Lone Wolf Standing

by Carla Cassidy

  “He might not be as tall as his partners, but he’s plenty tall enough for you.”

  Sheri tried not to think about how well their bodies had fit together in that unforgettable kiss they had shared. Jimmy wasn’t really short, he just wasn’t a six-foot prince.

  “There’s nothing going on between us. He’s just doing his job,” she said firmly, unsure if she was trying to convince Jennifer or herself.

  Jennifer raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing a word Sheri said. “Guess I’ll go straighten some shelves before the next flurry of customers arrive.”

  “That’s right, make yourself useful,” Sheri muttered.

  As Jennifer disappeared down one of the aisles, Sheri mentally cursed her for bringing up Jimmy. Since the night he had told her about his childhood loss, she’d felt herself getting too close, caring too much about him, yet she was convinced he wasn’t the right man for her.

  He himself had told her that he didn’t know how to love, that he wasn’t looking for a forever relationship. When the right man walked into her life it wouldn’t be with the burden of defending her. He wouldn’t be a man who saw Sheri as a potential victim.

  Jimmy was just wrong for her, but that didn’t stop her from wondering what it would be like to kiss him again. It didn’t stop her from fantasizing what it might be like to make love to him.

  On some level she found him fascinating. When they talked about his day over dinner, he was able to recount interviews and discussion with Frank and Steve almost verbatim, without using notes to refresh his memory.

  He was sharp, quick-witted and often made her laugh with stories of his work and his life in Philly. He’d helped her fill bird feeders, thrown out their leftovers for the raccoons and put out fresh squirrel corn without complaint.

  He was just easy to be with and he made her feel good whenever she was around him. Something about the way he gazed at her made her feel special.

  Drat the man anyway, she thought as she headed for the back room to get a cup of coffee. She nearly jumped out of her skin as she saw William King standing in the back doorway.

  “Mr. King,” she greeted him with a hesitant smile. “I don’t see you often here in the store.”

  “No, but apparently you see too much of my son.” The man’s blue eyes were pale, nearly colorless and without any friendliness at all.

  “He does come in occasionally,” Sheri said slowly. She wasn’t going to lie about Jason’s visits to the store.

  “He talks too much.”

  “He’s overwhelmed since his mother’s death,” Sheri replied.

  It was obviously the wrong thing to say for William’s eyes narrowed even more. “He’s becoming enamored with the English ways and he has no business sharing personal things outside of his own people. I would have you turn him away should he come here again.”

  “As you wish,” Sheri conceded. As much as it broke her heart for the young Jason, she would not go against his father’s wishes. She’d always been close to the people from the Amish settlement and she would not get between a father and his son and the ways of their people.

  William tipped his straw hat and then stepped out of the building. A moment later, Sheri heard the sound of his buggy pulling away.

  William had been angry with Roxy months ago when the family would go into town and Jason would spend some time with Sheri’s sister in front of her restaurant.

  He was obviously terrified that his eldest son would turn his back on his faith and become English. The result of Jason becoming English would be that he would never be allowed to see or speak to his family again. He would be cast out and never mentioned again in the community.

  Fear and grief can make a very angry man, she thought as she poured her coffee and then decided to close and lock the back door of the shop. If any vendors showed up, there was a doorbell they could use to announce their arrival. She suddenly wasn’t comfortable leaving the door open and unattended. She didn’t like the idea of just anyone being able to wander inside the storeroom.

  She returned to the front counter with her coffee and once again her head filled with thoughts of Jimmy. His story of his loss with Jane and Lenny had nearly broken her heart.

  At least when Ramona had abandoned them, she hadn’t thrown them into the foster care system but had assured them a place where she’d known they would be cared for and loved.

  Maybe she should be grateful to Ramona for knowing she wasn’t in a mental or physical state to raise any children and had made the ultimate sacrifice in giving them away.

  Or perhaps Sheri was giving Ramona too much credit. Maybe dropping off her children for Aunt Liz to raise had simply been a matter of selfishness on Ramona’s part. She hadn’t wanted to be saddled with any baggage.

  And who was this Louis Harper from Arizona? Was he here in town with Ramona? Did he have some kind of a beef with her children?

  Sheri felt nearly schizophrenic by the time Jimmy came to pick her up. Her thoughts were shooting in a thousand directions and she was having trouble sustaining any one thought for any length of time.

  The first thing she did when she slid into his passenger seat was tell him about her visit from William King. “I know it sounds crazy, but he lost his wife a month or two before Aunt Liz disappeared. I keep wondering if maybe he decided to take Aunt Liz as a replacement wife.”

  “That does sound a bit crazy,” Jimmy said. “I mean, somebody at the settlement would have seen Liz by now if she were at the Kings’ house. Surely Jason would have told you that your aunt was living at the settlement.”

  “But maybe William has her locked up in a barn or a shed where nobody can see her.” Sheri laughed at her own words. “Maybe I’ve truly lost my mind.”

  “We’ve been out to the settlement a dozen times, Sheri, and nobody there has seen your aunt. Besides, what would any of this have to do with you being attacked in the woods?”

  “I never professed to have any answers. I’m just filled with silly thoughts today.” Thoughts that included her aunt chained like a farm animal in a barn, her mother killing her aunt so she could take her rightful place as mother to the girls she had abandoned so long ago, and finally visions of her and Jimmy in bed together, naked and gasping as they made love.

  “Silly thoughts,” she muttered to herself. She sat up straighter in the seat as they approached the animal clinic. Highway would bring her sanity back. He would bring back some sense of safety and security by his mere presence.

  She nearly leaped from the car before Jimmy had brought it to a full stop, her eagerness to see Highway bubbled up inside her.

  Dr. Cusack was waiting for her, Highway on a leash with his front leg in a sturdy plaster cast. He yipped with excitement at the sight of her and she fell to her knees in front of him.

  Wrapping her arms around his neck, she buried her face in the familiar scent of him as he nuzzled her arm and then licked the underside of her jaw. “My sweet Highway,” she said as happy tears blurred her eyes. With the first greeting out of the way, Sheri finally got to her feet and smiled at the vet.

  “So, he’s good to go?”

  “I don’t think I could keep the two of you apart another day,” Dr. Cusack replied with a smile. “I’ll need to see him again in about four weeks. By then we’ll X-ray that break and make sure it’s healed and then we can get the cast off him as soon as possible.”

  Highway bounded to the door, the cast not hindering him at all as he looked at the door and then back at Sheri, silently demanding she get him out of there as quickly as possible.

  Jimmy had remained in the car with the air-conditioning running and as she and Highway left the clinic, Jimmy hurried out of his seat and opened the back door.

  Highway jumped in and lay down as if he’d been there a thousand times before. Sheri slid into the passenger seat and
turned to check on her baby. “I’m so glad to see you,” she said, loving the way his ears perked forward and the bright gleam of intelligence and love that shone from his eyes.

  Thank goodness the tranquilizer hadn’t left any long-term effects. Highway appeared to be himself, smart and strong and ready to get on with life despite the small hindrance of the cast on his leg.

  She turned around and buckled in. “I can’t wait to get him home where he belongs.”

  Jimmy smiled at her. “You look happier at this moment than I think I’ve ever seen you.”

  “I’m just so grateful that man didn’t succeed in killing my dog.”

  “And I’m grateful he didn’t succeed in catching you.”

  Jimmy’s gaze was filled with a warmth that made Jennifer’s words pop back into Sheri’s head. The warmth of friendliness, that’s what it had to be, not the heat of lust.

  Roxy inspired lust in men. Marlene inspired lust in men. Sheri was far too ordinary to arouse that kind of intense emotion in any man. Jennifer was just plain wrong and the kiss she and Jimmy had shared had been nothing more than a strange anomaly based on timing and circumstance.

  “Burgers?” Jimmy asked.

  “How about we just head on to my place and I’ll do omelets or something?” She was eager to get Highway settled in where he belonged.

  “I wasn’t sure you could cook anything,” he teased.

  “Simple I can do.”

  “Omelets sound good to me,” he said.

  The rest of the drive was completed in silence. Jimmy appeared to be concentrating on something inside his head and Sheri welcomed the peace and quiet after a long day of chatting with customers at work.

  Once inside the cottage as Highway sniffed in every crack and crevice, as if to assure himself that all was well, Jimmy set the table and Sheri fried up bacon and then made vegetable omelets.

  The silence between them continued until they were both seated at the table, Highway like a big black furry throw rug next to Sheri’s feet.

  “Maybe I just scared a hunter who was obviously hunting out of season,” she said, finally breaking the silence. “Maybe he kicked Highway and had darts or something for his hunting and used that on him, as well.”

  “If that were the case, then I’d think once he’d neutralized any danger from Highway he’d run away from you rather than after you,” Jimmy reasoned. “Tomorrow we’re going to check out William King’s place. I know he had a beef with Roxy before and he was obviously angry when he came to see you today. Maybe he has an issue with the entire Marcoli clan.”

  “That just seems so crazy,” she said, trying not to notice how well his white shirt fit across his broad shoulders, how right it felt for him to be seated across from her at her dining table. “To be honest, I think I don’t want to spend time tonight talking about crime or suspects at all. I’m tired and I’m just looking forward to snuggling in with Highway.”

  “Then we’ll finish eating and I’ll get out of here,” Jimmy replied.

  She eyed him carefully to make certain she hadn’t irritated him, but he appeared fine with leaving early and allowing her a night to herself and her furry buddy. Easy, he was so easy to be with and he always seemed to want whatever was best for her.

  For the rest of the meal she talked about the people who had come into the store that day, telling him where they were headed, where they were from and what they had bought.

  “You wouldn’t believe how popular those stupid hats with the stuffed wolves are with people passing through,” she said.

  “So, people take a little tacky piece of Wolf Creek with them when they leave,” he said with a grin.

  He told her that he and his partners had eaten breakfast that morning at Roxy’s Dollhouse restaurant and that her sister had vowed that she’d kill all of them if anything else bad happened to Sheri.

  By the time they’d finished the meal and cleared off the dishes, she was ready for a quiet night, and with a goodbye to Jimmy, she was left alone with Highway.

  The first thing she did was change into her nightgown. Then she grabbed a romance novel from the bookshelf and curled up on the sofa with Highway like a buddy pillow next to her. Thank goodness her sofa was wide in the seat to accommodate both her and her furry friend.

  She didn’t want to think. She just wanted to stroke Highway’s fur and lose herself in a book that she knew would end with happy ever after.

  The hero in the book was the epitome of the hero in her fantasies, blond with chiseled features and the courtly manners of a prince. Of course he was madly in love with the heroine and would die for her if necessary.

  It wasn’t reading romance novels that had formed the fantasy of a prince for Sheri. Her fantasy had been born in the days when she’d been a young girl and an outcast due to her stutter.

  She’d also fantasized that her unknown father was secretly a king of some exotic foreign country, although she had no idea how Ramona would have had contact with any royalty. But during those days her fantasies were so much nicer than her daily reality as a stuttering outcast with no friends.

  She read until almost ten and then placed the book down and went into the kitchen to recheck the back door to make sure it was securely locked.

  Highway limped next to her and when he got to the door he lowered his head and released a guttural growl. The hairs on Sheri’s nape raised as she quickly turned off the kitchen light and then returned to the door to peer outside.

  A full moon cast down a ghostly light that illuminated the yard. She saw nobody standing in the shadows or lurking by the edge of the trees.

  “What is it, boy?” she murmured, and placed a hand on the top of Highway’s head. He yipped, his body tense, and then she spied what was making Highway react defensively.

  He was in the hammock and she immediately knew it was Jimmy. She opened the back door and squeezed out, not allowing Highway to follow her. She got halfway to the hammock when he sat up, his eyes gleaming like those of a trapped animal.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t put a bullet through your sneaky heart,” she exclaimed.

  “You don’t even have your gun with you,” he said. He shifted his weight and was promptly dropped on his butt to the ground. Sheri stifled a giggle as he quickly got to his feet and glared at her.

  “That mutt gave me away, didn’t he?”

  “That’s his job. Have you been sleeping out here every night?” He hesitated and in that hesitation she had her answer. She released a sigh, not knowing if she was irritated or secretly pleased by his obvious show of caring. “Since you’re busted, you might as well come inside and at least have the comfort of my sofa.”

  “That sounds like a great idea,” he said. “A hammock is furniture made by the Devil meant to drive a man mad.”

  Sheri laughed, but as they walked together back toward the house, She had a feeling that inviting him back inside was probably a terrible idea.

  * * *

  Jimmy stood in the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist as he finished up shaving. For the past three nights he’d been on Sheri’s sofa and for the past three nights he’d suffered agonizing, stimulating erotic dreams of being with her in her bed.

  An internal tension was building inside him with every minute that he spent in her home, in her very presence. The scent of her seemed to be permanently burned into his nose, the sound of her laughter etched inside his brain. He’d never felt this way before. He’d never been so acutely aware of another human being. It felt far too good for comfort.

  During the days he worked with his partners in an attempt to solve not only the case of the man in the woods, but also continue the investigation into Liz Marcoli’s disappearance.

  Everywhere they went they hit dead ends. How did you find a shadow in the woods? How did you find a woman who had dis
appeared over three months ago when the trail was arctic cold?

  They’d driven out to the settlement and had a talk with William King. They’d also done a deeper investigation into Louis Harper, the man who had been Ramona’s personal savior. He was a successful businessman who had no criminal record and seemed completely aboveboard.

  Harper was still in Arizona. According to a phone conversation he’d had with Steve, he and the rehab facility staff where Ramona worked had been instrumental in encouraging her to face her past, to seek out the daughters she’d abandoned.

  He’d just put his razor down when the bathroom door flew open. He whirled around in surprise to see an even more shocked Sheri standing in the doorway.

  “Oh...I didn’t know you were in here,” she said. Her gaze started at his freshly shaved jawline and slowly tracked down the near-naked length of him.

  Her gaze heated him and flickered licks of fire that warmed blood to places that would only prove embarrassing. He grabbed the towel to make sure it stayed in place as she remained standing in the doorway.

  “You have tattoos.” Her gaze lingered on the barbed wire tattoo around his left biceps and then moved to the outline of a detective shield that rode his right biceps.

  “Uh, yeah.”

  She looked gorgeous with her shiny hair bed-wrestled and a faint stain of color on her cheeks. She was clad only in her short lavender nightgown that clung to her curves like a second skin.

  “Sheri.” Her name released from him, sounding half-strangled as a wave of lust, of immense want, roared through him. “You need to back away and close the door.”

  Her golden eyes had deepened in hue and her tongue slipped out to moisten her lower lip. Jimmy felt his mind fall into a place where there were no consequences, where his need to have her overrode all common sense.

  And still she remained in place, as if waiting. But waiting for what?

  “Sheri, if you don’t leave now I won’t be responsible for my actions.”

  Her breath visibly hitched in her chest, her breasts rising and falling as her nipples became hard against the silk material of her thin nightgown. “I don’t think I want you to be responsible for your actions right now.” Her voice was a mere whisper. “I don’t even think I want to be responsible for my own actions right now.”