A Man Worth Remembering

by Delores Fossen

  She told herself to leave well enough alone, but she didn’t take her own advice. “Why did I leave you? Did I have an affair or something?” But Leigh knew it wasn’t that. She just didn’t know how she knew it.

  “No affair,” he confirmed several long moments later. He scraped his thumbnail over a ragged patch of leather on the dash. What he didn’t do was look at her. “You came to me with information you’d learned about Dayton,” he said slowly. “I’d known him for years. He was a friend. And I didn’t think he was capable of doing something like that.”

  “But the proof—”

  “I thought the proof was wrong, that someone had doctored the evidence.”

  “Certainly not me?” That didn’t feel right either, but there was something about this explanation that stirred other emotions. Other sensations. Anger. Hurt. Pain. Betrayal. The emotions slowly began to unravel inside her.

  “No. But I thought someone had,” he explained. “You were equally sure of Dayton’s guilt. A feeling, you said. A feeling I dismissed because I thought he was someone I knew and trusted.”

  In other words, Gabe had made a mistake. Leigh didn’t need her memory to know he wouldn’t have handled that well. But then, neither had she. “Did you confront Dayton?”

  Gabe nodded. “He came to me and said he was innocent. I believed him. I told him that I’d do whatever I could to clear his name. I even went to Jinx and convinced him to investigate further before they brought Dayton in. Just the hint of impropriety would have destroyed his career in the Justice Department.”

  Okay. That probably would have happened. “Since I already believed Dayton was guilty, I suppose we argued?”

  “We most certainly would have…if Dayton hadn’t tried to kill you.”

  “He what?”

  This time the profanity wasn’t quite so muffled. “He tried to make it look a carjacking. He shot you in the arm and then chased you down an alley. Dayton would have killed you if a bystander hadn’t stepped in. When he realized the game was over, he turned the gun on himself.”

  Leigh didn’t remember any of it, but she could almost see those images in her mind and she could feel the raw emotions that went along with them. Not easy sensations to grasp.

  “You nearly died because I trusted the wrong man.” Gabe glanced at her, for only a second, before he turned back to the window.

  This was probably one of the few times that amnesia was a good thing. Even though Leigh had hints of the horrible events that had gone on, her lack of memory forced her to look at them objectively.

  “I was wrong to say you threw away your vows,” he added several moments later. “I gave you a damn good reason to throw them away.”

  Maybe. But all the little pieces to this puzzle just didn’t add up. She would have been angry and hurt that Gabe hadn’t trusted her, but why would that have caused her to walk away from her job, their marriage and him?

  There had to be something else.

  But what?

  Maybe it was simply that she knew Dayton did indeed have an accomplice, and she didn’t want to take unnecessary chances with her life. But why wouldn’t she have turned to Gabe or even Jinx to help her? One was her husband. The other, supposedly their close friend. With their combined FBI training, the three of them could have almost certainly flushed out an accomplice who might want her dead.

  So, if her sudden, unexplained departure wasn’t solely the result of the Dayton fiasco, then what had it all been about? And better yet—did Gabe know what had caused her to leave?

  Maybe.

  And if he did, why did he feel the need to keep it from her?

  Leigh mulled those questions over while she drove toward the Texas state line.

  Chapter Nine

  Gabe put the rest of their take-out chicken in the fridge and finished off one of the bottles of Mexican beer he’d found on the bottom shelf. Obviously, his folks came back often enough to keep the place stocked and clean.

  The house was one big giant memory. Not all of it was good either. In fact, some of those memories were downright unpleasant.

  Rather than reliving the past, he focused on the fact that it was a safe place to spend the night and trade out vehicles. He’d left his college clunker in the garage ten years earlier when he’d left for the FBI Academy. Thankfully, his father had seen to it over the years, and it started right up. Gabe just hoped the vehicle got them to Grand Valley so they could meet with Frank Templeton.

  The old pipes in the house groaned and creaked when Leigh turned on the faucet in the bathroom. Since the only bathroom was just off the kitchen, he had no trouble hearing the rattle of the shower curtain when she stepped inside the tub. He also had no trouble imagining how she looked with the water cascading down her naked body.

  Of course, Gabe had an advantage with that particular image—he’d seen Leigh naked in the shower many times. Even in this one.

  And on many occasions he’d joined her.

  Cursing himself and his too-good memory, Gabe got himself another beer and sat down at the kitchen table. He’d have to tell his family, of course, about Leigh’s return. He just didn’t know what that telling would include. They knew little of Leigh’s and his breakup, only that she’d left the Bureau to make her life elsewhere. Now he’d have to explain something he didn’t have a real explanation for himself.

  He took a long drink of his beer and stared at the ceiling. There probably wasn’t one room in the entire house where at one time or another she hadn’t told him I love you. In those days before the incident with Joe Dayton, Leigh had been generous with those three words. And they hadn’t just been words. She’d meant them. It was impossible to fake feelings that ran that deep. Gabe knew. Because he’d said those words right back to her.

  Riled at himself for remembering that, he took out his phone and pressed in the numbers for a call he should have made hours earlier.

  “Who are you calling?” he heard Leigh ask.

  He turned so quickly, he nearly fell out of his chair. She was in the doorway that led from the hall into the kitchen. Not naked, of course. She wore a robe she’d borrowed from his mother’s closet. It was several sizes too large for her, but that didn’t stop Gabe from noticing the way the sash cinched around her waist.

  “Jinx,” he answered.

  Her eyebrow arched. “Why?”

  “Because he’ll want to know that we’re all right. I’m sure Teresa’s already contacted him so he’ll know there were gunmen after us.”

  Her hair was still wet. It lay against the sides of her face and neck. When she stepped into the room, she brought the scent of her shower with her.

  She smelled like gardenias. Something subtle but potent. The timing was lousy, but it went straight through him like wildfire. Of course, just being close to her had a way of doing that. The two years they’d spent apart had done nothing to diminish the raw passion she ignited within him.

  Gabe didn’t dare get up from that chair. For one thing, he couldn’t. Well, not without settling down his own body first. But he also didn’t need to be any closer to her. He decided it was a good time to make that call, so he pressed in the last of the numbers.

  “I’d rather Jinx didn’t know where we are,” Leigh added.

  Gabe was about to assure her, again, that they could trust Jinx, but he didn’t have time because he heard his friend’s voice on the other end of the line.

  “It’s me.” Gabe paused, wondering what to add to that. “We’re safe.”

  “Thank God. How bad did things get?”

  “Bad enough. We’re going to lay low for the night.”

  He glanced at Leigh. She still had that look in her eyes—the one that questioned his judgment. Maybe she was thinking about another man he’d trusted. Joe Dayton. A friend who’d turned out not to be a friend after all. But Jinx wasn’t Joe Dayton. Gabe knew he could trust this man. Still, there was no reason to let anyone know where they were. That would perhaps give Leigh some peace of mind.<
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  “We should make it to Grand Valley in plenty of time,” Gabe continued. “You’ll be there?”

  “Wouldn’t miss it. I’ll stay back though. I don’t want Frank to see me and get spooked.”

  That was a good plan. Gabe didn’t know Frank Templeton that well, but he certainly seemed like the type who’d spook easily. Of course, in this case Frank perhaps had a reason for it. The same person who’d gone after them would likely go after Frank as well. If he or she could find Frank, that is.

  “See you tomorrow.” Gabe turned off the phone before Jinx could ask anything else—especially anything about their location.

  Leigh leaned against the wall next to the refrigerator. “Thanks for not telling him where we are.”

  Gabe nodded and tipped his head to the beer. “You want one?”

  “No, thanks. But I wouldn’t mind another cup of that coffee.” She walked to the old-fashioned drip coffeepot on the stove and refilled the earthenware mug she’d left on the counter. As Gabe knew she would, she added three heaping teaspoons of sugar.

  Leigh drank several sips before she continued. “I found some clothes in that back bedroom that look like they’ll fit me. If you don’t mind, I’ll borrow them for the trip tomorrow.”

  “Of course.” They were probably some old things Maria had left behind when she left home for college. Hopefully, the fit wouldn’t be as distracting as the shorts and top had been. If so, he might have to borrow some blinders from the barn to keep himself from being too distracted.

  “I noticed the pictures in your parents’ room. I didn’t recognized them,” Leigh added almost as an apology. “But they look like nice people.”

  “They are.”

  She fidgeted with some chili-shaped salt and pepper shakers on the counter. “So, was this place part of a working ranch before your folks moved to Brownsville?”

  When she pushed her hand through her hair, Gabe glanced at her. Her nerves were definitely showing. Hell, his probably were, too. There was nothing relaxing about this conversation.

  “Yeah. There’s about two hundreds acres total. The land has been in the Sanchez family for three generations. I think that’s why my father is reluctant to sell it, even though none of the kids have ranching in their blood. I guess he figures either Reese or I will change our minds.”

  The room suddenly seemed too warm. Gabe got up and raised the window over the sink. The night air was more muggy than cool, and it began to spill into the room, bringing the scents of Texas with it. The pasture grass. The wildflowers. His mother’s roses that were in full bloom. Even with all that, he could still detect Leigh’s own unique scent.

  Rather than stare at his wife, Gabe stared out into the darkness instead.

  “There are four children in the photos in the bedroom,” she said. “Two girls and two boys. I thought you said you only had one sister.”

  Hell. The woman sure could zone in on the worst of subjects. He bracketed his hands on the counter. “My other sister, Emily, died when she was just a kid.”

  “Oh.” He heard the sympathy, and yet another apology in her voice. She cleared her throat and thankfully changed the subject. “Tell me about this house in Grand Valley where we’re meeting Frank.”

  “It’ll take us about a couple hours to get there.” Thankfully, they had some time since they didn’t have to meet him until the following night. Maybe nothing else would go wrong between now and then.

  “There’ll be guards?” she asked.

  “There shouldn’t be.” He shook his head. “I have no way of knowing if Frank called anyone else, but it didn’t sound as if he’d trust too many people.”

  Despite the fact he knew it was a stupid thing to do, Gabe looked at her again. Hell. How could anyone look that good wearing an old chenille robe? “Listen, I know the adrenaline might still have you pumped, but you need to get some rest. We’ll have plenty to do if Frank comes through tomorrow night. If he can tell us who Dayton’s accomplice is, then we’ll have to get that information to someone who won’t kill us just because we have it.”

  “Any idea who we can trust with that?” She drank more of her coffee.

  “Jinx. He’ll find a way to get it into the right hands. That’s why I want him to meet us there. We’ll have to get Frank out of the area tomorrow night. He won’t be safe there very long.”

  “No, I don’t suspect he will.” Worry lines bunched up her forehead. She set the coffee mug back on the table and slid the tip of her index finger around the rim. Gabe found the gesture, well, erotic. Of course, almost anything she could have done would have been erotic. He definitely had a one-track mind tonight.

  Knowing he had to say, or do, something, he motioned toward the bandage on her foot. “How are the stitches?”

  “As good as can be expected.” She took a deep breath that forced her breasts against the tightly cinched fabric of the robe. “I changed the bandages and used some of that antibiotic cream from the first-aid kit.”

  “Good.” And that was all he managed to get out.

  Her gaze came to his. Slowly. As if she was fighting the moment as much as he was. There was a hint of panic in her sea-green eyes and something else, something familiar.

  Something that immediately kicked his body into overdrive.

  Gabe forgot all about her amnesia and the mess they were in. He forgot all about the hurt, the anger, the pain and the fact that just hours earlier he’d sworn never to get involved with her again.

  All he remembered was that Leigh was his wife.

  And he wanted her.

  Gabe reached out and grabbed onto fists full of that god-awful robe and wrenched her closer. She didn’t resist, didn’t even mutter an objection. There were no more preliminaries, no long yearning looks, no soft caressing breaths. Just them. Two people who obviously needed each other.

  Starving, he took her mouth—because it was his for the taking. He could feel every nerve in his body. And hers. The tension drummed through his pulse, slicing through him with both pleasure and pain. The sheer need he had for her nearly brought him to his knees.

  Her breath caught when he turned her and backed her against the sink. Gabe wasn’t even sure if he was breathing. Everything seemed to swirl around them.

  “We should stop this,” he somehow managed to say. “So, now would be a good time to do it…unless you want it to continue.”

  She just stared at him, her warm, moist breath hitting against a rather sensitive spot on his neck.

  “Well?” he asked. “Yes or no?”

  Leigh caught onto his shoulders and pulled him to her. “Yes.”

  SHE’D OBVIOUSLY LOST her mind. She’d said yes. Yes! How could she have possibly said that? Still, Leigh kissed him as if he were the source of her next breath.

  With the fresh, tangled emotions rocketing through her, she pulled back. Slightly. And tried to get control of herself. She saw something in the depth of Gabe’s midnight-blue eyes that caused her heart to jolt. She saw the need and knew without a doubt that it was the same need reflected in her own eyes.

  She pulled in her breath. This wasn’t about passion, or sex. It wasn’t the time for her hormones to start raging. Yet she felt helpless against the mighty force that had apparently already been set into motion.

  Somewhere through the haze, it occurred to her again that she should stop and regroup. Things were spinning out of control.

  “Gabe,” she whispered. It was a warning. And a plea. A fear. And a necessity. All of the things that she’d tried to tamp down rose to the surface.

  And escaped.

  In what seemed to be a burst of fire, his mouth came to hers, and he kissed her. It was rough. Almost punishing. But she knew it couldn’t have been any gentler. The connection between them wouldn’t have allowed anything less than what he gave her.

  Digging her fingers into his shoulders, she snapped him to her so the hard muscles of his body pressed right into her. The fit was so perfect, so good, that her eyes water
ed. And her heart soared.

  He didn’t break the kiss, but Gabe fisted a hand in her hair and maneuvered her so that the small of her back pressed against the sink. Without it, and his arm to support her, she would have no doubt fallen.

  He took his clever mouth to her neck, and then to the spot just beneath her ear. They’d obviously spent a long time kissing because Gabe seemed to know every pleasure point and erogenous zone on her body. He evidently remembered which ones would turn her to instant flames.

  His lips brushed against her earlobe. It didn’t stay a brush though. He flicked his tongue over it. Sucked it. Lingered with his hot, moist breath until she wanted to wrap herself around him and beg for more.

  Still, she could have perhaps stopped at that point if it’d just been the kiss. It wasn’t. While he continued the assault on her ear, he slid his hand over her throat. And then lower into the V-opening of the robe. His fingertips found her nipples and brought them to hard peaks.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  At the sound of her voice, he eased back and looked at her. His eyes were hot and narrowed. The intensity should have frightened her, but she was beyond that. Beyond fear. Beyond reason.

  She didn’t even try to stop him when he reached for the sash that held the robe together. He undid it and eased one side off her shoulder.

  “I’m going to kiss you there,” he let her know, his fingertips fondling her nipple.

  She heard the primitive sound claw its way past his throat, felt the slow, eating hunger in his touch. And she was lost. Willingly lost.

  Gabe did as he promised. He lowered his head and claimed her breast, first one and then the other, much as he’d already claimed her mouth. Leigh leaned into him and let herself fall into the fiery haze of passion and need.

  It was that need that sent her searching for relief. Leigh rubbed herself against him. Seeking. Needing something that only Gabe could give her. His thigh grazed the feverish center of her body, and the brief contact made her gasp.