Her Mysterious Houseguest

by Jane Toombs

  “If I ask you about last night, will you be honest?”

  Rachel tensed at Mikel’s question. “I shouldn’t have let that happen,” she finally said.

  “Why? You enjoyed it as much as I did.”

  She looked at him. “My reasons are my own. And private. There won’t be another such…occurrence.”

  “Oh, won’t there?” Mikel growled. And he pulled her to him, his mouth coming down hard on hers.

  Rachel’s first impulse to thrust him away vanished as heat rose in her to answer the passion in his kiss. Why did it have to be this man, of all men, who evoked such a deep, yearning need she didn’t dare satisfy?

  If only this kiss could last forever. If only she had no past. If only things were different and there was a chance that Mikel…

  But Rachel had used up all her “if onlys” long ago.

  Dear Reader,

  When Patricia Kay was a child, she could be found hiding somewhere…reading. “Ever since I was old enough to realize someone wrote books and they didn’t just magically appear, I dreamed of writing,” she says. And this month Special Edition is proud to publish Patricia’s twenty-second novel, The Millionaire and the Mom, the next of the STOCKWELLS OF TEXAS series. She admits it isn’t always easy keeping her ideas and her writing fresh. What helps, she says, is “nonwriting” activities, such as singing in her church choir, swimming, taking long walks, going to the movies and traveling. “Staying well-rounded keeps me excited about writing,” she says.

  We have plenty of other fresh stories to offer this month. After finding herself in the midst of an armed robbery with a gun to her back in Christie Ridgway’s From This Day Forward, Annie Smith vows to chase her dreams…. In the next of A RANCHING FAMILY series by Victoria Pade, Kate McDermot returns from Vegas unexpectedly married and with a Cowboy’s Baby in her belly! And Sally Tyler Hayes’s Magic in a Jelly Jar is what young Luke Morgan hopes for by saving his teeth in a jelly jar…because he thinks that his dentist is the tooth fairy and can grant him one wish: a mother! Also, don’t miss the surprising twists in Her Mysterious Houseguest by Jane Toombs, and an exciting forbidden love story with Barbara Benedict’s Solution: Marriage.

  At Special Edition, fresh, innovative books are our passion. We hope you enjoy them all.

  Best,

  Karen Taylor Richman

  Senior Editor

  Her Mysterious Houseguest

  JANE TOOMBS

  To Bror and Evy and their black barn

  Books by Jane Toombs

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Nobody’s Baby #1081

  Baby of Mine #1182

  Accidental Parents #1247

  Designated Daddy #1271

  Wild Mustang #1326

  Her Mysterious Houseguest #1391

  Silhouette Shadows

  Return to Bloodstone House #5

  Dark Enchantment #12

  What Waits Below #16

  The Volan Curse #35

  The Woman in White #50

  The Abandoned Bride #56

  Previously published under the pseudonym Diana Stuart

  Silhouette Special Edition

  Out of a Dream #353

  The Moon Pool #671

  Silhouette Desire

  Prime Specimen #172

  Leader of the Pack #238

  The Shadow Between #257

  JANE TOOMBS

  was born in California, raised in the upper peninsula of Michigan and has moved from New York to Nevada as a result of falling in love with the state and a Nevadan. Jane has five children, two stepchildren and seven grandchildren. Her interests include gardening, reading and knitting.

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Epilogue

  Chapter One

  Though not heavy, the cold, persistent rain hadn’t let up since he’d crossed the Mackinac Bridge, entering Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from the lower one. Mikel Starzov grimaced. Great way to spend his two-month vacation—in the rain. And in the wilderness, besides, since towns had proved to be small and far between. Having been raised in and around New York City, he felt more at home in people places rather than places surrounded by trees.

  Not that he regretted the promise he’d made to his colleague, Henderson, on his wedding day. He’d find Steve’s bride’s missing sister, just as he’d told both Victoria and Steve he would. He might not have expected the search to lead him into such a desolate area, but he meant to live up to his nickname at headquarters, where they called him “Nemesis” because he’d never failed to track down his quarry. This time would be no exception.

  The picture he had of Renee Reynaud at thirteen showed a wiry, thin-faced, undeveloped girl with bright red hair, wary amber eyes and freckles. He’d had the computer expert at headquarters make him a composite of what she might look like now, fourteen years later, but the guy had cautioned him about possible variations since puberty tended to bring about impossible-to-predict changes.

  If she was still alive, that is. Always a possibility she wasn’t. His hunch, though, told him she was still walking the earth. His hunches made him uneasy because he felt following them wasn’t professional. And, by damn, a special government agent needed to stay professional at all costs. Still, he and Steve both had survived a couple of times only because he’d paid attention to a hunch.

  At the moment he’d better pay attention to where he was. The sign coming up read Ojibway, the village he was looking for. By the time he reached the town, the rain had diminished to a fine mist. Pulling into the first gas station he came to, he filled the tank before asking directions. Buy something and it makes people less suspicious of questions, he thought.

  “Aino Saari’s?” the man at the inside counter repeated. “That’s easy. Just go down this here street till you come to the bridge on your left. Cross over the river and go a couple miles. Keep looking for a black barn to the left. Old Aino’s a joker. Some guy told him no farmer ever painted a barn black and so Aino goes and paints his black as the inside of a cow. Well, you find that barn and there you are.”

  As he drove on, Mikel realized he’d actually never seen a black barn before, not anywhere he’d been. Saari’s would be a first. And, he hoped, the end of his search.

  At the same time as the blue pickup ahead of him signaled for a left turn, he spotted the landmark barn and turned into the private driveway behind the pickup, stopping a short distance behind the truck. He watched the driver, an older man, open the door and climb down, coming alert when he saw the man stagger and clutch at the side of the truck. Drunk? Or in trouble? Not waiting to find out, Mikel leaped from his car and hurried to the pickup.

  “Are you okay, sir?” he asked when he reached the gray-haired man, whose cap had fallen onto the wet ground.

  “Can’t make my legs work right,” the man gasped.

  Mikel slung his arm around the guy’s shoulders, close enough now to smell alcohol if liquor was the cause of the problem. When he didn’t detect that telltale odor, and the man slumped against him, he decided this was an emergency situation. “Think you can make it to my car?” he asked. “I’ll get you to a hospital.”

  As he half carried the man to the nondescript older car he was driving, a dark-haired woman rushed out of the nearby house, crying, “Aino, what’s wrong?”
<
br />   “Help me get him into my car,” Mikel ordered when she came close. “He needs a doctor.”

  She obeyed without any fuss, and once they eased Aino into the back seat, she got in beside him. “I need directions,” Mikel told her as he slid behind the wheel. “You do have a hospital in Ojibway, I hope.”

  She nodded. “Go right onto the highway, back to town. I’ll tell you where to turn when we get there.”

  While they sped into Ojibway, he heard her murmuring to Aino as she supported his head on her shoulder. When they reached the hospital, Mikel jumped out and hurried into the emergency entrance. Moments later he followed a gurney out to the car and helped the male paramedic extract Aino from the back seat and onto the gurney. Once inside the hospital again, he was relegated to the tiny waiting room while Aino was wheeled off and the young woman steered to a desk to answer questions and sign forms. After a time she joined Mikel in the waiting room.

  “They won’t let me be with him,” she said, her voice breaking.

  “Tests to run,” he told her, feeling inadequate. His impulse was to put his arms around her for comfort, but now that he had time to notice, she was not only young, but a striking brunette who very likely would misinterpret such a gesture from a stranger.

  Blinking back tears, she focused on him. “Thank God you were there to help,” she said. “I’m Rachel Hill, Aino’s cousin. Oh, I do hope he’s going to be all right.”

  “I hope so, too.” Mikel meant every word. The old man might be his only chance to pick up Renee’s trail. “My name’s Mikel Starzov, by the way.”

  “You were coming to see Aino?”

  He nodded, then added, “Actually I wanted to talk to him about his son Leo.” He knew it was always good to toss out a bit of info on the chance of picking up something useful. If she was a relative of Aino’s, she must have been acquainted with Leo.

  “Leo’s been dead for seven years,” she said.

  “I realize that. Did you know him?”

  “Yes.” She clenched her hands together. “Do you think if I asked they’d tell me how Aino’s doing? I’m so worried about him.”

  “I’ll go with you.”

  Mikel managed to catch the attention of a nurse hurrying past.

  “Aino Saari?” she said in response to Mikel’s inquiry. “Doctor thinks he’s suffered a cerebral vascular accident. We’ll know more when the tests are done.”

  “How is he?” Rachel’s voice was ragged.

  The nurse touched her arm. “He’s holding his own. We’ll let you see him as soon as possible. I know it’s hard to wait.” With that she left them.

  Watching Rachel’s face start to crumple, Mikel decided that now that she knew his name he no longer qualified as a complete stranger and she really did need comfort. He put his arm around her shoulders and led her back to the waiting room. There she leaned against him, crying, and he held her gently, aware she wasn’t really aware of him as anything but a fellow human who wanted to help.

  Which he was, at least for the moment. He truly wanted to offer what comfort he could to Rachel Hill, the questions could wait. He had to admit, though, he couldn’t help being very much aware that she was an attractive young woman who fit perfectly into his arms.

  After a few moments, she pulled away. “Eva,” she said in a choked voice, fumbling for a tissue.

  Mikel came to attention. “Eva?” he repeated, knowing that was the name of Leo’s daughter.

  Rachel wiped her eyes. “Aino’s granddaughter. She’s in Finland visiting relatives. I should call her, but…”

  “You think it might be better to wait until you know more.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Don’t you?”

  He could hardly say he’d prefer to have Eva return as soon as possible so he could talk to her about her father and the missing Renee. “Surely they’ll let you see Aino soon,” he temporized.

  She tried to smile at him and her brave effort made his chest tight. This gal was having more of an effect on him than he liked. Cardinal rule—never get involved with anyone, especially a woman, who was connected with a case. He might not be working for the agency in this instance, but that didn’t mean the rule didn’t apply. The one time he’d violated it had not only nearly cost him his job, but his life as well.

  If only Rachel’s hair wasn’t so black and glossy, her brown eyes so soft and warm. She was more than pretty—gorgeous from head to toe was closer. Strange some guy hadn’t snapped her up by now. Come to think of it, maybe one had. “Is there anyone you’d like me to call?” he asked.

  Rachel shook her head. “No, with Eva away, there’s just Aino and me.”

  Mikel took that to mean no husband, but he didn’t like to admit knowing the fact made him feel better. He was not going to get involved.

  “Cerebral accident means a stroke, doesn’t it?” she said.

  “Yes.”

  Rachel sighed. “He’s a good man, he doesn’t deserve this.”

  “No one deserves to be sick.”

  “You’re right. But Aino’s special to me. He took me in when I was orphaned. Except for Eva, he’s my only relative.”

  Thinking his questions might distract her from her worry over Aino, Mikel commented, “You said you’d known his son, Leo. Did he live in Ojibway?”

  “No, not really. He was a teacher who taught in various Upper Peninsula towns.”

  “Since he had a daughter I assume he was married.”

  “His wife died right after he came back to the Upper Peninsula.”

  “Oh? Then he lived elsewhere before that?”

  “He must have. I didn’t really know him before he returned here.”

  Her answers, though brief, came naturally. Mikel was good at detecting lies from truth. He was pretty sure Rachel wasn’t lying.

  “How about you?” she asked.

  “Me?”

  “I’ve told you who my relatives are. It’s your turn.”

  “Grandmother.” He hadn’t stopped to see Grandma Sonia on his way through New York and felt guilty because he didn’t visit as often as he should. She was hale and hearty and perfectly able to care for herself, but he knew she was lonesome since his grandfather died.

  “Just one grandmother?”

  “That’s it.”

  The nurse they’d talked to appeared in the doorway. “Rachel,” she said, “Aino’s been transferred to ICU. You can visit him there now, but please keep the visit brief.”

  “I’ll wait here,” Mikel said.

  Rachel left him there, surprised at her wish that he could come with her. After following the directions she’d been given, she found Aino in the three-bed intensive care unit hooked up to various bags and monitors. He opened his eyes when she stood by his bed.

  “Guess this old goat’s gonna make it,” he told her.

  Rachel bent and kissed his cheek. “You scared me.”

  “That young man who helped get me here—who was he?”

  “His name is Mikel Starzov, that’s all I know.” Aino didn’t need to have her tell him that Mikel was kind and comforting and that she liked him, even though his questions about Leo had made her uneasy.

  “The doc says if I hadn’t gotten here so quick I might’ve been in a lot worse shape. He thinks I might come out of this pretty good and we got this Mikel Starzov to thank for that.”

  She nodded.

  “So I want you to invite Mikel to stay at the farm for as long as he has business in the area,” Aino continued. “That’s the least we can do for a Good Samaritan.”

  Rachel’s instinct was to tell Aino she didn’t think that was a good idea, since Mikel’s business seemed to involve them, but this was no time to argue with the old man. “Okay,” she said.

  “Tell Mikel I’ll be home in a few days to thank him personally. You take him back to the farm now, no use you hanging around here when the cow will need to be milked. And I don’t want you scaring Eva into rushing back from Finland. I’m too ornery to die, Doc said
so right out.”

  As she returned to where Mikel waited, Rachel tried to tell herself he wasn’t a threat to them all with his questions. Something about him fascinated her against her will. He was attractive, no doubt about that, with his dark hair and chiseled features, but it was those slightly tilted green eyes that got to her. Hunter’s eyes. She took a deep breath. Rachel Hill was no man’s prey.

  She waited until they were driving away from the hospital to invite him to stay at the farm, saying, “Aino insists. We have a guest cottage so you’ll have privacy.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” Mikel told her, thinking it was just as well he wouldn’t be in the same house with her, the two of them alone, tempting fate.

  “Do you mind if I stop to make a phone call on the way?”

  “You can use our phone if you like.”

  “Thanks, but I don’t want to trouble you.”

  He’d spotted an outside phone at the gas station where he’d stopped before and so he pulled in there. Even on vacation he was expected to stay in touch, but private phones could be traced and tapped, so he never made agency calls from anywhere but a pay phone.

  He was connected immediately and told his only message was from his grandmother who’d called the Riggs and Robinson screening phone number that led to the agency. She wanted him to get in contact with her immediately.

  Before he hung up, he asked his researcher friend, Ed, to check out Rachel Hill, probably born in Michigan twenty odd years ago. Mikel had no reason to mistrust her, but a special agent always made sure.

  He’d have to call his grandmother. He really should have taken a detour to see her on the way here—she knew he was on vacation. Taking a deep breath he started to punch in her number, then changed his mind and called his colleague Steve first instead.