Sudden Second Chance

by Carol Ericson

  “I’ve been fishing most of the day. What did I miss?”

  “Someone set some bear traps in front of Scarlett Easton’s place and I got stuck in one.”

  “Damn. Did you break it?”

  “Just bruised it.”

  “Scarlett okay?”

  “She’s fine. Left town for a few weeks.”

  Jordan tsked. “That’s no way to solve a disagreement over hunting. I’ll talk to the mayor about cracking down.”

  “I’m sure Scarlett would appreciate that.”

  “How about you, Agent Harper? Any luck cracking the cold case?”

  “We’re investigating a few leads. They’re not called ‘cold cases’ for nothing.”

  “And you’re involved how, Rebecca?”

  “I’ll never tell. Maybe Beth just wants to buy some property after experiencing the beauty and serenity of the area.”

  Duke smothered his snort. Timberline had been anything but serene for Beth.

  “Well, she’s consulting the best.” He rapped his knuckles on the table. “You folks enjoy your evening. And, Beth, I should be around for the next few days if you are.”

  “I’ll be here. I’ll try calling your office again to schedule something.”

  He took a card from his card case and called to Chloe. “Do you have a pen, sweetheart?”

  She smacked a pen on the table and spun away.

  Young scribbled something on one of his cards. “Here’s my direct line, Beth. Give me a call when you’re ready to interview me.”

  “Thanks, Jordan.”

  He sauntered back to his friends at the bar and a hard stare from Raney.

  Maybe Bill Raney wasn’t the hapless drunk everyone thought he was.

  Chloe returned to the table with the check. “Sorry for the delay. I wasn’t coming back with Mr. Young here. He can get handsy, if you know what I mean.”

  “Honey, at my age handsy isn’t necessarily a bad thing.” Rebecca laughed as she tried to grab the check from Chloe.

  Beth was faster. “This is a tax-deductible dinner expense for me. You’re going to help me find those red-door cabins, aren’t you?”

  “I’m going to do my damnedest. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to scoot out of here and get back to the office to wrap up a few things.”

  When she left the restaurant after flitting to about five tables on her way out, Duke wiped the back of his hand across his forehead. “Whew. She’s a dynamo.”

  “And efficient. I have complete faith in her to find those red doors.”

  Duke stroked her arm. “Let me get you back to the hotel and tuck you into bed. Maybe you can pop a few more of those painkillers and get a good night’s sleep.”

  “You’re being awfully...handsy tonight.”

  “I just want to take care of you, Beth.” He laced his fingers with hers. “Do you believe me?”

  “I believe you, and do you believe me when I say I just want the truth?”

  “I can help you with that, too, Beth.” He tugged on her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

  She leaned on him while she adjusted her crutches beneath her arms, and with a nod to Jordan, she navigated through the tables while Duke ran interference.

  When they got back to the hotel, he followed her into her room. “I meant that about tucking you in. Do you want me to run you a bath?”

  “I’d probably fall asleep in the tub and drown, but if you want to wait in here while I get ready for bed in case I topple over in the bathroom, that would be great.”

  “I’m your man in case of toppling.” He stretched out on the bed and grabbed the remote control to the TV.

  She gathered a few items and retreated to the bathroom.

  While she ran the water and banged around in there, he ran a few lines through his head. He could put everything to rest tonight.

  She emerged from the bathroom in her flannel pajamas and hopping without her crutches.

  He jumped from the bed to help her. “Don’t put any pressure on that foot yet.”

  She dropped some clothes in her suitcase. “I’m fine.”

  He pulled back the covers and helped her into bed. He wanted to crawl right in after her, but first things first.

  She plumped up her pillows and eased back against them. “Aaah, this feels good.”

  “Do you need any more meds?”

  “Not until after midnight. If the pain wakes me up, I’ll take a few more.”

  He filled a glass with water from the tap and put her pill bottle on the nightstand. “For midnight.”

  “Thanks, Duke. You’ve been a big help.”

  “I’m going to be an even bigger help, Beth. I have something important to tell you.”

  Her face grew still. “What is it?”

  He sat next to her on the bed and took both of her hands in his. “You’re not Heather Brice.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  She jerked away from Duke, banging her head on the headboard. His touch felt heavy, oppressive, and she snatched her hands away from his. “Why are you saying that? Why are you trying to discourage me?”

  “It’s more than that, Beth.” He tried to take her hand again but she folded her arms and tucked her hands beneath her elbows. “I have proof.”

  Her tongue felt like sandpaper as she licked her lips. “How could you have proof? What did you do?”

  “I requested a sample of the Brices’ DNA through the FBI labs.”

  She clamped her hands over her ears as if that could stop the truth coming from Duke’s lips. Bending at the waist, she touched her forehead to her knees. The pieces of her carefully constructed future began crashing down around her—the happy reunion, the loving family, her place in the world.

  Duke’s hand on her back felt like a lead weight, but she didn’t have the energy to shrug him off. A black hole had sucked her into its vortex and she was spinning and spinning with no sense of time or place, no anchor.

  “I’m sorry, Beth. I couldn’t stand to see you twisting yourself into knots over this, putting yourself into needless danger.” He swept aside the curtain of hair shielding her face. “I didn’t cause the Brices any anguish. I didn’t tell them about your suspicions. I let them know the FBI was working the cold case and needed their DNA. I ran it against yours from some strands of your hair and...no match.”

  A tear ran down her cheek and she let it drop off the edge of her chin. She managed a hoarse whisper from her tight throat. “Why did you do that? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “The bigger question, Beth, is why didn’t you ask me to do that? Your excuse for not going straight to the Brices was that you wanted to spare their feelings in case nothing came of your claim, but you always knew the FBI could request their DNA without arousing any suspicions. The fact that we’d taken this case out of mothballs made it easy.”

  She raised her head and another tear slipped down her face. “You know why.”

  “You were afraid of the answer. You were afraid of the truth.” Duke caught her next tear on the pad of his thumb. “I get that. It’s why I didn’t tell you I was ordering the DNA.”

  “I knew.” She rubbed her nose against the sheet covering her knees. “I saw a text from Mickey the other night about the Brices. I knew you were up to something. I just couldn’t figure out why you wouldn’t tell me what.”

  “Ah, that was it.” He ran a hand down her leg and traced the edge of the heavy wrap around her ankle. “Maybe I should’ve told you, but then you would’ve been on pins and needles waiting for the results and if the results had been different...”

  Falling back against the pillows, she said, “You’re glad they’re not different. You’re relieved I’m not Heather Brice.”

  “I want you to be happy,
Beth.” He shoved a hand through his thick hair and left it there, holding the side of his head. “I knew you’d been building up this perfect life with the Brices, envisioning them as the all-American family, a place for you to fit in at last. God, I want that for you, Beth, but you can have that with me. We can have it together. I’m looking for my perfect family, too.”

  A sob racked her body and she covered her face with her hands. “You can’t have that with me. I can’t help you create that perfect family because I’m broken. I’m damaged.”

  The mattress sank as Duke climbed next to her on the bed. He wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his chest. “Don’t say that. You’re the most perfect woman I know—the girl of my adolescent fantasies come to life in living, strawberry blond color.”

  Taking a long, shuddering breath, she squirmed out of his hold. She grabbed handfuls of his shirt and pulled him close. “You don’t know. I’ve already destroyed any family we could have together.”

  He touched his forehead to hers and smoothed the hair from her damp face. “I told you, Beth. I understand why you deceived me two years ago. I understand you.”

  “You don’t know me.”

  “I didn’t know you before. I saw you as the untouchable girl of my dreams, perfect in every way. Now I see the human woman that you are, with all your flaws and insecurities, and I still love you. I love you more.”

  She squeezed her eyes shut and ran her fingers across his rough beard. She’d been waiting so long to hear those words from him...and now she’d have to fling them back in his face.

  “I don’t deserve your love. I tricked you again. I deceived you.” She pulled away from him so she could look into his dark eyes and see the love fade away. “I had a miscarriage. I lost your baby, Duke.”

  His eyes widened for a split second and grew darker as his pupils dilated. “When?”

  “I found out I was pregnant when I got back to LA from Chicago—about three weeks after.”

  “What happened?”

  “This is what happened.” She slammed a fist against her gut. “Me. I happened. Unfit for a family.”

  “Stop it.” His fingers pinched into her shoulders. “Tell me what happened to our baby, Beth.”

  “I don’t know. I had the miscarriage just a few weeks after I discovered the pregnancy. It all came and went so fast, it felt like a dream.”

  She gritted her teeth and braced herself for Duke’s anger, for his accusations. She welcomed them. Deserved them.

  His hold on her shoulders melted into a caress and he dragged her back into his arms again, tucking her head against the curve of his neck. “I’m sorry you were alone when it happened. I should’ve been there for you.”

  “Don’t you get it, Duke?” She sniffled. “I didn’t even tell you about the pregnancy. I probably never would’ve told you about the baby.”

  “I don’t believe that for a minute.” He rubbed a circle on her back. “You would’ve told me. You never would’ve allowed our baby to grow up without knowing his or her father. Whatever your feelings for me were at the time, you would’ve recognized the value of giving our child a father. I know that about you...now.”

  “But it’s over. I lost the baby.”

  “Did the doctor indicate that you’d have problems in the future? Was there a reason why you miscarried?”

  His heart pounded beneath her cheek and she smoothed her hand over his chest. “No problems. He said it’s something that happens in the first trimester sometimes.”

  “Then it wasn’t your fault and you can get pregnant again.” He kissed her temple. “You can have that family, Beth. You don’t need the Brices. You don’t need the Kings. All you need is me. And I sure as hell need you.”

  He wedged his thumb beneath her chin and tilted up her head. He traced the tracks of her tears with his fingertip until he’d dried them all, and then he kissed her lips. They throbbed beneath the gentle pressure of his mouth.

  Between the kisses he planted along the line of her jaw, he whispered, “I. Want. You. More. Than. Anything.”

  “Duke, is this coming from pity?” She cupped his jaw in her hand, the stubble of his beard tickling her palm. “Because I’m okay now. I’m sorry I broke down. In fact, I—”

  “Shh.” He put a finger against her lips. Then he took her hand and guided it between his legs. “Does this feel like pity to you?”

  She stroked his erection through the denim of his jeans. It felt like a visit to the candy store and a two-point rating share all rolled up into one big treat.

  He growled and unbuttoned his fly. She took the obvious hint and peeled back his jeans while shoving her hand beneath the waistband of his black briefs.

  The growl turned into a groan as she teased his flesh with her fingernails and kissed his mouth. He deepened the kiss and tugged at her pajama top, pulling it over her head.

  He cupped one bare breast with his hand, dragging his thumb across her peaked nipple. She gasped against his lips and he shifted his mouth to the top of her breast. He kissed a circle around her nipple before sucking it into his mouth.

  She arched her back, giving him more, her hips rocking forward, her hand stroking his hard-on.

  She unbuttoned his shirt and rolled up his T-shirt, exposing his tight abs. She ran the flat of her hand along the ridges and then ducked her head and pressed a kiss in the middle, his skin warm against her lips.

  Yanking on the edge of the shirt, she said, “That’s the problem with cold weather—too many clothes.”

  “Sort of heightens the anticipation, don’t you think?” He slipped off her pajama bottoms with one fluid motion.

  “Says the man who has just a flimsy pair of pajamas to dispense with.”

  “There’s still these.” He ran a finger along the elastic of her bikini underwear clinging to her hips.

  “What are you waiting for?”

  He pulled down the panties and the silky material skimmed over her thighs. “This is a little more difficult. I’ll try to be careful.”

  He inched the underwear over her knees and gently tugged them past her bandage. His gaze swept across her body, leaving tingles in its wake.

  “Nothing but a pink bandage—incredibly sexy.”

  She wiggled her toes and rolled to her side. “You can get naked now.”

  He shed the rest of his clothing in record time and stretched out beside her again. He pressed his body against hers, along every line, and she let his warmth seep into her skin.

  For a moment she let everything slip away—all the heartache and disappointment. She had her man by her side again and there were no secrets between them.

  He followed her spine with one knuckle and caressed her derriere, fitting her against his body, his erection prodding between her thighs.

  He traced over the rest of her body, as if drawing it from scratch. Could he recreate her? Make her whole?

  His touch gave her goose bumps, made her believe anything was possible. He finished his exercise with a kiss on her mouth. Then he pressed her back against the pillows.

  “I’m going to make you feel better than any painkiller in the entire pharmacy.” He knelt between her legs and flattened his hands against the insides of her thighs. Lifting her injured leg, he rested it on his shoulder. “The doc said to keep it elevated, right?”

  “That’s one way to do it.”

  When his lips brushed her sensitive flesh, her eyes fluttered closed and her fingers burrowed into his hair. He circled with his tongue and then plunged it inside her.

  She let out a long sigh, but then the tension began to build like a hot coil in her belly. Her fingernails dug into his scalp as he teased her higher and higher.

  Her climax broke her apart into a million little pieces. All the anxiety and fear that had been building
up since she’d started this quest shattered. She wouldn’t let it take hold of her again.

  Duke slid her leg from his shoulder. “Okay?”

  “Mmm, more than okay and ready for you. Really ready for you this time, Duke. No more games.”

  “Nothing between us.” He rose to his knees and she wrapped her fingers around his erection.

  “Like one.”

  Bracing his hands on either side of her head, he drove inside her. A spasm of pleasure flashed across his face.

  She clawed at the hard muscle of his buttocks, hooking her good leg around his hips, urging him deeper.

  His rhythm was erratic, as if the tumult of his senses had overwhelmed him and he’d forgotten for a moment how a man loved a woman.

  She touched his face. Their eyes met. He shivered and slowed his pace, plunging into her deeply and pulling out just enough to make it feel like coming home when he returned to her.

  As his thrusts grew bolder and faster, she pressed her lips against his warm flesh, baring her teeth against his collarbone.

  He moaned, a sound of such pure pleasure it made her toes curl. On the very next thrust, he exploded inside her. He sank to his forearms and took possession of her mouth. The motion of his kiss mimicked the waves of his orgasm and he didn’t stop kissing her until he was spent inside her.

  He hoisted himself off her body. “How’s your foot?”

  Her lips curled into a smile. “My foot had nothing to do with any of that.”

  “Is it feeling left out?” He slid to the bottom of the bed and kissed each of her toes sticking out of the bandage.

  “Did you develop a foot fetish when we were apart?”

  “I have a fetish for every part of your body. Don’t you know that? I could worship your elbow and count myself lucky.”

  She crooked her index finger. “I have to admit I’m partial to one part of your body in particular.”

  “My brain, right?” He settled beside her again and scooped her into a hug, rubbing the gooseflesh from her arms.

  “That’s it.” She kissed his chiseled jawline. “And that didn’t feel like pity sex at all.”