“What’re you thinking about right now?” she asked, apparently aware of his gaze on her.
Noah hesitated, but something inside him made him speak the truth. “I’m just wondering about you and your late husband. How you came to marry someone so much older than you.”
“Oh.” Appearing self-conscious, she tucked her long hair behind one ear. “Jonathan was my English professor. I’d already graduated and he was single, by the way. It started out as just a fling, really, at least for me.” She shrugged, an attractive blush appearing on her cheekbones. “I’d always been a good girl. I was raised to be a proper Southern lady and do all the right things. I was a debutante and an honors student. But I guess I needed to rebel. There was something exciting and taboo about being with an older man and my former professor, to boot.”
He watched as her expression grew pensive.
“But then things started getting serious. It wasn’t something that I expected or planned. When Jonathan told me that he was in love with me and wanted us to have a future together, I guess I did get scared by the age thing. It was about the same time that my brother Mark’s first wife, Shelley, was killed in a car accident.”
Noah recalled hearing about Mark St. Clair’s first wife. Due to the family’s prominence in the area, the car accident, caused by a drunk driver, had made the news in Charleston.
“I left Jonathan in Atlanta and moved back home to help out with my niece, Emily. She wasn’t even three at the time.” As she spoke, Mercer absently picked at a worn spot on the sofa. “Mark and Emily needed me, but I was also using them to avoid making a decision about Jonathan and me.”
“But you eventually went back to him.”
She nodded reflectively. “We lived together for a while before finally getting married. We were happy, but we also created quite a scandal. Our families got past the age difference eventually, but Jonathan’s friends and colleagues never really accepted me. I know they talked behind my back. To the men, I was just some trophy that he’d managed to score. And their wives...”
Noah was aware of the shadows in her eyes as her voice dropped off.
“Still, Jonathan and I were happy,” she said. “I always figured that I’d be without him one day, but just not this soon.”
A short time later, Noah had gotten up from the sofa to peer between the slats of the shuttered windows when Mercer spoke.
“Now that I’ve made my confession, what about you? Corinne told me that you were engaged at one point.”
“My sister talks too much,” he rasped, still looking out although there was no activity outside, just deep, dark night. But it was his turn, he supposed, payback for having asked her such a personal question.
“Corinne thinks Allie cheated on me when I was overseas,” Noah said quietly. “Maybe she did, but it didn’t matter.” He felt a familiar hollowness open up inside him. “When I came back home, I wasn’t capable of having a relationship with anyone. I certainly wasn’t capable of being a husband.”
“I’m sorry.”
Noah realized that Mercer had gotten up and now stood behind him. Closing the shutter slats again, he turned to her. She had left the blanket behind on the sofa, her coffee cup on the floor in front of it. Looking up at him, her gaze was as soft as a caress. Noah felt something in the air shift around them. Each time he saw her, it seemed that the attraction between them was stronger, and for the space of a few heartbeats, he imagined what it would be like to slide his hand around the back of her neck and pull her to him. To lower his mouth to hers and taste her. If he did, he wondered whether she would stop him. But Noah reminded himself of who he was, who she was, and that their situation was creating an intimacy that was out of place. Clearing his throat, he brought himself under control.
“I need a refill.” He indicated the empty cup he held. “It’s going to be a long night.” He took a step back from her and went to the kitchen.
“Who’ll be here tomorrow?” she asked, having followed him. Noah filled his cup at the coffeemaker. He was reminded that Mercer didn’t like surprises.
“Detective Beaufain has the day shift. Either Remy or Tom will most likely be with you again tomorrow night.” He saw the disappointment on her features.
“I won’t see you tomorrow at all?”
“I’ve got to take care of some things. For starters, I have a court appearance for another case. We’re also planning to stake out Draper’s mother’s nursing home, and I need to get that coordinated. I’m going to have one of the staff call and say there’s been an emergency with his mother to see if he shows.” He sat his cup on the counter, his mood resigned. Even with Tom and Remy’s help, they needed more resources here, especially since they didn’t know how long this might go on. Now that they’d had time to catch their breaths and have a real discussion about exactly who they could trust, Tyson had finally convinced Noah to call in a couple of others on the force. “There’re two other detectives we’re going to have help out here. They’re men that Detective Beaufain and I know well. They’re good cops. You don’t have to worry.”
“It sounds like I won’t be seeing you for a while.” She dropped her lashes as she spoke, her soft mouth downturned. Repressing a sigh, Noah moved to where she stood, tamping down the urge to touch her. To explain to her that he had to put some space between them before he acted on his attraction to her. “I’m still part of the rotation, Mercer. I’m not abandoning you.”
He sensed her doubt as she looked up at him again. Noah thought of what he had told her earlier, about why he had called his marriage off.
“After coming back from Afghanistan, I pulled it together enough to be a cop again. But outside of my job, I couldn’t go back to the life I had before. I couldn’t go back to who I was before and Allie was part of that.” His voice lowered as he once again found himself opening up to her. “But I’m okay with the life I have now. I…hope the same for you, Mercer. I know the loss of your husband left a big hole. But things will get better for you. I’m sorry that you’ve been separated from everyone you care about just because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” His jaw clenched in determination. “I’m going to find Draper and our judicial system is going to see that justice is done. And then you can finally get back to rebuilding your life.”
His heart pinched at the hurt that remained in her eyes. She took a small step back from him.
“Thank you for the towels and bedding,” she said. “I’m going to take them upstairs. Good night.”
A thickness in his throat, Noah watched as she walked back to the sofa. Gathering the blanket and the shopping bags that contained what he had bought her, she went upstairs.
Mercer lay in bed, aware that the coffee wasn’t the reason she was unable to sleep. She turned restlessly onto her side under the fleece blanket, embarrassed with herself for the disappointment that she had been unable to hide downstairs. Despite Noah’s assurance, she did feel as though he was abandoning her. But here in the dark, she also asked herself a hard question.
What did she want from him?
The moon shone through the window, spilling silvered light across the bed. She sighed softly and thought of Jonathan, her chest squeezing with guilt. Had she become some kind of sex-starved widow? Noah had been nothing but a gentleman with her. They barely knew one another. So, why was she lying here imagining his mouth, his hands on her? She rolled onto her back again in frustration and tried to block out the mental picture, as well as the slow heat that the fantasy had caused to spread through her.
Staring up at the high ceiling, her fingers toying with the platinum rings that lay against her breastbone, Mercer swallowed down her remorse and confusion. What she was feeling was only a fleeting, physical attraction brought on after a long, lonely year, she rationalized once again. It was nothing more. At the most, it was just some sad case of hero worship. Noah had saved her life yesterday. It made sense. And he was watching over her right now, even if that wouldn’t be the case come morning.
>
Still, as she finally drifted into a troubled sleep, she was thinking of him.
Chapter Thirteen
“Don’t let those innocent blue eyes fool you,” Detective Bobby Durand said as Noah followed him into the kitchen from the home’s rear. He indicated Mercer as she sat at the table with playing cards fanned out in her hands. “She’s a real card shark.”
Noah felt a pain in his throat as Mercer looked up at him, her gaze cool. It had been several days since he had taken a shift, with Tyson handling Friday and Tom and Remy taking turns over the weekend. They had put Durand into the rotation today and he appeared to have made himself at home. A decade older than Noah, he was tall with a lanky build and light-brown hair. Another hand of cards lay face down on the table across from Mercer, apparently how he had left them when he had gone to let Noah in for the night.
“You didn’t sneak a look at my cards while I was away, did you?” Durand gave Mercer a wink.
She smiled faintly. “I don’t need to cheat to beat you, Detective.”
“Ouch.” Chuckling, he placed a hand over his heart and staggered backward a few steps as if he had been wounded before turning to Noah. “Based on that dour look on your face, I’m guessing Draper still hasn’t shown up at the nursing home?”
“No.” They’d had the facility staked out all weekend and there were still several plainclothes officers stationed there now. But Noah believed that if their scheme was going to work, Draper would have already shown himself. They’d had a nursing home staff member leave him an urgent voice-mail message about his mother. Draper’s cell phone also appeared to be turned off, making it impossible to use its GPS function to track his location. Noah removed a lavender-colored envelope from the pocket of his CPD windbreaker.
“It’s from your mother,” he said to Mercer.
Her face paling a bit, she laid the cards on the table, stood and took the envelope that he held out. “You saw her?”
“I was summoned to Anders Bauer’s home about an hour ago. He’s a friend of the mayor’s, apparently.” Noah thought of the elegant Greek Revival mansion that he had been called to. He had expected Olivia St. Clair-Bauer to demand to see her daughter or complain about her treatment, but she had told Noah that she only wanted to meet him and to give him a letter for Mercer. Noah had assured her that her daughter was fine and that she was safe. He knew at least the latter to be true, but he had no idea what her mental outlook was. Admittedly, he was surprised to see her downstairs playing cards with Durand. But it was clear that the letter had shaken her.
“I’m going to go upstairs to read this,” she said quietly and slipped from the kitchen.
“Everything okay here?” Noah asked as he shrugged out of his jacket and hung it over the back of one of the folding chairs.
“Quiet as a tomb,” Durand said. “I’ve been doing a scan of the perimeter every ten minutes or so. Other than a cat with a dead mouse cutting through the backyard, there hasn’t been a soul in sight.” He lifted a foam cup filled with coffee from the table and took a sip. “Hey, did you know that Spanish moss isn’t really moss? It’s in the same family as pineapple and succulent houseplants.”
“That’s random.”
“Funny what comes up in conversation when you have hours of nothing to do but kill time.” Durand glanced stealthily to the staircase, apparently making sure that Mercer was out of earshot. “You might be on to something here, Noah. Can’t say that I minded spending the day here while everyone else is out busting their asses on this case.” Taking another sip of coffee, he smiled into his cup. “Not to mention, Ms. Leighton’s definitely easy on the eyes. I’ve always had a thing for blondes. Rocking little body, too.”
A muscle jumped along Noah’s jaw at the comment. Durand was married, although it appeared that he had misplaced his wedding band. Noah moved to the shuttered window over the basin, adjusting the slats so that he could peer out onto the graying street. Garlands of the aforementioned moss that hung from the large tree out front had begun to sway, a harbinger of an approaching line of thunderstorms. He had been scheduled to relieve Durand at seven p.m., but had come early.
“Looks and money, too—can you imagine how much she’s worth?” Durand was still talking behind him. “That hotel runs nearly four-hundred dollars a night in the off-season.” He chuckled lewdly. “Let me tell you, I wouldn’t mind spending some quality time with her in one of those swanky rooms, if you know what I mean, then swim like Scrooge McDuck in a pool of all that St. Clair money—”
“You can go, Bobby.” Noah cut him off, barely keeping his ire on simmer. He turned as Durand rose from the table, seemingly oblivious to his irritation.
“Yeah, good idea. Maybe I can beat those storms that’re on their way in. When do you think you’ll need me here again?”
“I’m not sure. I’ll let you know.”
“Are we getting paid overtime for these babysitting gigs? I could use the cash.”
A burning sensation in his chest, Noah didn’t respond. He followed Durand down the hall to the home’s rear, then locked the door behind him once he exited. Durand and his partner, Tony Garber, were good cops. Noah knew that. But even if it was just typical male shower-room talk, Durand’s comments about Mercer had raised Noah’s hackles.
Scowling to himself, he decided that Durand had served his first and last watch here.
You’re my only daughter and youngest child. I love you with every fiber of my being, Mercer. I’m so proud of the woman that you’ve become. But my heart breaks for what you’ve been through and what you’re going through now…
Sitting on the bed’s edge, Mercer reread the letter and brushed at the tear on her face. She had choked up the moment she had glimpsed her mother’s elegant script. The letter had been intended to be comforting, but instead it had drawn the emotion that she had been holding inside herself for days now to the surface, like a poultice applied to a wound. Mercer had always been independent, but she ached for her mother’s presence now.
Stay strong, darling. You’ve always been my strong girl…
But Mercer didn’t feel that way. The boredom and tension that she had been doing her best to keep at bay now assailed her full-force, just as the first heavy raindrops thudded on the roof. Convulsively, she pressed her hands over her eyes. She had been under lock and key for days now with nothing to do, the faces of the men watching over her a blur as one departed and the next one arrived.
Worst, for the past three days none of them had been Noah.
At least not until now.
Hastily, she wiped again at her face as she realized that he stood just outside the bedroom, his amber gaze sympathetic. She had been so lost in her own self-pity that she hadn’t heard him ascend the stairs. Embarrassed, she put the letter aside and looked away, noticing the rain that now trailed down the window pane in jewel-like rivulets. The world had turned dark outside.
“I thought I should check on you since you didn’t come back down.” Somber, Noah entered the room and she felt the mattress dip as he sat beside her. “I won’t ask if you’re okay. You’re obviously not.”
“I’ve been feeling emotional and I guess the letter got to me.” Mercer’s face felt hot. “How’s my mother?”
“She’s okay. She’s worried about you.”
“She’s sixty-eight. She shouldn’t have to be dealing with this.” Mercer frowned as thunder rumbled in the distance. “I’m sick of being here, Noah. I just want to go home.”
“You know that’s not possible—”
“I don’t care.” She rose from the bed, also not caring that she sounded like a petulant child. A dam of resentment about this situation and her helplessness in it had opened up inside her. “I’ve been here for five days. I miss my family. I’m sick of bad coffee and card games. My muscles are sore from no exercise. I’m tired of men with guns babysitting me…” She stared at him, an ache inside her. “…and none of them being you.”
At her admission, a heaviness ce
ntered in her chest and she closed her eyes. A moment later, she became aware of him moving to where she stood.
“I’m here now, Mercer,” he rasped, his voice low and patient.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. “You know as well as I do that this could go on for weeks, maybe even months. I’m going to lose my mind if I haven’t already.”
“Let’s just focus on tonight, all right? What can I do to make things a little better for you?” When she didn’t answer, he drew a thoughtful breath before speaking again. “It’s dinnertime. Why don’t we give you a break from frozen pizza and sandwiches? We’ll order in. Whatever you want. It’s not something I want to happen all the time since delivery cars parked out front could attract attention. But we should be fine for tonight if you stay out of sight when the food arrives.”
She bit her lip, hopeful. “You’ll eat with me?”
He gave a nod. “Go online and look at some menus. Decide what you want and I’ll place the order from my cell.”
She hung her head. “I’m sorry that I’m being such a baby.”
“You’re just understandably frustrated by having your life hijacked.”
Touched by his attempt to soothe her, her fingers briefly grazed the side of his hand. In that bare space of time, neither spoke. Then, swallowing, Noah took a step back and moved to the doorway.
“Let me know when you’re ready to order.”
“It’s not the chargrilled oysters—they’re my favorite but they wouldn’t have traveled well—but these are pretty great, too.” Mercer pinched the tail from another of the barbecue shrimp before biting into it. Noah tried not to watch as she licked the sauce from her fingers in an almost sensual way.
In Dark Water (Rarity Cove Book 3) Page 10