Authors: Jodi Thomas
“But nothing, Parker. I figured out why you wouldn't let me drive to your door last night. You thought I didn't know about that woman living at your place the past few weeks. Hell. I see her out walking almost every day and I nearly ran over her once when she was jogging down the road after dark. I can see your attic light on every night. She must be afraid of the dark. Half the time it's still on when I get up at five.”
“You're watching her?”
“No. I don't care about her. It's none of my business. Maggie and Flip told me about you having them stock the house, so I figured you'd invited her.”
“Who are Maggie and Flip?”
“Your housekeepers for the past ten years. They gave up trying to reach you years ago and just call me when something needs fixing around the place. Flip says you send a check every January to cover their work. Other than that, they weren't sure you were real.”
“I thought their names were Margaret and Francis?”
He looked up and rolled his eyes. “Really, you think an old cowboy would go by Francis? I've known him all my life and no one ever calls him Francis more than once. His wife does the cleaning. He takes care of keeping the place up. Built the flowerbeds last fall.”
“I hadn't noticed.”
“You will, come spring. He seeded them with wildflowers.”
Parker stared at him. “You told him to do that, didn't you?” It wasn't a question. She already knew the answer.
“We talked about it and figured you'd like the flowerbeds to match the walls in your rooms inside. That is, if you ever decided to visit.”
“You two didn't have to do that.”
He shrugged. “One way or the other I figured it needed doing.”
“I'll remember that.” She slipped into her shoes. “I'm ready to go home now.”
The sun was almost touching the horizon as they walked toward his truck. When he went right past it, she was confused, until she saw the horse tied to the back.
“You mind riding?” he asked, as he began pulling the reins free.
“I don't know how.”
He laughed. “I know how, and so does the horse. Two out of three will be enough.” He swung into the saddle and offered her a hand. With one tug, he pulled her up in front of him.
“Relax, Parker. You're safe enough.” Without another word, they moved toward the road at a slow pace.
She watched the sunset, loving the orange and gold as it spread across the land. Halfway between his place and hers, she asked, “About that kiss?”
“What about it?” His voice was low, near her ear.
“Did you get it out of your system?”
“No,” he answered. “Maybe we should try again.”
His hand moved across her middle, holding her secure, caressing her. Logic told her she should end this now, but she couldn't seem to get the words out.
There it was again, she thought. That gentleness he could show but couldn't seem to voice. That call to an adventure that she couldn't turn away from.
“I'm not looking for forever.” She always believed in being honest at the beginning of anything with a man. That way, she wouldn't waste time dreaming, and he wouldn't spend time fantasizing.
His laughter came hard. “I don't even believe there is a forever, lady. But if ever there was a woman who needed kissing, I'm thinking it's you. I've seen a lot of pretty girls but you are downright beautiful and haven't been kissed near enough.”
She tried to stiffen. Compliments wouldn't work. “So you were simply offering to kiss me as a way of helping me out?”
“Nope. But I'm offering that and more if you're interested.” His fingers moved from her shoulder to where her hands gripped the saddle horn. As he crossed over her, he'd lightly brushed her breast...by accident?...on purpose?
His voice was low in her ear as his hand warmed hers. “No relationship. No strings. No forever. Just you and me maybe making a memory we'll both keep.”
Parker closed her eyes and tried to think. Was she willing to take the first wild adventure of her life, that would probably also be her last?
“When?” she whispered.
“I'll be waiting at the end of your drive at sunset tomorrow. I'll bring you back before dawn.”
“I don't have forever, but I might have a night.”
“Fair enough.” His hand slid beneath her shirt and brushed the bare skin just above her waist as he kissed her temple. “One night with you might just last me long enough.”
Then he was lowering her onto the side of her porch. He touched his fingers to the tip of his hat and was gone before she could say another word.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
W
HEN
G
ABE
STEPPED
from the shower, he heard his cell beeping. Grabbing a towel, he crossed the darkened hallway to his rented room and picked up his phone.
“Santorno here,” he answered, knowing no one ever called him except on business and this time of night only one man managed the office.
“We got a lead on Victoria Vilanie.” Charlie Watts didn't waste time on greetings. “A highway patrolman stopped her about fifty miles from your present location. The guy obviously didn't recognize her, but I picked up his log while I was scanning all reports. Unless someone stole her license, she's in the area.”
Gabe stood perfectly still, letting water drip around him. “Can you send me the paperwork?” He lowered his voice, not because he thought someone might overhear, but out of habit.
“Will do,” Charlie snapped back, “but according to the report, she wasn't alone, so watch yourself.”
Gabe moved toward the desk lamp and flicked it on in case he had to find pen and paper. “So maybe she didn't go nuts and run away from her loving family. Maybe she's just having a wild affair. Sounds like something a twenty-four-year-old might do.” He'd already figured out she wasn't nuts or high from watching her work with Yancy, but he wasn't about to admit that to the home office.
Charlie, far too old to take assignments, manned the night phones at the agency. He was like an old firehouse dog. He wanted to run with the bell, but age and four hundred pounds kept him planted behind a desk. “I've been talking to her family every day, Gabe. The stepfather's upset because she's due to ship new paintings next week and she hasn't finished them. He's mentioned twice that he has to know where she is, dead or alive. Sounds like if he gets her back, he's got his workhorse. Of course, if she's dead the value of her work will skyrocket. Either way he wins.”
Gabe liked talking to Charlie Watts. The old guy had seen a great deal over the years and had a bloodhound nose for BS. “What about the mother?”
Charlie hesitated. “She missed the second conference because she had a hair appointment she couldn't break. That pretty much told me what I needed to know. Rich folks will pay big money to get their grown kids back. Then they send them off to private country-club rehab so they'll at least look normal and tanned when they get out.”
“This one isn't a kid, even if she looks petite in the photos. Since she's managed to avoid us for weeks, I'm thinking she might have her head on straight.”
Charlie snorted. “Stepdad mentions drugs every time he calls. Wants to make sure everyone, including the police, knows she's a druggie. He says she's messed up bad. Has been since her real father blew his brains out in front of her. The guy said he had to take over being her legal guardian before she became an adult herself. Said she tried to kill herself once.”
Gabe thought of the sweet girl Yancy seemed to treasure. She didn't look like the type to off herself, but then, he'd thought of ending it all a few times, too. The only thing that kept him from it was figuring that he'd end up in a worse hell than here.
“Charlie, does the office know about the report in Texas?”
“No. It came in after hours. I just thought you'd like to be the first to hear.”
“Thanks. How about sitting on this info for a few days?”
“You know there are others looking? I think we're billing for six in the field right now. They're spread out pretty thin from Kansas to New Mexico.”
“I know. I also know some won't care how much they frighten her, or hurt her, for that matter. I saw a girl Burt and Lee brought in last year. They'd hauled her in the trunk of their car for over five hundred miles. Bruised, bloody and throwing up from coming down off a bad high, she looked more dead than alive when she climbed out. If she wasn't crazy when she ran away, she was by the time they handed her back to the arms of her parents, who wouldn't even touch her.”
“I remember that one.” Charlie added, “Burt and Lee should have faced charges for it, but the parents wanted it all kept quiet. No cops involved.”
Gabe kept his voice level. “I don't want that happening to this woman.”
There was a long silence on the other end of the call. “Tracking people down isn't an easy business. Years ago it was mostly bad guys jumping bail or cold killers who someone wanted caught more than the police did. I even handled a few for the mob. They paid good and I didn't ask too many questions. But now...”
“I know.” Gabe closed his eyes. It was getting harder to tell the good guys from the bad. “If I can find her, maybe I can talk her into coming back. That estate she lives in with her parents is like a hotel. She couldn't have it too bad in a place like that.”
“And if you can't talk her into going home?”
“If I find her, I'll bring her back where she belongs. Like you've told me before, we're not the judgeâwe're just the deliverymen. But, Charlie, give me a few days. I'm close. I can feel it.”
“It'll cost you, Gabe.”
“I figured.” Gabe smiled. “Best steak in town and all the beer you can drink.”
Charlie took the bait. “I'll call you when and if that police report gets found but don't think I'm doing you a favor. I saw that girl's face on the flyer. I don't want to see it all bruised up from being bounced around in the trunk of a car.”
“Me either.” Gabe ended the call.
His chest ached so badly it felt like he was having a heart attack. He was starting to care again and it hurt too much. Somehow, he'd find a way to talk to the girl Yancy called Rabbit. If she didn't want to go back, that was up to her. This time he'd worry about what was right, not what was profitable.
Then, suddenly, he had a more pressing problem.
Miss Daisy had walked past his open door and screamed when she noticed him, almost naked, standing by the desk lamp.
Gabe grabbed his shirt. When the towel tumbled, he dived behind the bed. Cusswords rumbled, but Daisy didn't hear him. She was too busy shrieking.
Fifth Weathers came running from his room with his gun drawn. For a few moments, chubby Miss Daisy and the deputy tried to get past each other in a hallway wide enough for only one.
Miss Daisy kept yelling, even though all she could see was one bare leg sticking out from the corner of the bed.
Gabe had nowhere to run. Two people were already blocking the only exit.
When the deputy finally got the larger half of the Franklin sisters to move along, he closed Gabe's door and said calmly, “You can come out, Professor. I told Miss Franklin to go down to the kitchen and make herself some tea. She's got to calm down or she'll explode.”
Gabe stood up and quickly slipped into his clothes as well as his character. “I've never been so embarrassed, sir, I assure you. I can't believe that poor woman had to see me in the bare. It's intolerable. I'll never be able to face the sweet lady again.” He kept shaking his wet hair. “I'm afraid I'll have to have a bit of brandy with my tea, if she'll even let me go down to the kitchen after this.”
Fifth holstered his weapon. “Way I see it, Professor, if the sight was so horrible she wouldn't have stood there and kept screaming while she kept looking. You seem in good shape for a fellow your age. I'm thinking she'll get over the fright.”
Gabe fought not to crack a smile. “So, Deputy, if I apologize, do you think maybe she'd let me stay?” Gabe suddenly raised his hands. “Oh my Lord. I've exposed myself to a lady. I've committed a crime. If you allow me to dress, I'll go down to headquarters and confess.” Gabe did his best to look like he might cry. “Oh, no. I'm sure I'm prison-bound. I don't think I'll do well incarcerated.”
Weathers looked confused. “We don't have a headquarters, just an office, and I doubt very much that Miss Daisy wants anyone to know of your crime. Plus, I heard your phone about the time you turned off the shower. You must have darted out of the bathroom to answer the call. Who knows what Miss Daisy was doing up here? She's told me at least twenty times that this short hallway is the gentlemen's quarters and she only enters it when cleaning.”
Gabe acted like he was distraught. “She saw me in the buff, sir. It must have been very upsetting.”
Fifth shrugged. “When I was growing up my mother used to say she'd never go see a male stripper because she already lived with a dozen. I had one younger brother who I don't think wore clothes until the day the school bus picked him up for kindergarten.”
“Maybe I should go down and try to calm the poor lady,” Gabe offered.
“Good idea, but you might have to strip again because after two years of living with the Franklin sisters I can tell you for a fact that Rose is not going to be happy that Daisy saw something she missed.”
“Maybe we should keep this incident to ourselves, Deputy. It might save the lady some embarrassment.”
“I agree.” Fifth stepped back, letting Gabe go first. “Wouldn't want to tell me where you got all those scars on your back, would you, Professor?”
“Car accident in my youth,” Gabe murmured.
“Really,” the deputy added as he followed Gabe down the stairs. “I would have sworn a few were bullet holes.”
Gabe laughed. “Then I'd really have a story to tell, wouldn't I, Deputy?”
“I guess. If you lived, of course.” Both men laughed. “That many shots to the chest I'd have to think would kill a man.”
Gabe shook his head. “The accident was bad enough. I missed a whole semester of school. It was torture, Deputy, pure torture.”