A Hero in Her Eyes

by Marie Ferrarella

  And thus would belong to no single man.

  But for an hour, a moment, she could have this, and it would suffice for the moments when there was nothing but silence and memories.

  Like a woman enflamed, Eliza met him touch for touch, gesture for gesture, embrace for embrace. As his hands and his mouth roamed her body, so did hers explore his. Until they were intimately familiar with every inch, every pleasure that there was to be given and received. Both with one another and themselves.

  Worlds opened up. Things were learned. And everything else was shut away.

  There was no awkwardness, and shyness had long since been burned away. In place of that there was ecstasy and extreme pleasure and a happiness that could only be felt, not described.

  And when he came to her, slick with sweat and pulsing with desire, she was ready for him, her hips arching from the bed, yearning to receive him. To become one with Walker in body as she had already become one with him in spirit.

  For however long it was to last, Eliza knew she had never made such a connection with anyone as she had with him.

  Walker caught her chin in his hand.

  “Look at me,” he whispered. “I don’t want to share you with your visions or anything else that’s in your head. I want you for myself, if only for this moment.”

  Her eyes held his. “You already had me,” she told him softly. “Before you ever walked in the door.”

  He didn’t believe her, but he wanted to. And for now, he told himself, wanting to was enough.

  Hands meeting hers, fingers entwining above her head, Walker lowered himself into her, the yearning quickening in his loins, demanding release. Sheathing himself, he slowly began the movement that would encompass them both. Slowly at first, then becoming faster and faster until there was no breath left within either of them.

  Until there were no words, no walls, and no reality other than the two of them and this wondrous cloud they had happened upon strictly by chance.

  And clung to by design.

  As climax came to him, he felt Eliza shiver beneath him and knew that they had reached it together.

  An incredible feeling of fulfillment came over him. Rather than give in to exhaustion, he tightened his arms around her and held her to him, comforted by the sensation of her heart beating against his.

  She gave herself up to the feeling that was around her, to the afterglow of lovemaking, to the security of having his arms around her.

  With all her heart, Eliza wished that just this once, she could freeze time. Because this was the moment that she would choose to freeze.

  This was the moment she would always remember, no matter how old she grew to be.

  Chapter 14

  “Eliza.”

  Something in his voice made her stiffen, both inside and out. Closing her eyes, she sought for strength. She had thought she’d have a little more time before his regrets would begin forming.

  But it was different for men, she knew. Once the act of lovemaking was completed, they went about the business of living, while women lingered on the memory and the feelings it invoked. For women, for her, life wasn’t conducted like a business, straightforward and moving on, it was all about love and loving.

  She’d known what she was up against before it had begun.

  Trying to tell herself she was braced, Eliza opened her eyes and turned toward him. His face was mere inches away from hers. Her pulse quickened just to look at him. “Yes?”

  Walker slowly glided the back of his hand along her arm. The softness he found whispered things to him, making him want her even though he’d felt spent only a moment ago. There was so much he wanted to say to her; the words were becoming jumbled up in his mind, on his tongue. He’d never been any good at putting his feelings into words, or even at acknowledging his feelings.

  Still, he had to try. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.”

  Damn, why couldn’t he have kept that to himself a little while longer? she wondered. It was the same thing he’d said to her when he’d first kissed her. She didn’t need his confession, not yet, not now. Delving deeper, she forced herself to sound light.

  “Don’t worry, I’m off the meter. There’s no extra charge for fraternizing.”

  He didn’t understand the flippant answer. It was so unlike her. Uncomfortable, thinking better of the verbal blunder he’d almost made, Walker began to withdraw. Keeping his feelings to himself.

  Then something stopped him.

  It was the look in her eyes. A hurt look. She was hurt, and he had no idea why. All he could do was offer her the truth, and hope that somehow it would erase what he saw.

  “But just because I didn’t mean for it to happen doesn’t mean I regret that it did. I just regret that you might think I was taking advantage of the situation.” He looked into her eyes and tried desperately to understand what she was thinking. “Of you.”

  She cupped his cheek, smiling softly. “It’s not in you to take advantage.”

  He laughed shortly. She knew nothing about him. “That’s where you’re wrong.” He thought of what someone had said of him recently. “I can be ruthless if I have to be.”

  He was talking about the man he was behind his office desk. She wasn’t. She was talking about the inner man. “It’s not in you,” she repeated softly.

  Walker looked into her eyes. Eliza made him think he was a better man than he perceived himself to be. He’d never thought of himself as evil, but he’d had to have been heartless to have allowed his wife to take all the blame for what had happened to Bonnie. So much so that she killed herself. Heartless. There was no other explanation for it.

  He shook his head, sweeping her hair back away from her face. “I think that your clairvoyance is experiencing some technical difficulties.”

  She laughed at that. It was the first time she’d associated humor with her gift, the first time she’d heard a joke that had made her smile instead of wince.

  Something warm and comfortable bloomed within her as she looked at Walker. “That only happens when I’m personally involved.”

  “Are you?” The question came of its own volition. Given a chance, he wouldn’t have asked. Not knowing created no obligations. And yet the question insisted on being asked. “Are you involved personally?”

  There was no need for introspection, no need for her to hesitate. But there was a need to protect. Both him and herself. She didn’t want Walker to think that he owed her anything for what had just happened. And because she knew that once the case was over, they would both go their separate ways, there was a need to protect her own feelings. Because they would be hurt.

  “I think I’d better leave that unanswered.”

  He had no idea whether he’d just been put in his place, or rejected. Or just left high and dry. He did know that he cared for none of the above.

  Male pride would have had him retreating, but there was something greater at stake than pride. What, he wasn’t about to try to ascertain now. He didn’t feel himself equal to it.

  But he did want her.

  “Just as well,” Walker allowed, rising up on one elbow and bringing her closer against him. “We’ve already done too much talking, anyway.” He brought his mouth down to hers.

  Whatever protest was forming on her lips melted in the face of his renewed ardor.

  As did she.

  It astounded her that within the cauldron of her exhaustion there was an untapped vein of energy that surfaced and galvanized the instant he touched his mouth to hers. Threading her fingers through his thick hair, she kissed him back with passion and forgot to think about anything else except the way she felt when he made love with her.

  The sun seemed to be painted in the sky, a stagnant red ball of fire. It was beating down mercilessly, threatening to fry everything in its path until it turned into something leathery and unrecognizable. Nothing moved save the small, navy-blue car. Years past its prime, it rattled and wheezed as, crammed with discord, it made its inharmonious way alon
g the sparsely traveled road.

  There were people in the car. Angry people. Unhappy people.

  Three people.

  A sign appeared on the right side of the road, growing larger and larger until its peeling letters were visible: Yuma 200 Mi.

  The sign continued to grow larger even after the car had passed it. It seemed to fill every inch of space until there was nothing else but the sign visible. The sign and an oppressive heat.

  And then there was a single, momentary flash of a face pressed against the rear window. The face of a sad child. Fading.

  “No!”

  Shaking, Eliza sat up, tears shimmering in eyes that were opened wide and unseeing.

  Arms came up around her, trying to hold her. She fought to shrug out of the grasp.

  He was going to keep her from getting away. She had to get away.

  Struggling, she fisted her hands and began to beat at arms that wouldn’t release her.

  “Eliza, Eliza, it’s me.” Walker’s voice came to her from leagues away. “What is it?”

  A dream, she’d had a dream.

  She tried to draw air back into her lungs, then sagged against Walker’s chest like a rag doll whose batting had been pulled out, drained beyond belief.

  Understanding none of it except that she needed to be comforted, to be held, Walker ran a gentling hand over her hair. It was damp, even though the room was cool. Murmuring soothing words, he began to slowly rock as he cradled her against him.

  “It’s okay, Eliza, it’s okay. You’re safe, here with me. You just had a bad dream, that’s all. But you’re safe now.”

  Safe. Eliza held on to his arm like a child caught in a riptide, clinging to the one branch that would keep her from going under. She forced herself to absorb the comfort, the words. To absorb the sensation of well-being that was usually so foreign to her.

  These kinds of dreams were not uncommon for her. They burst upon her brain often enough. What was uncommon was to have someone there to hold her, to make her feel safe. To ground her and remind her that for her, there were two realities, and she couldn’t allow the second to blot out the first.

  When she finally caught her breath, Eliza said, “Allen isn’t going to Reno.”

  Stunned, he stared at her. For one beat he stopped stroking her hair, and then forced himself to resume again. Her power, because that was what it was to him no matter what she chose to call it, made him uneasy. He didn’t like not understanding. It made him feel as if he had no control whatsoever in the situation.

  Walker didn’t think to question how she knew. He just took it for granted that Eliza had had a sign within her dream. That was enough for him.

  “Then where are they going?”

  She saw the sign again, its letters looming large. “Yuma.”

  “Why?”

  She raised her head and looked at him. His simple question created an answer within her that she hadn’t been aware of until this moment.

  “Because he’s from there. Because he just found out that his mother died last week. He’s going back because he’s hoping to sell her things and get some money together.”

  Again, Walker didn’t think to challenge her. It occurred to him that sometime in the past few days, he’d made a transformation. From nonbeliever to true believer, though he couldn’t have said exactly when. All he knew was that he was placing all his faith in her visions, and thinking nothing of it.

  They had to get on the road. Turning away, he slid to the edge of the bed, swinging his legs over. “How soon can you be ready to travel?”

  “Five minutes. Ten if I’m trying to be neat.”

  He turned to look at her. Eliza had let the sheet drop from around her breasts. “Don’t try.” There was no time to do anything about the thoughts that sprang up in his mind unsummoned. His mouth took hers in a quick, rough kiss, and then he released her. “I like you tousled.”

  Walker was out of bed and hurrying into his clothes in another heartbeat, as was she.

  Ten minutes later, they were on the road to Yuma, leaving behind them a bewildered clerk holding in his fist a large tip for managing to check them out so quickly.

  It was only once they were in the car and Walker was behind the wheel again that he finally put the question to her that had been bothering him since he’d been jolted awake.

  “You screamed ‘No!’ just before you woke up.”

  “Did I?” She shook her head. The memory wouldn’t come. It was like hearing about someone else. “I don’t remember doing that.”

  “You did. I was just wondering what would make you yell like that.” He was almost afraid to ask. But he had to. If there was something terrible, he had to be prepared. “What did you see?”

  “Their car getting farther and farther away.” As she talked, she realized that there had been more people in her dream. That she and Walker had been in it, tiny figures on the sidelines. “Leaving us behind. I didn’t want them to get away.”

  He looked at her before looking back on the road. “You actually saw them?”

  No, she hadn’t actually seen the couple in her dream. Instead, she had felt their presence. Would he scoff at that? She put it in as positive a reference as she could. “I saw their car. And I saw Bonnie looking out the back window. Looking at the road behind her. I think she was reaching out. I can’t be sure. That’s when I screamed. I didn’t want her to get away.”

  He was trying very hard not to get completely carried away with all this. “You didn’t happen to notice a license plate number, did you?” The fact that it would have been a license plate number that she had dreamed rather than seen didn’t seem to dampen his fervor.

  “No, but that can’t be very hard to find out.” Taking out her cell phone, she pressed the numbers to Savannah’s line at the office, hoping she’d be in this early. She was. “Savannah, this is Eliza.”

  “Eliza, hi. How do you like Reno?”

  “We’re not in Reno. We think the suspect is en route to Yuma. The suspect’s mother lived there. I want you to track down his car license for me, probably an Arizona issue, although it might be California. He lived in Bedford for a while. Wallace Allen. A-l-l-e-n.”

  “Got it. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

  “I appreciate it.” And then she thought of something. “And see if Ben or Chad know anyone who might be connected to the Yuma police department.”

  “Before or after I have my coffee?”

  Eliza laughed. “After. I want you to be able to make out the numbers.”

  They picked up breakfast at a drive-thru. After a couple of bites, Eliza found she was too excited to eat. Walker, she noticed, seemed too nervous to have what he’d ordered, so the bag remained relatively untouched on the floor of the car. Neither one of them, though, passed on the coffee.

  “Maybe we should have just ordered a gallon of coffee to go,” she quipped. When her phone rang, she nearly spilled what was left in the container. She glanced at her watch. It had taken Savannah less than half an hour to get back to her; the woman was in a class by herself.

  She answered the phone. “What did you find out?” she asked.

  “That my eyes have trouble focusing before nine in the morning. I checked California with no luck. Allen never bothered changing his license while he was here. I’ve got a driver’s license and car plates registered to a Wallace A. Allen in Yuma. Car’s a 1985 Mustang. He’s been dropped by several insurance companies. Your Mr. Allen is not the safest of drivers.”

  Eliza decided not to pass the last bit of information on to Walker. He had enough on his mind as it was. “Give me the numbers.” She jotted both sets down as Savannah recited them. “Great. Did you get a chance to talk to either Ben or Chad?”

  “Chad’s not in, but Ben thinks he might have someone for you.” Savannah proceeded to give her the complex connection. “Let me know if there’s anything else.”

  “Thanks. You’re one in a million.”

  “That’s what I kee
p telling Sam. ’Bye.”

  Eliza flipped her phone closed.

  Walker had kept quiet as long as he could. “Well? What did you find out?”

  She passed the license plate numbers to him. “Ben told Savannah he knows someone on the force who knows a detective Kane Madigan on the Bedford police department who in turn knows a detective Graham Redhawk on the Phoenix police force. He might know someone in Yuma.” It was the long way around, but at least it gave them a possible in. “We can get in contact with Redhawk, let him know what’s going on and ask for his help.”

  Had Walker not been in business, the amount of networking necessary to make a connection might have astounded him. As it was, he was grateful. Whatever it took to safely recover his daughter was fine with him.

  He realized he was no longer thinking in terms of whether he would find her, but whether he could get her back unharmed. It was a good feeling.

  “The police force sounds like one great big fraternal club,” he said.

  She thought of Chad and Ben, and of several other police officers she knew personally. “I guess we can be grateful for that. According to what Ben knows, Detective Redhawk has a personal thing about anyone who’d kidnapped children. Ben already set the wheels in motion and called him. He assured Savannah that Redhawk will be more than happy to cooperate and do anything we need. On the record and off.”

  “Sounds like a good man to have in our corner.” The reality of the situation suddenly rose up to grip him by the throat. For a single moment, Walker found himself almost unable to believe it. He glanced at Eliza. “Is it really going to happen? After all this time, am I really going to finally hold my daughter again?”

  The emotion she heard in his voice brought tears to her eyes. The dreams, the nightmares, being isolated—it was all worth it to be able to help bring about this kind of a miracle.

  “I gave you my word, didn’t I?”

  “Yes, you did.” Reaching over, he squeezed her hand. “But you’re not God.”

  She smiled at that, remembering the way her great-aunt used to refer to her ability as a God-given gift. “No, I’m not. Just consider me His helper.”