Mountain Angel (Northstar Angels, Book One)

by Suzie O'Connell

  “Quite literally, I’m guessing. But wounds heal in time and eventually, scars fade. I’m not saying you’ll ever forget, because I doubt you will. I’m not even saying you should forgive her. I’m not in a position to rightly believe abuse can be forgiven. What I’m telling you is to take that horrible time in your life and learn from it. Appreciate what you have and what you could have. Everything that we do and that happens to us makes us who we are. You can let all the bad things drag you down or you can make them work for you and come out stronger for them. That choice is yours.”

  “It’s not as simple as that.”

  “I never said it was easy. I’m just painting you a picture.” She smiled. “Enough about you, now. Let me tell you something about Aeli. She’s always been more open and trusting than I am, but she also keeps everyone but her family and her closest friends at a safe distance. She’s never laid herself so completely open with a man like she has with you. She’s never been given a reason to before, not even with Bryce, and she’d agreed to marry him. Think about that when you decide what to do.”

  “I don’t know what to do. Or what I want to do. I know I love her enough to want the best for her. She deserves the best, and I don’t think I am.”

  “What’s best for Aelissm is what makes her happy and what gives her the support and courage to plant her feet and stop running. From what I can see, that’s exactly you.”

  “Me?” Pat asked, startled.

  “Yes, you. I’m not telling you what to do, Pat. You asked my opinion and I gave it. All I ask is that you take what I’ve told you into consideration before you decide you’re so bad for Aeli.” She folded her arms and smiled. “Now, this is where our conversation ends, because you already have enough to think about. Besides, it’s card night, and I heard Grandma and Grandpa pull up a few minutes ago.”

  Oddly, June’s blunt opinions and thorough insight had given him clarity, not more to think about, as she thought. Maybe the best approach to take was one of cautious curiosity. If he were completely honest with himself, what he felt for Aelissm was totally new and wonderful and, if June was to be believed, Aeli was on the same mountainside. Why shouldn’t they find out where this went? This might be, as some said, the real thing. Even so, caution was necessary. Plowing on ahead with high expectations would only lead to a pair of broken hearts if this was all just an empty promise, so they’d proceed carefully.

  “Thank you, June,” he said as they turned back toward the door. “That really helped.”

  “You’re most welcome.”

  “You know, I’m so used to seeing you here, in Northstar, that I’d almost forgotten you teach high school. Without seeing you in a classroom, I know that you’re a great teacher, if only because you see people. It makes complete sense, too, why Bill thought you would be a good match for Luke.”

  “Thank you, Pat,” she said quietly, almost shyly. “That really means a lot to me. He’s come a long way in a short time, but he still has a long way to go.”

  “And he’ll get there because of you.” Pat hesitated before opening the door. “Whatever happens… I want you to be part of my family.”

  “Of course we’re part of your family. And, one way or another, you’re part of ours. There’s no escape, Pat. You’re stuck with us.”

  “Promise?”

  “Promise. Now, we’d better get back inside before they send out a search party.”

  When they walked inside to find Aelissm’s grandparents already inside, it was with an honest smile that Pat greeted them.

  “Luke tells us we have reason to celebrate,” Marge said.

  Indeed we do, Pat thought. He’d revealed his darkest memories and survived. He was almost himself again, in less than a day. In three years, he hadn’t made as much improvement as he had in the past two months and, as everyone present congratulated June and Luke, he threw his own, private celebration.

  Chapter Twelve

  “YES, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. That’s exactly what I needed. I really appreciate your help. Uh-huh, you too. Bye.” Pat pushed the end button on the cordless and scribbled something in his notebook. Aelissm took the free opportunity to admire him, delighted by the easy manner he’d had in speaking with the person on the other end of the phone line. She was more than a little aroused by the lines of his body as he leaned against the snack bar and by the fluid dance of forearm muscle as he wrote whatever it was he found prudent on that little, spiral-bound notepad. His head was cocked slightly to the side and a frown of concentration occasionally pinched his brows together.

  Mama wants to play, Aeli thought, then blushed.

  He liked to wear clothes that fit, but left something to the imagination, she’d noticed. His jeans and the plain white t-shirt tucked into them were loose enough to be comfortable, but tight enough to tantalize her with a glimpse of the toned body underneath. So, subconsciously at least, Pat knew he was attractive, though she doubted even his baser brain knew just how sexy he was. If he wasn’t so distractingly handsome, she might have been irritated and impatient that he was keeping her waiting. But watching him was so much more fun than worrying about what he might or might not have found out from his numerous phone calls this morning.

  It was a while before Pat looked up at Aelissm. His hazel eyes glittered as he waved the book. “Got it.”

  Aelissm jumped up from her seat on the couch and snatched the notepad from Pat’s hand. She scanned down the page, ignoring his detective notations and froze when she saw it. The address of the phone Adam had called from three days ago. Vicious glee swamped her for a moment. They knew where Adam was. This whole twisted game was about to come to an end. Then, when her mind slowed enough to focus, her heart sank. There was no way this would lead them right to him. It wasn’t over yet.

  “The Parasite Motel?” she asked. “That’s where he was?”

  “I wrote Paradise, not Parasite.”

  “I know.” She looked up at him and found him smiling. “What’s so great about this, Pat?”

  “Where’s the motel located?”

  “Montana Street. It’s the main drag through the north side of town. The motel’s almost right across from the northern access to the interstate.”

  “Convenient.”

  “A little too convenient, thank you,” Aeli replied unhappily. “Unless you’re going to tell me that number is from a phone in a room at the Parasite.”

  “No, it’s not. But it does belong to the pay phone in the motel’s restaurant. In the lounge, actually. It’s possible he just stopped in to eat and use the phone, but he might be staying at the motel or somewhere nearby.” Pat frowned thoughtfully. “We don’t know how long he’s been in Devyn, or in Montana, for that matter, but we know he’s here now. If he’s been here for a while, he’s probably found some way to get money. Is there anyone back in Seattle who might send him funds?”

  Aelissm shook her head. “No. He has no one. But he’s pretty resourceful. He paid his way through college by working in the school’s cafeteria. I wouldn’t put it past him to find a place to work under a fake name.”

  “A fake name?”

  “Yeah. It’s not hard in Devyn. Certain places are just glad to get help. They don’t dig too deep. And some of them pay under the table. Like the Parasite.”

  “Is he brazen enough to call from his place of work?” Pat asked, quietly, as though to himself. “He’s been quiet lately. Maybe so. Guess we’ll have to ask around, see what we can find out.” The last he said more loudly, addressing her.

  Anticipation quivered in Aelissm’s gut. Freedom seemed so close at hand. She wanted to grab her keys, race out to her truck, and drive to Devyn as fast as legally permissible. The only thing stopping her was the lack of knowledge. A sketchy theory and the location of the phone Adam had called from were all they had to go on, but it shouldn’t be too hard to get some more information. Enough people in Devyn knew her and most of the population knew of her grandparents, so they wouldn’t be too suspicious if she dug arou
nd a little. This had to end. It had been a year since she’d slept without worry of being found. She was done. She wanted it to be over.

  “Aeli. Stop pacing.”

  She didn’t realize she was until he said it. She stopped and found him watching her quizzically. “What?” she asked.

  “Relax.”

  “Relax?” she spat. “Excuse me, but I think I have every right to be a little anxious right now, Pat. Adam is here… or near enough that I can feel him breathing down my neck. That son of a bitch has been stalking me for—”

  Her proclamation was abruptly cut off when Pat’s mouth latched on to hers. He clasped her face with both hands, preventing her from objecting, even if were able. She was pulled into him and the wondrous feel of his long, lean body pressed to the length of her own stole away her worries. She had no choice but to give in and melt against him. She moaned low in her throat, pleading for more, as her eyes rolled back behind closed lids. They’d shared a gentle kiss and a passionate one, but this was different. This was both. And more.

  “Are you a puddle of mush yet?” Pat asked against her lips. His voice was a deeply sensual purr.

  “Call me goo,” she murmured. “What was that for?”

  “To get you to shut up,” he replied in the same, seductive tone.

  “Kiss me like that again and I may be silent forever.”

  “I don’t want that. But I will kiss you again.”

  And he did. The notebook slid from Aelissm’s hand and hit the floor in a flutter of paper. All else but Pat passed out of her mind, leaving only a flood of sensations and emotions swirling wonderfully through her saturated brain. She curled her arms around his neck and buried her hands in his thick hair. If the world crashed down around them, she wouldn’t care, as long as he was there with her, kissing her like there was nothing more precious or more desirable in the world. It was devastating and at the same time, it fulfilled her.

  He let her go slowly. It took a long time to recover her wits and by the time she finally realized why she’d been so fired up, Pat was coming back downstairs. He’d pulled on a dark green button-up shirt, though he had yet to button it, and carried his boots. Aelissm continued to watch him as he walked through the kitchen and into the living room. He stooped to pick up the notepad she’d dropped, then straightened. When he caught her unabashedly appraising him, he smiled uncertainly.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Do you have any idea whatsoever how sexy you are?” she asked smugly. “And I do believe I just made you blush again, Mr. O’Neil.”

  “So it would seem. Are you going to finish getting dressed or stand there drooling all day?”

  It was Aeli’s turn to feel the heat of discomfort. “Drooling over you all day sounds downright lovely, but I suppose there are more pressing things to be done.”

  Aelissm marveled at the change in Pat. Three days ago, he’d been pale, withdrawn, and unsettlingly insecure. She frowned. He’d gained a rather shocking and sudden self-confidence since he’d talked to June the other night. She tried to figure out what they might have talked about to have such an effect on him. The thought that it had been something scandalous didn’t even cross her mind, but she was worried what juicy secrets June might have spilled to Pat. No, she thought, June wouldn’t betray her confidence like that. Unable to come up with anything of value, Aelissm tried for something a little more direct.

  “You seem much happier,” she remarked. “What did June say to you the other night?”

  Pat smiled. “She gave me some really good advice. Did you know she believes Luke was abused?”

  “Yes, I did. Don’t change the subject.”

  This time, he chuckled. “You can tell that the two of you have been good friends for a long time. That’s what she told me when I got off track. Word for word.”

  “Uh-huh.” Aelissm lifted her brows and started to say something else, but decided against it. She’d get it out of him eventually. With a shrug, she headed upstairs to get ready to leave.

  Alone in her bedroom without Pat to distract her, Aeli fell prey to doubt. What if they couldn’t find anything about Adam? What if they asked around and described him until they passed out from lack of oxygen and came up without a single clue that might help? What if no one who’d seen Adam remembered him? Adam Winters had a talent for disappearing into a crowd; he’d used it to sneak up on her a few times.

  Aelissm braced her hands on her dresser and stared at her reflection. The face in the mirror was pale with green eyes round with worry and glittering with half-formed tears. She pinched them closed, willing herself not to cry.

  “I just want it to be done,” she murmured.

  “I know.”

  She watched in the mirror as Pat slid up behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He met her eyes in the glass, his expression concerned.

  “I wish I could tell you we’ll find him today and that he’ll be out of your life forever by tomorrow, but I can’t. And I don’t want to give you false hope by making promises I’m not sure I can keep.”

  “It’s not your place to make promises to me, anyhow,” she muttered. “No matter how much I might wish it was.”

  “And what if I want it to be my place?”

  “Then we’ll see what happens, won’t we?” she replied, ignoring the rush of thrill. “I’m almost ready. I’ll meet you downstairs in a minute.”

  Pat lowered his head and kissed her neck before turning to leave, unbothered by her dismissal. As she brushed her hair and knitted it into a single braid, she tried not to think about what he’d just said or the tremors of comfortable intimacy that little gesture had tickled from her. She focused her attention on the morning sunlight filtering through the trees outside her window, on the clumsily stacked boxes in the rafters above her bed. Oh, the memories stuffed in those boxes…. Some were from her early childhood, some from before she’d been born into her parents’ world. Somewhere up there was a satin dress from one of her mother’s high school dances. She hadn’t seen it since she and June had come up here in college, but she could still see the oddly beautiful shade of lemony-lime green that so stunningly complimented her mother’s rosy-gold complexion.

  “What was I thinking, going to Seattle?” she wondered aloud. “I belong here. I always have.”

  She and June, way back when in high school, had spent uncounted hours complaining how much they both despised Western Washington and longed for the pine-blanketed granite peaks of this valley. Somewhere in those boxes, too, was a notebook stuffed with notes she and June had passed back and forth in school and memory of the words written on those pages brought a smile to her face. Pat might get a kick out of their literary antics.

  “Aeli! You coming or what?” he called from downstairs.

  “Yeah, yeah. Hold your horses.”

  “I’d rather hold you, if I have a choice.”

  Aelissm smirked. “You might! If you’re lucky!”

  The sound of his laughter drifted up to her. Oh, yes, she could get used to that. If he’d let her.

  * * *

  Pat drove to Devyn and kept their conversation centered on how to go about their task. Aelissm did her best to quell her irritability. It wasn’t that Pat was being so single-minded that bothered her, but why he wouldn’t let them stray. They were going to be walking a tight rope as fine as fishing line today. The slightest fluctuation in balance would have them falling back into the net of helpless waiting. The old familiar tension was back, knotted in her shoulders and throbbing inside her skull. Fear lurked in there somewhere, ready to lunge at her and drag her back under. She’d never much liked Yo-Yo’s as a child and she absolutely despised feeling like one now.

  “I think it’s probably wise not to mention Adam’s name. If you’re right—and I believe you are, about him having a job in Devyn—I want to know what name he’s been using.”

  “So how do we ask about him?”

  “Describe him, like we’ve only seen him once or twice.”

>   “He’s not what you call a memorable person. Medium everything.”

  “Quit being so pessimistic.”

  “Can’t help it,” she retorted. “It’s in my nature.”

  “Well, turn it off for a little while, will you?”

  She stared out the window. The hills and valleys were in the full green of late spring, not as vibrant as the emerald of Washington, but frosted with the silver-gold of last year’s dead grasses. Normally, she would have appreciated the sight, but evidence of Adam’s presence in Devyn had cast a foul shadow over her eyes and she couldn’t find the same joy in admiring her home that should have come as easily as breathing. Then again… at the moment, breathing wasn’t so easy, either.

  “Dammit,” she muttered. Returning her attention to Pat, she said, “Okay, I’m sorry. I’m a little out of myself right now.”

  “Understandably so,” Pat replied.

  “So, what do you want me to say?”

  “I haven’t figured that out yet. I thought maybe you could help me with it.”

  “You’re the cop.”

  Aelissm wanted to slap herself for bating him like that. It wasn’t right. He was only trying to help her, but she couldn’t seem to help herself.

  “Technically, I’m the cop on an extended leave of absence,” he replied. There was a note of exasperation—or was it aggravation—in his voice that caught her off guard. Apparently, his patience was a little short at the moment as well. Which made her feel absurdly better. “An important point we’d both be smart to remember. I have no power to do anything, Aelissm.”

  “Ain’t that just the cherry on top?” she snarled. “What did Bill expect you to do, then?”

  “Protect you.”

  “If Adam came to me,” she finished. “Not to capture him.”

  “Unfortunately… yes. But, even if I can’t bring him in, I can find him. And knowing where he is may just be the break we need. If we can find him, the locals can arrest him for violating the restraining order.”

  Aelissm snorted, doubtful. Adam was both tough and resourceful.