Desperate Intentions (HQR Intrigue)

by Carla Cassidy

  He knew how many steps to the bathroom and how many to the top of the stairs. She had wanted to put his bedroom downstairs, but he’d insisted he wanted to be up here where his sister’s room was. He was such an amazing little guy, and she was blessed to be his mother.

  Sammy never complained about any nightmares. Eliza had a feeling Katie sometimes had bad dreams and went into her brother’s bedroom for comfort.

  She sat on the edge of his bed and he smiled. “Are you ready for sweet dreams?” she asked.

  “As long as the mice stay quiet.”

  “We’re going to take care of those noisy, pesky mice very soon,” she replied. “In the meantime I want you to have sweet dreams and I’ll see you in the morning. It’s Saturday so you can sleep in if you want.”

  “I think I might want to,” he replied.

  She kissed him and then with final good-nights said, she left his room and headed for her own.

  This big old house still didn’t feel like home to her, but it would just take more time. At least Sammy had adapted easily, and initially that had been her biggest concern. As she changed into her nightgown, her thoughts filled with Troy Anderson.

  Lordy, but the man was hot and he’d seemed to be genuinely nice. He’d been especially good with Sammy, not talking to him like he was stupid or raising his voice like Sammy was deaf as well as blind.

  She got into bed and shut off her light. It had been nice to have a man to share a meal and pleasant conversation. Still, it didn’t matter whether he had given her dancing butterflies or not. She’d felt those same kind of dancing butterflies when she’d first met Blake and that had certainly ended badly.

  She released a deep sigh and hoped the mice would stay silent tonight.

  * * *

  TROY PARKED HIS work truck in the driveway and released a weary sigh. Even though it was just a little after three, it had been a long day.

  Two of his men hadn’t shown up for work that morning. Thankfully the jobs had been residential mows and trimming, so Troy had taken care of them himself. But this was the third time the two had missed an early Saturday morning job and now he needed to decide if they needed to be let go.

  Troy always hated firing anyone, but he did expect his employees to be dependable. Thankfully the men were young and unmarried, so at least Troy didn’t have to worry about them having families they were supporting.

  He got out of his truck and glanced next door. Instantly a bit of adrenaline filled him as he thought of Eliza. There was no question he found her intensely physically attractive. He’d also found her charming and nice, but he hadn’t missed a few times when her beautiful gray eyes darkened with emotions that had intrigued him. He was also impressed by her strength. It must be tough to be a single mother of two young kids, especially with one of them being blind.

  He’d said he’d plant the peony bush, and he was vaguely surprised to realize the idea of seeing Eliza again today swept a pleasant warmth through him. He should plant it right now before he took a shower and cleaned up. But first what he wanted to do before anything else was go inside and get a tall glass of something cold to drink.

  He walked into his hallway of gleaming wood floors. He’d bought the big three-story house a year and a half ago. It had needed a ton of work, but he’d been looking for a new start and the remodeling had been a project he’d desperately needed to take his mind away from the torment of his past.

  He’d stripped floors and painted walls. He’d updated the bathrooms and had all the windows replaced. He’d considered every dollar he spent and all his sweat and hard work a good investment. And the work had definitely kept him from losing his mind.

  The kitchen had been updated with all the bells and whistles. As he headed toward the refrigerator he glanced out the back window...and froze.

  The two kids, Katie and Sammy, were in his yard and standing over the place where he’d buried the gun. What the hell? What were they doing in his yard, in that place? Thirst forgotten, he ran toward the back door.

  He unlocked it and flung it open, and at the same time Eliza appeared, running toward her children. “Katie! Sammy! What on earth are you doing over here?” She flashed him an apologetic glance and then glared at her children once again. “You both know the rules. You are never, ever to leave the house without telling me. And you especially should not be over here in Mr. Anderson’s yard. What were the two of you thinking?”

  “We just wanted to have a funeral for the dead cat,” Katie said, her lower lip trembling ominously as she looked first at her mother and then at Troy.

  “We’re sorry, Mommy,” Sammy said. “We thought it would be good to have a cat funeral.”

  For the first time Troy realized Katie was wearing what appeared to be a black dress that belonged to her mother and Sammy wore some kind of a black curtain draped over his shoulders. Katie held a small bouquet of plastic flowers and Sammy held a cardboard sign that read RIP Cat.

  Jeez, the kids wanted to have a funeral for the cat that didn’t exist. What damned can of worms had he opened with his lie about the cat? He frowned thoughtfully. Maybe by allowing them to do this, they’d forget they saw him bury anything out here.

  “It’s all right,” Troy said to Eliza. “Every dead cat should have a funeral.”

  Eliza looked charmingly flustered. Her cheeks were flushed as she blew a strand of hair off her face. The grateful look she gave him warmed him.

  “Okay, you can have a funeral, but when we get home there are going to be consequences for you breaking the rules,” she said to her children. “And you can thank Mr. Anderson for not chasing you out of his yard with a broom.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Anderson,” Katie said with a sweet smile that suddenly reminded him of Annie.

  For a brief moment a deep, rich pain ripped through his very soul. Thankfully at that moment Katie instructed them all to close their eyes. He squeezed his eyelids closed and tried to will away the memories that attempted to assault him.

  He’d spent the last three years of his life trying not to remember, because remembering had the power to cast him to his knees in the very depths of hell. He drew several long, deep breaths and managed to snap himself out of the past.

  “We come together to say goodbye to Cat,” Katie began.

  “We decided that Cat was a good name since we didn’t know his real name,” Sammy added. “Mr. Anderson, was Cat a boy or a girl?”

  “A boy,” Troy replied.

  “We all pray for boy Cat to go straight to heaven where the trees are made of catnip and cats are happy all the time,” Katie said. “We can open our eyes now.”

  He opened to see Katie bending down and placing the little flower bouquet on the ground. “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I don’t know what that means but they always say it at funerals,” Katie said. She turned toward her brother and took the makeshift cardboard tombstone from him. “We don’t know why people write RIP on tombstones, but we’ve seen it in movies so we wrote RIP Cat.”

  “It stands for rest in peace. You know, that sign is going to get all wet when it rains and it won’t take much time for the writing to fade. Why don’t I buy a nice birdbath to put here?” Troy said. “Cats like birds.”

  “Oh, that would be wonderful,” Katie exclaimed, and jumped up and down with excitement.

  “Troy, you don’t have to do that,” Eliza protested.

  “It’s all right,” he assured her. “I’ve been wanting a birdbath out here anyway.” And he hoped that placing a birdbath there would halt any further interest in the “dead cat.”

  “That’s the end of the funeral,” Sammy said.

  “And the beginning of your consequences.” Eliza pointed toward her house. “I want you two to march yourselves right back home and go to your rooms. We’ll discuss your punishment when I get back inside.”

  When the children were out of
earshot she turned to look at Troy. “I’m so sorry. I promise you they have never done anything like this before.”

  “It’s okay. Have they been to a lot of funerals?” he asked.

  “Not a one, which makes me question what they’ve been watching on television when I’m not paying attention. Anyway, I apologize once again and I certainly don’t expect you to go out and buy a birdbath.”

  “Actually, they just prodded me to do something I’d been thinking about doing for some time.” She looked so pretty with the sunshine playing in the dark strands of her hair and her eyes the gray of a dove’s wing. Did her eyes darken to a smoky gray when she was in the throes of passion?

  The totally inappropriate thought shocked him and he mentally shook himself. “If it’s okay with you I thought I’d grab my shovel and plant that peony.” Maybe a little physical activity would stop any more lustful thoughts he entertained about his pretty neighbor.

  “That would be wonderful. In the meantime I need to get back inside to hand out punishments,” she replied.

  “Don’t be too hard on them.”

  She flashed him a brilliant smile that warmed him more than the summer sun overhead. “I’m never too hard on them. I like to think I’m fair.”

  “Fair is always good. I’ll be in your front yard in just a few minutes.”

  He watched her as she walked back toward her house, unable to help but notice the slight sway of her shapely hips. Damn, but she was one fine-looking woman.

  As she disappeared from view he frowned and headed back into his house. In the kitchen, he fixed himself a tall glass of lemonade and then after drinking it headed to the garage for a shovel.

  His feelings toward Eliza disturbed him. Throughout nine years of marriage he’d never had lustful thoughts for any woman except his wife. Since Sherry had walked out on him almost three years before, he’d never had any inappropriate thoughts about another woman.

  So why now? And why Eliza? He certainly wasn’t looking for any kind of a relationship, especially with a woman who had children. All he’d wanted to do was find out who, in her house, had seen him bury the gun. He had his answer and so that should be the end of things.

  But there was a part of him that didn’t want it to be the end of things. He needed to ignore that part...as soon as he planted the bush. He needed to keep his distance from his lovely, single neighbor.

  He grabbed his shovel and then headed across the yard to her front porch, where the plant remained where he had left it the day before.

  There had been no rain for the past two weeks and the ground was hard as a rock. What he needed was a garden hose, not only to soften the dirt but also to water the bush once it had been placed in the ground.

  Looking around, he spied a faucet to connect one, but none was in sight. He knocked lightly on the front door. “Do you have a water hose?” he asked when she answered.

  She frowned, a delicate gesture that didn’t detract from her overall loveliness. “No, I don’t.”

  “Not a problem, I’ll go grab one of mine. I just wanted to let you know I’m going to turn on the water out here.”

  “Okay. Let me know if you need anything,” she replied.

  A kiss would be nice, a little voice whispered in his head. Jeez, what in the hell was wrong with him? He didn’t want a kiss from Eliza. All he wanted from her was a good, friendly neighbor kind of relationship and for her kids to forget about the “dead cat” in his backyard.

  It took him nearly a half an hour to dig the hole deep enough. He placed the plant in the hole, shoveled soil all around it and then stood holding the hose over it so that it could get enough water to get a healthy start.

  He was just about to finish up when the door opened and she stepped outside with a big glass of iced tea in her hand. “I thought you might need something cold to drink right about now.”

  “Thanks.” He took the glass from her and swallowed a deep drink.

  “It’s so blazing hot out here,” she said.

  What was blazing hot was Eliza clad in a pair of cutoff jean shorts and a sleeveless pink blouse. “I’m used to the heat,” he replied. “The peony should really do well here,” he said in an effort to get his brain on the right path.

  “All I know is it’s really pretty right now and I thank you for it once again.”

  “Do your kids like pizza?”

  “They love it.” There was a touch of puzzlement in her eyes.

  “I was wondering if I could take you and them out for some pizza on Friday night.” Criminy, when had he been wondering that? What in the hell was happening to him? It was as if his mouth was working independent of his brain.

  “Oh...that...that would be nice.” The puzzlement in her eyes turned into pleasure.

  He turned off the nozzle on the hose. “What time is good for you all?”

  “Any time after four. That’s when the kids get home from school.”

  “Then why don’t we say about five?”

  “Perfect.” She gave him that smile that made him feel like he’d swallowed the sun.

  “Okay, I’ll just wrap up this hose and then I’ll see you on Friday night.”

  Minutes later he walked across the lawn to his garage and put his shovel and the hose inside. He then went into the house and directly to the master bath. It was only when he was standing beneath a hot spray of water that he was able to fully process what had happened. He’d just made a date with the neighbor.

  Chapter Three

  A date. Was that what it was? Had Troy really asked her out on a date? Or was it merely a casual getting together of two neighbors? That was the question that played in Eliza’s mind all day on Sunday and still plagued her as she sat at the kitchen table late-afternoon on Monday.

  Mike the Mighty Mouseman had arrived minutes before and was now checking out the house for mice. She hoped he had a quick and easy way to get rid of the pesky critters that made far too much noise at night. His boots rang out on the hardwood floors overhead.

  She glanced at the clock on the microwave. In just a few minutes she needed to leave to walk down the street to the bus stop. She’d already told Mike, and knowing he was a close friend of Troy’s soothed any worries she might have about him being in the house all alone for a brief period of time.

  Besides, the kids came home within minutes of each other and so she’d only be gone a short time. By the time she got back she hoped Mighty Mouseman Mike would have a solid plan to rid the house of the little unwelcome occupants.

  She waited until the very last minute and then got up and moved to the base of the stairs. “Mike, I’m leaving now,” she called up.

  He appeared at the top of the landing. “And I’m just about to make my way to your basement.”

  “I’ll be right back,” she said, and then headed for the front door.

  It was as hot today as it had been all week. Summer in Kansas City could be quite unpleasant in August with high temperatures and humidity. She was definitely looking forward to fall, which was her favorite season and was usually glorious.

  She couldn’t help but think of Troy once again as she passed his house. It had to be tough to work outside on days like this, but she supposed he was used to the Midwestern weather.

  When she reached the bus stop her heart lifted as it always did when she anticipated seeing her children after a day at school. Each afternoon they bubbled with excitement as they shared their tales of what had happened and what they had learned that day.

  Today was no different. They chattered all the way back to the house. “There’s a man here looking for mice,” she said as they entered the front door. “His name is Mike, the Mighty Mouseman.”

  Apparently Mike was still in the basement. She and the kids headed to the kitchen for the usual after-school snack. Some days it was carrots and celery sticks, or apple slices and cheese.
Today was the traditional cookies and milk.

  The two had just settled in at the table with their treats before them when Mike appeared in the doorway. “Well, what have we here?” He smiled at the children. “Looks like a couple of cute little mice to me.”

  “We’re not mice, we’re kids,” Katie said with a giggle. “Would you like a cookie, Mr. Mouse?” she asked with a sweet smile.

  “Oh, no thank you, honey. I’m trying to watch my girlish figure.” He laughed and patted the generous paunch around his middle.

  “But you aren’t a girl,” Katie replied.

  “Oh, it’s just a saying,” he replied.

  “Like saying we look like cute mice is just a saying,” Katie replied.

  “Let’s go into the living room and you can tell me what you’ve found,” Eliza said, cutting off any further conversation between Mike and the kids. If Katie got stirred up she’d talk him into next week.

  She led him into the living room where her sofa and end tables looked pitifully lost in the large space. The room begged for big overstuffed sofas and love seats, for wing-backed chairs and ornate mirrors and other accents.

  And that wasn’t all that the old house needed. Floors needed to be refinished and walls painted. The kitchen could use an updating, and dozens of other things needed some tender loving care. She’d managed to get the kids’ rooms painted right after moving in, but the rest would have to be done a little at a time. Right now she was focused on mice.

  “So, how bad is it?” she asked worriedly.

  “It’s not. In fact, I couldn’t find any evidence that you have mice. There were no food trails, no droppings...nothing.”

  She stared at him for a long moment in surprise. “I thought for sure you were going to tell me we were being overrun by mice or some other kind of critters. Then what are all the noises we hear at night?”

  “Troy told me you only moved into this house about a month ago. Is it possible you just aren’t accustomed to the belches and groans an old, big house like this might make?”