He finished his drink, then nursed a second one until just after seven, reluctant to share the evening meal with Loretta and Jane. Instead he filled up on nuts and pretzels, and wound up making small talk with a salesman from New Jersey who was in town for a convention.
Darkness had fallen when he finally left the Sandbox and headed back to his apartment. After sitting in the smoky confines of the bar, he wanted to shower before checking in with Jane and Loretta.
The minute he opened his apartment door he sensed something amiss. He froze in the doorway and looked around the living room, every muscle in his body on alert.
Lucas was an orderly man. Troy and Micah often teased him about having more than his share of obsessive-compulsive disorder when it came to his living space.
He pulled his gun as he saw that the magazines in the middle of the coffee table had been moved a fraction of an inch to the right and the papers at his desk weren’t quite in the same position they’d been in before he’d left.
Even the picture of him and Loretta wasn’t in the exact same place that it had been before he’d left that morning. Close, but no cigar.
Somebody had been in here. He gripped the gun more tightly and moved stealthily across the living-room floor. A glance into the kitchen showed nobody there. Then he headed down the hallway toward his bedroom.
His closet door was open just an inch. He knew he’d closed it completely after he’d gotten his clothes out that morning. He had an obsession about open doors and cabinets, and always made sure they were closed after he used them.
Somebody had been in here and it was obvious they hadn’t wanted him to know about their presence. They’d been good. Somebody less observant would never have known anyone had been inside the place. But he knew, and the thought sent a cold chill through him.
It took him only minutes to know that there was nobody inside the place now. But somebody had been there. The words went around and around in his head.
He stood in the center of the living room, his thoughts racing to make sense of it. Why would anyone want to snoop around his apartment? Nothing appeared to be missing so it hadn’t been a burglary.
Jane.
Her name thundered in his head. Had this been about Jane? Perhaps it was somebody looking for her or evidence of where she might be?
He hadn’t gotten a license plate number from the van the day before at the store, but had somebody gotten his? And had that somebody used that information to find out who he was and where he lived in hopes that Jane would be here?
Time to move, he thought. He stared at the photo of himself and his sister. It wouldn’t take a lot of digging for them to learn about Loretta.
A question here or there to one of the people in the apartment complex and they would know that Lucas and Loretta were siblings. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to suspect that Lucas might have stashed Jane with his sister.
What was going on? Who was Jane and why did these people want her? What in the hell was going on?
He returned to the bedroom, where he packed a duffel bag, then left the apartment. A glance around the hallway showed nobody around and he hurried to Loretta’s and let himself in using his key.
He dropped his duffel just inside the front door and headed for the kitchen where he could hear the sound of Jane and Loretta’s laughter.
The two women were seated at the table. The dinner dishes had been cleaned up, but they each had a piece of cake in front of them. Jane had a glass of milk and Loretta had coffee. Both of them looked relaxed and happy.
“Lucas!” Jane said as he walked into the room. Her eyes shone with a bright warmth that stirred something inside him. “I was wondering if you were going to show up this evening.”
“Have you eaten?” Loretta asked.
He nodded. “Loretta, were you in my place today?”
“No, why?” She looked at him curiously.
“Jane, you need to pack a bag. I’ve got to move you out of here.”
The warmth in her eyes fled and was replaced with fear. “Why? What do you mean?”
“What’s happened?” Loretta asked as she stood from the table.
“Somebody was in my apartment today. I think they were snooping around to find Jane.” Jane’s eyes widened at his words.
“But surely nobody knows she’s here,” Loretta said.
“Maybe not yet, but eventually they’ll figure it out. They probably saw the picture I have of the two of us together. If they figure out who you are, eventually they’ll check to see if she’s here.”
Jane got up from the table. “I’ll go get my things.” Her voice was slightly shaky.
“Wait, Jane.” Loretta placed an arm around Jane’s shoulders. “I’ll get you an overnight bag.” Together the two women left the kitchen.
Lucas returned to the living room to wait for Jane, his mind still filled with possibilities and suppositions.
Right now the only thing he could do was act defensively, try to minimize risk without knowing exactly from what direction the danger might come.
He picked up his own bag as Jane and Loretta returned to the living room. Jane had on her coat and clutched a small black bag. “Where are you taking me?” she asked. There was a wealth of dread in her voice.
“A safe place,” he replied.
“The safe house?” Loretta asked and he nodded.
Jane looked at him curiously. “I’ll explain on the way,” he told her, then looked at his sister. “I’ll call you.”
“Am I in danger?” Loretta asked.
Lucas frowned. “I don’t think so. It’s apparent whoever was in my apartment wasn’t looking for a confrontation of any kind. They got in and out while I was away.”
Jane grabbed Loretta’s hand. “I hope I haven’t brought danger to your doorstep. I’m so sorry about all of this.”
“Don’t worry,” Loretta assured her. “Hasn’t Lucas told you I’m tough?”
“Just make sure there’s no sign that she was ever here in the apartment,” Lucas said as he opened the door and peered down the hallway. Seeing nobody around, he motioned Jane out the door.
Neither of them said a word as they headed for the door that would lead outside into the cold, dark, early-November night.
When they reached the door, Lucas told her to wait, then stepped out and looked around. Unfortunately the darkness made it difficult for him to see if anyone was hiding in the shadows, cloaked by the night.
He drew his gun, unwilling to be surprised without the protection of his weapon. He stepped back inside the door and grabbed Jane’s arm. “Stay right next to me. We’re going directly to my car.”
He felt the tremble of her body as he pulled her close against his side. He felt bad that she was scared, but better scared and on guard than oblivious and vulnerable.
He didn’t breathe again until they were both safely in his car. As he started the engine once again he scanned the area, looking for any threat that might come out of the darkness.
Nothing. He saw nobody lurking about, nobody sitting in a nearby vehicle. But that didn’t mean they weren’t there.
Pulling out of the parking lot, he kept his gaze focused on the rearview mirror, looking for any other car that might follow.
Even though he saw none, he didn’t feel safe, wouldn’t feel safe until they reached the house and he was certain that nobody had followed them there.
A tense silence filled the car as he drove, constantly watching the rear-and side-view mirrors. He was grateful for her silence as he needed all his concentration on the road.
He drove down neighborhood streets, turning first left, then right at random in an effort to identify whether they had a tail or not.
For thirty minutes he drove first one direction, then another and finally felt comfortable that nobody was following them. His tense muscles began to relax and the adrenaline that had pumped through him from the moment he’d walked in his front door ebbed slightly.
“The safe hou
se is a ranch house out in the country,” he finally said, breaking the silence that had filled the car. “It’s owned by a dummy corporation that can’t be traced back to Recovery Inc. The only people who know where it is are my partners and their girlfriends, Loretta and Wendall Kincaid, the chief of police. You’ll be safe there until we can figure all this out.”
“The only way we’re going to get anywhere is if I get my memories back, and that doesn’t seem to be happening,” she said, her frustration obvious. “I’m sorry, Lucas. I’m so sorry about all of this.”
“There’s no need for you to apologize,” he assured her. “This won’t be the first time Recovery Inc. has helped somebody in trouble.”
He frowned and tightened his hands around the steering wheel. Twice in recent months the safe house had been used, first by Micah, who had hidden out there with Caylee while they fought false murder charges brought against them both. Then the ranch house had been used by Troy to keep his girlfriend, Brianna, safe when a stalker had been after her.
Both men had found love while in the safe house, but there was no way Lucas would fall victim to the same thing. He glanced over at Jane, who had her fingers splayed across her belly, as if to protect the life within.
She belonged somewhere, to somebody. And even if she didn’t, he told himself he wasn’t interested in any kind of a relationship with her and the baby she carried.
It didn’t matter that he’d liked kissing her, that he definitely wouldn’t mind kissing her again…and more. Even though he didn’t know her real name, he had a feeling that Jane was a forever kind of woman, that she’d want the picket fence and a husband by her side. She’d want family barbecues and a brother or sister for the baby she carried.
She definitely didn’t strike him as the type who would be ready for an affair with no strings attached and no promises of forever. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck, where he could feel the ridge of an old scar.
An ancient wave of anger welled up inside him as he dropped his hand back to the steering wheel. A vision of his father entered his mind.
Lucas couldn’t remember a time when Roger Washington’s face wasn’t twisted and red with rage. He couldn’t remember a kind touch, a loving glance. All of Lucas’s memories of his father were filled with pain, both physical and mental.
That was his legacy. And that was what Lucas would never take a chance of passing on. He couldn’t be a bad husband if he never married. And he couldn’t be a brutal father if he never had children.
The safe house had brought love to his two partners, but there was no way in hell Lucas would allow himself to fall victim to the same emotion.
JANE STARED OUT THE WINDOW at the dark landscape. They’d left the city behind and were traveling on roads with no streetlights. The houses were discernible only by the faint spill of light from windows, and they were getting farther and farther apart.
Two days ago, if Lucas had driven her out here in the middle of nowhere she would have been terrified. But in the two days she’d spent with him she’d come to trust him implicitly.
The idea that she’d brought danger to the young woman who had opened her home and her heart to her broke Jane’s heart. She’d die if anything happened to Loretta because of her.
Who were these people? And why, oh, why couldn’t she remember anything? She desperately needed her memory. She needed her identity to make sense of everything that had happened.
She sat up straighter in her seat as he turned down a narrow gravel road. Eventually they came to a clearing where she could see the dark outline of a house with tall trees on either side.
Where would this all end? she thought with despair. What if the people who had tried to grab her at the store somehow found her here? Then where would she go?
“Stop worrying,” he said as if he could read her thoughts.
She cast him a nervous smile. “I can’t help it.”
He pulled up in front of the house, killed the engine and turned to look at her, his eyes dark and glittering in the faint illumination from the dashboard. “You’ll be safe here. And who knows, maybe in the next couple of days your memories will come back.”
“I hope so,” she said fervently. She changed positions in the seat, her back aching with a dull throb. “That night when you found me in the car and I realized I had some sort of amnesia, I was sure that once I got a good night’s sleep I’d wake up and everything would be all right. But I’ve had two good nights of sleep now and still nothing.”
“It’s only been a couple of days,” he said. He pulled the keys from the ignition and turned off the lights. “Come on, let’s get settled inside.”
As they got out of the car, the unusually cold wind seemed to blow right through her, chilling her to the bones. But she knew it wasn’t the wind that made her cold; rather it was fear of the unknown.
She felt somewhat better when they were in the house and Lucas had turned on the lights. The living room was pleasant, although decorated as impersonally as a motel room.
“The kitchen is in here,” he said. “I’ll head out first thing in the morning and get some groceries.” The kitchen was large and airy and decorated with bright yellow accents.
From the kitchen he led her down a hallway. “You can stay in here,” he said as he stopped at the first doorway. “The bathroom is across the hall. I’ll stay in the bedroom in the back.” He set her overnight bag on the double bed. “Don’t look so scared. You’re going to be just fine.”
The warmth of his deep voice helped ease some of the tension that had tightened her muscles since the moment he’d walked into Loretta’s kitchen and told her to pack a bag. She shrugged off her coat and tossed it on the chair just inside the bedroom door.
“I just wish I knew what was going on,” she said softly. She sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her lower back with one hand.
“One thing you don’t have to worry about is support from me,” he said. “If I wasn’t in until the end before, I am now.” His eyes narrowed. “They made a big mistake when they came into my apartment and invaded my privacy.” He frowned. “Are you all right?”
She nodded. “Just a little backache. It’s no big deal.”
“It’s not labor pains, is it?”
She nearly laughed out loud at the horrified look on his face. The tough ex–navy SEAL with a gun on his shoulder looked scared to death at the idea of a baby’s birth.
“No, it isn’t labor,” she assured him. “Just a backache. It will probably be gone by morning.”
“Then I’ll just say good-night,” he said. “If you need anything I’m just down the hall.” He disappeared from the doorway.
She wanted to call him back. She wanted him to stay with her throughout the long, lonely night, hold her in his arms to keep away any nightmares that might try to rear their ugly heads.
Instead she got up from the bed and closed the door, then pulled her nightgown from the bag. It was after nine and she was tired. She took her nightgown and toothbrush into the bathroom across the hall and changed, then brushed her teeth and stared at her reflection in the mirror. “Who are you?” she asked the woman who stared back at her.
With a tired sigh she turned away from the mirror. Even though she was exhausted, she feared the night to come.
Even more fearful was the idea that she’d sleep soundly and wake up the next morning with nothing changed, no memories returning.
Lucas had told her he was in until the end, but she knew if too much time went by he would start encouraging her to go to the police. And although she didn’t understand it, that idea horrified her.
Did she have a husband who was a cop? An abusive man she’d run to escape? Or was she wanted by the law and running from a prison sentence? There were so many questions without an answer in sight.
As she left the bathroom she heard the faint sound of Lucas’s voice coming from the back bedroom and assumed he was on the phone with somebody. Perhaps telling his partners of this lates
t development, she thought.
She turned off the light and got into the unfamiliar bed. Lying on her back, she watched the shadows of tree limbs dancing in the moonlight on the ceiling and tried to empty her mind of the million questions that played there.
She must have fallen asleep because the next time she opened her eyes, the sun was shining through the window and the scent of frying bacon and fresh coffee hung in the air.
She kept her eyes closed, for a moment fantasizing that it was her husband in the kitchen preparing a morning meal for his beloved pregnant wife. And after breakfast, he’d rub her aching back with loving hands as he whispered how much he loved her.
Squeezing her eyes more tightly closed, she tried to summon an image of the man, but all that came to her mind was a vision of Lucas.
Her mouth burned as she remembered the taste of his lips, the fire they had ignited in her, a flame of desire. She’d only known him for a couple of days and yet she was more than a little bit crazy about him.
Was it possible she didn’t want to go to the authorities because she knew that would be the end of their time together?
It was a shameful thought and it pulled her out of bed and across the hall for a shower—a cold shower to cool thoughts of Lucas and his sinfully soft lips.
Once she was dressed, she felt better prepared to face whatever the day might bring and the man who was precariously close to owning her heart.
“Ah, I thought I heard you up and about.” Lucas greeted her as she walked into the kitchen. She stopped short and for a moment forgot how to breathe.
He stood at the stove, clad only in a pair of jogging pants that rode low on his lean hips. His black hair was boyishly tousled, but there was nothing boyish about his broad muscled chest or the stubble of dark whiskers across his jaw. He looked hot and she felt his heat warming every part of her body.
“You hungry?” he asked.
“You have no idea,” she muttered more to herself than to him.
“I have to admit I’m not the best of cooks, but I figured I could rustle up some bacon and eggs. Sit and I’ll get you a glass of juice,” he instructed.
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