his eyes.
