by Unknown
As Kate threaded her way through the crowd to them, she saw Jonah glance around and then spot her. The moment they looked into each other’s eyes, her insides became fluttery.
As he impassively watched her approach, she wondered again what was running through his mind. He could easily hide his feelings—something she could not do.
“Hi,” she said to him, then bent down to kiss Henry lightly and pick him up. “You look very handsome, Henry, and I’m glad you’re here.”
“This is your office?”
“This is where everyone works, and then I have my own office where I work. C’mon. I’ll show you and Daddy.” She set Henry on his feet and led the way, conscious of Jonah walking behind her. She still felt uncomfortable anytime she had to call him “Daddy” for Henry’s benefit.
Mommy, Daddy and baby. What would have happened if she hadn’t walked out on Jonah?
She jerked her thoughts away from a question that had plagued her through all the years of separation. She didn’t want to think about that. It was done, and she couldn’t go back.
Her spine tingled, as if Jonah’s eyes were on her, yet she told herself she was being silly. He probably was looking around, and the last thing on his mind was her. Unable to resist, she glanced over her shoulder and found his gaze sweeping over her.
She turned around, and then they were at her office, where she stepped inside, waving her hand. “See, Henry, there’s my desk and here are ads I’m working on and these are layouts. There’s my drawing board.”
“Great office,” Jonah said, lounging in the doorway. “I saw a bar. I’ll get a drink while you show Henry everything. Can I bring you something?”
“They’re serving champagne and plain punch. If you can carry them, why don’t you bring two cups of punch for Henry and me?”
“Sure,” Jonah replied. When he was gone, she sighed. He didn’t want to be here, and she wished she had been able to think of some way to avoid having him come.
“Can I look in your desk?” Henry asked.
“Of course,” she answered, circling the desk to sit and lift Henry onto her lap.
After looking through her drawers, Henry hopped down to walk around the office. When he climbed up on the stool to sit at her drawing board, she gave him a sheet of paper.
With care, he drew stick figures, each one having a large head and a big smile.
“Excellent, Henry,” she said, watching him draw, looking at his small fingers holding the pen tightly, his tongue tucked in the corner of his mouth. She wondered if Jonah had forgotten their drinks, yet she knew he hadn’t. Jonah never forgot anything. He just didn’t want to come back to her office.
“It’s you and Daddy and me,” Henry exclaimed proudly.
The figures had big smiles, and she hoped that Henry felt that way about his parents and didn’t sense the tension running between them.
“Believe it or not,” Jonah said from the doorway, “I ran into someone I know.”
“I believe it,” she said, smiling at him. “Everywhere you go, you do. I want to hear who, but first, come look. Henry drew a picture of us.”
Henry gazed up at Jonah and she felt a pang at the look of expectation on her son’s face and the love in his eyes for his father.
“Hey, kiddo, that’s super! That’s me, isn’t it?”
Henry grinned, pleased by Jonah’s reaction, and turned to look at his picture. “Yes.”
“And there’s Mommy and there you are. I didn’t know you could draw so well, Henry. I like your picture! Here’s your punch.”
“Henry, come sit at my desk to drink your punch,” Kate said, and Jonah handed him the cup when he was seated.
“There’s a guy out there, Les Williams,” Jonah said, giving the other cup of punch to Kate. “We were in basic together. He’s one of this company’s clients now. He has a printing company.”
“Yes. I know the company, but I don’t know him.”
“Nope, that was before your time, Kate. Are you keeping Henry’s art? If not, I think I’ll put it in a frame and hang it in my office at the ranch.”
“Go ahead. I have a lot of Henry’s drawings.”
“May I have the picture you just drew, Henry?” Jonah asked.
The boy nodded, handing the paper to him solemnly. “I’ll draw one for you, too, Mommy.”
Jonah looked at his newly acquired gift. “I’ll put this drawing up somewhere so it doesn’t get wrinkled, and take it when we leave. If you two will excuse me, I’ll go see if I can find anyone else I know.”
Kate nodded and watched him go, knowing he was trying to stay away from her and that that was the wisest course.
Thirty minutes later everyone gathered in the large reception room at the front of the office, and the president of the company called for attention.
Jonah sipped slowly on the first glass of champagne he had taken. He didn’t care for champagne, nor did he care for punch. All evening he had tried to keep distance between himself and Kate, but it wasn’t what he wanted to do. When she and Henry had been alone in her office, he had wanted to stay and talk to them, to look at Kate’s work, but he knew he should get away.
Now her boss was making a speech, and Jonah found it impossible to pay attention to the man. He watched Kate, who stood only a few feet away, slightly in front of him, with Henry at her side.
She looked beautiful. When he entered the office and had first seen her, she had taken his breath away. She wore a simple black dress that revealed her knockout figure. The skirt ended above her knees and showed a lot of her long, fabulous legs. Her hair was pulled up, looped and pinned on her head, and he longed to run his fingers in it and let it all tumble around her face and over her shoulders, the way he liked it best.
He was torn between wanting to go back to the ranch and get drunk and see if he could numb himself to all he was feeling, or take her to dinner after this was over. Neither choice was appealing. He wasn’t given to drinking heavily, and liquor wouldn’t supply anything except a few hours’ relief, followed by a headache. If he took her to dinner, that would be tough on both of them.
Jonah’s attention was caught when the president of the company called four employees up front, including Kate. Jonah took Henry’s hand to keep him at his side while Kate moved through the crowd to the front of the room to stand with her team.
Picking Henry up so he could see, Jonah moved closer to the wall to keep from blocking the view of anyone behind him. Along with the others, Kate was presented with a plaque, and the president spoke about what a great new employee she was and what a fine job she was already doing. Jonah barely heard, because he was too busy watching her and thinking about her.
The dress molded her figure and she looked dazzling, poised and self-assured. He realized she wasn’t as gaunt as she had been when they had first seen each other in the drugstore, and he was glad. He ached, wanting her, wanting a family, wishing she felt differently about him and his lifestyle. They could be a family…. He stopped histhoughts, knowing he couldn’t look back or wish for what he wasn’t going to have. She was unhappy with him for running outside after the intruder. But if he hadn’t, his barn would have been blown up.
Would Kate have been happy if he had cowered in the house and let the police handle the whole thing? he wondered.
As his gaze drifted over her, from top to bottom and back up, she turned to face everyone to make her presentation to a co-worker, flashing a brilliant smile that turned Jonah’s insides to jelly.
He could remember when she had smiled easily and often, smiles that had melted him, enticed him. With a few exceptions, the only time he saw her smile now was around Henry. Jonah clenched his fists. She had him tied in knots all the time, each minute of each hour of each day. He would walk out now and wait in the hall, except he needed to hold Henry and let him see his mother.
Every muscle in Jonah’s body felt tense. He was hot and bothered, and he couldn’t tear his gaze from Kate.
Finally, it wa
s over and she came toward them, holding her plaque and giving them a radiant smile.
“Congratulations, Kate,” Jonah said, fighting the inclination to reach out and hug her.
“Thanks.”
“Congratulations, Mommy,” Henry said, echoing what his father had said, and she laughed. Her eyes sparkled, and her white teeth were even, her lips full and tempting. Taking a deep breath, Jonah wished he could stop staring at her.
“Thank you, Henry.”
She turned to Jonah. “I can take Henry now, and I’ll take him home with me. You don’t have to stay any longer, but thanks so much for bringing him and keeping him while I got my plaque.”
“Let’s go to dinner, Kate. I’ll take you and Henry out so you can celebrate.”
She blinked, looking startled for a moment, and he was startled himself. The words had popped out, when earlier he had decided he wouldn’t offer to take them to dinner and had dismissed the idea.
“That would be great, Jonah,” she replied cautiously. “I don’t have to stay here any longer. I’ll tell my boss thanks and goodbye and then I can go. Let me take Henry with me.”
Jonah nodded and moved toward the door, waiting there until they returned to his side. He held the door open, catching a scent of her perfume as she walked past him.
“Where would you like to eat?” he asked, remembering her favorite was Italian and trying to think if he knew any Italian restaurants in the city.
“There’s a place everyone at work talks about, but I haven’t been there,” she said, naming an Italian restaurant, and in a short time, Jonah located it from her directions. They went inside the cozy establishment to find an accordion player singing Italian songs. Baskets of flowers hung from rough rafters across the ceiling and tables were covered in red-and-white checkered tablecloths with a glowing candle centered on each.
The three of them were seated near a fountain. As with their dinners at home, he and Kate gave their full attention to Henry, yet Jonah was keenly aware of her. He ordered a bottle of red wine, and during dinner, when he refilled her glass, he looked across the candlelight into her eyes. For a moment the world fell away and he was alone with Kate.
He could drown in her wide gaze. Desire burned like green-and-gold flames in the depths of her luminous hazel eyes. He poured her wine slowly, watching her as she gazed unblinkingly back at him. Jonah’s body responded and he ached for her, wanting to set down the wine bottle and reach across the table and take her hand.
Tearing his gaze from hers, he set the bottle down with great deliberation, watching what he was doing. When he looked up, she had dipped her head and was looking at her plate. She had one hand in her lap and the other on the stem of her wineglass.
He couldn’t resist, and reached across the table to touch her fingers. The instant he did, an electrical charge ran like lightning over his raw nerves. She inhaled and looked at him sharply, but didn’t draw her hand away.
“I’m glad about your plaque and bonus,” he said.
“Thanks. I sort of fell into it, but I’m glad, too.”
“You look breathtaking tonight.” Ravishing, radiant, sexy. He wanted her more every day.
“Thank you, Jonah. You and Henry look very handsome,” she said, smiling at their son.
Jonah leaned back and released her hand, trying to turn his attention to Henry and get his mind off Kate.
When they left the restaurant later, Kate paused. “My car is at the office. If you’ll drive me there, I’ll get it and I can take Henry home with me.”
“Naw. I’ll get one of the men to come into town and pick it up. There’s always someone coming and going. Let’s go home together.”
Kate nodded, his words making her tingle. Let’s go home together. If only that’s exactly what they could do. That moment during dinner when Jonah had poured her wine…The desire in his eyes had been unmistakable. And he had covered her hand with his, watching her, talking to her as if he cared and the whole evening hadn’t been a social chore for him.
Kate knew she should insist on getting her own car and driving home separately, but she didn’t want to do that. Instead, she slid into the seat of his vehicle and watched Jonah check that Henry was buckled into his seat, then get behind the wheel. By the time they reached the city limits, Henry was asleep.
“He’s sleeping,” she said, turning slightly to look at him, then twisting to look at his father. Her gaze ran over Jonah’s profile, down his broad shoulder and arm to his hands on the wheel. The evening had been wonderful, and some of the usual strain of being around him hadn’t been present. She knew she was as bubbly with excitement as if she were on a first date with him.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about, but I thought I should run it past you when Henry wasn’t around before we ask him,” Jonah said. “My mom called this afternoon, and I told her about the bomb.”
“She probably wants you to move off the ranch?”
Jonah laughed. “Nothing that drastic. I guess she thinks I can take care of myself, and ditto for you, but she wants us to bring Henry to stay with them for the coming week.”
Kate looked back at her sleeping son and wondered if she could get through a week of separation from him. “I’ve never been away from him that long, Jonah. Not at all until I started work, and that’s only through the day.”
“Does that mean you’d rather he didn’t go? Do I tell Mom no?”
“No, I’m just thinking out loud and telling you how I feel. I think it would probably be safer for him to go.”
“Do you think he’d want to? From what you’ve said, he’s never done anything like that before. Of course, if he didn’t want to stay, I’d just go right back and get him. We could fly up anytime.”
“I think as far as Henry is concerned, he’d love it. He and Trent were inseparable and he likes your parents. I think he’s missed my parents and now he has yours. Henry will probably be happy to go, and as you said, we can go get him if he doesn’t like it.”
“So I can tell her yes, and we’ll take him up there tomorrow?”
She studied Jonah’s profile again, then his hands on the steering wheel—competent hands, strong hands. Magical, seductive hands when he wanted them to be.
“What about us, Jonah? Should I move to a hotel room until Henry gets back?”
Jonah laughed softly. “Hell, no! We can stay out of each other’s sight.”
“We can, but will we? We’ve failed miserably at that so far.”
“I don’t think we’ve failed miserably. Maybe a few slips, but we’ll manage. Henry asked me tonight why I never kiss you.”
Startled, she stared at him. “What did you tell him?”
“I told him that we were still divorced, which Henry argued with me about. I told him that someday you would move to a house in town and he would live with you part of the time, and part of the time with me on the ranch.”
“And what did he say to that?”
“He started crying, so I pulled over and hugged him and told him that we would be together just like we are now for a long time, and we shouldn’t worry about changes that would come later. That was okay with him.”
“Oh, mercy!” Kate rubbed her brow, wondering once more how much she had hurt a lot of people, including her son, by walking out on Jonah.
He took her hand in his. “Stop agonizing about it, Kate. I didn’t tell you that to make you fret or to make you sad. I just thought you ought to know because he may start asking you questions, too, like why don’t you kiss Daddy.”
“He probably will. I’ve hurt so many people, Jonah. I’ve hurt Henry and I hate that.”
“I guess you did what you thought you had to do. That’s what we all do. Now stop stewing about Henry, because he cheered up, and you know how children are. He will have forgotten all about it by tomorrow.”
“Maybe,” she said, biting her lip and unable to keep from thinking about it.
“Looks like you work with friendly people at your
office,” he said.
“Are you trying to change the subject?” she asked, amused and wondering if he was handling her just as he had Henry.
“Nope, but I don’t see any point in dwelling on that incident any longer.”
“Yes, I do work with great people. That makes it better to go to work. I like the job and I like the people. Everyone has been adither over the bomb on your ranch.”
“That’s the hot news item in these parts. I hope the bomber sees the headlines and learns that his plot failed and all he blew up was a field of grass that needed to be tilled, anyway.”
“I think that’s what you told one television reporter. You may just aggravate the bomber even more, but I know that doesn’t frighten you.”
“Nope, it doesn’t. And I’ve had alarms put in the house and barn today that no one is going to dismantle easily. We have two different systems on the house. If someone tries to dismantle one, the other will go off while he’s working on the first. If the lines are cut, the alarm goes off. We’re covered, and so are the other houses and structures, including the barn. I’ve let Clementine and the others know, so they should feel safer.”
“Have you heard anything from Dakota?”
“Nope. Nothing yet.”
Jonah turned into the ranch and they rode in silence to the house, where he carried Henry inside. “I’ll put him to bed, Kate. Meet me in the kitchen and we’ll have a cup of coffee.”
“No, Jonah. You and I both know we need to stay apart,” she said, and moved away from him, hurrying to the stairs. Once in her bedroom, she closed the door and sagged against it. She wanted to be with Jonah, wanted to have that coffee with him, wanted to walk into his arms and love him all night long! Wanted to go back to him….
I’ll never trust Kate again. Those words were enough to remind her that she couldn’t ever go back.
And Henry asking why he never kissed Mommy. Sooner or later Henry was going to ask her why she never kissed Daddy. She put her hands over her face and wondered if she had made the greatest mistake of her life when she’d walked out on Jonah.
Tomorrow she was going to take Henry to his grandparents, then she was going to return home with Jonah, and just the two of them would be here. How was she going to survive? And how could she resist him?
