“Hi, boy,” Alex said softly. “Where’s Heather?”
For once the dog didn’t growl at him, but looked nervously over toward the bedroom. Alex nodded and patted the dog’s head.
“Okay, thanks.”
He walked softly over to the bedroom door, his heart made of concrete and dragging him down. He had no idea what he’d say to her, no idea what he ought to say. What would ease her pain?
He stopped in the doorway, thrown from his thoughts by the sight of Heather lying on the floor, half under the bed.
“Heather?” he cried.
“Go away,” she said, her voice muffled by the bed. “You and your noise have scared Bonnie enough already. Just leave us alone, will you?”
He stood next to her, trying to keep from seeing the bed and all its memories. “Heather, I don’t have much time.”
“Come on, Bonnie honey,” she cooed from under the bed. “Everything’s all right. I made the bad men go away.”
Was he one of the bad men? No reason to ask. He was the worst.
“Heather,” he said softly. “I’m really sorry you had to find out like this.”
She came out from under the bed, holding Bonnie in one hand. “That’s probably the only true thing you’ve said to me in the past twelve months. I’m sure you’d have liked it much better if I’d never found out.”
He tried not to wince. “That came out wrong.”
“I’m sure it did.”
She looked so small and fragile, so hurt. But she refused to look at him, refused to give him any ground for his apology. Not that he deserved any.
He watched as she sat on the bed, cuddling Bonnie. Memories of last night came rushing back, too strong, too powerful for him to even breathe for a moment. Finally he was able to think again.
“I wanted to tell you the truth,” he said. “I hated the deception.”
“So you let me make a fool of myself.”
“You were trying to help me,” he said. “Nothing you did was foolish.”
She looked up at him. “Nothing? Everything was!” She stopped and seemed to settle herself. “But it’s partly my fault. I should have known you weren’t a gambler. Especially not a bad one.”
He pulled back a bit, her words making him slightly defensive. “How should you have known?” he asked.
She just gave him a look and went back to cuddling Bonnie. “First of all, you aren’t the gambling type; it’s not dangerous enough. And then, I can’t see you losing, not big time.”
He wasn’t sure he liked her easy analysis of him. “People lose big all the time.”
“Yeah, people who take the same risk over and over again. Once you raced across the seawall, you went on to other thrills.”
He frowned. He wasn’t that easy to read. He couldn’t be. “That was years ago,” he pointed out. “I have grown up, you know.”
“But you haven’t changed.” She got to her feet.
“The danger still gives you a rush. In fact, that’s probably why you let me stupidly hang around, trying to help you. It was another thrill. How far could you go before I found out?”
“It wasn’t like that all,” he snapped.
“Oh, give me a break,” she cried. “You could have stopped this at any time, and you didn’t.”
“I tried,” he said tersely. “A number of times. But you were so hell-bent on rescuing me that you wouldn’t listen.”
Her eyes flashed with anger. “I see. It was all my fault.”
“Partly, yes.” Suddenly he saw the truth spread out before him and he couldn’t deny it any longer, painful as it was. “You’d rescued lots of cats before. Been there, done that. But here was a person to rescue. A poor needy slob who just fell into your lap and you couldn’t resist.”
“You can’t believe that,” she said.
He didn’t know what he believed anymore. Her suspicions of him still hurt, ached, nagged at him like an open wound. If she could think the worst of him, maybe it was because she’d never seen him as a person in his own right. And that was what hurt most of all, for some crazy reason.
“Why can’t I believe it?” he snapped. “Why else would you have done all this?”
She just looked at him, the anger slipping from her eyes and a bleakness settling in its place. She opened her mouth as if to speak, but no words came out. He waited, for what he had no idea. But then after an eternity, she turned away.
“Come on, little Bon-Bon,” Heather said hoarsely to the kitten in her arms. “We’re going to go home now.”
He waited just a moment for her to turn, to respond, to say something to him that would make the terrible pain leave his heart. But she just buried her face in the kitten’s fur as she earned her to the cat carrier in the corner
What had he expected? What had he wanted? He grabbed his duffel bag from the corner, and quickly turned, hurrying out of the room. Junior was waiting at the door, and Alex stopped.
“You take care of her,” Alex told him. “Make sure she stays safe.”
The dog wagged his tail, accepting the responsibility. And would probably do a better job than Alex had. With that thought sticking in his throat, he hurried back outside.
The rain had stopped, and he was almost sorry. There was something about the rain that fit his mood. A good dark, rip-roaring thunderstorm was what he wanted right now. Instead, the sun was starting to peek through the clouds. Damn.
Casio straightened up from where he was leaning against a car. “You ready now?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Alex went around and got in the driver’s seat, slamming the door good and hard. “But I’m driving.”
“Whatever,” Casio said and got in the other side. “We’ve got a chopper waiting in Marquette. You should be back in Chicago by early afternoon.”
“Great.” Alex turned the motor on and peeled out, ignoring the mud that tried to slow him down. “I can’t wait to get back on the case.”
“The Chesterton exit is up next,” Heather said.
“Oh. You’re awake,” Willa said. “That’s good. I was wondering how I’d find your house.”
Heather just smiled at the agent, but said nothing. Actually, she’d been awake for a while and watching out the window as the car sped down the highway. It had just seemed easier to pretend that she was napping. Or was it safer?
She glanced into the back seat. Bonnie was sleeping in her carrier and Junior was looking out the window intently. No one seemed too disturbed by the events of the morning. No one but her, that is. Her heart felt as if it had turned to stone, except stone didn’t usually hurt so much. Good thing she hadn’t fallen in love with Alex. Just think of how it would hurt then!
She turned back to Willa. “It was nice of you to drive home with me. It’s a long drive by yourself.”
“No problem,” the agent said. “It was a nice break, believe me.”
“Are you involved in this investigation with Alex?”
“Me? No, I’m just a field agent assigned to this area. Actually, none of us knew quite what was going on. Just that Waterstone was missing and had been heading up to that area. After some agents talked to the owner of the grocery store in Watton, we were all sent up there to surround the cabin.”
“So you were expecting some bad guys or something?”
“Yeah, until Alex came out and explained.”
Heather stared straight ahead, feeling as if she were facing a firing squad. “Turn right up at the light,” she said and took a deep breath. “And what did he tell you all?”
Willa slowed the car and turned before she spoke. “Not much of anything. He really laid into his supervisor, though. Said he had everything under control. That you’d had car trouble and were going to leave in the morning.”
Heather said nothing, but turned to look out the window as tears filled her eyes. What had she expected? That he’d say he’d fallen in love with her and had treasured every moment they were together? She should be glad he didn’t say that she’d
kidnapped him and kept him from leaving.
“Right at the stoplight,” she said, her voice thick and hoarse from holding back the tears. “Then right at the next light.”
Willa gave her a look, Heather could feel it, but the woman said nothing for which Heather would be forever grateful. It was bad enough that she was an idiot; she didn’t have to let everyone know. In a few minutes, Heather would be home and free to cry her stupid little heart out.
“Left at the next street,” she said after a moment. Then, “It’s the brown house on the right.”
Willa pulled into the drive, stopping right behind Penny’s truck. Heather sighed. Penny must be over feeding the cats. She guessed she’d have to postpone her cry for a bit,
“Well, thanks for everything,” Heather told Willa as she got out of the car. “You want to come in for something to eat or drink?”
Willa just shook her head, nodding toward the car pulling up in front of the house. “Bob’s here. We need to get back.”
“Okay.” Heather got Bonnie and Junior out of the back seat as Willa got out of the driver’s side. “I really appreciate it.”
“Sure, no problem.” She gave Heather the car keys. “Good luck with the Stoneman.”
Heather’s hand closed around the keys, but she just frowned at the other woman. “With who?”
Willa grinned. “The Stoneman. That’s what everyone calls Waterstone because it was suspected he has no heart. Now we aren’t so sure.”
“Oh.” Heather just grasped the handle on Bonnie’s carrier with both hands. Alex had a heart, she knew that for certain. He had shown it to her time and time again over the past few weeks, but it wasn’t up to her to tell his co-workers that. “Well, thanks again. If I ever need rescuing from a cabin, I’ll call you.”
Willa laughed, then after a wave, hurried down the driveway to the waiting car. Heather watched them drive off, then picked up a box of supplies with one hand and trudged up to her door. Penny was waiting.
“Who was that?” she asked and took the box from Heather. “And why are you back so early? I thought you were going away the whole weekend.”
Heather came inside the house, then put the carrier down and opened the door. The kitten raced out, disappearing down the hallway. Junior trotted after her. So much for moral support.
“That was Special Agent Willa Moran,” she said wearily. “She drove home with me.”
“Special agent?” Penny dragged her over to the sofa and pushed her onto it. “What in the world is going on?”
“I went up to a cabin in the upper peninsula with Alex,” she said.
“Alex!” Penny’s tone said she was delighted. “Heather, that’s so—”
“I kidnapped him,” she continued.
“You what?!”
Heather sat up. How had she gotten so tired? “I thought he had a gambling problem and so I kidnapped him to force-socialize him away from it.”
“You what?” Penny was laughing so hard Junior came back out to the living room. “Oh, Heather that’s wonderful! And did you succeed?”
“Turns out he didn’t need my help,” she said and got to her feet. “I’d better unload the car.”
“You can’t leave it like that,” Penny protested. “I want the whole story. You would be so perfect for Alex. You’re just—”
“I’m just nothing,” Heather said quickly and fought back the tears. “There never was anything between us and now it’s over.”
She knew that didn’t make sense but also knew that any attempt to resay it would only end in tears.
Chapter Thirteen
Alex stopped in the doorway of his darkened living room, sensing someone was there.
“What the hell is with you lately?” Casio snapped. “You haven’t been worth a plugged nickel since you came back from the damn cabin. What the hell went on there anyway?”
Alex let his breath out slowly, then walked into the room, leaving the light off. Who had he expected—hoped?—it would be? “Nothing went on,” he said.
Oh yeah? Then why couldn’t he get Heather out of his mind? Why had he thought of nothing but her this whole week since they had come back? And why had he been hoping against hope that it had been her here waiting for him?
Because he was a damn fool, that was why.
“Where the hell did you go off to this evening?” Casio snapped. “You were supposed to be at Midwest’s football game. In case, you’re interested they won their home opener big time.”
“That’s good.” Alex took a deep breath, then slowly walked over to the sofa and sat down. “But I got hungry, so I decided to leave and get a bite to eat.”
“You were so hungry, so anxious to eat that you just had to hurry out of the stadium through the team’s exit?” Casio’s voice was ripe with anger. “And losing the agents watching your back was just an accident.”
Alex didn’t say anything. How could he explain than he’d just had to be alone. That he’d just had to think things through.
“Damn it, Alex. Don’t you realize what kind of danger you’re in?”
“It comes with the territory,” Alex snapped.
“You don’t have to flirt with it every chance you get.”
Alex looked up. That sounded like something Heather would say. “I don’t,” he argued. “I wasn’t. I just wanted to be alone for a while.”
Through the darkness, Alex could vaguely see Casio lean forward. “Look, Alex, we’re getting into crunch time here. This isn’t the time for you to start mooning over some woman.”
“I’m not,” Alex snapped and got to his feet. “I just needed some breathing space.”
“You can have plenty of it in a few months. You’re due a vacation. Go to the Bahamas. Hawaii. Hell, stay in Chesterton if you want and write poems, but keep your head together now.”
“It is.” He was fine. He was on the ball. He was as good as ever. He just was beginning to question if it mattered.
Damn, but the house seemed stuffy. He went through the dining room and threw up the sash on the window in the far wall, leaning his hands on the sill to take deep breaths of the cool night air. Heather’s house was all dark, yet even that darkness seemed warm and alive.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have put you back here,” Casio was saying. “Maybe that was a mistake. But it seemed like a perfect cover.”
“It was. It is.”
He wondered how Heather was after the trip. He knew she’d gotten home all right because he’d seen her twice since they’d been back. Both times from a distance—him in the house and her going to her car—but she’d looked fine. Well, actually, she’d looked kind of pale but that could have been the light.
“Maybe I’ll put in a request for a quicker job for us next time,” Casio mused. “Nothing that needs months of deep cover to set up.”
“Sure. Sounds good.”
He wondered if she told her class all about the deer she saw. Little kids would like that. He frowned out into the night. Why wasn’t she surrounded by her own kids? She should be married with a houseful of children. The image both tantalized and tormented. Not married to someone like him, of course, someone that she’d have to worry over, but someone nice and stable and comfortable. Someone she wouldn’t have to rescue ever.
“There’s a case starting to break in Los Angeles,” Casio said. “With a little luck, it could fall just about the time that this one ends and we wouldn’t be stuck here in the winter.”
“That would be great. Nothing quite like winter here to make you appreciate L.A.”
He wasn’t still upset about that whole rescue thing. When he’d thought about it- and thought about it he had—he’d had to admit that he’d been overly sensitive. How else was Heather supposed to see him except as someone to rescue? She admitted that he always scared her. That just proved how wrong they were for one another.
Not that he had ever thought they were right for each other. Even if he quit the agency, they still wouldn’t be a match. She was so gentl
e and he was rougher, used to distrust and suspicion.
“One winter here—” Alex stopped and stared out into the night, his eyes piercing the darkness more intensely. He couldn’t see anything but his ears picked up the quiet sounds of tires on gravel. A car was in the alley, going slowly. Where were its lights? He ought to see them.
He saw instead the shadowy figure of a man moving in Heather’s backyard.
“Damn,” Alex said under his breath.
He felt Casio tense, but didn’t wait to explain. Before Casio’d had time to stand, Alex was through his kitchen and out the back door, pulling the SIG-Sauer out of his ankle holster as he ran.
Damn it. He should have moved. He should have gotten completely out of this neighborhood. He’d done everything he could think of to keep her out of the cesspool that was his job and she still was in danger. He should never have helped her rescue that kitten. He raced across his driveway and into Heather’s yard.
“FBI!” The hell with this undercover crap. “On your knees. Hands above your head.”
He was aware of somebody shouting from the direction of the alley, and of Casio rushing by him, but all he really saw was the man in Heather’s backyard fall to his knees. Then as he got closer, Alex saw on the ground the knife the man had had in his hand.
Just what had he been planning on using it for? Too many images raced through Alex’s mind. Too many terrible images.
“You bastard,” Alex cried, and tossed his gun off to the side as he threw himself at the man. “You dirty bastard.”
“Please, don’t hurt me,” the dirtbag screamed as Alex tackled him to the ground.
“I’ll teach you to threaten Heather,” Alex muttered. He had the man down on the grass and swung an angry fist at him.
“Alex, let up on him,” Casio shouted and grabbed ahold of Alex. “Let go of him. We’ve got him.”
Suddenly the floodlights went on in Heather’s yard, lighting it up as bright as if it were high noon. Her back door flew open with a crash.
“Everybody freeze,” she shouted.
Secret Agent Groom (The Bridal Circle #2) Page 18