“We eloped because we didn’t want anybody to make a fuss over us.” She cut her eyes at her husband. “I know people think getting married in Las Vegas is corny, but it wasn’t like that at all. Elvis wasn’t anywhere around, and we were in a gazebo covered with these beautiful flowers beside this amazing fountain. It was the most romantic moment of my life.”
“Amen to that.” Chase looked like his father. He had the same tall, lean build and thick hair, although his was brown instead of gray. “We didn’t get the message across to my dad about not making a fuss, though.”
“Teresa was actually the one who did the planning,” Kelly said, then directed her next comments to Dan. “She and Chase’s late mother were best friends. She’s loved Chase like he was her own son for a long time.”
“She loves Toby like a grandson, too,” Chase said.
“Speaking of Toby,” Jill said, “thanks for letting Chris be there while Lindsey babysits.”
“The more kids who are around, the happier Toby is,” Kelly said. “And Chris seems like a very nice boy.”
“Lindsey said you bought him some goats, Dan.” Chase looked dubious. “Did I hear her right?”
“I only bought him one goat. We found the other,” Dan said, then related the entire story.
“You are such a good guy to do that,” Kelly exclaimed. “No wonder you won Jill over!”
“We’re not—” Jill began.
“Attention, everyone!” Charlie’s booming voice drowned out all the other noise on the deck. “It’s time to cut the cake.”
Teresa held the French doors to the deck open for Charlie as he wheeled in a small table containing a three-tiered cake decorated with alternating layers of chocolate and vanilla frosting.
“It’s beautiful!” Kelly cried, eagerly taking the knife Teresa held out to her. Chase put his hand over hers and they both sliced through the bottom layer of the cake.
Charlie launched into an off-key rendition of the song “Sugar, Sugar,” his voice cracking on the “honey, honey” line. Soon everyone joined in, most of them humming because they weren’t sure of the lyrics.
“We love you guys,” Kelly said.
“But we’re still glad we eloped.” Chase kissed Kelly lingeringly on the lips, then addressed his friends. “No offense, but it was kind of wonderful having my beautiful wife all to myself.”
Jill blinked a few times, and Dan realized her eyes were dewy. He took her hand and squeezed it. He noticed some of the people in the room, Penelope most notably, looking at them, smiling and nodding.
Jill was right. She’d never be able to convincingly deny they weren’t a couple after tonight.
He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t happy about that.
KENNY GRIEB STROKED the acoustic guitar, producing an amazingly clear sound as he sang yet another love song. Jill felt as though he’d reached inside her and tugged. From the rapt expressions on the faces of the others gathered around Kenny on the Bradford deck, she wasn’t the only one.
“He’s amazing,” she whispered to Dan.
Kenny had brought out the guitar as a surprise for the newly married couple, singing a truly beautiful arrangement of “Forever and for Always,” which had been playing in the chapel when Chase and Kelly got married.
One request had led to another until the hosts and all of their guests were listening to Kenny put on a show. Jill had heard he’d once been a hard-drinking regular at the Blue Haven. Tonight, however, he’d passed up alcohol entirely in solidarity with his pregnant wife.
“Incredible,” Dan agreed.
His chair was next to Jill’s, his arm around her shoulders, his fingers playing with the short hairs at her nape. Laurie looked over at them and smiled, her eyes softening. Up to this point Laurie had been one of the only people at the party who’d yet to mistake them for a couple.
Jill could understand the confusion.
Dan had barely left her side. She’d noticed before that he was a toucher. He’d outdone himself tonight, putting his arm around her shoulders, touching her hair, stroking her cheek.
No wonder their friends were getting the wrong idea.
The last strains of the song faded away. There were a few seconds of silence, followed by applause. Laurie put her fingers in the sides of her mouth and whistled.
“Do you know ‘Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover’?” Charlie shouted out.
“May I remind you this is a wedding reception, dear,” Teresa told her husband gently.
“Good point,” Charlie conceded.
“Kenny needs a break anyway,” Laurie said, laughing. “And I need some more of that delicious cake. Everyone knows a pregnant woman can eat as much as she likes.”
“Hear, hear!” Johnny Pollock said. “I don’t have an excuse, but I want some more, too.”
“I call dibs on a chocolate piece,” Kenny added.
A small contingent headed for the kitchen. Dan didn’t move, his hand lightly caressing Jill’s shoulder. “Can I get you another piece of cake?” he asked.
Spoken exactly like a boyfriend.
Enough, she thought, was enough.
“No, thanks,” she said. “You can come with me.”
She sprang to her feet, heading into the house before any of the other guests could waylay her. Dan was slow to follow, so she doubled back and grabbed his hand.
“Where are we going?” he asked when they reached the family room.
She explored the possibilities. She spied a closed door near the kitchen and opened it, dragging him inside with her. The small room with the tiled floor smelled mountain fresh. A top-loading washing machine and a front-loading dryer hugged one wall. There was barely enough space left over for the two of them.
Dan balanced a hand on the top of the washing machine and smiled down at her. “Now’s not the best time to do laundry.”
She wasn’t going to think about how charmingly one corner of his mouth lifted when he smiled. “We need to talk,” she said.
“Here?” He reached out a hand and caressed her cheek.
“Here’s perfect.” She ignored the shivery sensation where his fingers touched her skin. “I needed to get you somewhere private to tell you to stop touching me.”
He grinned. “Usually that works the other way around.”
“You’re still doing it.”
His fingers had moved to her collarbone, absently rubbing over her skin. “What am I doing?”
“Touching me. Nobody will ever believe we’re not a couple if you keep that up.”
He straightened, tipped her chin so she was looking at him and ran his fingertips over her lips. “Then why are you letting me?”
“Because…” Her voice trailed off. She knew there was a reason. She was just having a hard time coming up with it.
“Don’t say it’s the wine,” he said. “I’ve been paying attention and you only had one glass all night.”
It was all she ever drank. She didn’t like not having her wits about her.
“It’s not the wine,” she said. “It’s because I know you don’t mean anything by it. You’re one of those people who are always touching other people.”
“No, I’m not.” His gaze locked with hers. “You’re the only person I’m always touching.”
“Because you and I are friends.” Her voice trembled.
“Because I want to be more than your friend,” he said.
“But we agreed—”
“I didn’t agree to anything,” he interrupted, his eyes still on hers. “My feelings haven’t changed. I want to see where this attraction we have for each other leads.”
Denying she was attracted to him would be fruitless. Even if she hadn’t already admitted as much, he might be able to tell that goose bumps had popped up on her skin where he’d touched her.
“We’ve already been over this,” she said in a soft, weak voice. “I’m not staying in Indigo Springs.”
“The more I think about that, the less I view it as a problem,” D
an said. “I’m not looking for anything long-term. An uncomplicated relationship would suit me just fine.”
“But not me!”
“Why not?” One of his hands ran down her arm and wound around her hand. His other cupped her cheek. “If you’re planning to leave town, you’re not in the market for anything serious either. We already like each other. We’re already spending a lot of time together. Why not take the next step?”
She had the strong feeling that something in his logic was seriously flawed, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.
She said the first thing that popped into her mind. “You just view me as a challenge because I don’t want to date you.”
“You know me better than that.” He was right. She did. Dan had far too much integrity to chase a woman for the sole purpose of determining whether he could catch her. “Besides, you do want to date me.”
“Is that right?”
His hands moved to her waist. Before she could guess his intentions, he hoisted her onto the washing machine so that their height difference was minimized.
“That’s right.” His eyes moved over her mouth. She felt her heartbeat speed up. He took a step forward so her legs hung on either side of him, with their upper bodies almost touching. “You want to kiss me, too.”
She started to deny it, then realized here was a chance to tell the truth. “So what if I do?”
He grinned. “So let’s stop denying what we both want.”
“I want—” she was touching him, too, her hands running over his hard chest “—to keep things casual.”
He stared into her eyes. “Then we’ll keep things casual.”
They moved forward at the same time, their mouths coming together hungrily. She’d kissed him only twice, but both times had been so memorable that she knew exactly how to slant her head and open her mouth to get the most out of the experience. She held his head in place, trying to get closer, wishing they were skin to skin.
She felt as though she couldn’t get enough of him. Not of his scent, those hard lips that instantly softened upon contact or the passion that could flare between them so quickly.
On the heels of that thought came a crazier one—that she’d never get enough of him.
Through the haze of her senses, she heard an abrupt sound she probably should have been able to identify.
“Oh, I’m sorry!” The declaration was loud and unexpected and gave a strong clue that the sound had been a door opening. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Jill reluctantly turned away from Dan’s mouth and toward the door that now stood ajar. Sara Brenneman stood stock-still at the entrance to the laundry room, her gaze dipping to Dan’s hand, which was on Jill’s left breast.
“I didn’t know anyone was in here.” Sara was usually the epitome of cool, but she was almost stammering. “I thought this was the restroom.”
Without another word, Sara closed the door.
Jill stared at Dan, then leaned her forehead weakly against his. She could hear his heart beating, or was that hers?
“We might as well give in and start dating,” she said, her voice coming in fits and starts, “because our deniability is shot.”
JILL STOOD OUTSIDE the discount department store an hour’s drive from Indigo Springs early on Monday afternoon, her back to a brick wall on the side of the building where hardly anyone parked.
On her prepaid cell phone she punched in a telephone number she knew by heart. Her index finger flew over the keys so quickly she hit a wrong number. She tried again and made another mistake.
“Slow down, Jill,” she told herself aloud. On her third try, she got the number right.
“Hello?” The greeting was tentative.
“Mama. It’s Jill.”
“Jill! I am so happy to hear from you.” Her mother’s familiar voice came over the line, sending warmth and love flowing through Jill. “But we talked only a couple weeks ago. Is something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” Jill never called from Indigo Springs, phoning only during her monthly trip to stock up on toiletries and paper products. This time, she’d waited only two weeks between visits to the store. “Quite the opposite, actually. I’ve met somebody.”
Jill almost giggled at how eager she was to blurt out the news. It had been that way when she was a teenager, too. When something notable happened in her life, she couldn’t wait to tell her mother.
“That’s wonderful, Jill!” Her mother reacted with the wholehearted happiness that made sharing good news with her such a joy. “I want to hear all about him.”
Jill leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes, wondering how best to describe Dan Maguire.
“Let’s see. He’s kind and generous and so likable he even won over Chris. He’s a mountain biker, although I don’t think a very dedicated one. He’s the vet everybody wants to treat their pets, but his dogs aren’t well behaved.” She laughed. “You should hear those dogs bark when someone comes to the door. It hurts your ears. But that’s because Dan enjoys being around them so much he’s too soft on them, which shows you what a good heart he has.”
“That’s all well and good—” her mother’s voice held a smile “—but is this Dan hot?”
“Oh, yeah!” Jill pictured Dan the way he’d looked Sunday night when they agreed to start seeing each other. “He’s Irish, with hair as black as mine, fair skin and these gorgeous blue eyes. Tall and lean but not skinny. And he has this great, deep voice.”
“How long have you been going out?”
“Let’s see.” Jill checked her wristwatch, confirming it was nearly two in the afternoon. She’d sandwiched this trip to the store between her morning white water run and her shift at the Blue Haven. “About fifteen hours.”
“You just met him?” her mother asked.
“Oh, no. We were both at a party last night, and that’s when we decided to start dating.” She smiled at the thought of the laundry room, a memory so vivid she could almost smell the detergent and feel Dan’s lips on hers. That was as intimate as they’d gotten. After the party broke up, he’d driven her straight to Chase and Kelly’s to pick up Chris. “But we’ve been friends for a while.”
“The best relationships start as friendships,” her mother said. “So I guess this means you’ve told him about Chris.”
Jill stopped smiling. “I haven’t told anyone about Chris. I can’t.”
“You just said you and Dan were friends.”
“That has nothing to do with it,” Jill said. “You know what happened with Ray. It never occurred to me he’d tell Daddy what I was planning. I learned the best way to keep Chris safe is to say nothing.”
“So what do you say when Dan asks about your past?”
“I tell him as much of the truth as I can.” Jill swallowed, thinking about the lie she’d relayed about her father being dead. “At the same time, I say as little as possible.”
“Oh, honey.” Her mother’s words held a wealth of feeling. “I’m so sorry.”
“It can’t be helped,” Jill said. “I can’t afford to make even one more mistake.”
She heard what sounded like her mother blowing out a breath. “Unfortunately, you could be right. There’s something I have to tell you, too. Your father called me again a few days ago.”
“Is he still with Arianne?” Jill asked the question every time she and her mother talked, although she was always fairly sure of the answer.
“He’s still sticking by her,” her mother said. “I swear, that woman has your father completely fooled. I only met her the one time and it seems pretty clear to me she’s a phony who married him for his money.”
“Why did Daddy call you?” Jill’s hand clenched into a fist at her side. Although her parents managed to be civil, they generally avoided each other. The only thing they had in common, her mother often said, was Jill.
“He wanted me to tell you your time is running out,” her mother said. “He feels like you’ve backed him into a corner, so
he’s giving you an ultimatum. If you don’t bring Chris back before two weeks is up, he’s going to the police.”
Jill felt the thump-thump-thump of her heart speeding up. “I’ll come back tomorrow if he kicks Arianne out of the house.”
“We both know that’s not going to happen. The woman can do no wrong in his eyes.”
“Then the answer’s no,” Jill said. “I’m not putting Chris at risk. No matter what.”
“Your father says the police have access to more resources than a private eye,” her mother said. “He says it would only be a matter of time before they found you.”
Jill’s stomach knotted and her chest tightened, but she raised her chin. “We’ll see about that.”
Her mother was silent for a few beats. “This Dan you were telling me about—you’re not in love with him, are you?”
It was too early for Jill to put a label on her feelings. Or maybe she hadn’t put a name on them because caution had become the watchword in her life.
She didn’t need her mother to tell her the inevitable. That the only outcome to the situation her father had thrust her into spelled the end of her relationship.
Either she and Chris left Indigo Springs before the cops got close. Or she stayed too long, dooming Chris to life with a cruel witch in designer clothing and herself to a possible jail sentence.
“No. I can’t afford to fall in love,” Jill said.
CHAPTER TEN
“YOU POUR ME A DRINK or I’ll come back there and make you pour!”
The drunk’s threat cut through all the other noise in the Blue Haven on Tuesday evening as Dan entered the bar.
The man was a behemoth, weighing more than three hundred pounds and topping six feet by a good four or five inches. He was looming over the bar, and one of his hands was balled into a fist, his anger a dark palpable force directed behind the bar.
At Jill.
Adrenaline coursed through Dan. He rushed forward, almost careening into a man rising from his chair.
“Sorry,” he mumbled, but kept going, his eyes on the scene unfolding at the bar.
“You don’t mean that, darlin’.” Jill’s expression was pleasant, her posture fully relaxed, her voice soft. “You know the reason I won’t pour you another beer is because I’m looking out for you.”
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