by Sharon Sala
Gabe closed his eyes and tried to ignore the ache that had settled just behind his heart. The more time he spent with her, the harder it was going to be to leave. Yet leave he must. There was nothing in the way of permanence that he could offer a woman like Annie O'Brien. And she was the sort who deserved a forever kind of man, a home and a lapful of babies.
Damn it all, anyway, he thought. He couldn't give her any of those things. All he could do was treasure the time they had and try not to hurt her when it was time for him to go.
* * *
Gabe was the first to see the lights. The parking lot of Annie's complex was full of police cars and emergency vehicles. For a moment it was like the night of the fire all over again.
"Oh, no," Annie gasped as she jumped from the bike and yanked the helmet from her head. "Something terrible has happened! Gabe … what do you suppose…?" And then she gasped and dropped the helmet into Gabe's hands. "Those officers … they're coming out of my apartment."
Gabe followed the direction of her gaze and knew that the burning sensation in the pit of his stomach was a warning sign that their night wasn't going exactly as he'd planned.
He took her hand and moved toward her apartment, ignoring the roped-off area, as well as an officer's warning shout.
"Hey, mister! You can't go in there."
"My name is Annie O'Brien. I live here." Annie said, pointing toward the partially opened doorway.
"Hey, Harvey!" the officer shouted. "Get a detective out here. The property owner just showed up."
As the officer spoke, Gabe's sharp gaze quickly caught sight of a body on the ground just beyond the bumper of parked car. A sheet of yellow plastic had been pulled over it, but the outline of a pair of tennis shoes was unmistakable.
Gabe frowned and slowly changed position so that he was shielding Annie from the sight. That was the last thing she needed to see.
"Miss O'Brien?"
Annie nodded, her eyes huge, her chin trembling as she let the detective lead her toward the breezeway sheltering the door to her home. Gabe followed.
"What happened?" Annie asked, and then swallowed a scream as she took an instinctive step back when she looked through the door.
Gabe caught her retreat and steadied her, his hands firm and reassuring on her shoulders as the detective began to talk.
"Officers responded to a break-in when your security system went off," the detective said. "They were too late to prevent what happened, but they got the perpetrator. Damnedest thing, too. When they searched the body, they didn't find anything of value on him. All be did was mess up the place and then run when he heard sirens."
"Body?" Annie began to shake. The events of the last few weeks were about to send her sanity caving in.
The detective nodded. "Some teenager. He started shooting at the squad car the minute it turned into the parking lot. Didn't even give the officers a chance to make an arrest. They didn't have a choice. No matter what their age, the perps are better armed man we are every time."
"Oh, Gabriel," Annie whispered, and stepped inside her apartment. "Who? And in heaven's name, why?"
Gabe held her firmly, afraid that she was going to come apart in his arms. Her beloved plants were lying everywhere, uprooted and broken, the dirt from their containers strewn about the carpet. Huge slashes had been made in all her furniture, and the stuffing had been pulled out through the ripped fabric until it was hanging like topping melting on a cake. Broken crockery and an open refrigerator door told them that the man had left nothing untouched. Items of her clothing were visible from where they stood, and Gabe knew that their bedrooms were probably a mirror image of this destruction.
"Miss O'Brien…" The detective pulled out a notepad and pen. "I know you're upset. And rightly so," he added. "But I need to ask you some questions. We found some jewelry on the bed in one room, and some money in another. The perp obviously saw it, but he didn't take it. From my point of view, this looks like a gigantic case of revenge."
Gabe's pulse skidded to a halt as his heart skipped a beat. Revenge! A horrible thought occurred to him as the detective continued.
"So, Miss O'Brien, I have to ask. Do you know anyone who would want to…?"
"Detective … I want to see the body," Gabe said coldly.
The interruption was unexpected. The detective glared at the big man.
"Now, see here," he began, and then he realized he didn't know the big man's name. "I don't believe I got your name, mister." His pen was poised above the pad, awaiting Gabe's answer. It didn't come.
Gabe stared down into Annie's face and watched as the same thought suddenly occurred to her. Tears welled, and she began to shake harder.
"No," she groaned. "He wouldn't. He couldn't."
"Honey, he tried to cut you apart in your own classroom! in front of a room full of witnesses," Gabe reminded her.
"Who tried to cut who?" the policeman growled.
"She'll tell you," Gabe said as he moved away, and when Annie started after him, he turned and pointed his finger at her. "You wait! I'll be right back."
The look on his face made her sick. She'd never seen so much suppressed fury in her life. Moaning softly to herself at the unbelievable string of disasters that had been dumped on her life, she staggered backward until the wall behind her stopped her progress. Only then did she allow herself to give way as she slid to the floor and buried her face against her knees, unable to face any more horror.
Gabe walked outside toward the body. His hand shook in anger as he bent over and lifted the plastic. The pale eyes staring sightlessly upward were familiar, as was the face and everything that went with it. He dropped the sheet and turned to find that the detective had followed him.
"Damon Tuttle." Gabe's voice was rough, his breathing shallow. He had an insane urge to hit something … or someone.
The detective's eyebrows rocketed to his hairline. He obviously hadn't really expected Gabriel to come through with anything useful.
"How do you know him?" he asked Gabe.
"A few weeks ago Miss O'Brien hired me as a bodyguard because several of her students had been harassing her to the point that she'd become afraid."
"She's a teacher?"
Gabe nodded. "And that—" he pointed to the body on the ground "—was one of her students. He was arrested after he pulled a knife on her in the classroom."
"Damn." The detective scratched his head, then looked back at Gabe with new respect. "I take it you were what stopped him?"
"He made bail. The system just let him walk," Gabe accused, ignoring the detective's question.
"I guess it's a good thing she had an alarm, otherwise he might have sat inside and waited for you to come back so he could finish the job," the detective said.
"I'm taking her to a motel for the night. I've got to get her away from this," Gabe said, and headed back to the apartment, unaware and uncaring whether the officer had other ideas.
"Annie!"
His shout shook her. She looked up and saw him coming toward her. She didn't have to ask if they'd been right.
"Oh, my God," she moaned, and started to cry.
"Stop it," Gabe growled, and pulled her from the floor and into his arms. "The son of a bitch wasn't worth it."
Annie saw the room starting to spin. In reflex, her hands reached out for balance. But it was no use. For the second time in their short acquaintance, she was going to faint at his feet. The last thing she felt was his arms beneath her body and his breath upon her face.
* * *
It was the steady, rhythmic vibration of a heartbeat beneath her ear that woke her. For a moment she lay quietly, absorbing the gentleness of the man in whose arms she lay.
His hands moved across her like a shadow stealing across the floor, gently smoothing a stray hair away from her face, carefully straightening her clothing, quietly readjusting the hold he had on her to assure himself that it was secure.
But it was the gentle whispers she heard coming from his li
ps that made a fresh set of tears come into her eyes. He was making promises she knew he couldn't keep. And when she looked around the strange, sterile room and then up at Gabe and caught him looking back, she remembered.
"It wasn't just a bad dream, was it, Gabriel?"
"No, it wasn't a dream. But it's finally over. There's nothing and no one left to fear."
Annie tried to smile and then caught back a sob. Oh Gabriel … if only that were true. You don't know the half of my hell.
"Don't cry, Annie." His voice was harsh as he wrapped his fingers in the hair cascading down her back and pulled her closer against him. "It makes me crazy. I'll do anything to put a smile back on your face."
Annie looked around at the room, felt the bed beneath their bodies, and wondered where they were and how they'd gotten there. The ride she'd taken in a squad car to the nearby motel had come and gone without her notice, while she'd been blessedly out for the count. A terrible sense of doom overwhelmed her. Another tear tracked toward her chin. She was incapable of a smile.
Gabe groaned. "Baby … please… just tell me. What can I do to make this better?"
Annie felt the palms of his hands swiping across her cheeks as he tried unsuccessfully to remove the traces of her misery from his sight. And then something he'd said triggered a notion she hadn't considered. She took a deep breath, and before she knew it, heard herself telling him, "I want to go home."
Gabe sighed and nodded as he pressed a helpless kiss at the corner of her lips.
"Tomorrow … when it's light. I swear we'll go back and clean everything up. Before you know it, it'll be good as new. You can buy new plants … and you said you had insurance. We'll shop for new furniture, and…"
"No!"
Her abrupt refusal left him speechless. She'd just asked to go home and in the next breath refused. What was going on?
The headboard of the motel bed dug into the small of his back, and he cursed softly as he tried to find a comfortable position in which to sit.
At the same moment Annie pulled away and rolled off the bed. Seconds later he caught her in his arms as she paused at the curtained window of the motel room.
"What is it, Annie? I thought you said you—"
"I want to go home … to where I was born."
Gabe was dumbfounded. "You don't have any family there. I remember you telling me once that your parents were dead."
Annie winced at the word and pulled the curtain aside, staring blindly out into the night.
"They are. But the house is still there … and it's mine … waiting beneath that stand of trees Daddy refused to cut down." She shuddered and closed her eyes. picturing the last time she'd seen her childhood home. "I miss the trees. There are lots of trees in the Missouri hills."
The curtain fell from her fingers, once again shutting the night out and them in as she gave Gabe a last ultimatum. "If you still want to help … then take me home… Take me to Missouri."
"I don't get it, Annie. It isn't like you to run away."
Annie's short bark of laughter was anything but funny.
"That's a hoot," she said derisively. "I couldn't run far enough and fast enough to escape my fate. Besides—" she wrapped her arms around herself and stared down at the shadows on the floor, made by the faint light coming through the curtains behind her "—I'm not running away. I just want to go home."
Gabriel sensed that there was more to her request than what she'd admitted, but it was beyond him to press her for answers. Not tonight.
"Then you will," he said, and unwound her arms from around her waist and rewrapped them around his. "But tonight … just let me hold you. You may not need it, but I sure as hell do."
Annie's legs went weak. She would always need this man. For as long as she lived, she knew she would never get over that need. She buried her face against his chest and nodded her acceptance of his plea. For as long as I live, she reminded herself.
* * *
It took ten hours on the back of Gabe's bike. Hard, hot, grueling hours with few stops. Stops in which she crawled off the back of that bike certain she would never be able to walk again, and then, when it came time to move on, equally certain that resuming her seat behind Gabe would be impossible.
But she'd done it. And as they turned off the two-lane highway onto a narrow dirt road, Annie's stamina was disappearing as fast as the sun setting behind them.
"Is this it?" Gabe asked as the bike rolled to a stop. He stood upright, with the bike balanced but still grumbling quietly between his legs, and stared at the small frame house nestled in the midst of a thick grove of oak and pine.
"Yes."
One word. A single statement that to Gabe's ears sounded awfully flat, considering the fact that she'd been so hell-bent on coming.
He sighed, killed the engine and moved the kickstand in place with the toe of his boot. Annie got off first and handed him her helmet as she began brushing dust from the legs of her jeans and the sleeves of her denim shirt.
Gabe slid his sunglasses up, letting them rest on the top of his head as he watched her start up the walk alone. Something about the way she moved told him that she would not welcome company. Not now.
He swung his leg over the bike, untied their duffel bags and slid the straps over his shoulder. They'd traveled light, taking only what would fit on the bike. Everything that Damon Tuttle had not destroyed was being shipped. Annie had left with assurances from her insurance company that a check for her vandalized car as well as the damaged personal property would be forthcoming.
He remembered thinking it was strange that she hadn't seemed to care. In his experience, and God knew he had plenty of it, women took great stock in "things." But Annie O'Brien had simply walked away from all her belongings and ridden off on the back of a Harley with a man she hardly knew.
He cursed softly beneath his breath and followed her up the walk. Maybe here she would find peace; then he could leave knowing she was safe and well.
It was the thought of leaving that made him move angrily past her and up onto the porch, leaving the sound of his footsteps to echo loudly into the odd silence of the woods.
"I don't suppose you have a key," he growled, as he twisted uselessly at a doorknob that wouldn't give.
Wordlessly Annie moved him aside, then stood on tiptoe and reached above the door frame, running her finger lightly across it. Moments later she stepped back, a dusty key in hand. She thrust it into the lock.
"Don't ever put that damned thing back up there," Gabe said harshly, imagining an intruder hiding inside at some future date, awaiting Annie's entrance. "It isn't safe."
"No place is safe. Safety is merely a state of mind." Annie walked inside.
Dust motes highlighted by the fading light coming through the curtained window shifted as a draft of fresh air moved through the house. Everything inside was covered in draped white cloths, lying unused and lifeless, waiting, like Annie, to be needed again.
Annie hit a light switch beside the door, and, surprisingly, a dull, dusty glow illuminated the dingy room. Although the utility bills came regularly and she paid them faithfully, she still hadn't expected anything to work. She looked up and saw that only a single bulb remained in what had once been her mother's pride and joy. A small, four-section faux crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, emitting all the light it could from its forty-watt source.
Gabe grunted, surprised by the fact that the power was on, and dropped their bags beside the door. Without asking permission, he went from room to room, pulling back curtains and opening stubborn windows. Soon a cool draft of air was slowly circulating through the small frame house.
Ignoring him, Annie walked with single-minded intent down the narrow hallway to the room at the end of the hall. Her hand shook as it touched the door. She took a deep breath, letting her fingers slide down the surface as they tested the texture, until they came to the knob. She gripped it and turned.
The last ten years disappeared in a heartbeat as she walked ove
r the threshold. Were it not for the drop cloths over all the furniture, she could have imagined that it was only this morning when she'd left for school. She walked to the bed and pulled back the cloth. The faded pink coverlet was still in place, while a single old teddy bear—her first—reclined against the headboard, one ear missing, along with most of its stuffing. She tried to smile, but she hurt too much inside for the feeling to come.
She walked to the corner opposite the bed and pulled another drop cloth away. If fell to the floor in a cloud of dust, revealing antique maple and a row of snapshots lining the dusty mirror of her dresser.
She inhaled, blinking back tears as she traced the curling edges of the old photos. Her parents smiled back at her. Instinctively she returned their smiles and then realized they couldn't see. They'd been dead for years.
She bit her lower lip and moved on to the next picture, whispering her best friend's name to herself as she remembered well the day it had been taken. Molly on graduation day! There was a picture of Rufus, her daddy's hunting dog, and one of her mother out back working in the garden. Everything seemed so ordinary … and so long ago.
"Annie … I'm going to backtrack to that little store a few miles back and get some food."
She spun around. He was silhouetted in the doorway. A dark, menacing figure of a man with a beautiful smile and a gentle voice. To Annie he represented stability and safety in a world in which she was fast losing ground. She flew into his arms before she thought.
Gabe held her. He didn't understand her fear, but he recognized it just the same. For a long moment neither spoke, and then he felt her withdraw as suddenly as she'd come.
"Are you all right?" he asked softly, willing himself not to react to her fears.
"Are you coming back?"
He drew a slow, deep breath, letting the shock and anger he felt at her question slide back to a safer place inside him.
"I'll pretend you didn't ask that," he said shortly. "And I'll be right back."
She listened to the door slam and then the sound of the bike as its motor was revved more strongly than necessary before he slipped it into gear.
