Between Darkness and Daylight (7 page)

Nova nodded and glanced at Ransom. Whether it was for confirmation or denial, Zane couldn't tell. "I hope everything's okay?"

"Everything's fine." He put an arm around Ransom's shoulder, almost surprised he could do it without slouching, the boy was so tall. He must have shot up a couple of inches overnight because he certainly seemed taller than the five-nine he’d been at his last checkup.

"Tight outfit," Ransom said.

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Nova frowned, as if unsure she’d been complimented. Ransom

clarified, "I mean that in a good way, as in cool, slamming."

She rolled her eyes and smiled at Zane. "And I thought I was up on all the current slang."

"Not in a million years, but he'll keep you on your toes." Zane stared at her, just barely keeping the growl out of his voice when he murmured,

"And I agree; it is slamming and tight." He watched the blush color her cheeks, just as turned on by the modest reaction as he’d been by the sexy assertiveness she’d shown at the precinct.

Zane nodded at the retriever to change the subject, to get back on track, because his thoughts were veering toward some salacious territory.

Nova would think he didn't get out much, which was pretty close to the truth. Spending twelve hours a day surrounded by crush-minded teen girls and hungry-for-a-role-model teen boys did not make for a hot and active sex life. "So, who's your friend?"

"This is Yosemite. I call him Yo-Yo."

The dog's ears perked up like he knew he was being talked about, but he didn't move from his spot at Nova's heel.

Ransom got on his haunches and slapped his thighs a couple of times to summon the dog. "C'mere, boy. C'mon, Yo-Yo."

The retriever looked up at Nova, and when she nodded, he made a mad dash for the teenager, tipping him over and slurping his face. Zane came to Nova's side, chuckling as he watched the spectacle—his nephew rolling around on the pavement with the spirited and energetic Yo-Yo.

"Yosemite? How’d you come up with that name?"

"Place I like to go rock climbing in the Sierra Nevada."

"You rock climb?" Ransom had managed to shake off his canine harasser, laughing as he came over to Nova and Zane, fingers clenched around Yosemite's collar.

"As often as I can."

"Is it fun?"

Nova paused. Seemed like she had to think about that for a minute.

She did that a lot, Zane noticed, as if she wanted to be careful not to reveal too much about herself or didn't want to say the wrong thing. Made him wonder what she was hiding.

"It can be, as long as you're careful and follow the rules."

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"I’d like to try it one day."

"I've tried some of the indoor places around the city. They're pretty decent. Maybe we could go one day, if it's all right with your uncle."

Zane shrugged. "We'll see."

"You boys ready to hit the road?"

He and Ransom fell into step beside Nova, waiting as she unlocked the doors. He sat up front with Nova, and Ransom hopped in the back with Yo-Yo.

"Looks like you've made a friend," Nova commented as she started her SUV and pulled out of the station parking lot.

"She's a cool dog."

"He."

"Oh. Shoulda known. Yosemite Sam."

Nova smiled in the rearview and glanced at Zane from the corner of an eye. "So, want to tell me what it was?"

"What what was?"

"The trouble you ran into." She made a smooth right at the next intersection, paused at the light.

He shrugged, nowhere near ready to divulge any of his family's secrets and failings to this relative stranger. Not yet. Maybe never.

"How long have you had him?" Ransom asked from the back seat.

"About a year. I bought him when he was six."

"Wow, he's older than Uncle Zane. And he doesn't even look a day over thirty."

"I ever mention my nephew has a mean sense of humor?"

"I think I caught that back at the precinct."

But the humor didn't last much longer, not once Ransom noticed the familiar area of Ramblewood Drive they were cruising through.

Zane had noticed it a couple of turns previous, his heart filling with nostalgia at all the cozy houses lining either side of the enclave. He remembered the many times he and Sinny had come out for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner at Sage's, the snowball fights they used to have on the front lawn, and Sage joking with Sinny in front of the fireplace, razzing her about starting a family and how she had some catching up to do to give Ransom a suitable playmate.

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When Nova pulled into the driveway and turned off the engine, Zane's heart skipped a beat at the look of horror on the young face in his rearview mirror. Ransom's tension emanated from the back seat in engulfing waves.

Zane didn't say anything—didn't know what
to
say—but figured if he didn't say anything, then maybe Ransom wouldn't.

"Boy, that was a fast ride."

"Like I said, twenty minutes from the station, give or take."

"And with a speed demon like you behind the wheel…"

"Uncle Zane…"

He turned in his seat and braced himself for the backlash.

"This is my mom's house," Ransom murmured.

Now it was Nova's turn to swivel in her seat. "You used to live here?"

"Take me home."

"I don't understand." Nova looked from boy to man, confused.

"I don't want to go in there. Just take me home, please."

"Ran—"

The boy shoved open the back door and got out. Yo-Yo followed.

"What's going on?"

"I'll go get them."

"Zane." She touched his arm and he paused with a hand on the door handle. "I had no idea. You have to believe that."

"I do," he lied. Something in him said that she did have an idea, but what her ideas and motives might be, Zane didn't have a clue. He just knew there was more to Nova than met the eye, and he wasn't sure he wanted to find out what it was.

"I’d better catch up to them before they make it back to the train station." Which at the rate boy and dog were marching up the hill, was a distinct possibility. "Be right back."

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Chapter 5

"Ransom!" Zane cupped his hands in front of his mouth and called again. He couldn't believe the boy was going to make him run after him, up a steep hill, no less. He kept himself in decent shape, but he was getting too old to chase after a thirteen-year-old and had little desire to work up a sweat with aggravation, as well as a physical work-out.

He jogged behind the pair, picking up speed when Ransom looked over his shoulder and started running in earnest. "Ran!" Shit, the kid was living up to his name, in spades.

Zane caught up with him somewhere near the highway, a couple of minutes too late for his burning thirty-six-year-old lungs. He hadn't run full-out like that in a long while. If he hadn't been so preoccupied with the chase and the reasons behind it, he might have had a moment to enjoy the exhilaration, revel in the blood pumping through his limbs. But it was all that he could deal with to tackle the kid on a nearby lawn and stop him from going headlong into traffic.

Yo-Yo mistook their antics for playing and leaped on Zane's back, slurping his ear, leaving a special trail of golden retriever saliva trickling down his face and neck.

"Down boy, down!"

Ransom giggled as he took advantage of the near-drowning by Yo-Yo to get to his feet. He slid his fingers through the dog's collar as if it were already old hat and pulled him away. "C'mon Yo-Yo. He's had enough already."

Zane got to one knee, panting, and gave Ransom and the dog what he hoped was his best evil eye. He dusted off his jeans as he stood and walked over to them.

"I didn't know, Ran."

"How could you not?"

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"It's not like she told me where she lived. The area's pretty big, I just assumed it was another house, not Sa—not your mother's. I mean, what are the chances?"

"Yeah, right. What are they?"

"Please, let's not ruin a good day."

"A good day? I'd hate to see what a bad day is."

"Ran…" Zane sighed and closed his eyes. He opened them to see his nephew staring at him, unmoving. "Please Ransom."

"I'm not going to be comfortable going into that house now."

"You won't be alone."

They stood silently for several moments, staring at each other, before Yo-Yo barked two times in quick succession, breaking the silence.

"See, even Yo-Yo wants you to come."

Ransom released a grudging laugh and bent to scratch the dog behind the ears.

Zane put an arm around his nephew's shoulder, pulling him close to his side and kissing the top of his head. "I'm sorry you found out this way. I'm sorry we both did," he whispered.

* * * *

Nova sat on the front steps of her house, idly swinging her car keys in her hand as they made it back to the house. She stood, came down the steps, and met Zane halfway across her front lawn. "Everything okay?"

He looked at Ransom, pulled him close again. "Everything's fine."

"Well, I guess we should get started then."

Silently she led the way into the house and it was like coming home for Zane. Sometimes he and Sinny had spent as much time out at Sage's as they did at their own loft in the city. She always used to tease them about buying a house in Newburgh so they could all be one big happy family.

She'd even been ready to vouch for him at the private school where she worked, but he didn't think the kids in Orange County needed his services as urgently as the kids did in the city, though this was just his own personal take.

Nova took off her boots and stowed them on a rack behind the front door. Zane and Ransom followed suit.

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"Here, let me get those." They each turned over their coats so that she could hang them in the living room closet. "Just hang on a moment and I'll give you the grand to—"

"That's okay. I know where everything is," Ransom muttered over a shoulder, already halfway down the stairs.

Nova glanced at Zane, arching a brow. "Where's his mother now?"

"She passed away a little more than a year ago. Breast cancer."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't. How could you?" He stared at her, wondering why she looked so guilty, as if the beginning of the day had been her fault.

As if she were somehow responsible for Sage's death. "What made you buy this house? It's pretty big for one person."

"Don't forget Yo-Yo."

"I said person."

"So you did." Nova took him by an arm and led him into the kitchen.

Zane had to remind himself why he and Ransom were there, had to remind himself that there was a minor in the house, because the lust zinging through his body when Nova took his arm in hers made him want to do XXX-rated things to her body that no thirteen-year-old should be exposed to. He bit back a groan as he took a seat on one of the barstools at the kitchen island, running his hand over the smooth blond wood and trying to immerse himself in the G-rated memories of many late-morning breakfasts and lunches at his sister's after mowing her lawn or working on her car in the driveway.

Nova came to the counter with two cups of coffee and handed him one, shivering when his fingers brushed hers, then took a seat opposite him and sipped from her cup.

"So, why this house?"

"Don't know." She shrugged, seeming shaken as she focused her eyes on him. "Something about it just felt right. The area, the…" She shrugged again, apparently at a loss. "I just liked it. It felt like home."

"That it does." Zane nodded. "I was just a little curious." The same way he was curious as to whether or not there was a Mr. Foxx. She didn't have on a ring, which meant nothing at all.

He was a widower and wore a wedding band, had never found a reason to take if off.

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Sinny, on the other hand, an artist and artist's model from way back, had been too much of a free spirit to be tied down by modern conventions.

Though she’d ardently accepted his proposal, she wouldn't accept his engagement ring and never wore a wedding band. It was one of the major differences they'd had throughout their marriage. The other was when or even if to start a family. Zane had wanted one as soon as possible. Sinny had been in no great hurry. They'd only begun their efforts in earnest a little before Sinny was murdered.

"So, are you married, Ms. Foxx?"

"Of course not. Why would you ask?"

"I don't like to take things at face value." He shrugged as if to soften the warning. He didn't want to make her think he didn't trust her, even if he didn't quite. "That and, again, I was just a little curious. I'm a curious sort."

"Same here." She smiled and eyed his ring. "What about you? No Mrs.

Youngblood in the picture who wears your band's sister?"

"Not anymore."

She arched a brow, the questions plainly splashed across her face, but Zane wouldn’t elaborate or volunteer anything further. When she reached across the counter to take one of his hands, he let her, turned his palm into hers as she twined her fingers with his.

"So, you must have been close to your sister."

"She was my twin." He nodded. "We were pretty close."

"A twin; I've always wondered what that would be like. But then, I've always wondered what having a sibling would be like."

"Only child?"

"And a military brat, so we never stayed in any one place for long.

Didn't have a lot of opportunities to make lasting friendships."

Zane nodded, sipping his coffee as he took her in. She was sharing a lot more than he'd expected her to, but then he hadn't expected anything more from today than sharing her company—taking in her smile, inhaling her vanilla musk, wanting her.

Hell, Ransom had been dead-on this morning; he just wanted to push up on a sister.

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