“My favorites!” Emma said as she opened the cartons he’d brought. “Moo shu and lo mein and dumplings. How did you know?”
“Instinct. My favorites, too.”
Her cell phone rang as she was getting out plates and chopsticks. “Drat!” she said. “It’s my father. I have to take it. I’ll be quick. You mind pouring the wine?”
She walked into the bedroom and shut the door. What was she saying to her father that she didn’t want him to hear? Was the man arranging job interviews for her? Telling her how much Trip was suffering without her? Nothing good. He’d never met Mr. French, but he considered him a threat, seducing her back to his world and away from Seth’s.
“Looks wonderful,” Emma said as she slid into her chair a few minutes later. No mention of her conversation.
“How’s your family?”
She ate a crab puff and drank some of the white wine Seth had found in her refrigerator. “They’re fine. Daddy wants me to come for the weekend. He says someone wants to rent my town house. It’s only for six months… Actually, my former fiancé, Trip, wants to rent it for his new girlfriend.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“I said not just no, but hell no. She’s some fancy new weather girl at one of the TV stations. I guess she wants to be certain the station plans to keep her before she buys a house, but I don’t want her using my stuff while she’s having a hot-and-heavy fling with my ex-fiancé.” She put down her chopsticks and broke into laughter. When she finally calmed down, she said, “Now that’s just creepy.”
Not five minutes later, Seth’s cell phone rang. He let it ring until Emma asked, “You going to answer that?”
He closed his eyes and sighed. “I’d really rather not.” But he had to. They both knew it. “Excuse me,” he said, then did what Emma had done and walked into the bedroom. The ID said the call was from the civilian night-duty clerk at the office. “Hello, Patsy, what’s up?” Nothing good. Not at this hour.
“Just got a call from one of the cottages on the lake. There’s somebody driving an ATV all over their property shooting off a shotgun.”
Seth bet he knew exactly who that was. Good ol’ Tyrell. So his wife hadn’t managed to shut him down. This time he’d definitely be taken into custody if they could catch him. Patsy said she’d send the relevant info to his cell phone the minute she hung up. He waited until he had the address, then he dialed Earl and explained the situation.
“I’m helping Earl Jr. with his math homework.”
“Okay, I’ll handle it by myself.”
“No, you won’t. Drunks, ATVs and shotguns do not mix. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes. Hey, at least it gets me out of trying to help Earl. I don’t remember any of that stuff.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
TONIGHT, RIDING ON a high of lo mein and dumplings, Seth had hoped he could finally get some uninterrupted time with Emma. As usual, that wasn’t going to happen. He explained to her only that there was a problem he and Earl had to handle. Might take a while. She walked him to the door.
“Thank you for dinner,” she said.
He pulled her into his arms. She moved closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. He was hard as a rock and knew she could feel him against her. At the rate they were going, that was as close to sealing the deal as they were likely to get.
He hoped Mr. ATV came along peacefully. If the man resisted arrest, he might find himself with a black eye. Seth was not in the mood to forgive.
* * *
ALONE AGAIN, EMMA turned on her computer and started surfing the career opportunity websites, but the only jobs that sounded interesting were in places like Tulsa.
The problem was that she liked her previous job. But she also liked being here in her little house. If Seth were with her, it would be well-nigh perfect, small and decrepit as it was.
So much of her time in Memphis was spent on the professional part of her life. How many friends did she actually have who weren’t part of that world? Most of the people she’d gone to school with were married with children. Right now Emma didn’t fit in with them.
She and her friends at work talked almost exclusively about work, rather than their personal lives. They might go out for a drink occasionally, but not that often. And these days, maybe because they didn’t want to be associated with someone who’d gotten fired, they certainly hadn’t been heating up her internet with updates and gossip and asking how she was.
Still, she couldn’t stay here, much as she might—in certain ways—want to. For one thing, she couldn’t afford it.
She didn’t want to walk away from Seth. Not that she saw him all that often. Every time they settled down, one or the other of them had to leave.
She finished cleaning up the kitchen, checked on the babies and gave them some grapes, then went to bed. Alone again.
* * *
SETH WAS NO happier than Emma. When he climbed into the cruiser with Earl, he said, “I could learn to hate this guy.”
“Hot date with Emma, huh?”
“Might have gotten hot. Didn’t get a chance to find out.”
Earl snickered. “You’re crazy about her, aren’t you?”
“Crazy is the word for it. Why couldn’t I fall for some farmer’s daughter who knows how to drive a combine and milk a Jersey cow?”
“She’d have bored you spitless. Now, Emma is something else, even if she does wind up in the azaleas.”
“When she’s playing with the skunks, she’s not just beautiful, she’s luminous. I wish she’d look at me the same way. My rivals are skunks?” He ran his hand down his face. “She’s intimated that she needs a job soon. From what I saw at lunch, that Nathan guy would take her back if she wanted him to. Then there’s her dear old daddy. Knows everybody who counts and wants her back in Memphis. I don’t imagine he’d see me as son-in-law material.”
Earl turned away from watching the road to gape at Seth. “We’ve gone from wanting to get Emma into bed to marriage in one easy step? Hell, no, he doesn’t see you as a possible son-in-law. I don’t either. You know you’re in line for a big promotion, but that would mean more time riding a desk. You’d hate it.”
“Yeah, I would. I love the woods and the lakes and the animals. But if I took the promotion and a desk job, I could work in Memphis. That would solve one of my problems.”
“I can just see you duded up in a tux at some fancy party.”
“Hey, I’d look good in a tux. If I can rent one big enough.”
“That Trip guy would eat you up and spit you out.” Earl slowed down and cut his lights. “I think I hear our friendly neighborhood ATV.”
Two krumps came from the woods to their right.
“Yep. That’s a shotgun. Think he’s shooting at us?” Earl asked.
“Put your vest on,” Seth said.
“Aw, Seth…”
“I’ve already got mine on. Do it, Earl. Janeen would kill me if I got you killed.”
“And Emma would kill me if I got you shot. Okay, let’s see if Tyrell will come in peaceably. I’m gonna tell him that’s what his wife wants. I’d stop what I was doing if she told me to. Hand me the loud-hailer.”
In the end, their old friend Tyrell drove his ATV up to them. He had slung his shotgun down his back and seemed to be in high spirits. And very drunk.
“Hey, y’all,” he said cheerfully. “I ain’t doin’ one thing wrong. No, siree. I got my legal deer in the freezer. Just blowin’ off a little steam. I done paid my fines. Got me a new registration and all. Y’all want a drink?”
“Blowin’ off a little shotgun is more like it,” Earl said. “Folks do not like to have you digging ruts in their yards and shooting off guns in the middle of the night…”
“Aw, it ain’t no middle of the night and I’m shootin’ up in the air. But, hey, I’ll quit. Don’t want to upset folks.�
�� He nodded cheerfully and started to climb back onto his vehicle.
Seth stopped him. “Tyrell, how about you borrow my phone and call your wife. Tell her where you’ve parked this thing and then you’ll take a ride into town with us. Tell her she can come get it and you tomorrow morning.”
“I’m kinda tired. I’ll just go on home and get me some sleep.”
Earl raised his eyebrows. “I believe you’d better come with us, Tyrell. You can sleep in the car driving into town. Here, call your wife.”
When his call was finished, Tyrell had sobered up considerably. He rolled his ATV onto the grass verge and climbed into the backseat of Earl’s cruiser. Before the two men had taken their places in the front, Tyrell could be heard snoring softly.
By the time the paperwork was completed at the Williamston jail and Earl dropped Seth back at his house, there were no lights at Emma’s.
His final thought before he dropped off to sleep was that the only way he’d ever get some alone time with her was if he kidnapped her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
THE STORM THAT had been predicted hit as he ate his breakfast. No tornadoes forecast, but six inches of rain and some strong wind with a warm woman. He had the perfect candidate, but her car was already gone from her driveway. The rain and wind were projected to continue all day and into the night. At least the poachers would be home. Nobody would enjoy hunting in this. Even the animals hunkered down.
His mother called on his cell to remind him to check on her cabin by the lake. “It shouldn’t flood, high up as it sits,” she said. “But I’d appreciate if you’d make sure nothing’s leaking and there aren’t any trees down.”
“Not supposed to be that much wind,” he said. “I’ll check and let you know.” He pulled on his rain gear on his way out the door. As he climbed into his SUV, he took a hard look at the kennel. The skunks should be safe, if miserable.
But six inches of rain was a lot of rain. He walked across the street, found the playpen on Emma’s back porch, opened it, then set up food and water inside. He made three trips to carry the skunks under the porch roof and out of the rain. Bedraggled as they were, they seemed grateful. He zipped up the top of the playpen so they couldn’t climb out and, satisfied that they’d be safe, left for his mother’s cabin.
He drove past Barbara’s clinic on his way to the lake. This must be one of Emma’s days. Her car sat at the side of the lot to give the clients as much room as possible. Rain or no rain, the lot was already half-filled. He should call to tell her he’d moved the skunks, but he had plenty of time to do that before she got home.
The cabin was several miles past the clinic off the same road. At several points along the road, he could peer through the woods to glimpse the little lake the cabin sat beside. It didn’t look happy either.
Sarah drowned in another small lake only a bit larger than this one.
Because it was small and shallow, it could kick up whitecaps fast. He turned his head so that he wasn’t continually aware of it. Too many memories. He hadn’t set foot in a swimming pool again until he’d been forced to swim laps in college as part of his athletic classes.
He found the cabin clean and dry. Lights worked, refrigerator was stocked with beer, wine and soft drinks. No mildew smell even in the bedroom. The sheets smelled fresh. He locked up, estimated that the waves were lapping well below the little bluff the cabin sat on and drove away.
That was what he and Emma needed. A private place where no one could find them. Now he just had to figure out how to manage it.
At noon he pulled up in front of the clinic. As he started to climb out of the SUV, the front door opened. Barbara and Emma walked out together. They must be driving into town for lunch.
He leaned across, opened the driver’s side door and called out, “Barbara, you mind if I borrow Emma for a while?”
“Not at all.”
“Now wait a minute,” Emma said. “Barbara and I are going to lunch. Then we’re shutting down the clinic for the rest of the day until the storm blows over.”
“I’d rather stay here, open a can of soup and do paperwork. Go on. Enjoy,” Barbara said.
“But…”
“Emma, please get in.” He leaned across from the driver’s side and shoved the passenger door wide. Emma braced herself against the door as the wind threatened to slam it.
“If we’re going to lunch, why can’t Barbara come?”
“Emma, for once in your life, would you please do as I ask?”
* * *
HE WAS STARING out the windshield, not even looking at her. Something bad had happened. Had to be. She slipped into the passenger seat, shut the door and fastened her seat belt. Outside, the first blast of rain hit the SUV so hard it rocked.
He turned right out of the parking lot—away from home, away from Williamston.
“Is somebody hurt? Your mother? Your father? Oh, Seth…” If not his family, then hers. She closed her eyes against whatever disaster was to come.
“Nobody’s hurt.”
“Thank God. Wait—my babies. I have to go take care of them! They could drown outside in all this rain.”
“They’re fine. I brought them up on the back porch out of the rain and put them back in the playpen with plenty of food and water.”
“They’ll climb out the top.”
“No, they won’t. I zipped it up. Emma, I promise you, they’ll be dry and happy.”
“Thank you for looking after them. But something’s wrong. Why are you upset?”
He slowed down long enough to glance over at her. “I’m not upset at you. I’m mad at me, and it’s about time I did something about it. Walking in on your lunch with that Nathan showed me that.”
“You don’t have to kidnap me. All you have to do is ask me to go with you.”
“It was either kidnap you or go crazy. I’m crazy enough already.”
“What is all this about? Talk to me.”
He slowed down again. The steady whack of the windshield wipers on their highest setting wasn’t as fast as her heartbeat. Even when she’d almost blown up the oak tree, he hadn’t been angry. He hadn’t laughed either. He accepted her fears and simply stepped in to help. He took her seriously, so this was serious. That was one of the things she loved about him.
Where did that come from? Neither one of them had ever mentioned love. Nobody fell in love in a week. And at this rate they weren’t likely to. Suddenly, he wasn’t the only angry one. “If there isn’t any disaster, you have no right to snap like a bear with a sore toe. You say you’re not mad at me, but I’m the only other person in this car, Seth. Talk to me, or I’ll unkidnap myself and walk home in the rain.”
“Assuming you could get out of a moving car without breaking your beautiful neck, you’d fall in a ditch and I’d have to drag you out. I promise I’ll explain, once I figure out how to do it. I hope you’ll forgive me, or at least cut me some slack in the meantime.”
He kept his eyes forward and concentrated on his driving. He was right about walking home and drowning on the way. So far they hadn’t run into any truly flooded stretches on the road, but he’d slowed down to avoid hydroplaning.
They drove for twenty more minutes in silence. She didn’t take her eyes off him, but his jaw seemed to relax the farther they drove from the clinic. Was that it? Something bad about the clinic?
Then he turned left, crossed a one-lane bridge and drove down a gravel road into a thick stand of loblolly pines. Ahead, the normally placid lake roiled with whitecaps. On a bluff a dozen feet above the lake stood an A-frame cabin all by itself among the trees that swayed, whipped in the wind and threatened to come crashing down on it.
Seth stopped the SUV but left the keys in the ignition where she could reach them if she chose.
“I knew this was a bad idea,” he said. He rested his forearms on the steering whe
el. “I don’t know where my head was. I’m sorry. I’ll take you back home right now.”
“In this storm?” Emma asked. “Just tell me where we are and why you’re doing this. Whatever it is, we’ll work it out. My father always tells me I can’t screw anything up so badly that we can’t unscrew it. We’ll unscrew it together.”
He gave a short bark of laughter. “Little does your father know. Okay, if you’re still game, come on.”
He climbed out of the SUV, ran down the flagstone path, up three steps to the front door, unlocked it and held it open for her. “Sorry,” he called, “I don’t carry an umbrella.”
“Now you tell me.” She ran after him, followed him inside and leaned back against the door after he’d closed it. “We’re wet,” she said.
“You think?” For the first time he smiled. It was tentative. He was apparently still not certain of his reception. “I’ll light the fire.”
“In May? We won’t melt if we dry off naturally. Got any towels handy?”
He disappeared through what was obviously a bedroom door and emerged with a big armload of towels. She grabbed one and went to work on her hair.
When it was semidry, she looked around, taking in her surroundings. The main area was an open room furnished with comfortably shabby furniture, the kind of furniture that had outlived its first life, but could endure sand and damp and not complain too much.
The entire back wall, the one facing the storm and the lake, was entirely made of windows. A river-stone chimney and fireplace covered most of the wall that backed up to the pinewoods. An unlit log fire was already laid.
“This is charming,” she said. “What is this place? Who does it belong to?”
“My mother. Actually, it belongs to me, too, but I never use it. She spends almost every weekend here with her friends playing bridge and swimming when the weather’s too hot to breathe in town.”
Harlequin Superromance May 2018 Box Set Page 48
