Angels Landing

by Rochelle Alers

  Morgan had given her a projected budget of what she would need to start up the business, and Kara had checks drawn on her Charleston accounts to minimize someone inadvertently leaking the news that Kara had given Morgan a check for six figures. What they didn’t know was the amount on the check was minuscule compared to the price of restoring the property and would be deducted from the final cost.

  She studied a page featuring a pond in a meadow surrounded by ornamental grasses and irises. When walking the property, Kara had discovered several ponds and an underground stream. She jumped when she heard the doorbell chime and glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was 10:50.

  Lowering her feet she’d rested on another chair, she went to answer the door. It hadn’t taken her long to get used to locking the door right after Mrs. Todd left for the evening.

  Peering through the security eye, she saw Jeff standing on the porch. When he hadn’t returned her call, she thought either he forgot or had intended to call her. He’d done what David had asked him to do and was keeping an eye on her. His deputies continued to stop by every day to ask about her as they did with most residents and businesspeople on the island. It was something Jeff had instituted to stay connected. Morgan said the former sheriff was distant, reinforcing the stereotype that people shouldn’t trust law enforcement.

  She opened the door to find him grinning at her like a Cheshire cat. He was wearing his badge and gun, so she assumed he was on duty. “Good evening, Sheriff Hamilton.”

  He nodded and angled his head. “Good evening, Miss Newell. I heard you were asking for me.”

  Kara shivered slightly. Not from the cool night air but from the way Jeff was staring at her. Pulling back her shoulders, she managed a tight smile. “Yes. I wanted to thank you for the balloon and the flowers.” She noticed he was staring at a spot below her neck, and when she glanced down, she saw her distended nipples were clearly visible under the cotton fabric of her pajama top.

  Jeff’s gaze inched up to her face. “May I come in?” Taking a step back, Kara opened the door, and he stepped into the entryway. “I would’ve come sooner, but I was away at a conference.”

  Kara closed the door but didn’t turn around. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Jeff.”

  He took a step, pressing his chest to her back. “What if I feel the need to explain myself?”

  “Why?”

  Her heart was pounding in her chest like a trip-hammer. Jeff dwarfed her as she stood there in her bare feet. His heat, the scent of his cologne, and the solid wall of his chest against her back reminded her of what she’d missed and had been missing for years. She wanted to trust him but couldn’t because of the men in her life: Taylor and the other men in her past. Even Austin had deceived her when he’d elected not to tell her he wasn’t her biological father. And yet despite her angst, her body betrayed her at the exact time his arm went around her waist.

  “Because I missed you,” he whispered in her ear.

  “You haven’t known me long enough to miss me,” she murmured.

  “I don’t measure my life in days, weeks, or years but in seconds. You look at life differently once you stare death in the face every second of your life. I grew up hearing the old folk talk about tomorrow isn’t promised to you. My mantra is today isn’t promised, either.”

  Kara was certain he could feel her trembling. “What is it you want, Jeff?” His deep chuckle caressed her ear.

  “You really don’t want to know what I want.”

  She smiled in spite of her pleasurable predicament. “Yes, I do.”

  “Right now I want to kiss you.”

  “Is that all?”

  He laughed again. “What else were you expecting?”

  “Nothing,” Kara said much too quickly to sound convincing.

  “You’re an incredibly beautiful liar.” He pressed his mouth to her hair. “I want that too but only when you’re ready.

  She bit her lip and nodded. “What if I’m never ready?”

  “Then we’ll have a relationship without the sex. I just want to be with you.”

  Turning in his loose embrace, Kara met his eyes, looking for a trace of guile. His expression was closed. “You’re kidding, aren’t you?”

  “No, I’m not. Do you believe I’m so self-centered that I think all women want to sleep with me?”

  “Most of the men I’ve known or met expect me to sleep with them.”

  His eyebrow lifted a fraction. “You’ve been hanging out with the wrong guys.”

  “It appears as if I have,” she said under her breath. What she couldn’t tell Jeff was that if she were given a choice she would sleep with him.

  She hadn’t told anyone (and that included Morgan) that after she restored Angels Landing, she planned to move into the vacant guesthouse and convert the main house into a museum. The revenue she derived from tours would be used for preservation. Once she had lived there for five years, she would decide what she wanted to do with the rest of her life. At thirty-eight she would still be young and wealthy enough to do whatever pleased her.

  Jeff cradled her face. His head dipped as if in slow motion, and Kara breathed in his scent seconds before his mouth covered hers in a kiss that stole the breath from her lungs. Going on tiptoe, she anchored her arms under his shoulders, holding onto him as if her life depended on him and only him.

  Arousal snaked through her body, scorching her from head to toe. She opened her mouth to his searching tongue, losing herself in the moment and the man. It took herculean strength but Kara managed to tear away before she begged Jeff to take her upstairs and make love to her. A soft groan escaped her parted lips when he fastened his mouth to the column of her neck.

  “My grandmother wants to know if you’re coming for Sunday dinner.”

  “Will you be there?”

  “I can arrange to be there if you want me to.”

  “It really doesn’t matter,” she quipped, offering him a saucy grin.

  His eyebrows lifted a fraction. “Oh, really? What do I have to do to make you change your mind?” he teased, pulling her closer and lowering his head to kiss her again.

  “Leave before we start something we can’t finish.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Jeff’s arms fell away, and Kara felt his loss even before he walked out of the door. Something about being in his embrace felt so right, so natural, as if they’d done it before in another time and place. “Good night,” she said in a hushed whisper.

  Amusement shimmered in his eyes. “Oh, that it will be.” Turning on his heels, Jeff opened the door. “I’ll pick you up on Sunday.”

  Kara could still see his broad shoulders, cropped hair and remembered the sparkle in his dark eyes long after she’d locked the door. She felt a warm glow of satisfaction when she realized he hadn’t forgotten her. In fact, he’d admitted to missing her.

  “I missed you, too.” She didn’t know why it was so hard for her to have admitted that to Jeff.

  Kara returned to the kitchen and poured the lukewarm coffee in the sink, rinsed the cup, and put it in the dishwasher. Leaving the light on in the hallway, she walked up the back staircase to her bedroom. When she climbed into bed, she felt a pang of emptiness. She’d slept alone for so long it almost seemed natural for her. Since meeting Jeff, Kara realized she didn’t want to sleep alone.

  She didn’t want to end up like Taylor living in a twenty-room house with no one to tell him that they loved him. He’d grown accustomed to being alone and had died alone. How sad for a man in the prime of his life and who’d amassed a great deal of wealth to have no one to share it with.

  Kara shook her head as she pulled the sheet and blanket up and over her body. No. She would not go out like that. Even if she never married, she would adopt a child or children, anyone who would enjoy their grandfather’s legacy.

  Kara felt as if she had butterflies in her stomach when she saw her mother’s name and number come up on her cell as she prepared to leave the house
to walk along the beach.

  “Mama?”

  “I got someone to cover for me, and I’m on my way to Charleston.”

  She closed her eyes. It was time to discover another piece of the puzzle. “What time is your plane coming in?”

  “I’m driving, Kara.”

  “Is Daddy with you?”

  “No. This is something we need to talk about without him being present.”

  “Where are you now?” It was about nine hundred miles between Little Rock and Charleston, and Kara hoped her mother hadn’t attempted to make the drive without stopping.

  “I just crossed into South Carolina. I’m going to stop in Columbia, check into a hotel for a couple of hours, then come on in.”

  “Mama, you’d better sleep for more than a couple of hours.”

  “Once I get to Charleston, I’ll need directions for Cavanaugh Island.”

  “Call me and I’ll meet you.”

  “Okay.”

  “Mama? Please get some sleep.”

  “Okay, baby.”

  Kara tapped the button, ending the call. Walking on shaky knees, she managed to make her way over to the bedroom’s sitting area. Dropping into a deep armchair, she rested her feet on the footstool. The bottle-green, watered silk fabric was faded and frayed.

  She couldn’t wait to see her mother—not just to uncover the details of her paternity, but because Jeannette was the stabilizing factor in her life. The last time she’d seen her mother cry was when Austin was being transferred to another base, the third in four years, and Kara had become hysterical because she didn’t want to leave her friends. Jeannette had risked her marriage when she told her husband she wasn’t going with him, that she was returning to Little Rock to live with her mother and father until he voluntarily resigned or retired from the corps.

  Kara knew the ultimatum had shocked Austin, and he’d accused Jeannette of not supporting him, but Jeannette remained resolute when she said her daughter’s emotional well-being was first and everything else secondary. It was the first time Kara remembered her mother’s reference to her being her daughter and not their daughter. However at eight years of age she hadn’t understood any of the dynamics surrounding her parents’ marriage. The only thing that mattered was she was going to go to the same school year after year and she didn’t have to leave her new friends.

  Kara loved Austin, but even at a young age she knew she didn’t like military life when her family moved every few years, and there were times when she rarely got to see him. Would it, she mused, have been that way if Jeff was on active duty and they were in a relationship? She knew whatever they would’ve had would have failed because she was not willing to embrace that lifestyle.

  Sitting and thinking about her past was not helping to ease her nerves about the pending meeting with her mother. And if she didn’t get up, she wouldn’t, and she wanted to make it to the beach in time to watch the sun rise.

  When she got there, Kara discovered she wasn’t the only one on the beach. There was an older couple walking slowly while holding hands. She passed two young women jogging at a fast pace who nodded to her but didn’t break stride. She walked in the opposite direction, heading for the Cove and where the Black Bay connected with the southwest bank of the Ashley River. Slowing, she watched the magnificent sunrise as the cold, gray, angry surf pounded the beach.

  “Awesome, isn’t it?”

  With wide eyes, she spun around to find Jeff standing several feet away. She forced herself not to stare at his bare chest. Beads of perspiration dotted his forehead and upper body despite the cold wind coming off the water. She could see every one of the abs on his flat belly.

  “Yes it is.” He was talking about the sun, and she was talking about his body. “Aren’t you cold?” She’d elected to wear a cotton turtleneck under her sweats, while Jeff had opted for sweatpants.

  He began jogging in place. “You don’t feel the cold if you keep moving.” He took her hand. “Come jog with me.”

  “I hadn’t planned to jog.”

  He gave her a sidelong glance. “You don’t look as if you’re out of condition.”

  She quickened her pace to keep up with him. Jogging on sand was much more difficult than on a track. “My mother is coming in today.”

  “What time is her flight?”

  “She’s driving. I told her I would meet her in Charleston.”

  “She’s welcome to join us tomorrow.”

  “I’ll tell her.” Kara’s breathing was becoming more labored. If she’d joined a gym, the extra exertion wouldn’t have tested her endurance. “You’re either going to have to slow down or let go of my hand. Oh no!” she screamed when he swung her up in his arms and continued running. “Put me down, Jeff,” she yelled between clenched teeth.

  “Hold on, baby.”

  She held onto his thick neck to keep her balance. “Are you hard of hearing? I told you to put me down.”

  “Stop talking and enjoy the ride.”

  Kara couldn’t believe he was carrying her as if she were a child. “You’re going to pay for this.”

  “Ooo-wee! I’m scared.” Jeff shook himself for effect.

  “I’m not kidding, Jeff.”

  “Please stop talking, darling.”

  “I’m not your darling.”

  “You could be.”

  “What if I don’t want to be?”

  “Your mouth says one thing today, while the other night your lips said the opposite.”

  “Do you have to remind me of that?”

  “Why not? I can’t forget it.”

  “Stop it, Jeff. You’re embarrassing me.”

  He slowed, then came to a complete stop. “Are you a virgin?”

  Her jaw dropped, heat suffused her face, appalled that he thought her so prudish that she could’ve been a virgin. Was it that obvious because it had been a while since she’d been in a man’s company? She had been alone for far too long.

  “Do you realize how old I am?”

  “That’s not what I asked you. Have you ever slept with a man?”

  “Of course I have. And why would that interest you?”

  “There’s an innocence about you I find endearing.”

  “Too innocent for the worldly military man?”

  Jeff grinned, his teeth showing whitely against the stubble on his lean jaw. “Never.” Bending slightly, he set Kara on her feet. “It’s time I start back. Some of us have to work for a living.”

  She scrunched her nose. “Very funny. Remember, I’m on vacation.”

  He cradled her face and brushed a light kiss on her mouth. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

  Kara stood watching as Jeff turned and raced down the beach, sand spewing under bare feet. As she turned to retrace her steps to the parking lot, she noticed two women watching her. By the looks on their faces, they’d seen the entire encounter.

  Chapter Eight

  Kara and her mother stood at the rail of the ferry, watching the skyline of Charleston growing smaller as the ferryman deftly steered the boat through the narrow inlet until he reached open water.

  Jeannette placed a hand over her mouth, smothering a yawn. “I suppose I still didn’t get enough sleep.”

  “That’s why you’re going straight to bed once we get to Angels Landing.” Shifting, Kara leaned back against the rail. “Even with bags under your eyes, you still look beautiful, Mama.”

  The older woman yawned again. “And you always know what to say to make me feel better.”

  Kara studied her mother, noticing a few more strands of gray in her thick, stylishly cut, coiffed hair. Kara had inherited her mother’s hair and body, but that’s where their resemblance ended. Her eyes were hazel, her coloring a golden-brown, while Jeannette always joked that her eyes and skin were an exact match: henna.

  “It’s the truth. I’m surprised Daddy didn’t insist on coming with you. You know he has a jealous streak as wide as the Mississippi.”

  Jeannette flashed a demure smile.
“I told him we were going to have a girls’ week. After all, he has his boys’ week with his military buddies whenever they go camping and do Lord knows what.”

  Kara smoothed back the wisps of hair that had escaped her ponytail. It was the last week in March, and spring was definitely in the air. Daytime temperatures now topped out at seventy. “Did his jealousy have anything to do with Taylor?”

  An audible breath came from Jeannette. “Come, let’s sit down, Kara.” They moved over to sit on padded benches, far enough away from the other passengers so they wouldn’t be overheard. She smiled when Kara rubbed her back. “Austin and I grew up together. He was my first and only boyfriend until I met Taylor. I’d left home to go to college while Austin enlisted in the Marines. Austin and I hadn’t slept together, and he made me promise to wait for him.

  “My college roommate was dating a Morehouse brother, and I sort of paired up with his roommate. Taylor and I became real good friends. Outside of class you rarely saw me without him and vice versa. One night when he’d had too much to drink, he told me about his family, his overly protective mother in particular, and how he’d had to fight for his independence. I was close to tears once he admitted that he’d never slept with a woman. He was a handsome, brilliant man who’d been afraid to approach a woman because his mother had turned him into a social cripple. Then everything changed during our senior year. Instead of going home for spring break, we took off for Virginia Beach, checked into a hotel, and a sorry sight it was with not one but two bumbling virgins. We managed to get it right, and for one glorious week I felt as if I’d died and gone to heaven.

  “My period was late, but that didn’t raise any warning bells because my cycle was never regular. It wasn’t until after I’d graduated and moved back to Little Rock that I realized I was carrying Taylor’s baby.”

  “Did you tell him?”

  Her mother nodded. “I’d called his home and left a message for him to return my call, but either he didn’t get the message or he’d decided to move on. I wrote him a letter, and that too went unanswered. That’s when I knew I had to tell Austin that I was carrying another man’s baby. I’d expected him to walk away, but he insisted we marry as quickly as possible. We went to the courthouse, got married, and moved into off-base housing. You were born a week before Christmas, and when Austin held you for the first time and called you his baby girl, I knew I’d been given a second chance. I had a wonderful supportive husband and a beautiful daughter.”