by Sara Orwig
The thought was startling, and then he felt the boy in his arms snuggle against him. Cal squeezed him tightly.
“I don’t want my cat hurt!” Quin cried. In the next flash of lightning, Cal couldn’t see Quin’s expression, but he could see tears streaming down his cheeks. “I lost Mom and Dad and I don’t want to lose my cat.”
“You’re not going to lose him,” Cal answered him. He felt a tight knot in his throat. “A lot of other people don’t want to lose you and your brothers. They love you and they love your brothers. Juliana does, Mimi does. I do. Stod- dard and Gladys love you.”
“You do?”
“Yes, I do,” Cal repeated firmly. After a few minutes, Quin wriggled and Cal released him. Quin stroked Snook- ums’s head and the cat purred in a loud rumble.
Elnora, you picked well when you got this family to take Snooks, Cal thought, looking down at Quin and the cat. “You know, Chris and Stoddard are searching for you right now and Juliana is worrying. Let’s go back and let them know you’re safe.”
“Yes, sir.” Quin jumped up and draped Snookums over his shoulder like a fur. The cat seemed contented and Cal stood up, brushing off his jeans.
Quin slipped his small hand into Cal’s and smiled up at him. Amazed how important Quin had become to him, Cal gave the child’s hand a squeeze and winked at him. They headed for the house. Cal looked at the cloud-covered sky. Lightning flashed and thunder was still a muffled boom.
“If you’ll carry Snookums, I’ll run tell everyone we’ve found him,” Quin said happily when they neared the house.
“Sure.” Cal took the cat, who glared at him and wig- gled. Cal tightened his grip on the animal as Quin streaked ahead.
“C’mon, fur-ball. You’re not getting away from me.”
The cat let out a big meow and wiggled some more. Cal held him firmly with one hand and scratched beneath the cat’s chin with the other. Snookums grew still, tilting up his head.
“You rascal. You better not go out any more windows.” Cal jogged after Quin, hearing him shouting, his high voice carrying in the night.
“I found Snookums! I found him!”
Quin raced up the porch and into the house. As Cal reached the house, the door burst open and Josh and Quin tumbled outside, shouting and running to meet him. Quin took Snookums and they raced back into the house.
Looking drained, Juliana stood on the porch. “I thought we might have to send out a search party for all of you.”
“Turn on all the lights so Stoddard and Chris will come back.”
“They’re back. Chris came back shortly before you did and so did Stoddard.”
As she mentioned his name, Stoddard emerged from the house with a broad smile on his face. “I’ll bid you good- night now. Quin seems to be better for the evening’s event. And that cat never has known how good he has it.”
Cal smiled. “Thanks, Stoddard, for helping.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you, Stoddard,” Juliana added.
“Yes, ma’am. I promised Gladys I would stop and tell her when we found Quinton. And the cat. None of us was too worried about the cat.” He left them and disappeared into the darkness in the direction of his house.
“I don’t know how those two escaped Elnora’s match- making,” Cal remarked absently.
“Gladys was married before she came to work here and her husband was killed in a mine explosion. Elnora said Gladys would never marry again. I don’t know about Stod- dard. I know they’re very close friends.”
Shouts came from the house and Juliana turned around. “It’s time to get the boys into bed. Thanks, Cal. I was get- ting really worried about Quin.”
“He’s fine.”
They went inside and Josh and Quin were lying on the floor, rolling a ball back and forth that Snookums was ca- sually batting if it came close enough to him.
“Up to bed, guys,” she announced firmly.
Josh stood and ran to her to kiss her. He glanced at Cal and came over to hold out his arms and give him a hug.
“’Night,” Cal said, swinging Josh up and squeezing him, carrying him on his shoulders to the stairs to set him down. The boy was scrubbed, his hair curling damply on his neck and he smelled soapy and clean. “You grow another inch and you’ll be too big for me to carry you on my shoul- ders,” Cal said.
As Quin headed toward the stairs with Snookums in his arms, he set down the cat and looked up at Cal. On im- pulse, Cal knelt and reached for Quin to pull him close and hug him. To Juliana’s amazement, Quin’s thin arms wrapped around Cal’s neck as Quin hugged him back.
“Thank you for looking for Snookums and me,” Quin said. Scooping up Snookums, he turned to run to catch up with Josh on the stairs, and they disappeared into their rooms.
“What brought that about?” she said, staring at Cal.
“We talked a little when I found him. You’re giving me one of those looks again, like I just turned into a fire- breathing dragon.”
She ran her hand across her head. “It’s been a long night.” Juliana felt frazzled from her worries about Quin. And then to see him throw his arms around Cal and hug him, she realized how important Cal had become to the boys in such a short time. When the year was up and they parted, it was going to hurt her nephews so badly. Was it going to be worth all she had gained in Elnora’s inheritance?
“Come here,” Cal said, taking her arm, switching off lights and leading her to the kitchen. Outside, thunder rumbled and a flash of lightning gave a silvery brilliance to the windows. Juliana went with Cal and watched while he poured a small glass of red wine and handed it to her. He crossed to the refrigerator to get a cold beer.
“You need to unwind,” he said, pulling out a chair.
“I just remembered you have a case tomorrow that you were working on when all this started.”
“I’ll go back to it in a little while. Have a seat.”
She took a long sip of the wine, set the glass on the table and shook her head. “I don’t feel like chatting.”
He narrowed his eyes to study her. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed and was gone, leaving only the dim light over the sink. “You can relax, Juliana. The boys are safe.”
“I hope so.”
“Now, what does that mean?”
“I’m going to bed. It’s been a long, exhausting day. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” She turned to go and Cal closed the distance between them swiftly. He set the beer on the table and held her arm, turning her to face him.
“I’m going,” she said.
“Want to tell me what’s bothering you?”
She shook her head. “I was so worried about Quin. Es- pecially when I heard Chris say he last saw him down by the creek.”
“Remember, the boys all know how to swim. Unless the water level is up, he could get himself out.”
“I don’t worry about Chris, but Quin seems so little and Josh is little.”
“I think there’s something else bothering you,” he said quietly. “C’mon, babe, what is it?”
She was torn, wanting his strong arms and reassurance, yet feeling more than ever that they would all be hurt when the year was up. She shook her head. “You’re going too fast for me.”
“I’m barely touching you.”
“I’m not talking about this moment. You’ve done more than barely touch today. You’ve won Quin’s heart. I saw him hug you.”
“Don’t tell me you’re angry with me because the child gave me a hug.”
“You know what’s worrying me! At the end of the year—”
He placed his fingers over her mouth. “Stop fretting about a year from now. Just think about tomorrow. To- morrow can be so good for all of us.”
“I have to think about the end of the year because the boys are going to get hurt.”
“So what do you want me to do?” he asked, sounding tough and cold.
“Stay away from them.”
“That’s a good way to treat them,” he snapped in a c
yn- ical voice. “All right, Juliana. I’ll try to stay away.”
Hurting, she turned and hurried upstairs, her skin prick- ling, half expecting him to stop her at any moment. She closed the door to her room and felt drained, fighting what she felt for him, terrified that her nephews would be hurt. She couldn’t bear for Quin to suffer another loss and she couldn’t get the image out of her mind of Quin hugging Cal. Cal would make a wonderful father for the boys—he was already proving that daily. She ran her fingers across her forehead. If only he were the marrying kind, ready to set- tle, but he had made it clear from the start that he wasn’t.
Downstairs, Cal drank his beer while he stood on the back porch and watched flashes of lightning. He remembered the moment Quin had turned to hug him and tell him good- night and the rush of joy he had felt deep inside. The boys were becoming important to him. A year from now, was he going to want to walk away from this family? Back to what? His lonely existence? It hadn’t seemed lonely before be- cause he had become accustomed to the solitude, but after living with the children and Juliana, would he ever want to go back to the way he’d lived before?
He turned to look at the old house. It wasn’t what he preferred. With all the delicate antiques and gilt furniture, he still felt as if he were a guest in Elnora’s house. But a house wasn’t what was important, it was the people inside it. And he was beginning to hold these four people as the most important and special in his life. And one of them was becoming more than special.
He drained the beer, feeling a blast of hot air sweep across the porch. He wanted her and he wanted the boys and he didn’t want them to go out of his life at the end of the year.
He stared into the darkness, seeing a streak of lightning illuminate the yard. Down toward the creek the bushes bent in the wind. With the volatile chemistry between the two of them, living under the same roof and seeing each other daily, he knew he could seduce Juliana. From the first mo- ment, her defenses had crumbled like a sand castle at high tide. She was vulnerable, passionate. And rare. She was an exceptional woman, unselfish and giving, beautiful, filled with vitality and a zest for life. He already had a ring on her finger, a legal marriage to her and moments of passion when she forgot to keep up the barriers. Did he want to make it permanent?
He went inside, locked up, tossed away the beer. He kicked off his shoes and climbed the stairs, looking at Ju- liana’s closed door and imagining her stretched on the bed.
Was desire clouding his judgment? He paused in the dark hallway, knowing if he wasn’t falling in love with her, he should distance himself from the boys. And from Juliana. And he should decide right away, because they were quickly spinning into an intimate relationship.
Was she sleeping peacefully—or awake with thoughts as stormy as the night?
While thunder and lightning boomed and popped and the wind rose and howled around the house, Juliana lay in bed staring into the darkness. Finally she drifted off to sleep, only to be awakened abruptly by the sound of a crash that rattled the windowpanes.
Swinging the covers to one side, she scrambled out of bed and tugged down the old T-shirt she wore as a nightgown. She ran into the hall as Cal started downstairs.
“What was that?” she asked.
“Something downstairs. I heard glass shatter,” he said, pausing at the foot of the stairs to jam his feet into his loaf- ers. A blast of wind shook the house, rattling the panes again, and she felt a chill of apprehension.
She went to check on Josh and Quin, who were sleeping soundly, Quin with Snookums curled on the foot of his bed. She knew Chris was still asleep or he would have already been down from his third-floor room. She rushed down- stairs.
“Cal?”
“In here,” he called. “The sun room.”
She raced to the back of the house and stopped in dismay.
Uprooted by the wind, a poplar had fallen, crashing through the sun-room windows. A sheet of rain swept into the room through the broken windows. Cal dashed past her. “I’ll get some plastic and try to cover the windows. I’m go- ing outside first and see if I can pull the tree out of the way.”
“I’ll come help,” she said, turning to race back upstairs and slip on sneakers. She yanked on a pair of shorts be- neath the T-shirt, rushed downstairs again and grabbed a raincoat. Halfway to the back door, the lights went out. At the door, she flipped the switch, but the electricity was gone.
A blast of wind and cold rain swept against her when she stepped outside. Bending against the wind, she hurried down the steps. Cal was in the tree, tying a rope around the trunk.
Juliana ran to help, the bulky raincoat hindering her clambering over the tree. She yanked it off and tossed it aside, feeling rain drench her in seconds. In minutes, they had two ropes around the trunk. “Let’s pull it out,” Cal said, climbing down. “Ready?”
“Yes,” she yelled as she grabbed the rope with both hands. She dug her heels into the ground, tugging on the rope. Lightning flashed and Cal pulled on the rope, his muscles knotted. The tree shifted and moved and then top- pled away from the house, crashing to the ground.
Instantly, Cal tossed down the rope and ran to place a ladder against the house. He thrust two hammers and jammed nails into his hip pockets, and picked up the cor- ner of a large sheet of plastic.
She held a flashlight for him, watching as he swiftly climbed the ladder. For the first time, it registered with her that he was wearing only jeans and loafers. Muscles rippled in his back as he climbed, his skin sleek and wet from the rain. He pulled the plastic in place and hammered down a corner of the sheet. She aimed the flashlight at the nail while he pounded. Quickly, he hammered in two more then came down to move the ladder and begin the procedure again.
Finally, he scrambled down and reached into a pocket to hand her a hammer and nails. “Here. Start nailing the sides and bottom to the house. Don’t drive the nails in far, just enough to hold the plastic in place. This should keep it from raining into the house.”
“Sure.”
“I’m surprised the boys aren’t out here.”
“They’re asleep. I checked on Josh and Quin.”
“They can sleep through all this?”
He didn’t wait for her answer, but began hammering down the plastic once more and she turned to help.
Lightning zigzagged across the night sky in a crackling streak and he glanced at Juliana. She was pounding in a nail near the ground. She was bending over, and in the brilliant streak of lightning, his gaze ran over the length of her long legs. She straightened to get another nail and in the next flash of lightning, he looked at the wet T-shirt that molded her body and revealed her curves. For a moment, Cal for- got the rain drenching him or the high wind or the need to get the smashed windows covered. His body responded to the sight of her. He watched as she began to drive in another nail. She worked fast and efficiently and he felt again that she was a unique woman. Elnora had been right.
He had a chance here for happiness and he wanted to grab and hold on to it. And even though Juliana was wearing his ring and she was his wife, he suspected it wasn’t going to be easy to get her to trust him completely, until the year was over and’she saw that he didn’t pack and leave them. But maybe it wasn’t impossible. And maybe in the meantime, he could have the time of his life trying to win her trust.
He turned to hammer, going back to work and trying to focus on the nails so that his wayward thoughts wouldn’t cause him to smash his thumb.
It took another quarter of an hour, but finally, they had the broken windows covered and the house protected. Cal took the tools from her and they went inside.
Lightning flashed as she faced him in the solarium. He was wet, water glistening on his chest, the mat of dark hair a black shadow, a thin line of dark hair running down and out of sight beneath the waist of his jeans. Another silvery flash came and his gaze swept over her. Suddenly, she real- ized that she was wearing only the old T-shirt and cutoffs and the T-shirt was wet, molding to her body like a secon
d skin.
“Thanks for your help,” he said. “We made a good team.”
“For house repairs.”
“We make a good team for a lot of things.” Then gazing at her steadily, he said, “Juliana, I want more than what we have now.”
Ten
Startled, she stared through the darkness at him. In the next flash of lightning, she glimpsed his face. He looked sol- emn, waiting for her reply.
“I can’t give you more.”
“I think you can and you want to.” He stepped closer, his strong arms going around her. “Let’s give it a whirl and see if we should make a lifetime arrangement out of this whim of Elnora’s.”
Juliana’s head spun. His offer was temptation and delight. Yet fears assailed her. Life as he proposed was un- certain, at best. And she found it difficult to trust him. He had said repeatedly that he was a confirmed bachelor, set in his ways, not ready for a family.
“I can’t give it a whirl. Too many are involved.”
“This will involve only you and me. This doesn’t include the boys. I’m here for the year, whether we become lovers or not. And this won’t affect my relationship with them.”
“It might,” she protested.
“Stop worrying,” he said in a husky voice, drawing her to him to wrap her in his arms. Her insides knotted, and she lost her breath as her hands flew up against his shoulders. She wore only the thin T-shirt and his skin was warm, wet and bare. Desire uncoiled in her, excitement and danger making her pulse drum.
“Will you trust me?” he asked, the words hovering in the air between them.
Was he trustworthy? She suspected that she would never be able to forget him, that she would always be vulnerable where he was concerned if she opened herself completely to him.
His dark eyes were on her and she gazed back as she nod- ded and saw the flash of satisfaction. His chest expanded as he inhaled. “I want your hands on me as much as I want mine on you.”
He held her tightly, bending his head, his dark gaze bor- ing into her before she closed her eyes and he lowered his head to kiss her.
