by Sara Orwig
“I just said let’s close up for the night. You didn’t answer, and I couldn’t imagine why you didn’t hear me.”
“Just didn’t. I'll pull the shades.”
In minutes they were seated in the living room. Jake had switched off the air conditioner in the front, leaving the one on in the kitchen for a time because the air was muggy and hot. They moved later to the kitchen to talk, and then back to the living room. Finally Rebecca told him good-night, and when he reached for her, she stepped back.
“Jake, you have to give me time. I have to be able to think, and I can’t when you kiss me.”
“That should tell you something.”
She ran her fingers across her brow. “You're rushing me and trying to change my life completely.”
“I hope so,” he said quietly, and she saw the determination and desire in his eyes. “You've changed my life, honey,” he said, in a tender tone of voice that almost made her walk right into his arms.
“Oh, Jake, I just have to think about it.”
“You know what you feel.”
“And you know exactly, too, because you can see it in my eyes and feel my heartbeat. You know I can’t resist you.”
“You're resisting right now, Rebecca. Just keep thinking about it,” he said, knowing she wasn’t one to toss aside her convictions lightly.
“You're willing to become a father? Just like that?”
“Just like that,” he said in a husky voice that made her insides flutter. And she could see what he felt, the blaze of desire in his eyes, the reaction of his body to nothing more than what they were doing right now.
“I'll think about us,” she said, knowing she would for the rest of the night.
He reached for her. “Just one kiss. Just a good-night kiss.”
“Oh, Jake,” she said, knowing he was going to barrel right ahead and do what he damned well pleased.
“Come here, honey,” he whispered, and wrapped his arms around her, and she yielded for another ten minutes before she pushed against him.
She stepped back and hurried to her room, putting space between them before she turned at her open door. “That was a lot more than one good-night kiss, Jake! You're going to do everything you can to get your way.”
“Not quite everything,“ he drawled, and she felt as if he had reached out to stroke his hands over her body again with his sexy tone and insinuation.
“Night,” she said, and entered her room and closed the door and wondered if she would get one moment’s sleep during the night.
“Night, honey,” Jake said softly as the door closed. He ached to take her to bed and love her and hold her in his arms all night, but he knew he had to do what she wanted. She was determined enough to stick by a decision once she’d firmly made it. And that was the bad side to falling in love with her, he reminded himself. He wasn’t going to give up without the fight of his life.
Switching off the last lamp, he walked to the window to gaze outside. Nothing but heat lightning. No rain. Jake sat down, placing the pistol on his lap, listening to the house creak occasionally and thinking about Rebecca stretched out in bed only a short distance away.
The next morning he was pouring a cup of coffee and talking on the phone to Zach when he heard a noise in the hall and turned around. Dressed in a blue T-shirt and cutoffs, she appeared in the doorway, and his pulse jumped.
“Gotta go. Thanks, Zach. Rebecca will call in a little while to talk to the girls.”
Jake replaced the receiver and set down the cup, looking into her wide blue eyes as he went across the kitchen to her. “Morning, love,” he said, taking her in his arms and kissing her soundly.
His body responded the moment he pressed her against him, and he wanted to pick her up and carry her back to the bedroom, but Rebecca pushed against his chest after a few moments and looked up at him.
Jake felt like groaning, because he could see the worry in her eyes.
“I told you last night,” she said, in a breathless voice that made him feel better, “I have to be able to think.”
“Think away, sweetie. Just a little kiss now and then to remind you.”
She gave him an exasperated look, and he turned around. “Breakfast awaits. I'll put on your usual toast.”
“You don’t need to wait on me,” she said, her tone was lighter. He brushed his hand across her nape and touched her ear.
“I'm doing what I want to do,” he said.
“I'm well aware of that, Jake.”
She moved around the kitchen, and in minutes she was poring over her To Do list and then making calls to her customers while Jake fought the urge to continually touch her.
He glanced over her shoulder between calls and saw the list of names of customers. All around the names were doodling and scratches. His pulse quickened, because his name was written over and over. And he spotted something scratched out and leaned closer to study it.
“What are you doing?” she asked, twisting around to look at him.
“Trying to decide whether I dare kiss that tempting spot on your neck or not, and I'll have to admit, I'm giving in to temptation.” He bent and brushed a kiss across her nape and looked again at the tablet, turning it so that he could read it.
She tried to take it from his hand, but he held on. “Does that say Mrs. Jake Delancy?”
“It doesn’t mean anything!” she snapped, yanking the tablet from him and looking at him with sparks in her blue eyes and pink in her cheeks.
He leaned down, catching her chin and holding her. “I hope to hell it means a lot. You must be thinking about something.” He leaned down quickly as she opened her mouth to protest. He kissed her, and in seconds she was on his lap and he had his hands beneath her T-shirt.
“Jake—”
“I know. Let you think,” he said. “And how’s the thinking going?”
“It goes one way until something happens to remind me of your work, and then it goes the other way.” She stood and tucked her shirt into her cutoffs again. “Jake, can you ask for a desk job?”
He studied her and knew he’d better wait a few seconds before answering. “Rebecca, there’s a lot of things I've changed my mind about since I met you, but that isn’t one of them.”
She inhaled as if he had hurt her, and turned away abruptly, and he wondered if he was going to lose after all.
Rebecca kept busy all day, while Jake constantly paced the house. It was cool and comfortable and he had no qualms about running the air-conditioning during the daylight hours.
She wondered if she would ever get out of debt. She would have a huge electrical bill. The barn was burned. Her business was closed temporarily. She ran her hand across her forehead and heard Jake whistling in the front room and suddenly everything else barely mattered. It was Jake and the golden promises he held out to her that were important, yet his offer was all tied up in risk.
All day long Jake had continually stolen kisses, teased, flirted, touched her, and she knew her resistance was crumbling, yet it was for the wrong reasons. Once this was over, she would be able to think clearly and make a rational decision. But it hadn’t done much good to tell him that repeatedly.
Jake had someone deliver hamburgers, and they had dinner at sundown. She talked several times a day with the girls and finally made one last call at bedtime.
When she replaced the phone, Jake was seated at the kitchen table. He wore a white T-shirt and jeans and had an iced tea in his hand and his feet propped on a chair. He had switched off the air conditioner in the kitchen and turned on the one in the front room for a while to try to cool it down.
“The girls are having a wonderful time. Not a word about coming home.”
“The charming Delancys, I believe you said.”
She smiled and wrinkled her nose at him as she sat down facing him.
Jake raked his fingers through his hair. “The humidity must be high tonight.” The floor creaked above him, and he looked up, knowing that the house continually made nois
es as it settled.
Rebecca heard it, too, and she looked worried, and he wondered what was going through her mind. She had grown increasingly quiet. Did she miss the girls? Or was she thinking about his declaration of love?
He heard the rumble of thunder in the distance and got up, moving across the room. “Mind if I switch off the lights?”
She smiled at him. “That’s the first time you've asked. And no, I don’t,” she said, and Jake flipped the switch. He raised a shade and watched as lightning flashed in the distance.
“More heat lightning. McCauley said it isn’t supposed to rain,” he said, dropping the shade into place and switching on the lights again, wondering about Meskell and where he was.
* * *
A mile away, Lenny Meskell moved through the brush and mesquite and halted. He was becoming adept at creeping around in the dark, now that he had tried it for several nights. And he had spotted the stakeout. He suspected there were other stakeouts, probably across the road, but all he cared about was one. It was to the north of the house—the best place, anyway. The way he had planned to go in the first place.
He took another step and was still. Something rustled nearby and he frowned, drawing his breath, yet telling himself it could only be a rodent.
It was the cop yards ahead he’d better worry about, not wild creatures. Meskell took another step. He was hot in the black clothing, but it would hide him. He heard a distant rumble of thunder and wanted to swear. He wanted a clear night. He had mailed money to a friend in Laredo, and a car with good plates would be waiting. He’d make the change of cars there. Now all he needed was to kill the cop and take the woman and life would be good again.
He moved forward and paused, easing his foot down carefully. The trick to getting through the woods in the dark was to not think about what was out there.
Lenny moved slowly, easing through the trees, taking out the binoculars. Finally he spotted the stakeout. He crept forward until only yards ahead, at the edge of the trees, he could see a cop dressed in black, seated on a camp stool.
Clutching a rock in his fist, Meskell moved closer, taking his time. When he got within yards, he pulled out his pistol, turning it to hold it as a club.
He eased forward. The guy had been watching for several nights now, and his attention was focused on the house. Meskell crept up behind him and tossed the rock. It arced and fell, rolling across the open ground, which had only a few small mesquite.
The cop leaned forward and then stood, and when he turned around, Lenny was already behind him, swinging the gun, bringing the butt down across the man’s skull with a dull thump.
The cop fell and Lenny yanked out a roll of duct tape, working swiftly. Taking the cop’s pistol, he straightened. He looked at the house, and his pulse leaped, because he could see the lighted kitchen windows. He prayed it was the cop. Might be too early, though. He wanted a good start tonight, before the next shift for the stakeout came.
Meskell calculated how to cross the open space, knowing how he would get into the house if he made it that far without being noticed. He dropped to his hands and knees and began to crawl forward, eagerness filling him.
* * *
Jake stood at the kitchen window, staring into the night.
Silence stretched between them while he studied the road and watched a car drive past, only the beam of the headlights showing, and then the red of the taillights.
Rebecca sat at the kitchen table. She rubbed her bare feet over a rung of the chair absentmindedly. It was quiet, and again, Rebecca tried to imagine how it would be when Jake had gone.
She shivered, wondering again if she ought to do what Jake suggested and stop looking at the past, stop worrying about the future. Lightning flashed, and she saw the bulk of his shoulders in a dark silhouette against the night sky.
She felt alone and uncertain for the first time. The house was too quiet without the girls, every creak making her uneasy. Jake would be gone, and she suspected he would persist in trying to win her over for a while and then vanish out of her life. The thought of life without him hurt, and she wondered if she was making a huge mistake. A board creaked overhead.
Disturbed, feeling a need to be near Jake, to feel his solid strength and vital energy, she crossed the room to stand beside him.
Jake looked down, surprised to see Rebecca, suddenly curious why she was close to him. She had kept him at a distance all evening.
Dropping the window shade back into place, he set down his tea and turned around, sliding his arms around her waist.
The moment Jake touched her, Rebecca felt swamped with need for him. She moaned, turning into his arms, clinging to him tightly while she turned her face up for his kiss.
His heart thudded as Jake leaned down to kiss her. He wasn’t going to ask questions, but joy spilled through him. He tightened his arm around her, winding his fingers in her hair, sliding his hand over her as if she had come back to him after weeks of separation.
Her tongue played against his, and her hips thrust against him with an urgency that matched his own. He bent over her, molding her soft body to his, sliding his hand over her derriere and pulling her up against him.
Rebecca clung to him, still uncertain about what she should do, because whatever decision she made, it would affect the girls. She twisted her head to look up at him. “Jake, I just don’t know anymore. If I can’t cope with your life-style, we'll all be miserable. I've been sitting here in the dark and quiet and thinking how empty it will be when you're gone. Whatever I do, I'm not just doing it for me—it'll change the girls' lives. If I tell you to leave, they'll lose someone wonderful. If I let go and love you, they could get hurt so badly all over again. It isn’t just me.”
“I know it isn’t, Rebecca,” he said gently. “I want to marry you, and I want the girls.”
“Oh, Jake! I just have to think about it, and these aren’t the best circumstances for making a lifetime decision.”
“You'll see, honey. It’s hard to let go of the past, but once you do, you won’t regret it,” Jake whispered, kissing her throat, wanting her, and feeling jubilant because she was considering the possibility of marrying him.
His cellular phone was a jarring note, and Jake wanted to swear at the interruption. He kept his arm tightly around her waist while he reached out and picked up the phone. “Jake.”
“This is Werner. The snitch said this is the night.”
Chapter 14
“He'll make the hit and then head south.”
“We'll be waiting,” Jake said, feeling a rush of eagerness. Tonight and it would be over, and they would have Meskell.
“The SWAT team is moving out now, the chopper is waiting. Just hole up until the troops arrive, and we ought to get him...except...”
Jake groaned. “What’s gone wrong?”
“Nothing yet, but the snitch is dead drunk. We don’t know how long ago our man headed your way.”
“Everything is quiet here,” Jake said, suddenly feeling his skin prickle, knowing the quiet could be deceptive.
“No more details other than that,” Jay added.
“That’s good enough,” Jake said, and heard the click as Werner broke the connection. He lowered the phone to the table and saw Rebecca watching him and wondered if this would destroy the tiny bit of progress he had made with her. Every time danger loomed, she pulled up the walls.
“What is it?” she asked, and he suspected she had already guessed.
“The police have an informant. He said Meskell is coming here tonight.”
She inhaled deeply and gripped his hand. “When?”
“We don’t know specifically,” he answered, thinking how nice that would have been. And also how nice it would be to know how Meskell planned to get to her, and which direction he would take to get to the house.
“I'll never sleep now.”
Jake could think of a way to put her to sleep, but he needed to give all his attention to guarding her, not seducing her. He turn
ed to her, running his hands over her arms. “Don’t worry. They'll have an army out here in minutes. And before they arrive, we've got a lot of men watching for him. We'll get him. Just stay close.”
She turned away, and he wondered if her barriers were up again. But regardless, he knew she had had some kind of change of heart tonight—even if only a fleeting one.
“Should you look around the house?”
“We’d hear him if he tried to get in. I checked all the windows and doors tonight.”
“I can’t relax now.”
“You will in a few minutes, when the novelty of the idea wears thin.”
She frowned, and he suspected he had said the wrong thing in reminding her how accustomed he was to this. She moved away from him and went to the window, and he went to stand behind her, his hands on her shoulders while he nuzzled her neck.
“Stop worrying.”
“He’s out there somewhere, Jake. And he wants me.”
“It'll be over soon, honey. I want to turn off the air in front. Let’s move in there.”
They went down the hall, and he glanced in the bathroom. He would have preferred that the night-light not be on in the bathroom, but it was her usual routine and he knew it made her feel better, so he hadn’t said anything about it when she switched it on.
“You sleep in here tonight, where I can be with you,” he said.
“All right,” she answered, and he guessed she had intended to stay right there anyway.
Rebecca’s nerves were stretched thin. Her hands were cold and clammy, and Jake’s continual looking out the window didn’t assuage her fears. The night seemed long, and she wondered what would happen if daylight came and Meskell hadn’t been spotted.
She leaned back against the sofa. “Jake, I'm going to get my shoes,” she said, suddenly feeling vulnerable, worrying if she might have to run like they did the day of the bomb. “I'll be right back.” She left the room and went to the darkened bedroom, moving across the room to the closet to slip on her sneakers.
She turned to go back to the front room, hurrying toward the door that was slightly ajar. A shadow separated from the darkness, and Rebecca gasped.
