by Gina Wilkins
“You have a lot of friends in this town, Emily. A lot of people who know just how special you are. The others—well, they simply don’t matter,” he said firmly.
She didn’t know if he was referring to Sam Jennings and April Penny, or if he’d heard other slurs, but she appreciated his words. “Thank you. I try not to let the gossip bother me as much as it did Savannah, but sometimes it’s hard to ignore. Especially when they talk about Lucas. Whatever you’ve heard, Wade, my brother didn’t kill anyone. I will never believe otherwise.”
“I would never judge a man’s guilt without solid evidence,” he assured her. “Or listen to gossip.”
“Good for you. As you pointed out, the ones who say the nasty things about my family and me don’t really matter.”
“So why are you letting them run you out of town?”
The blunt question startled her into sitting upright. She made a hasty grab for the sheet to cover her bare breasts as she stared down at Wade, who still rested rumpled and relaxed against her pillows. “No one is running me out of town, Wade. I’m leaving by my own choice.”
“Yeah, sure.”
Stung by his obvious skepticism, she persisted. “I am. I need to know that I can make it on my own.”
“I have no doubt of that. But I still think there’s a very real possibility that you’re acting on an impulse you’ll regret. You aren’t a footloose adventurer, Emily McBride, no matter how much you fantasize about being one. You’ll probably enjoy your travels for a short while, but then you’re going to think of home. And you’re going to miss it.”
She frowned. “Oh, you’re psychic, are you?”
“No. Just a pretty fair judge of character. Comes with the job.”
“Well, you’re wrong this time. You’re assuming that I was always happy in this house, Wade. I wasn’t. My father and I weren’t close. My mother hated this place so badly she left it—and me—behind. My brother couldn’t wait to shake the dust of Honoria off his heels. What is there to hold me here now?”
“Your family. Your friends. Your memories, both good and bad, because they have made you who you are. And—I would like to think—me.”
She bit her lip.
Wade studied her expression, then laughed with little humor. “Or maybe not.”
“But, Wade, you and I aren’t...we’re only...”
“As of tonight, we’re lovers. And that isn’t something I take lightly these days...not since I became a father and had to start acting like an adult.”
She twisted the sheet more tightly in her fingers, not knowing quite what to say. Had Wade really begun to think of a lasting relationship, even knowing that she didn’t intend to stay? Had he really been so confident that he could change her mind?
And, if she really was so certain that leaving was the right thing to do, why was she so afraid that he might succeed?
Wade shoved a hand through his hair, and sat up. “Sometimes I’ve got really lousy timing,” he muttered. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought this up now. But I wanted you to know that tonight meant something to me, Emily. It wasn’t just sex. And it wasn’t casual. It was a hell of a lot more.”
He caught the back of her neck with one hand and pulled her toward him for a quick, firm kiss. “I’m going to leave before I risk shoving the other foot into my mouth. But think about what I said, okay?”
She nodded, knowing she would have no choice but to ponder his words...and to wonder exactly how seriously he’d meant them.
Wade didn’t linger after that. He dressed quickly, saying little more. Wrapping herself in a thick robe, Emily saw him to the door, where he paused only long enough to kiss her senseless again. And then he left her alone in the house that would soon be his.
She found herself suddenly wondering if it was too late to change her plans, even if she wanted to.
11
THOUGH HER BOSS and her aunt and uncle tried to talk her into taking the remainder of the week off, Emily went back to work Wednesday morning, still bruised and a bit sore, but desperately needing a distraction from her thoughts.
Her co-workers immediately surrounded her when she walked into the bank.
“Emily, are you all right?”
“Oh, Emily, we’re so glad you’re okay!”
“Are you sure you should be here today? Shouldn’t you be resting?”
“Is there anything we can do for you?”
Again, she was struck by the novelty of having people offer to do favors for her. It was quite a turnaround for a compulsive pleaser to have people trying to please her for a change...and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. While it was nice, it also made her a bit uncomfortable. She simply wasn’t accustomed to it.
It seemed that every customer that came into the bank that morning wanted to talk to her. To express sympathy. To ask questions. To subtly probe for information about her relationship with the chief of police.
By midafternoon, Emily had begun to wonder wearily if she should have stayed at home, after all.
She was crossing the bank lobby, having just delivered some paperwork to the account research department, when she suddenly heard a child’s voice call her name. “Miss Emily! Miss Emily!”
She turned just in time to catch Clay as he launched himself at her.
Bending slightly to return the boy’s hug, Emily noted that Wade was close on his son’s heels. He gave her a rather sheepish smile over Clay’s head. “I just picked him up from school. He wanted to see you,” he explained.
“Is your head okay, Miss Emily?” Clay asked worriedly, studying the still vivid bruise on her forehead.
“Yes, I’m fine, sweetie,” she assured him. Her smile felt a bit strained because she was so intensely aware of the attention they were receiving from her co-workers and the few customers in the bank.
“I was worried about you,” Clay said. “My friends at school said bad guys knocked you out and took your stuff. But don’t worry. My daddy’s going to catch them and put them in jail.”
“Yes, I know he will, if he can.” Emily straightened to glance at Wade, hoping her expression wasn’t as revealing to the curious onlookers as she feared. “Hello, Wade.”
“How are you?” he asked, searching her face.
Reading many layers into the simple question, she tried to answer all of them with a firm, “I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”
Clay tugged at the hem of the navy blazer she wore. “Miss Emily?”
“Yes, Clay?”
“My daddy said you can help me get my own bank account. I brought money. Twenty whole dollars,” he added with a hint of awe. “My aunt sent it to me and I want to put it in the bank and save it for something big.”
“Twenty whole dollars?” Emily acted suitably impressed. “Goodness, that’s a lot of money. And, yes, I can certainly help you open your own account. Come with me.”
Feeling as if she were running a gauntlet of approving smiles, Emily took Clay’s hand and led him to her desk, with Wade following closely behind them.
This, she thought, was no way to convince the townspeople that there was nothing serious going on between her and the Davenport males.
WADE AND CLAY hadn’t been out of the bank for five minutes before Emily’s co-workers pounced on her.
“What a sweet little boy. And he’s so obviously crazy about you.”
“The chief is definitely interested, Emily. We saw the way he was looking at you.”
“You’re so good with that little boy, Emily. You’d be such a wonderful mother to him.”
“That Wade Davenport’s no fool,” one of the older workers declared with a look of satisfaction. “He probably took one look at you and saw what a good wife and mother you would be.”
Emily knew they weren’t deliberately trying to be insulting. She was sure they considered their personal remarks to be complimentary, rather than intrusive. Maybe they even thought they were being encouraging, giving her support at a time when she needed it. After
all, folks around here were accustomed to speaking their minds, making their neighbors’ business their own, giving advice whether it was asked for or not. It was the way Honoria had functioned for decades, and a few more circumspect newcomers hadn’t made any great headway in changing things, particularly among the older citizens.
They probably would have been surprised to learn that everything they said only frightened her more. It had worried her enough that Wade might be considering a permanent relationship based simply on attraction. But to think that part of his interest in her could be based on her qualifications as a stepmother for his son gave her an all-new basis for concern.
Her main reason behind selling her house and leaving Honoria had been that she’d grown tired of taking care of other people. She needed to be responsible for no one except herself for a while. She’d thought of having a family someday—she loved children. But she’d decided that she wanted to take time to tend to her own needs before she committed herself to a lifetime of tending to others.
Though her own parents had hardly served as examples, Emily had never doubted that when she had children of her own, she would dedicate herself to them fully. She’d watched her aunts and uncle with their children, had studied other happy families in town, and she knew how much love, time and effort it took to raise children successfully. She had no intention of deserting them when things became difficult, as her mother had. Nor would she hold herself so distant from them that they were never certain whether she even loved them, the way Emily’s father had treated her.
Taking on a ready-made family at this point of her life—well, she just didn’t know if she could handle that.
She couldn’t help thinking about her mother again as she drove home from work that evening. Nadine had married a widower with a young son. She’d been miserable, even after having a child of her own.
Granted, Wade was very different from Josiah McBride, Jr. More open and affectionate, less demanding and bitter. From gossip Emily had heard, she wasn’t certain that Nadine had ever loved her husband, but had married him for his comfortable income—a motive that almost guaranteed disaster. But Emily had known Wade only six weeks, not nearly enough time to think about a permanent arrangement. And she had plans she couldn’t simply change on a whim.
Where would she live if she remained here, now that she’d sold her house? How could she risk losing this one opportunity to get away, to travel and see the world, to be single, carefree, totally unfettered for the first time in her twenty-six years?
She entered her house warily, looking around for signs of entry before she walked in—another new experience for her. She wondered if she would ever come home confidently again...for the few remaining weeks she would live here.
Her phone rang. Closing and locking the door behind her, she hurried to answer it out of habit, though the answering machine was still on. “Hello?”
“Hi. Everything okay there?”
Everything except her pulse rate, which had suddenly skyrocketed in response to Wade’s deep drawl. “Yes, it’s fine.”
“I’m still at the office. Came back after I dropped Clay off at home. Thanks for your patience with him this afternoon, by the way. He was tickled pink to have his own bank account. Not to mention the football you gave him.”
“Everyone who opens a new account with us this month gets one,” she reminded him. “You’d be amazed how many people open accounts just for the giveaway.”
“Yeah, well, I’m waiting for you to offer a free bass boat with every new account before I change banks.”
She chuckled. “Hang on to that dream, pal.”
“Not likely; huh?”
“Not unless the banking wars get a lot more competitive than they are now.”
“Listen, I’m going to be finishing up here in a couple of hours. Why don’t you and I go out for dinner afterward? You probably don’t feel like cooking tonight, and I can call home and tell them I won’t be eating there this evening.”
She couldn’t deny that she wanted to say yes. That she wanted to be with Wade again. That she wanted the evening to end exactly as it had the night before... in her bedroom.
A renewed surge of panic—triggered, perhaps, by the whispered echoes of her co-workers’ remarks—made her say, instead, “Thanks, but not tonight. I’m really exhausted. I think I’ll just have a sandwich or something and turn in early.”
There was a brief pause, and then Wade spoke, obviously trying to sound understanding. “Maybe you shouldn’t have gone back to work today.”
“It wasn’t so bad. Just tiring.”
“Then why don’t I bring something there? Chinese? Barbecue? Chicken? Pizza? Anything’s better than a cold sandwich, isn’t it?”
“Thank you, Wade, but I’m really not too up to it tonight.” In many ways, she could have added, but remained silent.
The pause was longer this time, heavier. Apparently, Wade sensed that there was more to her reluctance to see him than weariness. Just as obviously, he realized that this wasn’t the right time to grill her about it.
“All right, then,” he conceded after another moment. “Get some rest. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Wade.”
“Emily, I...I’ll miss you tonight,” he said, sounding as if he’d abruptly changed what he’d originally intended to say.
“Good night, Wade,” she repeated, not knowing what else to say. And then she hung up.
She stood for a long time with her hand on the telephone. Something drew her attention to the grouping of framed photographs on the table nearby. Moving as if in slow motion, she picked one up. Studied it. Touched a fingertip to the face of the boy in the picture.
Lucas, she thought, ignoring the stern-faced man and unhappy-looking woman holding a smiling baby girl. He hadn’t been much older than Clay when this photograph was taken, but already he looked distant and angry. Only with Emily had he shown his tender side.
And then he’d left her without even saying goodbye.
How would he feel if he knew she was selling the house? Her father had left a will, leaving everything to her, making no mention of his only son. But Emily would have gladly shared what there was, if only she’d known how to contact her brother.
But she hadn’t heard a word from him since he’d left. Maybe he’d never given her another thought.
Lucas had left Honoria and its pettiness behind without a backward glance. Who knew how many places he’d seen since? How many adventures he’d experienced?
She put the photograph down with a thump. Ignoring both weariness and hunger, she pushed herself into action.
By the time she fell into bed at midnight, so tired her entire body throbbed and her mind was too cloudy to think, she had accomplished a great deal.
WADE KNEW he should have called Emily before turning into her driveway at nine-thirty Thursday evening, but something had told him it was better to show up without warning, as he had before. He’d had a niggling suspicion that if he’d called, she’d have talked him out of seeing her again that evening, just as she had last night...and that was a chance he hadn’t wanted to take.
He saw the curtain at the window beside the door flick when he rang the doorbell. Emily was checking the identity of her caller, something he hadn’t noticed her do before the break-in. While he approved of her heightened sense of caution, he hated the reason behind it.
Maybe the news he had for her tonight would give her back a small portion of the confidence that had been stolen along with her mother’s bracelet.
She opened the door partway. Apparently, she hadn’t been home long. She was wearing a long, floralprint skirt with a soft pastel blue sweater that brought out the color of her eyes and made his hands itch to touch her. “Wade? I wasn’t expecting you tonight.”
“We caught them,” he said, deciding direct confrontation was the most effective way to storm the emotional barriers she’d inexplicably erected between them since they’d made love.
&nbs
p; The door opened a bit wider. “You caught them?”
He nodded. “An hour ago. They’d broken into the Gellmans’ house out on Paradise Road. They knew the Gellmans were away this week, so they decided to help themselves to their stuff. One of my patrol cars was passing by checking on the place and the officers caught the kids before they were able to get away.”
“Kids?” Emily repeated with a frown.
“The O’Brien boy and his cronies. I suspected him all along, but until tonight there wasn’t enough evidence against them to follow up with a warrant. We’ve got him now. One of his buddies started crying and confessed to the entire string of break-ins...except for yours,” he added a bit reluctantly. “They all swear they had nothing to do with the hit here.”
Wade was tempted to tell her that the boys’ insistence that they had nothing to do with the break-in and attack on Emily had been so fervent that he’d begun to wonder, himself, if they were telling the truth. The doubt had nagged at him ever since he’d left the kids in the lockup.
But Emily suddenly looked nervous again, and he had a need to reassure her. “Then who...?”
He put a hand on her arm. “I would bet they broke into your place, too. They don’t want to admit it because there was a personal attack involved this time, and they know that’s a more serious charge.”
He wanted to believe it was true. And maybe it was. It was hard to imagine that there was more than one burglary ring operating in Honoria. And as far as he knew, there was no reason anyone would have targeted Emily specifically. She’d had nothing of real value taken, nothing that had been worth the risk of being caught in her home or charged with attacking her.
“Kevin O’Brien.” Emily shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t believe it. I know he’s been in a lot of trouble, but I had no idea he would resort to something like this. It isn’t even as if he needed money. His father is a very successful businessman. He owns O’Brien Lumber, you know.”
